The 60’s were the true, toy store fad era of skateboarding. At no other time would you expect to be able to purchase a serviceable piece of sporting equipment from a snack food manufacturer. Yes, manufacturers have been sticking scooter handles on skateboards since shortly after the handles were torn off scooters to make the original skateboards. This one was a special order produced for the Burry Biscuit company, now known as Burry Foods, one time manufacturer of the Burry’s Scooter Pie. What better way to market a scooter pie than to sell an actual scooter? The box came with a skateboard and the handle, so you didn’t have to turn it into a scooter if you didn’t want to.

This is an excellent 60’s era window display for the Continental Surf Skater. Tommy Ryan, San Diego’s Skate Board Champion says “Get the Winning Continetal Surf Skater Here!” – As advertised on TV. How cute: Little Tommy looks adorable and the industry is still using the two word qualifier “Skate Board.” There was a Tommy Ryan in the downhill circuit in the 70’s, given the young age of the kid in this poster, likely the same one. This has nothing to do with the Replacements reunion tour.

I learned that Rodney Mullen was in Wired by following J Grant Brittain on Instagram, as the Wired feature uses quite a few of his pictures. The lengthy article covers the events that led to Mullen’s first TED talk, his love of Linux, and his subsequent speaking and consulting business. Mullen obviously likes to use skateboarding as an instrument for illustration and inspiration in his new work, as it that’s where his credibility and recognition comes from. He draws parallels between skate culture and tech culture. It’s all very interesting, in a warm fuzzy way, but none if is paradigm changing or particularly new for that matter. It’s important to remember that the job of a professional speaker is more or less to inspire, often times through getting an audience to adjust their thinking a little. It’s the equivalent of removing a few pieces in a log jam or loosening up a few strands in a knot, hopefully allowing the listeners to attack their problems successfully with a new prospective, or at the very least, make them believe they can. On the front page of Wired there’s currently an opinion piece by former competitive skater and NHS team member Kathy Sierra. Sierra’s opinion piece dwells on sexism in the skateboarding world at the expense of everything positive that skateboard culture has to offer. The important thing to note, there is no singular skateboard culture. Rampant sexism certainly exists, but it is in no way indicative of the entire culture, or even the entire industry.

Check out this trailer for a short film called Kung Fury. There’s a little skateboard action in the beginning that sets the tone for this flick really quick. It was a kickstarter project and now it’s in production. The only bad thing I can say about Kung Fury is that it’s only going to be around 30 minutes long when completed. It should be a full length feature!

– Thanks to MC for the tip.

Last nights episode Dark Purple was the second appearance of skateboarding in Adventure Time. It’s kind of interesting that both times it’s been Jake the Dog skating and not Finn the Human. This time Jake has safety equipment of a sort, it’s still made out of his own flesh. Cartoon Network must have caught some flak the last time he skated without pads and a helmet. Jake busts some new school and old school moves. The graffiti on the bottom of Jake’s deck is spot on satire of rebellious youth culture. No Way! Indeed.

This Porkchop, one of the characters from the Nickelodeon show Doug, AKA Doug Funny. This figure is from a 1994 Hardees promotion that featured other Nickelodeon characters on wheels, titled Cruisin’ Back to School Nicktoon Cruisers. Unfortunately, Porkchop is the only one riding a skateboard. The rest of the characters are on other assorted vehicles that look like amusement park or grocery store rides. For instance, Ren and Stimpy appear to be riding bombs, and Doug funny is riding a distinctly different looking rocket. Porkchop’s Walkman seems a little out of date already. Shouldn’t he be using a Discman by now?

My grandfather had a finished basement with a bar that he built. Hell, he built the whole house, actually. The shelves behind the bar were packed with glassware, weird ice breakers, nut crackers, and various measuring and stirring devices. There was almost the same amount of space devoted to novelty bottles (shaped like monks and monkeys, oddly enough), the prerequisite hollow coconut, and assorted knickknacks, including several character sculptures made out of welded nuts and bolts. Pop’s metal people weren’t skateboarding however, they were doing things like golfing and standing around. I imagine them practicing their lines for an upcoming casting call in a “You want it when??!!” sign. This particular sculpture was spotted over at Troy Sliter’s house several years ago. I just found it while cleaning out the old hard drive. Time for a cocktail, maybe I’ll head out on the lanai and have a sweat on the davenport while I eat some filberts.

Scion brings you the worst ever Northwest skatepark tour, featuring Riley Hawk and something called a “Shep Dawg” crew. There’s something to be said for traveling off the beaten path, but given the wealth available terrain in the Northwest, the park selection is pretty weak. They actually go to a good spot (Windells) but it’s raining, so they stick to the indoor section. Let’s face it, nobody wants/needs to see a session at an indoor wooden skatepark unless it’s phenomenal. Then there’s a prolonged, implied commercial for Exit Real World that sticks out like a sore thumb. The contrast and tension between the spots, action and bad soundtrack (which you can download) makes the whole damned thing really awkward. But then here I am reposting it, so it works on some level. The screen capture above is the best part of the video, watch the rest at your peril.

– Thanks to MC for the tip.

Check out this Ed Syder interview in Caught in the Crossfire about his self published book called Natas and Gonz. It’s not like those guys don’t get any respect, but this tribute to Natas and Gonz (and the Simpsons, apparently) is 52 pages of fun… at least I assume it is. I haven’t seen it yet, but it would be hard to imagine a book about these guys being anything less than fun. The first pressing sold out, but you can preorder the 2nd pressing for £10.00. Postage to the USA is £3.95… so that’s around $22 delivered. While you’re digging around his site, check out other items like the Skater’s Alphabet.

[Source: Caught in the Crossfire]

At some point after I bought this Ben 10 action figure, opened it and left is sitting around the house, my kids decided the board needed to be colored in with a green marker. Fair enough I guess. I don’t think this show is on anymore, not even in reruns currently. Ben’s skateboard is actually a hoverboard. In the series, he rides it around occasionally, but in the tradition of making surfboard and hoverboard action toys, wheels have been added.