It’s the Ice Surfer, the invention of Willard Gebien from Libertyvlle, Illinois. Debra Fischler sent in a picture of the device from 1966. An auction for a mint condition Ice Surfer showed up about a month ago, I sent it to Neil but I guess he forgot or wasn’t interested. I believe it went for about $150, I was tempted but I just don’t have the extra cash floating around. I’d never seen close up pictures of the actual Ice Surfer board before then, but when it rains, it pours. There’s another one on eBay right now. It’s well worn and slightly damaged, so the opening bid of $149 is pretty steep considering the condition. Peep some pics of the pristine version after the jump.

Drama, drama, drama. I created drama with slow motion. I actually just figured out how to use the slow motion on my new camera. Sixty frames per second instead of 30. It’s apparent where the old technology comes in when I’m using my old camera. It appears as stop-action. The new one is smooth as $500 can buy.

Chris Dyer AKA Positive Creations made this giant robot sculpture out of skateboards. I was going to say it was transformer-esque but it’s more like one of those hydraulic humanoid lifts from Aliens. I’m sure there’s a name for that genre of sci-fi machinery, but I’m not young and or cool/nerdy to know the term. Photos via Yannick Malek on Chris Dyer’s facebook page. One large pic after the jump for those of you would be hipsters that “don’t do” Facebook.

– Thanks to Greg Baller for the tip.

The Tron sequel opened this weekend, and somewhere in Australia they got the idea to match motion tracking with an overhead display, but this time instead of on the floor of an airport, casino or children’s museum they projected onto a miniramp. People keep asking what skateboarding has to do with Tron, and the answer is nothing, just as most skateboard demos at Seaworld, Six Flags, or halftime displays at professional football games. Looks fun, although, I’d probably eat it trying watch my own display. I’d probably eat it anyway… There are two separate videos from different sources after the jump. So nothing to do with skateboarding, but it did it’s job because we’re talking about Tron. Loved that arcade game. GVK saw the movie. He said it pretty good. I can’t believe he went to se it on opening weekend.

– Thanks to… Brian Martinez, JF, and Tom Bender for the tip.

You can tell by the infrequency of the SOTW updates that it’s not a high priority. So it’s by that token that the same photographer has the shot two “weeks” in a row, more like a month. When I saw this shot of Alex Schuurmans hitting nose sliding the banister inside of Rip City I had to jump on it. It’s another Dabe Alan shot. Alex Schuurman is supposed to be on the flow team at Merde. What’s the holdup Egbert? Move this kid up to the next level or someone else will, like maybe the company who makes those nice looking boards immediately on the other side of the stairs. Check out this week’s Shot of the Week.

Check out the video for “Steve Don’t Party No More” from Portland’s Mean Jeans. Buy their CD titled “Are you Serious” from the always entertaining Dirtnap Records.

– Thanks to Heath and Rick for the tip.

Things get back to normal this month. Bargain Section? Check. Assorted Crap? Check. 5,000 words? Check. Lots of great looking decks and some surprises? Checkmate. But before we get to the meat I want to look at a couple of things that left me amazed and disgusted in November.

Ride the Giant is a big downhill event in Alberta, Canada that looks pretty fun except for the ICP soundtrack. PDXDownhill went to the event and put together a nice video, with the exception of the juggalo soundtrack. Did I mention how much I loathe ICP, even in an ironic context?

– Thanks to JP for the tip.

The Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark are trying to raise money for a free public skatepark. One of the things they’ve organized is an entry into the Pepsi Refresh project, a very clever public relations scheme that still ultimately does do a lot of good for the public. Thing is, they don’t just give it away to anyone, they put it to a vote. What I want you to do is visit the project page and vote, it won’t cost you a nickel, and they’ve got a real chance to win. They’re ranked 16th right now. Andy MacDonald hailed from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he graciously appeared in the projects YouTube video. Those other guys look familiar too… Check it out after the jump., but don’t forget to vote! I think you can vote once a day in December.

(That being said, 30k to finalize a skatepark design? You guys need to find a good design/build firm to comp that design fee. Our readers can recommend a few…