Thanks to Matthijs for this picture of what is either a conceptual art piece or a very sad little skatepark located in Amsterdam. That round planter to right probably sees more acton.

An astronaut on a skateboard is something we’ve seen a time or two (or three). Mathieu Gielen scanned this Duvel beer coaster for you, drinking readers, and he was kind enough to translate it as well. After finding a link to Duvel, I saw that the skateboarding astronaut was also available as a beer label, poster, and beer glass as well. UPDATE: David Maes found a skateboard deck in the shape/graphics of a regular Duvel bottle.

The art of conceiving

We don’t pretend that the creation of the Duvel has been as spectacular as the first footstep on the Moon, but in 1923, this beer seemed totally innovating. A refermentation in bottle which give a colour (robe) so limpid is something for the least remarkable. And, more a beer is clear, more her taste is pure.

The flemish version has a some slight variations : the title reads “Heavenly pionneers” in place of “The art of conceiving” and there is a final sentence that is “This is simply of an intergalactic nature”. The rest is basically the same.

The Guardian has a short video on the challenges of skateboarding in Cuba, which although well done, is just about like every other one we’ve seen on the subject.  Public Radio International has a slightly different take on the situation, focusing on the difficulties facing girls who want to skateboard in Cuba.  According to a the trailer for Patinas Sin Fronteras En Cuba, Cuban skaters don’t want your pity, they just want access to skateboards. You have to imagine it’s about to get better now that relations between the U.S.A. and Cuba are more normal. You can help at Amigo Skate Cuba.

– thanks to Everyone for the tips.

According to the Des Moines Regional Skatepark committee, this final design will be the largest open skatepark in the United States. I’m not sure what they mean by “open.” Maybe that’s to counter facilities like Woodward, although they could have said “public” instead. Is there some monstrous indoor skatepark that I’m unaware of? Even the square footage listing of 65,000 is below the official 68,000 listed for Lake Cunningham. I always thought Louisville was largest, but it only weighs in at 44,000 square feet. DMRS is in need of a comprehensive overhead floorpan on their site. California Skateparks designed the park.

I thought I read in Wired how Nerf had become the largest arms dealer (by volume) in the world, but I might have imagined it. I wonder if the Zombie Strike series was conceived to make it more palatable to parents who object to toy guns for kids. Probably not. This Zombie Strike Doublestrike pistol features an illustration of a skateboarder on the back. It’s a happy coincidence when a toy with skateboard packaging makes it into my home if wasn’t bought for me.

Like scooters, Donald Trump, and anything else that has outlived it’s usefulness, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just won’t go away. TMNT has been enjoying a resurgence for a while now. While the animated series definitely surpasses the TMNT’s original incarnation, this incarnation of Mondo Gecko action figure is about as uninspired as it gets, especially when compared to the original toy.

Burnside is still in the news. The Mercury has a cautious, but upbeat take on the future of Burnside.

This is advert for Vibe, an iOS app that Adobe can’t seem to decide whether or not to promote it as theirs or not. What does it do? It makes short videos with semi-automated cuts between selected stills and videos from your library, and adds a soundtrack to it. Then you can share it. Super. It’s a free app, and the sharing is meant to happen on the usual social media platforms, so you have to wonder what Adobe gets out of this.

I saw on Dreamland’s Facebook feed that they were tearing down the old Beaverton / Tualatin Hills skatepark and I got a little excited. The so-called novice park concrete annex has been up since 2008, but the prefab street course left over from a long forgotten X-Games trails has been slowly rotting away since, well, since it arrived there, not to mention the rotted out vert ramp that was torn down in 2006. A quick visit to the Dreamland has left me with tempered expectations though. It looks like the first phase might be a straight 1 for 1 replacement of existing ramps with concrete replicas, although it’s hard to tell for sure. Even if that is the plan. it’s still better that what they started with. I have to imagine Dreamland will get away with some tweak, however small. Somewhere, someone knows, and has the time to rack this down for Skate and Annoy, right? Dreamland never returns my emails. I am a kook.

Sarasota has metal stick figure sculptures called Tube Dudes sprinkled all over town. I haven’t been to Payne Park in a handful of years. I don’t think this Tube Dude was there during my last visit. The baseball cap and basketball in hand are a bit of a head scratcher until you read the plaque dedicating it to “Coach Dan,” who must have been a basketball coach… who liked skateboarding?