The energy drink maker digs it claws in even deeper to the bare back of surfing with a new “series of documentary shorts that offers a 360-degree look at” ‘chopes.
The video, which bowed on Red Bull’s niche surfing site this week, amps up the vicarious thrills of surf footage by allowing fans to take control of the action. Using Immersive Media’s interactive video technology, viewers rotate perspective by manipulating the mouse to look to the right or left, up or down, back or front.
“We’ve always supported action sport athletes,” says Josh Kendrick, athlete marketing manager for Red Bull North America. Surfers “allow for more innovation, creativity and individualism than in baseball or football and we dig that.” In “Inside Tahiti,” Red Bull uses the new technology to tap into surfers’ passion for innovation and their love of surf footage-a cult genre that dates back to 1966 surf doc “The Endless Summer.”
Filmmaker Britton Caillouette, has produced Sliding Liberia, an “unorthodox surf safari” film which follows Stanford University political science PhD Nicolai Lidow and three friends on a surf trip to Liberia according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Shot on vintage 16mm film and digital video, Caillouette’s film captures the surreal dysfunction that sits at the heart of Liberia, a country crippled by war and founded on a lie. “Our national motto is ‘The love of liberty brought us here’,” one local notes, speaking of Liberia’s founding in 1822 by freed American slaves. “But me personally, it does not sound good. There were people on the land, so what about them?” . . . Unlike most surf films, Sliding Liberia makes no effort to keep its discovery secret. “Initially I was nervous about showing everybody where the waves were,” Lidow says. “Then I realised how selfish that was. The locals want tourists to come; they realise it might be good news for the local economy. So now we’re hoping that everyone goes! In a place like that, surfing really can change people’s lives.”
The film also reportedly captures Liberia’s “first surfer” a boy named Alfred (pictured right). For more info on the film visit the website at Sliding Liberia.
Planetout.com is on a man hunt for gay male surfers, but they’re having a rough time finding any. They even went so far as asking The Encyclopedia of Surfing author (and San Francisco resident) Matt Warshaw if he knows of any.
“If there was going to be a place where there would be openly gay surfers, this would be it,” says Matt Warshaw, the San Francisco-based author of “The Encyclopedia of Surfing”, “but you just don’t see it.” . . . Warshaw is straight, but he’s been writing about demographic trends in surfing for years and the ongoing invisibility of gay men confounds him. “I’m baffled as to whether it’s a sport that has happily or unhappily closeted surfers,” he admits, “or if it’s so staunchly hetero that it’s like a force-field to keep gays out.”
Yeah, Matt. We’re going to have to go with the anti-gay force-field.
Quiksilver has not been having a great first quarter. Though their total revenue is up 14% over first quarter 2007, they are down nearly $20 million in profits compared to last year:
Consolidated income from continuing operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 was a loss of $14.7 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to income of $6.8 million, or $0.05 per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2007. . . . Robert B. McKnight, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Quiksilver, Inc., commented, “Although we are not satisfied with our financial results in general, we are pleased that our core apparel and footwear operations enabled us to partially offset the more difficult than expected results from our wintersports equipment business. As we go forward, we are energized to regain focus on our core opportunities. We are executing a variety of strategies to improve our gross margin, reduce our expense levels and generate cash flow to repay our indebtedness. We are resolved to continue to pursue strategic transactions to reduce or eliminate our exposure to our wintersports equipment business.”
Matthew McConaughey has decided to paddle into the surf clothing business with his own line, J.K. Livin. It’s named after his personal motto: Just Keep Livin.
McConaughey’s must-haves, which will be available from his website, range from t-shirts, to swimwear, to Frisbees. . . . “It will be a one-stop shop for everything you need for the beach,” his rep told a US magazine. “There’s a perception of me as a beach guy,” the actor has previously said.
Wonder if he has the letter JKL on the tail of his personal jet above a lightening bolt?
In February, the New York-based trade publication Footwear Plus awarded the local company the Footwear Item of the Year award in the multibillion-dollar footwear industry.
Nearly three years ago, Sanuk introduced the Sidewalk Surfer, slip-on footwear that falls somewhere between a shoe and a sandal. Since then, sales have more than doubled.
The closed-toe shoes are made of malleable cloth that flattens to fit into a backpack or to take to the beach. A pair retails from $48 to $55.
Sanuk President John Vance says that the company’s founder, Jeff Kelley, drives the business and keeps ideas fresh.
When Condé Nast’s Portfolio.com was looking for cool job of the week they went straight to Mike Parsons and his job of “Professional Big Wave Surfer.”
“It’s the best job in the world, for sure,” says the 43-year-old surfing legend. “Surfing big waves is the ultimate challenge for a waterman and surfer. When you’re doing it, you can’t think about anything else, you’re so involved in the elements.”
Parsons spends his days trying to find the biggest waves in the world, traveling to them, and attempting to ride them. Recently, he may have scored a place in the record books.
They didn’t even mention that he is also one of the best surf contest commentators in the business. Maybe that’s next week.
According to a story in Australian’s The AgeKelly Slater has announced that he’s not going to surf the Rip Curl Bells event.
The former world No.1 has ruled out competing in the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach later this month, a move which would put his campaign to dethrone Aussie world champion Mick Fanning behind the eight ball.
But Slater’s frequent talk of missing events is wearing thin on rivals who dismiss his claims as nothing more than gamesmanship. . . . But his fiercest rival, fellow American and former triple world champ Andy Irons, said he’d take Slater’s words with a grain of salt.
“I’ll believe it when the first heat goes out … until then I’ll believe he’s in every event,” Irons said after his easy round three win over American Ben Bourgeois.
Volcom is up to six retail stores with the December opening of their Telegraph Ave. store in Berkeley, California “just a stone’s throw from the Cal Berkeley campus.” But they waited until last Friday night to have a grand opening party.
People filled the Volcom store on Telegraph Avenue Friday night to celebrate its grand opening with an all-ages party complete with free beer, free pizza and live music.
Although the boardsports-oriented clothing store officially opened its doors for business in December, they wanted the community to become more familiar with their products.
“We just want to introduce ourselves to the community and let everyone know we’re in town,” said Jeff Roberts, vice president of retail for Volcom.
Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) today announced that the Company’s conference call to discuss fourth quarter fiscal 2007 financial results will be broadcast live over the Internet on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and may be accessed at http://ir.zumiez.com. To listen to the webcast, please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start time to register and download any necessary software.
