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Courtesy of éS

An overview of Mr. McCrank's latest ad.

As a young kid, I'd always look at ads and wonder what my favorite pro skateboarders did that day. What lengths did they go to in order to get their trick? Did they slam a bunch? Where was the spot? If somewhere exotic, I wanted to know what it was like around those parts. Years later, éS's master of content, Mr. Brink, has taken that approach with Rick McCrank's latest ad. Read the interview here about frontside 50-50 backside 180ing out of massive ledges, McCrank's ankles, his propensity for Le Dome in France, naked statues and more about The Great éScape Tour. Bon appétit!

Pete Eldridge celebrates his B-day at a spot just outside his current home, Denver, CO.

Whether you're back at work and just waiting for the New Year to come, so you can enjoy another holiday, or you're just sitting around until school gets back in session, you'll need a little something to fill the rest of your break with. So, here you go...

Kincade #31 explores Austin Stephens' lil' DIY skatepark. A Fourstar "Few Hours in the Life" of Brian Anderson has some smooth shredding from the Gentle Giant. The Etnies crew have some fun at Joe Red's local park here. Pete Eldridge has been staying busy in Colorado and gets a line on a spot I used to shred. Gotta love this guy. Happy birthday, Pete! Oh yeah and Mike Mo gets Firsthand-ed.

Courtesy of Stereo

Josiah Gatlyn brings the joy of Christmas for a little longer.

For those of you feeling the Christmas spirit wane, some still remains in this clip of young Josiah Gatlyn shredding the streets of Miami. I guess it could have been a litte more convincing with a beard and some snow...or a massive belly, but all those things probably make hardflipping much harder than it already is. Keep the spirit alive, at least 1:17 more.

Courtesy of Flip

There's an overall feeling, looking back, that Tom Penny really hasn't done that much since the "Etnies Hi-5" era, but that would be really incorrect. Yes, he definitely went AWOL around 2001, so instead of a part in "Menikmati," he had a hodgepodge of old clips. So, in his absence from stupid amounts of year-round coverage in magazines and whatnot, there was a collective perception that he hasn't been doing anything. But, if you look at his parts in "Sorry, "Really Sorry or the most recent "Extremely Sorry," it's not like he hasn't been doing anything. Granted, it's not as impacting as, say, his mid-90s era 411 nuggets or Hi-5, but it's nothing to be scoffed at. For those of you who haven't seen what he put together for "Extremely Sorry," take a look at his trailer.

Michael Burnett

Rattray rolls in this AZ semi-fullpipe...and he reads.

As one of few professional skateboarders with a college degree, John Rattray tries his best to stay busy in all of his downtime. From a Scottish family that always kept themselves occupied with Aberdeen businesses, he's of the camp that "You can't just go and do nothing" with your life. Between all of the skateboarding, he's packed the holes with books, so we give you Rattray's Reading List as our newest Facetime. Watch the video of Rattray skating and giving his reading recommendations in Facetime: John Rattray.

This painting, by an artist known by the name Crap, was clearly inspired by Insights bus trip "Repeat After Me: I Am Free."

Recently switching to Blackbox distribution and adding Jamie Thomas to it's line-up, it might be easy to forget that Insight clothing has had it's own thing going for quite some time. It's no secret that it's a really artsy clothing company. So, in light of recent news, an art show on their compounds is somewhat of a return to that central philosophy of creativity and self-expression. Two Saturdays ago, they held an art show with various artists—friends, established photographers and well-known painters—as a way to kind of reconnect, it seems. Have a look at the art and photos they featured in the show, which was at least partly inspired by their most recent video, "Repeat After Me: I Am Free."

Two of the prototypes that will be made if the Chief loses in this game of trivia.

Thunder Trucks has posted up their two part trivia game, entitled "Stump the Chief," as a means to put Jamie Thomas on the spot and decide what will be his next truck design. As the Chief gets correct answers, he's able to rule out the silly truck designs. See which tricks are left on the drawing board and vote for which one you want made in a limited run of Thunder trucks. See the whole game here.

Switch crooksing his way in a new Habitat.

Habitat officially announced that their footwear rider, Al Davis, is now on the skate team's am squad. The announcement holds true to the roots of DNA (the umbrella company that makes and distributes Alien and Habitat), which originated in Ohio and continues to be one of the only renouned skate companies run out of the middle of the country. A Cincinnati/Kentucky native, Alex "Buttahs" Davis, had a big part in Anonymous Skateshop's "Streets is Talkin" and is welcomed to the Habitat squad with an entirely new part on their site. Good things to come from this guy.

MERRY XMAS 2009

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to All my Dear BROTHERS n Sisters. All the best for the new year coming ahead.

BTW CHRIS HASLAM in SG now. Look out for him.

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Element skateboards' pro Mike Vallely certainly has his fair share of stories. From his days as a rising star in the '80s skate scene with Powell Peralta, his upbringing in Edison, New Jersey, his solo demo tours labeled, 'Man vs. Skatepark," his adventures with Bam Margera and crew and all the infamous scuffles he's gotten in over the years. Skaters got a taste of some recent Vallely rhetoric with his appearance on the Shred or Die feature "Free Lunch." And some of you out there asked Mike your own questions when he chatted live on ESPN Los Angeles.

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Every day until the end of 2009, we’ll be recapping the year that was in skateboarding. Day in and day out, we’ve had skateboarding’s best skaters, and exclusive content you keep coming back to. So here’s a little reminder of what went down way back in April of 2009:

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It's been a long time coming but it's finally here. Stomping Grounds NYC has arrived. We got some of the greatest skaters in the world to take us on a tour of one of the greatest skate cities of all time. Dig in to the video filmed and edited by New York legend RB Umali featuring Zered Bassett, Eli Reed, Joey Pepper, Spencer Fujimoto, Billy Rohan, Todd Jordan and Rodney Torres. Cameo appearances include Clark Hassler, Joel Meinholz, Jaime Reyes and Kenny Hughes. And be sure to check the NYC photo gallery and full written feature as well. Enjoy. Stomping Grounds NYC.

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This is a weird one. Zac Efron, the heartthrob young actor that your sisters and girlfriends all have a crush on, apparently skates. Not only that, The Times of India is reporting that Efron bought a new house, his first, and designed it specifically so he could skate inside it. Oh man. "It's unique, very modern, very clean, very simple, with concrete floors so I can skateboard inside the house," Efron told The Times of India. While you don't have to like Efron as an actor (I don't), and him skating might make you feel queasy (that's how I felt when I read this), the fact that an actor of this level of notoriety is, apparently an avid skater, is certainly eyebrow raising. Remember when the popular kids didn't like us? Nobody bothered to ask Efron if his kickflips have flick or mob style, though.


With all the MegaRampin' Bob Burnquist usually does these days it's almost weird to see him skating an everyday miniramp. Sometimes I forget that Bob is one of the more versatile skaters alive and can tear up virtually any terrain put in front of him. Younger skaters may not remember Bob's switch vert onslaught from his early career days on Antihero or even his ATV attack filming for the éS classic, "Menikmati." Not slowing down "Extremely Sorry", Bob and Luan Oliviera tear apart the Flip miniramp in this clip.

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The current team line-up.

Mystery Skateboards has long been a team that you can always count on, and when I say that, I mean, you can always count on them being the same. But, some of the people we've come to expect to be at the heart of Blackbox's fresher team, have disappeared from the site. Ryan Smith, Ryan Bobier, Pete Eldridge, Dennis Durrant, Windsor James, Jimmy Carlin and Adrian Lopez remain on the squad, but the one-time-figurehead Dan Murphy, backside heelflipper Lindsay Robertson and Everen Stallion have disappeared from the site. No official announcements have been made, but rumor has it that there are some new moves to tighten up the team and bring on some new heavyhitters. Definitely stay tuned.

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ZOO YORK is proud to certify that Eli Reed has completed his amateur course of study, graduating with the highest of honors and is now a licensed Professional. Earning discipline and honing his skills on the streets of Boston, Los Angeles and New York City he is prepared, ready and able.

The latest company to test the waters of porn and skateboarding is Zoo York, and they couldn’t have picked a more legendary sex symbol. Both Jenna Jameson and Zoo York launched their brands back in 1993 and the rest is most definitely history. So why not enlist The CollaBros to make the sultriest of collabos? Limited to 500 decks, the Zoo x Jenna hardgoods will only be available at select skateshops for $75 a pop. They debut next week, so get in line fanboys…

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This week’s installment of Agency Thursdays features Stereo am Ben Gore out on the hustle to get a trick in his current Metropolis called home—San Francisco. Head on over to stereosoundagency.com and watch it now!