Danimal called my attention to an email from Vancouver-Clark Washington Parks & Recreation that I’d been meaning to follow up on. They added a couple of new skate spots in addition to the “Extreme Sports Park” at Pacific Community Park. I meant to go check them out, but Sam over at SkateOregon already has. He’s got site photos, map links, and links to the appropriate Parks & Rec pages with history, construction photos, and other details. No need to repost that stuff here, so head on over to SkateOregon. Vancouver Washington has three “skate spots” now. The one at the top is at Tenny Creek, and looks the most promising. It’s simple but has a lot to offer. I think we may be approaching the day where these things get built out of habit instead of as an exception. Screw the good old days – these are the good old days!

Does that background graphic look familiar? The article is an interview with a well-known fly-fishing personality. I wonder if he has a dark history – he does suggest he might have to kill the interviewer if forced to reveal his fishing plans. thisisfly.com is a web ‘zine targeted at dudes who like to get radical with a flyrod. I am told that the east coast saltwater scene is a more thrill oriented than the freshwater scene. I wonder if these guys are into the PBR rather than the single-malt scotch and briar pipes.

No, not Mike Tyson the ear-biting tattoo-faced psychopath, but Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog. He’s going to be on Oprah on November 6th, and Harpo has posted a schlocky preview of it on YouTube. Oprah’s got a tight lockdown on the way her image is portrayed, right down to denying others the ability to embed the videos, so you’ll have to leave the friendly confines of Skate and Annoy to watch it directly on YouTube. She does have her finger on pulse of popular culture though. After this very timely TV appearance of the popular phenomenon known as Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog, I hear she’s going to have exclusive animation of that dancing baby from 1997.

Yes, we’ve mentioned Google Maps Street View before, but it’s still good to make a note when various skate spots come online. Here’s a peek at perhaps the world’s most famous skatepark. Burnside never looked so clean. Thanks to Grumpy Joe for the tip.

Eastpack and Red Bull footed the bill for 6 DIY concrete spots in Austria. These aren’t full sized spots, but rather single modifications to existing spots or sometimes creating a new spot by providing an approach to a previously unskateable spot. Nothing earth shaking, but cool nonetheless. There’s a short video clip by Niki Waltl that covers 2 days, 6 spots and more than 1000 kilometres by car. A few of those spots look like left over anti-tank barriers from the war. It is Austria, you know. Download it here. It looks like these guys made it happen.

Here’s the progress (Note: Click On Pictures To See In True Form). News of the concrete being poured are the talk of the town, early next week they plan to trowel. Check out the plans, a slight change to the last post.

File under poor execution of a good idea. GameDaily has a gallery of images comparing real photos of pro skaters and their Tony Hawk video game series counterparts. Unfortunately only a few of the 11 sets manage to match the “pose.” Check out these photo mashups showing off Tony and the rest of the cast as they display some of their signature moves, in-game and in real life. Apparently Bam Margera’s real life signature move is to sit on his ass, while his video game signature is a benihana. The best matching sets are Tony Hawk and Ryan “Mr Awesomely Humble” Sheckler, as shown above. Only if you are bored. GameDaily is a super slow loader.

The big question is why no skateboarding in two seasons of My Name is Earl, especially with all the flashback scenes? Above left is a still from Stereo’s Tincan Folklore which was released in 1996 but has some footage of Jason circa mid to late 80’s. Above right is from Blind’s Video Days, which was released in 1991. You can watch them both after the jump.

ESPN (or EXPN, make up your mind guys) has a short article called Skate Rock Refined that talks about the musical projects of some pro skaters. It leads off with Danny Way and Bob Burnquist’s band Escalera, and eventually gets around to Tommy Guerrero, Ray Barbee, Matt Rodriguez and Chuck Treece. Did you know that Barbee got his first guitar from Stacy Peralta? Check it out. Speaking of rock and roll, Linda Stein was found murdered in her apartment. Who was she? Among other things, a former Ramones manager and ex wife of Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records, the Ramones record label for 11 of their 14 full length studio recordings.