Another Tony Hawk refernce in a comic, this time in a strip called xkcd, which I wrote off based on this one strip, but is actually a pretty good comic with pretty bad art. – Thanks to Stephen B for the tip.

In my never ending quest to acquire vintage skateboard exploitation music that nobody wants to hear but me and maybe one other guy, I found this 1988 cassette only release by the Christian rap group called Megamouth. This ons is listed on eBay for $80, and that’s no typo. I asked the seller about it: This cassette’s rarity and value are due to the fact that it is among the more obscure releases from Terry Taylor, a wunderkind in the Christian alternative music field (both as a producer and as an artist himself, with his bands Daniel Amos, Swirling Eddies, and Lost Dogs). Since this was a cassette-only release aimed at the Christian children’s market, a very small niche market, this title is pretty rare. I thought I’d shop around and look for a more reasonably priced way to hear Getting Vertical (By Trustin’ The Lord), but the only other option is spending $100 at Amazon. Knowledgeable sources like the Holy Hip Hop DataBASE say the two Megamouth releases didn’t find much of an audience. Maybe it was ahead of it’s time, predating Colby’s Place by a year.

Skateboard as fashion accessory. This time from Vogue Pelle, which I thought was Italian Vogue, were it not for the existence of Vogue Italia. And there you have it. I guess this is a step above Teen Vogue.

This spread is from the 1977 Theodor Seuss Geisel book titled Please Try to Remember the First of Octember, written under the pen name of Theo LeSeig, as in the case of all the children’s books he wrote but others illustrated. It seems he saved the Dr Seuss name for books that he both wrote and illustrated. Notice that LeSieg spelled backwards is… Geisel. What a clever man, if I do say so, er, uhmmm, myself. Enlarge-o-rama.

What does this web commercial have to do with skateboarding? Well nothing if this isn’t pro skateboarder Alex Olson. I wasn’t sure at first, but I think it’s an actual real product. Girls love Alex Olson. I mean, obviously Girl does, but girls do too. – Thanks to Freakbeatfuzz for the tip. UPDATE: DUH. Forgot to include the video. It’s there now.

Waiter enters stage left and approaches the center table. Waiter: I believe this is the Bridgestone tire commercial with a skateboarder looping a full pipe that we spoke of earlier. Male Patron: Yes, but this is obviously made from upside down footage flipped over and merged with another shot. Female Patron: The give away is the reflection on the ceiling. I want to speak to the manager.

Yes, it’s Jim Henson day on Skate and Annoy. Here’s a bit from the first season of Fraggle Rock, something I have admittedly not seen more than a few seconds of before now. My wife says she loved that show as a kid, but I married her anyway… It’s from a 1983 episode called the Garden Plot. A Fraggle Rock regular known as Traveling Matt makes a visit Venice Beach and takes a spin on some sort of weird Powell knock off deck. Check out the Carrot Top lookalike. Thanks to Kevin for pointing the camera at the TV!

PLUP is a Finnish company that sells bottled water. In Finland PLUP Ltd donates 10 euro cents from each PLUP bottle sold, directly to the Baltic Sea Action Group to help clean up the Baltic Sea. Stefan Lindfors shot a commercial for them, and lo and behold, it features a certain professional skateboarder by the name of Bam. It also features the music of Bam’s buddies HIM. Just in case you’re wondering, is that really Bam, or a blond guy with creepy blue eyes that just looks like him, he’s got a gratuitous skateboard on his back. Does anyone else see the irony of an environmentally conscious bottled water company? There’s no actual skating in the commercial, but there is some wakeboarding or wake skating or whatever it’s called. I know the U.S.A. is weird for sure, but so is Finland. [Source: Justskate via Kingpin. ] – Thanks to Doug for the tip.

Here’s a Sick Puppies music video for a song called Odd One. For sick puppies, these are pretty sensitive mofos. Hmmn… I wonder if the lead singer ever listened to Dave Grohl. If nothing else, there are some really nicely framed and lighted shots of whatever skatepark this was shot at. – Thanks to Veronica Swim for the tip.

I couldn’t find the rumored Bridgestone commercial with the skateboard loop, but I did find this one from 2007 that is a retread (Get it? Ha ha! I’m killing it!) of the car as skateboard theme that I’m going to have to start calling an archetype if they keep making these. This one is pretty weak. Although I might have thought otherwise if I hadn’t seen the exact same concept several times already. Has anyone actually seen the Bridgestone commercial with a skateboard in it?