The Disposable Skateboard Bible – Book Review

The Disposable Skateboard Bible
By Sean Cliver

GV 859.8.C55 2009

“It’s a monument to my glory days of yore, and I have yet to meet anyone with an iota of skateboarding in their past—regardless of hardcore proclivities or collecting biases—that hasn’t walked in, stared at the wall and momentarily lost themselves in a time warp of memories. Such is the unique and twisted power of the vintage skateboard.” – Sean Cliver

Destined for destruction, skateboard graphics have hardly been revered as high art in the eyes of those outside the skateboarding subculture. However, many of these once massed produced pieces of screen printed plywood hold collection value comparative to that of gallery paintings.

The Disposable Skateboard Bible introduces the reader to the little known and much less understood world of vintage skateboard collecting, or as the author Sean Cliver would call it, “skatehoarding.” Squeezing together decades of note worthy decks, this book serves as a hard-bound time capsule of skateboard graphic history. With a light hearted and whimsical style, Cliver discusses his journey into the sometimes dark and damaging obsession of skateboard collecting. Built around visuals more than text, this book outlines the creation of the first skateboard museum, Skatelab and chronologically documents many, but not all, of the coveted pieces in the collection.

The Disposable Skateboard Bible is great for anyone with an interest in skateboarding culture and history. It’s 367 pages are ripe with a colorful, visual evolution of skateboard graphics destined to intrigue even those with the faintest regard for the sport. This book may be particularly inspirational to students in both Illustration and Design who might be considering skate graphics as a career path.

George Haney, 1/2010

Movie Clips

Movie Clips is a free website that is in beta.  Their primary purpose is to provide short clips of movies to be embedded in social networking sites.  The clips are fairly brief, and you can’t view them in a large format on their search page. They do provide you with a link to embed the clips.

However, their website is a potentially useful research tool.  In addition to normal search categories like movie title, actor, and genre, you can also search

• dialogue (see image below)
• character (blind person, hooligan, nun)
• mood (brainy, quirky, witty)
• theme (aging, survival, victory)
• setting (alien planet, boardroom, swamp), and
• prop (banana, golf club, hacksaw)

Those search categories are potentially very useful when you are trying to research films with certain aspects.

Right now the website only has clips and indexing information from six major Hollywood studios: 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros.  Also, it is available only in the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Terra Williams’ Faculty Favorite: The Corrections

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Dr. Williams recommends The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, writing the following:

This is one of the smartest, cleverest, most well-written books I’ve read in the last ten years. And the weird part is there is not a single redeeming character in the entire thing – until right at the end. “Correction” is a theme throughout the book, and if we learn anything from Stephen King’s On Writing besides the mantra “writers must read,” we learn that themes emerge after a full draft, and are “developed” in later drafts. Frazen perfectly developed the theme, and crafted an incredibly intricate, fun read.

The faculty favorite series highlights faculty-recommended books, magazines, annuals, databases, DVDs, and more in the Ringling College Library.

RedLaser App and Libraries

OK, the librarians are pretty excited about the latest development of the RedLaser app – now you can use your iPhone to look up whether we have a book in our library.  Pretty handy when you’re out shopping and find a book you like – just scan it, email the info to yourself, and check it out from the library for free!

DIY Display

Did you give or receive any handmade gifts for the holidays?  Or perhaps you’ve made a resolution to craft more to relieve stress in 2010.  Never fear, the library has plenty of books, DVDs, and magazines this month around the theme of “Do It Yourself.”  These include techniques for every kind of creative person, including:

• Taunton’s Fine Wood Working
• Readymade
• 200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave
• Stupid Sock Creatures : Making Quirky, Lovable Figures from Cast-Off Socks
• Junkbots, Bugbots, & Bots on Wheels

Books available from the library on the theme of "Do It Yourself"

We’re on Twitter

Did you know that we’ve been on Twitter since 2007?  Check us out @ringlinglibrary