This is hard drive cleaning time an illustration by Tim Root, for the Portland Mercury, that dates back a couple years. It might have been a cover, or t-shirt, or both. I can’t remember. Tim’s illustrations for Stumptown Coffee have appeared here before. Who is Tim Root?

Only in the 70’s (and 50’s, 60’s 80’s and 90’s) could you get away with a line like “Unfortunately, the chick is not included” coupled with a headline like “Your pad or mine?” The black and white photo is from product release news in the 1st issue (1977) of Skateboard Scene. It’s about a new line of safety gear from Syndicate (no relation to the US company) that was an offshoot of the Skuda brand. With a ? of a page product announcement, it’s no surprise that there were also ads for Skuda and Syndicate pads. The dapper fellow on the right is from the Skuda advert. Surprisingly, a 2008 post about a plastic Skuda was one of the first Skuda mentions on the interwebs, and was pretty popular here. It still gets the occasional odd comment. Can you tell I’ve updated the Vintage Skatemag Ad Gallery? I also added a cool, slightly goofy ad from a company called Roncastle, and Wharfdales Skateboard Centre. I never get tired of the centre spelled with “re” at the end. I only wish there was an ad for Ye Olde Skateboard Shoppe. (follow the individual links) After you read/see the product announcement for…

Wear your helmets kids. [Source: WKOB, Albuquerque]

There’s a giant skateboarder outside of the Body Expanded exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago. MSIC is one of a few museums in the world to have a permanent display from the creators of Body Worlds. I did not enter the exhibit to see if there was more skateboarding action. What was I thinking? I don’t know. The MSIC is so big, we didn’t get to everything in one day.

This is the print campaign associated with the 1994 TV commercial and toy prize giveaway uncovered in the Mega-Nesquik post from last year. This one was found on Ebay Italy by “Cool Steve.”

Ay, Caramba is a red rye India Pale Ale brewed by Holy Roller in Tallinn, Estonia. Nicolas Bouvy sent this picture but declined to review it since he’s predisposed to dislike IPA’s. Me too, actually. Here in Oregon, if you go to the grocery store to buy any beer that isn’t Bud or Pabst, you’ll find a selection of about 20 IPA’s and only a handful of less hoppy choices. And yet, I still manage to cultivate a healthy beer gut. Which came first, the label or the beer name? Ay, Caramba is surely a tip of the hat to Bart Simpson, and all the labels show a heavy Jim Phillips inspiration.

Two illustrations from Christoph Niemann’s illustrated children’s book titled Words. Christoph says “I am inviting kids (and readers of all ages) to intuit and puzzle out meaning, and to see language as a source of ideas and stories.”  Is that a bunch of hooey to justify a pet project? I don’t think so.  I have to admit, the juxtaposition of these two illustrations definitely had me pondering how a young child just learning to read might process this page spread.  There’s an extra layer of interest to me as a skateboarder, being able to recall my first skateboard and how very fond of it I was at a young age, separation anxiety and all. [Source: Creative Review] – Thanks to MC for the tip. 

Sisterhood of the Skateboard is ant article in the NY Times about a female skate collective in the Bronx called the Brujas, which is Spanish for “witches.” If “Skate Witches” sounds familiar, you might have seen it on S&A. The Brujas actually copped their name from this 1986 Super * film after it showed up on YouTube. You can buy this film on a DVD compilation Danny Plotnick movies titled Warts & All. As for the Bruma’s and the New York Times piece… the accompanying video is a little cringe worthy. Is skateboarding heteronormative? Skateboarding doesn’t care. We can agree Girl is not a 4 Letter Word, and there’s always room another organization, or collective, but maybe the NYT is making a big deal out something to fill some space. Maybe I’m just part of the patriarchal problem. The article actually made it into the print edition, which is cool for their crew and female skaters everywhere.

This Sunny Street cartoon dates back to 2012, and I may have posted it here before, but I can’t find it. For future reference: This is a post about an injured horse riding a skateboard.

StayTrueToYou.org is part of a public service campaign trying to convince teenagers in Oregon not to smoke pot. It’s likely funded by some of taxes imposed since the recent legalization of marijuana in Oregon. The trouble with running a campaign like that on social media is that allows all kinds of predictable commentary from the peanut gallery. This radical stock image posted on Instagram states “Pot can make it harder to learn new tricks,” but it prompted a response from an ever helpful young adult that said “Not really, I learned how to skate while being high :)” Earache my eye. This banner was spotted at the mall, surrounded by mall-grabbers. You know what else can make it harder to learn tricks? A bunch of girls with their feet hanging over the coping.