There’s a new trailer for Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park movie. Lots of skateboarding and local Portland shots. Not a bad trailer actually, kind of makes me want to see the movie, no matter what Grover says. I think his badmouthing of Elephant was the reason we were “out of the loop” when the movie was in production. I actually got a call for assistance from Van Sant’s assistant, who it turns out was related to a friend of the family. We talked and everything seemed fine until… nothing. I was puzzled until I realized Grover made fun of Elephant in a GVK that was current at the time. Who knows, they probably just didn’t need anything. – Thanks to G N for the tip.

Granted, the site is named Hypebeast, but they are reporting that the Disney corporation has Christian Hosoi to design some limited edition skate decks and apparel. No actual confirmations yet, so maybe it was just an excuse to make that cool graphic. Old Walt must be (rock and) rolling in his grave, except for his cryogenically frozen head. – Thanks to JF for the tip.

I been to the edge, and there I stood and looked down. You know I lost a lot of friends there baby, I got no time to mess around. So if you want it got to bleed for it baby. John Aguilar sent in this Jeremy Brown photo of his buddy John Veitch grabbing a frontside edger in the bowl at Bellingham Washington. That’s an edger, not an air. I like to toss the old backside edger into a session on a regular basis, but fronstide edgers are courting disaster and not disasters. This is the largest size file he had, so I can’t show you a close up of the wheel on the coping. Love the edger.

High temperature today was 38° in Portland – pretty stiff east wind too. Even though the sun was shining it was miserable enough to prevent people from enjoying outdoor activities. Even with school out for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, at noon, most of Glenhaven Park’s 15.69 acres was deserted, no joggers, no kids on the playground, no soccer, tennis or baseball. All 22 users of the park could be found in the quarter-acre skatepark. We need more skateparks. Of course, all the other missing outdoor types might have been out doing positive things for the community. Photo from Antigrav remote

Some time in 2003 Steve Grover was skating by himself at the West Linn skatepark in the middle of the day. Steve Olson showed up out of the blue and took a few runs. Then he got out an old Polaroid camera and asked Steve Grover if he would snap a few shots. Grover said sure, but also suggested that he get to keep a couple. It was a win-win situation. Check out the Shot of the Week, plus a bonus alternate shot after the jump.

Sure, we had construction pictures of San Jose’s Lake Cunningham skatepark out the wazoo and then some, but nobody cares about that once the park is open. Especially when you have a photo session with Lance Mountain, Steve Cabellero, Salba, and Rick “Ask the Doctor” Blackhart. Head on over to Concrete Disciples for the always adept MRZ photos. The server has been hit or miss since for a while now, just try back later if it doesn’t load. – Thanks to JF for the tip.

Long time Portland community activist, skateshop owner and skateboarding supporter (duh!) Howard Weiner has dropped out of the race for Portland City Council. He is endorsing candidate Jim Middaugh who happens to be Chief of Staff for City Commissioner Erik Sten. This is disappointing for Portland’s public skatepark skate scene, and it raises two obvious questions. First, can I get my $5 back? And second, will this set a precedent of City Commissioner Chief of Staffs running for office – meaning when can we expect SPS board member and Sam Adams’ Chief of Staff, Tom Miller to make a run for it? [Source: Seattleskateparks.org – Really? We had to find out from Seattle?]

This really short kid goes to private school, has a girl-sh sounding name (Ailene, pronounced Ilene.) practices freestyle and pushes mongo. That’s enough to make him a punching bag at many schools, or at least quarantined for some sort of sociology experiment, but Ailene seems to be doing OK. I had this video as an aside for a link to an article titled “Teach Your Child How to Skateboard,” but it’s boring and Ailene’s “How to skateboard for beginners” is much more entertaining. He made it for a class project. He goes over some basics and then gets his non-skating friend Bruce to bust his ass trying the moves. I was about to scrap the whole post until the video got past the standing on a board part and Ailene started busting out with the freestyle moves. One of the the trick tips is the casper. The casper? Where did this kid even see a casper? After a litany of freestyle how-to’s (which I’m sure is the order of how most kids learn to skate) Ailene finally shows a kickflip as an afterthought in the “extras” section. You know that move where you half step off the board and it…

You’re not turning me on, your embarassing yourself! or That ski hat makes you look stupid in your bikini! – maybe something like that. I’m sure you can do better. Best caption wins a noprize! Hawt skater gurl Available from iStock Photo.