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For your viewing entertainment: Western Edition and 48 Blocks’ Pandemic, a collaborative skate vid based off HBO’s The Wire. A brilliant and creative concept, with skating so good it’s almost, ahem, criminal. This shit’s been out for close to a year, but for some reason only has 2,000 views on Vimeo — which means there’s a lot of you fucking slackers out there who haven’t seen this, so consider this your official warning. Next time you’re not getting off so easy.

It’s about 15 minutes long though, so set some time aside for it because it’s worth it. For example, I watched it at work so I could get paid to watch skateboarding. Pretty much as close to being pro as some of us are ever going to get, folks.

I mentioned a little while back how the trend in skateboarding videography has been veering towards very produced, very artful short films that sometimes read almost as much as art as they do skateboarding videos. But, just like that hot chick you were creeping on at the bar last night, a pretty face doesn’t necessarily dictate somebody you want to have a conversation with when you’re not plastered. Why there aren’t more creative, conceptual skate videos are beyond me — they don’t all have to be Gleaming The Cube, come on now.

When it comes to full length skate films, viewers tend to want more skateboarding content than less. I too have found myself fast forwarding through beautifully arranged montages just to get to “the good shit.” But looking back, it wasn’t just the groundbreaking parts that made a memorable movie so memorable — it was the skits, the visual style of the film, the soundtrack.

So, just as a reminder that what makes a great skate video isn’t just great skating, here’s one of my favorite skits from recent memory — “6 Squares” from Lakai’s Fully Flared.

Ty Evans probably earned himself a Red Bull sponsorship for that edit, to say the least.