Although only a third place medal, it deserves 1st place in the contest for skateboard setup most likely to be owned by M.C. Escher. This is an extreme case of backwards skateboard truck syndrome, or BSTS. It’s not only backwards, but almost like a bad photoshop job. (See: Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.) On second thought, maybe the front truck is actually facing forward, but the axle is seriously out of alignment. It’s fascinating. The sort of thing I’d buy if I had a job. Then again, if I wasn’t looking at this right now, maybe I’d have a job!

Display prop from Hollister Clothing, complete with backwards trucks and fake board slide marks: This skateboard was used as a prop in a Hollister clothing store. My husband got to take it home when the store closed. Has non-working wheels attached. Apparently has never been used, but was made to look worn on the bottom. Approximately 30 inches from end to end. Would need new bearings and maybe new wheels? I know nothing about skateboards. Message me with questions and I will do my best to answer them. Could have been yours for $14. – Thanks to Sarib for the tip.

An iPhone case in the shape of a broken skateboard, complete with truck and wheels, making it impractical for carrying anywhere besides a purse. It’s times like this that I start to rethink my policy of “sometimes it’s good to execute an idea, no matter how impractical it is.” It comes in a bunch of different colors too. UPDATE: This post originally contained links to the web site ducksizedhorses.com. Almost 3 years later, the domain appears to have been hacked, or lapsed and was taken over by unscrupulous parties, and as of 5/4/16 is a suspected phishing site. The links have been removed. [Source: Duck Sized Horses (Site infected) ] – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

The backwards truck phenomenon happens all the time when marketers attempt to use skateboards without consulting an actual skateboarder. How did it apparently happen to Rob Dyrdek’s Street League Skateboarding, an organization dedicated to presenting “real” skateboarding? You know he must have been bummed the moment he realized it. The reflective nature of the trophy makes it hard to see definitively, but it sure looks like it’s backwards, Randals notwithstanding. Because we’re not all sour grapes here, there’s a bunch of well done photos of the latest Street League contest. Nyjah Huston is the champ, in case you wanted some actual results. I’ve added a “Backwards Skateboard Syndrome” to the tags. When I get a chance I’ll go back and retag some of the old posts with examples. – Thanks to Seth Levy for the tip.

There’s a Tony Hawk-branded series of books for young teens (or tweens?) called Tony Hawk’s 900 Revolution. There’s no mission statement about the series being designed to engage kids in reading other than a tagline on the front page that says “Join the reading revolution.” You can read sample chapters and find out about characters like Omar, who is “aggressive and inventive, and often likened to Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” The premise of the series: At the dawn of the new millennium, Tony Hawk landed the first-ever 900, finally capturing the Holy Grail of skateboarding. At that moment in time, everything changed. A mysterious force shattered his board and scattered the pieces across the globe. Today, a talented group of teens unite in an eternal quest to bring the board – and its power – back together again. Adventure, action sports, and sci-fi rolled into one super-hot series! Your kid (or you with a cleverly disguised entry) can win a chance to appear as a character in a future book. They look a little bit like comic books don’t they? They aren’t but they do have a 16 page graphic novel insert. Extreme!™

Skate Fails are a collaboration between Alex Trochut & Xavier Mañosa that can be found over at Apparatu. The collection features decks that look like they are made out of spilled paint or decks that have somehow been melted and made pliable. How do they achieve this effect? They are ceramic. The trucks look real, but some of those wheels might be ceramic as well. Skateboard art is… a mixed bag in general. The skateboarding public in general seems to have lower expectations for what qualifies as “art.” It’s nice to see someone fully execute a concept. I like several of these pieces, in particular, I’d love to have that red one hanging up on my wall. – Thanks to Michel Skart Poulin for the tip.

Here’s an ABC video from 1987 for a song called “The Night You Murdered Love.” It’s an unlikely pairing, and I never saw this one. This band really annoyed me in their heyday. You could say they got under my skin. However, I found their story as read in Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. There was a lot more to that band than you might think. This was the case with a lot of those types of bands from the UK that I couldn’t stand at the time. The book covers a lot more than ABC, and if you are a fan of “Our Band Could Be Your Life”, I highly recommend it. It’s very similar. Right, check out this horrible video with a wacky ABC licensed skateboard. It looks like a production model, or would appear to be since it’s in shrink wrap still. That’s just the kind of clueless thing you might expect in a video from a band that likely had not step foot on a skateboard prior to the video shoot. Graphics on top of the board too, so that makes sense in the context of a board that has trucks assembled after…

Q spotted this and Dave Tobin told me about it. It was a newspaper insert advertising Qwest high speed internet.