Well now, that’s not a joke, it’s a legitimate caption. This week’s Shot of the Week is from a photographer who goes by the name of TimoT on Flickr. Old Pierre is hitting a blunt to fakie on a DIY spot somewhere in France. Check out this week’s Shot of the Week.

So am I legit now. I interviewed a piece of skateboard history and future. Whether you know it or not, Bryce Kanights has touched your skateboard life in some way, be it reading, riding or looking at a magazine for the photos. Bryce was there for most of the boom of vert and has been in it since; when you were taking your snowboarding break he was skating and still involved with Thrasher. If you mention the most random skater he has a story. Very few people can make a living off this industry – the photo side anyway – but he has perfected his craft and shoots all the skate stars from Duane Peters to Brent Atchley. So here is my interview of Mr. Bryce Kanights. A brief glimpse into his stuff. P.S. Eat it if you do not like the audio. Who can afford a microphone in this economy? – G.V.K. OFF

Tigard Police to Skateboarders: R U Up 4 a Challenge? – In efforts to honor our community’s youth and recognize their hard work and dedication to master the skateboard, Tigard Police is pleased to host a “Skateboard Challenge.” Come be part of this first ever police-inspired skateboarding competition in the area.

It’s no big secret how skateboards are made anymore. Everybody knows that Chinese fairies magic them out from the woodland lairs of ancient dragons, but some people are still making them locally. Here’s a video from a French company called Rekiem. The basics are the same, but everyone does it slightly different. For instance, the guys (garcons?) at Rekiem are setting up some of their decks with the graphics already screened, as well as using the pad printing process (basically a big stamp) for the top layer. Check it out. [Source: Condense]

When I heard that Portland’s worst kept secret spot was already partially demolished, I assumed it was because there was a general failure to keep it on the down low, but it turns out the larger site is planned for demolition as part of the acquisition and planned expansion by the University of Portland, according to ESPN. The shot above is from The Skateboard Archives. Here’s an amusing U.P. anecdote. I used to live near there about five years ago. While driving by one day I noticed that someone stole all the letter “R”‘s from the signs at all the entrances to the main campus, effectively renaming it hte “University of Pot-land.” Those wacky Christian college kids! – Thanks to Donny for the tip.

Just like House of Neil, I have a major issue with people who cut up old skate magazines (or Life, or anything else, really) and try to sell the individual ads out of context. Plundering history for a modest monetary gain is needlessly destructive. Frankly, it pisses me off. Then again, I have been known to get bent out of shape about stupid things. You might expect me to be similarly upset with Solitary Arts and their Traveler Deadstock boards, but instead I am green with envy. The folks at Solitary arts managed to get their hands on a limited quantity of NOS 70’s era wooden plank style skateboard decks. They’ve gone ahead and hand routered the bottoms so they could mount their own inlay in place, then fitted them with new trucks and their own retro styled wheel to make a board that is half reproduction, half NOS, and all genius. It doesn’t violate my anti-desecration of history policy because these unnamed plank boards are a dime a dozen, from a time when the technology of skateboard decks was easily accessible to anyone with a jigsaw and some sandpaper. Nobody wants to buy them on eBay, I know because…

I should have guessed these guys were involved. The wave ramp at the Kiasma museum was another distinctive project from the collective known as The Side Effects of Urethane. This particular exhibit is called Aalto. TSEOU has images ranging from the concept phase right on through construction (time lapse video) and finally skating. One interesting thing about the design, it looks more like a boat under construction than a traditional skate ramp. Check out Aalto on TSEOU. – Thanks to Ian for the tip.

Before you get your panties in a bunch, this is an art piece, and not something that is in production, unlike this, and let’s not forget about this or this. This one comes from UK artist Chris Jackson.

This might be your last chance to get a Nash skateboard with graphics that aren’t an absolute pile of shite. This 80’s era Nash Nightmare auction ends at 8:47pm, Baltimore time. They must have hired someone from outside their usual talent pool for this graphic. To be fair, they had some really cool graphics in the steel wheel era, followed by a 15 year drought. I swear the Nightmare is on par with some of the Creature stuff…

February 2009. Much as in January, the economy might suck, but you wouldn’t know it on eBay. There were some BIG auctions that went off this month, and a lot of cash thrown around. Tax refunds really come to bear at this time of month, with collectors throwing their “free money” at any grails that happen to come up. And there’s something else I want to repeat from my January column, and this is dedicated to 2 sellers in particular: “classicadsfromthepast” and “vintagogaga”. ENOUGH ALREADY! Stop cutting up old mags and selling the individual pages on eBay for $10! Nobody is buying your crap, so just stop! Your crap is overrunning EBay! Do a search fro Steve Douglas. You might find one deck, but I can guarantee that you will get about 5 ads come up in the search; all ripped out of 80s skate magazines. One of the sellers has very little feedback, and all that there is is from the same buyer that apparently can’t get enough of Tony Hawk ads, and who hasn’t figured out that he could buy the original mags and do the cutting out himself. Fuck me! This is as lame as all of…