So I was hanging out at the mall, bringing my kid to see some really lame Shriners clowns who were out stumping for the upcoming circus. Of course you can’t go to the mall without surveying the goods and services available. There were two major department stores with skateboards as display props. I borrowed a point and shoot camera on the spot and did a little investigating.

CBSC does not embroil itself in the China vs. USA or Europe manufacturing debate. Simply we are American Skaters living in China, for almost a decade, that have pain-stakingly established quality manufacturing supply channels that allow us to 100% always control quality on-site. From the regular stream of business opportunities that come to our inbox. Cali Board Sports sure sounds and looks like an American operation, down to the soundtrack on the website. Draw your own conclusions. Skateboard quality? Who knows, but they make great babies. Congrats to occasional SnA contributor Egbert on his extremely recent adoption from the mainland, Mercy.

So I finally figured out who uses the A4 paper size. Lot’s of people in the UK, I’m sure, but hey, I never actually realized that until I went to scan in this issue of Sad Mag. The scans were all cut off, so I went back and noticed the pages fit nicely inside the “A4” markings on the scanner. Sad Mag is a zine from Shepshed, Leicestershire England. At least that’s where I think it is from. The mailing address is hard to read and I still don’t understand how the english system of addresses breaks down. This zine is actually a skateboarding and BMX zine! Who knew? I guess the scene over there was not segregated as much as it was/is here. They had Read and Destroy, which was a glossy skate/BMX mag that was actually respectable, especially as the BMX coverage dwindled. I guess we had Homeboy magazine here in the states too. What’s with the guy on the cover? “Is he havin’ a laugh?”

More on one of those other communities I heard rumors of. This video is an event called the PDX Death Race 2008. PDX is the ID for Portland’s airport, for those of you outside the area. No, the race wasn’t a the airport, that would be kind of flat, you know? This was a downhill race that involved some slalom cones that seem pretty far apart, so technically that would be Giant, Giant slalom I guess. Just because they are spaced far apart doesn’t mean it was an easy course by any means. You can see in the footage that the alternating cones were extremely close to the shoulder of asphalt. Looks very burly. After the race footage there is some bonus Coleman slide session footage.

Nau clothing company (not just another outdoor company) is using skateboarding on the entry page to their web site, as well as some banner ads in rotation elsewhere. They’ve got sustainable design philosophies, partnerships, and a code of conduct all designed to get you to spend $148 on pair of jeans. They are Portland based, and they’ve done a good job of making the images as non-location specific as possible, but it looks like Pier Park to me. Wouldn’t be the first time. Actually, before I got kicked off Youtube, I was preparing to upload a razor scooter commercial shot at Newberg! Visit the Nau web site to buy expensive skateboarding jeans, archived for posterity after the jump. – Thanks to Ben T for the tip.

Chris from Old School Skateboarding went on a group mission organized by Josh Burt for what was originally supposed to be the Portland Roll-in Challenge, but ended up being “let’s find the jankiest and roughest shit in Portland and try and skate it or roll over the top of it.” Looked like it was a good time. I would have liked to cover it if I had known about it. It’s almost as if there is some sort of diverse skateboard community in Portland with other web sites besides this one. I know, it sounds crazy, but I might have to investigate. Check it out on Old School Skateboarding, or watch the video after the jump. [Source: Sleestak]

The deep end of this pool wasn’t all that skate-able, but the shallow end woulda been a lot of fun.  I thought the snow was ironic none-the-less. Straight from Bozeman Montana I bring you some really shitty drunken point-and-shoot pictures. Rumor has it that there is an abandoned half-built hotel there with a sheet metal, sterling silver pool as well, but it’s locked up and I haven’t had time to break in and check it out yet. I do plan on it with my next trip. Even if I don’t find it, I’ve always wanted to get myself into the Bozeman Police Reports. It is one of my life goals. I think they have a 5 year old write them, and they sometimes have some pretty funny stuff in them. My favorite of today, “A dog killed two ducks”. Yes folks, basically just an excuse to post the amusing ramblings of Skate and Annoy correspondent Damienhialation. The Bozeman Police Reports write up was pretty funny that day. It’s changed since then, but I saved it for reference. “A dog killed two ducks” is a good one, but I prefer the one from the Mother of the 15 year old boy.

This week’s Shot of the Week is one from Nathan Gray. He took it last year in Bangalore India. If Nathan’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he is involved in the Sour video project we covered recently that documented a historical cultural skate session with skaters from Jordan and Israel that was filmed during the Israeli, Lebanon war/incursion/police action/violation of sovereignty, or whatever you want to call it, of 2006. See the full size version.