Bali High

Oh hello, I didn't see you standing there. Yes, its been over a year+ since I've posted anything on here and since my life has made some radical turns in the past few months, I decided to take a little sabbatical. I'm heading to Bali tomorrow evening and will (hopefully) be posting often about the happenings on the other side of the pond.  So stay tuned....

Healthier Food... In a Bag - Mountain House Low Sodium

Photo by Jeremy Koreski

My fondness of time spent outdoors runs deeper than the salt water that flows through my veins.  The love of open space on land is intrinsically intertwined with my draw to the vast unobstructed views of the open ocean. An exciting yet calming sense of awe. I can't quite grasp the words to articulate the experience these places bring. Dynamic, mysterious and wonderful.  It's safe to say I f*ing love camping, surfing and everything these activities embody. As someone wiser than me once said "they entail risk, require soul and invite reflection". The reward of hard won grace is immeasurable. My idea of heaven is riding a motorcycle to camp at a surf spot.

So what is this sappy paragraph of my creepy affections have to do with the picture below???

As I stated above, my love of the outdoors runs deep. My Pops took me camping since before I could remember. For which I am eternally grateful. One of my first camping memories (no joke) is curiously opening a Mountain House bag of freeze-dried (Astronaut) Ice Cream... Crunchy, delicious, malty and would stick all over my teeth. I loved it and have been a fan of theirs since.  I am now older, not much wiser and share my life and adventures with a beautiful companion (pictured below). My better half, as I like to call her, has certain dietary restrictions which basically had us turn and run from any of the pre-packed backpacking/ camping food brands. The sodium, sugar and other naughty ingredients were through the roof.  Some had 10x the recommended daily value in one serving.  We even tried brands boasting "organic", "low sodium", "low sugar", "low &*$@#" and tasted just shy of watery organic, low sodium vomit. We were so turned off, that we decided to buy a dehydrator and start making our own backpacking meals... which lead to some very expensive shriveled up veggies, giant messes and a lot of work for little outcome. SOOoo, when I heard that my old favorite brand was introducing a new line of "Low Sodium" meals, I was skeptical yet intrigued. Decided to send a quick email to them and thought I would request a sample. I was delightfully surprised when within a few hours, a very friendly young lady replied and said they would be delighted to have me try their new product as long as I wrote up an honest review, with the hopes of squashing the "low sodium = terrible taste" stigma that has plagued the industry. So within a couple days, the ridiculously generous people over at Mountain House, kindly sent me a couple meals (above). They are literally half the sodium content as some of their other meals (which I purchased on my own for comparison) and have 1/3 the sodium of some other brands. Already impressed, but yet to taste...

Now, I have never used this blog as means to make any kind of monetary benefit or to try and sell anything or am I sponsored by any company or anything along those lines... This is the first time a company has sent me something for free and asked for honest feedback. 

Last night I dusted off my camping stove, boiled some water and prepped all 3 bags (2-low sodium & 1 regular just for comparison sake). Probably the easiest way to cook a meal ever. Add boiling water, wait, eat. I followed the instructions as precisely as possible.  Poured them all out into bowls and the taste test began. They all turned out just a tiny bit more watery than I had hoped, next time I'll use just a tad less. To be honest, they all tasted amazing. I would actually eat these at home on a semi-regular basis if I was feeling ultra lazy. Of course this isn't restaurant quality, but for the weight (think backpacking), cost, size, taste and ease-of-use, they can not be beat. By anyone. A+ 

 Photo Courtesy of Mountain House

Bottom line: I was pleasantly surprised. A dash of Tabasco brought these bagged delights to flavorful heights never achieved by any dehydrated meal I've had with as little sodium and as high protein. Great job Mountain House and thanks for the dinner(s). I'm off to buy a few more for my upcoming trip to Big Sur and will be happily fed along the trail.

Surfing will never be the same...

Dreaming In Black & White - Ladies a la Board

Sanded - By TAR

My good friend Tim Ryan at TAR Productions is at it again... This time with an epic little short he shot in one go, on a single 400' roll of film. A quick look into birth of our beloved boards... The shaping tools used to make our wave riding tools.

SANDED from Tar Productions on Vimeo.

Billabong Pro Tahiti 2011 - LIVE

One of the contests I look forward to all year has started! It's live from Tahiti right now. Check it out here. The surf forecast promises one of the biggest swells for a contest here EVER. Can't frickin wait! I'm sure we'll see some epic barrels, wipeouts and of course girls partying in the channel. Stop reading this and go watch the world's best take on the heaviest wave in South Pacific.

click to see big pic

Wave of Consequence...

Highlights from Day-1

MotorSurf Mondays VII

What a terrible word... Monday. Makes my shoulders and neck tense up just thinking about it. Hearing it makes me want to cry blood. The fleeting ecstasy of the weekend is now just a distant, blurry (alcohol induced) dream. I'm always amazed at the false sense of freedom one experiences during that brief 48-hours away from the ever watchful eyes of the time-clock. No fake smiles, passing head-nods and pretentiousness. Time to restart those repetitive motions of the work-week. Re-lock those shackles of corporate slavery. The rat-race has indeed made me into a rat... which would explain my recent and overwhelming fondness of cheese and unexplainable desire to hoard shiny objects in my desk drawer. For all of you fortunate enough to not be reading this - Have a round on me.

Hammerhead - Pier 18

My good friend Tim of TAR Productions just sent over this short clip. Unique editing, rad bike and some cool post-apocalyptic looking scenery. While Tim didn't shoot this particular video, check out some his other amazing works here and his Show Reel at the very bottom...

Pier 18

Pier 18 from Hammarhead Industries on Vimeo.

TAR Productions Reel 2011

Tar Productions Reel 2011 from Tar Productions on Vimeo.

LA Motorcycle Club @ Venice Beach Circa 1911

The Los Angeles Motorcycle Club in Venice Beach - 1911

(Click the photo or link to check out the massive panoramic photo)

Now this is pretty rad. Straight from the Library of Congress and into our hearts. Nothing cooler than 100 year old photos of people doing what you love in your neighborhood... things haven't changed much here in Venice and I feel like I could fit right in that picture. People still crowd the beach, love their motorcycles and for the most part still dress exactly the same... considering current hipster fashion trends... Of course that pier no longer exists, the people are all dust and those bikes are all extinct.

CLUTCH

The word alone conjures a collage of mental images... screeching tires spewing a cloud of rubber smoke, fly-by wheelies, grinding gears, that distinct burning smell and as my better half mentioned - even a type of woman's purse apparently.

The Clutch is nothing short of an engineering feat of mechanical genius. So complex, intricate and sensitive, any attempt to tinker with it, parallels trying your hand at brain surgery (at least for me)... Why on earth did the name of this malevolent mechanical anomaly evolve into (late 90's) slang for awesome? Or as Urban Dictionary defines it: To perform a great action while under pressure with great skill and timing. You remember what I'm talking about... A word that shares a page with such classics as rad, dope, chill, epic, money, etc... All of which are pleasantries everyone can enjoy. Maybe they were describing what it takes to actually fix a clutch? The physical clutch, namely the one on my little iron beast, does nothing but cause anxiety, frustration and mental anguish. As I'm sure it has with many of you fellow amateur mechanical brain surgeons out there... leaving the once roaring monster of a machine, a crippled pile of comatose metal. Brain dead.

So what is the point exactly? ...Well the point is... on top of your head... and if you comb it just right... maybe, no one will notice...

Seriously though. There is something wrong with the clutch on my bike. The tiniest twist of the adjustment screw makes it immobile. Like I put a pin through its spinal cord. Tighten a cable and changing gears sounds like Paul Bunyan is trying to chop his way out of the motor case... After hours of listening, studying, trying understand and regretting ever getting involved, I have learned the moodiness and sensitivity is greater than or equal to that one girl you dated back in college. You know the one... Hot, fast, unpredictable and exciting... but the littlest quip would light the fuse to an explosion of intense fighting, confusion and frustration... Yet you attempted anyway, never fully understanding what was going on. Still, you thought it would somehow work out. The crazy would sort itself out any minute now... knowing the emotional pain and suffering you endured may or may not lead to those fleeting moments of pleasure you may or may not experience, depending on her mood of course.

Anyways. It's been more than a few weeks and I think I finally reached the razor thin median of functionality... for now. It still sounds weird, but at least it works. Let's just hope I don't piss it off.

MotorSurfing Mondays

What a better way to start off the week than on two-feet on two-wheels?

This guy is cheating...

...better

Saturday Salty Surf Series - Films From Globe

Year Zero - We are just a few days away from the official premiere (AUG 3) of Globe's newest flick. The premiere will be held during the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, which also happens to coincide with the Lost Atlas premiere. Sorry I just drooled a little. I was lucky enough to be at the premiere of Secret Machine a few years back...WOW do they know how to party. At one point I was yelling at a trash can for being a hoarder, low-fived Dean Morrison and told Taj Burrow he was my hero after spilling beer on his new shoes while his then 17-year old super model girlfriend snapped our pick with a flip-phone. I'm pretty sure the night ended poorly, but that movie and it's soundtrack played non-stop, on repeat, at our house for then next 6-months.

YEAR ZERO TRAILER from GLOBE on Vimeo.

YEAR ZERO is a modern take on high performance surfing set in a post-apocalyptic world, reminiscent of Mad Max or an HG Wells novel. It tells a story of a band of renegade surfers, including Dion Agius, Yadin Nicol, Nate Tyler, Taj Burrow, CJ Hobgood and Damien Hobgood, on a road trip through the apocalypse in search of waves, women, and good times. The film’s original soundtrack by BLACK MOUNTAIN, whom VICE MAGAZINE has called, “One of the best rock n’ roll bands of our time,” creates a sonic landscape that fully delivers the immersive experience that director Joe G envisioned for the film.

The film was shot on location around the world entirely in super 16mm film and offers a unique concept with stunning visuals that capture the essence of surfing in a novel setting. YEAR ZERO follows GLOBE’S previous award winning productions such as SECRET MACHINE and NEW EMISSIONS OF LIGHT AND SOUND and is undoubtedly GLOBE’S largest film project to date.



UNGU - Shot for (and won) Transworld Surf's Imaginarium Contest about 9-months ago. Check out all the other rad videos here.
Old news but still good news...

• 15 Magenta Painted Chicks
• Taj
• CJ
• Dion
• Nate

GLOBE TEST VIDEO : UNGU from GLOBE on Vimeo.

Friday

That time of the week again... Planning on doing a little riding and even littler surfing.

ROOTS!!!

Why we are...

Luxuria, C. R. Stecyk III from MOCA on Vimeo.

1950's Italian Motorcycle Police Drill Team

Like a beautiful ballet...

Dreaming In Black & White

Old photo of me with my first moto and my girlfriend at the time...

Bubbles under the clouds

Saturday Surf Series - Intentio

This week's Saturday Surf Series features an artsy little number that beckons to the child-like sense of adventure we have lost over time and kept hidden deep in our souls. Feel it.

Intentio - Trailer from Loic Wirth on Vimeo.

The funny thing about fairy tales, is that we forget about them so fast
And we grow up, we buy things, we build up fences
We sell our innocence and forget our dreams
We forget who we are in order to be something we're not
And we'll keep believing in this so called truths, until we forget how to live
Or until we open our eyes, and wake up.

Starring Marco Giorgi, Cristian Muller, Gabriel Medina, Craig Anderson, Fernando Moura,
Jean da Silva, Jeronimo Vargas, Gabriel Muller, Ricardo Santos, Ian Gouveia and Chippa Wilson
Shot in New Zeland, Uruguay, Indonesia, France, Hawaii, Brasil and California
Photography, Editing, Filming and Direction by Loïc Wirth
Narration by Vernon Deck

Friday...

Yup... It's that time of the week again...
My big plans involve: White Russians and maybe some other stuff...doubtfully.

DumpsterGate... Drama in Surf World

The world of surfing is slowly turning into a day-time soap opera series. With all sorts of conspiracies, shady judging, rampant drug use, sabotage, infidelity, gambling, bribery, betrayal, etc... All the makings for an award winning tela-novela.

Before I get into the latest drama, let's do a quick recap of some memorable moments (a few from the infamous PostSurf blog of Lewis Samuels).

Most recently... Adriano DeSouz's FloaterGate: Winning a WCT event (in Brazil) with... a floater.

Jordy Smith's "NippleGate"

Mick Fanning's calling Stab Magazine Editor a F@#$ing J*w.

Andrew Mooney's "TurtleGate"


Rabbit Bartholomew almost getting murdered in Hawaii... for surfing better than Hawaiians.

The Volcom House and Da Hui's "BalanceGate" Promoting and actually believing in Powerbalance bracelets.

Sunny Garcia's tax evasion, imprisonment and overall violence towards others.

Jeremy Flores' blatant disdain for children ...especially signing autographs.



Surfline Founder, Satan Sean Collins and his Mexican surf/land heist: The devil is buying all the best waves in the world by forcing out local residence through lawsuits... aka his millions of dollars, to privatize the spots for future resort development and ownership rights of events.

The Cardiff Kook... what an embarrassment for everyone.

Bede beating Slater at Trestles in 2006.

Surfers getting caught with drugs in Bali = 12 years in jail.

Slater's winning wave against Andy at J-Bay.

Ian Carnes "stepping down" from ASP North America for "conflict of interest".

A shark scaring Taj Burrow out of the water in a heat against Slater.

Andy Irons' untimely death.

AND FINALLY:
I recently discovered (although from early 2010), this post and video from The Brown Fish Experiment... regarding Dane Reynolds and his hot-selling signature surfboard, the Dumpster Diver.

A fews months ago Surfing Magazine did an article on Dane Reynolds. They included a video which showed Dane riding a Roberts White Diamond. Channel Islands forced Surfing Magazine to yank the video within an hour of when it was posted. They subsequently then developed the Dumpster Diver surfboard which has an incredible resemblance to the Roberts White Diamond. Along with a contrived story regarding finding some EPS foam in the Dumpster and developing the design. One fine young gentlemen burned the video that CI didn't want you to see to his hard drive. Here is said video, and if you want one of these types of boards, Go to Roberts for one:

iLikeDisBike - Vincent Bobber