Untold True Story has an interview with Grant Brittian, former photo king of Transworld and present king of The Skateboard Mag. The interview is over a year old, but it’s still an interesting read. Afterwards you can head on over to Grant’s site to check out some of his work, both skateboarding related and otherwise.

The signs next to this public space say “Interdiction De Monter Sur Le Mur,” which I’m pretty sure means “stay off the wall.” This French spot is labeled as La Vague du Parc Clichy/Batignolles. I don’t know where or what (ou, quoi) that is, but the spot looks rad. I imagine a curb will go up at the bottom of that soon. There are few more pics on Skatepark de Paris’ flickr stream. Thanks to German reader Michael Pfister who originally saw this on SkateAndDestroy.de.

Without fanfare, Portland’s Holly Farm skate spot opened for business. Monkey business is what went down there this morning. We go there in the rain this morning, but as it let off we were able to push the water around with some rags and it air dried pretty fast. That’s City Comissioner Sam Adam’s aide Tom Miller with a frontside grind over the love seat. Tom was one of the first people on hand to check out the new spot, and why not, he’s a huge part of the reason Portland has a system of skateparks on the books instead of just one or two parks. Thank Skaters for Portland Skateparks and a few progressive individuals in city hall. Where is Holly Farm park? 10819 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland Oregon. How is Holly Farm? Small, funky and fun. These skate spots are a good bang for your buck. Here’s another angle. Be nice to the neighbors and pick up some trash please, even if it isn’t yours. It’s a great age to be a skateboarder in Portland.

This guy was challenged to make 200 Bad Comics Hey! a couple of them were about skateboarding and a few of them were funny. Not necessarily the same ones though.

Last time New Jersey. This time in the UK. Local residents who live adjacent to the skatepark are very concerned with vulgar talk and behavior.

However, we now feel that if we allow our children to spend time in our garden they will have vulgar language permeating through their ears. What affects us more directly are the youths who smoke and use very vulgar language towards each other, which is audible from our garden. This means that we are unable to sit out on dry days with family and friends whilst this abusive language can be heard so clearly.

I felt kind of bad for them, until I learned where they lived.

SOME Cockermouth residents and councillors claim a skateboard ramp in the town is causing them misery..

2007 Dew Tour videos are available from the iTunes Music Store. They have the Panasonic and the Right Guard up so far. You can buy a season pass for $20 which will save you money if you watch more than 10. Vert seems to be in two parts so that could happen. I just finished watching the 2006 final which was a free download. Some really good vert skating. I really enjoyed it.

Are you in Holland? Do you care that before Deathbox was a dying Tumyeto brand, it was a U.K. company in the late 80’s that morphed into Flip? If so, go to the Deathbox 20th Anniversary Show at VIP International Art Gallery in Rotterdam, Holland. It’s probably going on right now as I type this. [Source: The Skateboard Mag]

The Wall Street Journal has an article on the blank skateboards titled “Avid Boarders Bypass Branded Gear: The $15 ‘Blank Decks’ Work Just Fine — A Marketing Challenge for Industry.”

Zoo York riders scored the photo incentives. If you’re hoping for the old school pen and ink renderings that they used to use for illustrations you’ll be disappointed. In fact the first composite illustration looks more like something out of a second rate USA Today. It’s like all those years without a photo editor have them crippled. One recurring theme is that the kids with real talent are the ones that are buying blanks, and the newbies are buying branded gear. I don’t know about your town, but I see mostly the opposite happening in Portland. The IASC is quoted, and even brings up their ill fated “A World Without Pros” campaign. Here are some interesting facts. There are an estimated 800 professional and semi-professional skateboarders on the industry’s payroll, and Santa Cruz (NHS actually) claims an R&D budget of $500,000 annually. There are a few factual anomalies in the article. Apparently in Sioux Falls Iowa you can buy a “complete” deck from Crown for $30, or a name brand for $60. I’m sure they meant deck only, but even so, $60 for a normal production run deck is a rip off. Another kid who broke his deck had to buy his own replacement when his mom refused to foot the bill. “…he chose a $130 one from Mystery Skateboards — on his own.” Someone should tell that kid that his trucks and wheels were still good. Read the Wall Street Journal. Just in case you are wondering, yes, we think Skate and Annoy is every bit as revered and important as the Wall Street Journal. More so, actually. Thanks to Michael Brooke for the tip off.