$90,000 Nostalgia Trip

Well now… this is something. Is this the ultimate eBay auction? You’re looking at roughly 3,000 cut (but not finished) skateboard blanks, NOS from the 80’s wood shop of “Wee” Willi Winkels. Yes, he of the famous Corvette hippie jump fame in the 70’s, and most importantly, the person who brought laminated maple to the world of skateboard decks. The asking price of 90k (!) works out to $30 a deck. As amazing as the find is, it doesn’t seem like a reasonable investment considering they are mostly unfinished and in need of multiple passes on the router, not to mention painting, sealing, and screen printing. It’s an interesting auction for sure.

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mSynthwave Skater Gang

MotionVFX is selling a Final Cut Pro plugin they call mSythwave. The purpose is to emulate 80’s effects in a manner that is actually a little more advanced than actually excited at the time. The demo real and tutorial features a Back to the Future spoof as well as some dummy titles like “Miami Skating Venue” and “SK8 Crew.” I’ve been thinking about lookingintot some new plugins fro the next installment of Found In a Box VHS Theater, because the channel changing transition was manual and labor intensive, not to mention not very good, and holy $%&@! That last installment was 5 years ago! I need to get back on that horse again.

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Digital Griptape Made to Order

Digitally printed grip tape in bulk. This is the first time I’ve seen this service advertised before. The product looks good, but I’d have to ride it to tell if it functions well. It’s from a random merchandising company called Brandsick that is not skateboard specific, but they also offer skateboard wheels. I really have to wonder about the quality of those considering they don’t offer any details other than an Orangatang Wheels image that looks like it was poached from somewhere else. A sheet cost you less than $5 but the catch is you have to order at least 50.

500 Vintage Skate Stickers!

The thing about OCD is that it’s OCD… We just passed the 400 mark less than 2 weeks ago but I got a bee in my bonnet to finish the rest of the remaining scans. So I powered through it, and now we’re at 502 vintage skateboard stickers in the gallery. Some of my favorites are the authorized dealer stickers because those are hard to come by. Anyway, check out the gallery, stable toy company/brand, product type, decade, and even the pro’s name if it’s on there. Now that I’m out of sticker scans I’m thinking about getting the 70’s bubblegum card gallery up next. If you’ve got (high resolution) scans of anything not in the gallery, hit us up! We can provide a link to the web site of your choice with each listing.

A Brief History of Skateboarding in the Olympics

Hey, did you hear? Skateboarding is/was in the Olympics! This made some people really happy, and an equal amount really cranky, if not downright mad. Here at Skate and Annoy it made us feel ambivalent because, let’s face it, the counterculture era of skateboarding died circa 2005. OK, I take that back there is definitley a healthy DIY counterculture, especially when it comes to rconcrete, but that’s got nothing to do with the Olympics, or 75% of the skateboarders out there. Of course, this post is 100% not what the title says it is, but man, think of those SEO hits we’d be getting. Too bad we don’t have any cost per click advertising… This is instead, some little Olympic themed skateboarding tchotches mostly brought you by friend of the S&A Josh Baker, AKA @beachpartyattitude.

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Leo Baker

Leo Baker (né Lacey Baker) coming out as transgender has all the narrow-minded and transphobes up in arms, especially because it meant he couldn’t represent his country at the Olympics. Oh for shame, for shame… Yes, the skateboarding community is gradually becoming more inclusive to the LGBQT population, but you know, there’s still a lot of knuckleheads out there, especially when it comes to so-called “core” skaters. Although I’m sure it only scratches the surface, this Time Magazine article provides really good insight into Leo’s journey and decision. It’s a must read for anybody that naively parrots “Why doesn’t he just skate and leave his personal life out of it?”
[Photos: Ethan James Green for TIME]

Vintage Skate Sticker Gallery Reaches 400

The count on the Vintage Skate Sticker Gallery has reached 400! The last hundred added span from the 70’s to the 90’s/ Some of the highlights include healthy additions to the Zorlac category as well as some great 70’s era additions to Sims, G&S, Z-flex and Cadillac Wheels. Also of note, some wacky color ways of Independent logos made in the early 80’s.

I’m Saving Myself for Tony Hawk

Seriously, it brings me joy that in the year 2021 I can still make the occasional Gratuitous Tony Hawk post. These rubber rings from Groove Life feature two “new” designs, which means the other two must have been around for a while. I’m pretty sure Ive seen these before today, the images must be languishing in one of many “Save for future posts” folders on my hard drive. The construction of these makes sense if you want to wear a ring and your day to day circumstances make that a potentially dangerous proposition. The thing that doesn’t make a lot of sense is making them so explicitly Tony Hawk themed. I feel like if I wore one it would signify some sort of personal commitment to Tony, like those teenagers who give and wear rings as a promise to abstain from sex. At the rate Tony is going through wives, maybe mass production made more sense… Sorry Tony, that was a cheap shot. I don’t have a distinguished career as a professional skateboarder to fall back on. All I got is the low hanging fruit….

DIY 70’s Fiberglass Skateboard Redux

Once again proving semi interesting things come to those with OCD who wait… While updating the Vintage Skate Magazine Advert gallery I thought I recognized this Top Line ad for a “Do it Yourself Skateboard Kit.” I was the subject of a post 4 years ago, and now we know it dates to 1975 since it appears in the Fall 1975 issue of Skateboarder magazine. Check out the advert and/or the original post.