Category Archive: Media Watch
Magic Rolling Board
Magic Rolling Board dates back to 1976, and includes everything you’d think it would, like 360’s, gorilla grips, high jumps over sports cars, slalom, long jumps, downhill and even Ed Nadalin, star of the Jeans West commercial. I don’t know that this has ever been rereleased on video, much less DVD. Anyone? Make sure you pay attention at the 3:05 mark for some of the fanciest footwork you’ve ever seen. GOLDEN! – Thanks to Simon Liver for the tip.
There’s the puppy!
“Skateboard over and check out the lemonade stand. There is the puppy!” Words of wisdom from the box of the 1995 edition of Clue Jr: The Case of the Missing Toys. The rules fittingly state if you roll the dice and the skateboard comes up, you get to go anywhere on the board you want to. Unfortunately, none of the game pieces were skateboards. – Thanks to Curtis for the pictures.
Back to the Futurama
Two of the best animated shows ever. What about Family Guy? Meh. It has its moments, but it’s not in the same class as these two. This is actually part of a panel from a Fururama comic book where the Futurama cast is trapped in a Simpson’s comic book by evil floating brains. I found this over at Insane Journal after getting sidetracked while doing an image search for Stella Stevens on a skateboard. It was a fruitless search, but I did find illustrations of Fry and Bart Simpson skateboarding together. There’s even a Back to the Future plug. Let’s analyze that. A real movie reference in a comic book that takes place inside the universe of a different comic book. Now if only there was a skateboard in The Venture Brothers.
West 49
Our Canadian readers are slacking. I was trying to find more info on the Jeans West commercial from the 70’s when I stumbled on this commercial for West 49, which near as I can tell is the Canadian equivalent of a Zumiez.
In-flight magazine
Tony Hawk was on the cover of the complimentary August 2010 Continental Airlines magazine. There was also a one page interview with him about his role as a businessman. Check it out after the turn. Thanks Gillian.
Alf
Here’s a beautiful turd of a skateboard that Valterra put out in 1987. It’s an Alf board, and it’s kick ass. Alf is in full Hawaiian shorts and neon Ray Bans mode. This model was auctioned on eBay a while ago, I don’t know what it went for but I remember being tempted. Another craptacular thing about this board is the fact that the graphics are on top and the bottom is completely bare. This one has GT wheels on it, which is really confusing to men because I thought GT was a 70’s era brand, so these wheels should have loose bearings. I suppose it’s possible someone could have put old wheels on a new board if the axle size didn’t change. Can you believe ALF was actually still on the air in 1990? I wonder why Valterra never put out a Back to the Future deck. – Thanks to Buck C for the tip.
Jeans West
Here’s an old 70’s commercial for a company called Jeans West. I couldn’t find any information about Jeans West, other than a current company in Australia. I’m not sure they are related. I did find this on Skatecuriosidade that said it was an Italian company and the commercial dates back to 1977. And speaking of Skatecuriosidade, notice how I gave you guys credit and a link? They’ve been poaching images from S&A for long time with nary a web link. Come guys, get with the program and be a good netizen.
Colin on Cancelled
Callin’ on Colin is going to be a rerun today. Old man Colin pulled his back in an embarrassing way, and is immobilized for the time being, otherwise you’d be enjoying an interview with none other than Wally Inouye. There’s a teaser of Wally Inouye interview up on Juice Magazine. Professor Farnsworth illustration courtesy of Sarah’s Futurama fan art on Slurmed.com.
Die Antwoord: Evil Boy
Die Antwoord is not a German hip hop tribute to Adam Ant, rather a freaky hip hop crew from Cape Town, South Africa. A liitle bit Flava Flav and a lot of Gummo. These guys make some crazy videos. Sure they try too hard, but it’s still riveting. The video for Evil Boy features a sculptural figure on a skateboard and a lot of phalluses. Guest African rapper tackles the ritual of forced circumcision that many tribal adolescents have to go through to become “men” in the eyes of their tribe. [See discussion here] These guys are kind of a train wreck, but it’s fascinating. Lead male vocalist Ninja sometimes looks like Joe Strummers’ long lost hillbilly brother. Still, I prefer the Stiv Bators song Evil Boy. – Thanks to MC for the tip. Yeah, he’s that hip.
A Miracle
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Newspaper from mid-level city actually publishes a decent skate photo! Astonishing considering they are essentially giving the Oregonian away these days. Not a week goes by that I don’t get a phone call practically begging me to get the Oregonian for delivered to my door for pennies on the dollar. I’d be more inclined to fill my recycling bucket with the paper if the delivery man (not a boy, because he drives a car on his route) would stop nailing the storm door with the paper and waking me up at 5 in the morning. What’s the point? Oregon lottery money has apparently been funding skateparks in some capacity, and some folks are upset because school funding is and other services have been dwindling. Oregon ballot measure 76 will extend the mandatory parks expenditures from lottery proceeds. The measure isn’t going to increase the 15%, it’s just going to make sure it can’t be diverted to other areas. I think that’s a good idea. I’m voting yes on 76. – Thanks to Colin for the tip.











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