My sons are obsessed with Star Wars. My eldest came home from the book fair with Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger. It’s in the vein of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (You’re familiar with the genre, right?) I’ve been reading a little bit of it each night to him, and as far as kids books go it’s pretty good. One of the protagonists is an antisocial kid with an origami Yoda finger puppet who dispenses sage advice to the middle school kids. His nemesis is an annoying kid who makes a Darth Vader origami finger puppet who is not content to destroy his paper foe alone, he tries to get the other kid kicked out of school. It’s irreverently amusing, and filled with references to movie dialogue and scenes. It also has illustrations mixed throughout and scribbled in the margins, which is why we’re here. One scene takes place in a skate park. The illustration isn’t really about the story, it’s meant to look as if the storyteller was inspired to doodle in the book after reliving the details. Poor R2 D2 is on rollerblades, while Jabba the Hut has multiple boards. He would have fit better on…

From Legoland in California. – Thanks to Marek Litinski for the tip.

Sort of the first skateboarding dog from a film made in 1930, courtesy of the king of skate film historians, Scott Starrr. in other animal skateboard news, Tilman showed up at Tony Hawk’s Standu p for Skateparks benefit.

A rat on a skateboard from an uncredited photo on Oregon Live talking about the growing number of rat fanciers. I had a pet rat for a short period of time. I originally bought it for an art installation and decided to keep it. It was kind of cool, but it couldn’t take two steps without pooping on something. I gave it away to a goth girl who wanted another lifestyle accessory. True story.

I was never a fan of Alf, so I’m not sure of the significance (or meaning) of the phrase “Yo Luck!” as seen on this sure to be musty smelling Alf shirt. Since he rides a skateboard on his own skateboard, it’s not much of a surprise to see him riding another skateboard on a t-shirt.

Peanuts. Not a coloring book, but a book to color, from the famous comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz. Authorized edition no less. Copyright MCMLXV, which is 1965. I had to look it up. Pretty formal for a bunch of little funny looking squished head kids. This is my favorite era of Peanuts. Everyone looks like doughboys left out in the sun for a little too long. There are no skateboards inside the “book to color.” Snoopy looks cool as usual.

Well who am I argue? I’d have to translate it first. The A-side title needs no translation – Get Rad (With the right protection). Sounds like a description of a dorm room poster for safe sex, but no, it’s almost as titillating. Nothing excites an adolescent more than a pullout poster extolling the virtues of hard plastic shells and tender, soft foam. This poster is courtesy of the Dutch organization known as the (translated) Consumer & Safety Foundation, circa 1989 or 1990, judging by that Nicky Guerrero mask model. – Thanks to Matthijs for the scans.

Apparently my wife’s claim that she knew the guy who ran Skate and Annoy wasn’t enough to coax an action shot out of these two clowns, I mean monkeys.

Because they didn’t have a greeting card addressed “Dear Readers.” Ghost on a skateboard, with a pumpkin. Happy Halloween. Away you go, Grandson!

Lord on Board is an 8″ tall plastic resin figure sculpted by Abell Octovan. He allegedly sells them for $160 a piece delivered, although I can’t seem to figure out where, as he doesn’t seem to have an online presence outside of a flickr stream. The board is a separate piece, and his hand is molded to hold it in a standard skater’s grip. Available photographs show no evidence of evil mall grab capabilities, but the dark side of the Force is strong, so you never know. These things look pretty nifty, but $160 is a special kind of crazy. Then again vinyl toy collecting is a strange phenomenon. At least theses guys can play with their collectables with in reason and they’ll still look like NOS. I’ve often wondered about the copyright ramifications of slapping Darth Vader’s head on a skateboard toy and selling it, but the folks over at the Official Star Wars Blog don’t seem to be too upset. – Thanks to Concretin Nik for the tip.