Imagine yourself hurtling down a hill sitting on a skateboard just inches off the ground. Sounds crazy… but it’s true. THIS is Skate Karts.

Lightwater Valley is one of those amusement parks geared more towards little kids. It’s in the U.K. somewhere, and they charge a general admission by the height of the kid. One of the attractions is the Skate Karts. It actually looks really dangerous for little kids. I foresee lots of bloody knuckles unless the hill is really, really mellow. I’m guessing it’s less than extreme since they don’t show a comprehensive view of the “track.” Of course they could just skip the imagination part and actually, you know, skateboard. More thrilling pictures after the jump.

Our old buddy Eugene Lardizabal writes from Kansas:

Finally took my screws out on Monday. Now I should be able to land that 540…

Check out the hardware they took out. He says there was a broken screw missing from the photo. Best wishes for a speedy recovery Eugene. You should use those screws to build a ramp.

We pretend to be a legitimate source of information on skateboarding and culture here at SnA, but really we’re just a couple of guys wise cracking at a keyboard. Nothing illustrates that more than the fact that I have two links in this post that were supposed to be related, but I’ve lost my notes and context so can’t make a thoughtful analysis. Aww hell, I’m posting it anyway. First we have a gallery of anti skating devices called Unsubtle deterrents. None of the photos are amazing, but the collection sure has an nice calming effect for some reason, even though it should make my blood boil. I only wish they were all the same size and orientation. Next we have a paper by Ocean Howell titled “The Poetics of Security: Skateboarding, Urban Design, and the New Public Space” Sure it’s a bit dry, but the gist is that “skateboarding is exceptionally good at drawing attention to the quietly exclusionary nature of the new public space.” In other words, public spaces are being designed to force the public to use them in ways that the public doesn’t necessarily want to. It’s like the grandmother that gives you $10 for your birthday but tells you you have to put it in the bank and not spend it on comic books or candy. Gee, thanks. There’s a pretty obvious conclusion to draw about modern skatepark design from a street skater’s point of view. In any case Ocean’s article exists on an online archive that craps out after seven pages of text with titles like “Voyeur-god vs. the Spatial Practitioner” that all have to do with skateboarding in public spaces. I haven’t read it all yet. I thought there was no limit to how much I was willing to geek out about skateboarding, but apparently I found it.

Yeah, this is old, but still good. I can’t believe this went down at D.O.S. and we didn’t know about it. Well actually, I can. From the D.O.S. website:

This went down a long time ago, but who knows how many people actually saw it. Dave England and some buddies made this for a website and it got passed around the interweb for a minute. Beach was the perfect dude to try and ride something like this. The first time they did it, they blew all the balloons up with their mouths. 10 hours and they ended up with a quarter of the balloons shown. Round 2 they got an air compressor.

The best thing (aside from a bowl full of balloons) is all the popping noises. I imagine the longer they rode the sketchier it got. Truly unique and fun stuff. Check out the vid after the jump.

Nike Skateboarding Nothing but the Truth Premiere

The NikeSB movie has been premiering in various cities, I attended the Portland premiere last Thursday at the Crystal ballroom. Everyone there was either invited or one of Screamin’ Steve’s contest winners. I’m guessing there were 200-300 people there. I wasn’t a VIP so I didn’t get free beer but I did enjoy the outing. It was a big skateboarding related event, a scene, and I saw a bunch of people I knew there. Thanks to Kevin Imamura for getting me on the list.

Aside from teaching you how to apply grip tape or remove your skateboard trucks, About.com has a whole section on home schooling. One of the units they offer has a skateboarding theme. There are word searches, crossword puzzles and multiple choice questions all based on the same 20 words. It’s a bit monotonous, but that’s your word of the day kids! Also, they make you jump through extra hoops to actually get to the pages where you can see them larger, so I’ve provided direct links, and of course the usual assorted flippant remarks. Children are our future, the little bastards.

OK. So I’m adding a “Shot of the Week” post category because a lot of these pictures have more history than the SOTW format allows, and I might as well let people chip in their own recollections or similar experiences. This week’s SOTW is from a 1984 Peoria Journal Star article on skateboarding and punk rock or something to that effect. The Peoria in question is Peoria Illinois, the same Peoria that is referenced in the familiar saying “But will it play in Peoria?” The shot is of Peoria’s premier (at the time) punk (dare I say skate punk?) band Caustic Defiance, a project of collaboration with the infamous Steppe brothers and our own Dr Brad in his more defiant and skinnier youth.

Canada’s Much Music had an event on Go Skateboarding Day that featured something called the Hide-n-Skate Ramp. It’s not super ground breaking, but it’s still pretty cool, so you’d think you could find a few pictures of this ramp being set up, in transit or at the very least, being skated, but no, there doesn’t appear to be anything anywhere on the web. WTF? I wonder if the Much Music channel actually plays music videos, unlike any of the MTV channels. Coincidentally, I also recently stumbled across plans for a mini ramp that folds up into a shed(!?) on RampPlans.org. Michael Cheah’s got seven pages of instructions and photos, but amazingly, not one picture of the damn thing folded up into a shed. As weird an pointless as that sounds, I want to see it. Come on people, let’s follow through on the obvious! You could all use some pointers on documentation from Tracy Sigler.

Steve Cave knows pro skaters but he won’t flow! Aww, come on man, give me Shecklers phone number! Haw! Haw! Steve does About.com’s skateboarding blog, AKA How to apply grip tape and clean your bearings, and he’s compiled tips on how to contact pro skateboarders. Tip #1: Don’t ask him! Actually this post just an excuse to reference the old “Maps to the skaters… Holmes!” scene which is one of the highlights in Animal Chin. Tip number two? Buy the map!