I’m excited to announce that I have tricked talked Sean Cliver into joining the fake staff at Skate and Annoy. Basically, we’ll just be syndicating his posts over at the Disposable blog, so you’ll always be able to read the same thing a little earlier over there, just don’t do it, OK? I asked Sean to write up a little intro for those of you are unfamiliar with his work as an artist and an author:

Hello. My name is Sean Cliver and I’ve been very fortunate to have had two books published in the past related to skateboards and the related artwork. Well, I guess I’m even more fortunate to be able to do some of this art upon them, but for as much as I’ve been called a skateboard artist I’m actually much more a fan of the art form in general … although that did just sound rather gay there, didn’t it? Hmmm. Anyway, since I’ve pretty much exhausted my ability or means to do any further books about skateboards, I’ve since turned to the Interweb to openly muse about them in a way that would’ve been far too trivial and page-consuming in print. Luckily this whole “information superhighway” has proved to be nothing more than a limitless trash heap upon which more and more stuff gets tossed every day, so I can now satisfy these random urges without having to worry about the bigger picture, e.g. page counts, budgets, and editing. Although if the Interweb has taught the world anything it really is the value of having a good editor. You know, someone to tell a writer when they’ve gone too far and that’s fucking enough with the superfluous wordage already. Like now.

There you have it. Expect to see some Cliver posts very soon. I’ll be mining his back catalog since it’s recently new. Say hello to Sean, but don’t, I repeat DO NOT ask him how much you can get for the board that you found in your parent’s basement from when you used to skate.

The crew at Poweredge Magazine is wrapping up a film called “We are Skateboarders” that looks like it has a lot of potential. Vintage footage mixed with modern footage, and a healthy dosage of professional skateboarders on camera. Check out the trailer after the jump. Should be good, after all, one of Poweredge’s publishers Larry Stevenson is the actual inventor of the kicktail.

From the ashes of Concussion, former co-editor Jonathan Hay is embarking on a new project called Confusion magaZINE.

Confusion Magazine is an international underground skate, music, art and surf magaZINE. Rising from the death of Concussion Magazine, Confusion continues where Concussion left off, or rather BEGAN 13 years ago. Taking it back to the roots, Confusion represents the underground, anti-corporate, DIY culture; the under represented, not the over promoted. While Confusion’s focus is on DIY skater built bowls, contraptions, found pools and ditches, Confusion isn’t only a skate zine but will also feature artists, bands and some surfing. A non-glossy print zine will be available in limited runs in select cities in USA, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, UK, etc. but for those who cannot find a print zine, there is at least the online presence: www.confusionmagazine.com

Chris Nieratko has a pretty interesting article on ESPN about how economic woes are affecting the skateboard industry. He talks to pros, business owners and former pros turned industry honchos. It’s a quick read sprinkled with a healthy dose of gratuitous skate shots, so so check it out.

– Thanks to Michael Brooke for the tip.

I know nothing about Machotaildrop. At first I thought I was watching a parody of an indy film mashup by Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson and Spike Jonze. If your going to be influenced by someone, that’s a good crowd to choose from, although it could all go horribly wrong. Then it started looking expensive, so I thought it might be real. The project exists on IMDB, so I’m inclined to believe it is real. There’s an official web site, Machotaildrop.com, but it appears to be broken or at best, poorly thought out. Check out the trailer. This could be the first movie with skateboarding as a major plot device that isn’t unintentionally funny. Check the trailer after the jump. Keep your eyes peeled for pro skaters and unless I’m mistaken, an homage to a famous scene in Thrashin’.

UPDATE: Just found and added a sneak peak of the film.
UPDATE 2: Added link to another interview with the writer/director team and a behind the scenes video.

– Thanks to JF for the tip.

I’m sorry that this is a couple of weeks late everybody. I could make excuses about how busy the Christmas season is and other shit that’s going on in my life, but truth be told there wasn’t much that went off in December on eBay that got me fired up. When I have lots of exciting stuff to cover I get fired up and this shit types itself. But when it’s an average month with tons of the same old same old to sort through, it gets difficult to get motivated to look for the unusual and type for hours on end. So it was in December. There was some interesting stuff, but very little that got me really excited. Now, looking forward to January I already have some good stuff stored, so that is looking a lot more promising! Anyway, that being said I hope you enjoy this months edition because I worked really hard on it, and tried not to give you the same old Hawks and Gators etc.

This 1978 Pepsi commercial has everything; street skating (well, sidewalks), a dog on a longboard, hockey helmets, gorilla gips, flyouts, freestyle, soft volleyball kneepads, skateparks and more. Watch the video, courtesy of skate and surf film historian Scott Starr, after the jump.

Who knew Skateboarder had so many subscriptions? I always forget they are still publishing. What’s that? Right. This post title is from the latest Transworld Skateboarding sales pitch. If you’re selling a product, they want your advertising dollars. Key selling points:

We know that there are a lot of options out there, most of which are new to the game yet claim to be everything skateboarding, but skateboarding is much more than footage filmed in a warehouse, or focus on the so-called core or elitist scene. Skateboarding has moved way beyond those walls, and TWS covers the gamut.

Hey, don’t let me scare you away. Here’s some heavy ripping at the Department. What was the occasion? Well I thought it was just because I wasn’t there, but it was actually overflow from the Bacon premiere for their new video Unheard.

– Thanks to KC for the vid.

This week’s Shot of the Week comes from Colin Walsh. Whether or not he rules depends on what side of the bed he woke up on that morning. This is Brandon Morris at the Buena Vista pool in Watsonville California. Brandon loves Watsonville so much he had it tattooed on his legs. Are those NOS Airwalks or did they bring back the old logo? Man I hated that logo and those shoes when they first came out. (No offense, Brandon.) Hey look kids. it’s Pabst Blue Ribbon! Check out the Shot of the Week.