I was unaware, but maybe you’ve heard of this before… Apparently, there is some sort of long standing history of skateboarding in Portland Oregon. Who knew? Someone should commemorate that. Besides building 19 new skateparks, the City of Portland is sponsoring an exhibit called Board of Art: A Historical Perspective of Stumptown Skate on August 2nd from 5:00-8:00pm at City Hall (1221 SW 4th). There will even be a half pipe set up in front of city hall. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city’s top brass embrace skateboarding so much. Thanks Comissioner Sam! Now why wasn’t I invited to be artsy with my peers? Oh wait. I was, and I dropped the ball. Nice one. [Graphic: Bettina McEntyre]

I’ve never seen Kleeman and Mike before but the intro is awesome. The skating looks very realistic. Looks like they rotoscoped their own video footage (from Claremont I think) It helps that they skate with some rad dudes. The story has some funny bits too. Thanks to Colin for pointing this out.

I had always intended to include video footage with our series of DIY articles on screenprinting skateboards (see bottom pics). Now that I’ve seen the Sistine Chapel of screenprinting videos I can’t see the point of making what will obviously be, an inferior copy of a master’s work. From Aesthetic Apparatus comes this video of the silkscreen process. Although these guys are making posters, it’s essentially the same process used for screen printing skateboards, or screen printing heat transfers. How does this video manage to be educational, annoying, and hilarious at the same time? Watch and find out. [Source: The News]

Wheelie. Wheelie. Wheelie. My friend did a manual, and then a nose manual on a ledge which is longer than a football field. The actual distance was 315.21 feet and I found that using Google Earth, I even included a screen shot at the end of the clip for you non-believers. Wheelie. Wheelie. Wheelie. Update: I never said this was the longest, but people keep sending in longer manuals, so I’ve added them after the jump. However, this first video is still (more?) interesting for three reasons: Unlike the others, it’s an ollie to manual. There’s a Google Earth picture of this huge manual pad. The other guys are appear to be rolling downhill.

Pictures of Holly Farm from last Thursday at Skaters for Portland Skateparks.

A seemingly drunk or otherwise incapacitated Jamie Kennedy interviewed Tony Hawk and his game developer at E3, which is to video games what an eBay convention would be like for skateboard collectors. Jamie is clearly phoning in his performance and bombing, but it’s still pretty funny to watch him take the piss out of all the video game geeks. Also amusing is when Tony Hawk realizes he’s in a bullshit situation and turns it back on Jamie a little. Watch the vid (only if you are bored) after the jump. And while we’re doing video games and skateboarding, if you are truly bored, you can also see a picture of a board someone painstakingly painted with a character from the Legend of Zelda. [Source: Gametrailers.com via Best Week Ever]

Earth Patrol Media has finished posting their Sleestock 2007 pictures. Above area a few of my favorites. Top is a kid named andy with an Andrecht on the hip. So Rad. On the bottom is this year’s answer to last year’s parking lot cooler session. Next, check out Tim Eberly’s Bangles inspired stance in the middle bottom. He does this weird thing sometimes when he drops in, at the last second he turns his back foot parallel to the board. He’s shifty! Lastly, it’s the man with the plan, the Stak’s own Bobcat. Noticeably absent from the gallery? Me! Come on man, I learned how to carve over the stairs with my hand on the bottom step. EPM caught it on film and I was quite pleased with myself. Maybe I looked like Hitler again. Fortunately there is plenty of other viewage available. Check out EPM’s Sleetsock 2007 coverage.

Team Shralp passed along a report on the Vancouver meeting last week. Sorry I’m a little slow in passing along the info. Sounds like there was a decent turnout – a mix of ages and a few skateboarders for a change. Some neighbors thought the skatepark was getting special treatment – dog park people were pissed cause they pay for their trash removal, restrooms, and fencing but the skatepark is going to have those things provided by the city, months ahead of any other feature in the park. What can we say skateboarders have a better lobby. There was some loose discussion of rules, kind of like Battle Ground’s rules: bikes and skateboards all the time, pegs yes, and be polite to each other and people and things around the park. The current plan is to open mid-August and they are going to sneak it – no big event just open the gates and let it happen, just word of mouth. Thanks Jason. skatepark rendering from Grindline

OK, first this month I want to clarify some things. Namely, what Baywatch is and what it is not. It is a column where I list skateboard related auctions that caught my eye the previous month on eBay. It is completely random: I cover what I find interesting, unusual or funny. It is not a price guide and was never meant to be one. I guess because I list the final auction price people sometimes use it in that way, but that is not the prime purpose. If a definitive price guide is what you are looking for, then you are looking in the wrong place. If not, then check out the June 2007 eBay Watch.