You can buy fake fire hydrants for your dog to pee on, why not for a skatepark as well? Skatewave, the modular skatepark company you love to hate, has a line of skate obstacles called the Urban Series for simulating objects that you can, well, already buy. I’m sure they’ll argue that their knockoffs are more durable, although that fire hydrant looks weak compared to some of the heavy duty ones in the dog link above. At first I only noticed the tables. I thought it was funny that they made real fake (or fake real) tables for skateboarding, especially the one that is closed off to protect beginners. The simulated construction barrier with a metal top may actually be an improvement on those orange plastic ones. If only they sold a simulated Natas to do that fire hydrant ollie spin move. Watch it after the jump.

When I first got a copy of Wire’s Pink Flag album I was hypnotized. The music was unlike any of their punk contemporaries, but it still made perfect sense to a kid in the suburbs of Chicago in the mid-80’s. It was kind of like the missing link for me. Minimal, but incredibly rich at the same time. Catchy but abrupt and confrontational. Discovering music used to be a much more sensual experience. It required considerably more effort than it does today. After buying a record I would usually pour over every minute detail of the artwork while listening to the turntable. It was an experience that deserved my full attention. When you were in a cultural desert like the suburban Midwest was, you savored every morsel you got. The back cover of Pink Flag has fake biological data about the band, and one of the things I couldn’t get past was the drummer’s name, Robert Gotobed. Everyone else had regular enough sounding names, so was Gotobed a goof or what? Anyway, it fascinated me. I desperately wanted to meet him – remember, cultural desert… Others have waxed on about Wire much more articulately than I am apparently capable of, so just do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Pink Flag. Or if you want, you can buy some expensive skateboard-themed bedding.

[Source: Pulama Project]

If you have an extra $1500 laying around, (and who doesn’t?) you can pick up Skateboard Joe for your kids to hang their clothes on. Seriously. That’s what it’s for, and that’s what it costs. Available from Boot Kidz. You can see it larger after the jump.

Hey guys here is the Cold War video for 07 shot in one day edited in 7 hours by Kilwag. If you get Concrete Wave it is on their DVD they put out 1x a year, so get your board orders in early if you see something you like. I am going to be so rich when this hits subscriber’s mail box, I will be able to make new friends so easy. So please get your orders in early so we can still be friends. I also want to welcome Shane Bell to the team. Peace Off.

Skateboarding messaged novelty undershirts at CafePress. They have these on dark shirts too but the white ones were easier to read.

thanks to Dan Hughes for sharing this.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? What if there is a better way to do something? The now ubiquitous Independent Trucks were an innovation – the result of two different explorations of the idea of independent suspension in a skateboard truck. So good for slalom that some considered it cheating to use them – but not what most skaters wanted. Somehow they managed to straighten out the axle and improve the turning and the rest is history, or is it mathematics? Metallurgy?

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.