double flip craze!!

The worst game of skate (so far), followed by the best. Thought Donovan was done but he killed with the double flips!! Check the berrics for proof. If anyone knows how to embed berrics vids let me know.

back to skating, sort of...

Skate 2 from shad lambert on Vimeo.

This is about as real as skating will get for the next few months. Looks fun though.

Marc Jacobs Bugaboo

Thank God this did not come out a few years ago, my wife would have been all over it!

The man, the myth,...

It's amazing to see what he accomplished in such a short period of time, inspiring.

speaking of education...

2008 Latest Edition - Did You Know 3.0 - From Meeting in Rome This Year - The funniest videos clips are here

I saw an earlier version of this video just last year. Already many of the stats have changed. What do you teach kids when all they have to do is google it? To think, collaborate, problem solve, create, express, (skateboard) etc...easier said than done. If interested visit  http://www.ted.com/ find out what can be done!

Grade 4 math lesson

Wish I could work this into a Grade 4 math lesson.

http://www.matixclothing.com/video_player/videos/tangram_bts.html

This is the behind the scenes check out the final commercials as well. Not only is the skating sick the concept is amazing!

Vans Showdown incident

There has been much discussion about the now infamous Mike V. incident at the Vans Showdown this year. Up until now the story had mostly been made up of bits and pieces from the slap message boards...until now. The following is from skateparkoftampa's site. Its a long read, but well worth it.

he Mike Vallely Incident at Vans Downtown Showdown 2008

Posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 
By Jay Brundege, Sole Tech Events Coordinator

I was standing right at the fence when the now infamous Mike V. vs. Creature Lee drama started and it could have easily been solved with a conversation. Mike V. approached Lee, maybe with a conversation in mind, I doubt it, but Lee kind of laughed it off and this turned Mike V. into a raging, level-five, Gorgoth monster, leading to punches being thrown in the vicinity of Lee's chest and throat. No face punches...YET. The Gorgoth got more furious and pushed Lee into the fence with a well executed shirt grab-and-twist, at the neck. However, he released Lee pretty quickly and starting walking away, to check again that his family was OK. When he passed by Lee on his way back, he stuck a finger in Lee's face and swore some more, threatening more violence if Lee threw anything else into the crowd, specifically towards his family. Once he arrived at the far end of the Creature obstacle run-up, Gorgoth turned around and saw that Lee was yucking it up and mocking him in front of everyone along the fence. This really pissed off the Gorgoth and his rage elevated to a level-eight, Dumb-Band Gorgoth....almost to a full-on, level-ten, Wastoid Gorgoth Troll King!!!!! 

So the now fully enraged and puffed up Gorgoth came back to the fence line, right next to the camera dolly setting on the ground and that's when he starting banging Lee into the fence, and in turn, the fence was being pushed into innocent spectators and kids. Wait, the same thing that caused him to become so furiously violent, his family and kids being endangered, is now causing him to put other families and kids in danger. Oh the irony.....although I don't think Gorgoths or Trolls of any level have a conscience, certainly not towards humanoids, or their offspring. 

The Gorgoth threw more punches and finger pokes, the likes of which I've only seen ringside at WWF matches, into the chest and neck of Creature Lee. After the furious chest poking and neck punching, Gorgoth became aware of the crowd at the fence-line yelling to stop, because kids were being crushed against the fence, and walked away again. 

Lee, feeling very lucky to be alive, after a few maulings at the hand of one of Dumb-Rock's highest level of enraged Gorgoths, was now very aware of just how serious this Gorgoth was. Being the Brand Director at Creature has probably prepared young Lee to battle Gorgoths, Dragons, Giant Rats, Trolls and many other monsters from the Skateboard Industry Swamp of Despair and Anguish, but apparently this was no ordinary Gorgoth... 

Gorgoth returned and was still furious and slightly embarrassed by his display of power and poking ability. Creature Lee thought it might help to calm the Gorgoth if he approached him (dummy..) and offered his apologies for the harm that certainly could have, but didn't, come to Gorgoth's fragile brood had the board actually hit them. Gorgoth, being certain that Lee had not suffered enough, and ignoring Creature Lee's attempt to apologize, tried to further inflict pain and suffering with more punching, poking, slapping and pushing until it was finally broken up by the skaters and photogs standing at the end of the fence line. Gorgoth and Lee went their separate ways and this was the end of the drama inside the Creature Pentagram of Death Pit. 

Now, I won't defend the Gorgoth's action in any way but Creature Lee did throw a deck into a completely unsuspecting crowd with at least a small amount of deliberate abandon. I say deliberate because A, it sounds cool and B, I was standing there when it all started and Lee told the tweens standing inside the fence that he was going to launch the deck into the crowd and it would "probably hit some kook not paying attention" and told them to watch because it would be funny. Keep in mind, there was no announcement of a product toss, only people in the front 5 or 6 rows of bodies packed against the fence, and paying attention solely to Lee, could even see what was going on and he launched the deck clear into the picnic tables near Van Doren's BBQ set-up. Little did Lee know that Mike V's family might be the "kooks not paying attention" and it would awaken the sleeping Gorgoth, bringing with it a fantasy world of anger and rage. If it clocked my kid or me, and I wasn't part of, or near what I knew to be a product toss, I would have probably thrown some punches too. Especially if it hit a toddler or similarly fragile person that doesn't deserve to be injured or startled over something they aren't aware of, or a part of. 

So even though Lee certainly deserved some kind of come-correct measure, it could have been perfectly served with a nice warning and some awesome heckling. Mike didn't see it hit, or come near, his kids, he just saw it thrown and was looking out for his people to see where it landed. When he determined that it was close enough for him to be mad, that's when he went ape-shit. Lee could have just offered to apologize and acted a little concerned about the kids, whether they were Mike V's or otherwise, but he chose to clown on the Gorgoth and shit got crazy. 

I was counting on a brawl of some sort between Gorgoth and the Creatures of Doom but within 10 minutes of this happening, I passed Mike V and his entourage near the Black Label Dive Bar, on his way out. His head was down, his family was trailing behind and I couldn't help but wonder how he must have felt. How do you explain to your kids why they had to leave early, or if he even tried to explain what happened to them. Despite his "chivalrous" attempt at defending his family, there was no honor in his actions after the first 30 seconds, and by the way he carried himself on his way out, it was clear that he was not a proud man. The Creature of Doom Goons didn't have to beat him up, he defeated himself. 

that's my story and I'm sticking to it. and Mike, I'm sorry I called you a Gorgoth, but dude.....you certainly weren't human. 

change in 09!
Jay 

Jason Jesse

Streets of Fire! What do frontside airs, terrorist suspect, and choppers have in common...only on thing Jason Jesse!

Gonz

"San Francisco is like a retirement village for  young kids" - Mark Gonzales

Check http://www.fourstarclothing.com/default.html 

Bad Brains

Saw this today, if it were on a t-shirt I'd buy it...said it before, will say it again, where is Canada's Obama? Anyone out there with a little inspiration please!!!

That's a cover!

Amazing!

Tony Hawk Tour

A few years prior to this I rolled my ankle for the last time, and it really did me in. So much so that I didn't  skate for a couple of years. I was close to dare I say "quitting". Until one night out I was at a local bar having a few and this came on. I hadn't been paying attention to skating during my hiatus. Seeing this tour actually got my stoked to skate again. I can't remember all of the skaters on the tour but Mike V. was definitely one of them. Not exactly sure but I think he was riding for Black Label at the time, which seemed like a good fit. 

If riding for World was his "skating peak", this era was his "commercial peak". From here on in it gets good, or bad depending how you look at it.

Mega Scary!

See more skate, snow, surf, and moto videos at Shred or Die

Not that I would ever think of trying the mega ramp, but if I did this would probably be the best possible outcome...yikes!

thanks chrome ball

Thanks http://chromeballincident.blogspot.com/ for the scan. This old TWS Check Out was amazing I can remember seeing it like it was yesterday. Natas, Vallely, and Gonz...classic! I know I am regressing a bit in the whole timeline but to good to pass up.
Check Chromeball for more classic Check Outs.

Democracy

Over 30 million Americans who have never voted before will today. That is literally a nation of people who have never had a say in their nations leader. Power to the people! 

Zero Two

I might have the timeline wrong on this (probably do) but it was around this time that Mike and Ed started sharing their Vegetarian ways with the skate world. If I am not mistaken Mike's Barnyard graphic had something to do with this as well. I can remember reading interviews with Mike where he preached about vegetarinism and being a pacifist.

In addition to TV, mike, ed and I think Sheffy for minute rode for a shoe company called Zero Two. Their claim to fame was that no animal products were used to make them. They were modelled after a chukka and were made of the non-hook velcro (fury side). I actually owned a pair, probably mailordered from the classic CCS catalogue. They were actually pretty rad shoes, they came with a velcro ollie pad that you could move around. I could skate in them use the ollie pad then take it off for school. Those vegetarians had some good ideas!

Anyways at this point Mike is still a fun lovin' skater who couldn't think of hurting anyone or anything, not even a living thing.

The Peak...

For those of you (all 2) keeping track. As far as I am concerned Mike hit his peak somewhere during the world era (88-92). After that it was all downhill (see above for confirmation). TV may have been the start of better things for Ed (turned into Television, then Ed left to form Toy Machine through Vision), ol' Mikey wasn't on the same path. Side note; Ethan Fowler, one of my all time favourites rode for Television back in the day. Check Ethan out on Epiclylaterd's vbs.tv. Back to Mike...Be sure to check the slap boards for his latest antics.

1992 TV!

See more Mike Vallely videos at Shred or Die

revolutionary move, revolutionary board

Never actually owned this board but did have the Vision Double Deck. Which I recently learned was made from the same press. Could stall nose picks for days with that thing. If haven't already check out The Man Who Souled the World. A ton of skate history.

Where did I leave off...

Oh yeah! Mike was throwing down no complies, running through cemeteries and was the new face of Powell & Peralta, then out of nowhere this happened! He joined world the revolution began. Skateboarding would never be the same again. 

Leaving Powell was a huge move back in day, Powell and Peralta was the holly grail of skateboarding. Up until then just about every skateboarder dreamed of skating for them. When Vallely left it changed everything, all of the sudden skateboarding wasn't about the big companies (powell, vision). For those of us skating at the time it really started the DYI attitude in skateboarding that is so common today. 

Although Rocco was the brains behind World Industries it is hard to imagine what skateboarding would be like if Mike hadn't left Powell. Rocco had to sign someone big or it never would have taken off.

It's true our very own Mike V. is quite possibly responsible for what skating is today. Even as I write this I am shaking my head. 

It's 1988 (right after Public Domain) and Mike V. single handedly turned the skateboard industry on its head. At this point you are still the shit Mike!