Making Friends With The Neighbours

Sometimes, I get all worky - focused on productivity and achievement - and I sacrifice coastal release and pleasure in pursuit of other goals. I mean, don't get me wrong; work offers pleasures too, and I know that there will always be other times to surf. The last couple of months it's been easy to put surfing aside; I had such a wave and pleasure-filled summer that I have been able to draw on left over feelings and memories. I've been able to reconcile the amount of fun I had with having to get back to the other parts of my life. But lately the pleasures of my summer have felt lost to me. It's like I have used them up. More and more I find that when I am away from the sea for too long, I start to forget what it is like to be there. I lose touch with how it feels to surf, and how it is even possible to do that. I lose trust in the strength of my own relationship to the sea and to surfing. When I write that down, it sounds crazy, but it all becomes so intangible and ...

A move that is high on the list of 'things I cannot do'.* (via East is the New West -  you can follow the hyperlink trail from there) *Although, I'm all over the toenail-painting , which I think is excellent.

OH MY GOD! GOOGLE READER IS GONE! I thought I had more time to get my head around this and find a new way to enable and organise my blog reading/procrastination but IT IS GONE! How will I pass my days now? (Actually, is anyone else feeling as emotional about this as I am?)

To be fair, I'm totally guilty of being too stoked, too often. For instance, you should see me watching sunsets. I clearly have a problem... Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked (via The Onion )

For most of us, cars are a central part of going surfing. In Australia, cars were an historically important part of the spread and reach of surfing and surfing culture in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when cars became mass-produced and car ownership became affordable for younger people. Photos of groups of young men and women taking off to explore the coast have become iconic. For example, I see this photo by John Witzig of Bob McTavish at Noosa all the time - in books, online and even in films. This image is even the front page image on John Witzig's website . In Australia, surfing has really significant connections to cars; historically, symbolically, stylistically and practically In a similar way to the freedom they provided to surfers last century, cars have been really important for my surfing life. Because I live in Brisbane and especially because I ride longboards, if I didn't own a car, my access to the surf would be entirely reliant on the kindness and genero...

This is an ACTUAL video that Quiksilver have on the Quiksilver Pro website to promote the competition. Come one, come all to watch the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast!! Everybody is welcome - even women! As long as you're a sick chick who is willing to have guys ogle her and comment on her body openly and in a way that is apparently encouraged by Quiksilver. But seriously, this is not a joke. That video is on the homepage of video section on the Quiksilver Pro website . On a website that includes women surfers who are also competing. Women who Quiksilver likes to suggest they consider athletes. I sort of wondered for a while if I would even post the clip here, because posting it is promoting their product and site, so I want you to know that I'm not unaware of the complexity of my including it on my blog in order to critique it. But I also want you to know that I think Quiksilver clearly employs some moronic promotional techniques that encourage and even permit sexist ...

I'm back in the city but everywhere I look, I see waves in things...

I have been taken by the similarities in the form and feeling of waves and clouds and mountains for many, many years now. It's no great insight that there are some intersections and reflections between them - nature's pretty clever that way. But these images by Alessandro Puccinelli really highlight how strong the intersections  between the sea and sky can be. Spending today indoors in a library in Melbourne, I can't stop drifting Puccinelli's 'Intersections' portfolio and getting lost in them. (I've seen these images in a few places now, but most recently on El verano sin fin , so that is who I will link them via)

Oh! And this one. Most definitely this one. (from Head Like an Orange )

This gorgeousness is from Head Like an Orange  (via Colossal ), which is nature gif central and my new favourite online place.

Clare Pluekhahn  is a cool lady. You might have seen some of the work she has collaborated on, including the feature film,  First Love . Clare has her first solo exhibition opening tomorrow nig ht at JCP Studios, 51-57 Cubitt St, Cremorne in Melbourne.  According to Clare, ‘FIRST WE FALL’ IS AN ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF HUMANKIND’S FEAR OF FAILURE. THROUGH THE IMAGES OF A SWIMMER LOST IN THE OCEAN, THE SERIES EXPLORES THE NOTION THAT BEFORE WE SUCCEED, WE MUST FAIL. The exhibition runs until 6th March, so check it out if you can.

If there is one thing in life that I am absolutely sure of, it's that cancer is a total arsehole. Like, it's totally fucked. If you have been reading this blog for a while, then you might have figured out that my mum died of cancer at the end of 2011, after an exhausting, terrible and heartbreaking two year illness. I am proud to say that my mum didn't go happily - she wasn't ready to die. Instead she was pissed off about it until the very end. Lots of friends of mine have lost loved ones in a similar way, including the Wallace's, whose lovely dad, Stu, passed away from cancer not long after my mum. The Wallaces are core Wategos Beach crew, and you could be pretty certain to see one or all of them there early in the morning on any given day, carving it up on their longboards. The boys still carve it up, but in memory of their dad and in response to what an arsehole cancer is, they're taking part in the Shitbox Rally , which is an event that raises funds to d...

If you're a surfer on the north east coast of New South Wales, you might want to think about joining the Lennox Head, All Girls Surfriders Club .  Their sign on is this Sunday, 17th February. The All Girls Surfriders Club aims to encourage female surfers of all ages and abilities in the sport of surfing. Club members range from 6 to 60 years of age, from beginners to advanced surfers, shortboard and longboard. The club meets for competition each month. Other activities include a yearly campout, and various coaching clinics throughout the year. The ‘Winter Surf Slash’ prize round is held in July each year – club members who have surfed regularly throughout the year are eligible to compete for prizes.We also host the Ma Bendall Tag Team Interclub event- where we join with other female surf clubs for a weekend of competitive fun . The club aims to promote friendship, good sportsmanship and mentoring for junior and inexperienced surfers while providing an opportunity f...

Clifton Evers's recent post on Kurungabaa , ' A Provocation: Detonate 'surfing as marketing ', has had me thinking a lot. It's had me thinking about the ways I think about and know surfing, and about the ways that I often feel corralled into acting like an 'authentic' surfer, with comments by others in the water curtailing certain ways of surfing waves that I find pretty fun (like riding my longboard on my knees). But it's also had me thinking as I come across different stories and articles and posts in my online journeying. This NY Times article about surfing in Cuba, ' Cubans Face Hurdles Before Catching Waves ', was particularly interesting in terms of the ideas and critiques presented in Clif's provocation, especially the quote about learning by intuition (which Clif will love) and the final paragraphs (which I'm quite sure will make Clif's heart drop). The waves will come, up to six feet the next day, but for Cuba’s surfers th...

In the city when I stay up late sitting alone, working on my balcony into the night (which is not often) I listen to the bugs, and the bats, and the crickets, and the possums crawling along the gables. It's not so bad. But beneath it all, (even though we live with quiet neighbours in a quiet suburb on a quiet road) is the sound of traffic: The white noise of cars, the hoot and rumble of faraway trains, the soft whir of helicopters. It's not so bad. But it's there. So in the city, when I stay up late, sitting alone, working on my balcony into the night, in my head I morph those sounds into something new something different; Into the sea. So alongside the sounds of the bugs and the bats and the crickets and the possums, I imagine the sound of cars into foam, of faraway trains into sets of breaking waves, of whirring helicopters into the wind. I turn the city sounds into something oceanic. It's not so bad.

Why? What's in your handbag... A week after returning to Brisbane, I was rummaging through my bag for a pen and came across a block of wax. Day, made.

Indisputable proof that my not-quite-four-year-old niece totally rules:

I am going down to Melbourne to see a performance of The Reef in a couple of weeks, which I'm really looking forward to. In part because I'll finally get the chance to meet director of the film component, Mick Sowry , who I met a couple of years ago via blogging, but have never yet managed to meet in person. Knowing I was going down, I remembered that I never posted the review I wrote of Musica Surfica , which is the previous collaboration between Mick, Derek Hynd and Richard Tognetti (and others), and which I watched and wrote about exactly a year ago today (according to the dates on my files)! So I thought it might be nice to post these words now to encourage me to think about reviewing The Reef as well. So, here you are, a belated review of a film that came out four years ago! *** I have a confession to make: I didn’t watch Musica Surfica when it came out, because I was cynical about it. A film about finless surfing that was somehow linking itself wit...

From ' The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do ', over at McSweeny's Procrastination is an alluring siren taunting you to Google the country where Balki from Perfect Strangers was from, and to arrange sticky notes on your dog in the shape of hilarious dog shorts. A wicked temptress beckoning you to watch your children, and take showers. Well, it’s time to look procrastination in the eye and tell that seafaring wench, “Sorry not today, today I write.” (Thanks, Jen )

Toddy's blog post from 2009 is still one of the best things I have ever read about gender and surfing. (You can read the entire post here at  Endless Bummer NY )... ... The heart of the question is often whether the feminine aspect can be incorporated by the masculine and vice versa. To contend that the man, with generally more physical power, can learn to incorporate the feminine line while the woman, with architecturally less physical force at her disposal, cannot sufficiently incorporate masculine power, is so obtuse as to miss the point entirely. What line is being drawn? Is it consistent? Pleasurable? Exciting in its own context? Simply look at what each is doing on the wave regardless of gender, then because of it. See the differences in natural, personal inclination at critical moments and appreciate and criticize them as such. The waves of the ocean are inherently democratic. It feels awkward to treat it any other way.