Tank treads on a skateboard. I don’t think this is a new Idea. I believe there was a motorized prototype or two (or three) quite a while ago. This promo video declares the Rockboard Descender as the future of skateboarding, which might be true provided you’re only interested in going downhill at relatively slow speeds. Those treads make this thing fast as a snail. That’s friction for you. If you really want to ride off road, just get those big oversized dirt wheels that have been around in one form or another since the 70’s. I’m actually very excited these are being mass produced. One day, one of them will turn up at the Good Will. – Thanks to Josh at BPA for the tip.

Jay Schmetz paints a lot of animals in domestic settings. In addition to a beaver brushing his teeth, he has also painted a fair amount of skateboarding creatures. Most of the animal shredders are dogs, but you’ll also find the occasional pig, cat, rabbit, elephant, cow, or sheep. If you become enamored of them you can buy various reproductions and originals. My two favorites are at the top. Something about an Elephant on a skateboard is already funny, but when you throw in a handstand… Well, that’s art!

Tony Hawk for the the Sony Action Cam, otherwise known as a Go Pro camera with an awkward form function. The promo video on loop in the display features Tony Hawk and Lizzie Armanto, selfie sticks and and even a bracket for mounting it under a skateboard. I should have got a screen cap of that bracket, as it looks like there is no skateboard specific bracket, but the video did briefly show a camera snapping into a bracket in front of the rear truck. I ‘d like to see how the made it work with their universal bracket. “Retired” sports figures are still used to sell products, but Tony’s the only one who can still perform up to the standards that made him famous in the first place. He’s not standing around with a bottle of talcum powder like Shaq.

A very polite and apologetic “No Skateboarding” sign. It’s as if they feel bad about it. It’s not really skate harassment, but more like skate empathy. “We’re sorry, we wish you could skate here, but you cannot.” In my mind I hear that with a Canadian accent. – Thanks to John E for the photo

If I win this auction I will scan it and post a better quality picture. That’s just the type of nerd I am. This is a Winnipeg Manitoba Canada mass transit pass from 1979. I would call BS on the date based on the illustration were it not for the fact that the seller has a ton of other passes with the same illustration style from the same time period. – Thanks to Josh (who is still killing it at BPA) for the tip.

Don’t even think about it, OK? When you don’t want skateboarders messing up your planters with unsightly grind marks, or disturbing the Feng shui by loitering, this 20 foot long stencil ought to do the trick.

This is the second and last installment of Fun to Draw Skateboard Action book. Along with the familiar misnomers and weird physics, the second half of the book features a couple of filler pages with some “totally rad” action and an exercise to match the safety equipment with the part of the body that it goes on.

It’s Earth Day, so if you want to listen to your old 7″ singles you might consider picking up one of these 45 Dome Shots, a collaboration with Maple XO and John Cardiel. Earth day?? This should have been a collab for Record Store Day.

“Skateboard Action” was a popular title for kids books in the 80’s, as this is not the only book to use it. Skateboard Action from the Fun to Draw series was published in 1989 by Hamburger Press. The illustrations are by Ed Francis, so the blame for mislabeling has to go with the author Debra Rowley. It’s got 36 pages jam packed with goofy little fox on a skateboard cartoons and the typical 4 step drawing instructions you find in these things. The illustrator has the human figure basics down but occasionally has difficulty placing the figure in relation to ramps and coping. It’s as if someone went through a skateboard magazine and cut out the skateboarder from each photograph and the illustrator used them as a reference without knowing how they related to the real world. The illustrator’s take on aftermarket 80’s skate graphics and fashion is spot on and worth a chuckle. Part one of the installment after the jump.

Congratualtions son, your photo is going to be used on some product packaging! Millions of people will see it and you’ll be famous! You’re looking at DryNites sleep diapers for rippers and bed wetters aged 8-15. They were spotted (tee hee!) in the Prisma supermarket in Kuopio, Finland. It’s a serious problem that some kids have. These are no doubt super helpful, but they didn’t need to traumatize the kid on the package. He’s surely going to be ridiculed, no matter how many radical (or upside down) skateboarding silhouettes are on the bag. The product is sold in 21 countries, but the US isn’t one of them. There are lots of active lifestyle and bedtime pics on the DryNites sites, but I can’t be expected to go through them thoroughly searching for skateboards because I have to go to the bathroom. – Thanks to Nicolas Bouvy for the photo