Activity Pyramid sounds like something a playground equipment manufacturer would try to sell you in a prefab skatepark, but It’s part of University of Missouri Extension health and exercise teaching aid. In cleaning out my hard drive I found a craptacular cellphone snap of this banner that I took in 2010, but I found better versions online. There are adult and kids versions of the Activity Pyramid. Sadly, the skateboard is not present on the adult version, so stop riding your skateboard if you’re not a kid anymore.

Kevin found this in the wilderness of Canada’s home improvement centers. It looks like ancient stock unearthed in a garage sale, but it’s actually a product you can still buy in a few different sizes. I contacted the one company I thought manufactured this (Perma Products) for bigger photos but they claim it’s a coincidence of names. Strange considering both PermaStik products are available in Australia and New Zealand. Nice nose bone on that death trap.

– Thanks to Kevin Live for the pic.

What do you call a kid who can skate like that? You call that kid a Cracker Jack. I totally forgot about this jingle until I watched the commercial, and it all came back to me. I never saw this particular Cracker Jack commercial, but I remember others with the same song. This series of commercials aired around 1978. Assuming the kid skating is the same one they use in the closeup, someone ought to be able to identify him.

– Thanks to Wes for the tip.

Adam Crofts sent me a beat up copy of the Keane Brothers debut album from 1977 because it had skateboard on the cover. I listened to it, hoping that the song Keep On Rollin’ was skateboard related, but it wasn’t. The album is a truly awful mix of 70’s disco, soul, rock, country and bubblegum. It’s a freaking awesome train wreck. I noticed the producer also had the last name Keane, so I figured this was a showbiz father trying to get rich off his kids, and that this was probably the last time anyone ever heard of the Keane Brothers, if anyone ever heard of them at all. Of course I was wrong. The Keane Brothers had one of those variety shows that were all over the 70’s like flies on shitty music, and they appeared on the Tonight Show and the Mike Douglas Show. On top of that, the opening sequence of their variety show prominently features the Keane brothers on skateboards.

California Sunday Magazine has an interesting piece on Jake Phelps that seems to have en done with some degree of cooperation from the Phelper. Some of the best parts are the sort of snide, deconstructive observations on the spectacle of skateboarding, such as observations that Thrasher is more like Vogue for degenerates than the skateboarder’s bible, and skateboarding has more in common with pornography than professional sports. “Skateboarding probably has more in common with pornography: Talented people are paid to be filmed doing something they’re good at, or at least insane enough to try.” There’s even a brief mention of Schwing! magazine as if their readers would know what that was. It’s long, and a bit nihilistic, and you’ll earn more about SOTY than you’ll care too, but even if you hate Phelps, it’s a good read. Check it out in California Sunday Magazine.

Which came first, the egg, or the toy inside the egg? Technically not an Easter-specific toy, but it’s an egg riding a skateboard. This is a hard plastic version representing the actual chocolate egg which would contain a toy inside it. So it’s a self-referencing toy. In case this makes zero sense to you, Kinder Surprises are chocolate eggs with a tiny plastic toy inside. I thought this was a generic term, but apparently it’s a trade name, like Kleenex or Xerox. I thought it was vintage, but it dates to 2014 according to the seller.

Because the world only needs so many canvases with the Audrey Hepburn, the Eiffel Tower or the New York City skyline, Ikea decided to bring in some new artists for the 2016 Ikea Art Event. On the right you can see Bara Prasilova’s photo. Sanskirt. After surveying the offerings, my 10 year old son declared he liked the underwear photo better, although the briefs and dress sent him mixed messages, and he wasn’t sure if it was a boy or a girl. Closer inspection of the photo reveals an Arbor skateboard and a flipped negative. I like the photo too, but I’d like it more without the flipped negative and cropped wheels on the skateboard.

An astronaut on a skateboard is something we’ve seen a time or two (or three). Mathieu Gielen scanned this Duvel beer coaster for you, drinking readers, and he was kind enough to translate it as well. After finding a link to Duvel, I saw that the skateboarding astronaut was also available as a beer label, poster, and beer glass as well. UPDATE: David Maes found a skateboard deck in the shape/graphics of a regular Duvel bottle.

The art of conceiving

We don’t pretend that the creation of the Duvel has been as spectacular as the first footstep on the Moon, but in 1923, this beer seemed totally innovating. A refermentation in bottle which give a colour (robe) so limpid is something for the least remarkable. And, more a beer is clear, more her taste is pure.

The flemish version has a some slight variations : the title reads “Heavenly pionneers” in place of “The art of conceiving” and there is a final sentence that is “This is simply of an intergalactic nature”. The rest is basically the same.

I thought I read in Wired how Nerf had become the largest arms dealer (by volume) in the world, but I might have imagined it. I wonder if the Zombie Strike series was conceived to make it more palatable to parents who object to toy guns for kids. Probably not. This Zombie Strike Doublestrike pistol features an illustration of a skateboarder on the back. It’s a happy coincidence when a toy with skateboard packaging makes it into my home if wasn’t bought for me.

Like scooters, Donald Trump, and anything else that has outlived it’s usefulness, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just won’t go away. TMNT has been enjoying a resurgence for a while now. While the animated series definitely surpasses the TMNT’s original incarnation, this incarnation of Mondo Gecko action figure is about as uninspired as it gets, especially when compared to the original toy.