In case you were wondering what’s been going on here, In the past few days we’ve had some server issues at our crappy web host (Ixwebhosting.com – I can’t recommend them) as well as two separate plumbing leaks at my house that have conspired to leave Skate and Annoy in a sorry state. Everything is back to normal now, so move along, there’s nothing to see here. I mean, wait, there is something to see now. Bail photo by Rich at EPM.

It’s been a while since we’ve covered any music. MC’s Siouxsie Sioux private bowl monologue inspired me. Once again, we’re talking about Punk Rock. We’re actually looking for someone to write thoughtful analysis of the latest speed metal trends… and then submit them to someone else cause we’re not going to publish it. I don’t know how it happened, but AOL managed to create some original humorous content about punk rock that wasn’t completely stupid. Debbie Harry’s Punk Rock Preschool is actually quite good, even if you consider my strong personal bias in favor of Debbie Harry. I hate to see my idols degrade themselves, so I expected the worse, but was pleasantly surprised. This video is full of surprises. One of them is that she kind of looks like Hilary Clinton. Debbie even lets one little kid call her “Blondie,” which used to be a major pet peeve. Find out the definitive answers to such questions as “What is New Wave?” and “Is it better to burn out or fade away?” after the jump.

Eww.. gross. Get your mind out of the gutter. Joining Blake Nelson’s Paranoid Park is Nick Hornby’s Slam. You might recognize Nick Hornby as the writer whose books get made into good movies like High Fidelity. Slam’s protagonist is skateboarding obsessed and regularly holds imaginary conversations with Tony Hawk who answers in not always relevant quotations from his autobiography. Sounds like an amusing premise actually, if it weren’t written for young adults. Actually, if you can enjoy Harry Potter, why not Slam?. It’s interesting to note (OK, maybe not) that Tony Hawk is so pervasive that his status as a cultural icon can now be a bit supporting character in books much like Elvis was in the movie True Romance. Hornby’s had a few of his books made into successful movies, so maybe we’ll see a Tony Hawk cameo that’s a little better than what he did in Thrashin. While it’s unclear whether or not royalties were paid to the old 80’s wrist guard company of the same name (Haw!), it is clear that skateboarding is a hot topic for those trying to sell to the young adult market. Speaking of being in the market for young adults (what is…

This web comic from The Book of Biff is followed by a tale of woe featuring bike on skate action. There but for watching where I’m going, go I.

Day Two: Duel AKA Rad Ramp Racer for the Commodore 64, from 1990. Here we have the classic BMX vs Skateboard battle. Is it a bare knuckled fight to the finish like the duel scene in Thrashin’? Stay tuned to find out. Man I wish I could see a closeup of that video cover. Does anyone recognize the picture?

The Old Man Army crew decided to take off for a weekend to go down to San Diego to see what all of the hoopla was about at the ASR show. They wanted to meet in person a few of the people in the industry that they have dealings with. The only other thing on their agenda was to get a couple of pictures of the kooky skateboard gadgets for the Skate and Annoy. Check out: 2007 ASR with OMA

Gizmag, is a web site devoted to presenting high tech gadgets in the most low tech way possible outside of chiseling it in stone. Seriously, learn how to work Photoshop, would ya? These days the term skateboard tends to refer to a whole raft of different transport modes that go way beyond the two-axle, four wheeled conveyances that rose to prominence in the 1970s – everything from in-line caster boards to spokeless mini-motorcycles and sit-down street machines tend to be categorized under the genre. Err… yeah. Some guy is trying to bring to market a hydrogen fuel cell powered version of something two different groups of college kids have already done, but Sony felt compelled to file a patent for anyway. Also working against him is the fact that there are already at least two technologies called iSlide, namely an oven made by Siemens and a handful of software slideshow utilities. Just looking at the “inventor” riding an iSlide in his socks will assure you that he’s going to succeed. [Source: Gizmag]

My wife watched a little bit of his show on MTV and said it made her feel sorry for him. I guess his mom and dad split up, the mom is more than a little self-centered and the dad is a jerk. She said that basically, the only sympathetic character is Ryan’s eight year old brother who is having a really hard time with the divorce. I say, go on to this online Sheckler Tattoo generator at 8 equals D and have at him. Damn! Why didn’t I think of this first? [Source: Irvine-sucks.com] BTW – “the only site that matters?” I think you mean the only other site that matters. I do.

Skateboard Shannon is for sale on the mean streets of Used Calgary. That’s right, she’s used and cheap, but she can still show you some fun. She knows all the tricks and will do whatever you tell her. When your time is up you’d better pay her or else Skateboard Johnny will mess you up, bad.

A concerned citizen at the Ed Benedict meeting last night busted the chops of Kyle from NewLine Skateparks about the fact that none of the skaters in his presentation were wearing helmets or safety equipment. I wanted to pipe up that I just think of it as evolution in action. It was too much to go into the helmets are aesthetically unappealing in photos and footage and since many skaters are all about the coverage… discussion. Head injuries are no joke, I have been getting a lot of google alerts about skaters dying all over the country because they fell on their heads while skating. A skater died from head trauma wilsoning a transfer over a four foot spine at the Pt. Angeles skatepark. Your choice dude, we’ll miss you. Here’s a story about skateboarding injuries including head trauma from a Connecticut hospital’s website. More than 50,000 emergency department visits a year are related to skateboarding injuries. Most of the 1,500 people who are hospitalized have head injuries. Dr. William Horgan, a specialist board certified in both adult and pediatric emergency medicine, works in the Backus Hospital Emergency Department. “Skateboarding injuries are very common and typically include wrist fractures and…