Twas the night before x-mas in Sarasota and all through the concrete, not a creature was ripping, not even in St Pete. Har har har. I wouldn’t know about Tampa or St. Pete, I was in Sarasota and there wasn’t a lot of action at the park today. I guess there was some sort of big event that people were possibly preparing for or something. Here’s a guy named Rob who was carving the hell out this joint on some sort of alternative long board. Every time he went over the top of a transition you could hear his board scrape bottom. Click to enlarge.

Merry X-treme-mas! Ho, ho, haaar! Here’s a wrap up of skateboard Christmas ornaments. Sorry Jews, Muslims, Mormans, Rastafarians, Pastafarians, Pan-Africans, etc… Nothing against you. Praise Jeebus and give thanks to Batman.

Skate and Annoy is sending me to Florida… Well at least I’m going there to visit the in-laws for the holidays. I’ll be in the Sarasota area December 21-26 looking to blow out skate your pools, ditches, and what not. Yeah, I know there is a park in Sarasota. I’ve been there in 04 and earlier this year too. I’ve even been to the nearby North Port park in 2002. Variety is the spice of life man! “But what about SPOT?” you say. I’m sure it’s nice, but if you think I’m going to fly from the opposite end of the (cold and wet) country to Florida to skate and indoor wooden park, you’re crazy. Unless it rains. The picture above is from Lake Mary Florida in 2002. There’s a larger version plus two more after the jump. Did I mention that I’m going to Florida?

So how many of you know Mark Conahan I mean really Know Mark Conahan! Well if you don’t Know him you will now. Here it is the interview that will set skateboarding on it s ear and make you think thrice, unedited unadulterated the naked Mark Conahan- friend or foe you decide.

Skateboarding, Apple Computers and Punk Rock. That’s the chronological order that I was introduced those items, and I’m still heavily hooked on all of them. I had an Apple II before Macs existed. That means I’m old and also excuses computers coming before punk. I did grow up in a midwest suburb you know… My worlds rarely collided in the past, but nowadays it seems to happen all the time, which is why I barely raised an eyebrow when Apple’s latest Get a Mac adverts featured a certain skateboard conglomeration’s stickers prominently on TV. I would have preferred a more clandestine skateboard brand than Girl/Chocolate. Something a little under the radar would have been more subversive, if that’s at all possible at this point. Actually, little kids wouldn’t know about underground brands, so a Wet Willy sticker might have been more appropriate. Embedded video, links and more after the jump.

It’s kind of a one-liner and it looks like it was filmed in one take, but Pimp My Skateboard mostly makes up for it in post production and the script. What is this, Ebert & Kilwag or just another YouTube link?

Search for Animal Chin from Powell Peralta, circa 1987. This is the third installment from the Bones Brigade Video Series. I figured since we are giving Tommy Guerrero some love, then we might as well show his “ripping style” from back when he was a kid. I think I’ve watched this video more times than any other skate video. It’s such a classic, with loads of awful synth music. I guess they just came out with the DVD which has a bunch of bonus footage on it. Featured Skaters: Steve Caballero, Skip Engblom, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Rodney Mullen, Jim Thiebaud, Ray Underhill, Mike Vallely run time: 1 hr 5 min 52 sec – Check it Out

Check out this 10 minute Tommy Guerrero interview on NPR. It’s pretty good and only has a minimal amount straight media kooking on skateboarding. I had 412 spam mails waiting for me in my junk mailbox this morning. Somehow, when sifting through them I managed to pick out one email as being potentially mislabeled. The red flag was a subject line reading Guerrero on NPR. So thanks for the tip Day Reah. This is a good place to mention that if you are contacting SnA try and stick something in the subject line that will help me fish it out of the junk mail if the spam filter catches it.

Hey everybody. Well it appears that we are in the yearly eBay slump. Seriously. I’ve never seen so many auctions go off where the decks didn’t meet reserve. There are some great bargains out there on decks that don’t have a reserve: I will list a couple, but go on there and do some digging. You might be surprised. I’ve also got a couple of funny auctions at the end. A couple of them should have the seller name “Hopeful Bastard”. This month, this column is fueled by Heinz baked beans, the sounds of Ignite, and is 100% created on a 20” G5 iMac at 1 pm on a Friday afternoon. One of the benefits of being a consultant I guess. Check it out.

There once was an NSA contest in Louisville Kentucky called the Bluegrass Aggression Session, and nobody came to watch it. Somehow they let me on floor to take pictures during the practices and prelims. There were other guys from organizations like Lapper Magazine, Stuf, and even a certain GBJ. There was a monster vert ramp and a street course as well. On the left we have Eddie Reategui, and on the right we have the same obstacle, different viewpoint. Skater unknown. Full frame and enlargements after the jump.