As advertised in Thrasher? Apparently so. Yet another take on straps for skateboards. THey want you to think it will help you with your loop attempts, but they don’t want you to blame them if it all goes horribly wrong.

– Thanks to Heath for the tip.

Another good installment of 7 Seconds at Svitak’s, this time with Dave Hackett. He’s only three episodes in and already lost an expensive wide angle lens to to Hackett’s mini ramp assault. It was Dave’s 52nd birthday, so Kristian probably cut him some slack. Brought to you by Regulator Distribution and 1031.

Jim Phillips Fall/Winter show for 2013 has him going back to his roots as a skateboard graphic designer before he became the fashion icon that he is… Hold on a minute. What? That’s not JimPhillips? Jimbo then? No? OK. I’m sorry. This collection belongs to Jeremy Scott.

[Source: Hypebeast]

To keep the discussion “What is Skate Rock?” alive, we now have some obscure vinyl from Sweden for you. At first I thought someone just put a late 70´s / early 80´s photo of a skateboarder on the front cover to gain a bit more attention.

So… they are skateboards covered with shag carpeting. Not the most original idea, but someone’s got to do the work for the lazy people. I’m not sure about the wisdom in naming one of your vehicles “The Lemon.” That’s Shaggo Skateboards.

The live stream from the Vans BOWL-A-RAMA™ in Wellington, NZ starts Feb. 16 at 3 p.m. PST and goes to 9 p.m. PST. There’s an embed of the live stream after the jump. I’m sure there will be commercials and whatnot, but hopefully it works. I heard last year’s was pretty good.

Skate and Annoy was mentioned in last month’s issue of Sidewalk Mag via Jim Thompson’s Scene Zine column. Thanks for the love from the UK. Some older Scene Zine are archived online if you are looking for more ways to avoid work or school. If Mark and Neil ever find out they don’t need me, I’m sunk.

As seen on Boing Boing, thanks to Mark Pendergrass.

Sick of documentaries about skateboarding and/or punk? I don’t care. You must watch this feature on the legendary Big Boys. Don’t worry, it’s only 10 minutes and 33 seconds long. Some early Big Boys records are being rereleased on vinyl this year, and Conspiracy is going to do a limited run of a Big Boys deck. The first true Skate Rock band? Let’s argue about it.

A recent study in Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability suggests that skateboarders in Chicago perform in and transform urban spaces by exploring different terrains and developing unforeseen uses. Waxing ledges is a widespread practice among skateboarders that smoothens ledges allowing for speed and exhilaration, communicating to other skateboarders that ‘here is a cool space’.

Yet far from damaging the environment, this timely article concludes that skateboarders have a different ethic of environmental care: an ‘alternative sustainability’. Focusing on the Chicago skateboarding scene in both sanctioned skate parks and illicit skate spots, it highlights the intersections of skateboarding and the sustainability agenda in the city of Chicago.

‘Waxing ledges: built environments, alternative sustainability, and the Chicago skateboarding scene’ features in a recent Special Issue of Local Environment on Children, young people and sustainability.

That’s from the press release for the Journal. A press release that ironically states “Any views expressed in this Press Release are not those of the Taylor & Francis Group.” So the publisher hires a publicist to promote their work, but doesn’t want to be held accountable for the contents of the press release. Excellent. I’m not sure what’s more boring, over intellectualizing skateboard culture, or what passes as a “skate plaza” in Chicago. Is it just me, or does that look like a tennis court and a couple of prefab turds? This sort of scholarly dissection of skateboarding and skateboarders, although tedious and somewhat ridiculous, still benefits the skateboarding population at large. Every academic endorsement that comes our way makes it easier for the next skatepark to be funded, or absurd law to be repealed.

– Thanks to Darrin Hill for the tip.