Balsa Wood Toys sells wooden toys, kits, and clocks. This skateboarder kit is actually made from pine. Turn the hand crank and his knees bend and the board shuffles. It’s a fun item, but I can’t get behind the $30 price and the fact that the skateboarder is riding backwards. It is a kit though, maybe you can build it in a proper stance. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

I could make this stuff up, but apparently I don’t have to. The Associated Press reports that Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea to promote good will between North Korea and the western world. Kim Jong Un allegedly want’s to start a bromance with Dennis, being a big fan of his during his stint at Chicago. He’s traveling with a VICE magazine crew and filming for their HBO news series. Again, I don’t have to make this stuff up. One of the planned stops on the tour is the new skatepark facility we highlighted back in November. I’m with Kim Jong Un on this one. Rodman kicked ass during his stint with the Bulls. Media nonsense, professional wrestling, formerly hot girlfriends, bad acting and personal problems aside, he was a great player. He’s got 5 championship rings. Suck it Kobe. [Source: NPR] – Thanks to Shawn Fendick for the tip.

I haven’t actually held a copy of teh Neiman Marcus publication known as The Book, but near as I can tell it’s like a fashion magazine masquerading as a very fancy catalog that you can’t actually order anything from. Walter Chin is the photographer, but he’s not Walter Chin, the wedding photographer. Register those domain names early kids. As much as I tend be annoyed by gratuitous skateboards in fashion photography, I actually really like this as a photograph. It transcends the norm for this kind of thing. Chin’s photos are in the March, 2013 edition of The Book. I have no idea how you actually get a copy, but you can view it online here, page 58. – Thanks to our recent fashion correspondent Seth Levy for the tip.

  Randy has asked me to post stuff to Skate and Annoy for a while, and I’ve always been a big fan, so I figured it was about time we get started. So, he said why not start off with an introduction. Well, who the Fuck is Jim Gray? If you care, I’m a guy who was sitting on the deck watching when Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi win contests and I got 29th and was stoked to get a good seat on the deck to watch the finals. I’m the guy who thought it would be really lame and confusing if skateboarding had 500 pro models instead of 50, and I think it is, maybe you think it’s awesome. I am  the kook who showed up in white plaid shorts and blue shoes to the black clothing only backyard pool party. I’m loved, I’m hated, I’m everything in between, but like you I have an opinion, and for some unknown reason, Randy thought it would be fun to have me rattle mine off now and then here on S&A. My daddy always told me opinions are like Assholes, everyone has one, some just stink more than others…… So, whether you  love…

!997? I can’t believe they hauled the Cabbage patch kids out of the mothballs and tried to saddle them with another dormant fad, skateboarding.

Back in 2003, Bob Burnquist had milk. Holy cow, that was 10 years ago. I think Hawk did one too.

DiSturb PhotoGraphy has a gallery of girls in skateboard graphic body paint, among other things. – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

From the Burnside Facebook page: Burnside Skatepark Aubre/AJ is approaching businesses in portland, “selling” advertising at the park, but he is keeping the money for his own use. the park does not sell advertising and he is committing fraud. he is ripping off businesses who think they are supporting the park, and making the park look bad in the process. UPDATE: Koin 6 has video.

In the vein of Where’s Chin, and of course Waldo, Jon Horner made another illustration to accompany Flip’s Tom Penny Cheech & Chong graphic. The large versions are up on Gentlemanly Conduct. As seen in Sidewalk Magazine. – Thanks to Simon Mrozinski for the tip.

Drink Water is trying to get people to skip the energy drinks and buzz cola in favor of drinking water instead. They don’t sell water, but they sell shirts, stickers and water bottles with the logo. 10% of the profits go towards water.org, an organization working towards getting clean drinking water for the almost 1 in 9 people in the world who don’t have access to clean water. Man, that seems really high. And for our purposes, they have a promo video with some skateboarding in it. This whole thing sounds like a bit in Portlandia. If we don’t drink energy drinks and soda, who will make TV commercials with skateboarding or sponsor the contest series that air on TV to show those commercials? – Thanks to Tom Bender for the tip.