If only there was a video about the making of the video of the process of turing a skateboard video game controller into a real skateboard. Ripped from the comments of Skate and Annoy, The Tony Hawk Ride controller set up as a real skateboard. I’ve heard a lot of people have problems with the controller on this game. I saw Tony give a demo on a talk show.They had a random kid come out of the audience and try it, seemed like it worked well. Who knows, maybe there was a Wizard of Oz type character behind the curtains with a hand controller. People grouse about the cost of the controller too, but as the folks at Game-TV.com have shown, if you get tired of playing the game, you can always actually, you know, err, uh, ride it. I wish I had a budget at S&A to do thid sort of thing. Maybe they are saving the good video for something else, but it seems like they didn’t make the most of this opportunity. – Thanks to Cory for the tip.

Joni’s Kids, I’ve got Wheels, as found on BizarreRecords.com. From the back cover: If you ride a skateboard or pedal a bike or push a scooter, you already have a lot in common with people in wheelchairs — wheels! Joni Eareckson Tada (pronounced Johnny) dove into some shallow water without realizing it, and was paralyzed as a result. She had some issue with God, and well, ended up founding a ministry over it. I was going to look into picking up this LP on the off chance she talked about skateboards, but all I could find was a CD reissue for $17 and a cassette tape for $30! Aside from the ministry, she also does wheelchair outreach. JoniAndFriends.org. Oh yeah, there’s a green plastic skateboard on the cover. Whee!

Art Clokey passed away on Friday. His early work was pretty surreal at times. What good hearted person doesn’t love Gumby? There were at least two Gumby episodes that revolved around skateboarding. The first one was a 1967 episode of the Gumby Show, titled Dog Catchers. I believe that is the first skateboarding dog, unless you count this one. The second was a 1988 creation titled Skateboard Rally, in which the Blockheads rip his stick. There’s a dramatic car chase, Skate Rock on a half pipe – performed while skating, no less, a contest with loop action and some heavy eigties guitar riffs. I think David Dink got ripped off by the judges though. Check em out after the jump. – Thanks to ehdubya for the tip.

Kilwag came up with this one.

Webcomic Penny Arcade did a strip about Tony Hawk Ride. It’s not about skateboarding though, it’s about buying and reviewing video games. Post-modern self-reference is so last decade. The guy did, in fact, hate it. I couldn’t really tell from the strip.

Another newspaper story, this one from The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the shocking fact that people over 30 years-old are regularly riding skateboards. There are some interesting details about how they organized and paid for their indoor facility and I did enjoy reading: “Skating doesn’t make you a skateboarder,” he says, quoting Lance Mountain, a skateboard legend in the ’80s. “Not being able to stop skating, that makes you a skateboarder.”

Hey you! Hey! Are you taking my picture? MY picture?!!! Well alright! We’re big fans of the dork session here, obviously, and so are Gabe Stoltz (as seen above) and Kevin Porterfield from Dokument Boardshop or Skatecamp… Err, what’s going on in Salem, Kevin? Whew. It’s been a while since I updated the Shot of the Week. I got out of the habit when I was dealing with hackers and hosting woes, but it’s back.

Lots of things for sale on eBay. I was looking up some vintage skate shirts and found this guy who is making his girlfriend model all his t-shirts for eBay. “Come on baby, you’ll be star.” Whatever, at least she looks like she’s into it. Left to right: Droors shirt from the 90’s, G&S skateboards from the 80’s, and Globe Australia from… ? He’s got some “punk” items and snowboard related stuff, plus Styx…. Best part is, you can’t really see the the design on the shirts in most of pictures. That’s marketing!