From Skull Skates comes word of the 22nd Annual Jaks contest at China Creek on Saturday, September 8, 2007 from 12:00pm – 6:00pm. China Creek skatepark is located at Broadway and Clark in Vancouver BC. Skull Skates has video of some past China Creek events on their JAKS page, as well as a few recently added new decks.

When Oregon Scientific decided they needed some on location shots of their helmet mounted waterproof action cam, the ATC2K, they chose Portland’s Pier Park instead of some other less family friendly locations. Not surprising since the company is based in Tualitin Oregon. Actually, it is surprising since Newberg would have been a heck of a lot closer. California parks show up in tv commercials and print ads all the time, so it’s interesting when a local Portland park is featured. Or not. This poor, unfortunate youth appears be using his helmet cam to avoid seeing footage of himself looking very stiff or possibly posing himself on a skateboard. The waterproof ATC2K is being hawked on Costco, and shows video footage of from a trip down a waterslide which makes me think they are missing out on a potentially more lucrative niche market, adult watersports. (Cue track six from the Surf Punks’ album Local’s Only.) Now to hit up these guys for a review model. Thanks to Roger Harrell of Skateboarder Magazine for the tip.

OMG! UR SO HOT! The blogosphere is on fire with hottest skateboards on the web this week – the Dead Rappers series from Jeremy Fish and a soon to be released Wii controller-looking board from Black Market, a company that seems to be doing a second rate impersonation of World Industries circa 91. Actually, this Wii deck is BM’s best work to date. A bunch of gaming sites are tittering all over it. Speaking of tittering, I just said BM! [Source: Wii – Kotaku Dead Rappers – everyone]

I don’t know who or what Don Don the dog is, except that he shows up on a bunch of crap that you can buy, kind of like Paul Frank’s Julius. In this case, Don Don’s stomach has been replaced with a surgically grafted alarm clock, and he’s standing on a skateboard. 24$ at Karma Kiss.

back in the 70’s there was a different approach to skateboard company logos. A lot of times they were treated as car racing graphics, like say the Super Bee. Jim Phillips made a career out of the cartoonish design style for skateboard product logos. Nowadays a more distressed look and hip hop styles are in vogue. Other companies have maintained the cartoon like art direction, but I don’t think they are as memorable as some of the old 70’s stuff. In the mid 80’s I received a well worn stack of old Skateboarder and Action Now magazines. I never actually saw any of the old Alligator wheels, but the logo was burned into my mind as an archetypal 70’s skateboarding graphic. Bennett Truks has resurrected the Alligator Wheels product name, but curiously enough, doesn’t have them on their sparsely populated web site. They are the same color and rough shape as the old ones appear to be, although it’s hard to tell. I had some of Madrid’s reborn Cadillac Wheels and found them to be good for completing a nice vintage look, but not very useful for riding, even as a cruiser. It seemed to be a fault of the…

But does it cover up pad rot? Jay Meer flowed me this at the Board of Art show where he was exhibiting a cool bronze cast of a skateboard and some great photos. A little dude blunt sliding a kidney pool is way better than a little tree. Check out Hiphopsmellz.com.

Update: It turns out the press misrepresented the facts. Imagine that. Make sure you check out a reply from the twins father Michael after you are done reading my flippant remarks. From the Taipei Times (?) comes this article titled The Sky’s the Limit: A downward shift in the skateboarding demographic and the accessibility provided by the Internet has major labels seeking to endorse kids as young as seven. The article highlights the Puehse Twins success and rampant internet popularity: None of this would have been possible without the support of their father, Michael, a man with a vision, a video camera and a marketing plan. Nothing like a father with a “marketing plan” for his six your old kids. Yes, he started trying to market his kids at the age of six. I have nothing against the Puehse Twins. I think it would be fun to see them skate, and I wish them all the success in the world. It worked for Tiger Woods’ father, so why not Michael Puehse? Skateboards, safety gear, road trips, video camera and web site to market your skateboarding twins: $8000. The look on dad’s face when the twins reach adolescence and decide they…

All this talk about meetings and feedback for new skateparks is now moot. Costco is selling The Ultimate Skate Park online, so it seems all we need to do now is order one. Attention city planners! If you live in a town with a population of more than 5 people, you might want to order a couple. And what product does Costco recommend you purchase with your new ultimate skate park? Why, a crappy BMX bike, of course. Skate and Annoy would like to give our heartfelt condolences to Dreamland, Grindline, Placed to Ride, Airspeed and others that will likely go out of business now that Costco has taken the guesswork and expense out of building the ultimate skatepark. – Thanks to Sarib Singh Khalsa for the tip.

BMX celebrity Rooftop is interviewed about Tony Hawk’s foray into entry level BMX bikes branded after the Boom Boom Huck Jam. I don’t follow BMX at all, but I recognize the name Rooftop, so he must be a celebrity. Catch one interview on Vital BMX and another on The Come Up. Thanks to Concretin for the tip off. Tony looks like he’s been listening to some Aphex Twin. [Photo: Vital BMX]

My son is about to turn two years old and he’s already obsessed with skateboarding. (Hmmm, I wonder why?) Seriously, one of the first 20 words out his mouth was “skateboard,” although pronounced as “sateboard.” I tried to make his first birthday celebration a small affair, but my wife nixed that idea, just as she’s vetoed all of my plans for sanity on his second birthday. While preparing for the over-celebration this year, she came across a mess of Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Huck Jam birthday decorations and party favors. Yes, there’s more than just that excellent likeness of Tony on that cake topper.