Jenkem Magazine hosts the online premier of Fancy Lads 3, which is supposedly only available for 24 hours. I don’t know where it goes after that. Watch it. It will be the most meaningful thing you do today, unless you are getting married or giving birth. It drags a little in the middle. Skip to the 32 minute mark if you get bored.

The best thing about these vintage 70’s era open bearing wheels from Trickray is the Ed Roth inspired package illustration featuring a guy that is some sort of greasy salesman or evil landlord riding a skateboard. With that striped suit, he’s either escaped from a 1920’s prison or a silent movie. I’m not sure why these “official” Trickray skateboard accessories carry the U2 moniker, but they do. Evidently these urethane wheels were meant for spy missions.

Skate Culture has a good guest article written by Rick “Spidey” Demontrond that talks about the process and history of his 2 pro models for Santa Cruz and his new one (Swindle 2) for Pocket Pistols. It’s a nice companion piece to an earlier profile on Skate Culture.

Recent additions to Pokhara Skate Park in Nepal, which has been around since 2011. Who knew? I mean, besides the skaters in Nepal.

– Thanks to Adlan Farazi for the tip.

I recently took a trip with my extended family to Costa Rica. It was one of those all inclusive vacations, and although we did take some day trips, I was unable to explore skateboarding in Costa Rica, even though I knew there were a few skateparks in the Guanacaste province where we were staying. In the small town of Playas del Coco I ran into the Costa Rican equivalent of Zumiez known as Arenas Skate and Surf. It was a bit odd, because most of the town (admittedly, only what I saw) seemed pretty low rent, yet there were a few almost self consciously glossy stores. In fact, I didn’t see a skateboard the entire time I was Costa Rica. OK, so I barely got out to see the types of areas where you would expect to see skateboarders, so this not be taken as a review of the Costa Rican skate scene by any means, just my own very myopic experience.

Eden Village Bike & Bordercross track located in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Looks super fun, although I wonder whether chose asphalt instead of concrete. Price, most likely. Images and photos after the jump.

[Source: Longboardism] – Via Michael Brooke

Rolling Homes, prefab homes in Svencele, Lithuania that come with a front porch that unintentionally doubles as an a miniramp.

[Source: Huffington Post] – Thanks to Ping for the tip.

Having printed more than a handful of skateboards myself, and designed a few jigs, I’ve always considered the possibility of somehow adapting a textile press for printing skateboards. The crew at Jolly Roger Skateboards are actually producing them. So far each Skate Mate sold has been configured for Lawson and Ryonet presses, but they are built on demand and can be made to fit any commercial press, including table tops. The wheelbase is easily adjustable which is critical for printing the same design on multiple size boards. Even though it can fit on a multiple color press, you’re still going to want to print skateboards like flat stock, one color at a time. So what’s the point? It could help with keeping better registration, especially if you have side clamps. You won’t need a kickstand to hold the screen up when placing boards and it saves space if you work in tight confines and already own a textile press. It’s pretty spendy at $300, but the build quality looks very high and prices are expected to come down as they recoup some development costs. The Skate Mate isn’t going to be for everyone, for one thing, it’s not going to work for tip to tail graphics, but it’s out there if you want one.

You’re looking a the concrete equivalent of a Play-doh fun factory. One of them generates a continuous curb and the other, a ditch. I wish I had more information on these photos posted by Architecture and Design magazine. Unfortunately, they were found on their Facebook timeline, and they provide no context or source links. I was very surprised because I assumed Architecture and Design Magazine was an actual print publication, and they should know better. Turns out it’s entirely web based. The “About Us” page has some unintentionally funny copy: “The Architecture & Design story began in Afghanistan ( a country in Asia ) back in 2013…” Yes, 2013, a time when few people have heard of the rarely talked about country of Afghanistan. In any case, these machines are not designed for building skateparks, but the concept is interesting. Ole John Henry could take these machines, each one still requires a crew of guys to operate.

– Via Wrex Cook on Facebook

I will continue to post photos of NOS skateboard products in blister backs with technical style drawings on the back as long as I continue to find them. I am a sucker for vintage skateboard packaging. This set of trucks sold for $45. Nothing says 70’s like action bolts and open bearings.