I think we’ve mentioned a few rocket powered skateboards before, and now we’re giving you the tools to do it yourself. OK, not giving you the tools, you need to buy the book. Aside from skateboards, author Dan Pollino is involved in amateur rocketry with engines on a much powerful scale. He’ll teach you how to make those rockets too, which is good because quite frankly, the engines on the skateboard don’t look nearly as impressive on video as they do in the stills. But then again, who want’s to stand on top of a notoriously unstable explosive? Might as well make it somewhat, uh, safe.
Yes, it’s Jim Henson day on Skate and Annoy. Here’s a bit from the first season of Fraggle Rock, something I have admittedly not seen more than a few seconds of before now. My wife says she loved that show as a kid, but I married her anyway… It’s from a 1983 episode called the Garden Plot. A Fraggle Rock regular known as Traveling Matt makes a visit Venice Beach and takes a spin on some sort of weird Powell knock off deck. Check out the Carrot Top lookalike.
Thanks to Kevin for pointing the camera at the TV!
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.
I was at a spot recently where I joked that I could have used one of these bungee cord launchers. At Gabriel Park here in Portland there is a love seat on a banked wall. I’ve tried on several occasions to make it over and even come close, but the trouble is, it’s an uphill push. There’s a fine line between loose enough to make it and too tired to get enough speed. Trouble is, if I used a bungee cord to get the speed to make it, I would get much satisfaction from making it. I suppose if you are trying to get a photo or video footage for your sponsor this might make sense, but it rubs me the wrong way. Then again, it looks like it has the makings of a good dork session., and I’m not above using the same technology to launch a glider. Banshee Bungee.
Just when you think you’ve seen every iteration of skate furniture, along comes something new. Gil Le Bon De Lapointe, the man behind the Skate Study House, produced this chair made from the scraps of the skateboard manufacturing process. It can be yours for $3500, according to the L.A. Times, but they don’t tell you where you can pick it up.
[Source: Just Skate] – Thanks to Doug for the tip.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since his last post, Sean had his laptop stolen and lost a lot of his source files. He likely won’t be posting on DIsposable for a while, which gives me the perfect excuse to back populate with his old posts. Back it up Sean!)
In 2002 I was contacted by Aaron Meza to whip out a space-filler article for Skateboarder about the Top 12 board graphics that I wish I’d created. Included on that list were the following: G&S Neil Blender Coffee Break, Zorlac John Gibson Cow Skull (the Pushead version), 101 Natas Kaupas Devil Worship, Santa Cruz Jeff Grosso Toy Box, Blind Guy Mariano Accidental Gun Death, Powell-Peralta Steve Caballero OG Dragon, Blind Jason Lee American Icons, Powell-Peralta Mike McGill Skull & Snake, 101 Gabriel Rodriguez Jesus H. Christ, Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp I, Blind Danny Way Nuke Baby, and the very first Santa Monica Airlines Natas Kaupas model.
PLUP is a Finnish company that sells bottled water. In Finland PLUP Ltd donates 10 euro cents from each PLUP bottle sold, directly to the Baltic Sea Action Group to help clean up the Baltic Sea. Stefan Lindfors shot a commercial for them, and lo and behold, it features a certain professional skateboarder by the name of Bam. It also features the music of Bam’s buddies HIM. Just in case you’re wondering, is that really Bam, or a blond guy with creepy blue eyes that just looks like him, he’s got a gratuitous skateboard on his back. Does anyone else see the irony of an environmentally conscious bottled water company? There’s no actual skating in the commercial, but there is some wakeboarding or wake skating or whatever it’s called. I know the U.S.A. is weird for sure, but so is Finland.
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.