The good, the rad, and the colorful showed up for Burnside’s 20th anniversary; a skate event that accepts all types. Sometimes there is too much testosterone flowing in a session. This was not the case at the Hallowenis event. I witnessed many bare-chested men with erect nipples; a clear sign of arousal. Be it skateboarding or bare-chestedness, both were out in full force at this yearly tribute to diversity and alternative lifestyles. Here’s a bit of what I saw.

People keep trying to innovate trucks these days, but you rarely see anything that makes the accompanying wackiness worthwhile. These Alpha Skateboard Tucks are pretty standard fare for the most part. The big marketing point is the screws on the side that you can use to set a maximum tilt point in order to prevent wheelbite. That’s all well and good, maybe it works, but honestly, wheelbite isn’t a big deal, is it? They do love to go on and on about geometry and stability. They have an interesting theory about riding a low truck with extra risers being a better option for those that prefer high truck. The one thing they have innovated that stands out is the placement of the mounting holes. It’s such a simple idea I can’t believe nobody has done it. Instead of leaving the new school mounting pattern offset towards kingpins, they center them in the standard footprint of the baseplate. Of course, this makes the wheelbase of any given board shorter than the same board with standard trucks. The upside is a potentially stronger baseplate and lighter too, if you cut off the corners. So… it’s interesting at least. They’ve also got a skate tool that’s not the same T-shaped plastic and metal piece that everyone sells.

– Thanks to OCD Kyle for the tip.

This week’s shot of the week is form recent Ohio transplant Dabe Alan. It’s Jamie Jacobson at a private indoor spot located in Portland, Oregon. Check out the full frame version of this week’s Shot of the Week.

Recent footage shot at Burnside that is more or less the polar opposite of today’s earlier freestyle inspired footage. What’s the occasion? New team riders Brendan Garcia and Mason Merlino joining Bacon Skateboards.

You’re going to have to click through to see this week’s installment of Friday T&A, not because it’s especially lurid. I just didn’t want to have to look at it every time I checked in on the site over the weekend.

– Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip,

So there’s a line of toys looking to compete with the Tech Deck Dudes series. It’s called Wild Grinders. They’ve been out for a while, but when they first came out they weren’t pushing the Rob Dyrdek affiliation. That’s right, this appears to be owned or at least fronted by Rob Dyrdek. You’ve got to admire his thinking here, an extension of the Street League philosophy. He’s recognized an are where someone is making marketing skateboarding and injected an actual skateboarder into the organization by starting it himself. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. There’s a WIld Grinders TV commercial running that I’ve been meaning to get online, but instead I’ll spotlight this strange marketing agreement with MovieTickets.com. I’m not sure how many kids are going to buy movie tickets online. Someone must think they are going to, because there is a Wild Grinders spot for MovieTickets.com that is playing in theaters across the country. It’s even going to be in 3D when shown with 3D features. You can watch it after the jump, but be forewarned, On the web site they have the effrontery to make you sit through a completely untargeted commercial before they let you watch what is essentially just another commercial.

Well some things you don’t think will ever make a comeback, but Kilian Martin is at it again in another video from Bret Novak, who’s accepting donations to put towards the series. There’s some interesting moves in there, and I know you will enjoy it because absolutely everyone that visits SnA is open minded and has no hangups about how other people skate….

– Thanks to Ted Schwallie for the tip.

Congratulation to friend of the site Stephanie Murdock, who was just was named a Baltimore Community Fellow, an award that comes with a hefty grant that she plans on using to help raise more money for Skatepark of Baltimore. This is an interesting twist on skatepark fundraising, based on her plans to develop a new skatepark as a place to positively influence at-risk youth through facilitating positive interactions and mentoring at a new skatepark-based community. At least that’s how I understand it, you can read more at the Baltimore Sun. BTW – The congratulations are for being a friend of the site, not for winning an award…

[Photo: Jed Kirschbaum, Baltimore Sun]