This is hard drive cleaning time an illustration by Tim Root, for the Portland Mercury, that dates back a couple years. It might have been a cover, or t-shirt, or both. I can’t remember. Tim’s illustrations for Stumptown Coffee have appeared here before. Who is Tim Root?

Ryan Sheckler is still a thing, and he’s a thing for Lume Cube. Lume Cube is a wireless flash / lighting system. It’s a pretty cool device actually. They are tiny, waterproof, battery powered strobes you can link together and control with an app to use for discreet, highly mobile and quick photo lighting. In addition to using a smartphone to set up Lume Cubes for use with a DSLR, you can use an additional mount to supplement your phonecam’s lighting. After watching some of the tutorials I have to say that I’m impressed by the system. It’s expensive, but seems very well thought out. One thing that does seem needlessly obtrusive, to use a Lume Cube even once, you’re going to need to provide a valid email address and register the the cube (with serial #) via your smartphone. So what happens if you want to loan it to a friend, or share a cube amongst different phones? For instance, you may use different assistants on different shoots. Why should you have to provide a valid email address just to use the cube? What if the email address and serial # conflict with a previous registration? This is a…

Catterbox is a an attempt at viral marketing by Temptations, that is set up to appear like a crowd funding project for a cat collar that translates cat meows into the English language, a la the Baby Translator on the Simpsons. This leash demeans us both. I wouldn’t say that it’s super successful because when I first saw a video out of context I was more confused than anything. It was obviously a gag, but was it related to a product, a humor site or a marketing company? Having zero brand awareness of Temptations, I had to dig around to find out about the associated cat treats, something I wouldn’t have bothered with were I not writing it up for Skate and Annoy. – Thanks to Steve Spurlock for the tip.

An astronaut on a skateboard is something we’ve seen a time or two (or three). Mathieu Gielen scanned this Duvel beer coaster for you, drinking readers, and he was kind enough to translate it as well. After finding a link to Duvel, I saw that the skateboarding astronaut was also available as a beer label, poster, and beer glass as well. UPDATE: David Maes found a skateboard deck in the shape/graphics of a regular Duvel bottle. The art of conceivingWe don’t pretend that the creation of the Duvel has been as spectacular as the first footstep on the Moon, but in 1923, this beer seemed totally innovating. A refermentation in bottle which give a colour (robe) so limpid is something for the least remarkable. And, more a beer is clear, more her taste is pure.The flemish version has a some slight variations : the title reads “Heavenly pionneers” in place of “The art of conceiving” and there is a final sentence that is “This is simply of an intergalactic nature”. The rest is basically the same.

Restless Years is pale ale from Evanston Illinois’ Temperance brewery. Aside from skateboards on a beer can, they have bragging rights as Evanston’s first and oldest brewery, dating “way back” to 2013. – Thanks to Neil “I’d obviously rather be drinking than writing Ebay Watch” for the pics.

Graava is a camera/app combo that is supposed to make it easier for you to actually do something with all the footage you acquire. Basically, you dock the camera and the open the app, decide how long you want the the end result to be and then let the app make a video for you after it analyzes the footage for… what I’m not sure. A skateboarder is used in their marketing video, and apparently he works in an office where it’s cool to come in late and edit skate videos… hold on, his video is edited for him while he works so he doesn’t have to worry about getting fired. Obviously, this wouldn’t work for any sort of “real” skate video, but it seems to do the trick if you’re just pointing a selfie stick at yourself while you cruise on the bike trail. The question is, why build and sell a separate camera instead of just making an app that takes video from any source? If only someone could invent an app that automatically compiles and writes an Ebay Watch.

I was checking out the Movi camera, which a smart little system that uses a single 4k camera to capture video, combined with an app that lets you zoom and pan through the 4k image in real time, while saving or streaming the final footage. The end result lets you simulate multiple camera angles for live events with only one physical camera. I got to thinking that it would be fun to use at a skateboarding event, but probably not actually very useful due to the unique demands of shooting compelling skateboarding footage. Just as I was writing it off as interesting but not practical for a skateboarding application, I found this image on their web site.

These ladies are more core than I am lately. This is a still from an AARP (American Association of Retired People) marketing video featuring ladies of a certain age who skateboard. The leader of The Sisters of Shred is non other than the skateboard mom/cow, Barbara Odanaka. – Thanks to Charles Glover for the tip.

Sacramento Republic FC is making a (well deserved) push to get into Major League Soccer. One of the requirements for expansion teams is a soccer-specific stadium capable of seating 20,000 or more people. MLS, has been cagey about offering SRFC a franchise, but that hasn’t stopped them from promoting Built for Sacramento, a web site showcasing the proposed design for the new stadium. The video promo is eerily reminiscent of the city of Portland, with hipster barber shops, breweries, rabid soccer fans, two rivers intersecting, and yes, skateboarding. You can pretty much overdub “Portland” every time they say Sacramento and you might not notice, even with the visuals. Except of the weather.

Tony Hawk on a vertical corkscrew run specially built in his facility, paid for by Sony Action Cam. You remember Sony Hawk… Yuk yuk yuk. I guess I overestimated his skills, I assumed this would be a piece of cake for him. What a fun line.