The Simpsons Movie is having a so-called contest to see which city named Springfield gets to host the premier of the movie. I say “so-called” because it’s pretty obvious that Springfield Oregon is the inspiration for the city, given that Groening used to live in Oregon and lot of the character names can be found on the street signs of Portland predating the show. The contests involves each city making a video plea for their case. Why do we care? Because tony Hawk makes an appearance in Springfield Oregon’s video. [Source: Oregon Live]

Not much to say about this 1981 clip of Tony Hawk on the old children’s show Captain Kangaroo. I didn’t know the Captain was still on the air in 1981. It’s a little disappointing actually, since Tony’s appearance isn’t live on set with the Captain. Instead, it’s just video footage of tony skating Del Mar on a Steve Caballero board no less. The Captain’s crew even managed to record an old sea chanty titled Skateboard Johnny, not to be confused with the song Skateboard Johnny featured in this collection of 70’s skateboard tunes, or this UK child molester named Skateboard Johnny. Watch the video after the jump. [Source: Wall of Gray]

The July 1st issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News reports that Tony Hawk has inked a deal for a signature bike line with a company called Dynacraft. Tony Hawk will be joining Dynacraft’s illustrious lineup of brands that include Hot Wheels and Barbie. You can buy these performance machines at such fine cycling outfitters as Amazon.com and Target. What’s that? concerned about the quality? Not to worry, according to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News Tony Hawk bikes will be completely different than anything Dynacraft has distributed in the past,” said John Bisges, managing director at Dynacraft. “They will have higher end components, updated frames and the most cutting edge graphics ever. We are all extremely excited about this new bike line, and are certain it will be a big hit when we showcase it to customers at this year’s Interbike show.” The line will be available in retail stores beginning in spring 2008. I’m placing bets that Tony Hawk bicycles will likely be a BMX facsimile. Maybe we can expect a Matt Hoffman to start hawking toy skateboards in retaliation. Get a closeup of some previous Dynacraft “cutting edge graphics” after the jump. Update: Not just one bike line,…

Skateboarding dogs, monkeys and pigs are for the birds. Haw haw! His name is Tony Parakeet. Get it? Get it? Yuck yuck. This small bird does little more than perch on a fingerboard while the owner, dare I say trainer moves the board into position to roll down inclines or rail slide (extreme cave-man style) down a railing. they even set up a few ramps and ledges so the bird naturally maneuvers into a tail slide through sheer gravity. Low impact fun. Hey vid-heads, is this a section from a larger video? Watch it after the jump on embedded LiveVideo. Speaking of embedded video, does anyone else find the new YouTube interface intrusive and annoying? Seems like it kooks up web browser performance too.

When it rains (Tony Hawk) it pours Tony Hawk. ABC’s “Fast Cars & Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.” premiered last night. I didn’t catch it and it’s not online at ABC.com yet, so I can’t say how much screen time Tony Hawk got, but he is one of the celebrities appearing in the show. Hopefully Tony drives better under the camera than Eddie Griffin. And speaking of Nascar promotions, Tony is also one of the celebrities designing Daytona 500 tickets that fans will ultimately decide whether or not to produce by voting in a poll. I’m guessing this is the last time they have a design contest, because Tony’s is actually one of the better ones. Some of these celebrities either had random small children do the design or spent a grand total of 30 seconds on the whole thing. It’s embarrassing for them, really. The artwork is being auctioned for charity and some of these guys didn’t put any effort into it. Anyway, the Speed Racer reference is just an excuse to post a picture of the new Mach 5 from the upcoming Speed Racer movie. I’ve been waiting for that car all my life. [Photos Clockwise: Tony…

Old friend of Skate and Annoy Bob Mechtly sent in these pictures of a Tony Hawk demo at Six Flags. Bob didn’t send any details, but near as I can tell from the color cast of these pictures, the event was held in the late 70’s, probably underwater. But seriously folks! Take my wife, please! Maybe it was just an added attraction, or maybe he was promoting the new Tony Hawk’s Big Spin ride, which would be odd since these shots are from Missouri and the Big Spin is at a different Six Flags in Texas. I love the kid looking in the opposite direction as if to say “I wish I was riding on that roller coaster instead of sitting on my dad’s shoulders watching this carnival sideshow.” Check out the size of that screen. Jeebus, that’s huge!

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.

Sean Mortimer wrote in to remind us about Ray Underhill’s situation. He was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in 2006. He’s had about half of it removed and is undergoing radiation therapy. Removing the tumor caused damage to his vocal cords and throat, leaving him unable to talk, spit or swallow. He’s in the midst of physical therapy to recover those abilities. Because the tumor is a rare one, he’s had to seek treatment and lodging in California while his family lives on the opposite coast. Needless to say, the whole affair has been quite expensive, and the insurance companies are behaving like they usually do. His friends are organizing a massive eBay auction benefit. The gear offered up runs the gamut from free shoes for a year to artwork to signed boards, re-issues, new, and historical alike. Seriously, the list is getting large. One of the more unique items is an afternoon of photography lessons with J Grant Brittain as teacher and Tony Hawk as subject. And the icing on the cake? The package includes getting one of your pictures published in The Skateboard Mag. Very nice. It’s one thing for someone to pick something out of their…

An ad agency called EyeWonder has created some crazy banner ads for web pages that unfold and let interested parties fool around and learn about Tony Hawk’s Project 8 game without having to leave the page. You can do things like use your cursor to scrub through the super slow motion “Nail the Trick” sequences and view trailers and screen captures. It’s very well thought out use of web technology to draw in the viewer. The average game console graphics engine must not be up to snuff when it comes to skinning the character’s shoes, otherwise I can’t believe they would pass up the extra product tie-in opportunity with the accompanying kick-back. Check out a demo of the ad here, and no, they didn’t pay to be included here, It just happens that it’s interesting enough to warrant a post here. Free advertising… Bastards! [Source: Eywonder]

“It’s like skating across my face and down my heart,” said U.S. Air Force veteran Quincy Collins. OK, that quote is kind of funny. However, in a case of life imitating video games, or as we like to call it Idiots imitating idiots, some skateboarders have “vandalized” a Viet Nam Veterans Memorial. Not the one in D.C., but the local one in Charlotte North Carolina. I say vandalized in quotes because the extent of the damage appears to be limited to dusty tire tracks. So while it might not be traditional defacement, it’s still very lame, and not too bright. If they ever get caught, I’m willing to bet that these rebels will claim they were inspired by Tony Hawk’s Project 8 video game. Watch the incriminating video and more after the jump.