Steve Caballero has endorsed Powell’s new line of beginners boards (AKA Cheap and Chinese) called Powell Golden Dragon. Tony Hawk does it, Andy MacDonald does it, even Mike McGill does. Why not Cab? The Powell versions ($70) seem to be a notch above Andy’s ($50) and Mike McGill’s (models from $30-$60). I couldn’t find a link for priccing on Hawk’s low end models. Maybe I imagined them. The Golden Dragon trucks even have a bit of interesting detail instead of being completely devoid of character. Let’s see, Cab, Hawk, and McGill. When do Lance and Tommy come out with their own line of cheapo skateboards? What about Per Welinder and Rodney Mullen? Oh wait, they already have crappy boards.

“He wore make-up and shaved body hair.” Yeah, Err.. uhm.. I went through a phase like that once too, but it was in order to pick up new wave chicks. Teachers said that he was an average pupil with a poor attendance record who sometimes handed in homework, while neighbours remember him building skateboard ramps and doing wheelies on his bike on the streets around his suburban home. Since we like to entertain and educate, did you know you could spell “pedophile” like “paedophile” as well? More skateboard crime after the jump.

SkateGirl is a one hour long documentary about the movement of professional women’s skateboarding. There is a showing of SkateGirl on February 3rd in Vancouver BC’s Antisocial shop, but it’s not on their web site right now. Update: It’s up now. Susanne Tabata is in your extended network is the director. You can check out a clip after the jump. [Source: Skull Skates]

We’ve weighed in on “The War on Blanks” before, but it keeps popping up, and looks like it’s going to be an industry focus in 2007. Personally, I can’t respect hypocrisy, which is what I see when a company says blanks are bad for the industry but Chinese manufacturing is good. It’s all about the profit margins. I think it’s a case where the industry has made it’s own bed and now doesn’t want to sleep in it. What I’d like to see is information on where these blanks coming from and how many different skateboard manufacturers actually exist. The quote coming from George’s mouth above is actually from Andrew Reynolds on the web site called “A World Without Pros.” More hypocrisy and links concerning the War on Blanks and the War on George Bush as expressed on skateboards after the jump.

In an article titled Granny’s donation fuels funding for skate park, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that Jean Berlin has donated $200,000 to an Englewood Florida skate park fundraising effort, helping to fulfill a long time dream she shared with her late husband. No only is she Oyster Creek Skate Park’s largest benefactor, she’s also topped the previous record private donation (that we know of), which was a mere $161,000 in stock. As well it should, the donation has made her a local celebrity with skaters, earning her a spot as a judge in a contest. She mentioned she wasn’t really qualified, but it didn’t matter since nobody landed on their feet anyway. Sounds like kickflip syndrome to me! She also stopped the contest to chastise an entrant for dropping the F-Bomb. Speaking of grandmothers, Have you seen the AARP commercial with a Buzzcocks soundtrack?

Skull Skates just posted a small gallery of 70’s skateboard images featuring Canadian skaters and/or Canadian skate spots. There is one shot from Olympia Washington plus wall rides and Russ Howell spinning 360’s (whee!) too. Check it out here. UPDATE: Looks like one of those pics is our own Mark Conahan. We swapped it out on the right side. Nice woody. Nice flowing locks man. Groovy. Full size here.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission would like to offer you some advice in the form of Publication #93. Several factors, including risky stunts and irregular riding surfaces like steps, ramps and railings, are often involved in skateboarding related injuries. Skateboard riding requires good balance and body control, yet many young skateboarders have not developed the necessary balance and do not react quickly enough to prevent injury.

… street skating is based on the stylings of Daniel Gesmer!

Believe it or not, that’s an actual CNN headline and not something I made up. With the news that Miami’s Cubans in exile are planning to celebrate the impending death of Fidel Castro in the Orange Bowl (WTF?) now is a good time to bring up the Subvert Cuba Project. Probably due to in part to our embargo, Cuban skaters are really, really hard up for gear. That’s hard to believe considering Rodney Mullen insists China makes the best skateboards. The Subvert Cuba Project is like a bizarro Berlin Airlift, transferring skate goods from Germany to Cuba. You can buy decks from which a part of the proceeds are donated, or you can send used gear. Now seems as good a place as any to mention that Cold War Skateboards has a Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy model called the Detente 2, of which absolutely none of the profits are donated to Cuba or