It’s funny that in this day and age of conformity to the popsicle stick there are more vanity shaped boards available than there ever were in the money bumps era. I don’t think there ever were any “goof” shapes in the 80’s with the possible exception of those Mutant shapes that were skewed, and I think those were supposed to somehow be for the sake of performance. I think Epic Skates also made weird skewed shapes too. Anyone? NHS is the uncontested King of the gimmick boards. They’re back again via Creature with a Neil Heddings wrench cruiser, which despite the odd shape is apparently fully functional. Video after the jump. Neil Heddings: Great skater. Great actor? Not so much. Product placement video after the jump. – Thanks to Seth Grossman for the tip.

Sacrifice Skateboards reported yesterday Neil Heddings is FREE! No more rumors… Neil was released this morning in Los Angeles. Raise a glass and celebrate with all of us in this joyus occassion! You will see alot more of this in the very near future. Sources at Sacrifice say Neil is confined to the state of California for now. We would have brought this to you yesterday, but our so-called contributor who shall go unnamed (Estes!) was too lazy to go to the Sacrifice web site and grab a pic. Oh snap! [Photo: Brendan klein]

Dave Hupp sends along this announcement of a benefit event for Neil’s homecoming. March 31 in McMinnville. Your chance to check out the new Dreamland/Vox video, win prizes, and more. Also check out Dave’s website. There are some killer new photos up.

I just received an email from Neil’s mom, Shirley Heddings, and she has informed me that Neil is getting out of jail May 24th. She also hinted about a fundraiser, not sure where its going to be- from my guess it won’t be outta the state of California for quite sometime. I’m looking forward to seeing the most natural skater back at it, he’s been pent up for a long time. I can only bet Washington St is going to be his domination, once he’s finally free of his 8X12 cement box. Anyone see the new Skateboarder, he’s already getting coverage again! For those of you that would like to see the facts of his case go here and read. If I hear anything more- I will post it here on SKATE AND ANNOY DOT COM (annoucer voice)!