We don’t have an ASR correspondent this year. Bummer. The skateboard-centric cancer fighting, Grind For Life organization has two events at the ASR show, another installment of the winner take all high ollie contest and the potentially more interesting new event, the Hosoi Jump Ramp Jam. Surprisingly, the GFL-ASR web site has nothing on it but the date and time of the events. I’d like to see a good jump ramp jam for old times’ sake. I sure broke enough boards flailing around on them.

Time Warp is a whole show on the Discovery Network based on the premise that a couple of guys have a really expensive ultra high speed video camera, and they shoot processes and show them as you’ve never seen them. So basically, it’s all kind of silly that they make such big deal out of it now that you can basically buy a point and shoot camera for under a grand that does the same thing. The camera man even makes a big deal about it being “ready for high speed” as if it’s some giant apparatus out of a Frankenstein movie that has to be charged by lightning. There’s the obligatory “host wipes out trying to skateboard” scene, as well as some very flowery descriptions of the act of skateboarding: The urban art of skateboarding is just that: An art. It combines the athleticism of gymnastics with the choreography of ice skating, with all of the in-your-face aggression of a street fight. Err… right. Greg Lutzka’ is the pro that skates for them. He seems like a likable guy on camera. They spend way too much time dissecting an ollie, and not enough time showing more complicated derivatives that…

Public skateparks should be open 24-7, and free to boot, but that’s a different rant altogether. Dan Hughes made a road trip recently, and ran into a bunch of padlocks.

Sure, we may rib him a little on some of his endorsement choices, but Tony Hawk’s record on advancing the sport and and promoting concrete skateparks is unimpeachable. The Tony Hawk Foundation has just funded the printing of a revised edition of the very valuable Public Skatepark Development Guide which can be yours for the price of shipping. Check out the press release after the jump.

House of Neil sent me a couple pictures of him skating on the Wallasey (UK) seafront in the fall of 1984. The weather looks ominous. Are there tank traps on the other side of that wall? I love looking at grainy old skate photos. What board are you riding there Neil? Larger versions after the jump.

Satori Movement is joining Sector 9 in the alternative-based urethane market, but it looks like Satori has raised the bar a little. These wheels combine a core made out of recycled plastic with a riding surface made out of 50% bio oils, and are guaranteed against flat spots. If you recall, Sector 9 doesn’t name the amount of soy-based urethane in their product. Satori doesn’t specifically say it uses soy, referring to vegetable oils instead, so maybe these wheels smell like french fries! You can find out when the wheels become available in February. Check out Satori Movement for more details. We’re running out of adjectives for environmentally friendly urethane compounds. I should trademark GreenThane, EnvirotThane, EarthoThane…

This is a shot from October of 2006. It’s been cropped to fit horizontally. It’s Mike McCarley, one of the owners of Shrunken Head Skateboards. Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.

As we were pulling up to the park yesterday I remarked how small this park seems now, compared to the vast expanse it felt like when it first opened. Battle Ground, Washington has a lot to offer, at least in terms of skateparks. I took some photos yesterday, catch them after the jump.

Congrats to Juice, the magazine you love to wait (and wait) for, on celebrating their 15th year of publication with issue #65. That averages out to over 5 issues a year. They must have really cranked some out at one point, because I swear there were a few years in there where you were lucky to see one issue. I kid, only because I love… Hey, what’s on the cover? Mark Scott at Burnside! Steve Olson handled the interview honors and Portlander Dave Hupp handled the photos. Hey, who’s that on page 70? Why that’s our own (and his own) Mark Conahan! Jim Murphy manned the tape recorder and Portlander Bryce Kanights manned the camera. I think Bryce actually spends more time traveling then he does hanging out in Portland, but his couch is here, so he’s a local. It’s great to see the Northwest finally getting some coverage… Get your copy wherever Juice is sold. If you can’t find it, I happen to know the imaginary Portland rep for Juice.

The Exit Real World team is doing a demo and premiering a video at Windells Camp near Mt Hood in Oregon. IAlthough you’d be hard pressed to know that if you looked at their web sites. It’s this saturday at 1pm. The park is open from 9 -5, and lately Grover has been going there on saturdays with his offspring and an empty facility. That’s right, I’m blowing it out. Saturdays are a good day for an uncrowded, very uncrowded session at Windells. See you in the foam pit. P.S. I heard Windells was recently featured on an MTV show called True Life, of which I know nothing about. Those darn kids and their loud rock and/or roll.