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.

Man what a sensitive group. All I did was poke fun at the fact that these toy miniature skateboards were somewhat absurdly priced. I’m sure it’s expensive to have tiny trucks cast in small quantities, and if that’s your thing than go for it. However, don’t come over here and expect me to publish comments like “suck a bag of…” or “F all you haters!” I was reading an article by one of the lead developers of WordPress titled 6 steps to kill your community. What’s step number one? Don’t Moderate:

Don’t Moderate. Allow anybody to post anything regardless of whether it contributes to the conversation or not. Stupidity, libel, hate, curse words are all okay because in the comments you have plausible deniability. Make sure people know that whatever they post will live forever, and anything goes. The few smart people you did have in your comments will enjoy responding to these folks. Advertisers love being next to a good fight, too.

So yeah, I’m over trying to get people to play nice. A difference of opinion is fine, even welcome, as long as you aren’t just out to insult anyone/everyone. I’m not going to waste time trying to appeal to your adult sensibilities, or massage you into being a mostly productive member of our audience, I’m just going to delete it.

That being said, check out this fingerboarding video that is in fact, pretty cool. I first saw the turntable approach to fingerboarding (Oh gwad, am I actually typing this?) back around the new millennium in a video called Fingers of Fury. The “park” was homemade and cardboard, but the concept was fun. The obstacles come to you and your fingers stay in place, like running on a treadmill. Well, the miniature skatepark world has evolved with the rest of skateboarding. It’s uncool to have a janky homemade fingerboard park, or one that looks like it’s made from stock toys (except in this case) . Nobody wants to get their footy shot at soemthing that looks like a skatepark, let alone a toy skatepark. Thanks to the couple of fingerboarding enthusiasts who actually responded thoughtfully. You guys deserve your own magazine.

The box says “Skate Pocket” but the cookie and the graphics say snowboard. Someone forgot to tell the art director about the wheels. Head on over to Sa ka roulé for larger pics and a bonus shot of some other choco mix drink that isn’t this one.

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.

Sorry, forgot to post this yesterday. Thanks to Prickly Pete for the inspiration.

Some artists with computers putting graphics on stuff and selling it, but they have a freebie for you. I’m going to make one of these papercraft skateboarders so he can remind my papercraft Barak Obama That skateparks are always shovel-ready.