Up for auction we have rare and hard to find Fisher Price Skateboard and the Little People Asian Boy who rides it. Fisher-Price Little People are an iconic toy. They started out being constructed entirely out of wood in 1960, eventually adding plastic bits and ultimately ended up being molded out of plastic completely until they were discontinued in 1990. In 1997 Fisher-Price revamped the Little People. Although they are highly detailed injection molded pieces, (seen above on the right) they are ironically somehow more generic looking than the very simple original versions. The classic little people had a school play set in the late 80’s that came with a skateboard toy for the kids to ride. It looks like it has bindings (kook!) but surely is less painful to ride than the new version that is more akin to a butt plug.

Yes, I paid $2.99 to make fun of Ryan Sheckler, so who is the bigger loser? Me, by most standards. Sheckler makes no less than two appearances in the February 2008 issue of Seventeen Magazine, and they’ve even got an online extra.

Another huge moneymaking plan that someone else beat me to the punch on. I guess I’d better get moving on my 900 phone-skating number. Secrets of Skateboarding wants your email address, which they swear will not be sold or misused, and you gotta believe them. If you cough up your email (or any email) you can get access to the page where you get the scoop on Tony Waters’ success plan (He studied Tony Robbins!) for becoming a kickass skater. Revealed… An effective technique to improve at skateboarding without actually skating. Although the secrets apparently fit in a software box, if you buy now you’ll also get a chance to download for free, How to Shoot a Killer Skate Video. Here’s a free tip from me – Step one: Ditch the VHS camera. Then there’s what looks like the wheelchair access version of Professional Ramp Plans. How much will all this bounty cost you? Only $27, and they’ve got an affiliate program too! I need to get signed up for that. Who is Tony Waters? One Clue: “Underground Skater Finally Comes Out!” He’s still a little shy, as he only appears in one small photo wearing sunglasses in front of…

This week’s SOTW is a Jason Oliva shot of Christian Hosoi launching a backside air at Jeff Roenings ramp in New Jersey circa 1986. The larger size photo has a link to Jason’s recollections on the session. Check it out.

Help finish the Lincoln City snakerun. Dreamland has donated time, materials and money over the years to make Lincoln City the best skatepark possible. The local kids have also been recruited to donate time and labor. Here’s your chance to help finish the snakerun. Skaters for Portland Skateparks has set up a Lincoln City Skatepark benefit fund. SPS is a registered non-profit so get over there and make a tax-deductible donation to help finish the park’s latest addition. SEE the construction pics

Apparently all you have to do is ask. These images are from last weekend. According to our anonymous source, a surf shop gave up the location with only a slight runaround. Come to think about it, that’s the same way I found out about the Nude Bowl as a youth visiting from the Midwest. I went to the nearest skateshop and just asked. But getting back to the Graveside scenery, it looks guh-narly. One tightly cropped panoramic shot after the jump. Don’t ask, we aren’t telling.

ShOP stands for Sheffield Online Papers in Social Research (er… SHOPSR?) Sheffield Online Papers in Social Research (ShOP) is an online forum for the publication and distribution of peer-reviewed work in the Social Sciences and related disciplines. Started by the Postgraduate community at Sheffield University, Sheffield Online Papers in Social Research publishes: Articles which provide a detailed, systematic and theoretically based analysis of the phenomena of society Contributions to conceptual, theoretical or methodological debates within the social sciences Studies and articles relating to current social and political issues Back in 2003, ShOP Issue 7 focused on skateboarding. I’ve been know to ramble a bit too much on esoteric skateboarding rants, but ShOP has six papers with a total of 134 pages covering various social aspects of skateboarding from an anthropological and zzzzzzzzz…… [Photo: Background- Ryan Hass]

… are soon parted. While sifting through the surf and skate detritus at 4Q Conditioning the other day, I became obsessed with an old model of Rat Fink on a skateboard called Superfink. All of the sudden I needed one right away, despite the fact that I was completely not into monsters and hotrod stuff as a kid and preferred WWII airplane models. The original Superfink model came out in 1964, but was reissued by Revell in 2004. Ed Roth’s official site is out of stock, but I found one soon enough for $13 bucks. The vintage ones don’t appear to be showing up for sale anywhere, so I pulled the trigger and it showed up on my door step a few days later. As usual, I dissected and over-documented almost all the fun out of it. As a result, I’ve taken to adding the word “fink” to words whenever I can. “Fink” is such a cool word. Repeat it over and over in your head. If you don’t like it, then fink you!

Marek Litinski sent in some pics from his recent trip to his homeland, Czechoslovakia. This spot is located in Hrušovany nad Jevišovkou. They’ve got a web link for the skatepark complete with a history and construction photos. Of course I can’t read it, but it looks like it was built out in the middle of nowhere in an old government building, as evidenced by the official portraits various nefarious Russians above. Here’s what Marek had to say: About that wooden bowl… Scene sucked, to the extend of non-existence. Placed in very small village in an obscure Czech country side. Posiblly a Czech type Donald situation. So I wouldn’t be surprised if one day somebody ripped it a new one, which isn’t gonna be spectacular in any way because those trannys are like six feet tall. That bank wallride is around twelve, which makes it not so easy to skate so thats where you get your stoke on. What’s the meaning of the Donald reference? Donald Oregon and Putting hte cart before the horse. The city must have gotten a grant from somewhere and decided to build a park “for the kids” before there was any skateboarding to speak of. Now…

Man, when I don’t make a timely post you guys get all over me. I was saving this for a rainy day, but I keep getting tips on it, so here it is. Modern Design Classics remastered with skateboards. This is a collection called Skate Study House now showing at a gallery in France called Colette. They’ve got one of those web sites that is expertly made and fun to look at, but is a pain in the ass to actually use. To get to the pictures you have to click on the jumping News robot and then look for the dancing Gallery robot. It’s all in Flash and there’s no direct link. Skate House Study is supposed to be an homage to the Case Study House project, which was an expirement where major architects were commissioned to design inexpensive modern homes during the 40’s up until 1966. I’m not sure how they are an homage other than the style of furniture (sans skateboards) would have fit well in those houses, except for the inexpensive part. The collection was made by Pierre-André Senizergues and Gil Le Bon de Lapointe. Who are those guys? You may recognize PAS as the man…