David Byrne Makes Turkey Shaped Jello Mold For Contest

The former Talking Head and Brian Eno collaborator created this mold called "Babies First Turkey". Unfortunately it did not win.

Let The Shopping Season Begin

Powell Peralta continue to trade on their glory years with this modified classic.

Introducing: The Camper Kart

Inspired by Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road (and the film of the same name that opened this week) artist Kevin Cyr has created a shopping cart that you can live in. Although large enough to house the artist who is 5'8 Cyr views this as more of a piece of art than functional design telling the LA Times:

"I don't consider myself a designer. These are pieces of sculpture. My work is about making a statement. It's about getting people to talk about these issues."

Watch The Empires Fall

This creative video shows the rise and fall of four major maritime empires. As the video progresses you see circles representing Britain, France, Spain and Portugal grow bigger and then begin to break up as former colonies gain their Independence.

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

Read All About It

As they say on Law And Order this painting was "ripped from the headlines". Titled "10 Days" the painting was based on the news headlines found on BBC News Online between May 6-15 this year. It was created by the street artist RIPO during a residency at the Museums Quartier in Vienna, Austria.

10 DAYS from ripo on Vimeo.

Happy Buy Nothing Day

Today, the day after Thanksgiving has the ominous title "Black Friday". Black like as in death, destruction, chaos, violence and greed. Perhaps this is a bit of an overstatement accept for the fact that last year a security guard was crushed to death by a mob of Walmart shoppers rushing to save a few buck. So today you could spend your time with a group of people who would inadvertently kill a man over some cheap Chinese goods or you could join activists around the world in supporting Buy Nothing Day. Maybe spend some time with your kids, take your dog for a walk, hit the slopes or the beach depending on where you live. Or battle it out in your local box store, the choice is yours.

A Tiny Blue Dot.

Carl Sagan talks about this tiny dot, this pixel in a vast sea, this place where everything happens. For the considerable future it's all we have. There are no other known planets we can migrate to and no advanced species from elsewhere who can fix our problems for us. For better or worse this blue dot is home.

The Big Let Down

Two stories that I have read the last couple days really bring about the reality of what the Obama administration has failed to do, lead. The first was about the U.S. not signing on to the International campaign To Ban Landmines. This mirrors the Bush administration who you could expect to side against doing the right thing. The majority of the victims of landmines are innocent people killed years after whatever conflict they were for is over. One third of the victims are children who happen to wander into an unmarked mine field.

The other story that caught my eye was about the Obama administration lagging on adding to the endangered species list. At this point he has only added two, both of which are plants. George Bush was not a man know for his commitment to the environment but at this rate Obama will provide less protection to endangered wild life than the Texas oilman did. At present there are 250 species that are in danger but are stuck in the limbo of being "considered" a candidate for the list. I know the man has a full plate but conservationist worked their asses off to get him elected and deserve more than this.

The Octo-Bowl

I made up that name above but this bowl in Lugano, Switzerland is pretty awesome. The facelift was performed by Nevercrew.

Try This Trick And Spin It, Yeah!

That line above was sung in the Pixes song "where is my mind". Now you can do your spin tricks in a slick pair of "Death To The Pixies" skate shoes from Vans. Available in high top and slip on the shoes are sure to please any Pixies and skateboarding fan like myself.

The City Of Angels With Estevan Oriol

This past September LA photographer Estevan Oriol released his first book titled LA Woman. As the title would suggest the 112 page book is all about the women of Los Angeles. Shooting mostly in gorgeous black and white Oriol's photos show the beauty and the ugliness of the City Of Angels.

2012 The Real Disaster

This SNL clip shows a much scarier future than the one depicted in the film.

D*Face And Salba Skate And Create

In this video artist D*Face lays down some stencil art then OG ripper Salba shows some excellent pool skating.

Kid's Do An Accurate Reenactment Of The First Thanksgiving

Stephen Colbert Skateboards With Members Of Congress

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
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Stephen looks pretty good like he has been on a board before. The skateboarding does not start till about 5:20 in.

R.I.P. Jeanne-Claude

The artist passed away at he age of 74 from complications of a brain aneurysm. Along with her husband Christo she created huge scale art installations across the globe such as The Gates in Central Park. Christo has vowed to honor a promise between them that in the case of death the art would continue to live on.

One Child's Awesome Show of Defiance

Ten year old Will Phillips decided that he would not recite the pledge of allegiance in his class anymore because those words ring hollow to the gay and lesbian citizens of this country. This kid is smart and has guts leaving me a little less worried about our future. Here he is on CNN:

U.K. KIte Surfers Jump Pier

Holy shit that is some serious air that these two kite surfers are getting. After waiting for years for the wind to be powerful enough they finally got their chance to leap over this pier in Southeast England. Reaching heights of over 100 feet they soar high above the pier below. It will be interesting to see where they take the sport from here.

Shepard Fairey/Glen E. Friedman Collaboration

This print is of a Glen E. Friedman photo that has been altered by Shepard Fairey. The skater is Jim "Red Dog" Muir who suffered some serious injuries in a surfing accident this year. Proceeds will go to help pay Jim's medical bills.

Banksy Named One Of Britain's 50 Unsung Heroes

The dubious source of this list is a cross promotion to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the British Lottery. Of course gamblers who throw away over $40 million a week took the top spot.

Kids Vs. Cops Over Climate Change

Great video from Mom's against Climate Change of children protesting against climate change even as the Storm Troopers stand blocking their way.

Dock Ellis And The LSD No No

One of my favorite sports stories ever was when Dock Ellis pitched a no hitter on LSD. Now the story is available in animated form.

The Disposable Skateboard Bible

This is skateboard artist Sean Cliver's second book focusing on deck art. Feeling that he had missed some important boards, artists and skaters in his first book Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art Cliver returned with 368 pages of skateboard goodness. For many of us who grew up skateboarding the sight of various graphics can bring a flood of nostalgia that brings back memories of skate sessions that we had long forgotten. Included in this book is an interesting look at some of the first skateboards to be made at home and early production models. Hopefully for years to come people can go into their local skate shop and see all the wonderful art hanging on the walls.

What Would You Eat As Your Last Meal?

From the interesting and twisted department comes this web page from the Texas Department Of Corrections listing the last meals of inmates about to be be killed.

Skateboard Life

Found this image while doing a search for vintage skateboards. I don't know anything about the girl on the cover or the board but this most have been right as skateboarding was entering the public consciousness in the 60's.

Sea Shepherd Reloaded

Last year the Sea Shepherd crew were outdone by the Japanese whalers who upgraded their defenses with netting that covered the whole ship, powerful water cannons and a noise weapon. For the first time the Sea Shepherd's were helpless as whales were harpooned right in front of them. Well Paul Watson is not a man to sit back and take his hits. The Sea Shepherd's have now added a sleek, record holding powerboat with radar deflecting paint to their fleet. The Earthrace can do 40 knots and dive completely under oncoming waves. The 78 foot trimaran will be used to intercept whaling ships and block harpoons. The Steve Irwin has also been upgraded with a reinforced hull and powerful water cannon. The third season of Whale Wars can't come fast enough!

Cool Japanese Bar Codes

How is it that the Japanese can make everything cooler, even something as mundane as a bar code?

The DC Shoe Bike

The mad scientists at DC Shoes have for some reason decided to replace rider Travis Pastrana's tires with shoes. The resulting "wheel" is surprisingly functional even holding up to back flips.

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street

Sesame Street is a rare show that you, your parents and your children can all bond over having grown up on. Much like The Muppets the show is successful due to the great characters like Cookie Monster, The Grouch and The Count. It's great to know that future generations will be raised on this show.

Free Pixies EP!

Four live recording from their current tour to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Doolittle.

Nirvana Live At Reading

Listening to the just released album of Nirvana live at Reading from 1992 I'm beginning to realize that I missed out on seeing them live when I had the chance. I first became aware of the band when my local college radio station played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" right after Nevermind was released. I remember being captivated by the song but also being confused because I could not neatly put it in the category of what I was defining as punk at the time. Now almost two decades later it is clear that Nirvana were much more "punk" than almost all of the bands I was listening to at the time. Live at Reading shows the band as a true power trio firing on all cylinders. The band assaults these songs with an intensity seldom seen. Man I wish I would have caught them at Trees when I had the chance.

Skate Or Die?

Wow, these multimedia piece by WK Interact are intense. Turning old school shaped skateboard decks into bombs that can be used on ones self or others. I'm pretty sure I see a Hosoi Hammerhead in there.

Sesame Street trashes Pox (Fox) News

In this Sesame Street spoof one viewer becomes disillusioned at GNN (Grouch News Network) and decides to switch to Pox News "One trashy Network". I could see Oscar with a show on Fox, maybe right before Hannity?

The World's Fastest Cat Track Vehicle

The fastest and most stylish way from the resort to the mountain would have to be the TRAX STI a joint effort from Subaru and Vermont SportsCar. As demonstrated by DC Shoe's Ken Block in the teaser video below this thing is a lot of fun to drive. The engine consists of a Subaru WRX STI heart that produces 400 horse power from a 2.5 liter, 4 cylinder inter cooled turbo charged engine. In other words it hauls.

Car Crash Victim Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Hilarious video from the Onion about the pain of knowing that Glenn Beck outlived a loved one.


Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Dreaming Of Snow Covered Mountains

As the weather gets colder it's time to start thinking about the snowboarding season. Along with the white stuff (snow not Shaun) comes the annual release of new snowboarding films to get you pumped. One highly anticipated film is Burton's "B Movie". It used to be that skate and snow films were composed of shaky hand held footage and choppy edits but with guys like Spike Jonze making films for Girl Skateboards and Lakai Footware the bar has been raised. Beautifully shot you could pull any still from the Burton film, frame it and put it on your wall. The film features awesome footage of Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, Nicolas Müller, Frederik Kalbermatten, Keegan Valaika, Shaun White and others. Now if only my riding was this good.

David Vitter - Scumbag

Last month Senator Al Fanken proposed an amendment prohibiting the Government to work with contractors who made their employees sign a form saying they would not sue if raped by a coworker. You would think that nobody would be able to vote against that but 30 Republicans did. One of those Republicans was hooker enthusiast David Vitter. Over the weekend a rape victum confronted Vitter and he turned tail and ran off like a coward. It's interesting that the Republican party seem to be taking cues from Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan when it comes to women's rights.

The Importance Of SST Records

Founded by Greg Ginn in 1978 SST went on to be the most important record label of the 80's. Originally called Solid State Transmitters Ginn shortened the name to SST when he went from selling electrical equipment to selling records by his band Black Flag. During it's heyday the label released classic albums by Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Black Flag, The Descendants, The Minutemen and the Meat Puppets. What made SST's roster so great was the diversity of the records that were coming out. Although all the bands could loosely be placed under "Punk" they sounded very different from each other. Black Flag created a sped up version of punk that would be known as Hardcore. Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. featured two of the most innovative guitarists in music with Thurston Moore and J. Mascis. The Descendents balanced classic pop and punks raw aggression while The Meat Puppets mixed punk with the psychedelic sounds of the 60's. Meanwhile Husker Du and The Minutemen both went on to release classic double albums, a risky move from a genre that started in response to the lengthy prog-rock albums of the 70's. Eventually SST's bands would leave the label or break up causing Ginn to sign and release lesser talent. Still you can put the labels early releases up against any other label before or since.

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