I love power rankings. I love them no matter
who does them from Lou-Sam to Derek Rielly from Nick Carroll to
Nick Carroll from Matt Warshaw to Albert Einstein. I read and
think, “Such observation! Such skill! I could never write a power
ranking!”
Until today.
There I was drinking sake and reading ESPN’s week two NFL power
ranking and feeling bored, thinking that the writer could have
summed up each team with just one word instead of a small
paragraph. And then I thought, “I could do that! I could write one
word!”
Vans releases "The Prison Issue." Tone-deaf or
celebratory?
Did you know that the United States of America
locks more people up than any other country on earth? More than
North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, even Australia.
More than Russia, Mongolia, Ukraine, South Africa, France, even
Syria.
So many people!
1 out of every 36 Americans is under some sort of correctional
supervision according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, growing
by 700% from 1970-2005 creating a multi-multi billion dollar
industry.
Moreover, the whole proposition is wildly racist. The Center for
American Progress reports that one out of every fifteen men in
prison is black, one out of thirty-six Hispanic and one out of
one hundred and six white. One out of every three black men
will go to prison at some point in their lives generally for some
low-level, petty drug crime. Black men get stopped more often by
the police, searched more often, beat more often and then get
carted off to the big house very much more often to spend at least
20% longer there.
A human rights disaster by any measure.
And are you reading this on a contraband cellphone behind bars
right now?
Probably not (because if you are not Maurice Cole then you are
white) but if you want to feel like you are try buying a pair of
the new Vans Prison Issue. A shoe modeled on the very same sort
black and Hispanic inmates wear in cages.
The release reads:
The return of the prison issue (AKA style #23) features an
updated toecap and resized straps for the ultimate comfort and
support.
Hmmm.
Do you think actual prisoners get updated toecaps and resized
straps? Do you think releasing a shoe celebrating hard time in an
era of extra-hot racial tension is tone-deaf or do think Vans
parent company VF Corp is honoring a truly American pastime?
Should some percentage of sales go to the non-profit The Sentencing Project aimed at
fixing America’s criminal justice system?
The new Ian Walsh vehicle Distance Between Dreams
is sure to thrill! Get a taste here!
What if we all lived in Medieval times? What if
we were all born around 1057 and raised in a soggy English shire?
Let’s assume that none of us die of any unfortunate disease but
let’s also assume some of us are horribly disfigured with no
teeth.
What, do you think, your position on that Middle-Age pecking
order? Do you think your lineage would put you in line for the
throne or some lordship? Would you be a religious man chanting in
Latin by candlelight? A simple farmer with sheep, goats and
pock-faced children?
Big wave surfers, I feel most certain, would be crusading
knights. Men with guts and imagination lacking in fear and hungry
for blood. Men who chase glory above all.
Ian Walsh would, without any doubt, be a crusading knight.
I met with him just over a month ago underneath a warm
Cardiff sky to speak of this very project here. I was under strict
orders to keep it quiet until the proper time, which was
exceedingly difficult. My position on that Middle-Aged pecking
order would be gossip-monger, my days alternating between the
stocks and the booze houses and the stocks again.
And it was exceedingly difficult not to speak/write about
because the story Distance Between Dreams positively
sings! Ian describes as such:
I wanted to invest my time and energy into a project that
would give people a very comprehensive look into everything that we
put into surfing big waves. In Distance Between Dreams, we are able
to share the good, the bad, the hard work, and resulting
satisfaction that you feel when you push yourself further than you
ever dreamt possible,” said Walsh. “Fortunately for us, the year we
decided to film coincided with a record El Niño giving us an opportunity to time mark one of
the best big wave seasons ever.
And if Red Bull’s Media House knows one thing it is how to
capture the mania of true wildmen in the highest possible
definition from the most angles.
Have you seen Travis Rice’s new film The Fourth
Phase?
It is the benchmark of action sport film. Nothing even comes
close.
Travis Rice, in person, is as warm as he is friendly. He doesn’t
smack of crazy but watch his approach to riding mountains and it
becomes quite clear that he is touched. No sane person would do
what he does.
Ian Walsh is much the same. Unnecessarily kind. Thoughtful. Easy
with a laugh. But just watch him ride ocean beasts. He ain’t
normal.
I will chat with the man tomorrow, or the next day, depending on
rumor/drink so I can ask him any questions you have (throw them in
the comments!) but today revel in this.
Going to be in used-to-be-hip Venice this
Thursday? You might want to examine the role of Kelly
Slater as political artist at the Folding Tables Gallery, 201 San
Juan Ave, corner of Main Street etc.
His Venice show is called “Apolitical Process: a vision by
Kelly Slater” and is, he says, “an artistic journey through
the chaotic and sometimes inflammatory 2016 election cycle. It is
our aim to explore and expose the underlying truth, hypocrisy,
danger, motivations, misinformation and effects of this process. It
is our hope that the artwork produces thoughtful discussion,
transparency and an openness to question the powers that be..…”
Is surfing behind the best in the world something
you should complain about?
You want a fast-track to good surf
technique? Surf behind someone better than you.
It always amazed me, still does, how very good surfers seem
to control the wave. They are rarely more than a metre away from
the pocket and turn on parts of the wave that would have most
hunch-backing for the tube. I hanker, therefore, for pro drop-ins.
The cheapest coach money can’t buy. I watch their feet. I watch the
motion of their torsos. I watch the swinging of the arms.
Which is why it perplexes me when average surfers hair-out in
the lineup and, a, either hassle maybe the best surfer alive off a
wave or, b, weep when they gotta share.
As Dane Reynolds once told the chocolate-nippled Morgan
Maassenin an interview I commissioned , “Every
single day I get dropped in on. It’s super backward compared to
other sports. Tom Curren should be able to paddle out at Rincon and
get any wave he wants. But he doesn’t get a break from anyone. He
grovels around on the inside like a grom while guys that look like
they’ve been surfing for four months catch bombs. It’s
unbelievable.”
What do you think of the behaviour of the longboarding man in
the clip below, who is angry when he splits a wave with Kelly
Slater?
“Maybe I owe a wave to at Surf Ranch,” says Kelly. “I was on the
wave about 5-10 seconds before he took off and I went past him.
That’s where this edit begins. He didn’t have a leash and his board
washed up next to my gf but he didn’t know she was my gf. He had a
few choice words about me to the guy sitting next to her on the
beach. So yeah, maybe we should just ride it out all the way
together next time!”
Comments on the post, 881 at last count, are roughly two-to-one
in favour of Kelly.
(Note: If you’re on a laptop, you might just get the top-thirds
of the clip. Click on “kelly slater” and navigate to the clip.)
