Fathers day gift from my offspring. I also got Rock Em Sock Em Robots, which look just like they used to. However, they have replaced the head mechanism with cheaper innards that make a barely audible noise when triggered, depriving todays youth and one middle aged dad of one of the main joys of playing the game.

Im always calling my kids nerds, but as a term of affection. Come on nerds, lts time for dinner. Or Bye bye nerds, Im going to work. The other day my wife said she was pushing the kids through the grocery store when my oldest (4) called out to a passing cartload of kids Out of my way nerds! So, nerds on a skateboard. It isnt the first time. Theres a nerd on a skateboard on every bag of Nerds, I thought I posted it before, but the closest thing I could find was Buddy Bears Gummi Bears.

Viral marketing from Volkswagon (don’t ever buy one) that equates the fun life with Volkswagons (don’t ever buy one). Does anyone want to buy a 2000 Eurovan with 110,000 miles on it? Don’t ever buy one, unless you want to buy mine, which is awesome. These guys affixed skateboards to some shopping carts. Stuck them in a grocery store somewhere in Europe obviously, because that shit would never fly here in the US. Kids crashing into the canned peas, knocking over old ladies, ruining the packaging on all Xtreme snack foods.

– Thanks to Zach Olsen for the tip.

This is Lady Skate and the Skateboard Kids, from the Barcaly Records 1977 release. The A side is Skateboard Baby, and the B-Side is The Skateboard Lesson. This skateploixtation record is a French production, but I swear I’ve heard of that label in conjunction with some other skateboard music titles.

– Oh yeah, Thanks to Matthijs for tipping me off to the auction.

What do dads want for Father’s day? At least one dad wants a new deck. From the June 15th edition of the Metro in New York.

– Thanks to Doug for the tip.

Here’s another “How skateboards are made” segment. Youd think I’d be sick of them, but I’m not. Keep making them, I’ll keep watching them, because everybody seems to do it slightly differently, and every editor and/or industry head choses to leave out certain certain bits. This is (at least) the second such program filmed at Powell facilities. They were featured on “Made in America” a handful of years ago. I have that one archived on tape, I guess I should have put that one up first. Points of interest here: Are they really cutting out by hand and not using CNC machines? That would be hard to believe, especially when it looks like their molds were machined out of aluminum. The voiceover is comical at times, talking about colorful inks that also “protect” the skateboard. It’s amusing when they make it seem like the wheels for a specific batch of skateboards are simultaneously being poured while the boards are setting up. This show is called Factory Made, and it was on the Discovery network. Those guys love these manufacturing shows.

Flip Video, that is. It’s short. You will only waste 20 seconds of your life. I don’t know what Cisco has to do with the camera, but someone at their ad agency must like skateboarding.

Here’s a rock and roll musical video for Darkest Of Kin by the hard rock band Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. The kids are really dancing to it with their sock hops and Walkmans. It’s hard as hell to tell in this video, but I saw a Salba, and possibly a Hosoi and a Duncan. I don’t know who else I missed.

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

I’m unclear as to whether or not this XBox commercial ever aired or not. It looks kind of low budget, and I can’t believe a skateboard commercial for such a high profile client would have gone unnoticed by, well, me. Maybe it was online only, or something they wanted to see conceptually before they decided to air it. The director Billy Paul has two first names… What? Oh yeah. He said he had to act out the storyline in front of a bunch of Microsoft execs to convince them shoot it. As you can see by the look on the faces of the guys bottom right, things get a little dicey on that rail. But don’t worry, things work out in the end.

– Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

He ain’t gonna play Sun City, but he will travel back in time to pose in youth for a Circuit City email advert. I thought Circuit City went out of business. The funny thing about this is that the web link embedded in the email pulls up a version of Silvio without a skateboard. I mean, he looked kooky enough with the skateboard, but without it he looks like a mental patient. And Speaking of Little Steven, His Underground Garage radio show is pretty good. I heard an episode once a few years ago while traveling and I enjoyed it. As I recall, It was a mixture of old and new bands. I think it’s on satellite radio now too.

– Thanks to Troy Sliter for the spam, I mean tip.

The Seattle Times has two articles on skateboarding, the first is an actually fairly good piece on skatepark etiquette that is filled with good advice, although it’s perplexing because I’m not sure who the audience is. I especially like the first rule, “No free day care.” Up next is the top 10 skateparks in Washington, which I can’t agree wit, but can’t disagree too strongly because I haven’t been to some of them. Bobcat?

– Thanks to John Aguilar and Heidi Randall for the tips.