I loved Ed Emberly’s drawing books as a kid, and I’m stoked that my kids enjoy them now too. MC must have been going through a box of childhood books, because he found this skateboarding thumbprint in an early pressing of Ed Emberly’s Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. he also has one called the Great Fingerprint Drawing book. I’m not sure if they are completely different or the Fingerprint version is an expanded version encompassing the the thumbprint version, but they are both still in print. The thumbprint version dates back as early as 1977, although I ‘d swear it was from the late 60’s. I had one of these as a kid too, it inspired me to make a comic strip of a thumbprint superhero. I was especially into his Drawing Book of Weirdos, as did MC if this comic is any indication.

In June there were (at least) 2 fake Brand-X decks for sale. The left one is a copy of a 1986 Sean Goff model that was designed by Steve Krajewski, it even says ‘Sean Goff model’ on the top right. The right one was based on the 1987 XEX-model by Bernie Tostenson. It’s actually the same like the one from last month, only in another colourway and I think it could have been made from another company  too, because the design looks slightly different.

As seen at a local Kmart while hunting for (kiddie) pools. $15 will get you a t-shirt and a crappy skateboard that is too small for any kid that would actually fit into that t-shirt. The skateboard is literally attached to the hanger. U-S-A! U-S-A!

Just shy of a year after we first featured this stair roving skateboard, the creator is back with a Kickstarter project to help bring it the masses. It looks like he added some sort of weird stabilization bar linking the trucks together. I’m not sure what the addition is for, but I’m sure this makes an already heavy board more unwieldy and prone to rattling. You’ve got to admire his determination though, just don’t let him know the whole thing would be made moot by a set of soft oversized wheels. It may just be the Wheelie Board of this decade, something you’d never buy when it came out, but years later you’ll recall it fondly while trolling through some guy’s obsessive skateboarding web site. I’m goin got get on my Long Rider right after I start my own Kickstarter project to fund backing this kickstarter project so I can get a Stair Rover for the “museum.” I’m going to put it right next to the Tarantula Trucks. (Crap, I still owe that guy a review…)

Sneeze magazine has a short but interesting interview with Chad Muska about his first ever pro graphic, which came out on Toy Machine in 1995. It’s interesting from a historical skateboard personality perspective, but maybe more so because it touches on the business and shift from screen printing to heat transfers that was on the horizon when this board came out, and how it changed the industry. Originally published in 2012, I’ve never seen an actual copy of Sneeze, but apparently it’s “poster-sized.” If you poke around on the site you can see some press sheets that are pretty large.

Spotted on a public tennis court in Seattle, not to far from the college.

I’ve walked by this on the way into Target at least 20 times I’m sure. I actually like the art direction here, all things considered. It’s pleasing to look at from a distance. Does anyone remember Target Video? They sent us a videotape in the 80’s, some random punk performance, I can’t remember who. I believe their entire catalog was early videotapes of live punk shows in and around San Francisco. They were the ones that recorded the Cramps at a state mental institution. I don’t recall if any money changed hands or not, although I have a vague recollection of actually placing a Target Video advert in an S&A print zine, so maybe they pay us. Target Video still has a blog going, I wonder what they’re up to.