It’s been a long year but 2008 is nearly out the door and 2009 will present us with a brand new refreshing start.  With a complete revamp of Bush’s totally awesome, totally successful presidency, we will be welcoming a new look to this country’s government with Barack Obama and his  administration.  Will he be as popular and efficient in running this country as Bush was?  All we can do is wait and see.  But there are a few things coming next year whose success is all but certain. 

First we have the fourth installment of the ever so popular Fast and Furious franchise.   I personally thought that RICE ROCKETS died at least 3 years ago but leave it up to Vin Diesel and his close friend and lost in the rummage co-star Paul Walker to revive the hobby.  In the music category, we can go down a long list of things to come.  But my personal favorite and it’s been a long time coming: the BONE THUGS N HARMONY album.  When they’re first album came out over a decade ago, it single handedly created a monster within suburban communities nation wide.  Middle-class straight A students morphed into gangstas.  It was awesome.  

Finally for television, I don’t get a chance to watch much of the tube unless it’s a holiday marathon of my favorite series SMALL WONDER.  But those are far and few between.  Fortunately Rob Dyrdek’s up coming show, which takes place at his newly constructed “Fantasy Factory”, will be hitting the air next year.  If you haven’t seen the skate plaza yet, it’s like THE BERRICS on crack.  Sorry, that’s a bad analogy.  More like The Berrics on Prozac mixed with LSD.  It’s pretty fresh.  Check out the new video over at DC. 

I was taking my morning stroll through the Internet this morning and coming across the usual obscure novelty websites such as Potion-And-Spells.com where you can learn how to cast a spell on your teachers or another interesting site I came across called ALL STAR JHERI CURLS which features some of Major Leagues Baseball’s most athletic and talented Jheri Curls.  Then I accidentally came across Ryan Sheckler’s social networking site called RyanSheckler.com. 

For one I didn’t even know that he had a social networking site.  How awesome is that?  Sheckler fans across the universe have a place where we can come together and chat everything Sheckler.  And second, I didn’t know he had his own skate compound.  But this isn’t any ordinary skate park like Dyrdek’s FANTASY FACTORY.  This is like a skatepark on roids.  Steroids that is.  I think Sheckler really wanted to emphasize his “Go Hard or Go Home” philosophy on life. 

Anyway, the Ryan Sheckler website looked like it was full of all sorts of awesome things so I decided to sign up and possibly make a few new friends.  Unfortunately when I logged on, the members section was dominated by underage girls and dudes who look take photos of themselves like THIS. 

You skateboarders are a clever and creative bunch. But, I know that this is a complete generalization but I’m sure most of you who skate know someone who embodies the steteotypical skater. I would say that Donovan from Buttery Ass Monday’s is the epitome of millions of biters out there. The dude is original as hell though. He’s sort of like urban version of MacGyver. As a result, kids all over the country begin to look like that kid, Andy Milonakis.

But over the past couple of years, a few skaters have stuck out enough to make it onto the most creative television network out there, MTV. The Jackass crew rose the bar pretty high as far as content goes. Their show ideas were simple, cheap to produce, and miraculously allowed straight guys to act gay. Perfect. Then kind of simultaneously, Rob Dyrdek and Ryan Sheckler came out with their own reality shows. Rob’s show was about how much time and money he can waste while Ryan’s show was about how many tears he could shed.

I’m not exactly sure how the ratings went for both these shows but I’m assuming that Sheckler won that round due to thousands of fan sites like THIS. But Rob won’t go down without a fight. His MTV show has evolved a whole lot. No more Big Black, a new dog, and a fantasy skate park have been included. I’m thinking this show is like his old one but on steroids. Check out the sneak peak below from DC.

It was a sad, sad day when the Maloof Money Cup came to and end.  Probably one of the most unique skate park designs in the world, the park was used for a total of three days with plenty of outstanding skateboarding taking place.  As soon as P-Rod lifted that giant check above his head the skeleton of the park was already exposed.  Everyone’s heart was torn. 

Well I there’s a hero who surfaced from all of this.  I think during his time with the Maloof Money Cup, Rob Dyrdek must have be taking some serious interior design and architectural classes because with the looks of his new skate park named The Fantasy Factory, he pushes skate park design to the limits.  And with this sneak preview, you can definitely see how much influence Rob had in the design of the Maloof Money Cup skate park. 

With all of this skate madness, MTV along with Rob will be producing a reality TV show revolving around the Fantasy Factory.  I think the photos speak for themselves.  I don’t watch much TV unless they’re reruns of Saved By The Bell or CNN.  And I most definitely never watch MV.  But I will be watching this.