Scene at marriage councilor: Wife: Alright, I’ll give you an example. Just yesterday at our child’s book fair he couldn’t stop posting on his ridiculous blog. We’re supposed to be encouraging our kids to read and sharing in their excitement to learn and he’s taking pictures for his stupid web site. Husband: But I have loyal readers who are bored at work! It’s my sacred duty to help them be unproductive at their jobs. If productivity goes down, they’ll have to hire more people. It’s good for the economy! End. Alterante cover of James Patterson’s Middle School: Get Me Out of Here.

It’s Fashion day here on S&A, for no particular reason other than I have some fashion items piling up and I’m reminded of the 80’s skateboard/fashion zine out of Michigan, Stuf Magazine. From Bobbi Brown, world-famous makeup artist, Pretty Powerful is a new kind of makeup manual that starts with who you are, rather than how you look. In this book, Bobbi interviews dozens of real women, celebrities, and athletes about what beauty means to them and shows, step-by-step, how to achieve each look. Along the way, she shares her trade secrets for striking eyes, youthful skin, pretty lips, and perfect brows for any age, skin color, or beauty type. Brimming with hundreds of stunning makeover ideas, recommendations for the best tools and products, inspiring beauty stories, and expert tips not found anywhere else, Pretty Powerful is the must-have guide for lasting beauty, inside and out. Style Rumor Mag has a video of 10 girls noodling around on fancy “Pretty Powerful” skateboards. It’s pretty weak. – Thanks to Seth Levy for the tip.

Konstantin Butz is probably the first person ever who tried to analyze the phenomenon skate punk from an academic point of view. He wrote his doctoral thesis about it, which – in a slightly revised version – became this book, entitled Grinding California (transcript Verlag 2012).

I just started reading this short novel last night and I’m enjoying it so far. “So what?” you say? (Damn. How do you punctuate that last sentence?) Skateboarding is central to the story line. This is not the review, but the front matter had be giggling before I even got to the story. Better If You Don’t Come Back is an indie publication from Fat Thumb Publishing.

… this is Doc Skaterock a.k.a. Flow writing from Germany. Kilwag asked me, if I wanted to be an author for sna, and hell yeah, I want to be a part of that site. What an honor, thank you Kilwag!! So what am I going to write here about? Skaterock? Yes! Skatesploitation? Yes! And for sure some other trash, too. We will see. For those who don´t know me so far, I´ve been writing about my passion Skaterock for more than one and a half decade now, starting with my own fanzine in 1996 (simply called “Skaterock”) and then writing and photographing for the German skatemag Boardstein from the beginning (2000) till the end of it (2008 or was it 2009?). This year I finished and self-published my book about what I dared to call “Vintage Skaterock”, the skateboard music that was performed and recorded before the term “Skaterock” was officially created. I hope you are also interested in that kinda stuff. Please fell free to comment, sent tips, leave feedback, give away your record collection…. … enjoy life! yours sincerely Dr. Skaterock

When I first heard of this book (before it was published) I was skeptical. I couldn’t believe there would be enough material to fill a book of any size. Then I was excited. It seemed like someone was writing a book (or playing a practical joke) just for me. Then I was pissed. Why didn’t I think of this idea? I quietly watched this, because I was not expecting it to actually come to fruition. When I saw that Dr Skaterock’s Vintage Skaterock had been published, I bought a copy without trying to hit the author up for a review copy. I figured the audience was going to be really small, so I wanted to support it. Upon receiving the (reasonably priced) book, I geeked out. It was a lot more scholarly than I had thought. I had assumed it was going to be a small coffee table styler book focusing on album covers, but equal (if not more) attention has been paid to release dates, record labels, alternate pressings and the sort of minutia that made me think, “Man, this guy is a geek!” – fully aware that I am the same caliber of geek. Then I thought, this…

Which is misleading, because he hasn’t been busted, rather he has a book coming out titled Hosoi: My Life As A Skateboarder Junkie Inmate Pastor which is excerpted on the Huffington Post.(?) – Thanks to Andrew Wahl for the tip

Pay attention in school kids. You never know when things might get interesting. This is a random slide from a biology lecture that Billy Bones attended. I don’t know what’s more messed up, the skater’s wacky shape or his massively receding hairline. It’s also kind of creepy that the only fully opaque figure is a girl in a bikini.

There’s a Tony Hawk-branded series of books for young teens (or tweens?) called Tony Hawk’s 900 Revolution. There’s no mission statement about the series being designed to engage kids in reading other than a tagline on the front page that says “Join the reading revolution.” You can read sample chapters and find out about characters like Omar, who is “aggressive and inventive, and often likened to Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” The premise of the series: At the dawn of the new millennium, Tony Hawk landed the first-ever 900, finally capturing the Holy Grail of skateboarding. At that moment in time, everything changed. A mysterious force shattered his board and scattered the pieces across the globe. Today, a talented group of teens unite in an eternal quest to bring the board – and its power – back together again. Adventure, action sports, and sci-fi rolled into one super-hot series! Your kid (or you with a cleverly disguised entry) can win a chance to appear as a character in a future book. They look a little bit like comic books don’t they? They aren’t but they do have a 16 page graphic novel insert. Extreme!™

Riizoli New York is publishing a book containing every cover from the first 30 years of Thrasher Magazine called Maximum Rad: The Iconic Covers of Thrasher Magazine, with an introduction written by Craig Stecyk. There are 250 pages of covers, some full page, some are quarter page. It’s being released on February 21st, and Skate and Annoy has a copy for one lucky S&A reader. Just leave a comment in the post, deadline is February 21st at midnight. Don’t bother trying to butter up the editor, it’s random.