Category: Skateboard
“Open Horizon”
Great visual style with legit skating, always a winning combination. See more of Russell Houghten’s work here.
Portland Spot Check
I haven’t spent a ton of time in Portland Maine, but it seems like everytime I do, I notice this one spot of town. Unfortunately, I always see it from the fast lanes of I-295 as I head north. I finally stumbled upon it again while riding my bike on the Bayside Trail, which runs along 295 from the Eastern Promenade Trail to the Back Cove Trail.
Nestled underneath the south bound off ramp for Rt. 26 is a bank with an extra addition of concrete. Judging by the height of the kicker, the tire marks, the roughness of the extra concrete, I would say this was done for BMX riders, not skateboarders.
I think it’s funny that the city has painted over graffiti, but haven’t torn this up.
Oh My
Love & Updates
First things first, I made a quick update to the Christmas list. I added The LEGO Book, which is a cool book that I found at BrickCon earlier this year. $24 ain’t bad for the history of one of the most culturally influencing “children’s” toys of our lifetimes.
Secondly, I wanted to share a movie trailer with ya’ll. Love seems like it could be really great. Not surprisingly, it looks like it’s got some pretty strong sci-fi elements to it. Mix in some space stations, skateboarding and brunettes in corsets and you’ve got me hook, line and sinker. The weird thing is that it seems to be in very strong connection with the band Angels & Airwaves, which I don’t know a lot about, but they sound quite emo. Maybe I’m wrong and the music will be really great, but most of my excitement is based around the visuals. Watch the trailer here, then check out the director’s site here.
Proven ’09
The Proven in the Northeast film festival is coming soon! November 7th at 6pm to be exact. This year they are at Rye Airfield, one of the most ridiculous skateparks ever. I don’t have anything in the festival, nor will I be attending, but I would if I could and I thought it deserved a mention here.
There will be lots of raffles, art and ten of the best surf/skate/snow videos from the Northeast. $8 pays your entry to the films, or throw down $20 and you get the skate the after hours session. So dope.
Good Call
The Skateboard Film Festival was a few weeks ago. I only caught opening night, but I’m sure the next day was just as awesome. One of the coolest things that did was a Final Cut Pro Battle. THIS is the winning entry and I think they made the right decision. Good skating, better editing.
Let’s FrURL This Club Up!
See if you can find the connection between each of this weeks FrURLSday links. The answer is at the bottom.
Topless Coffee Shop – Maine has been acting stranger than usual lately.
Nintendo8.com – Play tons of Nintendo games online. Yeah, you need to use your keyboard, which is the worst thing about emulated games, but it’ still nice to see that fat Italian play golf.
Project Tandem updated their website. It looks pretty spiffy. Can you believe they did this while riding a bike? They also have a sweet new blog, powered by WordPress!
Brenton Hamilton added some new content to his IV gallery. You should check it out!
SAT Scores vs. The Music You Listen To – This is interesting, but it thinks I’m not smart enough to listen to The Killers. Are you kidding me? Oops, apparently they can levitate.
Jumpman – A super fun and very addictive game. So simple and it comes with a level editor.
Skate 2 Create-A-Spot – Create-A-Spot is the coolest new feature in Skate. 2. I can’t stop moving dumpsters, benches and kickers. I found this video on da ‘tube of someone recreating Stairs to Nowhere, nearly verbatim (unintentionally, I’m sure.)
Spider drawing – The email conversation between a woman trying to get her money and a man who doesn’t have the money to give her. Very very funny. Courtesy of Mat-Thorne.
Glass Top Pool Table – Very strange, but I want it. Also, I think I just found a website Bagwell will like more than Jalopnik.
Ha, I’m just kidding, there’s no real connection.
University of California, Irvine
UCI is probably best known as the second youngest California university and the educational epicenter of Orange County. Others may know it more for having amazing skatespots. It is home to many stylized ledges and park quality handrails with large amounts of run up and pristine concrete. The best example of the skating is in Heath Kirchart’s part from Sight Unseen, seen below.
Also, there are a few shots at UCI from his part in the Emerica video.
Now, what few people know is that UCI was also the main location for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. The entire opening scene was filmed in the same location as Heath’s skating. That’s pretty cool, but it’s also amazing to think that a college that was only 6 years old at the time of filming allowed the crew to shoot a huge amount of scenes there. Very impressive. I couldn’t find this scene online, but the ledges and handrails are visible in the trailer and a screenshot below.
See the whole Emerica video on skatevideosonline.net.
Images hosted on Flickr.
AdamBelanger.Com 
