The Ollie is one of the first tricks most skaters try and learn. And, ironically, it can be one of the toughest.

A skater once posted in our skate forum (which has been attacked with spam, and I'll be cleaning out soon! Sorry for the mess guys!) that he was frustrated with how long it was taking him to learn to ollie. He had been trying for a week or two. And another skater, who's been helping out new skaters here for a while, confessed that it took him over a year to learn to ollie. Then another skater posted that he never did learn, and he's given up on it...

Don't give up! I know it can be frustrating when you see your buddy learn to ollie the first day he hops on a board ... but take your time! You'll get it. Ask for help, change things up, watch this video, and commit to it and the ollie should come to you. You can also share your story and read other peoples, "How did you learn to ollie?"

I'm curious though - how long did it take you to learn to ollie? Answer this poll:

Helmets are a strangely touchy, loaded topic in skateboarding! For some people, it's just a simple personal choice. But for other people, it's a crusade to get every skater to wear one, or a crusade to fight the authorities who are trying to force helmets on us all. See how it can get crazy so fast?

But the question still comes up, and I get a lot of e-mails about it - should skaters wear helmets? Now, I shy away from questions like that ... I don't like to tell people they should do one thing or another. But with helmets, I don't mind pushing a little. In my opinion, they are a good idea! Read the new skate FAQ "Do I Need to Wear a Skateboard Helmet?" for more info. It's got a couple of horror stories.

I've also got a new place for you to share your own stories for how helmets have saved your brain - read Readers Respond: How Has a Helmet Saved Your Life, or Close To It? Be the first to share your story, or check out what other people say!

And while we're on the topic, check out the Best Skateboard Helmets list!

Yatz Spray Wax is a handy little aerosol can that you can use to spray wax on. It's a brilliant idea, easy to use, and a huge improvement over blocks of wax.

It's a GREAT idea - you should check it out. This stuff works very well. Take a look at the Yatz Spray Wax Review for more info!

Skater2Beat is a new website where you can post a video of yourself showing off your skating skills, and try to win prizes. Each month the video with the most votes gets a smaller prize, and becomes the "Skater2Beat", and then at the end of the year the video with the most votes gets a huge prize. Sound easy?

They also want to help support skate shops, so they have a similar contest called "The Shop", where skate shops and their teams create a mini profile, and upload video to the Skater2Beat contest. The winning shop gets cash and a plasma TV for their shop.

Take a look at it and see what you think. The site is in development right now - it works just fine and you can enter to win, but they are adding to it over the summer.

So what's your impression? I think it looks like an interesting idea, but I'd be afraid that the same guy would win every month, or that people would fake footage! But on the other hand, if you have some sweet footage, this is a great way to get it seen, and to get something for it! What's your take? Leave a comment below!

I received this e-mail from a skater:

"When i do my tre flips i can never land with my back foot i always land with my front foot. Every trick tip i find for the back foot says it is a commitment thing but i practice 30 minutes a day on tre's. When i land with my back front my front foot always lands off. My back foot i think just stays on the ground after i pop. Other times it comes up and lands too early on the ground. Do you have any advice?"

This is a very common problem. Some people call this chikenfoot. However you slice it, it's a mental thing, and can be tricky to get over. You can read here the Cure for Chickenfoot, but here's another way to deal with it:

It might be best for you to give the problem trick a little break. Not a long one, but just for like a week or so. During that time, learn a completely different trick, like a grind or something. Also during that break, from time to time, think about the problem trick and imagine how to do them the right way. Picture yourself doing it. I know this might sound lame, but it helps!

Then when you come back and try the trick, relax, take a deep breath, and give it a shot. Really focus on just doing what you’ve been visualizing. It should work better this time around. Keep practicing, and keep at it! you might need to do this a few times. Or, you might be one of those people who can just yell at your foot, and whip it back in line! Whatever you do, keeping at doing things the same way over and over, when it's not working, is only going to ground bad habits into your brain!

Do you have any advice for skaters in spots like this? Leave a comment below!

I just received this e-mail from a reader:

"Your 'How to Longboard Skateboarding Instructions' really helped me while learning how to longboard. I bought myself a $50 longboard that was in great condition from a secondhand shop as an impulse buy. And that night I had a dream about riding it all around my neighborhood and riding it to my highschool. I realized I was quite excited about, not only pissing off my mother by buying a longboard in the first place, but actually learning how to ride it. Anyway I just wanted to thank you for writing such clear and helpful instructions as I was quite a clueless rider to begin with and really needed the help."

That's awesome! I love to hear that someone learned something, and that I'm to blame for more than just smearing my bad grammar and spelling mistakes across the internet. I also wanted to share this, because I think it's been a while since I unearthed these instructions and shared them with you guys. Take a look, buy a longboard, and get riding! Longboards are a brilliant way to get around, and have a feel that's different from regular skateboards. Plus, you get to use surfer lingo without being totally lame!

Do you longboard, and think others should give it a shot? Leave a comment and say why!

If you have an Xbox 360, you might already know about Project Natal. It looks huge. Science fiction huge. It's a new way to play, with no controller at all, complete with voice and face recognition. Yeah. Coming out next year or so...

Well, at E3, a huge video game conference that just happened, Paul Rodriguez and Terry Kennedy got to check it out! Ha ha! There's my link to to get to tell you about it! These two skaters were among the first to try out the technology, and it looks like they had a lot of fun with it. Check out this video on YouTube.

If you've seen this video, or other Natal videos, leave a comment here are what you think! In the Project Natal announcement video, they show a kid hold his skateboard up to the TV, and it scans in the graphics on his board, and then he's playing a skateboarding game where he is just jumping and stuff, without even using a controller like the Tony Hawk RIDE controller.

What do you think about all of this? Is it really going to be this cool? Lame? Boring? Impossible? Sweet? Leave a comment!

The Caveman is a pretty easy skate trick to learn, and perfect for beginners. You don't even need to know how to ollie! All you need to know is the basics of how to ride a skateboard, and you should be set.

The Caveman is basically a really cool way to get on your skateboard. Normally, you might just toss the board down and hop on it, which works just fine. But with the Caveman, you jump on the board before the board hits the ground! This adds a whole new level of style to your skating.

Read these set-by-step instructions on How to Caveman, and add some style to your skateboarding! Got any caveman cariations to share? Comment below!

As I sit here and write this, the Vans Warped Tour is gearing up for the summer! Here are the first four stops:

1. June 26th at Pomona, CA
2. June Jun 27th at San Francisco, CA
3. June 28th at Ventura, CA
4. June 30th at Phoenix, AZ

There it is! So, if you live in the South West corner of the US of A, then you should be there! Or, if you live within driving, flying, or skating distance (which is actually pretty far, if you've seen the Skateboarding World Records page...). If not, well the tour will keep going, spreading like swine flu across the continent. Yipee!

If you don't know what the Vans Warped Tour is, let me teach and inform you. The Vans Warped Tour is something like a traveling action or extreme sports festival. The Warped Tour has had as many as 100 bands per show! Each band gets around 40 minutes, and they can have up to 10 stages going. It's crazy, frenetic, fun, and packed with skatefullness. Which is a new word that I made up just now. Use it wisely.

The FAS, or Futures Am Series, is an after-school high school team skateboarding series that raged across Southern California this year! The season finals are being held June 20th at Hurley headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. This competition represents the culmination of 50 teams, made up of over 200 high school skaters, who have competed all season.

If you want to see the event, there are two ways. First, you can come to the event in person! The event starts at 12:30. There will be a benefit concert (played by Gorgeous Got a Gun), exhibitors and food from Nalu Island Barbecue. The contest starts at 2pm, with a jam session for hte top three teams receiving prize packages.

If you can't make to to see the contest in person, you can watch it on Hurley.com! For free! From anywhere!

This should be a lot of fun - I'm excited to see the FAS grow so huge so fast, and I'm stoked to see where it will go from here! Thanks to Jeff Stern, the LAB, and all the sponsors!