Sebastien Zanella, the dark lord of dark action videos, has produced an inspiration short movie featuring Nixon surfer William Aliotti. The dark movie is titled You Only Tell The Truth In The Dark.
With just a van, a few boards and a camera, William Aliotti and Sebastian Zanella embarked on a 3000km solo surf exploration road trip along the Chilean coastline, travelling across the dusty Atacama desert, ghost towns and fishermen villages from Santiago all the way to Arica. . . The loneliness atmosphere expressed here is a romantic, pastoral attitude which inspires us to leave culture and technology behind, and to rediscover nature through surfing, an exploration beyond social conventions.
And don’t kid yourself, Zanella knows dark. If the name isn’t familiar, he’s the one responsible for the often lauded, always inky Desillusion Magazine.
Absinthe Films is putting their entire 16 film library in the palm of your hand with their new app for iOS and Android. In addition to all the completely remastered films the app also includes /fterForever Premier tour dates, rider segments, rider bios, flipside episodes, wallpaper, and more.
“The timing is good to release the new app, the new website and the first of two /fterForever trailers” said Justin Hostynek, director of Absinthe Films, “This app also shows our commitment to staving off perceived Technophobia for the foreseeable future and modernizing Absinthe Films through progression and mobile technology.”
Yep. Guess this means it’s time to toss out that storage box fill with Absinthe VHS tapes. . . To download the app for iOS click here(the Android app is coming soon). For the official word from Absinthe and app developer Black Sun Productions, follow the jump.
Guess that means that next year the Lib Tech Skate Banana will go to 11. . . just watch the video and have a banana. Then follow the jump for a team photo and the official word from Pete and Mike. [click to continue…]
There must be a ton of money in proposing wave pools, because it seems people are always proposing them and never building them, ever. The latest example is the $25 million park being proposed by Perth, Australia based Wave Park Group in Western Australia, according to WA Today.
“Perth is blessed with a number of idyllic beaches but the surf quality at some of those beaches is often poor, with over-crowding in the line-up also becoming an increasing issue,” said Wave Park Group Executive Andrew Ross. . . “Surfing is enjoyed by millions of Australians for excitement, lifestyle and recognised health benefits and is second only to AFL in terms of participation, so it seems fitting that Tompkins Park, a hugely popular sporting hub, could now include a surfs sports facility.”
The pitch sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? It’s a “Wave Garden” design after all. Let us know when it’s built. Oh, and one more thing, if anyone anywhere has surfed a wave pool that they loved so much they’ve gone back week after week and bought a season pass (not counting Kelly’s central valley compound), please let us know. We’d love to be less bitter on this topic and good info would help.
It’s been a rough year for the beleaguered Billabong. Last year they were back on the come-up with a profit of $4.2 million (which is kind of a sad thing to be happy about for the once profitable surf giant), but this year they say the taxes got ’em, according to a story in the Gold Coast Bulletin.
Billabong said more than two-thirds of its decline related to higher tax costs, with a tax expense of $7.8 million this year compared to a $12.2 million tax credit a year earlier. . . CEO Neil Fiske said FY16 was an “extraordinarily tough year” which had seen Billabong hit a significant “speed bump” in its multi-year turnaround strategy. . . But, he said, most of the pain had been outside Billabong’s control and he believes FY16 will be the year the company finally turns a corner.
It’s always next year isn’t it? We all hope for rainbows and unicorns in the coming fiscal year, don’t we? We certainly do and if we can share some of them with Billabong, we’ll do it.
Our favorite skateboarding photographer (Grant Brittain) prints one of our favorite skateboarding photos (you know the one) of one of our favorite skateboard company owners (Tod Swank). Doesn’t get much better than that, really, but here are the details from SLVDR.
The SLVDR Craftsman Guild series visits the legendary skateboarding photographer Grant Brittain. His career goes back over three decades and began out of a passion for skateboarding and documenting his friends as subjects. In our visit he chooses the negative of perhaps his most iconic photo and develops and prints it in his private darkroom. It’s a lost art and represents the true craft of photography and a real photographic icon.
Kelly Slater remains an inspiration to all middle-aged men. He proved that he’s old, but he can still whoop the best kids in the world at Teahupo’o. In this case the kid was 2 John Florence.
“When I look back that will for sure be one of the best wins I have ever had,” said Slater. “To have John John [Florence] in the Final is a dream for me. It is no secret that I am towards the tail-end of my career. John John and Gabriel [Medina] are on their way up and those guys are just monsters. John John is all of our favorite surfers, so I want to see how many heats I can get with him before I am done and to have him out here where he and Gabriel are the favorites. This is a really special time for me. I am stoked.”
The surf world is still undecided on Slater’s early round”perfect heat,” and while we tend to line up with those who believed his second wave was a 9.49 or so, there is still no doubt that Slater remains the King of Teahupo’o. For the official word from Kelly’s business partners at the surf content generation company, please follow the jump.
Patagonia is making us feel bad about our old wetsuits and we don’t even know why exactly. Apparently, their new Yulex wetsuits are the first suits ever to be made from natural rubber and that is reportedly better for the environment and just as good as neoprene. Here’s why:
. . . because the main polymer is produced in trees instead of factories, using natural rubber reduces the CO2 emitted in wetsuit manufacturing by up to ~80 percent. The FSC certified rubber is blended with a small amount of chlorine-free synthetic rubber for increased ozone and UV resistance, and to meet Patagonia’s rigorous demands for durability and strength. The Yulex process also removes over 99% of impurities, resulting in a nonsensitizing material.
If you’d like to help reduce your own carbon footprint (while rocking a cool new wetsuit) you might be interested in one of Patagonia’s 21 new offerings. For the official word and all the details, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Venture Snowboards, the handcrafted snowboard company based in Silverton, Colorado, is back in action after taking last season (2015-16) off.
“Seventeen years and counting, we are back and more dedicated than ever to the pursuit of the ultimate ride,” said founder and owner “Seventeen years and counting, we are back and more dedicated than ever to the pursuit of the ultimate ride,” said founder and owner Klemens Branner..
Ah, technically, it’s only 16 years, but who’s counting. We’re all just glad you’re back. For the official word from Venture, please follow the jump.
It’s been a rough year for the beleaguered Billabong. Last year they were back on the come-up with a profit of $4.2 million (which is kind of a sad thing to be happy about for the once profitable surf giant), but this year they say the taxes got ’em, according to a story in the 
