Ten bucks delivered. Bizarro skateboard album covers are the new vintage skateboard collectable… because I say so. This thing is disturbing. Fofao is a popular (?) children’s television character, or not, I’m not sure. He’s freakish though. Large jowled pig face boy anyone? I keep staring at the cover of this thing, trying to figure out if it’s a child in the suit or a man with an oversized skateboard. Seriously, check it out.

Mike V: Do or Die has been out for about a week now. Reviews are mixed, some people love it, while others are perplexed by what appears to be a driving game grafted onto a skateboard title. Which begs the question, if you can drive around the city, can you stop off at a hockey game and fight some fans? (Cue Rimshot) But seriously folks… One of the things that lookspretty cool is the fact that you can play as Mike during different points in his career, including the Powell days, complete with licensed Bones t-shirt in the graphics. Actually, the developers made a big deal about the fact that there are licensed products in the game. What does that remind you of? As a pacifist, I’m waiting for the less macho lite version tentatively titled “Mike V: Live and Let Live.”

I think it’s been at least a year since I changed the Annoying Kid of the Month. In this case it’s more of an Annoying Old Man of the Month. This “Young at Heart” gentleman was spotted at a Ross (Dress for Less!) store in Northern Washington. If you’re not familiar with them, Ross is the place where all the overstocked goods from various suppliers and/or liquidations go to be blown out for cheap. Don’t rip on this guy too hard, he may be a reader. – Thanks to John Aguilar for the photo.

There was some brouhaha about virtual reality skating on the Viet Nam Veteran’s memorial in Tony Hawks Project 8. I can’t be sure about reactions to skating on the monument to fallen defenders in what the locals call the Homeland War in Croatia. Of course, it’s a different kind of memorial. The Wall is more like a giant tombstone, while this one is more of an undefined usable public space. I mean, you wouldn’t get mad at that little kid for laying on it, so skating on it isn’t that far of a stretch. Reminds me of a monument to capitalism in Michigan. More pictures at Big Creative Industries. – Thanks to Urban for the tip.

Call me old fashioned, but friend requests on FaceBook still kind of freak me out when I don’t have any idea who the person is. I always end up scoping out the person to make sure it’s skateboard related. I checked out Michel Skart Poulin and found some really cool cabinets he made by applying fancy veneers to a garden variety skateboards. More pictures at No Damn Good Skate outta Montreal. Congratulations, by the way. You can see some in person at Monde Ruelle gallery in Montreal.

This week’s shot of the week is a Pete Lewis photo of Dave Fitzpatrick hitting the love seat at Gabriel Park, frontside no less. As Dave Duncan would say (over and over and over again) that is no joke. I have to push like a mofo and heave myself over that thing, by which time I’ve lost all sense of poise and balance to invariable end up bailing on my backside attempts. Kudos, Fitz. Thanks to the revitalized Frontside Rock and Roll Review for the pic. Check out the Shot of the Week.

There are a few architectural relics left standing from the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York, but unfortunately the Kodak Pavilion isn’t one of them. This would have been at or near the height of the skateboard craze in the 60’s, so it;s possible a few pioneering street skaters may have gotten away with hitting the tranny. – Thanks to Bill Helene for the tip.

Bob Biniak died from complications related to a heart attack last Thursday. Top left photo courtesy of Glen E. Friedman. Board photo from Disposable. I might have to start reading my Google Alerts again.

Never fails. In the months to follow the publication of Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art there were a number of decks that I’d failed to find after years of searching that suddenly surfaced out of the dusty blue. Fortunately, I was able to go back and make a few of these key additions with subsequent reprints, but this time around with The Disposable Skateboard Bible there will be no such editorial shenanigans (well, aside from the one previously noted here).