Aero, a candy bar brand popular in the UK, filmed an commercial spot with Bob Burnquist skating at the Lake Cunningham skate park with the bowls filled with brown balloons to resemble the bubbles in the chocolate. It looks great, trouble is, it’s an exact copy of the same concept that was actually shot here in at Portland’s D.O.S.. Ignorance is going to be hard to claim, considering Apple Computer is currently showing the original video in some of their in-store loops for Apple TV. Of course there is a chance that the originators might be getting paid too. Watch the video after the jump. UPDATE: Added for making of interviews. [Source: Brand Republic] – Thanks to Aaron Shims for the tip.

Speaking of pixelated, it’s been a year and a half since we tackled bad skateboarding video games from the 8 bit days. It was called  “Seven days of bad skateboarding video games” but apparently I abandoned the concept after only three ( 1 – 2 – 3) days. Metro Cross has the honor of winning the worst video game box cover in a PC World article. – Thanks to Bobcat for the tip.

From the marketing book, Chasing Cool. Tony Hawk has at least one quote: “I can’t imagine having to hire a so-called Cool Hunter. If I had to go to someone else to be cool, I’d just pack up my bags and find a new profession.”

Just as there is a group of enthusiasts who get a kick out of building life size models of objects, including skateboards, from Legos, there’s another group of Lego builders that exclusively builds larger than life (10x) replicas of Lego figures out of… Legos. Dave over at Brick Player has made a 10x replica of a Lego minifig skateboarder. In case you are wondering, he’s got a popsicle in his hand for some reason.

Check out Ettubrute’s Flickr set of Dutch architects MVRDV’s Villa VPro. I have some really cool concept books by these guys so I was psyched to see something they had actually built. At the first view of the ouside I’m thinking that looks skateable and it just kept getting better. Hey, you could get a job with a Dutch television studio. – Thanks to Pinch for the link.

The Skate Zombies series of vinyl toys by Japanese designer Tsuchiya Shobu. They go by the names Bone, Mummy, and Mosquito. They are ten inches tall and come with what looks to be a detachable skateboard. Expect to drop about $80. $80???? The tooling process must be pretty expensive for a small run, otherwise we’d be selling GVK dolls, errr, I mean figures. [Source: Lost at E Minor]

Unless they get rained out again… This Saturday the 28th there will be a ramp Jam at the Norcal Surf Shop (650-738-9283) in Pacifica CA, next to the Linda Mar (Taco Bell) Beach, 1 Block North of the Skatepark on Highway 1 (Cabrillo Hwy) at 5460 Coast Hwy. How’s that for specifics? Live music and DJ’s too. It starts at 1pm, but there will be an informal warm up session at the nearby concrete skatepark. Click to enlarge.

Just like the title says; it’s Old School Skateboarding Slams from the northern Indianapolis area, circa ’87-90. Nothing in it stands out as spectacular, but taken as a whole it’s got a big warm, fuzzy vibe. My favorite slam starts at the 1:35 mark. It’s way off in the background and doesn’t make a good screen capture, so I went with my second favorite slam that happens immediately after. GVK said he felt like he could have been at any one of these sessions. Watch the whole thing after the jump.

Stikboards are a plasticy skateboard deck that can be ridden like a skateboard on slippery substances like grass, snow or even sand. Big deal, right? Somehow the “inventor” came up with the idea of riding these things on garden mesh, a plastic mesh used in landscaping. Whether he engineered it that way or it was a happy accident, these things seem to slide really well on the stuff. My first take on this was that it was just about the lamest skateboard related thing I’d ever seen (in the past week or two at least.) I mean, they actually advocate spreading the mesh out at a skatepark. I ‘d love to be there when someone tried that at Burnside… Then I started poking around and watching the videos and my mind changed a little. They show a backyard skate spot setup with rails and such, launch ramps… set up on grass, but with the approach and landing covered in mesh, which is supposed to be inexpensive. I’ll be damned if it doesn’t appear to work pretty good, although the video is postage stamp sized, circa 1995. It occurred to me that any institutional arguments against “street stikboarding” would be nullified.…

Carl Warren hipped me to this dude… Sorry, channelling Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure. I needed a shot of the week, and I wanted to show something with the new roof once it went up. They didn’t tell me and I didn’t think to ask. Sorry, channelling True Romance. Hood River has an awesome gap to jump, and an awesome roof to skate under. Thanks once again, to man on the scene Carl Warren. Check out the full frame shot of the week and then some bonus shots after the jump.