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.

Bob Burnquist with a sneak peak of the 2011 Toyata Prius. Honda, if you’re listening, I’ll gladly make a commercial in exchange for a Civic, Fit, motorcycle, lawn mower, boat engine or generator. I guess I’d even take a plane. [Source: Skate Curiosidade]

Skateboards on the cover of Good magazine. Conahan isn’t a fan of online magazines that use the fake page turning mechanism. I wonder how he feels about online magazines that have “issues.” This might actually be a print magazine, I’m not sure. In any case, I think this issue is about crappy jobs and the current employment environment. I don’t think the skateboards go any further than the cover. – Thanks to Hung Chang for the tip.