Some of the guys on Skull and Bones are taking the grayscale Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust Santa Cruz reissues and adding their own color. Some are truly remarkable. Some people use paint pens or markers, while others sand the decks first, then apply color. Amazing craftsmanship. Click here to see a comparison, but you have to see the full size images to fully appreciate them.

You’ve seen it under construction, and now here’s the newly/nearly finished Modern Skate & Surf skatepark in suburban Detroit (Royal Oak), Michigan. Now you may ask yourself, where is my beautiful house? Does Skate and Annoy have some sort of unholy arrangement with Team Pain? The answer is no, it’s just that Tito is kind enough keep us supplied.

Answering the call of redattore capo Kilwag for more street coverage. I found a few segments captured in HD. I can’t speak for everyone, but when I bought my first high definition television I sought out HD content to watch. Just to see what the hell I was paying for, didn’t matter what it was, if it was in HD I’d watch it. Somehow placating myself to justify my purchase I suppose. In the end I don’t care one way or the other as I’m into substance over visuals when it comes to my TV viewing.

With the commodities like digital video cameras, HD is arriving to skate videos. Consumer based HD cameras are <$1000 now. Some of the bigger brands in skateboarding such as Girl and DC are even shooting with the RED camera costing over $20,000 for a setup.  Even Lakai’s video Fully Flared is heading to Bluray discs. Videos and more after the jump. Thanks to Skate Fairy for images and info.

Help! I’m creatively bankrupt! (AKA Skate and Annoy is looking for contributors.) Skate and Annoy is looking for a few more good contributors. Sure, the benefits are mostly limited to the respect/scorn of your peers, but think of the glory…

Here’s another edition of Skateboard Gossip from My Wife, who incidentally, gets all her info from gay men who write celebrity blogs on the Interwebs™, so you know it’s relevant to this site too. First up, It’s Ryan Sheckler on the cover of ESPN Magazine, although it looks like he’s been replaced already. No, the word “Hot” is not editorial commentary from SnA, rather it’s from Perez Hilton, who seems to have a bit of a non-heterosexual man-crush. He’s reported on Sheckler before. Guess what? He’s officially a celebrity once non-skating gay males start fixating on him. This one is for the haters. From the cover, Sheckler appears to be quoted as saying “I want to give them more reasons not to like me.” It’s official again! Ryan Sheckler is Punk Rock! I’d love to get the rest of the context, but ESPN has some sort of convoluted “Digital Edition” of the magazine designed to annoy people enough to not want to read the content online for free. Part two of our feature is Linda Hogan, wife of Hulk Hogan, visiting their son Nick Hogan who is in jail for pulling an attempted Vince Neil. What did she bring him for his birthday visit? A skateboard of course.

More pics from Team Pain showing Colorado Springs concrete work in progress. There’s some pretty cool looking tile in some of them. Come on Tito, make with the close ups!

The LA Times reports that skaters and BMX riders alike are not too happy with ESPN’s Superpark course built by a BMX crew. The main complaints are “too small” and “tight transitions,” although you’d be hard pressed to tell by some of the photos. The Flying Tomato reminds us that this is the first year for the event, and next years will likely be better. Shaun White may be right, or he may just be more interested in making bad miniseries for HP computers. I seem to recall hearing that some of the early vert ramps in the X Games were kind of crappy too, but they eventually go that right. With more money on the line now, they’ll probably get right on that. Although the general public seems to only be interested in the Mega Ramp. [Photo: Los Angeles Times] – Thanks to Mac for the tip.

I can’t get away from my wasteful lust for old-growth maple veneers. I’ve been skating for too many years and am set in my ways. But my ever aging and growing inner-nerd can’t help but be intrigued by the innovations of using alternative materials to make skateboards. Aluminum boards have been around forever, but boards like Corbus Boards are all together something new. Made to be a functional piece of industrial art, these boards are meant to be ridden claims Corbus. A runaway board could make one of these metal monsters an ankle guillotine. Images via Corbus, link thanks to Make

Boardistan is reporting that Bones Brigade understudy Ray Underhill passed away this morning after a long battle with a brain tumor. Sean Mortimor is credited as the source, but so far no official word on the Ray Underhill site, or Eastern Skate Supply, where he worked. For what it’s worth, our condolences to his family and friends. Classic Ray Underhill in the best scene from Animal Chin after the jump. This “Ska-dack” is for you! – Thanks to Enemy Combatant (!!) for the tip. UPDATE: Official word posted on the Ray Underhill site – Leave your condolences on the bulletin board.

There are shin injuries, and then there are shin injuries. That shot in the top right is Danny Way hanging his shins out to dry on the coping of the quarterpipe part of the Megaramp after catching about 20 feet of air. Catch some incredulous highlights after the jump, including Jake Brown’s return to the event. Looking at that huge contraption… I can’t believe it’s actually used in a competition. An exhibition would be crazy enough. I hope those guys are getting paid. How the hell do you practice for this? It’s not like they have them set up everywhere. So yeah, those guys are skateboarding, and it’s amazing to watch, but one of these days someone is going to die or end up crippled. Best case scenario: They’ll be like Hank Hill’s shinless father Cotton Hill.