We started as a print zine in 1986, moved online around 1996 and moved into “new media” (late 90’s buzzword alert!) around the turn of the millennium when we started recording and archiving skateboarding whenever it appeared in movies, TV shows or commercials that we were able to see. You may have seen some of our donated archival footage in the 2008 documentary Deathbowl to Downtown. At the time we started the biggest hassle was the actual recording. Now that the technology is simple, the biggest hassle is keeping track of it all.

These stills are from a devastating gun violence in schools PSA from Sandy Hook Promise that starts out as a familiar “Back to School Essentials” commercial that takes a dark turn pretty quickly. Very timely in light of the season and recent tweets from that idiot Huckabee.

There’s a bit of skateboarding in the street and some rollerskating at a skatepark in this new commercial from Fitbit, but the most exciting thing is the soundtrack. Private Idaho by the B52’s.

Honda is airing a commercial for the Civic Sport that features a bunch of, you know, sporty actions like BMX, tightrope walking and skateboarding on giant obstacles that spell out the word “Civic” in the middle of the desert. It’s actually very visually pleasing. Hard to tell wether they actually built all those mirrored obstacles and carted them out there, or whether there’s a ton of computer rendering involved, but it looks great. It has a vaguely 80’s vibe too. If you know who the “trained professional” is, please leave it in the comments.

Sketchers have announced their first pro model skateboard shoe…

These are stills from a Sweetarts commercial featuring the the old archetype of the skateboarding ballerina, right? The simple message is “Grace & Grit. Sweet & Tart. Be both.” The ballerina in question appears to be doing her own stunts, and I should be able to recognize who she is, but I’m an old sexist bastard, so I don’t. Or just possibly, I don’t actually follow professional skateboarding anymore, at least not the skateboarding part of it. Oh I make sense….

Steve Caballero is appearing in Kawasaki ads for the “Good Times” sales event. Makes sense, as he sort of concentrated more on motocross riding at the expense of skateboarding for a while sometime after the new millennium. I can’t recall if he had a factory sponsorship with Kawasaki or not, but he did turn up here in the Pacific Northwest, Hood River area, talking with the locals about his love of motocross and the fact that he wasn’t skating much. The best part of this commercial is the legal disclaimer shown while Cab ollies out of the transition over a motorcycle. “SKATE LEGENDS ONLY,   DO NOT ATTEMPT.” If you can ID the skatepark, please do so in the comments. Why don’t they license “Let the Good times Roll” from the Cars? Should I have titled this post “Cabasaki?” Curse you SEO best practices for foiling my dad joke.

Do you want to see a guy in a samurai costume exhibiting professional levels of skills in surfing, soccer and other pastimes, like say… skateboarding? Bowl and street skills, no less. If so, look no further than this Nissan foods commercial for Samurai Noodles.

This Barbie and Ginger toy dates back to 1997. Ginger is a battery powered dog that barks and walks, and can be used to tow Barbie on her skateboard, complete with little Hotwheels-style wheels. The top frame is a still from a creepy TV commercial. It may have been 1997, but the girl on the left looks like she’s stuck in a 60’s children’s book. The screen cap looks craptacular, but that’s as good as it gets. Someone digitized TV commercial in pre-hd days. The same low-res version with awful motion compression artifacts is all over the web under assorted watermarks. Unfortunately nobody’s uploaded a decent version of it, not that you’d want to watch it endlessly. It does have a sort of hypnotic quality to it, in a Jonestown massacre sort of way. – Thanks to Goofyfoot Rff for the tip.

The best friends are Fur Real Friends: Here comes Trixie, my skateboarding pup. The crowds are gonna show up. Rockin’ poses, to do tricks so sweet! We’re a team, that can’t be beat!