Reader’s Digest is traditionally found next to the davenports belonging to grandparents across North America, – light reading while you enjoy a highball on the lanai. America. This is Moraga Commons Skate Park photographed by Paul Rickman from Oakland, California. Paul is only 18 years old, what’s he doing reading Reader’s Digest – besides winning photo contests? My mother, a woman of a certain age, sent me these pages out of Reader’s Digest and then quickly became sheepish when I pointed out to her that she had turned into her own mother.

There’s a giant cloud of pompousness eminating from Sebring Revolution, starting with the name of a company whose mission is to “revolutionize the way consumers see, study, purchase, and interact with art, products and media.” Sure… I guess it sounds better than “We make cool stuff.” However, they’ve put together some interesting footage and interactive widgets featuring Rodney Mullen. Be thankful that it looks like NIN video and it didn’t go another route with Dave Grohl and a really earnest interview about how revolutionary Rodney is. Why so bitter, Kilwag, are you jealous of Steven Sebring much? Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach write snarky blogs.

– Via Betsy Binckley Gordon on Facebook, who is probably un-friending me right now.

Seen above, the top three places in the first ever Street League Women’s Pro Division… What’s that? Oh, right. I guess those would more likely be some Monster Girls. I guess they don’t sponsor anyone in the women’s circuit, but hey, Nyjah Huston got 2nd. Photo from Monster’s press release regarding 2015 SLS Nike SB Super Crown World Championship, in Chicago, Illinois.

This is a cartoon by Glenn and Gary McCoy, available from CartoonStock.com. It’s got an ID# (ggm080314) but oddly enough if you search for it it tells you it doesn’t exist. Here come de judge.

Forget about the Olympics, we should start a petition to keep skateboarding out of fashion! All the fashion blogs are gaga about how the skateboards weren’t awkward at all and were very complimentary to the styles. Meanwhile, the skateboarding itself was very awkward, and the poor girl on the right could barely keep her fancy slip from slipping off… These are from the Ashish show for spring/summer 2016 at London Fashion Week.

[Source: She Knows]

Andy Shinkage is selling re-issued skateboards turned into household lighting fixtures. They’re wired through the cutouts in the wooden riser pads that allow the board to remain intact without extra holes being drilled. As a wall mount, it’s kind of odd, I think the obvious choice would be to hang it overhead. Another thing you’d need to worry about is what happens if they stop selling LED lights that look like coned out skateboard wheels? 14 year old me would think this was the coolest ever. Adult me thinks it’s interesting.

[Source: Technabob ]

Check out this clip of Jan and Dean lip-syncing Sidewalk Surfin’ on American Bandstand. August 22, 1964. Dick Clark talks with audience a little bit about skateboarding (a young man’s game?) and half the “band” actually does sidewalk surf on the stage. There’s even a little bit of dorking around during the lip sync session. See what passes for a “trick” in 1964. All in all, a very interesting clip showing skateboarding and skatesploitation in mid-60’s popular culture.

I just added 20 new adverts to Vintage Skatemag Advert gallery. These are from the January, 1998 issue of Thrasher. Not all of them are entirely interesting, but they’re there for the sake of uniformity. New ads include Antihero, Cadillac Trucks, California Skate Express, California Cheap Skates, Dare Devil Bearings, Freedumb Clothing, FTC, Menace Clothing, Nicotine Wheels, Plan B, Greed Garments, Halo Bearings, Intensity Skates, Recs Shoes, Mad Circle, Beer City, Concert Express, Etnies, Vans, and North Cal Distribution. Oxford comma for life!

My wife thinks I have a mild form of mental illness because I have hours and hours of skateboarding footage recorded from TV shows, movies and commercials. What’s the point when nobody else will ever see it? That’s not entirely true… Some of the footage was donated to a respected documentary. How else can I justify the time spent cataloging and digitizing? I present to you the first episode of Skate and Annoy’s Found in a Box VHS Skate Theater. If you’ve got a half an our to waste watching a mishmash of skateboarding in and around popular culture, then go ahead and watch it. As usual, the format needs polishing, but it’s only going to get better. Check it out.

Ernest Packaging has produced a great series of marketing videos called Cardboard Chaos in which they make unusual things out of cardboard, including snowboards, surfboards, and of course, skateboards. Professor Schmitt and Tony Hawk were brought in to help with the skateboard edition. The first try worked pretty well until they got to the frontside disaster. After they worked out the kinks they let Tony have a go at it. His verdict: It’s essentially as good as any other skateboard, but it’s too heavy. They left out some footage that would have made it more interesting, but perhaps diluted their message. I would have liked to get the details on which construction methods worked well and which ones didn’t. Between the initial testing they went from a board that felt light to one whose heavy weight was practically the first thing that Tony commented on. All this proves really, is that with enough fiberglass and epoxy, you can probably make a skateboard out of anything. Beanies off to Ernest Packaging for finding a way to get exposure through Extreme!™ sports in way that doesn’t turn skateboarder’s collective stomaches. Just think, you could make a skateboard out of recycled issues of Thrasher.

– Thanks to MC for the tip.