As seen on the street. The front said: “I Know H.T.M.L. (How to Meet Ladies)”

I didn’t look to see if there was anything on the back.

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

I’m not sure if there’s a name for this phenomenon of random people shooting homemade, full-length videos of them dancing to their favorite songs in public locales (it smacks hard of lip dub to me), but this is one of my all-time faves. It might be because I love the song, but I also love how said artiste gets interrupted about two minutes into the clip. And he’s also got some decent moves.

This old-ish (2004) segment is one of my favorite video parts of all time. The one-footed s**t at 1:23 and 2:37 blows me away every time. What a hairy beast.

So.

Have any of you ever bought a house, or an apartment? No? Not surprising, given that this is a skateboarding blog, and most skaters probably fall below the age one starts thinking about laying down gobs of cash just to throw your name down on a 30-year mortgage.

Well, anyway, I’m trying to purchase an apartment in New York. Or I’m very close to doing it, rather. And this is great news for myself. Smart investment, tax breaks, blah blah blah.

But it hasn’t been great news for this blog. See, I started the process about 4-5 months ago, and as you can see, it took a dramatic toll on the number of posts I’ve done on Champeen over the last three-plus months. (The number of posts over that time frame being, approximately, zero.)

But now that the apartment is very close to secured (I hope I’m not jinxing anything), and now that I have some semblance of my life back (buying a pad in Brooklyn is quite an involved process, lemme tell you), it’s time to get back to this blog.

So anyway, sorry I’ve been away so long, but welcome back. Or maybe you should welcome me back. Not sure which it is. But either way, hope you’re still with me and let’s get back after this, shall we? Word.

-randy

P.S. Big ups to my friend Yuck at Velocity Skate Shop in Maryland for leaning on me to get back after it.

I could watch Dennis Busenitz skate a mini-ramp all day. Honestly, all day. Twenty-four hours. Wouldn’t poop or anything. I’d just sit on the platform and watch.

I know I’m a few weeks behind, but I recently saw a post on Skate Daily that linked to a news story on skateboarding getting bumped as an exhibition sport at the 2012 Olympics in London.

I’m sure a huge portion of the skate community is behind this news, as everyone’s favorite anti-sport was granted another four-year reprieve and can stay true to its underground roots. I get that argument.

But I think it’s outdated.

Skateboarding’s become too commodified to stay out of the spotlight for much longer. Anytime you see this much money being generated by a “hobby,” “pasttime,” “activity” or what have you, then it will grab the attention of those who govern large-scale sporting events, such as the Olympics.

So my solution? Well, since street skating is way too advanced for the average “viewer” (sorry to use that term) to understand, and half-pipe skating is … uh, half-pipe skating, I’d hope organizers would consider bowlriding as an option. Think about: it takes place in a controlled environment, it’s more creative than half-pipe skating, you can work in some street-type moves into your line (mannies on the platform, etc.), and – perhaps most importantly – it would keep that guy in the photo above from capturing the first-ever Olympic gold medal in skateboarding.

Not that I have anything against the red-headed action sports wunderkind. I don’t. Truly. He seems like a nice guy. I’d just much rather have Dan Drehobl, Chet Childress, Rick McCrank or someone like that find their way into the history books.

I mean, the idea of Luda-Crooks standing on an Olympic platform with a medal in one hand a beer-can in the other? I think we could all get behind that.