Venice-adjacent sometime surf website gets mad!
If you have ever visited li’l old BeachGrit on consecutive days then you’ll know how much I love to kick against The Inertia’s goads! I feel the crew operating out of a second story Venice-adjacent office mostly deserves. The Huffington-esque brand of socially aware identitarianism they peddled is worthy of ridicule.
But this morning writer J.P. Currie stepped up to the tofu-scented mic and got very angry whilst calling out Dane Reynolds!
Very pointed!
Very personal!
Shall we read an abridged version? Well it wouldn’t be BeachGrit if we refused!
Firstly, and screamingly obviously, is that everything Dane says in Chapter Eleven – especially with regard to his disillusionment with tying capitalism to surfing and benefiting immensely from that arrangement – is totally undermined by advertising his new brand “Former” at the end of the piece. Did nobody really realize that Chapter 11 is actually just a commercial? Ironic, huh. It’s akin to having an AA meeting then all going out afterward to smash some shots in celebration of the meeting. It’s short-sighted at best and hypocritical as fuck at worst.
I also take issue with his little dismissive diatribe about who to thank. As he says: “I feel like I should thank Quiksilver…but who is Quiksilver? Who do I thank? Everyone I knew that worked there is gone.”
Well, Dane, unless you mean “gone” as in dead, then presumably there are human beings who helped you that you could still namecheck, whether they work for Quik or not anymore. And failing that, how about you just give a nod to the fans? An acknowledgement to the surf fans of the world who gobble up every meager scrap of surf meal that you deign to throw them like desperate, pathetic little chickens. These people have made you a millionaire because they like watching you ride a surfboard. They deserve a little credit.
Surely the noble thing to do (if Dane truly has a deep personal conflict with the idea of attaching surfing and his likeness to a commercial enterprise) would be to disappear altogether. To walk away. Get rid of that corporate monster called Vans and the other patrons who supply that sweet surfin’ cash. Ditch it all, look after your family, surf. Be grateful that you made millions of dollars from surfing when you felt like it. Be grateful that you are a rich, white man living in an affluent coastal suburb. Be grateful that you traveled the world to surf and have had incredible experiences. But most of all, stop pimping yourself out in order to try to sell us stuff. If it’s truly so conflicting, then it’s disingenuous. Better yet, why not do your part to fundamentally change the tie between your profession and your artistic integrity and hold your head high?
Yikes!
But refreshing? And I must tip my pretend fedora Venice-adjacent’s way! Oh it’s not that I agree with Mr. J.P. Currie. The issue of “selling out” in the arts has been debated for so many ages. I harken back to Nirvana, who I loved so dearly as a weird Oregon youth. The band’s juice came from being weird, from being outcasts, but then fame and fortune and the outcasts who felt kindred all of a sudden felt burned. And Nirvana wrote Rape Me.
I think Dane is also a particular sort of outcast artist and his seemingly genuine struggle with how to marry beauty and commerce is real. He is part of a noble history stretching from Leonardo Da Vinci to Bobby Dylan to Zach Weisberg to Basquiat to Albert Camus. He was lucky enough to make money and unlucky enough to not really want it so crazy bad.
So no, I don’t think Dane is any more hypocritical than you or me. But The Inertia throwing a grenade up toward Ventura for no real reason is almost fun.
Throw one down to Cardiff-by-the-Sea next!
I think those kooks pretty much nailed Dane to a tee. Anti corporate this, anti corporate that, but please buy my t-shirts, they are so very anti-corporate. Fuck me.
Yeah, hating is never an easy path but but. but. what..
The Inertia uses clickbait like a fat midwestern maid sprinkles bacon on her salad – without hesitation.
love it!
How dare you Inertia, you’ve crossed the line. Again.
Just when you think the Inertia can’t get any more (almost) charmingly impotent, they go shamefully impotent.
i’m not sure if you caught the inertia story about bruce irons’ garage and his wife, joel p and bruce going through some things? the recording equipment did not get their voices well at all and the transcript that streamed across the page must have been from a computer or someone who did not know surfing at all==my favorite mistake was when they were talking about occy, and the transcript said “fake cocky” instead of “beat occy”.
“The Huffington-esque brand of socially aware identitarianism they peddled is worthy of ridicule.” Truer words were never spoken, Chasman. But those who live in glass houses, etc.
You guys (well Mariano Calrusian) kicked me off comments for ridiculing identitarianism. And, here’s the kicker, Mr. Identitarianist extraordinaire, Haro, did not.
Hypocrticoironical much?
But, yeah, I’m not sure why the Intertia has advertisers.
No, you got kicked off for being an antagonistic asshole to everyone you interacted with. I was down for the identitarian ridicule, but then you got personal and trolled on and on. IP-dodging and fake email and the like don’t support the idea that you’re just here for a good time.
There’s only one rule: don’t be a complete fucking prick. G’Day
He’s right. Dane’s just Slater dressed down and drunk.
Really! I am drunk now as usual but the inertia beggars a drunk fuck wits belief!
Top 3 stories currently on The Inertia: “A Reminder That It’s Pretty Amazing South Of The Border”, “Check Out This Timeless Footage Of Gerry Lopez Surfing Pipe”, and my personal favorite “Mathieu Bijasson Takes Night Skiing To Another Level”. Sick, can’t wait to get to these once I run down to the DMV and replace my old North Dakota drivers license and wax up my Wave Storm!
Dane is just another rare individual that can surf freakishly well. That is really all that should be expected of him. Just because money was thrown at him & he took it does not change the deeper ways he may view life. I spoke to Dane once when he was 18yo. He was very shy, I was praising him & being very positive but he was all: “yes sir, “no sir”, “thank you sir”. At least he is still alive or otherwise not totally messed up. Born with talent it is often difficult to control what life throws at you. He is just a surfer, that is all. Looking for a role model? Try Buddha or Jesus or similar. Nothing unique in the Inertia article.
Interesting.. We crossed path’s at a party put on by his former sponsor during the “Crossing” campaign. He was young seemed to be hanging by himself defiantly quiet. I may have pressed him on his talent with a question or two. So agree shy and respectful compared to guy’s like Wardo come to town! Mostly remember the music and dancing was really good that night. The Bahai faith is rad!
Camus?! “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. Teeth.”
“The Huffington-esque brand of socially aware identitarianism they peddled” is a truly inspired phrase.
I’m totally going to use that phrase.
Reading into Dane Reynold’s deep political stance through “Chapter 11” is like debunking climate control by going to Big Bear in December. There’s more to the big picture than meets the eye. When Dane rambles on in his film, his experience is going to be from the perspective of person who gets paid millions of dollars to just surf. The fact he has even an inkling of a conscience is icing on the cake. Taking click bait to galactic proportions, this Inertia post seems more of an act of desperation than some sort of a brave political observation and statement. Let’s be real. PJ knows exactly what buttons he’s pushing and what target he is going after. I don’t buy PJ’s contrarian view and see it as a reason to place Dane’s video on their page and garner more page views. Oh, you guys at the inertia can thank Dane Reynolds for that.
Chas, as a linguist, what the hell is this: “screamingly obviously”. I’m sorry, but I can’t get past that phrase and how awful it sounds when read aloud. Also, is he making fun of AA meetings?
You’re so right! I just read it out loud and wow. Double adverb party at J.P.’s house!
“Did nobody really realize that Chapter 11 is actually just a commercial?”
His whole premise dies while sipping meager punctured lung breaths from this hyper-clairvoyant realization.
its like the asshole found the toy at the bottom of his box of cereal and thinks he’s on the next level of awareness
It’s an eternally delightfully party over here!
I have a fine (a pretty shite) article for you guys, who do I email it to?
Me! [email protected]
I’ll have the masterpiece into by Wednesday
“Chas, as a linguist”
Sensational.
So I’m supposed to be feeling bad because I like danes surfing but hate BJ’s writings? Inertia you guys don’t need weed, you are permi-fried.
I bet J.P. (cute name) likes his surfers to be corporate puppets with a nice quicksilver cock resting on their shoulder as they journey in the surf profession.
or apparently you either whore it out by being a sponsored guy and taking the cash in exchange for a nose sticker, or you need to go fully feral, move to Lombok, and feed yourself off bugs and berries.
Fully feral , but South Sumatra’s the call
And I’m sure little J.P. never had anyone owe him over 3 million… fun to throw shit from your cubicle and 20K stipend while you wait for your ship to come in.. careful, Zack may stop those liaisons at the Brig
You guys…
I’m pretty sure Chas is The Inertia’s only reader lol
I read it too, all the time. It can actually be quite good, if you’re selective.
how selective? 1 out of 10?
Yup selective, like going down to a bar full of accountants or bums, now and again it won’t be terrible but usually it will be horrendous!
I say the same about fat chicks. Yewwww
Also, they posted a video of a girl farting underwater.
Hahaha did they? I gotta check that out.
Now they’re biting Stab’s style!