Mike Smith sent in these pictures of a recently acquired Sears Hot Dog skateboard from 1965. The reason I think is from 1965 is because it doesn’t appear in the 1964 or 1966 Sears catalog, and Scott Starr says 1965 was the big year for full page listings of skateboards in the toy catalogs. So was it the Mike Smith who sent the pictures in? I can’t say, because he didn’t answer. More, after the jump.

Somebody hacked a Wii controller and grafted it on a skateboarder so they could use the skateboard as a controller for skateboard games, in this case, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. I’m assuming the process was more involved than just, you know, duct taping it to the bottom of the skateboard. There’s a really dull video of the controller in action. The best part is that the guy has a conference room full of people and a video projector for the demonstration, and he makes them all sit there while he makes his character look like himself. The thing to do would be to make it so you have to skateboard to play Madden’s NFL Football (or whatever the heck the franchise is called, I obviously don’t have a console.) call me slow on the uptake, but I didn’t get the punch line in the Engadget post title until just now. “Wiimote and skateboard hacked into a controller, Gator not impressed.” Ouch! – Thanks to Seth Levy for the tip.

Poweredge just added some more back issues to the archives. I guess they are all back issues now. The image above is from an article about the closing and subsequent reopening of the Cedar Crest Ramp, which was a topic of discussion I overheard the other night while everyone was on deck watching Casey KC split his head open in the back bowl at DOS. Damned if that isn’t Portland’s favorite private bowl owner and former east-coaster Dave Tobin in the feature. Go to the Poweredge Magazine site and look for the link that says “MORE 9.88 .”

Reader Kvon made some long exposure light drawing shots on his miniramp with the help of LED technology. Check them out on his nothing is…blog. He calls them a failure, but I think they turned out pretty good. Lite Bright, making things with light… You know, like the old toy? No? Then look it up, or watch a very old commercial after the jump.

Carl Warren has checked back in with more pictures of the progress being made over in Hood River’s awesome little concrete scene. Oregon uber alles! Check ’em out after the jump.

I was checking out the shots of this house contemplating whether or not to post it, until I saw the entry way gate that sealed the deal. It kind of puts this guy to shame. I found this one over on the Dezeen Magazine web site. The house in Karuizawa, Japan is called Shell, and it was designed by a bloke named Kotaro Ide in a Japanese architecture firm called Artechnic. There’s a lot of clicking to go through on the firm’s site, so I’ve borrowed a few of the highlights after the jump.

One of the highlights of ASR had to be Powells art exhibit celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the Ripper. 58 artists interpreted Vernon Courtlandt Johnson’s (VCJ) classic work that is arguably the most iconic skateboard graphic ever created. There are soem names you will know and some that you won’t. Two Northwest artists were among those whose work was commissioned, Jay Meer and Mark Sellman. I was going comment on how the collection seemed kind of weak until I took a look at the complete installation. The individual pieces as presented isolated in popups don’t really do them justice. If you take a look at the installation you’ll get a better appreciation of the works. Check out the Powell Peralta web site for the whole shebang, including pics from the reception and George Powell’s interesting recollections of the design process. And no, I wasn’t upset that I wasn’t asked to be included in the show. After all, there’s a fine line between tribute and copyright infringement, as you’ll see after the jump.

Pepsi ran a commercial during the Superbowl that featured a littel bit of skating and surfing. The idea was to contrast the old days and modern takes on different phenomenon. I think there’s even some footage of Gumby on skateboard. I know there is old and more recent episodes of Gumby riding a skateboard. It’s hard to tell because it looks like it’s been cropped at his front ankle.

Here’s a couple instances of skateboarding on the news. ABC’s Nightline picked up on the mortgage crisis story again. I hope mr Peacock is making some money off these news appearances. Nightline even manages to include the horrendous Jake Brown super slam footage in the segment. I hope Mr Brown is making money off that footage. Also up after the jump. Old Man Army got some coverage on a local Fox News affiliate. Watch it and you’ll briefly get to meet the site’s founders and catch some footage of someone in an (excellent) get up. They don’t say who he is, but he must be the OMA equivalent of GVK. – Thanks to Sarib and Orezona for the tip.

Since we’re talking about Jake Phelps, I thought I’d put up this photo I found in the June 1980 issue of Skateboarder, just a few short months before it became Action Now. I’ve got a September 1980 issue of Action Now, but I don’t know if it was the first. The June issue of Skateboarder has an ad saying a new type of action magazine was coming soon. In any case, this is none other than Kevin Thatcher, the original editor of Thrasher Magazine, appearing in one of the last issues of a magazine whose demise would soon find him employed making a replacement. Kevin once gave me an invaluable photography tip scribbled on note with a batch of negatives he sent back to me: “Use a faster shutter speed and your shots won’t be so blurry. – K.T.” I think of him every time my shutter speed dial slips below 1/400. I’ve looked through a few 1980 issues of Skateboarder, and they all have BMX coverage in them at that point already. While I was searching for an image of the June 1980 cover, I stumbled on the web site of the original photographer, Ted Terrebonne. Ted has 144…