Not much going on there lately. Check out some pics that Mark Conahan took from a vantage point I was too lazy to investigate. Leave to Mr. artsy-fartsy.

It’s ok if you can’t tell where it is right?. Oh oh, I know where that smudge is. If you want to know where this pool is, just wander around wearing a diving mask smeared with Vaseline until you recognize something. More pics coming when this spot is dead. UPDATE: See this mystery skater unmasked!

If there’s anything that says teenager, it’s a skateboard right? As part of the settlements levied against the tobacco industry they have been forced to spend money to prevent teens from using tabacco. They are all prettty half-hearted efforts like this advert. They act like it’s something that just isn’t good for you only if you are a teenager, as if everything is Ok once you turn 18. It’s actually a pretty cool illustration. Keep reading to see this ad from 2003 in a larger size.

Reader MC pointed out that there was a Gratuitous Tony Hawk Appearance (aren’t they all?) in my post on Flyaway Helmets and concussions. It’s buried at the end and not really that visible, so I separated it. The article is from the October 05 issue of Thrasher covering the Skaters for Public Skateparks convention in Hailey Idaho, where Tony made a surprise appearance in connection with his foundation.

Not that kind of concussion. Yeah, you aren’t cool if you wear a helmet. If you have to wear one, you want to try to look cool right? There are a couple ways to approach this, but before I get sidetracked. This post was supposed to be about yesterday when I watched my friend Steve take a hard slam that rung his bell but good. In the middle of an otherwise ordinary session he bailed in a medium sized bowl and did the classic “land back on your board to Wilson” which resulted in his head slamming back into the bottom of the concrete transition. I could tell by the way he hit that his helmet wasn’t going to help much. Keep reading to find out how to look cool in a helmet and how to get a concussion while wearing one.

A couple of years back Honda had an ad compaign for their low emissions and fuel efficient cars. I think it predates the Hybrid Civics actually. Somewhere I have the pages which might have a date. Right now all I can find is the scans which have a creation date of 4-28-00.

There’s a kick ass web site called spamusement.com whose description is “Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines!” Tony Hawk just happens to appear as a reference in one of the cartoons. At this point he has entered the collective subconscious of the non-skating public and has become a pop culture reference. This cartoon isn’t one of the best or worst from that site. There are some that are laugh-out-loud funny. I highly recommend it. This one is currently 164 out of 323 which would date it at approximately 2005 according to the copyrights on the web site.

Kicking off the inaugural post of Gratuitous Tony Hawk Appearances is Deck Dogz, an Australian movie out on DVD. Here’s Tony greeting the protagonists towards the end of the flick.

This is going to be everywhere soon. As near as I can tell, Grindline is building a figure 8 snake run style skatepark in Dillon Montana. Instead of the jump over the middle there is a full pipe. Sure, Dreamland’s park in Hailey is close to the same, but this one is scaled down and geared more towards being able to transverse the park in any direction. Park slalom anyone?

Grindline via Earth Patrol Media

More pics of St. Johns Pier Park in progress. We sort of busted some kids sneaking into the park to skate. gave them a friendly lecture and tried not to sound like old men. These pics are a couple weeks old but not much else has been done in the meantime, at least not to a casual observer. Click the pic or this link to go to see more. Mark has a couple nicer ones here.