Making Friends With The Neighbours

It's a truth universally acknowledged that social media can be a real drag. Arguments, comparisons, bitchiness, nastiness, narcissism and more all play out across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, blogs and more. I've had my fair share of shitty social media interactions, but what I've found is that it doesn't have to be that way. Most of my experiences on social media has been really positive, and I've made some wonderful connections over the years with wonderful people. I've met so many folk through blogging and Instagram, and are people I care about and have various relationships with. Like me, Jamie, Toddy, Mick, Sarah and Felix are people you might have come across on your digital travels, and they are people I've come to care about and to , different degrees, to know. For me, these relationships are some of the best of social media. I love connecting with people and projects in various places around the world, and being able to watch their work develo...

I follow lots (and lots) of surfing accounts on Instagram. Lots. Many of these are focused on and run by women, but I also follow lots of other general surf sites and magazines. Most of the general sites follow the usual pattern of not including much content about women, which is annoying and always stands out to me. Of course. The other day, I saw an interesting post on the account @oldsurfermags . The post was a collection of ten of the most liked images that have been posted by the (I'm assuming) male administrator, Chris Allen. While I still had hopes, the most liked images, not surprisingly, were all of men. The images are amazing, but I felt a bit bummed. Instead of stewing in my bummed-ness though, I commented on the post: (Before I go on, let's take a moment to enjoy my excellent typo! Hahaha.) I don't comment a lot on posts link this way (although there was one occasion that I did and got into a discussion with Kelly Slater about trans bodies, but...

This is old, but I came upon it today when I was looking for images about human movement. as·phyx·i·a from Maria Takeuchi on Vimeo . Via: This is Colossal The post I found it on linked to this piece of video art of a consistent walking body/being adapting it's architecture to the spaces it encounters. Also, mesmerising (especially from about 6.30). Again, via: This is Colossal

I've been really enjoying Robin Lanaei's illustrations that she's posting on Instagram . It's so easy to recognise myself and other kinds of surfers in her drawings, sometimes, when I don't even want to! I like that she's drawing about the everyday things that happen in the lineup, the internal dialogues that we have with ourselves, the things we'd like to say and do. I like her take on the moments of shame and embarrassment when we miss a wave or kook one, aware that the lineup is watching and judging us, while at the same time making sure we know it really doesn't matter. I like that the girls she draws aren't trying to be mermaids or #gurfers or anything like that. Instead, they're just people - grumpy and cranky and determined and sneaky and funny and fun. They seem to be white girls, for sure. But they're certainly recognisable in so many ways and with the kind of complexity and real-ness that I'm always searching for in any kind o...

Blogging has been this crazy thing in my life. It has led me places and introduced me to people I would never have otherwise met. It has always been more than an online space, weaving its way into my day to day life and relationships. Amongst others, over time I've met Jamie , Felix , Neil  and Mick (you can find Mick over here too), who have become people I count as friends and who have been incredibly supportive and inspiring, and there are a bunch of other bloggers and Instagrammers, who I hope to get to visit some time. (Y'all have been warned! Haha.) At the moment, I'm in Portland and was lucky enough to meet Kara Sparkman , who is currently involved in the She and the Sea project in the Pacific Northwest. We met because I contacted her about one of her beautiful prints, but was stoked when we realised that she was going to be at home in Portland while I was here for a few days. Yesterday we met for coffee, and it turned out that we had a lot in common in terms of...

Nice Friday clip from surfer, photographer, artist, Kat Charles : The Pursuit of Saltiness from Kat Charles on Vimeo .

This is a great story, and this girl, Quincy Symonds, is one hell of a person. (Via the wonderful, spectacular, government-funded, nationally available, Australian Broadcasting Corporation ) A small surfer makes big waves from ABC Open on Vimeo . From the online article: “It just doesn’t make sense to me, how she’s able to do what she does,” says Jake [her dad]. “I’m amazed by it. I’m really proud of it but, to be honest, I can’t comprehend how she does it.” “She has no fear,” offers Quincy’s coach Anthony Pope. “And she just doesn’t fall off. She has incredible balance and her ability to judge the conditions and adjust is at a level I’ve never seen in someone her age.” When the waves were too big for her to surf, Quincy took up skateboarding. As you’d expect, she took to a board on land just as deftly as in the surf. Looking over the edge of the 12-foot skate bowl as I filmed one of Quincy’s skating sessions, I felt immediately uneasy. But there was Quincy with her back f...

Clips like this make me think I might have missed my calling as an astrophysicist - Carl Sagan , Neil deGrasse Tyson , Brian Cox *. But then I remember how much maths is involved (blergh), and I know I made the right choice. But holy crap, astrophysicists, way to put things in perspective. This too. *Yeah, Cox isn't technically an astro physicist, but he's awesome and I'm counting him here anyway.

I have written many, many times about how almost all the swimmers I wear come from one lady - Sarah Kearney of Gypsy Jacket . Sarah and I met through our blogs, actually, and developed a friendship via our words and my love of Sarah's swimmers. Then we had the luck to meet in the sea through a mutual friend and now we are actual, offline friends as well. And I just love her. This little video by Ashley Beer gives you some idea of what a lovely, thoughtful, open-hearted woman Sarah is, but if you get the chance to be in touch with her - or to own one of her lovely creations - then you'll find out she's even lovelier than this film can convey. GYPSY JACKET from Ashley Beer on Vimeo .

I just thoroughly enjoyed this: In a time when irrationality seems to rule both politics and culture, has reasoned thinking finally lost its power? Watch as psychologist Steven Pinker is gradually, brilliantly persuaded by philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein that reason is actually the key driver of human moral progress, even if its effect sometimes takes generations to unfold. Although, despite it all, I'm still a massive champion of compassion, empathy and love, especially when coupled with reasoned thinking.

My friend, Kim Satchell, showed me this clip the other day. Thanks Satch! ) I love this approach to thinking about life, relationship, experience, culture, and love. In particular, I love the way he is open to the mess of things - the funk - and all the heartbreak and complexity that entails. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm all 'Bring on the heartbreak! Bring on the pain!', because I'm totally not. I want to avoid that shit as much as I can. But I also recognise that if you are going to live a life then that stuff is going to come at you, so you might as well have some way of making sense of it. Or at least, to find a way though it. And of course that means seeing yourself within all of that - for taking responsibility for your place in the mess of relationships, of culture, of difficulties. Seeing your place in this stuff lets you learn something from it, even if that something is simply 'Well, I won't do that again'. Like Mr West here, I d...

I came across this little clip of Swedish surfer, Vera Nording, yesterday. By now I've seen lots of stories of surfing in Scandinavia so the knowledge that there is a thriving surf scene in that part of the world is not new. But until this clip I had not seen any footage of logging. VERA NORDING from NORDICSURFERSMAG.SE on Vimeo . This clip is lovely and I was stoked to find it. So much about it is so familiar - the shape of the board, the aesthetic of the design and the way the film is shot, the evoking of Southern California with the soft sunlight light, the happy, cute, girl-next-door surfer, the tattoos - but the overall feeling of steely cold is something unfamiliar too. For me, anyway. Maybe it's just one of those moments when you realise the pervasiveness of certain aesthetics or ideas across this kind of longboarding. I'm not saying that's a terrible thing - my surfing life is recognisable in this way too - I'm just saying that if I hadn't been ...

Look what I got just in time for summer... 9'6", roll bottom, half-inch cedar stringer, hatchet fin, joy! Thanks, Tony. Thanks, Woosley !

There have been some really wonderful surfing publications come out in the last 5 years or so. Kurungabaa: a journal of literature, history and ideas from the sea is obviously the one most close to my own heart, but White Horses and Wax Magazine  are other stand outs for me. As these publications have appeared, I've been really stoked watching the surf magazine scene diversify both in form, content and contributors. The key is that they are not surf magazines in the sense that surfing is the key focus. Rather, they are focused on thing oceanic whether they be surfing, sailing, swimming, diving, art, music, science, scholarship, history, the environment, sex, culture, politics or any other manifestation of that theme. Surfing in and of itself is actually pretty boring really (Oh come on. It is!), so by broadening out the focus these publications have revived this part of culture of surfing. So I have been excitedly awaiting the appearance of a new kid on the block, Great Ocean ,...

Dear Sylvia, love Steph. from Morgan Maassen on Vimeo .

Neil Griffith (over at Modyssey)  took this image of a woman (Tiffany?) playing around on the Sunshine Coast.  Thanks, Neil.

Yeah they do. It's okay when it's with friends (like in this shot). (via my current favourite, the lovely Stillness )

(via Stillness )

Bec Woods is an incredible woman and surfer.

Cloudy Rhodes (via BWG Mag )