Today's other Thought

via Slide, and Ricardo and Encyclopedia Of Surfing and Owl Chapman and...

Sabichian Thoughts

 

It has been confirmed. The Zombie Apocalypse is already here.

Happening May 3 & 4 : It Doesn't Not Work

Your surfboard is a magical portal crafted by a hydro-wizard in a velvety castle nestled between two Da Hui style trolls ready to put you in a sleeper hold should you venture too close.

Your surfboard functions like a mystical sparkle stick, conjuring up water displacement and foiling spells that suddenly appear out of a rainbow tended by a saber-toothed leprechaun who will bite your hand off should you reach out to pet the colors.

Surfboard shaping is governed by a secret society of Masonic Dolphins who whisper screeching coded messages into the ears of sea nymphs betrothed to a few lucky Tuvan throat singers who pry from them the hidden recipes in bed, then backward mask them in mix tapes they send to a crafty cabal known as "The Chosen."

Each and every one of these statements is true.

But if you just give up now, you'll never save Princess Leia and deliver the One True Ring into Optimus Prime's hands to defeat Galactus. Don't give up, you're our only hope. And stop calling me Shirley.

This weekend, just hours after the Zak Bush photo extravaganza of wonders opening party, SMASH, Imaginary Surf Co. and (the EBNY HQ) PF Gallery are holding a one point five day forum symposium design exhibition conversation full of laughter, tears and camaraderie designed for backyard shapers, master builders and the rest of us who'd simply like to get a little filled in on the process.

Here's how I described it to someone the other day :
"We had an idea that there are all these backyard shapers and pro shapers and people who'd like to learn about shaping, and there are all these failures that lead to successes and all these nuances and different approaches to looking at board building. There's a real chance for conversation and cross pollination and that sort of bunk, but even more a chance to hang around talking about boards or simply looking at other people's work. Some guys have made a bunch of boards, some guys have only made one but want to talk about it. Some of us have never even touched a planer. It might be a really great resource for you, or it might just be good to talk to other good people."

Here's how Ty Breuer summed it up today:
"A surfcraft design show featuring surreal to sublime shapes by East Coast subterranean board builders.  Function is purely subjective when fun is the ultimate goal. Display your failed concepts and accidental discoveries. “It Doesn’t NOT Work” seeks to lift up the hood on surfboard experimentation and design. Boards that are proven to work!! Boards that are proven to NOT work!! “It Doesn’t NOT Work” will include a boardswap, film screening, prizes and beer!"

So show up. If it's nice, we'll try to barbecue somehow.  And if you've got a board you've shaped and want to compare and contrast, bring it. And if you've got a board you'd like to swap or sell to someone, bring that too.

And stay tuned to meet the official shapers involved at SMASH .

Outstanding

I always marvel at how sufing and dancing sync so completely in my brain. They are almost one and the same to me.

A little more Zak Bush

Zak's show doesn't dwell so fully on surf photography. New York has shifted his focus, or rather, broadened it. Watching artists evolve and take their unique vision from one medium, one subject or one process to another is a rare treat. It is one of those things one comes to New York to be around.

Friday May 2 at PF Gallery

More Zombie Apocalypse

Dear Reader,

 It is with a heavy heart that I must reveal that this blog will soon end.
Thanks to the increased pressure of time slipping into the future and corporate fat cat fascism,  I will need to fly like an eagle to the sea.
Fly like an eagle, letting my spirit carry me.
Do do, do do.
Do do, do do.
In fact, our system of government, no longer a democracy, has morphed into some sort of techoplutocrioligarchic bureaucracy.
There isn't even red tape. At least someone could cut that stuff.


Thanks for following my inability to surf consistently in my mid-age dotage.
I hope to see you in the water soon.

With respect and gratitude,

Toddy

For more on this topic, click here, here and here.

Mastastico vs. Sabichian

"Noah clearly picked the wrong Fergal Smith clip. This one with wacko Elvis the shaper in it is waaaaay better. Forget the surfing focus on his property and the fact he shaped fins out of fruit boxes..."

 
File this under pre- It Doesn't Not Work... happening next weekend!

Zak Bush Photo Show Videographic!

Here's the latest film I made about our upcoming gallery show at PF Gallery. Zak Bush is a tall photographer given to thoughtful pauses. His work, sorta on the fast track of visibility thanks to his intuitive understanding, hard work and fundamental talent, will be going up on the gallery walls next week for an opening reception fiesta on Friday May 2nd. More info about that here. So super excited to have his work around for the next month.

Sabich, The Interweb, and You

The EBNY New York Surf Blog of Sporadic Surfing is a like a well oiled pulpo ready for the grill. Our tentacles hit out in all directions, snagging and grabbing with uneven grip, our well concealed beady eyes always clear with hazy intent. Noah Sabich, we will admit, is a kindred soul of many talents. We are proud he is one of our esteemed Bureaus. Here he weighs in with the kind goods once again.

 

Nathan W. Pyle's How To Survive NYC

More on this here.

Worm

Respect

Clic le pic.

An Interesting Read

Clic le pic.

What happens when you realize the world-as-we-know-it will be gone forever relatively soon? After getting over the initial depression brought on by a sudden rush of denial, you might shift it straight into the space already reserved for the basic understandings of impermanence. This guy sorta did that. He also set up a couple yurts and has a party every now and again.

Sabichian Thoughts

"The sound that offshore spray makes is one of the most lyrical, 
beautiful sounds I have ever heard."

Happening : Wax Web Relaunch Jazz Hands

Respect. Of Course, Respect.

Happening : Zak Bush at PF Gallery

Zak Bush brings his gorgeous surf/city hybrid vision to Picture Farm Gallery in May.

Check here for more!

Happening: Pettibon!

One of the art worlds surf-oriented darlings, Ray Pettibon, deserves every credit he gets. A show of his surfy works should not be missed. Up now through May 17th in Manhattan, this show is a must see. More here.

Notes From Mastastico

Spring Sing

One night last week my digestive system took a holiday to Bombay, foolishly eating some street curry rotisserie pepper-encrusted prickly pear dipped in Ganges death ash dipping sauce, only to find its way back to my unsuspecting rest-of-body before sunrise. All this as my surf oriented gear laid waiting patiently next to the door for the pre sunrise dash. The 4:30 AM alarm not only woke the rest-of-my-body but also jarred the prodigal-bit-of-my-body from its recently started jet-lag induced nap, making it a very groggy, very grumpy, very unfortunately awake bit-of-my-body. This was all terrible and has been since. Not my favorite way to miss the spring season of good surf, of which there has been in spades. I'd love to complain more, but just go root around the internet for whatever images you can find from the last week around here. If you weren't there, and weren't surfing wherever you are, you'll do all the complaining yourself.

Today's Other Thought

Today's Thought

Somehow, magically, this is on the internet. I'm not sure whether it is supposed to be there or not. I would take the moment however to enjoy it in case it is of the latter variety of supposes.

Great Ocean Quarterly & Acid

A few days ago I had a nice conversation with someone who runs an online art gallery. We touched on artistic process, sensibilities and value systems. We talked about archiving and collecting. I mentioned that I used to keep notebooks of drawings and writings but that those things were inevitably replaced by blogging, something I had conceived of as an easier daily practice at some point, the argument being that the blog, being inherently public, offers the kind of pressure to produce that having an audience (however imagined and fictional) provides. The idea that someone somewhere just might be waiting for that next statement or observation or flight of fancy or experiment, the idea that there might be someone like that in some possible world at least, is enough to coerce laziness to scram. In fact, over the years blogging has done just that. I've been able to practice writing, to one degree or another. I've been able to create little worlds of process that have allowed me to stake out a little mental space for myself apart from the rest of my life. But when I mentioned this move away from the overtly tactile process of keeping a physical journal, full of hand written notes and little sketches and drawings, I think she sorta got a screwed up look on her face, a little crinkling of the nose, as if she'd momentarily smelled something disappointing. My apologetic reaction to that was to assure her that I someday I will return to sketching and writing in my books, a thought that has occurred to me but I'd never really given much weight. As I said it though, I realized how true that statement is. I will return to the notebooks.

How do magazines continue? How do they stay relevant? It is easy to see why the garden variety daily newspaper would be overcome by the hourly, minutely, news cycle digital media offers. You'd think magazines would go the same route. But magazines are something different. Somehow the online glossy just doesn't have that mystique, that magical component of physical artifact still playing upon our heart strings just so. In the best cases, a magazine, the physical thing itself, becomes a little art gallery of imagery, and a little library of thought that's all yours. There it is on the shelf, or the table or wherever, a kind of inspirational security blanket that might remind you that poetry isn't dead, that travel writing isn't dead, that hard work isn't dead.

A couple really rad ones. Magazines that warm the literary heart. Thanks to Tommy Colla for keeping a GOQ for me which inspired me to finally subscribe after months of promising to do so. Glad I did. And Acid there, I bought that little magazine a while ago and have been waiting for the next round ever since.  Now I gotta go find it.

Today's Thought

via The Godfather

Today's Thought

Respect

More Deep Thoughts!

I'd like to think this style of surf filmmaking is like the first-person-in-the-family-who-goes-to-college-and-makes-good-without-going-to-jail kind of finally matured grandchild-stepson-handsome-nephew next and better generation of Lapsed Catholics, but I'm probably over shooting things quite a bit.



When I really think about it, it has far more to thank Litmus for. Then again, a lot of things do.

Screw it. Really everyone should just thank Big Wednesday.

Scratch that. Point Break.

Notes From Mastastico

Big love for the 35mm around here. Shit, we have big love for the 120 around here. Mastastico sent this through the other day. On point as usual. Come see Johnny Panessa's Mastic show tomorrow night at the PF Gallery. Come on...support a fellow surfer...

Happening : Johnny Panessa, Along The Forge at PF Gallery

Original Mastician Johnny Panessa, surfer, skateboarder and street photographer, opens an important show Friday night at Picture Farm Gallery. 6-10 pm. Beer and wine, great photography and a real message.