Why do they always stand like that? This Ultra Cool costume comes with 3/4 mask, studded choker, shirt, shorts and studded gloves! (Skateboard not included!) $25 from Amazon. Apparently, Zombies also have that problem with the boxers riding up.

Never mind the questionable corporate merchandising tie-in and issues of sweat-shop assembly, this Lightning McQueen child’s skateboard looks just the right size for your toddler skateboarder. But the thing barely turns and is really slow. We learned why when dad swapped out the wheels, Hey! Those aren’t bearings at all! They just molded some plastic into a rough precision-bearing shape. I suppose it’s a good thing that the wheels and bearings could be replaced, the reproduction was accurate enough for that. What do you want for $25 right? Dang, those Disney marketing folks are such assholes!

Revolution in Nicaragua! Nicaragua now has it’s first transition in a skatepark thanks to Nathan Curry and his team. The quarter pipe was the focus of all the skaters’ attention and it was great to see all the guys throwing themselves at it trying to figure it out. After all, it’s the first transition that most of them have ever ridden. Needless to say, I had to answer a lot of questions about how to do axle stalls and rock-n-rolls. It was great!

We’re checking in on the South African skateboard scene again. There was an article on Helderberg.com about a skateboard contest in South Africa. Near as I can tell, the town was Somerset West in the state or providence or district of Helderberg. I followed a link to the Old School Skatepark which is a brand new facility done in true DIY style. Actually, it’s not very “old school” in terms of skatepark design, but that’s not important. It looks like they hauled a bunch of sand and cinderblocks into a small warehouse and poured concrete over everything. All building up and no digging. You have to check out the pictures in the news and gallery sections. It has an odd looking finish and gestalt that is hard to describe. Definitely not your typical polished public skatepark, but still highly skateable as evidenced by the photos. A unique spot for sure. What’s missing is a good comprehensive shot of the whole layout, so you’ll have to do some exploring on the site, which I imagine is a little bit like skating that park. The establishment has a youth club type aura to it, with the accompanying stance on smoking, drugs and…

It’s true, the helmet saved his life. Of course the article doesn’t get into why the kid was laying on his skateboard, rolling head first into the street. Jace was playing at the friend’s house a week ago, riding a skateboard “skeleton” – lying on his stomach and going headfirst down the friend’s driveway and into the street. The “daredevil,” as his mother Julie Muir calls him, didn’t see the car coming. I’m not sure if “daredevil” is what I would call this kid, but I’m glad he’s alive. I can only hope my kids don’t do something that stupid when they grow up.

The Hardy Boys have been in need of an image overhaul ever since that unfortunate peeping-tom conviction. Gone are the days of titles like “The Missing Chums” and “The Mystery of Cabin Island.” Now they aren’t even books, they are graphic novels. Check out #8 in the series, the just released Board to Death. Sure it looks like it was drawn in the 80’s, but it actually just came out this month. I wonder if the fact that they were riding coffin shaped boards was a coincidence or a tribute to the fact that Frank and Joe Hardy are old school. I wonder if Chet get’s hit in the solar plexus? I wonder what a solar plexus is?

The Tony Hawk Foundation just announced it’s Spring 2007 Grant Awards. Find out if your town is one of the 23 listed that will be dipping into the pool of $200,000. The foundation has given out over $1.7-million since it was established in 2002. In 2005 they had an operating budget of 6% and actually spent 80% of their revenue on program services, which should earn them a high rating according to organizations that rate charities. The other 14% of their budget went to fundraising events like the Stand Up For Skateparks benefit. (Hey Andy MacDonald, keep your eyes up!) Find out if your town is on the list after the jump.

Mark Conahan made a comic with featuring the skateboarders on the Tootsie Roll Pop wrapper. Today I saw on the Krux web site that they have some shirts called “sucker” featuring the appropriated art. Nice job Krux, but a bummer for me because I was working on something similar for a different project. I guess that is why Krux (AKA N.H.S.) is a real company, and my operation runs out of a basement. Oh well, you snooze, you lose. If by some chance you’ve never noticed the skateboarders on the Tootsie Pop Roll wrappers, keep reading.

A party bag decorated with some sort of anthropomorphous sponge character. They got his back foot in the right place but went ahead and drew him stinkbug.

You think your scene is bad? At least you don’t have to make knee pads out of palm fronds and bamboo. The Uganda Skateboarding Union Is an organization dedicated towards trying to keep Ugandan youth alive by giving them something positive to do while educating them on social and health issues, like HIV/AIDS. They just got NGO certified, which means your skateboard donations won’t be hit with crippling import tariffs. From the looks of those neon wheels, Uganda is receiving donations from 1980’s era time travelers. They also take cash. Unfortunately they are importing ideology too – now that they have a skate park built, they want to put a fence around it. The skateboard scene in Uganda was started by a visiting South African named Shael Swart who built the first ramp with Ugandan local Jackson Mubiru. Those efforts were discovered by another visitor, a Canadian named Brian Lye. Brian has taken it to a completely different level. Spend some time checking out the pictures. It’s a warm and fuzzy skateboarding experience. Much better than the alternative. Right now the program is active in one small town, which I’m guessing must be in southern Uganda, since children in the…