The New York times has a thing for putting skateboarding in the fashion section lately. I was going to blow of this article titled “Skateboarding Rolls Out of the Suburbs,” but the skateboarding and hip hop blogs are hyping it and you know we follow the trends around here. There’s not much to it besides the fact that black kids can now skate without being harassed by their peers. You get to see a photo of Pharrell Williams doing a street plant as well as read this choice quote from him: “I was rapping and it was getting me nowhere, so I went back to my roots… …When I’m with rappers in the studio, they say, ‘I used to skate, too,’” Mr. Williams said. “I can only just say I was one of the ones that was willing to speak up about it.” Wow man, that took a lot of courage to come out as a skateboarder in public in hopes of jump starting a failing rap career. He’s a regular Rosa Parks. On the plus side, they also briefly quote Stevie Williams and Steven Snyder, the former Alva rider and long time Chicago favorite now working at Uprise. Sift…

BK has a great shot over at SkateDaily this week. Has Sheckler ever made the cover of Tiger Beat? Man aren’t you glad you weren’t trying to skate whatever that park is that Bryce was at?

Kyle Dion from New Line Skateparks graciously provided the renderings from tonight’s Ed Benedict presentation for us to share. I posted them at Skaters for Portland Skateparks The dozen or so guys that showed up for the meeting seemed pleased with the design. You can comment on the plaza design on the Portland Parks website through 11/30/07. They will pass those comments on to NewLine Skateparks. Dan Garland has been awarded the Percent for Art commission. He showed his ideas. We’ll try to get some images from him.

Speaking of finding balance: Dear Online Publisher, We have just launched a new boardsport specific affiliate network featuring: Cool advertising campaigns targeted at snowboarders, skateboarders, surfers and freeskiers Higher earnings potential by sharing revenues with advertisers based on the shared performance of their ad creative combined with your site Full control over everything on your site, choosing the campaigns and tracking their performance to monitor earnings The first campaigns are live! We focus on boardsports ensuring you get specific advertising that fits your content and appeals to your users We negotiate commissions for you ranging from 5% to 15% NOKIA Air and Style / Freecaster.tv – big air event in Munich in December Boardsport Warehouse – a large online retailer of snowboarding, surfing and skiing equipment Oxbow – the legendary French surf/snowboarding clothing brand Rider Discount – large French online retailer of surf, snow and skateboarding gear Lucozade – the official sports drink of the UK Snowboarding Team Blah blah blah. Awesome.

New Line will show a design for the Ed Benedict Skate Plaza. 7:00-8:30pm Earl Boyles Elementary School Cafeteria 10822 SE Bush Portland, Oregon Ed Benedict drawing borrowed from the Animation Blast website.

So we covered the 70’s marketing tie in, now it’s time for something that reeks of the 80’s. This Max Headroom / Coke themed skateboard by Variflex is available as a Buy it Now now for $169.99. It’s got appeal for the skateboard collector crowd as well as another equally zealous group of people who collect Coca-Cola advertising material. Max Headroom pushing New Coke! As an example of the exploitation skateboards of the 80’s, this mint board is excellent, if not totally radical. It’s got the full set of plastics with nicely accented risers and a lapper. Geez, did that sentence actually just come from my brain to fingers? Please shoot me. Max Headroom’s popularity lasted slightly longer than that of “New” Coke. More pictures after the jump.

Oh how I long for the days when you could impress your half shirt and bell bottom wearing girlfriend by high jumping over your MG while wearing a hockey helmet. Check out the full advert after the jump.

In Oregon, the Lake Oswego Observer reports that a kid named Kosh McClure was hit by a train while skating and lived to tell the tale. Kosh McClure didn’t know how close he had come to dying until he awoke on a sidewalk on State Street. “I was laying on the ground and I couldn’t see,” McClure recalled. “Everything was really fuzzy. Everyone was like, “You got hit by a train!'”  As he recovered this week from a near-death experience, McClure and his mother, Jodi Roderick McClure, counted their blessings. The 15-year-old Lake Oswego High School sophomore spoke calmly about what it’s like to be hit by a locomotive. And no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet, so that finally debunks that myth, huh kids? But the man won’t leave him be. The Lake Oswego police chief mentioned that Kosh should have been wearing a helmet by state law, and his case has been referred to juvenile court for a city ordinance regarding hazardous riding. That will teach him. Amazingly, some people are blaming the markings on the street and not the skater. Check out Train vs. Skateboard.