I gaped. I couldn’t believe what I’d seen. He’d ridden the wall. I jerked my head around to share with everyone else’s amazement, and no one, not one single person seemed to have even noticed what Christian had done. Stecyk knew though, and said, “You’ve got some catching up to do.” There’s an excellent in-depth interview with Jim Fitzpatrick interview on I Skate, therefore I am blog. It’s five parts long ( 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5) ! Fitzpatrick has seen some interesting times in skateboarding, including being involved in two hugely influential companies like Makaha and Powell Peralta, and spearheading the fight to have skateboarding classified as a hazardous activity. For those of you who scratch your head at that one, it’s one of the reasons that municipalities don’t have to carry massive skateboard-specific insurance riders for skateboard parks. Because, as an inherently dangerous activity, the rider assumes a certain amount of risk while engaging in the activity. The interview covers other aspects of Jim’s life as well, from surfing to being a Montessori school teacher. There’s even a Surf Punks reference. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy learning about key figures in skateboarding history.…

This is a Colin Walsh (Rules) picture of Brian Summer at the Corvallis park, making it look good. What’s the point? Well to annoy Carl with another skatepark shot and to remind everyone about the BCSA call for art. Video highlights of last year’s benefit event after the jump.

Yesterday we had metal from Finland, and today it’s _________. Things must be pretty cold in Finland, because if these music videos are any indication, they’re always lighting their skateboards and turntables on fire. This is the Wool and Vortex video for the track Magic Carpet, as heard on the EP of the same name from the Top Billin label, which I think is from Finland, although the DJ’s don’t appear to be. – Thanks to Glen Brady for the tip.

Chris Cole, Jamie Thomas and Tom Asta appear in the Children of Bodom video for Was it Worth it? Can’t find the video anywhere, but I did find a trailer and some stills from the video on Metal from Finland. – Thanks to Boy Ipoh for the tip.

The city of Zurich, Switzerland had no transition until a group of locals got together and took it upon themselves to take the D.I.Y. route instead of waiting for someone else to do it for them. The result is called Sihlside. This week’s Shot of the Week is a Nicolas Buechi photo of… crud. Forgot to get the name. A little help Nicholas? (Update: Ivo Weibel) If you can believe it, the whole project cost less than 700CHF! I can believe it because I have no concept of at CHF is. Watch the video after the jump to get a glimpse of some new wave sand at the 1:24 mark, or check out the Shot of the Week.

Former SPS board member Tom Miller will be stepping down as the Chief of Staff for Portland’s Mayor Sam Adams in order to replace the retiring director of the Transportation Bureau. Oregon Live reports that the position oversee 750 employees and has a $250 million annual budget. The picture above is credited to the Wall Street Journal but I found it over at the Portland Mercury where they call him “the mayor’s controversial, skateboarding chief of staff.” I didn’t know Tom was controversial. I mean as far as I know, he doesn’t push mongo or grab stinkbug. Congratulations Tom. I predict that in the not too distant future S&A will have the pleasure of reporting the first skateboarding mayor of a major city. I should be sponsoring him. I missed a golden photo opportunity. Looks like that’s a Scarecrow deck. – Thanks to Sam for the tip.

Every day is friday over at Chicks and Skateboards. It’s great idea for a web site (depending on how you feel about the objectification of, uhm, chicks….) however even the postmodernist in me is annoyed by tumblr style web sites that just regurgitate content out of context with no link to the original source. Another amusing thing is that sometimes the boobs are pixelated, while two posts earlier they are unabashedly (no, not the unabashed dictionary) bare and large, pixel wise and otherwise. So… some of these shots are Maxxim magazine style, some of them are just random girls on or with a skateboard. Who isTom’s Skateshop? They must be a reader, because January 4th is awfully close to December 31st. – Thanks to Alex Shults for the tip.