It’s conceivable that these trucks might work well enough for a beginner. The technology dates back to the 50’s here, and believe it or not, I think there are some dirtboard, excuse me, mountainboarding trucks out there right now that are based on the same design. Still, call me cynical, but have to believe the decision to used these wacky trucks was based purely on profit motive. Maybe at the time these were a dollar cheaper than a traditional truck. May not sound like much, but multiply by thousands and then some in projected sales… On the one hand, the X-Games provide a way for an immediate group of skateboarder to make a living off of skateboarding, and a larger group through association. On the other hand, they peddle crap like this, or at least they used to. I don’t think they make this anymore.

– Thanks to Matthijs van Wijk for the tip.

You will receive this unique Christmas ornament featuring a boy doing a trick on his skateboard… …This will be a big hit with any young skateboarder you know!

Another in a long string of Christmas ornaments, this one on eBay for an hour or so more. Made by the Kurt Adler company

Dan McCabe is an artist who works in metal, and a long time skater. This is his first in a line of sculptural skate furniture. It’s on the opposite side of the scale compared to the rest of the more straight forward skate furniture we’ve seen so far.

Newsflash. We won’t tell you how much your board is worth if you want to sell it on eBay, so don’t ask. Also, don’t send me a link to your auction or unless it’s freakin amazing, or weird, something like Stacy Peralta’s scalp from the 70’s or the bronzed fire hydrant that Nataas sessioned on in Streets on Fire. That being said, here’s a new one. I’ve never been asked to facilitate a trade, but I was looking for an excuse to post this Variflex advert I found in a circular for a local discount sporting goods chain. I’m going to beat this dead horse. Variflex used to be a legitimate skateboard company as late as the early, early 80’s, and well before this. And now they make trampolines. Right. Tom Livemore has some old Variflex connections trucks in pretty good condition, and he’s looking to trade for a decent set of OJ superjuices (I have some, but you can’t have them.) or a set of multi colored Panther wheels. Whaaaa?????

There’s a company called Uncommon that makes custom iPhone cases that are pretty cool. You can upload your own artwork and through a unique process, they basically bake it onto the case. The image actually penetrates the shell a considerable distance, so it doesn’t simply scratch off two weeks after you buy it. For those of you who aren’t artistically inclined, they also offer collections of cases designed by artists, as well as a Juxtapoz Magazine and Thrasher Magazine collection. The best offering in the Thrasher collection is one that looks like you covered your phone in assorted Thrasher stickers. Of course you could do this yourself, but they wouldn’t protect your phone, and it would look like hell the first time you pulled it out of your pocket. It may seem like I know an inappropriate amount about the product, but that’s because I know a guy who is one of their handful of employees. I got the tour and a chance to peep the classified video. I’ve even been rocking a blank case for the past three months. As a case without blandishment, I’ve got nothing but positive comments. With a graphic, I can only imagine it would be twice as nice. Now considering all this, and especially my insider connection, my only complaint is that there is no Skate and Annoy collection, or even a Killwag Kollection. Come on, I think we could sell at least one GVK edition. Once again, that name is Uncommon. They also do a Blackberry case. Cough, cough. Ahem. Plug. Also in iPhone news: Made For Skate now has a free lite version of their iPhone app. , and several updates. It seems like they update it every month with new content or features. Concrete Wave Magazine dropped a big surprise with their new iPhone app. It offers another extension to their community, the ability to view photos and all advertisements from their current issue, and exclusive discounts arrangements with some vendors, among other things. That last tiny picture is Erik Ellington and Geoff Rowley, the two new spokespersons for the GoSk8 iPhone app.

As seen on the Berrics. This is a poster for an adult film from 1979 titled Female Athletes. The folks at the Berrics have not “seen the ‘film’ and have no plans to,” but they did appropriate the image for a t-shirt. Come on. If you are going to rip off the poster, at least watch the movie, or don’t pretend to be so demure about the whole thing, Here at S&A, we’ve got no such hangups. I found the whole thing online and skimmed it for skateboarding scenes, but saw none. I had to skim it, the damn thing is 80 minutes long, and that’s way to long for an adult film. Although you have to admire how they at least try to be like a real film, with a story line, acting and all. Nice original soundtrack too.

– Thanks to Mike Estes for the tip.

From the Duke University archives, as found on Flickr under the headline Cowabunga! It’s not dated, but I’d place it around 1965.

Ultra Flex. I’ve never heard of this company before, but they made skateboards and Primo brand wheels. The parent company was actually Special Products, a division of something called I.I.I., located in San Diego. I couldn’t find anything definite for them via google. They must have spent some cash on this brochure though. In the 70’s you couldn’t get a 1000 full color brocures for $100. First you had to have a photo shoot in a studio. The you had to pay for professional film developing, type setting, ad layout, and mechanical color separations. Plus there was stat camera graphic work too, none of this scanning and resizing in Photoshop, and then emailing a PDF. It was all done mechanically, and this would have been expensive.

UPDATE: Added pictures of an old Ultra Flex board.

Two music videos featuring skateboarding of a sort. The first one is for a Fujiya & Miyagi song called Ankle Injuries. It’s stop action animation made with colored dice imitating pixels, pretty much the same technique Michel Gondry used in the White Stripes video for Fell In Love With A Girl, only with Legos. Still, it’s fun to watch, retro skateboard and Adidas shoes and all. It’s brief though, blink and you might miss it. – Thanks to MC for the tip. He’s hip to the kids and thier music, you know? The second video is for an Atmosphere song called You. It’s a fingerboard session at a party. Not that exciting, but it rounds out the post. Thanks to reader Ticorico for the tip.