This Friday – December 7th, 2007, The fine folks at the SE 67th and SE Foster Dutch Bros. Coffee will donate one dollar per drink sold to Skaters for Portland Skateparks. They do a regular donation to community organizations that benefit youth. If you’re in South east, drop by between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. Thanks Bros!

I love it when science fiction type technology becomes real, and so do you. A cheeky brit (uses the F-word in interviews!) has invented a polymer foam that is flexible until the molecules are excited, and then it get harder faster than a 13 year old boy slow dancing. So far it’s already in use in some sports equipment like shin guards and goalie gloves for soccer. Quiksilver has reportedly made a beanie with the material, called 3do foam, although a web search of the site reveals nothing. (Update: Here’s a buy link, but 6500 Euro is $9,595. That can’t be right. ) Globe shoes has an exclusive action sports footwear license for the material, and is said to be using it for absorbing heal impact without sacrificing flexibility. It sounds like an amazing breakthrough for street skaters, and even bowl riders who have been known to get a bruised heal. Suddenly, knee and hip pads can be totally unobtrusive as well. The foam only works where it is up against a somewhat rigid surface, so it won’t protect you against getting a board to the nuts. Now if they can just get this technology into trucker hats and hoodies, maybe you’ll finally see fashionable helmets at skateparks. You can watch a video of a reporter whacking the inventor on the head with a shovel after the jump. – Thanks to Grumpy Joe for the tip.

In solidarity with the striking writers, all the adorable animals on the Internet are going on strike. From Colbert Report writers Frank Lesser and Rob Dubbin.

Films by skateboarders.
www.underskatement.com

Portland, OR
December 8th 7 p.m – All ages / 9:00 p.m. – 21 and over
Clinton Street Theater – 2522 SE Clinton St.
After party at DOTS cafe
2521 SE Clinton St. 21 and over.

Seattle, WA
December 12th 7 – All ages / 9:30 – 21 and over

Central Cinema – 1411 21st Ave.

Vancouver, B.C.
December 15th 2:30
Pacific Cinematheque – 1131 Howe St.

I love iStockphoto. I’ve even purchased a couple of pictures for use on Skate and Annoy, non skateboarding pictures, mind you. The big picture on the left came up on a Google alert today, and all it said was “Extreme Skateboarding,” so I had to check. A cursory search for other “Extreme Skateboarding” images brought up 44 inages total, a couple of which were also funny. Funny in that they aren’t very, well, you know, Extreme!™ There’s standing guy on the top right, and my favorite, a kid doing a slide of sorts with his hands planted. In thumbnail view it just looks like an eviscerated torso.. Hold on, that’s not right. The torso is missing, so it’s just a couple of legs and an ass on a skateboard. Wait, the photog has labeled it Headless Skateboarder. Gawd, what a great post I just made.

I kept hearing that Dave Chapelle skated, but I never saw it. Now I have, sort of. Looks like he’s more of a street skater, but someone at RYE Airfield got him on the vert ramp.

– Thanks to Chip Jones for the tip.

Paranoia will destroy ya! We get catalogs sent to my house with all kinds of questionable and mostly overpriced crap for kids. A while ago my wife pulled out a page with a soft baby helmet and I shelved it until I got another email from Grumpy Joe that had a link to another soft helmet for adults and kids. Joe and I are in agreement on the best part of the marketing for these things:

ProtectaCap® custom-fitting soft protective headgear is ideal for children and adults who refuse to wear protective headgear.

Ok Ok, let’s not shoot fish in a barrel. I thought it was absurd until I realized that they are actually talking about other soft helmets for people with certain medical conditions. What conditions? Craniectomy, craniosynostosis, seizures, cerebral palsy, head banging, balance disorders, post surgery, hydrocephalus, shunts, microcephaly, Special Olympics, hemophilia, Parkinsons, Huntingtons, autism, and traumatic brain injuries. And let’s see, my two year old has gotten some pretty gnarly head gashes around the house. Still, I’m not going to make my three month old wear one of those. Check out the Bumper Bonnet (left) and the ProtectaCap, whose parent company is Plum Enterprises, has a web address of “plument.com,” which is almost like “plummet.”

New issue of This is Fly is out. Another skateboarding connection-coincidence? Issue five includes the video Fish Tales inspired by a Jeremy Fish fish shaped board from Element. Crazy urban fishing highjinks and a little skateboarding.

Last Friday Evel Knievel passed away at the age of 69. He had been battling lung disease for the last three years. Any skateboarder that can remember the first time they got on a board as a child or even teenager should be able to relive to the thrill that you felt the first time you felt that glide over the concrete or asphalt. Many of us were called “daredevils” by our chuckling neighbors, parents or relatives. Many of us felt like outlaws skating in times when it was unpopular. All of us should be able to relate to Evel a little. Nowadays there are about hundred Extreme Motocross riders (who probably have a different name for their discipline) who perform technical jumps of higher magnitudes of difficulty on a regular basis in arenas everywhere, but Evel was the first of his kind, and he was a real showman as well. As I kid I sat glued to the TV when he jumped double decker busses in a stadium. Of course he ate it pretty bad. I also watched the less than spectacular Snake River canyon jump too. Even though it seemed like he was always eating it, you had to love the guy. The Photos above are all from the official Evel Knievel web site. On the bottom right that’s Tony Hawk with Evel as part of a Vanity Fair photos shoot featuring sports icons and their hereos. Tony chose Evel Kneivel for his session.