I’ve seen a lot of crappy skateboard renderings tacked on to products as an afterthought, but this one looks like the artist actually had an affinity for our favorite pastime. I can’t figure out what animal this is. I thought it was a monkey, but there’s no tail. There’s also no other skateboard related pictures inside. It’s kind of amusing that they call out the fact that it’s a shaped coloring book. They basically just punched out a regular coloring book. You can tell because a lot of the images are cut off. How’s that for investigative reporting?

This gem of a commercial is an adolescent boy’s smorgasbord of dreams. It’s got skateboards, lasers, ATVs, a post apocalyptic Rollerball-style arena and a referee with a big rack. Come to think of it, that sounds like fun to me too. I think it dates to around 1987 because Worlds of Wonder essentially went out of business in 1988. Look the size of that bowl. I think it may have been built for the commercial. [Source: Pure Skateshop]

This spread is from the 1977 Theodor Seuss Geisel book titled Please Try to Remember the First of Octember, written under the pen name of Theo LeSeig, as in the case of all the children’s books he wrote but others illustrated. It seems he saved the Dr Seuss name for books that he both wrote and illustrated. Notice that LeSieg spelled backwards is… Geisel. What a clever man, if I do say so, er, uhmmm, myself. Enlarge-o-rama.

I was at an open house for a kindergarden earlier this week and they were talking about their progress in attaining International Baccalaureate certification, which necessitated this fabulous graphic demonstrating a balanced approach to education.

As promised, here’s part two of the Sesame Street characters on skateboards. This one from an activity magazine for kids dates back to 1977. Thanks to John Aguilar for the scan. Grover’s non-video korner in detail after the jump.

If you have kids, you end up with Elmo crap, like it or not. This thing is called Aquadoodle. It’s some sort of plastic paper printed with an ink that is barely visible until it gets wet. My kids don’t like it that much because they have no control over the colors. And because they are kids, they’ve gone ahead and scribbled on them. This Elmo on a skateboard dates back to 2007, tomorrow I’ll show you another Sesame Street character on a skateboard from 1977.

Art Clokey passed away on Friday. His early work was pretty surreal at times. What good hearted person doesn’t love Gumby? There were at least two Gumby episodes that revolved around skateboarding. The first one was a 1967 episode of the Gumby Show, titled Dog Catchers. I believe that is the first skateboarding dog, unless you count this one. The second was a 1988 creation titled Skateboard Rally, in which the Blockheads rip his stick. There’s a dramatic car chase, Skate Rock on a half pipe – performed while skating, no less, a contest with loop action and some heavy eigties guitar riffs. I think David Dink got ripped off by the judges though. Check em out after the jump. – Thanks to ehdubya for the tip.

I like to thank people who send in tips, and include a link for them if they have one. I curse Stephen Slappe for sending me this tip. I’ll never get back all the time I wasted researching this. The clip that’s making the rounds is from Everything is Terrible, a web site that is like watching Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, only with real footage. Colby the Computer googlizes into a thousand references to Colby’s Clubhouse, a Christian children’s show with a talking, evangelizing computer. However, episode guides omits this gem of a clip. In fact, the only time “skateboard” shows up is in another episode called “Helping the Missionaries,” where a kid wants people send him money so he can buy a skateboard. Colby’s Playhouse ran from 1995 to 2000, but this rapping freestyle-filled episode is definitely 80’s, and has an entirely different production value than every Colby’s Clubhouse. Everything is Terrible is all about the video without explanation or insight. Terribly entertaining, but frustrating if you want the back story. It was maddening trying to find this episode, but eventually the explanation turned up on totalschwarr! This is an episode of Colby’s Place, titled Skateboard…

Or so says recent new father Danimal – Congrats! However, I have it on good authority that “Dad” bought this for himself for X-Mas, and not for his firstborn, shown here. This particular bowl appears to have made the rounds with skaters of a certain age this year. I know three people whose “kids” got one. More details on this particular artifact later.

Well, yeah sure. I make up some pretty lame titles in my posts too. This is about as gratuitous as it gets. Division Grinding. I prefer Demolition Dancing. Name the band for a No-prize. – Thanks to Craig Conahan for the tip.