08 -> 09

2008 - what can I say - a crazy one!

Thanks to all my friends, old and new, and family who were all a huge source of support and inspiration.

Horoscopes aren't really my bag; fun for shits and giggles I suppose. But an old friend from the Phila. era sent me this, and I do hope that this one is prophetic:

ARIES (March 21-April 19): It's a great privilege to live in a free country.
You're fortunate if you have the opportunity to pursue your dreams
without having to ward off government interference or corporate
brainwashing or religious fanaticism. But that's only partly useful if you
have not yet won the most important struggle for liberation, which is the
freedom from your own unconscious habits and conditioned responses.
Becoming an independent agent who's not an unwitting slave to his or her
past is one of the most heroic feats a human being can accomplish. And
you, Aries, will have more mojo to do that in 2009 than you've had in a
long time.

I wish all of you a block-busting 2009.

JH - HT

day trip to Newport, RI

My sister was in from San Diego. She'd never been to Newport. It was a plan.


the Breakers & Ruggles


Molly & the Breakers


night caps at Audubon's in Boston

Elemental/Island Sports had a gorgeous Yater Spoon. Save me from the things I want.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas musings:

It’s comic that morons like Sean Hannity and Jay Severin and the whole neo-con right have hijacked the whole Jesus thing. Hannity even had the balls to say on air that Jesus would be a Republican. Ummm – O.K.

Who would Jesus bomb?

I'm no Bible thumper, seriously, friends, but here goes:

Who:

•Advocated peace and non-violence
•I'll say it again: Advocated peace and non-violence
•Championed workers’ and woman's rights
•Fought poverty, injustice, materialism
•Helped the sick, blind, lepers
•Called religious zealots on their bullshit
•Was a good Jew
•Alleviated suffering, and told his followers to do the same
•Advised followers to stick it to the man
•Taught tolerance
•Challenged folks to think outside of established frameworks, and to think for themselves

What kind of lefty is this?!! An ACLU lawyer? Is this Noam Chomsky? Al Franken? Bobby Kennedy? Dr. King? Gandi? Possibly, but it’s not who I have in mind this time.

Yeah, sounds good to me, happy birthday, Jesus

Car Antlers

dec2
Originally uploaded by carinp

Yeah - it's amazing how much these things make any car look like a reindeer. Really had me fooled.

Am I alone here or are these things dumb?

I mean really.

Kids – the 1995 movie

UH OH – film musings: I just watched this and was blown away.

Story:

I won't give anything you don't already know away – it deals with a day in the life of a group of kids. An HIV-positive skateboarder (played by Leo Fitzpatrick) sets out to deflower as many virgins as possible while a local girl (Chloë Sevigny) who contracted his disease tries to save his next target from her same fate. Their world is so depraved and bleak. This is Larry Clark's major breakthrough film. Has he done anything else of note?

Cast:

An 18 year-old Chloë Sevigny steals the show – such a talent! This was her first major role and she hits a grand slam. Her face – wow the kid could act. Any doubts – see Boys Don’t Cry.

Rosario Dawson – amazing as always

Two unknowns for me were Leo Fitzpatrick and Justin Pierce.

The movie draws you right in. If you haven’t seen it please do!

Buy this man a drink

And the Spanish newscaster too, she's hot. This dude was able to get off 2 rounds (of footwear) despite the heavy security. But I gotta hand it to Dubs, pretty quick reflexes.

December 13-14

A strong system late last week produced waves for Friday & Saturday. The winds were so strong I was sure it would be blown flat by morning. Not the case – pulling up to the beach and damn – waves – I blew it. But with strong offshores and temps around 29°, it was hard to get into it. Plus without any gear a photo session would have to do.




I went out later at Long – fun but not as fun as the morning looked. 2 vary fast rights

Flatness on Sunday – but it had been ages since I’d been to Newport. Island Sports – now partnered with Elemental – has a super selection of logs & single fin timber. I dug the clear triple stringer Yater Spoon, the Hansen 50-50, and the wild vintage timber. They sell those killer Patagonia wetsuits - $392 – marked down from $490 – not bad but still a steep price.

Always a good time in Newport – even without surf. 2 of the coolest kids ever sprinted into the 40° water for a dip.


Passing back through Boston I hit such bad traffic I pulled off on Dot ave to exprore some dinner and found myself at Mr. Sushi - amazing.

Question for y'all:

I may be needing a packed & boxed board to be shipped to me up here in Mass from CA.

I have a DHL account, but 10'x25"x4", the box exceeds their maximum, too bad, last time I used them they only billed me $26 (acctg error?). Aren't they going out of business anyway?

Anywhoo, any ideas? Shipping companies, freight forwarders, etc? I don't have a problem picking up at terminal, and I have a commercial address if that helps.

Thanks and season's greetings.

JH

Tyler Surfboards Online Store is GO!

The New Tyler Online Store is Go
Surf on in & spend some dough. - is that a haiku?

more Hollywood 'innovation'

Not.

Scariest trailer ever - directed by the master himself, Stanley Kubrick in 1979, but the film wasn't released until 1980. Note the spooky Wendy Carlos background sounds. The trailer alone scared the daylights out of audiences. I'll never forget.



But hey, it's Hollywood, you can't be original. What worked in '79 will wow 'em in '09, right? You betcha. Effing ripoff artists.



Pathetic. But the sad thing is this is only a mild case of Hollywood theft.

New Work

A new job starts tomorrow.

Shelter Surf Shop

Earlier I wrote about how photographer Ryan Tatar dug my logo and used it. One thing led to another, and Shelter Surf Shop in San Diego (I'm in Massachusetts) asked me for a logo. It will be on their t shirts. I cannot effing wait! Graham, I'm an XL, wink wink.

Thanksgiving weekend surf, part deux.

Friday was day three of what’s turning out to be a five day swell. What is this, California? Wind again was the story of the day. Enough already!

Before I continue, I’m going to be more and more cryptic about surf spots, unless it’s someplace obvious. Sorry, Hampton and Good Harbor beach.

Well, when the wind’s onshore, I’m learning there’s one place to go, a place I’ll name “the causeway”. It was small but cleaner, and we hit it. It got bigger and cleaner as the session progressed. Then the skies turned pitch black, seriously. A squall? We got out and changed out of our gear in the sleet. Charming.

Since I was in the neighborhood, why not check out a town near Boston where I used to live. It’s only ever good when the wind is offshore and the swell is east, northeast. By then the squall gave way to sunny and clean conditions. Wow, such a fun looking wave, actually there were 2 lumps coming though, side by side. Each peach had it’s own left and right. See the pictures. I wish I had 2 suits, my 5-4 was in the trunk, encrusted with sleet. Too bad, it had become so nice out.





This place is a solid community, and they’ve surfed there since the beginning. Some real good folks there, and I won’t name the spot, but if you surf, you’d know it.

If you hit it right, research tides & wind forecasts (even though I didn’t), the whole area will serve up a host of choices to ride.

Saturday I kept it local, apparently about a hundred other surfers did too. It was clean and waist to head high. Tempers flared, I feel your pain. But I suppose I got my fare share of rides, but in doing so there were some breeches of surf etiquette on my part. But heck, who wants to bob around in 45° water, 40° wind? I dropped in a few folks, and some dropped in on me. This is why I go to Maine.

Thanksgiving leftovers on Sunday? Better go dry out the suit.

Why?

NYT.com header: Mumbai Fighting Narrows to One Hotel - More Than 150 Are Confirmed Killed. What are these militants trying to prove? Can't they have BS opinions without always having to kill people? When has violence ever gotten you anywhere? In the land of Ghandi no less. Enough!

Lit up like a pinball machine…paying off in silver dollars.

The New England Coast that is.

It took a while to get organized, but we're in for a solid 4 days of waves. The dudes at here were blowing up today.I had a few fun ones in Nahant (above), I wish a had a bigger board, but whatever.

Hare are a few photos, you can view the entire day’s images here.




Thanksgiving? You bet your sweet bippy I'm givin' thanks.

Anticipation, anticipation Is makin' me late

The wind has been blasting out of the southeast for the past 24hrs,

It’s breaking well overhead up here, big huge storm slop. I have tomorrow off – yahoo! Where to surf? What to ride? Being the day before Thanksgiving, I probably wont go far, the tides are unfavorable here, maybe Nahant?

Stay tuned!

Ryan Tatar Photography

Ryan is a super talented photographer and surfer in San Diego. He really has his finger on the pulse of what so many of us hold so dear in surfing. His perspective on everything is unique, and his style avoids every cliché whilst still being meaningful and compelling.

Ryan’s work first came to my attention on Flickr, coincidently I was a follower of his outstanding blog – Shakas and Singlefins. Different artists had done his logo, and I did one up for him in my John Severson circa ’61 stylie font (below).
Was I ever surprised and stoked when he used it, especially when you look at the gorgeous logos that Yusuke Hanai, Ty Williams, Ben Waters, and Heather Brown have done for him.
Yusuke’s Rick Griffin-esque logotype (above) is brilliant. Yusuke's website.

Check it all out here.

Well one thing let to another, and the fine folks at Shelter Surf Shop wanted one too.

It’s a nice buzz that these folks dig what I do.

Here’s Ryan’s Flickr page, blog, and official website. Yo check it!

Mid November loggin’

Saturday was all foggy, onshore & disorganized here at the rock. I passed.

But later I met up with some friends in Nahant. That place works so nicely when the wind is wrong everywhere else. It gets a bum rap as a beginner spot. It’s fun as hell, but it was 4:00 with an hour of light left.

Keep the wetsuit dry for the bigger waves Sunday was my thinking. So no surf on Saturday.

Sunday – Maine, Conditions: chest-shoulder high and offshore wind. Correction, offshore gale. Steady 30mph winds made everything a struggle, even carrying a board was hazardous. I went out anyway with my friend. A few fun drops, a new surf spot, a break in the routine, it’s all good.

Later that afternoon, heading home, I spotted the cleanest waist-chest hi lines coming through about a mile south of where I surfed a few hours earlier. Conditions had really improved, it was far more organized, but the wind was still blasting. I guess that’s the spot. I shall return.

Ben learns what it's all about:

No sun, no surf, no real news, so here's my all time favorite line from my all time favorite movie.

Gloucester Guerilla Art Project

Held at the Gloucester Stage/Cape Ann Community Cinema, this was a super gathering to see some local indie film makers work, as well other photographer’s stuff.

Of note were R. Newton’s slide show of old timey Gloucester postcards. Believe me, it was a lot cooler than it sounds. Also memorable were a series of short films by Chad Carlberg and Emile Doucette from Bait and Tackle, a local ad agency/production company.

I know it’s a cliché, friends, but it’s so important to connect with the local community’s creative scene. It adds value to the quality of our lives, we appreciate more what’s around us. At least I do. So just scratch a little beneath the surface, you’d be surprised at what you’ll find.

Thanks Capt. Joe for a great time!

Links:

• Good Morning Gloucester


• Cape Ann Community Cinema


• the Gloucester Stage


• Bait & Tackle Ad Co.

Ando & Friends

Andy Davis - OK - here's what I think I know:

He started out with Toes on the Nose (they've sucked ever since), then came out with Free around 1999, and then had Byrd around '01-'02. He's done some books, and has a cool style. He's been back for a few years now with Ando & Friends line.

Andy's website

Scenesters & posers have glommed onto his stuff and artwork, but why should I let that diminish my fondness of it? Especially since I can't tell the difference between volcom, quickie, abergagme, and whatever. Let's hope that 15 minutes ends.

I pimped this off another blog, I had to, it's such a nicely produced animation, with the coolest jazz guitar soundtrack ever. Check it:

Weekend of low key Fun

There were fun waves up here this past Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Even though I was only able to manage about 90 minutes early on Saturday, it was one of those very satisfying sessions. You know, the kind of session when you got the tide, swell, and glassiness just right. It was nothing epic, but all expectations were exceeded.

LB is usually a shortboard place, but on the receding tide, the Hotel side can work. There were just 7 of us out. Jay, Scotty, Mike B., a nice woman from Gloucester, the Hawaiian Harvard student (I forget his name - super nice dude), his girlfriend, and me. It was overcast, foggy, mild, chest high and pretty fast.

The 777 came up big yet again. Super fast rights & lefts, and I ended it with a big left, rail grab. It’s been stressful lately, and this was the best thing I could have done. For some reason, it was especially cool to be out with Scott Mike B, & Jay. Very mellow vibe, with plenty of waves to go around.

The next morning was much smaller, and the sun was amazing. I went for a bike ride and hit up fellow surfer Andy Cunningham’s super exhibit at the flat rock gallery. An added fun spot was a wild 1950 Custom Ford Tudor Coupe at Dunks. It was gorgeous! Photo’s of Andy's to come.

Teddie.com facelift is a go

The best PB in the world. 4th gen site. The last version had a few things that were bugging me as a designer. Halfway through fixing them...well one thing led to another, and I re-did the whole dang site. OK, It won't win a webby, it's a PB site after all. But it's a family business, and I was happy to tighten it up a little.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you an overhauled teddie.com.

Election Day 2008

I voted! It's such a good feeling. It's a tired cliché, but if you don't vote, you cannot complain. Not that I like to complain...but seriously, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to vote. Too much has been sacrificed so that we can cruise down to the local High School and vote with no fear of being bombed, harrased, taxed, you get the idea. If you don't vote, or didn't register for fear of being selected for jury duty or some nonsense, you're a shithead.

I won't say for whom, or what questions, (I think you all know anyway) but the balloting in Rockport was busier than normal, but still quick 'n easy. Hats off to the Town 'o Rockport for another smooth election process.

Barack the casbah, a historic day regardless of how you voted.

Video or photograph your vote.

No matter who you're voting for today, share in this historic experience. Is it a computer? old school cars? dimpled chad? (oh please). Who knows, you may bust a voting irregularity! but PLEASE VOTE, do you thing. And the world gets to see what you experience is. YOUR VOTE IS YOUR VOICE.

Tavis Smiley always has something worthwhile to say, he's especially articulate here.

Late October Surf Recap:

We’ve had a fun week of waves up here on the rock. And by all accounts it was great everywhere else. Sadly, I didn’t travel – more on that later.


From October 21st through the 28th there were waves, a solid groundswell which segueing into a wind swell. All of New England was lit up. As for me it was hit and miss. I’ve been too stressed about money and where my next freelance job is going to come from. If there’s a stoke-killer out there it’s work headaches. Gotta work that hustle. My friends with normal work schedules get so envious, but surfing uncrowded lineups isn’t much fun if you don’t know how you’ll pay the bills.

Sorry, but times are tough all over. Even poor Jay buckled his board.

But Magnolia, and the beaches were fun, but 2 days were busts; Friday-Saturday when I missed the tide and chased closeout after glassy, chest high closeout. But a fun Creek side and a mid day weekday session at the Hotel side sure took the edge off. A trip to New Hampshire, Maine, or RI would have been time well spent if I wasn’t so broke. I must stay by the phone and be ready for freelance work with literally a few hours notice.

This is a perfect illustration of the classic clash between surfing, or any passionate activity, and career/money. The name of the game was quality, not quantity. Also, what good is all the waves in the world when you get out of the water, only to find your car has been repossesed?

This too will pass, a few more gigs and I'll be all super stoke again.

Are You There Jah? It's Me Ras-Trent.

Brilliance - look familiar?

What goes in to a surfboard?

Non-surfers and surfers alike are amazed about the amount of work and care that go into shaping a surfboard (aside: surfboards are shaped rather than made).

Here's a video of veteran shaper Terry Martin of Hobie fame. This gives a good idea or the work and expertise that's required.

And this is just the shaping phase! The board has to be glassed and polished as well, and that's an entirely different process, requiring an advanced skill set of it's own.

Now do $1,500 surfboards make sense?

Anywhoo, this is a nicely produced video I found on YouTube; watch and enjoy.

Late October sessions.

There’s been some fun surf the past few days. The wind swell cleaned up and turned into some fun groundswell.

I don’t even know if this is Omar or what. I do know the waves were mighty big, and spots around here were all lit up. North shore living has its advantages.

Fun in Maine, Mags, and the creek. Enjoy the pics!