Long before skateboard culture entered mainstream consciousness, for a group of teens growing up in Montana, skateboarding represented the ultimate expression of freedom and creativity. With no dedicated skatepark nearby, skaters sought opportunities several hours or hundreds of miles away—until a core group of childhood friends decided to band together and change the status quo.
The book even includes a foreword by Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament. For the rest of the story, follow the jump. Or just click here to buy a copy for yerself.
If you haven’t had the chance to view Thomas Campbell’s mind-bending, dream state-inducing, knowledge transference of a film Yi-Wo, then you need to stream it during the Yi-Wo online world premiere October 10-12, 2025. We recommend it.
For all the details on how to register please and view the film click here.
The latest issue of The Snowboarder’s Journal has just dropped (23 years, can you believe it?). And that means the snowboard season is almost here. To get ready, we’d like to remind you to get a subscription to an independent snowboard magazine, grab it out of your mailbox, put it out on the coffee table and enjoy the bejesus out of it.
This is a year old interview with Sam McIntosh? Maybe. We’d never seen it. Came up in the feed today thanks to BeachGrit via that Derek fellow. Watch it if you want. Especially if you ever loved putting magazines together. Sam McIntosh obviously did. . . and does?
The Encinitas Library had the distinct pleasure of hosting surf publishing legend Steve Pezman, co-founder of The Surfer’s Journal, for an author event Sunday afternoon May 18, 2025. The gathering of surf and magazine fans was treated to a captivating dive into Pez’s remarkable career, spanning over five decades in the heart of surf culture and media.
Pezman, a true icon of the surfing world, is known for his profound influence on how the sport and its lifestyle are chronicled. Before co-founding The Surfer’s Journal with his wife Debbee in 1992, he spent over two decades as the group publisher of Surfer Publications (which included Powderand Skateboarder Magazine). This rich history provided ample fodder for his presentation, which included a reading from his 2022 book, Turn and Go! 50 Years of Surf Writings.
Yes, occasionally it takes an outside view to show us how really great some of our own people are. Take Scott Hulet for example. We all know he is an amazing editor, writer, and all around proper surf journalist. Duh? And sure, he has a book out that collects some of his best writing about South of the border. But seeing it reviewed in an online literary journal makes it so much more meaningful. Doesn’t it?
Take for instance Florida man Dan Reiter’s review of Hulet’s Flow Violento on the literary site The Millions. Reiter says:
Over the past 25 years, the brightest and most consistent star in its constellation has been Scott Hulet. Equal parts T.S. Eliot, Hunter S. Thompson, and Jon Krakauer, Hulet stirs in wit, jazz-improvisational style, and a gift for aphorism (“Shoals are generally discovered by their victims”; “There’s something comforting about seeing a pirate at rest”) that has become manna to the waterman faithful. As both contributor and editor of the Journal, he has done perhaps more than anyone on the planet to elevate the corpus of surf writing.
Boom. How’s that? Pretty good company. Make you want to read it now? How about if Reiter calls Hulet the “patron saint of surf lit”? How about now? If you do, click here and space villain Jeff Bezos will send one directly to your door. And even if you don’t, at least click the link to read the rest of the review because boy, oh boy, does Dan Reiter love him some Hulet writing.
Ah, after all that we should probably point out that Reiter writes for The Surfer’s Journal (and Surfer and ESM at least once) so maybe. . . so maybe someone will write a glowing review of his book On A Rising Swell when it comes out in April 2025. Who knows?
Give the gift of snowboarding that keeps giving all season long with a subscription to The Snowboarder’s Journal. Get a hat at 50% off and support independent snowboarding in print.
From now until December 18, get 50% off the Head in the Clouds Tech Cap with print subscription. Hat ships immediately, subscription starts with upcoming issue.
There is no better magazine about snowboarding. Click the link to subscribe.
Congrats and happy birthday to those stalwart Aussies hipsters who keep the action culture print dream alive with their parties, promotions, and pop-cultural sensibilities printed on actual paper and distributed the old fashioned way–by truck.
Twenty years is a long time to be at the wheel swerving this way that that to avoid the potholes most other print publications have fallen into on their profit driven roads to ruin. To celebrate the staff in Sydney threw a monster party and apparently it was rather large.
It was huge. We’re still hungover. Was it a dream? Thank you to all of our friends, staff, contributors, and fine people who work so closely with us now and throughout the last twenty to make Monster Children what it is that came out to celebrate. After all this time, it is you who keeps us in the game.
If you’re in NYC stop by Saturdays NYC on Crosby Street tonight (Wednesday, November 29, 2023) for the stateside version of the birthday party. Free everything will be provided apparently. For photo proof of all the Sydney festivities, please click the link.
The Arena Group, the company who ended up with Surfer, Snowboarder, TransWorld Skateboarding, Powderand Bike magazine titles after the last round of brand swapping has been accused of using “fake AI writers” to write fake AI generated stories at their flagship title Sports Illustrated, according to a story on Futurism. They’re running zombie titles, why not hire a hoard zombie writers?
“There’s a lot,” they told us of the fake authors. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.” . . . “At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, ‘oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.’ Stuff like that,” they continued. “It’s just crazy.”
Futurism says that as soon as they asked Arena about it, the stories and writers were gone from the site. None of this is surprising to anyone who has been following along. Arena did eventually claim that the content was provided by a third party who uses real writers to write real stories but sometimes under pseudonyms. But we don’t believe them.
Just so you know, although he may look like an AI generated handsome man, Blair Alley actually exists. . . but Justin Leveille? We’re not so sure about that guy.
The specially-developed app on Apple Watch syncs with the scoring system in real time. This provides athletes in competition with the information they need including scores, wave priority, and time in the heat directly to their wrist. Apple Watch is uniquely suited for this task due to its large bright screen, durable design, and cellular connectivity.
Surfers will have their choice of the Apple Watch 8 or Apple Watch Ultra while surfing their heat. Not the worst move this entertainment company has made in the past.
Grit to Grind, a new book from Chronicle Prism charts the history of the Montana Skatepark Association and their work building skateboard parks across Montana.
Dale Smith, Brian Bent, and Steve Pezman.
The Arena Group, the company who ended up with Surfer, Snowboarder, TransWorld Skateboarding, Powder and Bike magazine titles after the last round of brand swapping has been accused of using “fake AI writers” to write fake AI generated stories at their flagship title Sports Illustrated, according to a story on 
