There’s a company called Uncommon that makes custom iPhone cases that are pretty cool. You can upload your own artwork and through a unique process, they basically bake it onto the case. The image actually penetrates the shell a considerable distance, so it doesn’t simply scratch off two weeks after you buy it. For those of you who aren’t artistically inclined, they also offer collections of cases designed by artists, as well as a Juxtapoz Magazine and Thrasher Magazine collection. The best offering in the Thrasher collection is one that looks like you covered your phone in assorted Thrasher stickers. Of course you could do this yourself, but they wouldn’t protect your phone, and it would look like hell the first time you pulled it out of your pocket. It may seem like I know an inappropriate amount about the product, but that’s because I know a guy who is one of their handful of employees. I got the tour and a chance to peep the classified video. I’ve even been rocking a blank case for the past three months. As a case without blandishment, I’ve got nothing but positive comments. With a graphic, I can only imagine it would be twice as nice. Now considering all this, and especially my insider connection, my only complaint is that there is no Skate and Annoy collection, or even a Killwag Kollection. Come on, I think we could sell at least one GVK edition. Once again, that name is Uncommon. They also do a Blackberry case. Cough, cough. Ahem. Plug. Also in iPhone news: Made For Skate now has a free lite version of their iPhone app. , and several updates. It seems like they update it every month with new content or features. Concrete Wave Magazine dropped a big surprise with their new iPhone app. It offers another extension to their community, the ability to view photos and all advertisements from their current issue, and exclusive discounts arrangements with some vendors, among other things. That last tiny picture is Erik Ellington and Geoff Rowley, the two new spokespersons for the GoSk8 iPhone app.

As seen on the Berrics. This is a poster for an adult film from 1979 titled Female Athletes. The folks at the Berrics have not “seen the ‘film’ and have no plans to,” but they did appropriate the image for a t-shirt. Come on. If you are going to rip off the poster, at least watch the movie, or don’t pretend to be so demure about the whole thing, Here at S&A, we’ve got no such hangups. I found the whole thing online and skimmed it for skateboarding scenes, but saw none. I had to skim it, the damn thing is 80 minutes long, and that’s way to long for an adult film. Although you have to admire how they at least try to be like a real film, with a story line, acting and all. Nice original soundtrack too.

– Thanks to Mike Estes for the tip.

From the Duke University archives, as found on Flickr under the headline Cowabunga! It’s not dated, but I’d place it around 1965.

Ultra Flex. I’ve never heard of this company before, but they made skateboards and Primo brand wheels. The parent company was actually Special Products, a division of something called I.I.I., located in San Diego. I couldn’t find anything definite for them via google. They must have spent some cash on this brochure though. In the 70’s you couldn’t get a 1000 full color brocures for $100. First you had to have a photo shoot in a studio. The you had to pay for professional film developing, type setting, ad layout, and mechanical color separations. Plus there was stat camera graphic work too, none of this scanning and resizing in Photoshop, and then emailing a PDF. It was all done mechanically, and this would have been expensive.

UPDATE: Added pictures of an old Ultra Flex board.

Two music videos featuring skateboarding of a sort. The first one is for a Fujiya & Miyagi song called Ankle Injuries. It’s stop action animation made with colored dice imitating pixels, pretty much the same technique Michel Gondry used in the White Stripes video for Fell In Love With A Girl, only with Legos. Still, it’s fun to watch, retro skateboard and Adidas shoes and all. It’s brief though, blink and you might miss it. – Thanks to MC for the tip. He’s hip to the kids and thier music, you know? The second video is for an Atmosphere song called You. It’s a fingerboard session at a party. Not that exciting, but it rounds out the post. Thanks to reader Ticorico for the tip.

Me, I swear by my Bones Bushings, but if I ever find myself in pinch, I could follow the advice over at Sa Ka Roulé and repurpose some of those newfangled plastic corks and make some bushings. In fact, maybe I’ll start building up a reserve of them tonight. I was saving these things for a while, I thought there must be something I could do with them, but this idea never crossed my mind.

This little piece of perfection can be yours. All you need is $1500, and maybe 4-8 more of these because it’s only four feet wide. The best part is, it was built for BMX. Holy cow. It’s in Mokena, IL. I think that other horribly crappy ramp for sale that we featured was in Illinois too. Remember that one? I can’t find it. At least this one looks really, really well built. It has a the smell of something built by a well meaning but clueless parent. I can imagine the surprise on the kid’s face. “Gee, uh, thanks Dad.” Where else but eBay? Craig’s list, maybe.

Axl Rose. Get it? Get it? Ha ha ahw haw, har hardee har har. I’m watching Glee right now. Kind of phoning this one in. Is this really Axel Rose? I mean it’s implied that it is, but I’ll be damned if I can reconcile this picture with my hazy memory of the late 80’s and early 90’s. I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about my friend Don Gerard. Picture this: It’s 1987 and there’s a house in a college town that is half filled with students, half filled with dropouts. It’s called “Ten Shitty Guys,” but there are about 14 people living there. My roommate Don walks up to our front porch, where a few of us are sitting next to one of those giant console stereos from the 60’s. We had one on our front porch. It’s where we rocked out. Fresh off of work, Don strolled up and started to slide some vinyl out of a paper bag as he walked up the steps. “Check this out you guys. These guys are going to be HUGE.” And then he slaps Appetite for Destruction on the turntable. And this is early, because these guys are still unknown outside of LA, and it’s the original cover with the controversial Robert Williams painting. At first we were like ” Are you kidding? This is heavy metal bullshit. Nobody is going to give a shit about these guys.” But within a week it was regularly featured on the playlist of the radio station that was our front porch. Don was right about these guys. They did become huge about six months later. As right as he was about Guns and Roses, he was just as wrong about R.E.M.. He was a huge fan, and I was giving him a hard time because at the time it seemed like they were releasing an album every eight months. He replied “These guys have to strike while the iron is hot. An indy band like this is never going to be popular for very long.” OK. Maybe he didn’t actually say “strike while the iron is hot,” but uh, if I had my druthers…. Yeah, so. Axel Rose and a Mike McGill skateboard, plus an official licensed Guns and Roses skateboard that is disappointing, like most licensed band boards. At this point in my rambling I’d liek to mention that Rich from EPM used to actually skate with Axl in Indiana when he (Axl) was known as William.

Man, I can’t remember how I found this, but here it is. It’s actually Dog Powered Scooter, but they also cater to skateboards and recumbent bikes, excuse me, trikes. $250 gets you one harness mount. Pictures and a scooter vid with inspirational soundtrack after the jump.

You don’t have to go all the way to… Wal-Mart to buy… Chinese skateboards straight from your skate shop to… Aw hell. I can’t figure out how to spin this. Chip Atkins went on vacation to Nicaragua. I only know one other person who has done that, hail GVK! While in a supermarket in Managua, Chip found a real nice skateboard. That’s not dollars, hombre, thats’s Cordoba. This board costs about $12. And no, the title of this post is not me trying to get a date with Chip, I’m quoting Midwest punk rock circa 1985. Name that band for a noprize. Void where prohibited. Residents of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan are disqualified.

Thanks to Chip Atkins for the tip. Hey, he works at a bike shop. In the spirit of the holiday season everyone jump all over him and give him a hard time.