For the past few months Paul Rodriguez and Plan B had been filming for a video section. They've had to deal with the schedule of one of the busiest skateboarders in the game: Street League contest, Nike tours, Dew Tour contests, Mountain Dew art projects, Maloof Money Cups, etc.

In between all that P-Rod and filmer/editor, Nigel Alexander, were able to put together a banger of a part featuring what the LA raised skateboarder does best; skates the street. No judges, portable bank ramps, instant scoring, hip-hop hype men, or anything like that. Just Paul and what he grew up doing and still loves to do more than anything...Skate The Streets.

"Me, Myself & I" is available on iTunes for a minor charge (to make sure the creative minds behind it can pay their rent this month, just cough up a couple bucks). Below is a trailer, so check out the tease then cruise over to Steve Jobs' music store buy a copy.

Paul Rodriguez has had a hell of a year so far:  1st at the Tampa Pro, 2nd at Maloof NYC, a nationally televised Mountain Dew commercial and a ton of media exposure in between.  Along the way filmer/editor extraordinaire, Nigel Alexander has been there to capture most of it.  So, check out P.Rod in the year 2010:

The Mountain Dew Green Label Art: Shop Series recently debuted in Boston at the ISF Skateboarding Championships. The contest took place in the TD Garden (the arena the Boston Celtics play in), and in the festival village in front of the venue was Green Label headquarters. There were free refreshments, music, skateboarding and most importantly the Shop Series entries.

If you're not familiar with the Shop Series it's a contest being held by pro skater, Paul Rodriguez, or simply P-Rod, artist extraordinaire, Don Pendleton, and the carbonated green that is Mountain Dew. The goal is to find the next Green Label Mountain Dew can. The entries were on display, which declared that it is now time to vote.

Also on display was the collaboration between P-Rod and Pendleton for the current Green Label can. The project was designed to inspire the shop artists, and was a creative combination of P-Rod's ideas and Pendleton's artistic brilliance.

To explain more of what went into this endeavour P-Rod and Pendleton sat down to talk with me about the inspirations of the can they created, what they're looking for in this contest, and simply talk art and skateboarding. The two are one and the same, both creation through expression.

First and foremost, when I asked P-Rod how this all came about he told me that Mountain Dew asked him if wanted to take part, and if so what artist would he like to design the can. He answered without hesitation; he just said, "Don." That's that. When I asked why, he told me that he had never met Pendleton, but they have traveled in the same circles for years, and that he had always admired the art he created.

There are a lot of artists in skateboarding, and for P-Rod to decide that quickly is testament to Pendleton's art. He's done work for Alien Workshop, Etnies (Mikey Taylor's shoes), and much more. He told me his art is always evolving, and the art he did for AWS ten years ago has since moved to another stage, what appears on the soda can is different, and what will appear on his future creations will also be in another artistic place. He talked of P-Rod wanting a dragon, and said he took the idea of a dragon-ish creature, and created the theme for the project. As far as the idea, P-Rod talked of always being a big fan of Bruce Lee movies, hence the dragon.

In case you didn't know, the LA based skater owns a shop himself, Primitive Boutique, in Encino,CA, and knows a few of the artists that have entered the contest. At one point in our conversation he pointed to one of the cans that featured a drawing of a person, and said, "I know that guy, he's a friend of mine." That just shows this contest features legit shops and artists.

Both P-Rod and Pendleton had favorites, I know which ones, but I'm not telling you. That would be unfair. Also, they both seemed very happy about how everything has turned out, and excited to have their names endorsing the can, the contest and everything this represents. Art, skateboarding and rewarding original ideas.

Now, on to the contest. I've explained it before, but here's the gist again. It's a competition between 35 shops representing 7 U.S. regions to design the can art for the next Green Label can. All of the cans have been designed and are display here, so make sure you cruise over and vote today. Oh yeah, and did I mention there's $10,000 up for grabs, $5,000 for the artist and $5,000 for the shop.

Also to coincide with this project, there is currently a nationally airing television commercial featuring P-Rod and Pendleton. Check it out below:

Two years ago was the first Maloof Money Cup, now we have two, and a favorite to win either of them is Paul Rodriguez. At that first Maloof back in 2008, in the midst of the Orange County Fair, he walked away with the biggest first place prize in the history of skateboarding (up until that point); $100,000.

Since then he has won an X Games Street gold and the Tampa Pro, the later being one of the most respected contests in the world amongst core skateboarders. If you've watched any TV lately Rodriguez is in that commercial where they explain where the air in Nike shoes comes from. He's the guy who hard flips the stair set into the tennis court and says what's up to that lovely tennis siren, Maria Sharapova.

Besides a few appearances in the mainstream, he is a pretty low key guy who likes to keep his focus on skateboarding. And when you're as good as he is, why not? I was recently at a major commercial shoot that starred Rodriguez. He was warming up on a hubba, and was just torching the thing with trick after trick, when one of the employees of the company shooting the commercial turned to me and said, "The kid is a technician."

Dictionary.com defines a technician as, a person who is trained or skilled in the technicalities of a subject, and in the subject of skateboarding Paul is about as technical as they come, especially when it comes to switch. At the Tampa Pro half of his winning run was switch or nollie, and at last year's X Games a switch flip and a switch heel down a 12 set are what clinched it for him.

Here's a little bonus definition of "technician" from Dictionary.com for the all the "skateboarding is an art" people, including myself: a person who is skilled in the technique of an art, as music or painting. So, pretty much Rodriguez is one of the masters of the art form of technical skateboarding, and his main medium is switch.

That's not to say he's just a tech guy. P-Rod has it all: great style, the ability to sack up and consistency. It's the combination of all of these things that make him such a competitive force. He can take those extremely complicated tricks he has locked into his muscle memory, do them down and up some pretty big obstacles, and consistently land with style.

The New York City Maloof Money Cup is first, and is made up of replicas of legendary NYC skate spots. The course is going to have a total city feel, kind of like you're on a movie set for a film with scenes at 11 different skate spots. When it comes to skating a city well, which is the ability to find a line and just come up with as many combinations and variations of what you can do in and out of tricks on what you encounter on your path, Paul is one of the best. He did grow up in Los Angeles, if you can call LA a city. Nothing on the course seems like it's going to be overly huge which should play right into his hands, because there are going to be guys like Cole and Sheckler looming, who specialize on the big stuff.

From the looks of the course it seems like P-Rod's skating may just be a perfect fit. If everything comes together and he kills it like his dad, comedian Paul Rodriguez Sr., did the last time a saw him at the Laugh Factory in LA (that joke about how Fairfax Blvd. gets skinnier as you enter Little Ethiopia; classic) he could have $200,000 reasons to really like Joe, Gavin and George Maloof.

Here's some video highlights of $100,000 day two years ago at the first Maloof Money Cup: