We’ve added two new non profits to our public service ad rotation, as seen on the lower right column of the site. First up, the Benton County Skateboard Alliance should be familiar to our readers. They have a 10 year plan to raise funds and advocate for the expansion and creation of free public concrete skateboarding and supporting facilities within Benton County, Oregon. Also new to the official spot is Complete Skate, a school-based program that keeps kids connected to school through skateboarding.

Halifax Canada weekly The Coast, tackled the mounting malaise caused by the Halifax Police departments increasingly draconian enforcement of helmet laws for skateboarders. Whew! That was a mouthful. Sign me up for journalism school. They’ve gone so far as to use undercover police officers in sting operations. The article is aptly titled Skate Free and/or Die. The cover features a very nice Riley Smith shot of Dale Hussey helmetless, doing a proper straight-armed layback air. Nice cover parody of Thrasher, by the way. I guess they normally don’t do the fake cover gimmick. On the right is the now out of date cover of What’s Up!, a monthly newsprint magazine dedicated to covering the music scene in Bellingham Washington. I had no idea there was that big of a music scene there. The skater illustrated is rumored to be ex Lib Tech rider Ryan Williams. Catch the covers after the jump. – Thanks to Greg Baller and John Aguilar for the tips.

For only $150 you can buy this light that says to all who enter your domicile, “I like to skateboards and I have bad taste.” I was going to say this would be perfect for the Xanadu, House of the Future, but that would be insult the whole Wisconsin Dells region. Which made me curious… and then sad. The Xanadu hoses have all been demolished! Check out an old prom vid for Xanadu Homes after the jump, and mourn the future that never was. Where are those damn flying cars already? [Source: Arcadian Lighting]

This is another great find from WeirdoToys.com. The The Ertl brand released a series of toys called Socket Poppers in 1991. Socket Poppers are little action figures with completely interchangeable body parts. They were packaged with multiple figures in one pack, already partially mixed up. In our case, The Skateboarder came with Pterodactyl, as shown above.

A few skateboarding stills from the 1976 movie Car Wash, starring Richard Pryor and George Carlin, thanks to Josef Heffner. Man, that is one narrow board…

Skate Utah has a pretty cool video shot at Rose Park. We’ve all seen the camera mounted under the skateboard shot before, usually in commercials, but this time it’s an extended shot complete with heel flip – I think, I get confused scrubbing the footage back and forth. The whole thing was done without expensive equipment actually, it was just one of those cheap helmet cams mounted under the skateboard. It’s an effect that would be really easy to overuse, but it’s still interesting. What about the miniramp ban in Salt Lake? Brian Baade has an update after the jump.

Cutbird Skateboard Company is inviting you to attend One Last Push. It is a skate jam and contest to benefit Helena’s skatepark expansion! if you can make it to Helena, MT on May 16, 2009 that would be great! If not, tell your friends, print and hang up the attachment. What ever you can do to help make Montana a better place to skate. Live music, BBQ, contest, giveaways, 100% of the money raised goes to the skatepark. Flyer after the jump. More Montana Skatepark resources: Helena Skatepark Montana Skateparks

Ryan Hass sent in shots of his setup and some boards he’s been screenprinting with the help of our DIY skateboard screenprinting tutorials. Oaq Wood is the name of the game. The last board pictured is a benefit board for BCSA.

Here’s a detail from a shot I took circa 1989 in Rockford, Illinois at a roller skating rink turned skatepark called Rotation Station. I guess at this late of a date it might have been an Alva demo and not Zorlac. Full frame shot after the jump.

I was checking out the source for that latest foldable skateboard concept. The site is called NG Boards, which near as I can tell from the esoteric ramblings in the “information” section stands for No Good boards. It’s a new site but it’s already full of wackyboards galore, both concept and actual product. I don’t what the deal is, it’s all over my head. You kids and your techmology. That’s two Ali G references in one day, in case you are counting. Wait I take it back, here’s something freaking cool, can’t tell if it’s legit or a rendering, but the NG DNA skateboard wheel looks like it’s made out of fossilized amber, complete with trapped bug.