I was a big fan of Born Ugly zine out of Richmond Va, and their seemingly herculean efforts to produce a well made, entertaining and most importantly, highly original skate zine based on what I assumed was an amazing, vibrant scene based only on copies of Born Ugly. Well, all herculean things must come to an end, and so it was with Born Ugly. I noticed it had been a while since I’d seen a new issue, so I went to the web site to check it out, and the domain name had lapsed. Actually, what probably happened is that someone was looking for the C.R.E.T.E. graphic and S&A came up in a web search. I got a couple emails from different people asking if I still had the graphic because the web site was down. I figured it was just a temporary thing, but I guess not. In case you’re interested, I still have that graphic if you want to print your own shirt for a DIY fundraiser. A couple weeks ago I got an email from Mickael Broth, half the team that brought you Born Ugly. He was looking for an outlet to continue a column he used to do called “Fucked Up Friday Night (A Beer Review).” What can I say? I’m a huge fan of Born Ugly, I couldn’t possibly resist. CHECK IT OUT.

UPDATE: It would help if I actually published the review! Way to go Otto, way to get fired from your job in a big way…. This time for real… CHECK IT OUT (Sorry Mickael)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough wiener dogs on skateboards. This one is on a Sonic Drive In bag for their kids meals, called the Sonic Wacky Pack. There’s a girl (or funny looking boy with pigtails) also holding a skateboard, not to mention what looks like a marshmallow on roller blades. Nice grilled cheese launch ramps. The bag is dated 2012. I got this bag when I took my niece to a Sonic a couple years ago, she had never been to one and for some reason was super excited to go to it. After we left she was sort of quiet, and I asked what was wrong. She said dejectedly “It wasn’t as fun as it looks in the commercials.”

This must be the worst restoration job ever. The deck on the right is called a  ‘Jeff Goso’ according to the seller on eBay, the left one is the untouched Jeff Grosso “Toy Blocks” board from 1986 as seen on SkullandBones.  This reminds me of the 80-year-old woman who restored a 19th century fresco of Christ in a church in Spain a while back.

Have I used Sidewalk Smurfin before? I would have thought so, but the closest I came was “Keep on Smurfin‘” way back in 2009? Can that be right? This backpack/satchel/briefcase has the most radical Smurf on it I’ve ever seen. The seller couldn’t pinpoint the date closer than the 70’s or 80’s, and nobody bid on it starting at $10. The board looks possibly late 70’s-ish but we all know cartoons aren’t exactly timely when it comes to depicting skateboards. If I had to guess I’d say it was mid 80’s vintage. Super.

– Thanks to David Maes for the tip.

BCSA skatepark benefit show this weekend in Corvallis, OR at a place called Cloud & Kelly’s Public House in downtown Corvallis. 21 and over, 3 good bands, all proceeds go to the skatepark project.

Ah, the Long Rider! I first became aware of the Long Rider back in 2005, but only saw a couple small pictures. In 2009 I uncovered an ad for a Long Rider in the Montgomery Ward catalog from 1984. Since that time, I bought one from a reader named Dan Kite who saw it on the site and offered his up for a very reasonable price. I marveled over it, and then I tried riding it a few times but the bearings were sort of shot. Long Riders are sized for (ahem) much smaller riders, so it sat in my basement for a couple years. Recently I picked up one on eBay that Matthijs tipped me off to. It came in the original packaging and it was essentially brand new. Bonus! It was in a different color from the one I already had. So I jumped on it. We had a philosophical discussion about the purchase the other night before we went to the Briefs show. Both my wife and Grover were puzzled by why I spend any money on these things. The answer? I buy them because they are magical and weird!

Fake Valterra (and Variflex) decks  with graphics like the ‘Ramp Champ’, ‘Skate Zombie’ and this 1986 ‘Land Shark’ show up all the time and are hardly worth mentioning, since the graphics are mostly identical to the original ones and look like they were produced by the same manufacturers.  This ‘Land Shark’ is a bit different: it has the worst shape ever and it comes with the original box! It’s a miracle the seller kept the box for all this time, maybe he used it to hide this piece of crap while he was not skating. For sale on eBay.

I mean THE BRIEFS ARE BACK!!!!! Get it, their backs, and they’re back. I just want to make sure you get the full comedic brilliance here, let it soak in. The Briefs have recently reformed and are touring. They’ll be in Portland at East End on Saturday. It’s a small venue, so if it isn’t sold out I’ll be surprised. It’s the Briefs man! These photos are from a 2006 show in Portland. I love the Briefs. I’ve been waiting for this show since… 2006 I guess. I think the last time I saw them was in Chicago at the not-so-secret show with Naked Raygun the night before Riot Fest 2006. I’m going to bring a new pair of shoes to throw onstage again.

I thought I was going to steal these two Sport Girl dolls for $10, but they ended up going for $42, which is more than a grown man should spend on skateboarding dolls from the 70’s. I’ve shown this unlicensed Farrah Fawcett packaging before, but I’ve never seen the red variant. The three bullet points on the Sport Girl are Rooted, washable hair, twist and turn waist and vinyl head. Vinyl head? How luxurious! And there you have it, day 3 of “Doll a Day” week.

The biggest engineering obstacle that the guys at Marbel have managed to overcome is designing an electric skateboard that doesn’t actually look like an electric skateboard. As far as that goes, it’s got a leg up on the competition for sure. You can use the handheld controller or use an iPhone app. You can also use the app to “tune” the board’s acceleration curve and set the max speed below the 20mph it can comfortably reach. A full charge will take you at least 10mph in real world surroundings. If ever an electric skateboard could go mainstream, this might be it. It’s already reached it’s funding goal on Kickstarter, so expect to start seeing these in the wild at some point.

[Source: BGR] – Thanks to Heath for the tip.