I expected this to be another article on old skateboarders, but the print issue of the June 2019 issue of ESPN Magazine instead features a brief excerpt of photographers David Burnett’s exhibit titled Fourth Quarter: Senior Athletes and Their Indomitable Spirit, currently showing at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Fl. That’s an old friend of the site Judy Oyama in the two page spread there, probably wishing they’s actually shown her skateboarding. The web site article has some, well… gnarly looking senior athletes. The hockey team is my favorite. There’s also can alleged photo of Mark Lake in there too. I say “alleged” because the caption reads “Skateboarding legend Mark Lake, 61, began his pro career at 19. Here, he takes one of his patented “Nightmare” boards for a spin at the Ramp48 Skateboard Park…” but the photograph is a guy on rollerblades. I don’t know if that’s Mark on roller blades or not. I couldn’t have picked him out of a lineup in the 80’s let alone today. While opinions on the Nightmare remain mixed, we can all agree it doesn’t look like a pair of inline skates.

I’m surprised there isn’t a trick called an Obvious Plant. Sounds like something Neil Blender or Lance Mountain would have made up. Wait? Is there an obvious plant? Well, there’s Obvious Plant, the fake company run by Jeff Wysaski. He makes fake products in packaging and plants them in retail locations. It’s very good stuff, and there are 2 gratuitous Tony Hawk references in the collection.

I don’t get stoner culture, especially the way some participants are so into the idea of pot, and all the paraphernalia that surrounds the use of it. I suppose it can be likened in some aspects to people who enjoy a good craft beer or making their own home-brew. What I do get, is the amount of talent Tristan Hodges has for blowing glass. If I’m ever in the market for an exquisitely made glass pipe in the form factor of a skateboard, I know exactly where to go. And now, so do you.

As part of Miami Arts Week, Mana Common has sponsored Infinity Plaza, which is a skateable art installation by Andrew Schoultz. It’s a permanent installation, although some of it appears to be made out of wood, so we all know how long that’s going to last. It opened on December 1st, so if you are in the Miami neighborhood (Mana Wynwood Convention Center 2217 NW 5th Avenue) you can check it out. If not, check out some pictures of the installation after the jump. The wall that looks like the tank has blasted hole through it has an interesting quality. It almost looks photoshopped in most of the pictures, but the detail view reveals it’s just a trick of the eye cause by high contrast decoration.

Skaters for Portland Skateparks held what I hope is the first of many Skateboard Swap Meets on Monday. It was free to enter, and setting up a table only cost a very modest $10 with a 10% of sales set as a suggested donation towards the Powell Blvd Skate Spot. The picture above was taken early on in the event, and it did get quite busy. As most other vendors there, I didn’t know what to expect, but I ended up really enjoying it. I hope they make this a monthly or semi-monthly thing. I expect it become popular and quickly outgrow the space we were in at Luck Labrador Brewing. Minors were allowed, either because the event was in a separate room or maybe because it is also a restaurant. I unloaded a bunch of potential landfill from my basement. There was some interesting stuff there including boards from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, stacks of old VHS tapes, art, and shirts. Game Stolz had some of his own Oregon-pressed Chupakabruh Skateboards as well as these Vitamin Water-branded promo skateboard wheels that were from about 5-7 years ago. That stuff belongs right here on Skate and Annoy. Bonus:…

Bones pumpkin carving by Fabio Issa.

This is the Skate Boarding Coloring Book illustrated by Magnus Fredriksen and published in 2011 by Dokument Press in Sweden. Note that the word “skateboarding” is broken into two words by the publisher. Of the 60 illustrations, a few of them come from recognizable source material. – Thanks to Matthijs for the pics.

Just when you thought you’ve seen every possible iteration of skateboard based furniture, along comes Mike Bolster’s rocking chair. A single skateboard truck seems like it would have way too much pivot action to be stable, but Mike uses a double truck setup that keeps the axles parallel at all times. I imagine this would increase the tension and keep you from wobbling around like one of those characters on a giant spring that you see at children’s playgrounds. Insert joke about using a non-turning truck brand for more stability… – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

I was peaking in the window of the Oregon Dachshund Rescue store on the weekend and snapped this grainy photo of a Dachshund Longboards poster which I thought was kind of clever until I went online and found someone (a lot of people, actually) selling illustrations by Ryan Fowler with other fake skateboarding companies named after dogs. There’s also version that says “Weiner Skateboards.”

This is hard drive cleaning time an illustration by Tim Root, for the Portland Mercury, that dates back a couple years. It might have been a cover, or t-shirt, or both. I can’t remember. Tim’s illustrations for Stumptown Coffee have appeared here before. Who is Tim Root?