random recycle

reality.

surfing used to be different.

what was life like when this advertisement was ran?
when these shots were taken?

lost angles

so i went to los an ga leez today.

seen a good buddy whilst he was workin at the shop.
drank a pliny
ate some weet tayta fries
and a serious burger.
seen these branches.

riddles.

what do these bottle caps say?

surfing , some time ago.

my buddy turned me onto a pile of surfing pictures from LIFE magazine. here is one of them. what would this scene have been like?

i saw this car at a car show around the corner from my house this past weekend. this car made me think of the above picture.

here you go.

with days like this

i feel lucky. i used to surf in the gulf of mexico. even if that pile of death doesn't hit the shore at my old stomping grounds... i just don't even know what to say. strange times , these. a shot of my morning. a trusted board, a nice piece of drift wood, the moon and an empty peeler. i'll take it.

its a trip to think about what the sunrise has meant to so many cultures for so many years. how many times has the sun rose? how many colors has it cast?
i shot this picture of the moon this morning.
you'd think i was tired of seeing a perfect A frame. the pig style board was built for sliders. this wave is so perfect for a pig board.
how is the marine layer out the back... i wonder what the people in that sail boat were doing while i was sliding my way into emptiness.
today was super fun. it was EMPTY. the few of us out there were laughing. on a holiday weekend! many a GREAT wave were had. there was this guy that paddled out. he was sitting on the inside. there were at most 8 of us the entire time i was out. it was a day where you could commit to a full rail cutback and not worry that someone had snuck in behind you. the lack of people in the water made if a day where you could relax and just get to know your board. a beautiful peeler came to me. real clean, and lined up. i came off the bottom and set my line. i had to stick my right arm in the water all the way up to the elbow, just to stall enough to get in the pocket where i wanted to be. i locked in and was fully committed. i took my arm out and let the white water give my hair a rinse. it was NICE! the sun was that nuclear void i was surfing toward. it was casting a serious glare. when i took off on this wave, i didn't see anyone down the line. i sit wide, cuz i like the bay waves. this was one such wave...a bay wave. swung wide, hit the inside NICE!!! i was in the pit getting a hair rinse in the INSIDE. well if you are sitting in the inside, you can see the surfer surfing toward you perfectly. well that dude that i mentioned earlier was there. i hadn't seem him cuz the glare was that gnarly that far away, when i was taking off looking down the line. i had been in this trim in the pocket for at least 5 , 6 maybe 7 or 8 seconds. i pop out of the pocket and at that instant ...there he is.. prior to this moment in time, as i would paddle by him after catching a wave, he had been directing words of praise at me. that flashes through my head. i did this thing where i jumped forward and PUSHED my board backward as hard as I could. i flew over him and landed about 10 feet from him. i get to the surface of the water...and think "one less kook shredding our waves!" (...no, just kidding...i couldn't help but quote jazz the glass...) i thought holy FEEEE-YUUCCKK! i just did to that poor chap what ricky sholman did to me at rincon back in 99. (my head tore the fin off his tyler, 13 staples to the dome and a few weeks of my life i don't recall...accidents happen).. i get to the surface of the water and look in the direction he was supposed to be. there he is sitting there looking like a deer caught in the headlights. he is all checking himself out...looking at his arms and his hands...as it to see if he is dreaming... i am in UTTER SHOCK. i was sure i had just killed some dude. apparently my board didn't even touch him.
the picture below is ridiculous. how is the moon up in the corner?
this clip below gets me PSYCHED! i am stoked some of you are checking them out... seems like stoke is contagious. i had a wave today, where i pulled the camera out...pushed some buttons...got a head dip...came out swung off the top ... faded way into the flats, heaved a bottom turn and set up for my second barrel/head dip thing...came out...check the camera..nothing. CLASSIC. that shit makes me feel like an ass. i get SO psyched to have "gotten the footage" then i get so fucking pissed to have "not gotten the footage". its like socrates when his shackles are removed. he is marveled by the pleasure of the shackles being removed, he is exuberant ... however that jubilation would not have existed had the pain of the shackles never existed. my experience was the opposite...my angst over "not getting the footage" wouldn't have existed , had the jubilation of me "thinking i got the footage" never existed. i don't know...i suppose its a growing experience.

i see this

i want to go surfing

my buddy miles shot this picture. this was my first session on this board. i had no idea what i was getting into.

below my dad is filming me push some 7.62 x 39 mm rounds through my noricon sks.

the video below makes me laugh. my dad and i had been burning a brush pile. the fire spread to the meadow. that is my dad in the back ground trying to put the fire out with his shovel. i think there was a "burn ban" in effect when i was filming this .

this video is just plain strange. i forget what the scene was surrounding this. this was shot in costa rica . i think those are flies. maybe they are bees.

stoke

i took this "frame grab" from invasion's Rincon scene. it is the water footage that ben barnick shot. it has that "free and easy" feel to it. i am riding a board steve brom shaped.

below is a sketch for the "stoke films" logo. i thought it would be a good idea.
the photo below is super classic. i was all proud of getting "sponsored" by FRINGE. Shane at FRINGE is an amazing guy. that company has bee so supportive over the years. i had just drooped by Gene's shop to pick up this pupo. I ride this board quite a bit in Jazz. this board works so well, the color work is crazy. this thing is 9' i think. i think i had just recently been to visit my parents at their ranch. either that , or i was just sporting that skull cover. either way, looking at the photo now is funny. it almost has this "village people cowboy" look to it.

random old school stuff

texas a and m galveston. circa 91 keith commander watching. christian fletcher came to galveston with curtis wheeler around this time. curtis called me and asked me where to take christian to skate. i brought him to this little ramp that was on campus.

texas a and am corpus. riding a mini bike on the sea wall. checking the surf at the "condos" 1995
me, chizel dick and tate. chizel dick over dosed on oxycontin since this photo was taken. that sucked ass. we had been chopping wood all day at my parents ranch. 2002 ish
david potter and i were unloading my van after the hurley INVASION! show. circa 2007

a peak into my day yesterday

first light

a wide swinger, a wee bit chunky
southern california canyon
these were the ones you wanted. the little insiders were the ones that had the pocket juice and the best shape.
seth stone is my buddy.
Steve Brom and Chris Fallon are mad. this board is INSANE. steve is designing these boards and chris is doing the airbrush work. basically steve is making these brand new boards that look like they are thrashed. this board in particular is NUTZ! it looks like 2 different boards stuck together...check my video for more...there is so much going on with this board ...i don't even know where to start...
chris is the dude with his back to the camera, here is another shot of the board....my video had more details of this board.
ross bushnell has this 9'11" by 22" olympia pig/speed shape. this board is CLEAN!
the bottom.
the rocker. (hello ross)
the blackbaords were jaw dropping. to say gene and crew had been busting ASS would be a dishonor to them. gene described the last month of his life like this "mike, every day i had to go into the shop and fight a bear. i'd get to the shop and unlock the door and fight that bear that day...i'd kick his ass...and then i'd go home...i knew i'd have to come back and do it the next day." gene's craftsmanship isn't accidental.
a few of the cooperfish blackboards.
my experience yesterday was overwhelming at times. i woke up at 4 am and didn't get back home until 12:45 am. gnarly. i was stoked out of my mind to see so many great friends at once. sacred craft is a wondrous monster. its a situation that ultimately contributes something very positive to the surf community. ...consumers should have an opportunity to to see so many amazing craftsmen in one place at one time. in fact, they have these shapers shaping boards...why don't they have glassers glass the shaped boards and then auction the finished product at the end of the closing day of the show? wouldn't it be great to see a board go from raw material to finished product? i had this strange realization while walking around. ...you have to understand the stimulus overload that happens while you are walking. you are seeing old friends and you are seeing people you think you know , but you forget how you know them, you are also seeing amazing surfing crafts.....least i neglect to mention...you are also seeing some junk (shit that makes you feel like you are at the walmart of surf craft)...it is insanely loud...they are pumping music through speakers. all of a sudden I am thinking "what the fuck has surfing come to?" that was when i walked outside and caught my second session of the day. it was AMAZING. the circus was right there on the point in ventura. shit piles of the surfing industry right there... the waves a stone's through from the madness were peeling relatively uncrowded. my buddy and i caught a 2 hour window of goodness. from about 1:15 - 3:15. NICE!!! it was ironic...all these people in a warehouse TALKING about their "design" ...here we were surfing. it was just what the doctor ordered. I went back in there recharged to spread the word of stoke. then we had the show. it was a long day. Reno Abellira (here is a video that helps those of you ignant people to understand who Reno is) showed up and gave me a quiz. I failed. his quiz was "hey! who is that actors name with the mustache?" he was clearly referring to "mustache lou". i said ..i have no idea, it was told to me once , but i didn't commit it to memory. he scoffed and walked off...saying "what kind of a film maker doesn't even know the name of the actors in the film?"...fair point ... more than that ...we exchanged some words... i told him how embarrassed and ashamed i was that i failed his quiz, he told me the only reason he was subjecting me to the quiz was because he wanted to remember the actor's name. he claimed he was a film buff. i said "shaka bra!" he said "cool" and asked for a shirt. i gave him one. after the show, i asked all that attended if there was anyone that would like to ask any questions or heckle me. Reno pipes up "what is the actors name?!" i yell back..."reno! we already went through this... I DON'T KNOW!". it turns out the actor he was quizing me on is named gilbert roland... NICE!!
below is a video of the day... its over 5 minutes, but i think all of it has merit. the day started off with a session at SEQUITS, then we move into the circus, then a session at STABLES, then the jazz show. towards the end of the video clip i talk a little about invasion from planet c and then we get a peak into gene discussing blackboard design elements with Marc Andreini and Brian Hilbers.

below is gene speaking on his get up

movies

i just recently watched TRON and "clash of the titans". i was pumped on both of these movies way back when. its amazing what has become of the definition of movie.

sesquipedalian

it is not advised to be sesquipedalian while working wood.

uhhh!

the gentleman pictured below is not sesquipedalian.