made in the uk ÂŁ3.95 vol. 04 issue 018 Dec 09/Jan 10 Spike jonze by Geoff McFetridge
20 10 Fi fr BU G nd om R e yo a TO t yo ur ny N ur a S f BE ne ut NO re LI ar ho W e co EV e r E st ize BO p y IN d A d SN ea B R of O le ur DS th W r e BO o ton C AR n b d AT D IN ur ea AL G to l e n. r. OG co m
Photos by Blotto Photto, Curtes, Moran, Owen, and Cyril. Rider Service Europe 00800 287 866 13 (tollfree)
TIME FOR SOME ACTION
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[ LI FE A F T E R S K ATE]
2010
WeActi v i s ts R AY B A R B E E & S A GE VA U GHN S HO T B Y C HE RY L D U N N www. we s c. co m
The Tribute
Spike Jonze: The Q&A
48 Mark Lewman on Spike Jonze.
72 Um… Er… Spike speaks!
Geoff McFetridge
Canadian Cold
52 Talking plain and simple sense.
76 Frozen faces from the O’Neill Cold Water Classic in Tofino, BC.
Cool Hollywood
Big Waves, Big Lungs
56 Hipster filmmakers from the class of ’99.
84 Or the importance of holding your breath.
Art Of The Gonz
Go Gigi Go!
58 A montage of mayhem from Mark Gonzales.
90 Snowboarding maestro Gigi Rüf is positively charged.
Ty Evans
Bag A Bag
60 Picking up the skate flick gauntlet.
96 Backpacks? Rucksacks? Knapsacks? Whatever. Check ’em here.
Dave Eggers
Surfing Metaphors
62 Let’s flick through his Wild Things book.
98 Is the language of wave-riding inherently violent?
Listen All Y’All!
Hanging With The Wilmots
66 Why ‘Sabotage’ and other Spike videos totally rock.
102 Jamie Brisick visits Jamaica’s first family of surf.
The Dead Weather
Industry Folk
68 Rock stars return to DIY.
108 Dream jobs not day jobs.
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The Wild World of Spike ŠÁrka PaNCochovÁ HARMONY KORINE RIO BREAKS HENRY ROLLINS Finisterre Sheep david pICKFORD Cold Water Santa Cruz
ODO The Winter Olympics EDUCATE, CREATE Music Movies GAMES BOOKS Jussi & Junior Hit The Road
OWEN RICHARDS
POLISH SNOW KINGS
JENNA SELBY
16 HUCK
Publisher & Editor Vince Medeiros Associate Editor Andrea Kurland Global Editor Jamie Brisick Skate Editor Jay Riggio Snow Editor Zoe Oksanen Music Editor Phil Hebblethwaite Latin America Editor Giuliano Cedroni Website Editor Ed Andrews Translations Editor Markus Grahlmann
Designer Victoria Talbot Design Assistant Anna Dunn Words Ruth Carruthers, Jonathan Crocker, Dave Eggers, Gemma Freeman, Derek Hill, Mark Lewman, Guy Martin, Miles Masterson, Jussi Oksanen, Alex Wade Images Ruth Carruthers, Mark Gonzales, Sammy Harkham, Randall Hearne, Richie Hopson, Mark Lewman, Lozza, Ari Marcopoulos, Guy Martin, Geoff McFetridge, Andy Mueller, Odo, Jussi Oksanen, Thomas P. Peschak, David Pickford, Shawn Records, E. Reilly, Laurent Ressicault, Owen Richards, Ryan Schierling, Jenna Selby, Yves Suter, Sergio Villalba, Wallendorff, Jasper Wong
Advertising Director Steph Pomphrey Advertising Manager Dean Faulkner Assistant Publisher Anna Hopson
Published by The Church of London 8-9 Rivington Place London EC2A 3BA +44 (0) 207-729-3675 Distributed worldwide by COMAG
Editorial Director Matt Bochenski Website Director Alex Capes Managing Director Danny Miller Subscription Enquiries subs@thechurchoflondon.com
UK distribution enquiries: andy.hounslow@comag.co.uk Worldwide distribution enquiries: carla.demichiel-smith@comag.co.uk Printed by Advent Colour
Editorial Enquiries editorial@huckmagazine.com
The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or editorial team
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This publication is made with paper from sustainable sources Huck is published six times a year Š TCOLondon 2009
GUY MARTIN
Editorial Assistants Shelley Jones David McNamara
Creative Directors Rob Longworth Paul Willoughby
18 HUCK
20 HUCK
Compiled by Shelley Jones and David McNamara. Inspired by Geoff McFetridge.
21
Don’t be a pussy! Czech snowboarder sÁrka PancochovÁ bares her balls. Text Gemma Freeman. Photography Owen Richards “Don’t be a pussy!” exclaims Šárka Pan ochová, emphasising her mantra
women usually only grab indie, so I try doing loads of different grabs,
by jabbing her finger high in the air. “It’s all in your head. If you want to
then back-to-back 720 spins on the kickers. I’ve seen this make the
jump a fifty-foot kicker, you need to know that you can do it.”
other contestants be like, ‘If she can do that, maybe I should try’ and
For most nineteen-year-olds, such bold statements would be blamed on
push the standard.”
the audacity of youth. But Czech snowboarder Šárka (pronounced Shark-a)
So who, exactly, is this elfin fireball terrorising women’s snowboarding?
has every right to be so confident. Šárka became a hot topic on last winter’s
Well, for starters, she isn’t just another super-grom coached into a
Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Tour, in just her sophomore year as a full-time
shredding career from birth. She started snowboarding on the annual
professional, thanks to what’s been deemed her ‘masculine approach’ and
family holiday at age twelve, totalling only three weeks in her first three
gutsy inverted spins. And this winter, as this magazine goes to press, she’s
years. But when her family moved to the town of Uherský Brod when
already sat at number one, ahead of former title-holder Jamie Anderson. The TTR crown and Vancouver Olympics may dominate her agenda this season but, fuelled by a diligent work ethic, metaphorically massive balls and lofty ambitions, Šárka has her sights set on a higher prize. “I always looked at the way girls and guys ride and thought, ‘Why is there such a difference?’” she says. “In competitions guys average double cork spins, while girls do 360s. I want to change that.
she was fifteen, the small park of the Morava Pico resort, in the White Carpathian Mountains, was just a ten-minute train ride away. Šárka soon became part of the close-knit Czech scene, alongside her boyfriend Jan Notime and the country’s first pro snowboarder, Martin Cerník who, after cultivating her natural passion and talent as a friend, is now her manager. The best advice he’s given her? “Don’t be a pussy!” So there you have it. Šárka says, man up! Whatever that means.
“We need to not be scared, try new things – not play it safe,” continues Šárka, chatting at a million miles an hour. “Like in contests,
22 HUCK
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Enfant Weird filmmaker Harmony Korine goes full-on bizarre. TEXT SHELLEY Jones. Photography Ari Marcopoulos “It’s weird,” says Harmony Korine, stirring a cup of coffee, “when I make
impersonators that takes a dark twist, Korine has continued to fascinate,
films, I don’t set out to make a comment on much... I just closed my eyes
delight and appal in equal measure.
and went with this idea.”
“I had these neighbours, these identical twins, who are now both in prison,
We are sitting in an ornate little bistro in Soho, the appropriately naughty
one of them for murder,” says Korine, spinning one of many straight-faced
district of London, talking about Trash Humpers, the latest, and possibly
tales. “One of them had fetal alcohol syndrome, and when they would get really
weirdest, offering from filmmaker, artist and provocateur Harmony Korine.
inspired, they would wrap themselves in duct tape and tin foil and tap dance
“I don’t know if it’s what you would call a movie,” he says with a glint in his eye. “Maybe it’s just something that was found in a ditch somewhere and someone stuck it in their VCR and pressed play. Maybe this whole idea of what movies are is changing a bit.” His critics will say this film, a fiction about elderly delinquents who fornicate with bins and foliage, has no purpose other than to shock – a pointless piece of provocation – and maybe they’re right. But then why the cult following?
on stolen concrete kerbs. Sometimes their parents would start a barbeque in the backyard and we’d all listen to the soundtrack of Finian’s Rainbow.” Whether you like his devilish aesthetic or not, the way in which Korine lives his art is undeniable. It consumes him, not just in his films, but in surreal conversations like this which leave you thinking one of two things: either that you’re in the presence of genius, or simply, ‘Is this guy for real?’ But Korine is not just a creature of hype. He’s also hugely inspiring. And
Korine grew up skating in New York and was introduced into the
whether you follow his rhetoric like gospel or find it distasteful, the important
Beautiful Losers art collective by lifelong friend Mark Gonzales, writing
thing is that he’s out there creating something. “I make things because I
his first screenplay about miscreant skaters, Kids, at only nineteen. The
want to make things,” he says, “whether it’s a movie or a one-line sentence
movie was described as “a wake-up call to the world” about the state of
or a song that you sing to yourself in the shower, you just do it because it’s
urban youth. It shot Harmony to fame as an enfant terrible, a product of
something you want to do… All that stuff about deals and money, that’s
a disillusioned society and, to some, including Werner Herzog, as a great
bullshit. There’s just something wonderful in the act of creating.”
modern American filmmaker. From this early controversial celluloid to his most conventional feature, Mister Lonely, a utopian tale about celebrity
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Trash Humpers is out in 2010.
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Rio Breaks Brave new documentary breaks the surf film mould. Text Andrea Kurland Rio Breaks isn’t another surf film. It’s a story – about friendship and
of music docs under his belt and an urge to tap into his wave-riding roots,
survival, surfing and life.
Justin was on the lookout for a story that could use “surfing as a way of
Thirteen-year-old Fabio and twelve-year-old Naamã are best friends,
looking at something else”.
trying to navigate their way through life in a favela near Arpoador Beach,
‘Something else’ eventually showed up, in a reportage feature Vince
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Every day, they walk down from the hills to surf
had written on the Favela Surf Club, in Arpoador Beach. “One page in, I
at their local break, past the bullet holes and gunshots that form the
was literally like, ‘This is the story, this is the film!’” recalls Justin. “I tracked
fabric of their world and towards the community that’s taken root on the
down Vince, said, ‘Hey, I wanna make a film!’ and kind of wrangled him
sand. Here, they get a glimpse of a life where kids can be kids, and where
in. The Surf Club was the genesis of the idea – from there, we had to find
nothing bad can reach you when you’re deep within the source.
some characters to help illustrate what’s going on here.”
But in the backdrop, lie the hills. A place, explains surf mentor Rogerio,
With Vince based in the UK and Justin in the States, co-ordinating
where poverty, drug trafficking, prejudice and fear seem endlessly
trips to Rio wasn’t easy – and finding the focus of their story, even harder
entwined, and gun-toting gangs, an easy way out.
still. It was only midway through trip number three that they realised the
Hope is harder to find. It drifts with Naamã and Fabio in the opening
person they were looking for was there all along. “As we were shooting
scene, a sun-soaked lullaby to the ocean’s healing sway that sees the boys
one day, there was this other kid just following us,” says Justin. “He walked
take a boat ride to a fabled surf spot, somewhere off shore. It’s there
with us everywhere, from the beach up to the top of the hill. We didn’t
too in the words of their mentors, and the lifelines they offer dressed up
know who this kid was. The next day, we’re shooting and – there’s this kid
as passing thoughts: “It’s cool dude, to live with nature. You don’t have
again! I was like, ‘Clearly he’s not in school – he’s catching all the waves,
much, but you live well. Fishermen last longer, dude. They live longer. Just
he’s snaking everybody, he doesn’t seem to care.’ So by the end of the
like surfers.”
second day, I was like, ‘Who is this kid? He’s a pretty decent little surfer.’
With that, the premise is set: will Naamã and Fabio choose surfing and life – or the darker promises of the other side?
And everyone was like, ‘What him? That’s just Fabio.’ He saw what was going on, and he didn’t say it, but by his actions and what he was doing
Part documentary, part love ode to surf, Rio Breaks is the brainchild of
he put himself out there for us. Then we met his sidekick Naamã and,
director Justin Mitchell and writer Vince Medeiros, a filmmaking duo who
within a day, I said to Vince, ‘This is it, this is the story – these two guys.’
were united six years ago by a tale that needed to be told. With a string
We didn’t find Fabio and Naamã – they found us.”
27
From there, the filmmakers took lead from the boys, trailing just behind them over the course of a year, as they drifted from childhood
Justin, echoing the boys. “It can be a really, really violent place, and it can be a really happy place as well.”
into the unknown. Bit by bit, they came to understand the young friends,
By grasping that simple truth, Rio Breaks soars where lesser
the paths they’d already walked and the choices they now faced. And
documentaries fall. There may be the kind of stuff that makes the blows
with that, the reality of life on the hill began to rear its ugly head. “There
life deals seem impassable – but there’s also cutbacks and camaraderie
were heavier bits that came up where we had to think, ‘Can we put this
captured in stunning super 16mm. “The Surf Club and that group? That’s
in or not?’” explains Justin. “If there was any question, we just left it out.
real – those people do treat each other like a second family,” enthuses
We had to be sensitive to their safety and we knew we didn’t want to
Justin. “And you don’t have to become a pro surfer – it’s not about ‘surfing
sensationalise it into another ‘Favela Movie’. Like Favela Rising and City of
your way out of the ghetto’ – but if you kind of stick to that world, you have
God – that’s what the rest of the world knows about Rio and we got the
yet another support system that’s maybe gonna help you make it through.
vibe that people were tired of that.”
And maybe it’s not the Surf Club, maybe it’s any multitude of things that
Vince adds: “We wanted to move away from the narrative of violence that you see everywhere when it comes to life in the favela. There are other dimensions to life there, many of which are more powerful than the stigmatising version often shown in the media.” With the naysayers back home still calling for blood – “We had some pressure to put gang scenes in there to make it have more mainstream appeal” – Justin and Vince did the unthinkable: instead of peddling shootouts to the masses, they let two young boys speak for themselves. “I miss my dad, I pray for him every night,” says Fabio in a swaying, sunfiltered scene that proves the aftermath hits deeper than the bloodshed
they could latch onto to give them some hope, just to show them that there are options, not just that other path.” “Surfing and childhood are both beautiful and levelling in a really special way,” adds Vince. “We all catch waves, and we’ve all been kids once in our lives too. Maybe that’s the main virtue of the film: to show we all have a lot more in common than we might think.” So you see, Rio Breaks isn’t a surf film, and it isn’t a politically laden message about some ‘other’ place. It’s just a story about two boys, charting a very particular path through life. And it’s a subtle one at that, pinned together in beautiful form.
ever could. “You’re afraid, aren’t you?” says Naamã looking straight into the camera, laughing through a coping mechanism that seems to shrug
Rio Breaks airs on the Sundance Channel in the US this winter and throughout
inside and say, ‘Hey, this is just life.’
Europe in 2010. To learn more about the film and to donate to the Surf Club, go
“When you’re living in the favela, that’s just what you know,” says
28 HUCK
to www.riobreaks.com.
Rollin’ in words MULTI-MEDIA RACONTEUR Henry Rollins is back with more anger-laced tirades. Interview Shelley Jones. Photography Randall Hearne Henry Rollins doesn’t look like much of a speaker. But behind the stony
Do you ever worry that once your words enter the public domain they will
stare is a fireball of a raconteur who’s devoted his life to venting his
be misinterpreted? No. I can’t control any of that, so I just try to be as clear
political frustrations. By embracing a DIY ethic, he makes his incantations
as I can. It does make me strive for clarity, and that’s a good thing, I think.
heard, whether he’s making music, self-publishing books or creating a radio show, television show or blog. HUCK caught up with Rollins as he
Apathy is pretty shit, but you care about everything? Does it ever get you
embarks on another spoken word tour to talk about the logistics of being
down? Well, I don’t know about that. I think one needs a good degree of
an individual with a global agenda.
live and let live to get through this world. The things I do care about, sure, I get angry or down at times, absolutely. It’s a fine line to walk, trying to be
What can people expect from your next spoken word tour? By the time I
part of a solution and not having a life. I guess what bugs me the most on
get to the UK, I will have been pretty far and wide and hopefully some
a global scale is the same bastards keep getting away with the same stuff
of those destinations will have some stories to bear. So far, it’s been very
decade after decade. If you read editorials in newspapers a hundred years
good for new things.
ago, some of them could be printed today and make sense in sentiment. None of this stuff is new and I guess that’s what makes me the maddest.
What preparation do you do? Travel and immersion as best I can in the places
I go. I have come to the conclusion that the best stuff is out in the world,
Time for some quick-fire word association…
when you just walk up on it. The further out I go, the better it seems to get.
Obama… Get out of Afghanistan. The environment… Save it or it dies.
You have a lot on your plate, is it ever unmanageable? Not really. It is
Punk… Is where you find it.
pretty much all I do, though. I am always working on something. I have
Poetry… Is mostly written by those who muddy their waters to make
a long time to wait around in some airports tomorrow so I will get some
them appear deep (that’s not mine).
work done there. I find ways to keep the thing going.
Gay rights… Are human rights. Love… Overused. I love pizza.
What, if anything, ties all your projects together? Well, yes. Me. Past that, I
don’t know. There is probably a consistent level of anger coursing through
An Evening of Spoken Word with Henry Rollins will be touring across Europe,
what I do.
January 12 to February 8, 2010. www.21361.com
30 HUCK
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BESPOKE BAAA! Cornish surf brand Finisterre are halving their footprint with their home-reared flock. Text Ed Andrews. Photography Ruth Carruthers It’s late October on a small farm on the edge of Exmoor, Devon, and, on
farm was the perfect place to expand the breed to a commercially viable
the brow of a grassy hill, a flock of sheep are huddling together against the
number in an ethical manner.
cold breeze. But these are not your average grazers: they are Bowmont
“I think there’s a fine line between being empathetic and compassionate,
sheep – a rare crossbreed between Merino and Shetland that just happen
and being silly by thinking they’re humans,” says Leslie. “They’re still farm
to produce some damn fine wool.
animals but they deserve our complete respect.”
“We wanted to get a wool where we knew where the sheep came
Sheep may not complain if they are mistreated but, according to
from whilst cutting down on our carbon footprint,” says Ernie Capbert
Leslie, you should still take the time to observe them, learn their nuances
of Finisterre, the surfing apparel company that’s sponsoring the rearing
and, ultimately, “speak their language”.
of these sheep for exclusive use of their wool. Many clothing brands use
“They do a lot for me,” says Leslie affectionately over a cup of tea
Merino wool for its soft and warm properties. But, all too aware that
in the shelter of the ancient farmhouse. “I owe it to them to look after
Merino sheep are often intensively farmed in Australia, Finisterre wanted
them properly.”
to source their wool locally and save on carbon emissions. The solution was the Bowmont, a sheep first bred in the 1970s by the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen, which can produce soft wool yet withstand the British climate. The flock here today are the only remaining purebred Bowmonts in the country and are reared by Leslie Prior, a woman who went from full-
Leslie may well be on to something. But in a massive wool industry, what difference can one independent operation really make? “There’s a perception that doing things in an ethical way makes a huge difference to the bottom line, but that’s just bullshit!” says Ernie. “If we can get enough attention, then we can open the eyes of larger companies about doing these things.”
time mum to farmer just seven years ago. With 145 acres of open fields and ancient woodland, as well as the company of 200 goats, Leslie’s
32 HUCK
www.finisterreuk.com
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El Delfin (The Dolphin) in Mascun Gorge, Spain.
CLIFFHANGER When David Pickford fell in love with climbing, he wanted to share it with the world. TEXT ED ANDREWS. Photography DAVID PICKFORD “Bravery is not a quality I consider,” says twenty-eight-year-old British climber
to him. “It’s a perfect combination,” he says. “Go on expeditions and take
and photographer David Pickford. For many, the idea of scaling a sheer rock
photos that will hopefully inspire other people to be adventurous.”
makes the word ‘courage’ spring to mind. But not for him: “Climbers will find
It’s not a case of turning up at a climb and expecting to snap away,
that concept quite amusing. It’s not heroic – it’s exhilarating, demanding
though. According to David, to be a good climbing photographer, you’ve
and challenging. It’s about the nature of the challenge.”
got to be a competent climber yourself and hold a “sixth sense” for the
If you want to climb, it’s easy enough – for starters, there’s always that tree in the park. But despite being so accessible, climbing remains a
shot, being prepared to hang off a rope in those hard-to-reach spots with camera at the ready.
relatively niche sport. So what is it that drives someone to get out there
“The most powerful photos place a human figure in a landscape in an
and get climbing? “There’s definitely an autotelic motivation to it. The
unusual and arresting way, and climbing lends itself to that,” says David,
desire comes from within me, rather than from any external influence,”
who is part of Karrimor’s elite team of sponsored athletes.
says David. “The only thing you are competing against is the person you used to be.” So how did he get into it? After completing a degree in English, he shunned the conventional career path to devote his life to the outdoors.
Now, David is sharing his experiences in a series of high school lectures which aim to promote outdoor sports as a way to develop valuable life skills. Brave or not, you sure can learn a thing or two on those rocks.
The natural route was to learn the finer points of an SLR camera and make a living capturing the awesome vistas that climbing regularly presented
34 HUCK
www.karrimor.com
Blake The Great
O’Neill Cold Water Classic Final: Blake grabs series, Yeomans wins event. Text Vince Medeiros. photography sergio villalba “I’m so stoked. I can’t even talk,” said Nathan Yeomans minutes after
when he found out he had been crowned overall series winner, bagging a
winning the O’Neill Cold Water Classic California at Steamer Lane, in
convenient fifty grand in the process.
Santa Cruz. For those in the know, Steamer Lane – Santa Cruz’s definitive
“I went down to LA after I blew it here in my first heat,” said Blake. “I
proving ground – is one of the surfing world’s ultimate gladiator arenas.
was checking Jarrad Howse and Adam Melling’s [other series contenders’]
The fabled point, dominated by a protective gang of local enforcers, is as
progress at the end of the day, but I just couldn’t watch. I needed so many
spectator-friendly as surfing will ever get. Crowds pile up atop the cliff,
things to go right – and they did!”
gawking down in amphitheatre-like fashion, as surfers battle it out in the kelp-strewn waters below.
Enthused by the victory, Thornton waxed lyrical about the franchise – and vowed to come back for more in 2010.
No wonder, then, that Yeomans, who’s from down south, in San
“We saw some different places,” he said of the series that had taken him to
Clemente, said he was speechless after the final. It is, and he knows it, a
shores as far and wide as Tasmania, Scotland, South Africa, Canada and, finally,
big deal to win at The Lane. Past winners, in no particular order, include:
Santa Cruz, the home of O’Neill. “I never dreamt I would go to Canada surfing
Jordy Smith, Tom Curren, Martin Potter, Peter Mel, Bobby Martinez,
and it’s the nicest place I’ve ever been. And then Cape Town was awesome not
among others who ruled the break at one point or another since the first
only because I did well but because it was something new – stepping outside
Cold Water took place over two decades ago.
and going down there. I will definitely do it again next year.”
But it wasn’t just Yeomans who’d had a day to tell the kids and
As for Yeomans, his speaking faculties eventually came back: “To
grandchildren and Yeomans generations to come all about. You see,
win in my home state, and to win a 6 Star Prime event in such an iconic
the California contest was also the final event of a whole year’s worth
location, and to be up there with the guys who have won this event in its
of slaying waves in hypothermia-inducing waters. And that’s good news
history – it’s incredible.”
if you’re Blake Thornton. The Australian, who won the South African leg, had to cut short his break to Los Angeles and head straight back to town
36 HUCK
www.oneill.com
A veteran of the Polish snowboard scene heads back East to catch up with her pioneering friends. Text Anna Hopson. Photography Richie Hopson Szczyrk (pronounced Sh-t-urk) is a little, cozy snow resort in the
their idea of an initiation. It took me the whole day to get down
Beskid Mountains in the south of Poland, near Bielsko-Biala, and the
the mountain, mainly on my knees and bum, on a run that would
place where I learnt to snowboard more than ten years ago.
take the average rider no more than ten minutes. It was dark by the
My friends had been snowboarding for a couple of seasons already
time I caught up with my worried friends who were ready to contact
and were all pretty good. So, with barely enough money for a single
mountain rescue. My trousers were frozen so stiff I could barely sit
lift pass (you have to dole out a few coins every time you ride on
down and my entire body ached. But I got up the next day and did it
the chairlift) I went up to see what all the fuss was about. All the
all over again. I’d fallen in love with snowboarding.
equipment I had that day was borrowed from guys who were much
When I arrive in Szczyrk for the Billabong Freestyle Festival, I’m
bigger than me: my boots were a size 44, and I’m a 38. I’d barely
greeted by a fresher face to the village, and to Polish snowboarding
strapped in when I looked up to see my pals dropping away in the
as a whole. Many of my friends that I started riding with in the
distance, shouting over their shoulders, “See you at the bottom of
nineties are still here, doing their thing, positively shaping the scene
the hill!” Apparently it was the best way to learn how to ride, and
and promoting snowboarding in their home ground. Some are still
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Michal ‘Kalas’ Kalaska Marketing and Team Manager, PS Distribution in Warsaw.
Wojtek ‘Gniazdo’ Pawlusiak Sports Marketing student and pro snowboarder (Analog, Redbull, Anon, Nixon).
Kuba ‘Dytko’ Dytkowski Architecture student and pro snowboarder (Rome, SDS, Advita Wear, Nixon, Dragon, Celsius, LongJohn).
Pepek Starowicz Snowboarding instructor, lumberjack and former pro.
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Jakub ‘Kamel’ Honcz Pro snowboarder (Contract Snowboards, Billabong, Celsius, Dakine).
Wojtek Pajak Owner of Arcis Outerwear and pro snowboarder (Ride, Volcom, Dragon).
sponsored regulars on the contest circuit; others have joined the
Women’s Day every year in March. Some things, however, haven’t
industry as brand distributors, contest organisers and snow park owners,
really changed. “It’s great to be a snowboarder but it’s not very easy
while the real entrepreneurs have ignited a string of local snowboard
to be one in Poland,” says Michal ‘Kalas’ Kalaska, who works for PS
companies and clothing labels. What started as a rebellious pastime
Distribution in Warsaw, “simply because the infrastructure’s not great.
has allowed Poland’s first generation of snowboarders to make a living
We don’t have many great snow parks. I mean, we have a few boxes
doing what they love.
and handrails but we really need good, big kickers and halfpipes.”
One such pioneer is Jakub ‘Kamel’ Honcz, who has just signed a deal
Unlike their Scandinavian counterparts, Polish snow resorts haven’t
with Polish snowboard manufacturer Contract, and is still sponsored
compensated for their small mountains by investing in snow parks.
by many global brands. As we sit on top of the Juliany snow park, run
Poland still doesn’t have its own real halfpipe, which is bound to
by another friend, Grzesiek Jekot, Kamel tells me the industry is finally
stifle progression. So in that sense, little has changed since I started
waking up to what’s happening out here. “I’ve been very lucky with all
competing in Szczyrk, when we had to rope the Polish Army into building
my past and current sponsors,” he says. “They’ve helped me to actively
a halfpipe with shovels a week before the Polish Championships.
promote snowboarding in Poland and Eastern Europe, as I guess they were focusing on these markets.” A stream of kids slide by on their way to a kicker, where talented,
“Being a snowboarder in Poland is not so bad,” says pro rider Pawlusiak. “If you break through and have money to ride, you are okay. But if you don’t have money, then it can be pretty hard.”
younger riders like Kuba ‘Dytko’ Dytkowski and Wojtek ‘Gniazdo’
It’s not always an uphill battle, though. Those riders lucky and
Pawlusiak are executing spins. These guys are already established in
committed enough to have broken through are enjoying life as
Europe, but even more kids are hitting the kickers and hand rails built
travelling pros, venturing to Austria and Germany each year in search
especially for their pursuit of fun. Ten years ago we had one handrail on
of more challenging terrain. The general consensus seems to be that,
White Cross, a little slope behind an old wooden restaurant on Salmopol
ever since Poland joined the European Union in May 2004, travelling
Pass. I think Sebastian ‘Herman’ Hermanowski, a true living legend of
abroad has become a whole lot easier. Then there’s guys like Grzegorz
Polish snowboarding, had this handrail made to order and, one evening
Gajkowski, from Warsaw, who runs a snow camp, and Wojtek Pajak,
in the spring, he and a few other guys hammered it into the ground. I
from Bielsko-Biala, who manages to run his own snow apparel brand,
remember we couldn’t wait for the first snowfall that year to ride it.
organise camps and compete, all at the same time. With forefathers like
Things have definitely moved on from the days of that first DIY effort, and it’s good to see more and more contests and jams being organised, like the Billabong Freestyle Festival or the Freestyle
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this still digging in deep to keep the scene alive, Polish snowboarding is bound to go boom. Watch this space.
Sarah Meurle, East London.
Going Rogue Jenna Selby puts out an all-British, all-female skate flick. Interview Ed Andrews. PHOTOGRAPHY JENNA SELBY Fed up of skate magazines ignoring females, UK skater Jenna Selby set
Some films tend to focus a lot on the lifestyle that surrounds skateboarding
up Rogue Skateboards in 2005 to give girls a platform all of their own.
instead of the riding. What do you make of that? Yeah, some of the American
After five years of comps, jams and slamming hard on cold concrete,
films have a lot of talking through them. We are trying to steer away from
Rogue is finally making its film debut with As If, And What?, a sweet slice
that and just focus on the skating. If you concentrate on us being girls who
of celluloid that lets the skating speak for itself.
are trying to skate, it can grate on people. It’s better if you just show a video where people are getting on with it. It’s not bad to have them talking but
Could you tell us a bit more about your new film? It’s named after a really
more in a ‘hanging out’ context, not talking about why girls aren’t accepted
bad song that we sing down at Pioneer skate park in St Albans. It’s a bit
in skateboarding. I think it’s nice just to see the riding and make your mind
of a joke, really. We’ve got the whole Rogue team in it but we are also
up from there.
promoting UK girl skaters as a whole. There are twelve main girls including Helena Long, Georgi Winter, Lucy Adams, Sue Hazel and Maria Falbo.
Is there a slam section? It’s not so much a section. People will have slams
within their own sections. Helena had a really nasty one that I could barely How did the project come about? I broke my leg last year, and the guys I
watch. Her leg crumpled beneath her when she came off a handrail. We’ve
was staying with were video editors and taught me how to do it. We put
got a broken arm in there too which is pretty horrible!
a promo together and had a good response so we decided to make a full-length film.
What do you think you’ve learned from making the film? I got quite stressed
out in the beginning because I had really high expectations. I think you Did your skating have to take a back seat while you were making the
have to compromise a lot and not get yourself worked up about things. You
video? Yeah, I was out until about March. I didn’t have the greatest physio
have an idea of what tricks you want and sometimes people just won’t land
so, after three weeks of skating, I had another accident. I’ve had two
it. You’ve got to be a bit more chilled out, I think.
operations this year and I haven’t been able to skate. The film has kept me sane by just being around skating.
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As If, And What? is out now. www.rogueskateboards.co.uk
A PROVOCATIVE NEW FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY
PRESENTS
featuring
TOM LOWE
XAVIER DE LE RUE
FERGAL SMITH
GALLOWS
MICKEY SMITH
‘DIVIDED BY THEIR ART. UNITED BY THEIR ARTISTRY’ BJH>8 7N
JAMES EDWARD BARKER
RELENTLESS ENERGY DRINK PRESENTS LIVES OF THE ARTISTS WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ROSS CAIRNS PRODUCERS BEN PUGH RORY AITKEN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER MARC CAVE 9>G:8IDGH SMOKE AND MIRRORS D; E=DID<G6E=N DANIEL TRAPP ED WILD RICHARD STEWART :9>I:9 7NJULIAN EGUIGUREN ARTISTS XAVIER DE LE RUE GALLOWS TOM LOWE FERGAL SMITH MICKEY SMITH
I>IA: H:FJ:C8:
'%%. G:A:CIA:HH :C:G<N 6AA G><=IH G:H:GK:9
LViX] ^i Vi gZaZciaZhhZcZg\n#Xdb
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47
Artwork Geoff McFetridge
The Spike Jonze Tribute, by Mark Lewman.
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talked Christopher
what was happening. The kids who created the DC
Competitions. Made magazines, ’zines, music, friends.
Walken into a flying harness. He got Björk to
hardcore movement had to fight to build what they
We made people mad. We figured it out on the fly.
orchestrate a musical in a tyre shop in 110-degree
believed in, but this independent stance also set the
weather. He’s set people on fire, had Nic Cage soaking
creativity free.
As journalists and artists, we were technically terrible. But we intuitively understood that technical
in a mosquito-infested swamp, and went incognito as a
Two other critical elements to add to the mix
chops would come with constant practise, and the
sidewalk street dancer to test an idea. He’s worked with
of early Spike influences: BMX and skateboarding.
real magic was in expressing an attitude that can only
the world’s greatest puppeteers (Malkovich), a pack of
Both sports are about exploring new boundaries,
come from living the lifestyle.
live dogs (Weezer), and high explosives (Lakai). He’s
challenging yourself and seeing the world as a series
For example: a typical mission to cover a half-
built the world’s best kid’s fort, given stickers to the
of invisible lines. Moving through an environment
pipe contest would be enhanced greatly by noting,
president of the United States, and destroyed a Gap
at speed, you have to take constant action and test
upon exiting the commercial airline flight from
store using a motorcycle and a mini van. He’s made a
your abilities and imagination. How many different
LAX to JFK, an unguarded piece of aviation safety
life out of making hard things look easy and making
ways can you use a kerb? How can you bring your
equipment strapped into the overhead bin. It was a
crazy things look fun. In short, he’s built a name for
own style? This endless drive for progression and
bullhorn. Spike smuggled it off the plane, and over the
himself making the whole thing up as he went along.
individuality is baked into both sports, making them
next several days it was discovered that the greatest
From what I’ve observed, he’s done it all by employing
perpetually youthful and creative.
journalism tool you could bring to New York City
the following holy trinity of operating principles:
At age seventeen, Spike left Maryland the day
was, in fact, a bullhorn. Gridlocked traffic was pulled
after he graduated high school to join us on the
over by mysterious police siren noises. Pedestrians
1. Stay naïve.
staff of Freestylin’ magazine. We hired him because
were verbally ridiculed. Spike’s dad was roused at 2am
2. Be confident.
he had that spark: he was inexperienced but had
from the street level (he lived on the 7th floor). At the
3. Always keep moving.
an ability to make things happen and get people to
BMX competition, high-volume freestyle Jamaican
share their energy. We had a warehouse of equipment
toasting was instigated (accent quality debatable).
Rewind about twenty-five years and you’ll
to document our subculture and tell stories. It
This kind of stuff happened constantly.
find a perfect storm to set the stage for Spike’s
was a small scene but it was ours. The bike riders,
Spike mastered the ability to live in the now and
storied career. Unlike the instant ubiquity of today,
skateboarders and other characters we came across
see the world as pure creative potential. He learned
the 1980s were arguably the last decade where
were exploring the world and living a dream life.
to share it as a story, and put his own twist on it all.
subculture had a chance to percolate undiscovered.
Their job was to do whatever the fuck they wanted,
Today the world celebrates this risk-taking burst of
Scenes took longer to fully reach a boil and they
and our job was to turn it into inspiration.
energy, a skinny kid from the suburbs who turned
required commitment. Membership was cultivated,
Spike arrived on the West Coast, but never stopped
independence into an art form. And sometimes
and the barrier to entry formed a bedrock bond
driving. We lived together in a nondescript Torrance
I hear people ask, where did it come from?
amongst the outcasts who belonged.
townhouse with tan walls and beige carpet. Completely
It came from asking, ‘What if?’
For instance, being a kid on the come-up in
bland in every way, we treated it as a command bunker
Bethesda, Maryland, in the 1980s, perhaps you
and declared a war on boredom. We filled it with a
Mark Lewman is the creative director of Nemo, an action
took note of the punk scene in your backyard in
rotating roster of human driftwood from all over the
agency. He co-edited Freestylin’ magazine and co-founded
adjacent Washington, DC. The ethos of said scene
world. We started Club Homeboy, a mail-order church
Club Homeboy alongside Spike Jonze and Andy Jenkins in
was to create a platform to express yourself, because
celebrating underground bike culture (as if the 1980s
the late 1980s.
nobody from the establishment (music/politics/art/
freestyle BMX industry wasn’t random enough).
entertainment) was interested in commercialising
We went on tour together. Went to shows together.
Twitter: @superlewman.
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Spike Jonze. Alleged Gallery, Ludlow Street, NYC. 1994. PHOTOGRAPHY E. REILLY
Design icon Geoff McFetridge talks plain and simple sense. Text Andrea Kurland Artwork Geoff McFetridge
Geoff McFetridge likes to talk. A lot.
doodle to the uninitiated is in fact the culmination of
I didn’t know you were allowed to be an ‘artist’. No one’s
It’s understandable, considering the hours of solitude
years of hard graft, spent pushing, learning, challenging
dad was an artist, so I never knew there was such a thing.”
it takes to get to where he is. He may be an artist, an
oneself and striving for success. And even when you get
It wasn’t until Geoff heard about “something called
animator, a graphic designer of Hollywood proportions
there, it’s still a solitary game – played best when it’s just
graphic design – which was being a commercial artist,
who cavorts with Coppola and Jonze, but he’s also
you and your thoughts in a studio, for hours, all alone.
really” that he realised he could balance the expectations
reached a place where no one questions what his work
So it makes sense that Geoff enjoys a good chat.
of a suburban upbringing (i.e. to have a job) with his
But it’s also totally surprising, given that he can make
innate desire to simply draw. “I wanted to be successful,”
The list of things bearing the GM stamp is as
a single drawing speak a thousand words. “I’m good at
he explains. “My models were looking at, like, skateboard
impressive as it is long. Through his design studio,
singularity,” explains Geoff, succinctly. “Being totally
brands are successful, or bands are successful… I never
Champion Graphics, Geoff has produced work
reductive. Doing the most with a single thing.”
is. It’s just Geoff McFetridge, and that’s enough.
had a model for being an artist… I viewed what I was
for everyone from Nike to The New York Times,
It’s halfway through our mammoth interview, and
doing as art, but I thought, ‘I should just call it graphic
transforming T-shirts into collectable works of art and
Geoff is hitting his stride. We’ve passed through his
design, that’s the trick!’ If I said I was a graphic designer,
explaining convoluted corporate messages by drawing
childhood (Calgary, Canada: classic suburbia), analysed
it meant I could do whatever I wanted and still make
a single line. What he does well on paper looks even
his education (CalArts, California: prestigious and
money and be successful – whatever that is.”
better on film, whether he’s creating an animation for
thorough), relived the highs (being made art director of
To the casual psychoanalyst, this early choice is
a music video (The Whitest Boy Alive’s ‘Golden Cage’)
Grand Royal magazine), acknowledged the lows (realising he sucked at art directing Grand Royal magazine) and are about to get to the here and now (post-Where The Wild Things Are: beyond stoked). But first, it’s time to backtrack a little and find out what’s made Geoff, Geoff.
Freudian gold. Does Geoff’s decision to become an
or hand-doodling title sequences for a film by Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicides) or Spike Jonze (Where
The Wild Things Are). He’s a collaborator and coconspirator – a staple of both The Directors Bureau and Beautiful Losers collective, and one of two minds behind “introspective skateboard company” Solitary Arts. But as well as making stuff look good for others, he’s also an artist in his own right, who sees his art shows as “plutonium” and commercial work as “a dead end”. You see, at thirty-eight Geoff can call himself an “allround visual auteur” and get away with it because, well, that’s kind of what he is. But you don’t just get to be that guy without putting in the work. What may be a simple
52 HUCK
employable graphic designer, not a struggling artist, infer that our man needs stability in life? “You can talk about these things in a complicated way,” says Geoff, cutting through the crap, “but really it comes down to something as simple as this: I always felt like I needed a job and that steered me towards graphic design… Originally I thought I was drawn to graphic design because I liked seeing lots
“Everything my work is about was formed as a child,”
of stuff I’d made everywhere. I don’t know where that
says Geoff, who describes his conservative hometown of
comes from. Maybe it’s the generation I’m a part of – we
Calgary as “the Texas of Canada”. “Living in this very banal,
were sold a lot of stuff, so we wanna make a lot of stuff.”
uniform place gave me a lot of space for introspection… I
Whatever it was driving Geoff, it pushed him all
thought I was gonna be an architect, because that was the
the way to The California Institute of the Arts. “I
only thing I knew about people who were allowed to draw.
didn’t know specifically why I was going to CalArts,
but instinctively I knew I needed, like, a method,” he
were doing. It was exciting, like, ‘Okay, Mark Lewman’s
he does, it’s the Spikeness of it that resonates, you know?
says, dabbling in a spot of self-analysis. “I had ideas and
coming over to my house!’ So he comes over, looks at my
Always giving yourself away by your decisions, who you
interests and skills but I needed structure.”
work, and asks me to art direct Grand Royal. I’d never
work for and what you do. I think I understood that
made a magazine but was like, ‘Okay, cool.’”
early on. Only do the stuff you want to do, and do it in a
Under the tuition of design legends Ed Fella, Lorraine Wilde and Jeff Keedy, Geoff put himself through his paces
Casually over the moon, Geoff moved into a studio
– “I wanted to reinvent myself and forced myself to not
across the road from Grand Royal records – aka Beastie
Suffice to say, Geoff would have a hard time
produce anything that looked like something I had done
Boys HQ – inAtwaterVillage, LosAngeles, where he’s still
embarrassing anyone these days. Even his childhood
before” – and graduated in 1995 with the method that he
based today. Between 1995 and 1997, he painstakingly art
ambition of owning a skateboard company has been
craved. But it wasn’t just a need for structure that brought
directed two issues of the seminal Beastie Boys magazine.
executed with that same reductive eye. “Solitary Arts
him to Los Angeles. “I came here because everything I
His dream job ended up teaching him his biggest lesson
is about breaking down skateboarding into exactly
ever liked came from Southern California,” says Geoff,
yet. “I learned I’m bad at making magazines,” says Geoff.
what it is,” says Geoff. “All the banal stuff you take for
who grew up skateboarding. “I didn’t come to LA because
“So I thought, ‘Well, what are you good at?’ and that was
granted – like pushing and rolling over something – just
I wanted to meet Spike Jonze, Andy Jenkins and Mark
very clear. I’m good at taking single images and putting
appreciating how magical that is! So the graphics are
Lewman [the trio behind Club Homeboy and Freestylin’
them with text. Which is basically what I was doing this
a trigger for a paradigm shift for the rider to look at
magazine] – but I knew that’s where they were.”
whole time in my sketch books. Drawing is the opposite
skateboarding differently, which is really about looking
Being in the right place at the right time, unbelievably,
of work, it’s mindlessness. So I finally said to myself, ‘Stop
at your life differently. By understanding the image, it’s
paid off. When Geoff got a call from Andy Jenkins – then
learning, stop struggling, stop testing yourself. Do what
like you learn a new word. People may look at it and say,
art director at Girl Skateboards – things went from good
you’re good at.’ It was a big growing-up moment, like,
‘Oh, I never thought about that, that’s clever,’ but clever
to bad to stellar in a matter of days. “I had been doing
‘Have some commitment to what you’re doing.’”
actually means, ‘That’s something I totally understand
way that won’t embarrass your friends.”
graphics for Girl and they said, ‘We’re going to hire you
And that’s exactly what he did. In 1997, Geoff had
that’s familiar, but I’ve just never seen or heard it
to work here full-time.’ So I quit my bad job and, literally
his first solo exhibition at George’s in Los Angeles,
before.’ Having a skateboard company that could do
as I’m clearing out my desk, Andy phones me and is like,
featuring iconic images he produced by “working to a
that was another piece of the puzzle that I liked.”
‘We can’t hire you.’ Rick Howard [who co-founded Girl
stringent rule of making everything super, super clear”.
Now that the puzzle’s complete, Geoff ’s ready to
with Spike] had apparently freaked out about taking
From then on, instead of struggling, he simply let things
take a breath. “I think I’ve talked in circles – does any
someone else on as they were still growing. Then he said,
fall into place. “That first show was all about making stuff
of this make sense?”
‘But a friend of mine, Mark Lewman, just became the
that you and your friends like. Just being true to who you
editor of Grand Royal magazine and he wants to meet
are and your world. It’s a simple concept, but to me that
with you.’ All these guys were like totally epic to me. They
was a revelation,” says Geoff. “Like, I’ve been working
www.solitaryarts.com
were the master class – I was reading everything they
with Spike for twelve years or whatever, and everything
www.championdontstop.com
You bet, Geoff. It makes perfect, simple sense
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pHOTOGRAPHY Ryan Schierling
pHOTOGRAPHY MARK LEWMAN
55
pHOTOGRAPHY MARK LEWMAN
pHOTOGRAPHY MARK LEWMAN
HUCK ASSESSES SPIKE JONZE’S PLACE IN THE LEGENDARY FILMMAKING CLASS OF ’99. TEXT DEREK HILL
Film movements are never fixed, despite the best efforts of critics and historians to make them so. Some, like the French Nouvelle Vague or the enfants
terribles of Dogme 95, are unarguably well-defined cultural movements. But when discussing larger, more expansive groups like the New Hollywood explosion of the 1970s (Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma and the rest of the so-called Movie Brats), the definition of what constitutes a real movement tends to warp over the years as who is and isn’t part of it changes with the fashions of taste and popularity. In the mid-to-late nineties, building on the foundation constructed by independent directors like Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee and David Lynch a decade before, a new generation of filmmakers – Richard Linklater, David O Russell, Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze – crashed the otherwise stale American independent film scene (and later mainstream Hollywood) with a series of blackly comic yet earnest, audaciously stylish, surreal and sometimes structurally daring films that helped revitalise commercial cinema. They represented a (new) American New Wave: filmmakers linked by their idiosyncratic and sometimes anxious visions, who consciously yearned for the creative freedom that the Movie Brats had attained (and later lost), but also spiritually aligned with the dynamic bravadoes of the Nouvelle Vague (Godard, Truffaut, Rivette, Resnais, Chabrol, Rohmer), who lived and breathed films with heroic passion.
It turned out to be a landmark year for American film. The year that The Blair Witch Project, Boys
Don’t Cry, Election, Eyes Wide Shut, Fight Club,
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Magnolia, The Matrix, Office Space, Rushmore, The Sixth Sense, The Thin Red Line, Three Kings and The Virgin Suicides were all released into cinemas. The year was 1999. Each of them challenged us with new perspectives on old themes, helped redefine their respective genres, and some, like The Blair Witch Project, even chipped away at the Hollywood box office barricade for a brief moment, as well as redesigning how a film could be marketed. To have so many original films released in those twelve months was remarkable. And then there was Being John Malkovich, the collaboration between Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Before his arrival on the big screen, most savvy filmgoers were already hip to Jonze due to his music video work for Sonic Youth, the Beastie Boys, Weezer, Björk and, most memorably, the Fatboy Slim video for ‘Praise You’ in which Jonze and the fictional Torrance Community Dance Group demonstrated their improvisatory brilliance in front of unsuspecting bystanders. The videos were well thought out yet experimental, provocative without being abrasive. They were also enticing teasers before the inevitable feature film debut. For a while Jonze was attached to an adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s classic children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon for TriStar Pictures. But after more than a year working on the project, TriStar pulled the plug after the executives who green-lit the film were ousted. Jonze was back on the hunt for material. Charlie Kaufman’s script for Being John Malkovich had been floating around Hollywood looking for a director. It eventually found its
way to Jonze, who ended up being the perfect collaborator to bring Kaufman’s eccentricity on the page to life on the screen. It could easily have gone horribly wrong. The premise of the film is, despite its strangeness, easy to digest: an unemployed puppeteer named Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) finds clerical work with LesterCorp, situated on floor seven-and-a-half of a Manhattan office building; lusts after a cruel yet attractive co-worker, Maxine (Catherine Keener), who has no sexual interest in him; and eventually locates a portal hidden behind a filing cabinet into the literal head of actor John Malkovich. The trip inside Malkovich’s head only lasts a few minutes before Craig is jettisoned out alongside the New Jersey Turnpike filled with more metaphysical questions than he had before. Craig and Maxine put an ad in the paper offering people a new experience and charge them for the pleasure of being someone else. Things go smoothly until the real Malkovich catches on, and when the actor himself travels through his own portal in the film’s most ingenious and hilariously existential moment, the weird is cranked to eleven. In lesser hands the material could have wallowed in its own exoticism, never offering up anything more than an intriguing idea with a perverse take on celebrity and identity issues. But what Kaufman explores thematically, and Jonze brings to vivid life, is an unsettling philosophical layer amid the humour. A strong element of darkness and melancholy underpins the absurdist comedy without ever overwhelming it. Considering that Kaufman, left to his own creative devices for his directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, was unable to balance the humour and pessimism as
effectively, Jonze’s contribution to the partnership
Donald’s more successful but commercially hackneyed
Burton, filmmakers who go for broad dramatic
now seems even more crucial.
results, grows increasingly despondent and desperate.
strokes or inundate the audience with unapologetic
Writer’s block has long been fodder for films – Barton
sentimentality.
Fink and The Shining being two of the better ones – but none of them can match Adaptation.’s almost macabre delineation of the mundane drudgery surrounding the act of writing. And while the film is technically more polished and daring on a narrative level than Being John Malkovich, it’s also unsuspectingly more poignant and moving as we watch the fictional Orlean grapple with her inability to truly feel Laroche’s obsession with the rare ghost orchid, as well as Charlie’s own frustrations at not being able to translate her book into something rewarding and unique. Beyond the meta-cleverness is a film of strange beauty, pronounced melancholy and subtle poetry. It’s a film masked as a comedy but offering up something deeper, though without apologising for the accompanying laughs. It was an even more rewarding venture for Kaufman and Jonze and a harbinger of greater things to come. The return of Spike Jonze to the screen (though sans Kaufman) has been seven years coming. On the surface, it appears to show the director striking out in an entirely new direction in bringing Maurice Sendak’s children’s book to the screen. Yet while the gentle anarchy of Sendak’s art paired with his minimal text is pure fantasy, fantasy’s a vein Jonze has tapped before, whether via a Malkovichian head portal or a metafictional doorway that dumps its characters out of a naturalistic meditation on writer’s block into the thick of an improbably plotted Hollywood thriller.
alongside eccentrics like Terry Gilliam, Guillermo
Adaptation., the next Jonze/Kaufman partnership concocted in 2002, was a more studio-friendly project than their first film. Unlike Being John Malkovich, which was made under the radar, Adaptation. was high profile and highly anticipated. Being John Malkovich had been both a critical and popular success and the film garnered plenty of award nominations and some wins (at BAFTA and the Independent Spirit Awards). And while the presence of John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener – not to mention Malkovich himself – in the first film signalled Jonze and Kaufman’s ability to attract important talent, their second collaboration would bring out the big guns. Adaptation. would star acting royalty Meryl Streep as real-life journalist Susan Orlean; box office heavyweight Nicolas Cage as screenwriters Charlie and Donald Kaufman; and the sturdy character actor Chris Cooper as renegade horticulturalist John Laroche, the subject of Orlean’s bestselling non-fiction book, The Orchid Thief. With that sort of acting pedigree, and with a major Hollywood studio – this time Columbia Pictures – dutifully keeping tabs on the bigger budget, Adaptation. could easily have slipped from Jonze and Kaufman’s control. But if anything, the film is even more adventurous than its predecessor. It’s also more structurally refined, complex, emotionally mature, and gains depth upon subsequent viewings. Wearily attempting to adapt Susan Orlean’s book to the screen in an original fashion, screenwriter ‘Charlie Kaufman’, consistently demeaned by his brother
Jonze
sits
more
comfortably
del Toro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, but grounds his films in a sturdier naturalism and the tedium of everyday life. And all filmmakers, in a broad sense, are fantasists after all. Whether it is German Expressionism or Neo-Realism, Douglas Sirk melodrama or John Cassavetes-style improvisation, it is all fantasy, all lies. Jonze is a true original, a curious mix of Buñuel, Cassavetes, the Spielberg of Jaws and ET, blessed with the anarchic comedic subterfuge of the great anti-comedian Andy Kaufman. Like all of the filmmakers who constitute the (new) American New Wave that emerged in the 1990s, Jonze rewards the intrepid viewer with films that assume that you’re intelligent, sophisticated and yearning for something fresh. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but considering the bedraggled state of what lumbers out of the major Hollywood studios, the instances of true idiosyncratic filmmakers who have managed to maintain their creative equilibrium should be celebrated. Hollywood loves to eat its own; look no further than Orson Welles. So when creative minds scramble to stay afloat and still make adventuresome cinema, it’s a rare and beautiful thing Derek Hill’s Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry
Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers – An excursion into the American New Wave is available now, published by Kamera Books.
It would be reckless to think of Jonze in the same breath as fantasists like Peter Jackson or Tim
www.kamerabooks.co.uk
57
Godfather of street skating Mark Gonzales is one of a kind. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a madcap inventor, a muse to Spike Jonze and, when genius meets mayhem, an artist and poet too. To understand The Gonz, you need to peek inside his head.
58 HUCK
Courtesy of the Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York. www.franklinparrasch.com.
Artwork and poetry Mark Gonzales
59
Ty Evans takes inspiration from the best. It’s no wonder, then, that his videos resonate far beyond the world of skate. TEXT Jay Riggio PHOTOGRAPHY Andy Mueller
Making a good skate video isn’t an easy venture, especially at a time when the market is flooded with literally hundreds of virals a week via the web. But while the quantity climbs, the quality suffers. The truth is, as skateboarding progresses to new levels of mind-blowing insanity trick-wise, a video featuring great skateboarding alone is no longer enough to make the cut. Over the years, countless vids have come and gone without making an impact. That is, except for a select group of filmmakers who continue to create exceptional material that far surpasses the herd. Ty Evans is not only one of these few, he’s the best. What separates Ty from the pack isn’t simple to describe but it is undeniable. Even if you’ve never stepped on a skateboard in your life, to watch a Ty Evans video is to be not just entertained but transported, whether you can differentiate a kickflip from a heelflip or not. Working for Girl and Chocolate since 2002, Ty has been responsible for some of the most innovative, genrebending skate videos ever, most notably Yeah Right! and Fully Flared, both co-directed by Girl/Chocolate coowner Spike Jonze. Now thirty-five, Ty got his start simply filming friends as they were out skating. He’d make small videos, editing the footage from one VCR to the next. In time his interest grew and he began to pay closer attention to filming and cutting techniques. A local at the now legendary Powell Skate Park, Ty used his connection to the pros who would drop by to kickstart his filming conquests. “Todd Hastings from Powell let me borrow a video camera, a Canon A-1, and that was the first time I actually used a professional camera,” he explains. “I think that was, like, ’93 or ’94. And I just remember filming a lot of guys in Santa Barbara along with a lot of Super 8 and stuff.” Ty moved to San Diego and set about reinventing himself as a skate video auteur. He was responsible for Planet Earth’s Silver and Rhythm’s Genesis before going
60 HUCK
on to work for Transworld’s video division. During his
Hollywood filmmaker, it seems a fair bet that Ty won’t
early years, he admits to following the usual formula
be far behind – ready to branch out to non-skate
before taking an aesthetic change of direction.
projects. Perhaps maybe even a feature film or two are
“Kind of halfway through my stint at Transworld
Lucas Puig.
I started thinking about showing different stuff,
idea of directing a movie script.
showing the emotional aspect of skating,” remembers
“If I identified with it on an emotional level and my
Ty. Wanting to reveal more on screen than just the
heart was in it, for sure,” he says. He mentions filming
tricks, he began experimenting with new approaches
infamous graffiti artist Neckface over the past four years
to how a skate video should look.
for a work-in-progress documentary. “It’s just super
“I wanted to show the trials and tribulations that
loose. Whenever he’s in town, we’ll go out and film him
we go through,” he says, referring to his 1999 classic
doing his thing. We have a bunch of cool footage so far.”
Transworld video Feedback, “showing the anger, the
Recently Ty took his first giant step outside the
happiness and the sadness. It was like, ‘Maybe we
skate industry by signing with the production house
should show more than the trick, but also still have
Super Studios. It was there that he directed his first
that really strong skating there to back all that other
mainstream project, a TV Spot for Nestlé Aero
stuff.’ I think that was where I figured out that people
featuring pro Bob Burnquist, a skate park and around
need to look at this as more than just skating.”
50,000 brown balloons.
From there he produced unforgettable Transworld
“It was a huge, big-budget commercial. It was cool.
videos including The Reason and Modus Operandi,
I learned a bunch. I’m kind of at the point now where
developing his new creative sensibility.
I can just keep doing everything and anything that I
“There’s one shot in Modus that I love,” he explains.
can do to learn. I want to soak up as much as I can,
“I was just filming these kids’ faces as they were watching
because this stuff [skateboarding] is limited with how
someone skate. Someone did a trick and the one kid looks
long you can do it for,” he says.
at the other kid so psyched. That’s one of my favourite
But after skating, what might remain for the guy
things I ever filmed just because it captures that feeling I
who is seemingly capable of turning any project to
felt when I saw someone skating for the first time.”
proverbial gold? “The one thing I always had a gripe
Ty’s career at Transworld came to an end when
with whenever I saw skating in commercials is that it
he was hired to work at Girl and Chocolate. “When
was always done wrong. There’d be a guy flying through
I started working for them, those guys wanted to
the air and you can tell he’s bailing. Maybe now I can
show the funny, joke-around side of skating, so that
have access to do these things in the mainstream
was a big learning experience,” he says. “There’s all
correctly where skateboarders would be happy. I think
this other fun stuff that you can do. When you start
it’s the next logical step that I’m taking.”
skating that’s what you start skating for, for the fun.
At the moment Ty is back at his skate roots, filming a
I started seeing all the funny stuff that [Girl owners]
hugely anticipated feature-length Chocolate video, which
Rick [Howard], Mike [Carroll] and Spike were doing
will be shot entirely in high definition. But as he embarks
and it opened me up to that whole world.”
on yet another soon-to-be-epic skate production, the
Ty’s collaborations with Spike Jonze for a list of
question still remains: what makes a good skate video?
Girl, Chocolate and Lakai videos resulted in some of
“I think it’s a lot of things,” he says. “It has to be
the most entertaining and progressive skate videos of
something new and refreshing that hasn’t been repeated.
all time, both in the eyes of veteran skaters and the
I think that’s a main factor, whether it’s the filming or
general public. Aside from stellar skating, they featured
the presentation, the editing or the skating or the music.
conceptual skits, CGI, motion graphics, HD cameras,
If it stands out as something new, I think people take
dollies, jib arms, steadicam and even pyrotechnics. All
notice of it compared to the same old skate video.”
these components took the productions to ever more sophisticated and dynamic levels.
Behind the scenes of Fully Flared.
pent up inside him. Ty isn’t completely opposed to the
In the end, it’s Ty’s vision, patience and dedication that have boosted his work to the top of the food
“A lot of that stuff is all Spike: his mind is insane,”
chain. “Myself and a bunch of the other guys making
Ty says about some of the amazing ideas that were born
skate videos, we like making these big projects that
during their productions – skits like the ‘Pink Board’,
take everything to make them happen, whether it’s
‘Invisible Boards’ and the now legendary exploding
years or frustration. They’re these huge projects that
opening sequence of Fully Flared.
when they come out, they’re memorable.”
“It’s fun to watch Spike grow from a skate
What the future holds is anyone’s guess. But what is
photographer for PowerEdge, to making Video
certain is this: whatever direction Ty decides to take, his
Days, to everything he’s doing now. It’s so inspiring, everything he’s done, and I feel privileged to work with him,” Ty enthuses. Working alongside Jonze, who has made the seamless crossover from skate photographer to
work will just keep getting better. “I think progression is the most fun aspect of what I do,” he says. “I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and keep progressing.” www.superstudio.tv
61
ax knew that a bunk bed was
and be reminded where you want to go and what
there all night. All weekend. He had some thinking
the perfect structure to use
you’re looking for.” His father had printed, by hand,
to do, about this news about the sun expiring and the
when building an indoor fort.
three beginnings on every page.
resulting void inhaling the earth, and he wanted to steer
First of all, bunk beds have a
Max found a pen and began:
clear of Claire, who might yet want retribution, and he
roof, and a roof is essential if
was angry at his mom, who seemed to forget for hours
you’re going to have an observation tower. And you need
I WANT Gary to fall into some kind of bottomless hole.
at a time that he existed. And any time he spent in his
an observation tower if you’re going to spot invading
I WANT Claire to get her foot caught in a bear trap.
room was time he didn’t have to spend with Gary.
armies before they breach your walls and overtake your
I WANT Claire’s friends to die by flesh-eating
kingdom. Anyone without a bunk bed would have a
tapeworms.
much harder time maintaining a security perimeter,
So he had a choice. Would he stay behind the curtain and think about things, marinate in his own confusion, or would he put on his white fur suit and
Then he stopped. His father had explained that
howl and scratch and make it known who was boss of
Max had just done a quick survey of the area
the journal was for positive wants, not negative
this house and of all the world known and unknown?
surrounding his bunk kingdom and was now down
wants. When you wanted something negative, it
on the lower bunk, where he could be unseen and
didn’t count, he said. A want should improve your life
unknown. For a while, he thought about what his
while improving the world, even if just a little bit.
and if you can’t do that you don’t stand a chance.
science teacher had been talking about earlier that
So Max began again:
day—that someday the sun would die. Mr. Malhotra
“Arrrooooooo! ” The howling was a good start. Animals howl, he had been told, to declare their existence. Max, in his white wolf suit, stood at the top of the stairs and, using a rolled-up piece of construction paper as a
had sensed that the mood in the class was darkening,
I WANT to get out of here.
that he’d scared his third graders, and had tried to
I WANT to go to the moon or some other planet.
“Arrrooooooooooooo! ”
brighten things: “What am I talking about? I’m being
I WANT to find some unicorn DNA and then grow
When he was done, there was a long silence.
such a downer. Don’t worry about the sun dying! You
a bunch of them and teach them to impale Claire’s
“Uh-oh,” Gary finally said from the living room.
and everyone you know will be long gone by then!”
friends with their horns.
It was a very strange time in Max’s life. The day
megaphone, howled again, as loud as he could.
Ha! Max thought. Let Gary worry. Let everyone worry.
before, his sister had tried, by proxy, to kill him. Her
Oh, well. He could erase it later. Just writing it
tobacco-chewing friends had chased him into his
felt good. But now he was sick of writing. He wanted
snow fort, and at the moment when he felt safest, in
to do something. But what did he want to do? This
the cool white hollow, they had jumped on the roof,
was the central question of this day and most days.
He pounded down the stairs, triumphant. “Who wants to get eaten?” he asked the house and the world. “Not me,” Claire said from the TV room. Aha! Max decided. That only puts her higher on
burying him. His sister had done nothing to help,
Max caught sight of his wolf suit hanging on the
and then had driven off with them, and to punish her,
back of the closet door. He hadn’t worn it in weeks.
He strode into the TV room. He lifted his claws
because she was no longer his sister, he’d doused her
He’d gotten it for Christmas three years before, the
up, growled, and sniffed at the air. He wanted to make
room with water. Buckets and buckets he’d emptied
last one with both his parents, and he’d immediately
sure that Claire and everyone knew this terrible fact:
everywhere, in a furious, joyous process. It had been
put it on, and kept it on for the rest of school break.
there was a bloodthirsty, brilliant, borderline-insane
great, and felt so right, until his mother came home
It had been too big then, but his mom had pinned it
wolf in their midst.
and found what he’d done. She was mad, Claire was
and taped it to make it work until he grew into it.
the menu!
Claire, seeing Max approach, rolled her eyes.
mad, and so, tonight, the only person in the house
Now he and it were the perfect size, and he wore
who seemed to like him was his mom’s chinless
it when he knew he was alone in the house and could
Claire thought a moment, tapping her pencil
boyfriend, Gary, and even thinking that sent a
wrestle the dog or jump and growl without anyone
against her lower teeth. She looked at Max, her eyes
shudder through him.
“You want me to kill something for you?” he asked.
watching. Although the house was now full—his
bright. “Yeah,” she said. “Go kill the little man in the
Max, tired of thinking in his brain, decided to
mother in the kitchen making dinner, Claire in the TV
living room.”
think on paper, and so retrieved his journal from
room pretending to do her homework, Gary on the
“Yeah,” Max said, getting excited. “We’ll cut his
under the bed. His father had given him the journal
couch in the living room—as Max stared at the wolf suit
brains out and make him eat ’em! He’ll have to think
shortly after he left—how long ago now? Three
it seemed to be calling to him. It’s time, it was saying to
from his stomach!”
years?—and had, in white-out, written the words
Max. He wasn’t sure this was actually the right time to
“WANT JOURNAL” on the cover. In this book
put it on, but then again he usually felt better wearing it.
his father had written as inscription and directive,
He felt faster, sleeker, more powerful.
Claire gave Max a look she might give a threeheaded cat. “Yeah, you go do that,” she said. Max left the room and found Gary lying on the
“Write what you want. Every day, or as often as you
On the other hand, he could stay in bed. He could
couch in his work clothes, his frog eyes closed, his
can, write what you want. That way, whenever you’re
stay in the fort, the red blanket casting a red light
chin entirely receded into his neck. Max gritted his
confused or rudderless, you can look to this book,
on everything inside. He could miss dinner and stay
teeth and let out a low, simmering growl.
62 HUCK
An extract from the Wild Things, Dave Eggers’ inspired novelisation of Where The Wild Things Are. TEXT Dave Eggers
Gary opened his eyes and rubbed them.
taking notice. “Now get off the counter. And go tell
“Uh, hey, Max. I’m baggin’ a few after-work Z’s.
your sister to get her stuff off the table.”
How goes it?” Max looked at the floor. This was one of Gary’s typical questions: Another day, huh? How goes it? No play for the playa, right? None of his questions had answers. Gary never seemed to say anything that meant anything at all. “Cool suit,” Gary said. “Maybe I’ll get me one of those. What are you, like a rabbit or something?”
Max didn’t move. “CLAIRE GET YOUR STUFF OFF THE TABLE!” he yelled, more or less into his mom’s face. “Don’t yell in my face!” she hissed. “And get off the counter.” Instead of getting off the counter, Max howled. The acoustics where he was, so close to the ceiling, were not great.
soup, and he didn’t like it. “What’s wrong with you?” she screamed. “You see what you’re doing to me?” Her voice was shrill, corkscrewed. “No, you’re doing things!” he countered, sounding meeker than he’d intended. To offset this sign of weakness, he thrashed around in her grip. “There’s no way you’re eating dinner with us. Animal.” Now, because he was angry at having Gary in the
Max was about to leap upon Gary, to show him
His mom stared at him like he was crazy. Which he
house, and angry at having to eat pâté and frozen corn,
just what kind of animal he was—a wolf capable of
was, because wolves are part crazy. “You know what?”
and angry about having a witch for a sister, he growled
tearing flesh from bone with a shake of his jaws—
she said. “You’re too old to be on the counter, and
and—the idea flooding him so quickly he couldn’t
when Max’s mom came into the room. She was
you’re too old to be wearing that costume.”
resist—bit his mom’s arm as hard as he could.
carrying two glasses of blood-colored wine, and she handed one to Gary. Gary sat up, smiled his powerless
Max crossed his arms and glared at her. “You’re too old to be so short! And your makeup’s smeared!”
She screamed. She stepped back, holding her arm. Max had never bitten her before. He was scared. His
smile, and clinked his glass against hers. “Cheers,
“Get DOWN from there!” she demanded.
mom was scared. They saw each other anew. Max
little rabbit-dude,” he said, raising his glass to Max.
“Woman, feed me!” he yelled. He didn’t know
turned to see Gary entering the foyer. He was clearly
Max’s mom smiled at Max and then at Gary.
where he’d come up with that phrase, but he liked it
“Cheers, Maxie,” she said, and growled playfully
immediately.
at him. She picked up a dirty plate and hurried back toward the kitchen. “Claire!” she yelled. “I asked you to get your stuff off the table. It’s almost dinner.”
“Get off the counter, Max!” “I’ll eat you up!” he growled, raising his arms. “MAX! GET DOWN!” she yelled. She could be very loud when she wanted to be. For a second, he
unsure what he was supposed to do. “He bit me!” she spat. Gary’s eyes bulged. He turned to Max’s mom. “You can’t let him treat you this way!” “He’s not allowed to talk here!” Max yelled, pointing to the frog-eyed man.
Max entered the kitchen with his arms crossed,
thought he should get off the counter, take off his suit,
Then Claire stormed into the hall. Seeing Claire
marching purposefully, like a general inspecting his
and eat his dinner quietly, because the truth was he
and Gary and his mom, everyone looking at him like
troops. He sniffed loudly, assessing the kitchen’s
was very hungry. But then he thought better of it, and
he was the problem, sent Max tumbling over the edge.
smells and waiting to be noticed.
howled again.
He screamed as loud as he could, producing a sound
His mother said nothing, so he brought a chair near the stove and stood on it. Now they were eye to eye. “What is that? Is that food?” he asked, pointing down to something beige sitting numbly on a plate.
“Arrrooooooooo! ” At that, Max’s mom lunged for him, but he was able to elude her grasp. He leaped over the sink and
between a howl and a battle cry. “Why are you doing this to me?” his mom wailed. “This house is chaos with you in it!”
then back down onto the chair. She lunged again and
That was it. Max did not have to stand for this, any
He got no answer.
missed. Max cackled. He really was fast! He jumped
of this, all of this. He threw open the door and leaped
“Mom, what is that?” he asked, now grabbing
down, landed on the floor, and executed a perfect
down the porch and into the night.
her arm. “Pâté,” she said.
shoulder roll. Then he got up and fled from the kitchen, laughing hysterically.
The air! The moon! He felt pulled as if by an outgoing tide. The air and
Max snickered and moved on. Pâté was a
When he turned around, though, he found that his
the moon together sang a furious and wonderful song:
regrettable name for an unfortunate food. It seemed
mom was still chasing him. That was new. She rarely
Come with us, wolf-boy! Let us drink the blood of the
to Max a good idea to get up from the chair and to leap
chased him this far. When they raced through the
earth and gargle it with great aplomb! Max tore down
onto the counter. Which he presently did.
living room, Gary took notice of the escalating volume
the street, feeling free, knowing he was part of the wind.
and urgency. He put down his glass of wine and got
Come, Max! Come to the water and see! No one could
ready to intervene.
tell that he was crying—he was running too fast
Standing on the counter, he towered over everything and everyone. He was eleven feet tall. “Oh, God,” Max’s mom said. Max squatted down to inspect a package of frozen
Then, in the front hall, a surprising and awful thing happened: Max’s mom caught him.
corn. “Frozen corn? What’s wrong with real corn?” he
“Max!” she gasped.
demanded. He dropped the package loudly on the
She had his arm firmly in her hand. She had long
counter, where it made a wonderful clatter. “Frozen corn is real,” Max’s mom said, barely
© 2009 by Dave Eggers, Maurice Sendak & Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
fingers, shockingly strong, and they dug into Max’s
Extracted from The Wild Things by Dave Eggers, published
biceps. In her hand, all his muscle and sinew turned to
by Hamish Hamilton at £14.99.
63
PHOTOGRAPHY + CAPTIONS MARK LEWMAN
64 HUCK
65
66 HUCK
Drunken ruminations on the many reasons why ‘Sabotage’ and other Spike videos totally rock. TEXT Jamie Brisick
Several nights ago I drank three-quarters of a bottle
firsthand experiences of my youth, but rather the ones
autodidact. That is, his education has been more about
of bad red wine, slipped into a melancholic mood,
I watched on TV, often with a big bowl of chocolate
improvisation, finding a line in a stretch of sidewalk,
and began tooling around on the Internet. I started
chip ice cream on my lap and my beloved, frequently
a ledge, a bench, a rail and a kerb, than, say, putting in
looking at pictures of a recent northwest swell in
tortured sister sitting next to me. With flashing red
long hours at a serious college. He was spawned from
Hawaii, which led me to YouTube’s ‘North Shore
lights and chase scenes and hatchets through doors, it
the heathen world of surf/skate/snow/BMX. To use a
surf fights’, where I found myself first in the line-up
opens something tender, something unexpected.
horribly trite expression, he’s one of us.
at Pipeline, where a Hawaiian ‘gave lickins’ to a back-
And then there’s the jolting, haphazard camera
The fact that he’s reached such soaring heights
talking haole, and then in someone’s backyard, where
work. It puts the viewer in the position of the pursuer,
validates the whole tribe. He is living proof that this
a certain Fight Club scene was going down, complete
or possibly one of the dicks. It is not a neutral eye but
skewed way in which we see the world (kerbs invite
with Budweisers, pit bulls, and red meat smoking
rather a deeply entrenched one. You feel like you’ve
mental flip tricks, waves induce imagined high-line
on the BBQ. I then typed in a couple favourite
snorted a line of that coke that shows up on screen
streaks and direction changes) can in fact be parlayed
supermodels’ names, watched G-rated behind-the-
for a flashing second. And don’t get me started on the
into other mediums. Some years back I was smoking
scenes interviews with them, and felt slightly aroused.
doughnut. A lesser director might be accused of falling
a lot of pot and reading a lot of Timothy Leary. After
I could see where this was headed. I was drunk, alone
into cliché, but in this case cliché is the whole point –
ingesting his essay ‘The Evolutionary Surfer’ I got onto
and lacking self-respect. The 16oz Nivea bottle winked
post-modernist self-mockery, or something of the sort.
the idea that rather than be locked into surfing literally,
But above and beyond the visuals is the song. I was
that dance, that improv, that ability to redirect – the
never a huge Beastie Boys fan until ‘Sabotage’. It oozes
poetic, metaphorical aspects of waveriding, in other
But before I sunk to such lecherous lows I decided
a kind of contained hysteria. It makes you want to rob
words – should not be confined to the water. The
to punch in ‘Jackass’, which changed the mood
liquor stores. Or put on a fake moustache and fat tie and
‘evolved surfer’ should be able to weave his way across
considerably. I laughed out loud as Wee-Man skated
go running through downtown LA.
the wave, step off onto shore, and walk into the world,
at me from the nightstand and Belladonna or Monica Mayhem or both were only a couple clicks away.
along the boardwalk dressed as an oompa loompa,
‘Praise You’, the Fatboy Slim video, falls into this
applying these waterborne instincts into all facets of his
Johnny Knoxville farted his way through yoga class,
same category, albeit with a distinctly nineties flavour.
life. Spike, with roots in BMX and skate, embodies this.
and Steve-O shot fireworks out of his ass. I watched
It both honours and takes the piss out of the dowdy,
the opener to Jackass: The Movie three times in a row,
fictional Torrance Community Dance Group. And
and marveled at how much each of their characters are
Spike is adorable. While a heavyweight title fight
conveyed, what with the elbows and head punches and
gets you adrenalin-charged and shadow boxing, this
American flag G-string. Most of all I was completely
video makes you want to leap off the couch, windmill
cheered up, lighthearted, sitting up straight. “No one in
your arms, and bust some kind of horrible b-boy
the world is having more fun than the Jackass kids,” I
move. What’s more, it’s the first video I know of that
would tell anyone who would listen for the next week.
actually contains an interruption mid song. When the
It took a long time to get Where The Wild Things Are finished and, from what I’ve read, it sounded like a serious fight. I was worried that it might have aged him, robbed him of his experimental, mischievous spirit. When I saw the film I realised this was far from the case. In fact, less than ten minutes in I was deeply moved. When Max destroys his sister’s room after the snowball fight with her and her friends, I first thought it was forced and melodramatic. Why was this kid so angry? It seemed like an over-the-top reaction. Only later, when he tells his mother that they destroyed his igloo, did I get it. When you’re a kid, that igloo/tree fort/secret hideout is everything. It both harkened back to my lost youth, and reminded me how grown up and practical I’ve become. I’ve heard lots of similar responses. One girl I spoke to said she was sitting up front, close to the screen, a few seats down from a man who looked to be in his seventies. During one scene she heard sniffling. She looked over and he was crying his eyes out. I wonder what was going on in his head
This is a theme that runs through Spike Jonze’s
disgruntled theatre owner impedes their little orgy on
music videos. They exude humour, mischief and the
the sidewalk and turns off the beat box, Spike leaps into
refusal to grow up. The first one that comes to mind
his arms and clasps onto him as if he were a tree trunk.
is ‘Sabotage’ by the Beastie Boys. As a seventies
The music stops, the show’s over. And then it isn’t. The
American kid, this is powerful on several levels. I’m
beat box is turned back on, the dancing continues. And
reminded of Starsky and Hutch, Baretta, S.W.A.T.,
rather than break the momentum it actually enhances
and Hawaii Five-0. The tone and urgency of the song
it. It’s video vérité. And funny as shit.
is pure nineties, but the moustaches and suits and
‘What’s Up Fatlip?’ is simple and charming and as
mock screen credits belong to the seventies. It is an
much a showcase for LA’s palm tree-lined backstreets as
incredibly fun, high-energy video, but for me, and
it is the wandering Fatlip, who continually gets the bad
I suspect for many of my contemporaries, it is also
end of the stick. It feels unchoreographed, on the fly.
nostalgic. The knife fight, car explosion and guy getting
You get the sense that they’re making it up as they go.
tossed off the bridge remind me not of the real-life,
Which could also be said of Spike. He is an
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Despite their rock star extract, The Dead Weather like to keep it real. TEXT Shelley Jones Photography Wallendorff
“We didn’t know what we were doing when it started,”
says Jack Lawrence. “There are offices, a dark room
mainly because she wanted to put a group of people
says guitarist and keyboardist Dean Fertita. “There
and a photo studio. It’s all hands-on and it’s like a
together who would get along and who had a child-like
was no definition to anything – we just kind of found
family. I’m there whenever I can be, shifting records
sense to them. It was a great experience. We were a
our way as we were making the record. It’s inspiring
or boxing them or whatever.”
real little band for a while, everybody had ideas and
to make something in that way, you know – it’s a
But why the DIY approach? Surely such well-
very collaborative thing.” Going with the flow is
established artists can afford to pay someone to
Dubbed Karen O and the Kids, the band
something Fertita, Jack Lawrence, Alison Mosshart
handle their distribution? “The great thing is we have
approached the project with their inner-child in mind
and Jack White know a lot about. It’s an attitude that
total control this way,” says Lawrence. “I think the
and, having all read the book and seen clips from the
has seen the four musicians come together on a string
fans appreciate and understand that. All of it’s been
film, tried to tap into their natural and emotional
of exciting projects, and their new band, The Dead
made with love, it’s not just machines. So we have
responses. “We just started making music,” says Dean.
Weather, is no exception.
special releases for the fans, like the glow-in-the-dark
“It was another instance of nobody really having a
records we released through a pop-up store we created
defined role. Then Spike got a little bit more involved
in London on Halloween.”
to help us fine-tune everything. He was incredibly
Last January, at the end of a Kills and Raconteurs tour, the four had a jam in White’s Third Man
everybody listened to everyone else.”
Studios in Nashville and, despite all being in other
The band closed the London pop-up store with
motivating to be around. He had so much energy and
bands – Dean in Queens Of The Stone Age and The
a performance in the belly of Shoreditch Church – a
made you feel really good about what you were doing.
Raconteurs, Jack White in The White Stripes and The
setting that reflected their dark, gothic and Captain
It was nice to be around someone that knew exactly
Raconteurs, Alison in The Kills and Jack Lawrence
Beefheart-inspired aesthetic – as part of a series of
what they were looking for but weren’t telling you what
in The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes – they felt
intimate gigs. Other back-to-basics performances
to do. He wanted us to draw on our own experiences
an instant chemistry. “We felt like we were doing
saw them playing an abandoned porno theatre in LA
and imagination as well.”
something that was creatively satisfying,” says Dean.
and the basement of an art gallery in New York. It’s
Having put their wild imaginings out into the
“More than just repeating ourselves, we felt like we
a far cry from the stadium tours they are all used to,
world, are they happy with the end result? “We saw the
were doing something real, you know, that maybe we
but they’re happy to downsize. “I think we’re at a level
movie a few weeks ago at the premiere in New York,”
hadn’t done in our other bands.”
where we’re able to do that,” says Lawrence. “When
says Lawrence. “I didn’t realise how prominent the
The creative juices were flowing and, without
you start out it’s really hard to pay the bills and keep
music is throughout the whole film and I think it has
stopping to think about it, they wrote debut album
going on your terms without getting other people
a real feeling. The movie is the feeling of being a child.
Horehound in just two and a half weeks. It happened so organically, they even grew into their ominous name with little thought. “We can’t remember the day or the exact moment we decided on it,” says Dean, “but I think we liked that it conveyed a mood. It came to represent the sound we were making.” Like every natural conception, the environment had to be just right and White’s studios, headquarters of his Third Man record label, provided the perfect creative utopia for the bluesy baby to grow. “There’s a store where people can come and buy the records,”
involved. But this feels real to us.”
Watching it almost felt like a dream.”
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The self-managed path they have chosen also
As for The Dead Weather, the band plans to record
means the four band members can devote time
another album before Christmas 2009, but anything
to other creative projects such as Dean and Jack
beyond that is as unpredictable as nature itself. One
Lawrence’s collaboration with Karen O on the Where
thing, however, is for sure: if they continue to nurture
The Wild Things Are soundtrack. “I’ve known Karen and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for a while,” says Lawrence. “We were staying in the same hotel as them one night in London so we started to write some music together - Karen, Dean and I. Then when Spike [Jonze] asked her to do the music for the film, she reached out to us,
their creativity together, extraordinary things are bound to blossom. “I think it’s all about creating art,” says Lawrence. “Just making something that will stick around… well, trying to at least.” www.thedeadweather.com
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Owner Of This World, a book of photography by Shawn Records, is available at www.publicationstudio.biz.
pHOTOGRAPHY SHAWN RECORDS www.helloartists.com
Interview JONATHAN CROCKER + ILLUSTRATION SAMMY HARKHAM
Adam Spiegel got his nickname while working in
So what do you do when you’re not making movies?
there is like a huge part of getting the movie made. It
a BMX store as a teenager. Known to the world
Um... I don’t know.
was like a big communal effort.
Do you still skate? Sometimes, yeah...
Did you feel a lot of pressure because it’s such
as Spike Jonze, he is now forty, and has spent the last two decades carving out a rep as the slacker
a beloved book? It was... it was something I was
wunderkind behind BMX mags (Freestylin’), skate vids (Video Days), gonzo-genius TV shows (Jackass),
Is it hard to find time these days? Yeah, definitely. New
excited by because I’d loved it for so long and I was
commercials (Adidas, Miller, Gap), music vids
York is actually... I haven’t been skating in the city. Um.
anxious about it because it meant so much to so many
(‘Sabotage’, ‘Praise You’, Weezer’s ‘Buddy Holly’)
Um. But, er... Yeah, and the longer you’re off a board, the
people. But I think early on Maurice [Sendak] really
and movies (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation.).
longer it takes you to get your feeling back on the board.
gave me… he insisted that I not be reverential to the
Somehow, he’s always found a way to yoke the
But it’s fun... The best is like, it’s like, I go on trips with
book. He said you’ve got to make this your own. And
creativity to the commerce without letting the latter
Rick Howard, with Rick and the Girl team, and that’s
make it personal. And that was very liberating and
drag the former into the mud.
when I feel like I get back into skating. Because if I go
an important thing that Maurice said to me. Gave
Where The Wild Things Are is Jonze’s most ambitious movie yet. Based on the beloved and apparently unfilmable children’s book by Maurice Sendak, it’s taken five years of Jonze’s life – and every ounce of his creative powers and anti-establishment mojo. Not only was the book considered impossible to film, Jonze had to stand up to the studio to protect his vision. They’d given this skater-punk nearly $100 million to make a movie. They wanted a family film. What they got instead is something wild, original and elusive – much like the man who sits in front of HUCK right now. Jonze smiles – guardedly, expectantly. As ever, he prefers doing to talking. He’s our kind of guy.
out with them for a week, I’m skating every day. And
me permission to go off and not be tethered by the
skating also with those guys, they make you skate better,
anxiety of what anybody else thought the book was.
they’re all going down a set of stairs and they’ll make you
Trust my own relationship to the book.
What were you like as a kid? Um... I don’t know.
do something, whatever it is, then it’s okay, and you end up, you know, skating. If I skate by myself, I’ll never try
What were the themes that were really important to
the things I would try with those guys.
you? I guess there are themes for sure that I’m writing about but also I didn’t like... We kinda just wrote really
As a filmmaker, do you object to people meddling
intuitively. We just started at page one and... wrote!
with your vision? Are you a perfectionist? Or a control freak, even? I kind of... Yeah, maybe... But I’m
It still feels very free and organic, despite your battles
also, like, really open. I think ultimately I feel like I get
with the studio... Our movie? Well, that’s the hope.
the best results when I’m open to anyone saying an idea
Most of our movies... I think this got written a lot about
at anytime. But it’s my job to say which idea’s right. I
on the Internet last year because we had disagreements
know the movie I’m making and I have an idea for the
with the studio. But really, that’s a very small part of the
way a scene can be played or the way somebody should
movie. And I think had that not been out, you wouldn’t
be dressed or whatever it is. But if somebody else has
have known that much about it.
What’s an average day like for you? I don’t know...
an idea that’s better, that’s a better idea and that’s still
Um. Er... I don’t know. I have a very fortunate... Like,
right... Everyone can have a good idea, but I’m the only
Do you think your skate vids influenced your film
I actually do feel like, as far as being privileged, I feel
one that actually knows if it’s right or not. That’s the
style? I’m sure, I’m sure they have. I don’t know how but
really privileged in terms of my life now, because I feel
thing. I surround myself with people I have great respect
I think it’s all, it feels, it all feels, like, I’m not sure... I
like I have the kind of job that I can kind of make
for and who are really creative and talented and then it’s
don’t know. Do you think they have?
anything. Like anything I’m interested in can become
like I get to pick the best of all that. Not sure, that’s why we asked! Okay. Then I don’t know.
what I’m working on. And anything I’m working on, I’m interested in. So it’s sort of like... But I don’t
Did it work that way on Where The Wild Things
differentiate between ‘this is a job’ and ‘this is what I’m
Are? When I would be tired, they would pick up the reins. Or when they were tired, I would pick it up. We all worked like a real... Like, we would all like really have each other’s back. But, um, our crew, we were all really together. Lance Acord, our cinematographer, and all of us had worked together for the last fifteen years. KK Barrett, our production designer... Everybody in
doing for fun’. It’s sort of all simultaneous. And I don’t want to differentiate between ‘this is work that I’m getting paid for’ and ‘this is work that I’m not getting paid for’. It’s all the same. Where do you live? New York.
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So what do you think about the language of skate vids? I definitely can... I mean, there’s certain things that... The way we filmed ‘Sabotage’, the Beastie Boys video, is the same way we filmed skate videos. Me and my friends driving around LA without anyone giving us permission to do anything and just, ‘Go over there, I’ve got a camera.’ I tell my friend to go do this and that, you
know... ‘Slide off the hood of a car!’ You know, it’s just... There are things that we shoot that are very much in that spirit. You know, with skate videos it’s you and your friends in a car and the equipment you can carry in that car. And I still shoot stuff like that, I like to shoot stuff like that when the idea’s right. Where is cinema going? Who are the new wave of filmmakers following the likes of yourself, Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola? Errr... The only person I can think of off the top of my head – I’m totally spacing out on others... The one, the, er... Did you see the ‘Kids’ video? MGMT? That thing is amazing. That guy, Ray Tintori, I think he’s really interesting. And he made this other short film called Death To The
Tinman, it’s on the Internet so you can look it up. It’s great. And I think he’s.... I know there’s others... I’m spacing out in the middle of this three-day-long press junket... But he’s the first person I think of in terms of somebody I’m excited to see what they make. We’re huge fans of your ‘Sabotage’ video... Oh good! Do you think it’s one of your best ones? Um, I like it. I don’t know. But I mean, I don’t know. This is, I mean... Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know. I like... I’m not sure about ‘best one’, it’s hard for me to quantify that. Do you still enjoy making music videos? Yeah. If there’s an idea that I’m excited about. Can fully commercial work be classified as art? I think so. I don’t really differentiate like that. If I have an idea that I’m excited about, then I’m excited about it. Your Gap video, for example, is much more fun than many ‘arty’ films. So is it art, is it an ad or is it both? Haha! Yeah. I just, um, I can never... I don’t know if I succeed, but I try, whatever I’m making, to make something I’m excited about, whatever form it’s in, whether somebody’s giving me a budget to do it or I’m just doing it with my friends. I basically approach it all from the same spirit
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Where the harsh landscape meets the denizens of the sea, something beautiful emerges. Guy Martin travels to the Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill Cold water Classic Canada in Tofino, on Vancouver Island, to turn his lens on a handful of brave watermen and on the furious geography that surrounds them. Photography + captions Guy Martin
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Pete Devries - The Hero Pete Devries, moments after winning his Quarterfinal heat against Glen Hall at North Chersterman Beach. In a story that would make any Hollywood scriptwriter blush, local boy Devries - with little or no major sponsorship, a wildcard to the event, a heavily pregnant girlfriend and the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top surfers in his way - went on a surfing rampage to take down some of the biggest names in the sport and win the affection of both local and national media. Salmon swim, jump and spawn at this juncture of the river. Moments later a family of black bears stroll past and feast off the dying carcasses of salmon who perished along the way.
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Simon Bauer - The School Kid Sixteen-year-old Tofino surfer Simon Bauer after losing his Round One heat. Simon had to take the day off school to surf in this event. His teacher and classmates would be listening to the radio to hear of how he was doing. He seemed neither scared nor nervous about his heat against two well-established surfers from the US. After crashing out of the event, he handed in his singlet and ran off down the beach for another free surf. He never returned to school that day. The road winding down past the wild Pacific coastline as the night draws in on Pacific Rim Highway 4. To the west is Long Beach, situated on the edge of Clayoquot Sound, which was first home to the Nuu-chah-nulth - fifteen First Nations who lived here in union with forest, sea and creature for 5,000 years. Thereafter, Long Beach became a remote outpost for the hardiest of islanders and intrepid travellers traversing the gravel road when logging trucks were idle. In 1972 the highway was completed and a steady migration began to the wild west of Canada.
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Sam Lamiroy - The Viking Belgian-born, Flemmish-speaking Newcastle transplant Sam Lamiroy, moments after losing his Round Two heat at North Chesterman Beach in difficult conditions. As the cold northerly wind whistled past, Sam told me how he was halfway through a winter tour that would include California and Indonesia. His travelling companions for the trip werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t your normal rat pack of jaded surf photographers, brand managers or personal fitness coach, but his wife and new baby boy. Despite his premature knock-out, Sam stayed in Canada giving surf lessons to those who wanted them, doing interviews, promoting Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill and looking after his family. Downed trees on the Pacific Highway out of Tofino
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South African surfers are tapping into their inner dolphin to take on big waves with a single breath. TEXT Miles Masterson Photography Thomas P. Peschak
“I quickly realised they don’t know much about their bodies,” says South African freediver Hanli Prinsloo, about the Surprise Apnea freediving course she has created for big-wave surfers. “Teaching them how to hold their breath – it’s fascinating to see them putting together the pieces of the puzzle.” A novice longboarder, thirty-year-old Hanli took a boat ride out to witness a session at South African big-wave spot Dungeons this past winter and watched in awe as the surfers took on twenty-foot-plus waves. More importantly though, she saw some heavy holddowns and had an epiphany: her extensive experience freediving could be of incredible benefit to them. Apnea freediving (which takes its name from the Greek word for suspension of external breathing) is the big-wave surfing equivalent of diving, only with no fins, no mask, just you and a single breath. Competitively, freediving encompasses formal categories with events and world records – including breath holds of up to ten minutes for men – ratified by the International Association for the Development of Apnea. Its origins trace back to Asia, Polynesia and the Mediterranean (traditionally used to dive for pearls, sponge and fish), but with dozens of active competitors, freediving is
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“if you put your mind to it, you can make your body do some crazy things” growing fast around the world. The most hardcore
towards your vital organs. This whole process, known as
We then hit the kiddies’ pool at a local gym for the
aspect of the sport is diving straight down a rope as deep
the Mammalian Dive Response (or ‘surprise apnea’), is
underwater ‘static’ practical. Donning a wetsuit, dive
as possible, with or without weights or swimfins. Think
triggered in cold water by nerve sensors in our faces. In
mask and entering the water, I felt somewhat daunted,
Luc Besson’s 1988 classic film, The Big Blue.
shallower breath-hold dives (akin to a surfer being held
but I drew in a large breath and flopped face down.
under), the result is a shallow-water blackout, which is
Foolishly I began timing myself and surfaced after less
caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain and is usually
than a minute. During my second go, after a while I felt
preceded by decreased motor control and dizziness.
another pang of panic as my stomach began to convulse
Hanli fell into freediving in Sweden – the North Shore
Another common misconception, held by most
but, reassured by Hanli, managed more than two minutes.
of her sport – after befriending local freediving legend
big-wave riders, is that hyperventilating – short, sharp
In my third attempt, I drifted off into a peaceful state
Annelie Pompe whilst on a working holiday there
breaths – increases air intake, when in fact all it does is
(although one shouldn’t revel in this too much, warned
eight years ago. At first sceptical, Hanli soon embraced
accelerate a blackout. As it turns out, human beings are
Hanli, as this is actually the first sign of a blackout) and
freediving and, setting numerous South African records,
actually adapted to breath holding and have a lot more in
surfaced calmly. “Congratulations,” she praised. “You
established herself as one of the top five female freedivers
common with ocean-diving mammals, such as dolphins
made almost three minutes.” One of the other guys
in the world. Today Hanli maintains a hectic schedule
and seals, than we think.
made nearly five, but I was still stoked. Taking turns in
doing camera work for documentary films, training,
According to Hanli, the surprise apnea phenomenon
the pool, Hanli then instructed us to place our hands
as well as competing and judging at global events. And
is automatic in freedivers, but can be perfected by
over one another’s hearts to experience the Mammalian
now, having fallen in love with surfing, she also runs her
anyone. “It is the body saying to the mind, ‘Dude, I’m
Dive Response in action. It was unreal to feel their heart
unique freediving course tailored to big-wave surfers. “I
taking over,’” she says. “This mental revelation is what I
rate decline rapidly as the apnea kicked in.
can’t change the surfers’ bodies, but I can change their
hope can really mean something to the big-wave crew.
minds,” she says, “to give them the self-confidence to
After lunch, we hit the ocean in the bay near
“My lungs have increased from the average four
Dungeons. The aim here was to take everything we had
litres to six litres over the years,” adds Hanli, who says
learned through the morning to the real environment.
Like all freedivers, Hanli is a mine of scientific
all freedivers should practice yoga to increase vital
Unfortunately, swimming down the rope, due to my
information about how the human body reacts when
breathing capacity by stretching their thoracic cavity.
chronic surfers’ ear, I couldn’t pop my ears to equalise
deprived of oxygen. The first fallacy she dispels is
“It’s also important for big guys to be flexible and not be
(freedivers must do so every metre down lest they burst
the difference between drowning and blacking out.
too muscular. This restricts air intake, and muscles also
an eardrum) and only managed five metres, though some
This is a crucial distinction because, says Hanli, a
use a lot of oxygen.”
of the guys went ten. Still, the whole day was hugely
take on whatever the ocean throws at them.”
lot of people panic long before they need to and
enlightening and I feel the lessons learned will remain
breathe in water. Understanding that the body has an
with me for the rest of my surfing life. Big-wave riders of the calibre of 2006 Mavericks
inbuilt mechanism (a laryngospasm, where the larynx effectively blocks the windpipe) that prevents you
On her course the value of all this theory soon becomes
winner Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker and Chris Bertish, best
from breathing in water makes blacking out the better
apparent. Following a strenuous yoga session, we were
known for taming twenty-foot Cribber in Cornwall,
of two evils, as you can be brought around quickly if
taught to push our diaphragm out and inhale as much air
have both done Hanli’s course and are full of praise. “[I
your listless body is found in time.
as possible through a three-stage breathing technique
learned] that if you put your mind to it, you can make
As for how your body reacts when you hold your
(first into the stomach, then lungs and finally the upper
your body do some crazy things,” comments Baker.
breath, Hanli explains that when you reach your
chest area) and were instructed to lie flat on our backs
“Eighty per cent of pushing it in big surf is about mental
perceived limit, thirty to forty seconds for most of us,
and hold our breath. After a couple of false starts –
confidence,” adds Chris. “It just makes me understand
the diaphragm muscles above your stomach begin
encouraged by Hanli to get into the zone and allow the
my body better and understand where I am when I’m
to convulse in primal reaction to increasing carbon
apnea mindset to take over – I managed almost two
getting held under, so I can work through the process
dioxide levels. Your heart rate slows (bradycardia),
minutes, a good time for a childhood asthmatic and, I’m
better and calmer.”
lessening the need for oxygen in your extremities, while
ashamed to admit, a couple-of-ciggies-a-day smoker.
vasoconstriction draws blood from your limbs and head
Some of the fitter guys pushed it to three.
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It’s out with the old and in with the new for snowboarding’s grown-up wunderkind Gigi Rüf. TEXT Gemma Freeman Photography Yves Suter
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“it’s a passion for getting up the mountain and drawing the line, doing some ollies here and there – no pressure” “Magician would be a good word to describe Gigi,”
With an hour to kill before dinner, we sell out and
they believe that once something is done you can’t go
says Patrick ‘Brusti’ Armbruster, owner and producer
head to Starbucks. I opt for caffeine while Gigi chills on
back – life is a one-way street. And now they’ve chosen
of Absinthe Films. “Always surprising, soft spoken and
the sofa drug-free, trying to ignore his running nostrils
this path – focusing more on sponsoring competition
professional, but sometimes gone with the wind.”
and popped ears. “Snowboarding really sucks because
riders – we’ll see how it turns out for them… But for
you’re always stuck in this cold environment getting ill –
me, I wanted to look after myself.”
Gigi Rüf is a wizard all right. The Austrian snowboarder looks mortal, albeit with an impish
I should’ve been a surfer,” he laughs, half joking.
Determined to celebrate his sport through
edge. But his humble persona hides some supernatural
He may be a superhero in snowboard circles –
personal adventures – documented by film, not
skills. Thanks to his unique vision of what’s possible
revered by the likes of Burton wunderkinds Danny
contest results – Gigi left the contract he’d negotiated
with bindings and a board, Gigi’s insanely progressive
Davis and Kevin Pearce – but Gigi is far from a shred-
at seventeen to go it alone. “It took me time to realise
film parts and photos turn the most mundane branch,
celeb. Preferring the simple life to the limelight, he only
it, but I wanted time to learn and figure things out,” he
wind lip, bank or rock into something bewitching.
moved from his small hometown of Au (population:
ponders. “I see myself as an individual – I go out there
It’s a talent that got him noticed by Nike, Volcom,
500), deep in the Alps of Vorarlberg, to live in nearby
and do my own thing. With all the connections I have,
Dragon, Union and Nixon, who all welcomed him into
city Bregenz a year ago. Now, having married his
I didn’t need a team manager for the last few years, so I
their various families like a dearly beloved, long-lost
childhood sweetheart, Steff, in early 2009 after the
knew I could make this decision myself – see what else
son. Or, in business terms, a highly profitable asset.
birth of their first son, Jona, life for Gigi is pretty sweet.
was out there, and discover whether snowboarding is
Just don’t tell Gigi: he’ll blush, then deny every word.
He’s all grown up and on top of the world.
as rad as I still hoped. And it is! You can explore new
It’s early September in Stuttgart. Winter is on its
places and easily find your own way – that’s the great
way. Rain saturates the imposing architecture, turning
part of snowboarding.”
it grey. I’ve been on a bus for four nights on Absinthe’s
Neverland tour, pickling my liver and surviving on limited sleep. My mission’s almost complete. I’m about to meet Gigi, who’s just driven two hours from his home in Bregenz, despite recovering from a nasty cold and long-haul flight from New Zealand. On screen, Gigi’s presence is huge. An Absinthe regular and founder of Pirate Movie Productions, he’s helped define the backcountry freestyle movement with a signature style that’s liquid smooth and loaded with amplitude. In person, he’s smaller than expected but still exudes style, thanks to newly cropped hair, black geek-chic glasses and boyish features that make him look eighteen, not twenty-eight.
Now that he’s freed himself from the constraints It’s not just Gigi’s personal life that was transformed in
of competition, does he still feel pressure to perform?
2009. On Burton snowboards since he was seventeen,
“I’ve been snowboarding a long time and it took me a
Gigi spent the last five years as part of the original Un
while to realise that what I do is still ‘snowboarding’, but
Inc (Un Incorporated) project, alongside JP Solberg,
obviously in the natural elements. I don’t aim to have a
Romain de Marchi and DCP. The line of boards,
killer part each season, you know… There are certain
which the crew made no money from but had full
tricks you come up with, and then an idea sparks, like,
creative control over, represented the anti-corporate,
‘Oh, I could try this here.’ But overall, I just try to be a
unhinged side of snowboarding. But then Un Inc got
good snowboarder and not do things the same way.”
cancelled and everyone – except Gigi – seemed to have left. After careful thought, Gigi switched too.
Ironically, things have now come full circle for him. Volcom, his first sponsor at age fourteen, now provide
“I guess every brand, especially when they’re so
Gigi’s outerwear and boards, which are currently a team-
respected like Burton, always have to check themselves
only experiment. Part of his plan to be more involved
as a business from time to time,” explains Gigi. “I think
with the brand involves helping in the development
93
“GIGI’s like a five-star chef on a snowboard: always able to stir something up with whatever’s available and make it look like the best move you’ve ever seen” of their debut line of snowboards. “We want to make
with whatever’s available and make it look like the best
of Vorarlberg. He learned to snowboard at ten,
sure they’re perfect,” he enthuses, “so three times a year
move you’ve ever seen. Riders who’ve had the pleasure
and was soon tagging along with his older siblings
we receive new boards, which have certain changes to
to shred with him approach riding any terrain with a
and their friends. Entering local comps, he was
the last batch… What I’m getting excited about is that
different perspective after the experience.”
quickly picked up as a child prodigy at thirteen, but
we can really push the margins with our ideas.”
Former Ticket To Ride World Champion Kevin
remained grounded, spending his summers working
In contrast to Volcom’s punk rock ethos, Nike
Pearce is one such lucky individual, having filmed with
on the family’s mountaintop farm and retaining his
poached the positive pro to rock their boots, and,
him on Ready: “Growing up, Gigi was one of my big
laid-back, perma-positive personality.
despite their mega-corporation status, turned out to
idols… It’s always a massive help getting to ride with
“I still looked up to everybody around me and
be far from stifling. “I was sceptical at first but now
someone as good as him – getting in that zone and being
how good they were, but it was my outlet to follow
I’m glad. We’ve been working on a boot. There’s been
like, ‘This is where my riding needs to be eventually.’”
something I really thought I could be good at, you
a lot of involvement and testing, so I’ve definitely
After gaining world recognition with Absinthe,
know. All summer I couldn’t wait for the snow to fall
made a big step forward for them. It’s gone from
Gigi used his experience to set up Pirate Movie
so I could go snowboarding after school and with
the very sneaker-style boot that they had at first to
Productions back home in Austria, with friends Basti
my family… we were always up to something. We’d
something more technical.”
Balser, Lars Oesterle and Oliver Petznick. Their first
jump from the second-storey balcony into the snow
So they listened to his feedback? “Yeah, on colour
film, 2003’s Shoot Your Friends, was a European Super
and stuff like that – but my parents didn’t forbid us.
and everything… That was one of the reasons that I
8 epic which, using Gigi’s uncle’s hut as a base, followed
They knew that we could figure it out for ourselves...
figured it would be really exciting to work with them
up-and-coming riders as they travelled across Europe,
We definitely got experimental.”
– and it is. They really are trying to do this carefully,
Japan and Austria’s Vorarlberg Alps. With art at their
So were his parents always backing him to turn
and not pushing it everywhere… It’s their marketing
heart, the Pirates are celebrating their tenth film, Jolly
pro? “They just didn’t believe I could make money
– this trickling idea... But, who am I to talk about
Roger – starring established names like Danny Larsen,
off snowboarding. And now I am, I can live more
such things? I see it from the bright side where I get
Markus Keller and Tyler Chorlton – and are recognised
leisurely than my parents did – but then it’s 2009
to ride the best product there is.”
worldwide for their experimental approach to filming
now and things have changed a lot. Parents need
and events.
to adjust to the times, let their kids grow up and
Having been in the business for fourteen years, does Gigi have a vision of how the perfect brand should be
It’s a project Gigi’s still very passionate about.
choose their own path but always be a guiding
run? “By snowboarders, obviously... with team riders
“They’re all friends who I’ve grown up snowboarding
light... Them teaching me good values has brought
who care about what the brand stands for.”
with, full of creative ideas,” says Gigi. “There’s no
me a long way.”
pressure there at all. Part of their approach is bringing
Now that it’s Gigi’s turn to play the besotted
in strong, young riders – giving them a platform
father, has he found himself riding more cautiously?
to actually travel because they have an apartment
“No, actually. I’ve always panicked about being
in Montafon, which makes things smooth for any
careful – if my gut feeling tells me that something is
Scandinavian kid to come down to Austria and film for
not right I stay out of it. With my son, it’s certainly
Film is Gigi’s forte. From his first video part in Hot Shop’s
a month. This wouldn’t be possible for a young rider
changed something… I try to be true to myself
Austronaut as a teen, to nabbing at least two astounding lead sections a season with Absinthe and the Pirates, there’s something timeless about his snowboarding that translates pure gold to the big screen. “Gigi has one of the most creative eyes for possible features and tricks,” says Brusti. “He’s like a five-star chef on a snowboard: always able to stir something up
usually… It’s a great project for sure – super creative
more. But that doesn’t mean that I think less about
and honest. Their goal is to really give back.”
snowboarding… probably even more actually…
Does that mean it should be more about individual riders and personalities? “Exactly!”
94 HUCK
There’s more excitement – it’s weird. I guess it makes me more grown up.” As for what will happen next? “I’m more of an Christian ‘Gigi’ Rüf was born in 1982, in the small
unplanned, spontaneous person,” says Gigi, smiling.
mountain town of Au deep in the Austrian Alps
“I just go with it… see where life takes me.”
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98 HUCK
With territorial locals and words such as ‘slashing’ and ‘hacking’ populating its vernacular, could surfing be a metaphor for man’s insatiable appetite for conflict? Alex Wade investigates. TEXT Alex Wade Illustration jasper wong
Santa Cruz, Northern California. The cliff above
is Enough. As the local is paddling back out, he waits
The Hook, one of the town’s best waves, is packed
for him. “Dude, what’s your problem?” he says, when
with old-timers, young surfers, skate punks and local
the pair are within touching distance. “Fuck you,
moms, all checking out the action in the water. It’s
man,” is the reply.
a bright day and the air is warm as a succession of
Somewhere Else takes his courage in both hands.
head-high rights roll off the point to offer a blast of
“No, fuck you!” he says. “Let me have my waves, just
pure bliss to whichever of the thirty-strong line-up
like I’m letting you have yours.” To his surprise, the local
has priority. On a set wave, a tall, blond surfer leaps to
smiles. “I’m sorry,” he says. But then he spits, and, oozing
his feet, takes a high line, then drops and sets himself
sarcasm as he paddles away, adds: “I must’ve not seen you
up perfectly for a five-second barrel. As he’s spat out,
there. Maybe you should make a big noise next time.”
the onlookers on the cliff whoop their approval.
Such vignettes of Surf Nazism are not confined
Minutes later two surfers jostle for position. One,
to Santa Cruz. All of surfing’s clichéd hotbeds –
an out-of-towner, is on the peak and paddling but a
California, Hawaii, Australia and South Africa – have
shaven-headed Santa Cruz local doesn’t care. Strong
breaks where turning up and going for a surf requires a
shoulder and lat muscles working overtime, his
skill-set that includes diplomacy, patience and physical
hands tear into the water as if he’s throwing punches.
prowess. If you believe the mythology, to paddle out at
He inches infinitesimally, inexorably ahead of the guy
Pipeline is to court a kicking from the Wolf Pack, the
from Somewhere Else and it’s clear to everyone, from
North Shore’s officially unsanctioned but all-pervasive
the cliff-top crowd to the rest of the line-up, that he’s
enforcers of surfing etiquette, while in Sydney the Bra
going to burn him. Both surfers take off and some
Boys have done for the reef break at Cape Solander
people, put in Somewhere Else’s position, would
what the British did for Australia. They’ve colonised
have had no qualms about running over the guy who’s
it, renaming it ‘Ours’, and into the bargain have made
just dropped in and ruined his ride. But Somewhere
it crystal clear if you decide to go for a surf here the
Else is from out of town. Despite being badly snaked,
reef isn’t the only thing that’ll spank you.
he opts to bottom turn and kick out. The local gets on with the business of shredding the wave.
Surf Nazism’s cinematic lineage predates the Bra Boys’ celluloid celebration of machismo. It was also the
Out back, Somewhere Else thinks about what
subject of Surf Nazis Must Die, a 1987 film released by
to do. Does he say something? He’s a mellow guy,
Troma Studios and set in post-earthquake California.
not one prone to aggro. He respects local surfers.
The American Dream is shattered as groups of surfers
But, hell, he’s well aware of surfing etiquette. He’s
fight for supremacy on post-apocalypse beaches which
just spent over an hour inching from the shoulder
resemble industrial wastelands rather than anything
to the peak, taking his time, letting others get their
even vaguely reminiscent of oceanic paradise. One gang
waves. Then, as soon as one comes his way, he gets
is known as ‘The Samurai Surfers’, while another is ‘The
burned. Maybe he should say something? But no. He
Designer Wave’. By far the most terrifying, though, is
decides discretion is the better part of valour. After
the ‘Surf Nazis’, a group led by Adolf, the ‘Führer of the
all, another wave will be along soon enough.
New Beach’. Adolf takes uncompromising umbrage at
Only when it turns up, the same thing happens
anyone brave enough to paddle out into breaks that
again. And the same shaven-headed local is the culprit.
the Surf Nazis have established as their own. As befits
Somewhere Else, buoyed by a chorus of dissent that
a Troma film, there are various random acts of violence
he fancies he hears from the cliff, decides that Enough
and mayhem until, for no apparent reason, a black oil
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“Metaphors are important, and terms like ‘hacking’ AND ‘slashing’ are emblematic of a male world-view, a desire to dominate the environment” well worker named Leroy is killed by Adolf and his
discourse on shortboarding while his sworn adversary,
Hermogenes. Words have no necessary relationship
comrades while jogging on the beach. However, Leroy’s
the longboarder, rides a gentler, atavistic and
with that which they express, or, as the philologists
mother vows revenge, breaks out of her retirement
decidedly more chilled wave, one often posited as
vividly put it: “the word ‘dog’ does not bite”.
home and arms herself with sufficient firepower to
emanating all the way from surfing’s Polynesian roots.
Post-structuralism took what started as a Socratic
wreak her own apocalypse on the Surf Nazis.
The contemporary shortboarder, whether from Santa
debate further. Roland Barthes notably denounced
With lines like “Slime-sucking Neanderthal!
Cruz, Sydney, New York or Newquay, unconsciously
what he termed ‘Cratylism’ as “that great secular myth
How dare you question my loyalty?!” it is perhaps
deploys language oozing testosterone at best, verging
which wants language to imitate ideas and, contrary
no surprise that Surf Nazis Must Die failed to reach
on outright bellicosity at worst. Professor Alan
to the precisions of linguistic science, wants signs to
the mainstream. And while it worked for Charles
Bleakley, a long-time surfer in West Cornwall (and
be motivated”. But if words are arbitrary, they are
Bronson in the Death Wish extravaganza, even the
father of Sam, twice a European longboard champion)
still the means by which we impose order on chaos.
basic revenge motif of the film was not enough to
puts it thus: “There’s a very male kind of surfing and it’s
Language governs how we experience the world;
secure its lasting adoration. But despite its anarchic
often reflected in the language used to describe what,
it enables us to communicate; it allows us to make
awfulness, in one sense Surf Nazis Must Die was ahead
to me, is less about ‘slash and burn’ shortboarding and
sense of everything. Or rather more accurately, given
of its time. For as its tagline put it: “The beaches have
much more to do with flow. Metaphors are important,
the thinking of men like Jacques Derrida and Michel
become battlefields, the waves are a war zone!” Troma
and terms like ‘hacking,’ ‘slashing’ and ‘gouging’ are
Foucault, language enables us to create constructs by
Studios knew what is becoming increasingly obvious:
emblematic of a male world-view, a desire to dominate
which the fiction of order is maintained.
that surfing is a metaphor for conflict.
and control the environment.”
What, then, of surfing? Is our beloved “royal sport
Bleakley is an acclaimed poet as well as an academic,
for the natural kings of the earth”, as Jack London
and his poetic sensibility refuses to allow such language
saw it when he visited Hawaii over 100 years ago,
to be taken for granted. “Metaphors determine how
subordinate to the soup bowl of words, no more, and
Surfing’s argot is famously incomprehensible to
we see the world, they influence our kids and life in
no less, important than anything else we choose to
outsiders. For those of us who ride waves, to say that
general,” he says. “There’s a danger that you can become
codify in language? Is a double-overhead stand-up
we’ve been ‘trimming on a mellow left’ or ‘smacking
oblivious to your environment if you uncritically accept
barrel real, or is it a fiction? If it is only comprehensible
the lip of a fast right’ is to denote actions as quotidian,
a language system that is overtly male. You become dull
to its tribe, does it only exist for a small percentage of
if infinitely more pleasurable, as walking to the shops.
to the world, what I call ‘an-aestheticised’. The point is
the population? And how do we account for surfing’s
But to a non-surfer, these phrases mean nothing. Our
to become aestheticised, to use your senses, to notice
diametric opposites? For in the red corner (surfing, as
common currency has no value. (The scary thing is that
things.” He elaborates: “We live in a world where Prozac
ever, can absorb a subsidiary metaphor from another
they might just mean nothing to surfers too.) But first,
is now prescribed for kids. We continually seek to
conflict-zone) stands the amped shortboarder, the
to the battle zone: the language of surfing.
desensitise ourselves from our environment. People pop
surfer for whom everything is ‘sick’ or ‘filthy’ or ‘insane’,
The Surf Nazi paradigm posits the surfer as
a pill for virtually any reason, and doctors are encouraged
while in the blue, not wishing for too much by way of
aggressor, someone hostile to his – and it is invariably
to let them do this, because there’s money in it for
conflict, is the Zen-master on her longboard, happy just
his, not her – environment. Aggression is everywhere
the pharmaceutical companies. But reality should be
in the Surf Nazi’s use of words. Out-of-towners are
experienced, not prettified or avoided, and we’re losing
‘kooks’ – inveterate clowns – before they’ve even
the ability to do so. But for those who still want a dose of
entered the water. The Other is never benign, always
real life, what better way than by going surfing?”
to cruise and trim, to feel what Allan Weisbecker, in In Search of Captain Zero, called ‘the glide’. Outside the ropes, of course, and occasionally hauled into battle too, are all the other wave-riders – those on waveskis, bodyboards, bellyboards; swimmers who bodysurf; windsurfers and kitesurfers who catch waves. Are they surfers too? Or, like the rest of us, are they part of a vast and labyrinthine fiction, one no more real than a short story by Jorge Luis Borges? Here’s the deal. Everyone is a surfer. No one is a surfer. The ocean is all around us and it only exists in our imagination. But as the French literary critic Gérard Genette said, writing of the French poets Mallarmé and Valéry, “the nonmimetic character of language is the opportunity and the condition for poetry to exist”. For Genette, poetry exists to repair and compensate for the “defect of languages”. In other words, if language was perfect, poetry would have no reason to exist, because it would have nothing to repair. For poetry, read surfing
unsettling. Breaks are designated ‘locals only’, and
The question is a fair one, but it begs another:
incomers have their windscreens waxed or, depending
what do we mean when we talk about surfing? And
on the extent of their temerity, their jaws broken. All
beyond that, what do we mean by ‘real life’?
this, and more, is acceptable, accepted even, because the Surf Nazi contends that he is acting for the greater good. To make a break unwelcoming is to keep it free of kooks, who by dropping in or committing any other
One of the earliest incarnations of this problem in
of surfing’s cardinal sins are a danger to themselves and
philosophy – albeit sans surfing – was in Cratylus,
others. It is also to preserve it for the people who have
one of Plato’s dialogues. Socrates is asked by two
earned the right to surf it.
men, Cratylus and Hermogenes, to tell them whether
So far, so Maroubra – and so predicated on
language is ‘conventional’ – a system of arbitrary signs
concepts of hierarchy and status that belie surfing’s
– or ‘natural’, in that words bear an intrinsic relation
alternative identity as a refuge of uber-chill. But
to the things they signify. Cratylus amiably adopts the
surfing’s status as a metaphor for conflict arises
latter viewpoint, one which argues that the word ‘cat’,
because the Surf Nazi doesn’t reside merely in Sydney.
for example, is quintessentially apposite for what a cat
He is alive and well in surfing magazines, dominating
is. Modern linguistics, however, sides squarely with
100 HUCK
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In a stunning yet poor and hurricane-prone country, waveriding can be a powerful respite. Jamie Brisick travels to the harsh surfing oasis of Jamnesia to meet the Wilmots, Jamaica’s first family of surf. Text + photography Jamie Brisick
The drive from Kingston Airport to Bull Bay, home
courtyard, at least eighty surfboards remind us of the
at video footage of yet another day in the sun- and
of Jamnesia Surf Camp, is by no means a pretty one.
infinite ways in which to approach a wave. Under the
saltwater-drenched life of the Wilmots.
Tin-roofed shanties line the cratered, hurricane-
thatched-roof of Shacks, Jamnesia’s bar/lounge/dining
battered two-lane road. Ragged Rastafarians huddle
room, a gaggle of cherubic kids plays dominoes with
under the shade of fruit stands, their casual postures
slapping vigour while Fire-T, resident chef and singer,
exuding an odd mix of inherent cool, oppressive heat
puffs languidly from a bat-sized joint.
It all goes back to the sixties. Surfing arrived late
and unemployment. A herd of goats ambles through
And then there’s the Wilmot family. Let me say
to Jamaica, explains an animated, dreadlocked and
a cemetery of discarded household appliances. To
right up front that, as a kid, I was a huge fan of The
bearded Billy Wilmot, primarily because the tourist
our right is the Caribbean Sea, though not the azure,
Partridge Family, an American TV show about a family of musicians. I came from a loving but relatively straight household and thus I secretly admired their musical connection and gypsy lifestyle. When I met the Wilmots I was instantly floored. Not only does this seven-member dreadlocked family play music together, but they surf together, too. Witness dad, Billy, pulling into a backhand barrel at Lighthouse while his eighteen-year-old daughter, Alicia, not only cheers him on but takes off late on the wave behind and tucks into a barrel herself. Witness twenty-six-year-old Ishack sharing a shimmering head-high wall with his twelveyear-old little brother, Ivah. Witness the entire family gathered around the TV later that evening, giggling
resorts were built where the sea was calm. Visiting
dreamlike blue of the tourist brochure, but rather chocolate brown on account of recent rainfall. But things take a dramatic shift the moment we turn down Jamnesia’s gravel driveway. The sight of a kidney-shaped concrete skate bowl instantly transports us elsewhere – Dogtown, Burnside – as does the cheery Jamnesia sign, a painted mini-surfboard draped from an overgrown bougainvillea bush. The camp itself is a kind of shrine to all things warm and hedonistic. In the garage, a drum kit, keyboard, bass and electric guitar, and seventies-style skateboard share space with a litter of yelping puppies and framed picture of Haile Selassie. Around the tree-shaded
102 HUCK
surfers would most likely have gone home with bleak reports. Billy remembers seeing Gidget as the Movie of the Week and then, not long after, hearing about kids in Boston Bay pulling the foam out of refrigerator doors, carving them into ironing board shapes, covering them in fibreglass and boat resin, and taking to the surf. It wasn’t long before Billy had his first board. His trajectory is kind of storybook, albeit with a twist. First, he started riding the reef directly in front of Jamnesia (a beach that Bob Marley used to hang out at, incidentally). Then he moved on to Copa, Lighthouse and Makkas, a series of more challenging reef breaks. Then he became entranced by a spot called Zoo.
Ivah Wilmot marvels at Esther Beckford, daughter of Michele Gauntlett and Owen Beckford, both wellknown artists in Jamaica. Esther is a top-ranked surfer, model and student at Caribbean School of Architecture.
103
Based on the photos and video footage I’ve seen, Zoo was Jamaica’s Pipeline, and Wilmot its Gerry Lopez. A shallow lefthander, the glassy, aquamarine walls zippered across the machine-like reef then spat orgasmically into the channel. What’s more, Zoo became not only a gathering place for Jamaica’s handful of devout waveriders, but also a proving ground for the new board designs that would seep over from the east coast of the USA. Wilmot’s obsession with surfing grew, as did his love of music. Throughout much of the eighties and nineties he was Billy Wilmot, the best surfer in Jamaica, by day, and ‘Billy Mystic’, the lead singer/ songwriter of the Mystic Revealers, by night. When his kids took up surfing with the same myopic love as their father, he vowed to try and give them something more than the fringe, solitary experience that he'd had. In 2001 he founded the Jamaican Surfing Association, “to give it structure, organisation”. With a membership of roughly a dozen diligent surfers, Wilmot presented the team to the national institute of sport. They were thoroughly impressed, and offered their support in the form of financial assistance and positive PR. For the last five years, the Jamaicans have been a colourful presence at the ISA World Games, surfing’s version of the Olympics. The general consensus is that surfing and the spirit of Jamaica are a perfect match, and why the hell didn’t it happen sooner?
I first visited Jamaica in ’05. I was with my Brazilian wife, a couple of blonde Australian surfer girls, and a raven-haired, ollie-poppin’ American skate chick. On the drive from Montego Bay to Jamnesia we got lost, and in downtown Kingston, we stopped off at a fast food joint to ask for directions. The uniformed, gap-toothed employee took a moment to survey the four curvaceous, scantily clad girls. “Follow me,” he said, and waved us out to the parking lot. In a stern patois he explained that we were to head straight down the main road, then turn left at the third set of traffic lights. “The third,” he repeated emphatically, “not the fourth. If you turn at the fourth you’ll end up in Trenchtown.” He nodded towards the girls. “And whatever you do, you don’t want to end up in Trenchtown.” I remembered the part in the travel guide that warned about Jamaica’s shockingly high number of rapes. As the sole male in the group, I suddenly felt cautious and proprietary. The trip was memorable on many fronts. First, I was struck by the harsh living conditions that surrounded Jamnesia, but also impressed by how welcoming everyone was. From afar it looked desolate
104 HUCK
Fire-T oozes music, and has the habit of bursting out in song about every fifteen minutes. He plays in a band with the Wilmot brothers, and bounces from sweet, heartfelt melodies to bangin’, hip-hoppy beats on a dime. He’s also a goofy foot with a strong cutback.
and dangerous, but up close there was a strong sense
batten down the hatches.
of community. Second, I was blown away by the
Hurricane Ivan is apocalyptic. It topples homes,
Wilmots; how heavily surfing and music had shaped
trees and telephone poles. It kills seventeen, and leaves
their lives. When they weren’t tearing the top off
18,000 homeless. When it finally passes, Wilmot
thin-lipped, sparkling waves, they were jamming
heads out to survey the damage. He’s astonished at
in the garage, a kind of dreadlocked, modern-day
the cracked cement, the ravaged foliage, the airplane
version of The Partridge Family.
lodged in a tree. On the radio he hears about rampant
And then came the hurricane. Just when we were
looting in Kingston. When he gets to Zoo he’s shocked
getting into the groove of things, just when Karlee,
to see an entirely different spot. The swell had got so big
one of the two Aussie surfer girls, had managed to beat
that it ripped out the reef, completely killing the wave
young Ivah at dominoes, and Donavon, the resident
that had been his lifeline.
bartender and jewellery maker, had managed to
“It was like finding someone making love to your
convince me that Guinness does in fact have a Viagra-
wife,” he says over a Heineken at Shacks. “It’s a big loss.”
like effect, and Violet the skate chick had worked out
a beautiful line in the concrete bowl, the sky turned grey and the evening news spoke of a Category Three hurricane headed straight for Jamaica’s southern
The scene at Jamnesia is closer to a commune than
shores, i.e. Bull Bay.
a B&B. When the dreadlocked Norman, a skilled
As a CNN-watching Californian, I’m comfortable
carpenter and friend of the Wilmots, lays a brick deck
with earthquakes but absolutely terrified of hurricanes.
in the courtyard, it’s impossible not to help out. When
This was exacerbated when they replayed scenes from
the neighbourhood kids, who flock to the Wilmots’
Hurricane Ivan in 2004, when thousands of homeless
house every day after school, are plodding through their
Jamaicans gathered in a shelter. There were rapes,
nightly homework, everyone from Miss Maggie, Billy’s
thefts and stabbings. I looked at my four female
wife, to the pink-skinned German guests who speak
travelling companions. I did not want to end up there.
limited English, will offer their assistance. There’s a
We were forced to make a decision. We could
strong sense of happiness and camaraderie; an oasis of
either stay at Jamnesia, where we’d not only catch the
light amongst a rough, hard corner of Jamaica.
brunt of the hurricane, but also risk floods, falling trees,
Case in point: on an orange-hued afternoon I drop by
flying rooftops, and Wizard of Oz-like pandemonium,
the neighbourhood beach bar for a Red Stripe. A plump,
or we could move to a hotel in Kingston, where we’d be
radiant barmaid has her head buried in a writing tablet.
much safer. We opted for the latter. The hurricane ended up shifting its course, in turn sending excellent, double-overhead waves to the reef directly in front of Jamnesia. When we caught up with the Wilmots the following day they not only told us how badly we’d missed it at least twenty times, but also played back the video footage repeatedly.
“Could I get a Red Stripe, please?” I ask. “Sure,” she says, and as she gets up from her stool I notice a thick, fleshy scar on her right cheek. “What are you writing?” I ask, careful not to Freudian slip into, “What happened to your face?” “I’m writing to the barrister.” She points to the scar. “Me ex-boyfriend did this to me, and I’m not happy about how it was handled.” She then goes on to explain how, when she told him she wanted to break up, he slashed her “here,
Speaking of Hurricane Ivan, there is an epic story
here, here and here”. She points to the fleshy stripe
that permeates all facets of the Jamaican surfing
on her right cheek, then less obvious ones on her left
experience, and it goes like this: Billy Wilmot
cheek, forehead and right shoulder.
becomes the unequivocal master of Zoo. He comes to know its moods, curves, undulations and sporadic
“And that’s not all,” she says. “After he cut me he go an’ thieve my house, took everything.”
slaps to the head with lover-like familiarity. For three
“What happened to him?”
decades, he surfs it religiously.
“He’s on parole, out walking the streets.”
On September 10, 2004, as Ivan the Terrible begins
“Your parents must want to kill him.”
to rear its stormy head, the swell kicks up dramatically,
“Everyone I know wants to kill him.”
each set bigger than the previous. It is a day that tests
Most striking is the way she manages a smile through
Zoo’s ability to handle waves of this magnitude, as well
it all. She could be describing a speeding ticket. Sure,
as Wilmot’s talent and mettle. The whopper comes in
she’s pissed off, but this indelible, life-altering stripe
the late afternoon. Wilmot catches what’s still to this
across her face has failed to kill her spirit. I think of the
day the biggest wave ever ridden in Jamaica. Three,
girls I know in Los Angeles who’d never recover from
four, maybe five times overhead - it’s hard to say in the
such a thing. Life delivers cruel blows, goes the subtext
chaos of wind, whitewater and rain. He rides it to shore,
of her exultant, glowing eyes, mine unfortunately came at the hand of a scumfuck of an ex-boyfriend.
steps triumphantly onto the sand and races home to
105
Chama Beckford is the undisputed king of Jamnesia's concrete skate bowl. He prefers to ride barefoot, and weaves his way around the hips, curves and puddles with such freakish ease, you get the sense that he could do it blindfolded.
I remember the guy at the chicken shop the day before.
surfed Lighthouse with twenty-four-year-old Inilek and
From Bull Bay, from Kingston, from high in the Blue
He was hanging out front with a beaten-down face,
twenty-two-year-old Icah. There were traces of Rob
Mountains. I knew about the monthly Jamnesia party,
begging. As I passed him he smiled and raised his hand,
Machado, Tim Curran and Kalani Robb in their styles. I
a sort of talent show/open mic night, but I didn’t know
as if to wave. He had no fingers.
was reminded of the rural, non-English speaking young
it drew an audience of a couple hundred.
You see a lot of this in Jamaica. It raises giant
African who knows every word to every song on Jay-Z’s
There is beer, rum, whiskey, spliffs. There’s an
questions about the origins and purpose of reggae
The Blueprint. It wasn’t that they’d poached styles, but more that a steady diet of Taylor Steele videos had given them a glimpse at what’s possible. On a sweltering Friday I watched Slater, a pantherish, dreadlocked hardcore street skater, study a series of ‘How To’ skate trick clips on YouTube. Later that afternoon he was kickflipping stairs and doing Mike Vallely-like tricks against a wall.
outpouring of musical talent in the form of dancehall,
music. From foreign shores, we hear about one love and three little birds singin’ sweet songs and every little thing gonna be all right. Yet as you walk along the main road in Bull Bay, and witness the copious broken glass and gnarled, potentially shishkebabing sticks of rebar poking out of the dirt, and recall nineteen-year-old Errol, who lives in an unfinished concrete bungalow with his mum, dad, and teenage girlfriend he met a month ago who has a child with another man, and think of the conundrum of rampant unemployment coupled with around-the-clock pot smoking, you’re tempted to conclude that reggae is less a reflection of life in Jamaica than a kind of mantra or affirmation, repeated incessantly with the hope of softening the harshness. If the centre piece of Jamnesia is Shacks, then the epicentre is the 12-inch TV set next to the bar, which plays a wide variety of surf flicks 24/7. The Wilmots have a huge collection of videos and DVDs from the nineties to the present. I witnessed their colossal power when I
106 HUCK
R&B, angst-ridden hip hop, and sweet, lilting roots reggae. There’s a starry sky, a rapt audience, and a beaming Mr. and Mrs. Wilmot, who watch Inilek and Icah hold down guitar and bass with great prowess. Best of all, there’s the next morning, when I wake at dawn and witness a couple entwined and snoring in a hammock, a pair of feet dangling from a parked VW bug covered in surf stickers, and a trio of dreadlocked girls asleep on the beach, their black faces caked with white sand. Later in the day Alicia plays drums, Inilek
One good thing about Jamaica: music is ubiquitous.
guitar, Icah bass and dad sings. A few feet away, Ivah
Witness, for instance, a Saturday night in the
practices his ollies, the slap of wood tail on cement
courtyard at Jamnesia. Norman sets up lights, Inilek
a kind of percussion section. In the kitchen, mum
soundchecks the rented PA, Icah scribbles lyrics into
prepares plates of jerk chicken, rice and peas, and
a spiral notebook. A rotund, Bull Bay twenty-one-year-
stir-fry veggies, and in the courtyard, Ishack taps his
old girl, who’s shy and low-key, rehearses a duet with
computer keys. Even when not trying to, the Wilmots
a young aspiring novelist from Kingston. Her voice is
are making music
beautiful, a Lauryn Hill in waiting. As the sun goes down, people start showing up.
www.jamnesia.20megsfree.com
+
Spacejunk Board Culture Art Centers
Marcel Breuer
ART IS STICK
A Spacejunk collective exhibition
Spacejunk
Hommage
Board Culture Art Centers
Odö
STF
Vinz
Nikodem
Will Barras
Nick Morris
AD Koa Vinz Odö Alexone Squindo Nikodem Rose kipik Travis Parr Jeff Raglus Will Barras Nick Morris Ozzy Wright Boris Labbé Andy Howell Dave Bowers Doug Bartlett Caia Koopman Carole Bielicki Reg Mombassa Jérémie Cortial Nicolas Thomas Aurélien Desbois Andrew Pommier
Dave Bowers
Doug Bartlett
Caia Koopman
Carole Bielicki
Reg Mombassa
Nicolas Thomas
Sofia Maldonado
Will Barras
Andrew Pommier
David Turakiewicz
Gil Le Bon Delapointe
Spacejunk
Board Culture Art Centers
Entrée libre www.spacejunk.tv
Spacejunk
Supported by
Supported by
Board Culture Art Centers
Scott Bourne
Odo do:
Poems & Photography
Spacejunk
Board Culture Art Centers
Entrée libre www.spacejunk.tv
Entrée libre www.spacejunk.tv
4 days of exhibitions & live painting
Represented or invited artists: Odö (France) – Scott Bourne (USA) Art is Stick (24 artists) – Mathias FENNETAUX (France) – Nicolas THOMAS (France) – NIKODEM (France) – Travis PARR (USA) – VINZ (France)
ispo - Messe München GmbH
Messegelände 81823 München Germany www.ispo-winter.com
Spacejunk
7 - 10 February 2010
ispo trade show – Hall A2 – Munich – Germany Vernissage on Sunday February 7th at 5 PM
Board Culture Art Centers + 33 (0)6 19 21 01 84 www.spacejunk.tv
Wanna work in the greatest industry in the world? these fine folk can show you the way.
“I packed sticky toffee puddings in a factory in Gloucester to pay for my first season – I know how lucky I am.” Ed Leigh. The TV Guy.
This face, believe it or not, was made for TV. It belongs to
going from part-time tea boy to editor in six months.
his stripes presenting the 2006 Olympics, the BBC
Ed Leigh, the British snowboarder-turned-TV presenter
“I may not have been that good at snowboarding,”
invited him to pitch ideas for more extreme shorts.
whose uncanny likeability has introduced a nation of
he says, “but I knew I was good at talking.” With a knack
“It was ridiculous,” he says. “I threw in everything
couch potatoes to the joys of mountain life. Hell, thanks
for yakking on command, Ed started MCing at events,
I’d always wanted to do – train trips across Siberia,
to the turbo wit he brings to BBC institution Ski Sunday,
bagging himself a call from Terje Haakonsen to host the
Kashmir, Iran. One description was literally, ‘Powder
even grandma knows her 7s from her 9s.
Arctic Challenge – “That for me was the zenith!” – and
snowboard testing with helicopters’ – even that came
Things started out “by accident” when Ed, quite
a half-hour TV slot presenting Board X. “I remember
back with a yes! I sat in front of the screen open-
literally, fell into a succession of big breaks. After a
thinking, ‘Man, this is it! I’m a TV presenter!’ and
mouthed and thought, ‘Oh my god, they bought it!’
nasty injury put paid to his hopes of pro snowboarding
foolishly sat back and waited for the work to flood in.”
“I definitely came the closest I’ve ever been to
glory, Ed took a step back from his seasonaire life and,
That flood turned out to be a trickle. “People say,
dying when we were filming last year,” adds Ed, about
realising he was “actually really mediocre”, returned
‘Wow! You’ve got a job on Ski Sunday, how’d you do that?’
an incident involving a piste-basher in a blizzard. “But
to the UK with gammy knees and new ambitions.
But I’ve been plugging away at this since 1998. You spend
even then, you’re like, ‘Wow this is my job and I’m
It was the late nineties, snowboarding was shooting
years on never-seen satellite channels until someone at
almost going to die!’ I packed sticky toffee puddings
up like a gangly teen, and after foregoing a season
the BBC says, ‘Okay, we’ll take a chance on that guy.’”
in a factory in Gloucester to pay for my first season –
to work at Whitelines magazine, Ed found himself
108 HUCK
Eventually that guy was Ed and, after earning
I know how lucky I am.” Andrea Kurland
Photography: Paul Willoughby.
Photography: Lozza.
“I love the company and I am driven by making a difference.” Josee Perreault. Oakley. The Boss.
Ever fantasised about emigrating some place
that were distributing sports brands, one of which
Josee’s rise up the business ranks may not have
different? Or maybe getting promoted to that corner
was Oakley. I got hired to distribute Oakley. Oakley
been intentional, but it’s gotta feel good, right, being
office with a view? As Senior Vice President World
then bought the company and decided to create
the big boss and all? “It’s not that rosy. We go through
Business at Oakley, Josee Perreault didn’t get to where
Oakley Canada and put me in charge.” Fifteen years
tough times and have to find efficiencies, which
she is now by sitting back and daydreaming. Instead,
and one giant leap across the pond later, Josee found
sometimes means a loss of jobs,” explains Josee, in
she’s climbed the proverbial ladder all the way from
herself at the apex of a global mega-brand, overseeing
a firm French Canadian lilt. “The illusion is that we
her hometown of Montreal, Canada, to her current
offices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa
end every day by going snowboarding. Sometimes we
position in Zurich, via a three-year stint in Paris. And
and now, after her recent promotion, the world.
do, but we all work hard.”
as for what her title actually means, well, just think of
So what kind of drive does it take to earn that view
Having conquered Europe, Josee is looking
her as the overseer of everything Oakley (the boss, to
from the top? “It sounds stupid, but I’m not really
forward to moving to Oakley’s sunny headquarters
you and me). Basically, she’s kind of a big deal.
career driven,” says Josee. “I do my job well, I love
in Foothill Ranch, California. But as for the bigger
“I had no idea I would end up doing this at all,”
the company and I am driven to make good changes.
picture, one thing’s for sure. “My life will not be
says Josee, who puts her success down to good old-
Having the top job is not what was driving me to
dictated by my career, it will be by my family,” she
fashioned happenstance: “One day I got lucky and
succeed, but having fun and making a difference is
says. “Eventually, I’ll end up on my winery in Canada,
through a connection I got to work for a company
what was and still is driving me.”
drinking my wine.” Andrea Kurland
110 HUCK
Photography: Ruth Carruthers.
“The whole team lives and breathes SAS – it’s hard to get us to turn off.” Andy Cummins. Surfers Against Sewage. The Do-Gooder.
“In the corny surf movie Point Break there’s a line
the marine environment – I was basically shocked
so to stand out you need to have substance.
that goes something like, ‘Surfing’s the source.
into action,” explains Andy, who originally saw
Volunteering will obviously give you valuable
It’ll change your life, swear to God.’ I have no
himself moving to Australia one day.
experience but it also demonstrates your passion
idea what the source is but surfing has changed
Luckily, SAS were there to absorb his energy
my life, I swear to God,” admits Andy Cummins,
and passion to protect what he loves, providing
So after six years of intense campaigning, what
Campaign Manager at Surfers Against Sewage
him with a good reason to stay in the UK and do
keeps him motivated? After all, a lot of his work
(SAS). About to paddle into their twentieth year
what he describes as his “perfect job”. This may
sounds pretty heavy: lobbying the government,
in existence, SAS are the UK’s relentless clean-
have something to do with the fact that he often
planning actions, writing press releases and
water campaigners, and Andy has been a catalyst
gets to nip out of the office for a cheeky lunchtime
attending official meetings. Having a view of the
for much of their success over recent years.
surf, but if there’s one thing Andy always puts
ocean from your office must be a pretty good
Originally a North East boy, Andy was drawn to
before surfing, it’s his commitment to getting the
start but, as Andy explains, “Surfers and wave
the South West of England where he’s now based
job done. “Working at SAS is so much more than
riders are the first to see the impact of pollution.
by warmer currents and his decision to undertake
just a vocation. The whole team lives and breathes
When my health suffers from pollution I can’t
an environmental science degree. “The course
SAS – it’s hard to get us to turn off,” he says with
surf – and that, to me, is motivation enough.”
really opened my eyes to how we are impacting on
wide eyes. “Jobs here are rare and oversubscribed,
Ruth Carruthers
and determination.”
111
Photography: Laurent Ressicault.
“Pull-In is a story all about friends. Even though we’ve made it this far, we try to hold on to that same spirit.” Guillaume Baché. Pull-In Underwear. The Marketing Man.
Think glamour, bronzed bodies, gold bikinis, boozy
when he was just eighteen. He was being tutored by
started out as “a bit of fun” landed Baché the leading
parties and, pretty soon, you’re going to be thinking
Emmanuel for his Baccalaureate in maths at the time,
role as Jérémy, a young surfer who runs into trouble,
Pull-In. Since it was created in a garage in Hossegor back
and when he saw an early pair of Pull-Ins, he knew he
followed shortly by another part in bed-hopping feature
in 2000 by surfer and electrical engineer Emmanuel
had to get involved. “I told him, ‘Whoa, I want some!’”
film Chacun sa nuit.
Lohéac, the underwear and beachwear company has
he recalls. “I think I was one of their first customers.”
But the reality of being away filming for months at
become the brand to have strewn across your waistline.
From there, Guillaume has helped take the brand to
a time forced Guillaume to choose between the brand
And the marketing man behind this hedonistic label
a whole new level of cool, opening their slick concept
or stardom. According to Baché, acting was “a trade far
is twenty-five-year-old Guillaume Baché, from South
stores in Europe’s party hot spots as well as New York
too random for my personality” and he stuck with Pull-
West France.
and Los Angeles. Their declaration of intent to conquer
In, something he certainly doesn’t regret.
“With low-rise jeans all the rage, underwear became
the US has been aided by big-name endorsements from
“We’re free to make all our own decisions and free
real image projectors,” says Baché. “The visibility of
the likes of superstar freestyle skier Tanner Hall, surf
to stand on our own two feet,” he says passionately.
boxer shorts is a recurring theme. It’s one of those rare
grom celeb Koa Smith and even actor Mickey Rourke.
“What’s great is that we created a brand and watched
trends to have clearly stood the test of time, and it’s to our advantage!” Guillaume joined the company back in 2002
112 HUCK
But there’s more to Baché than your average
it grow. In fact, Pull-In is a story all about friends. Even
marketeer. Around four years ago, he took part in a
though we’ve made it this far, we try to hold on to that
casting call for a TV movie called Les Vagues. What
same spirit.” Ed Andrews
The new online shop for extreme sports brands
Can snowboarding forgive and forget?
Where The Wild Things Are
Spike Jonzeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s latest reviewed.
Jussi And Junior
Jussi Oksanen hits the road, with rugrat in tow.
Nebuleuse, 2009. Odo.
Back Pages The
The Olympic Divide
115
If you dig
ODO check out:
Supreme x Damien Hirst Another artist who knows how to balance his portfolio is provocative Brit Damien Hirst who’s put the animal carcasses aside to team up with Supreme and design skate decks and a T-shirt featuring his iconic ‘Spot’
Frenchdo artist O e h t s l e unrav erbial prov dox. para
paintings. www.supremenewyork.com
Monument Snowboards x Rammellzee New York graffiti artist Rammellzee produced a hip hop record with the legend that was Jean Michel Basquiat back in the day. Now he’s taken all that heritage and teamed up with Monument Snowboards to design a board for their
Odo, real name Nicolas Le
likely to leave his bank balance
founder] asked me to do my
’09/’10 collection.
Borgne, has come a long way
looking pretty healthy. “I’ve
first solo show. I was thinking I’d
www.monumentsnowboards.com
from writing graffiti on the streets
worked for other brand names
do one in 2012 or 2015!”
of Bayonne. He currently works for
such as Cell Division and PTB,”
one of surfing’s most respected
he says. “I recently designed
art show show at at mammoth huge winter winter
Punk graphic designer
brands and this year he will host
some trophies for the EuroSima
sports tradeshowISPO ISPO2010, 2010, sports tradeshow
Art Chantry has spent
his first ever solo exhibition.
Waterman’s Ball and the cover
which is is rumoured rumouredto tofeature feature
years making posters and
for the Hawaii Surf catalogue.”
Odo’s artwork, artwork,but butthe theartist artistisis
album covers for the likes of
remaining tight-lipped about any
Nirvana and Hole. Now his
Le Borgne adopted the moniker Odora after tagging
As a freelancer, Odo knows
Spacejunk will host hostan an Spacejunk will
Ride x Art Chantry
it on the walls of his native city
the importance of taking on
involvement in the project: “I really
lo-fi aesthetic is about to hit
but later shortened it to Odo for
jobs as and when the offers
can’t say much about that for the
snow, thanks to the limited-
convenience. Now, he’s swapped
come in. But far from bowing
moment. I’ve never gone to ISPO
edition board he designed
spray cans for watercolours to
to the powers of commerce,
and right now I’m only thinking
for Ride, which features the
create intricate fantasy worlds
he also sets time aside to
about my one-man show.”
words ‘Ready for War’.
and mystical creatures that he
concentrate on personal work.
believes possess “a macabre
This December will see Odo
yet completed his first exhibition,
edge”. It didn’t take long for
hosting his first ever solo show
he already has plans to take
André x Quiksilver
companies to notice Le Borgne’s
at Spacejunk, after developing
his artwork in new directions. “I
Parisian graffiti artist and
unique talent. “I work for Billabong
a strong relationship with the
would like to take up oil painting
man-about-town André
as a freelance graphic designer,”
arts centre, which boasts no
in the future,” he says. “And I’d
Saraiva got all famous and
says Le Borgne. “I create designs,
less than four galleries across
also like to work on authoring
had to leave his underground
illustrations for T-shirts and
France. “I presented my work to
and creating a children’s book.”
alter-ego, Mr. A, behind.
typographies. I also work for
Spacejunk in 2008 for a series of
Billabong’s marketing department,
group shows,” says the twenty-
between business and creativity
Quiksilver on a series of hand-
creating their look books.”
five-year-old, still amazed at how
going, they’re more than likely to be
painted surfboards under his
Besides Billabong, Le
quickly an offer to fly solo came
worth the wait. David McNamara
single-word moniker, André.
Borgne has scored a bunch
rolling in. “I was totally surprised
of commercial deals that are
when Jérome Catz [Spacejunk
116 HUCK
Though Le Borgne has not
If Odo keeps the balance
www.ridesnowboards.com
Now he’s collaborated with
www.quiksilver.com
www.spacejunk.tv
117
Tilda Girl, 2009. Odo.
118 HUCK
In the run to Vanco up u 2010, wiver snowboa ll rdi and the ng Olympic and mak s kiss e up?
Other Olympic events you should totally check out this year…
Skeleton If the idea of bombing it face first down a rock solid track of ice on nothing but a small fibreglass tray doesn’t get your pulse racing, then nothing will. Skeleton athletes
When the Vancouver Winter
events. Founded by Haakonsen
every snowboard event that exists,”
reach speeds of up to 130km
Olympics roll around come
and core event organisers, it
says former Olympic Gold medalist
per hour and steer with
February 2010, snowboarding will
was a contest platform run by
and TTR World Champion Kelly
only a few minor tweaks of
once again hit centre stage on
snowboarders for snowboarders.
Clark, who is preparing for her
their body to narrowly avoid
TV sets around the world. Flags will
Today, winning the TTR crown is
third Olympic appearance.“I can
career-ending crashes - or
fly high. Lungs will fill with national
still seen as the most prestigious
speak from experience and say
not, as the case may be.
Contrary to popular gets pride. Hearts will beatbelief faster.itEtc.
emerging in South Africa today. achievement in snowboarding.
school butis left early, like started that there no event it. Prize
Heats begin February 18 at
coldBut in when South the Africa, really cold. Etc. sport debuted
A generation of children raised Another issue of the FIS
smoking dagga, frequenting money comes and goes, but I will
the Whilster Sliding Centre.
the Winter sun slips behindinthe at theAs1998 Olympics
exclusively in the townships representation is that, to qualify
the shabines and soon fell in always have my Olympic medal.
mountainJapan, casting Muizenberg Nagano, celebrations
withthe little or no knowledge for Olympics, you need of to
with local gang from which To thea people who have received
Curling
into deep shadow, the were far from universal.
their up ancestry. they know rack points All at World Cup are
he stillthey carries a couple of faded them, represent everything
This game of frozen
temperature drops dramatically One point of contention
the wire-fenced confines events, leaving riders oftenof the
self-styled tattoos. He stole that you put in to obtain them.”
lawn bowls, which sees
and the theInternational kids, shivering in their was Olympic
sprawling urban townships that having to choose between the
can see the and,Even in hisLesley own words, brought
competitors gently sliding
threadbare wetsuits, decideto let Committee’s (IOC) decision
keep them. The rolling green hills TTR and FIS competition circuits.
upside: the sport shame “It onbrings his family; an allinto too
heavy granite stones at a
it’s time to draw Ski a close to our the International Federation
of their seem “I’m nothomelands gonna be able toas dofar
people’s whoyouth might commonliving story rooms of wasted
target, dates all the way
first-ever session. Thanks to the (FIS) represent snowboarding
removed them as the blinding nearly as to many events this year
not ever get to townships see it. They’re in the modern of not
back to medieval Scotland.
generosity of Tich Paul, at the Games, instead ofowner the of
city lights of dothe to Olympics,” their elders. But because says
interested in politics, they don’t South Africa. Then Thomas found
It doesn’t exactly scream of
Capegrassroots Town’s Lifestyle surf shop, more International
while Pearce. their grandparents still hold Kevin “It’s a bummer
care about is representing football. He who began to coach
crowd-pleasing euphoria
we grab a warm shower and Snowboard Federation (ISF). Many
memoriesI support of their rural roots, because the TTR and
snowboarding but they local children and, in soreally doing,
but this simple game of
a hot chocolate before piling felt that the FIS didn’t really get
these kids have no sense everything they are doing of for
enjoy watching it and they became a role model – themight
understated skill, strategy
into the bakkieand andtoheading snowboarding, have this ski
cultural identity,Good no feeling snowboarding. thing that this
go out and givetoit not a shot.” perfect reason go back
and manic ice scrubbing
home over the mountains bureaucracy represent the sport
theymy belong, andcompeting.” with little in the isn’t last year
will always to hisSnowboarding old ways.
makes for perfect hangover
to Masiphumalele, theitsmall and make money from pissed a
way of opportunity crime often And the problems don’t stop
days, Thomas is and needThese new blood, new faces
TV as loud noises and
township that clingsnumber to the one few people off. World
creeps in as an easyAccording path to a to at just getting there.
known as ‘Coach’, and together new ideas. And as for progression,
sudden movements are kept
weather-beaten fringes of the at the time Terje Haakonsen chose
Lesley McKenna, better life. UK snowboarder
the run sense occasion that the we theofTicket to Ride
to a minimum.
Cape Atlantic coast. while Pulling in to ‘ignore’ the Games, other
who So hasit twice represented was for Thomas. Team
Games represents to Foundation, a smallseems community
Heats begin on February 16 at
through the main entrance, riders competed with ‘F*** FIS’with
GB atI met Salt Thomas Lake Citythrough and Torino, my
inspire crèche riders toaimed push their limits sports at keeping
the Vancouver Olympic Centre.
Cape Town silhouetted stickers on their boards. across a
the nature of competing workvery as a tour guide with UK at
hard. Kelly Clark crashed out of the young children of Thomas’
“If thehorizon, IOC had any respect cloudless the streets are
the Olympics conflicts with thein company, Ticket to Ride. Born
the finals in Torino aftertemptations attempting street away from the
Ski Jumping
for the of sport, theyas would let a a hive activity the working
snowboarding “You are the homelandslifestyle. of the Transkei,
to belead the first land a 900 that himfemale astray.toOur aim
The world of two planks may
snowboarding organisation host day finishes and the township
not there to represent yourself he came Cape Town when
and, as Lesleyanotes, “There are is to provide little variety to a
not get as much respect in
the snowboarding,” says Terje, gears up for dark. Under the soft
or you aremaking there to heyour was sponsor, still very young,
not that many sports where athletes life seldom extends beyond
the boardsports world as it
who is still angered by this. “Istreet still luminescence of flickering
represent the British and the long move west team, with his
are willing to go surrounds bust or win,ofand the weathered
deserves, but ski jumping
think is relevant lights,the kidsOlympics play football, women
they’re charge,” says Lesley. brother,innieces and nephews
snowboarding is really like that in the local neighbourhood,
takes the idea of ‘big air’ to
to snowboarders, but it’son runtheir by trundle by with baskets
“As a professional snowboarder as his mother looked for work
the Olympics. People are on through football, surfing andthe
a whole new level. With a
the wrong organisation. Thefires FIS heads, men huddle round
who has been supported by to support her young family.
limit and that is really soon swimming and special.” arts and
concept of basically flying as
just oldinISF format andcopied smoke the wafts the still
Roxy for my whole career, I wasn’t Thomas’ father had long since
yeah, there craftsSoprojects. Our may aim isbe
far and as stylishly as you can,
and nowair thinks more about the evening as the traffic does
allowed to wear theirtime clothing disappeared by the he
some issues behind the scenes, simple: to provide the children
it’s hard not to appreciate
branding banners thanthe the its best to on weave through
at the Torino Olympics. I had to came to Masiphumalele where
but that doesn’t detract from with a sense of belonging and
the spectacle, and of course
athletes and the sport.” crowds unmolested. For the kids,
represent the sponsors the his family built the small of wooden
the sheer spectacle of itthey all, and somewhere they know can
the soothing sound of those
Years passed in 2002, today marks their and, first experience
British It was shack Olympic they still Association. inhabit today.
the fact you can watchAan come tothat enjoy themselves.
cowbells – and all that
the ISF surf was and, reborn as the Ticket of the judging by theTo
a bitterbrought pill to swallow.” Being up by his mother
incredibly progressive sport on place to kick a ball around, or
skintight neoprene is a sight
Ride (TTR) World Snowboard songs emanating from the Tour: cab a
But history and rider politics in a tight-nit Xhosa community,
primetime Andnow perhaps that’s surf a little,TV. every and then.
to behold too.
contest series that lets competitors of the pick-up, it seems to have
aside, is there not stillfigure, something and with no father
Tim Conibear why even the most hardcore
Heats begin on February 12 at
come and go more freely, racking gone down well.
exciting the Olympics? Thomasabout was raised in dishonour
snowboarder will still tune in
the Whistler Nordic Centre.
up points at a different ranked There’s new generation
“I have competed just about and was cast out.inHe attended
www.ttride.co.uk/foundation come February. Ed Andrews
119
One patrio slogan, mil tic lio of missed ns opportunit and a man ies the right thdi oing ng. Brazil is the country of the future!
know much about the world
about all the different parts that
the most recognisable faces in
economy. She isn’t an athlete
make up the exciting mosaic
Brazil, hosting a live audience
across the South American
either, so all this hoopla about
of audiovisual work: from sound
show watched by millions of
nation for decades – a promise
the Cup and the Games
engineering to make-up and
people every week.
of riches for a place plagued by
means little to her. Claudia is
wardrobe, camera, light, art
a history of slavery, economic
one of the millions of young
direction, editing, graphics, direction,
around a million dollars a year,
subjugation and internal
people in Brazil, Mexico, India,
writing, the whole shebang.
comes from Luciano himself, as well
mismanagement. But as the
throughout Africa and, more
years rolled by, there was always
recently, in rich countries as
forming new Kusturicas or Spike
other investors. If only 10 per cent
a new crisis, a new scandal, a
well, whose future is pretty
Jonzes. Instead, it’s about teaching
of those billions that will go towards
new asshole president flanked
much set in stone. Statistics
these young folk a craft that’ll
the Olympics and the World Cup
by a corrupt Senate. And the
show that a kid born below
get them a job. Whether they’ll
could end in the hands of guys
future never came.
’the line’ will most likely die
become a real artist or a cable
like Luciano, one single school
poor, and many will also die
man on a network, it doesn’t really
would be able to educate and
since the Great Depression
young from a unnatural cause.
matter. What does matter is that
professionalise 2,000 kids every year.
hit the headlines last year,
In other words, they’ll be killed.
they’ll have a dignified profession,
This would change their lives forever,
Brazilians, used to this kind of
And ‘the line’ I am talking about
that they will change the lives of
and affect the lives of thousands of
shit as they are, didn’t panic. It’s
here, and which divides millions
their families and close friends by
others connected to them. A chain
been happening since I was a
of futures from a real future, is a
serving as an example, that they
reaction of this kind could educate
little boy. Two steps forward, one
thin one called ‘education’.
will finally cross that ‘thin’ line and,
a country in record time.
This slogan has been heard
So when the worst downturn
back. Sometimes one forward,
In 2004, Claudia was twenty-
two back – and there it goes, the
one years old and her only
‘future’ vanishing off once again.
education was through the state
But ‘Criar’ is not focused on
one would hope, die of natural causes some day. In five years ‘Criar’ taught
All the money for the project,
as from friends, companies and
The future is now. It has to be. Globalisation has made the world a small place. If the US
But this time, the step back
school in her neighbourhood,
700 young people and helped
don’t cut their carbon emissions,
never came. Not only that, Brazil
a slum in the São Paulo metro
find jobs for almost 80 per cent
it doesn’t matter if China
was picked as the home of the
area. The school sucked and
of them. “We form 150 kids in our
or Europe do. And if there’s
World Cup in 2014, and of the
chances are she would end up
school every year. They leave
corruption and poverty in Brazil,
Olympics in 2016. In terms of
cleaning houses for the rest of her
not only with the knowledge but
that too is a matter for people
money, this means an investment
life – just like her mum. But in that
also with the skills they need
elsewhere. We’re all connected
of over $20 billion over the next
year she applied to a school of
to start a career,” says Luciano
– for the good and for the bad.
six years. In terms of what this
film and television called Instituto
Huck, himself a TV professional
It’s like that theory of the butterfly
avalanche of cash will actually do
Criar de TV e Cinema, which
and the founder of ‘Criar’.
and a tsunami: flap here, waves
for the real future of the country,
means, literally,‘Create Institute of
Luciano was never a poor kid.
there. In other words, we all
god only knows, since corruption
Film and Television’. To her surprise,
He started out by opening a few
have the same future. You, me,
is still an issue and history does
she got in. When classes began,
bars and clubs, then went on to
Claudia, as well as the butterfly.
have a habit of repeating itself.
Claudia was exposed – for free
write a newspaper column on
Giuliano Cedroni
But here’s an idea…
– to a universe that she didn’t
youth culture before switching
even know existed. She learned
to television. Today, he is one of
Claudia Alcântara doesn’t
120 HUCK
www.institutocriar.org
GLOBAL 5STAR AND 6STAR TOUR EVENTS 08/11/09 12/03/09 12/28/09 01/04/10 01/07/10 01/09/10 02/01/10 03/02/10 03/13/10 03/15/10 03/24/10
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08/15/09 12/05/09 01/03/10 01/09/10 01/10/10 01/16/10 02/07/10 03/07/10 03/13/10 03/21/10 03/28/10
Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships Billabong Air&Style Innsbruck-Tirol 2010 The Oakley Arctic Challenge O'Neill Evolution Roxy Chicken Jam Europe Burton European Open Snowboarding Championships Burton Canadian Open Snowboarding Championships Burton Asian Open Snowboarding Championships Air&Style Moscow 2010 Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships Roxy Chicken Jam USA
EUROPEAN REGIONAL EVENTS Stompit Again, Modena, Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam, Schladming Riverjump, Livignio Champs Open, Leysin BGV Fest, Kazan Grandvalira Total Fight Masters of Freestyle Absolut Park Spring Battle, Flachauwinkl Snowboarding Finnish Open, Tahko British Snowboard Championships, Laax World Rookie Fest Tour Chill and Destroy Tour
www.ttrworldtour.com/in-good-company
music go kurtmusic vile Childish Expressions Prodigy Matador Mercury AsAalot solo ofartist, mystery Kurt Vile, surrounded who day-jobs LA’s Music as the guitarist Go Music in indie when rockers their ten-minute The War On cosmic Drugs, disco is a singer-songwriter belter ‘Warm Inwho Thesounds Shadows’ as ifstarted he was breast-fed to do The the Velvet rounds Underground on the Internet and Richard about Hell. a year He’sago. rough, They electric, had silly fervent, names, fromlike Philly Gala but Bell drawls and likeTORG, a Newhad Yorker, never and played only if you live, ripped and claimed off all thethe gorgeous band was sonic just slop a that bit of heamuddies giggle. his Butsongs the songs with would kept coming you hearuntil something they got approaching serious, scored Bon Iver. a major It’s a deserved label deal signing in the to UK, theand excellent revealed Matador thatRecords they were afterbaroque a lower-key indie debut band in 2008 Bodies – least Of Water not because in glittering you’lldisguise. hear himTheir say “sheeeeeeit” debut album, like Expressions, he’s Clay Davis is in a The collection Wire. Great of record, the nine and songs Kurt Vile they’ve is actually already his real released name. on Nice. three Phil EPs and whether you’ll like it depends entirely upon Hebblethwaite whether you like Abba and David Bowie – not Abba or David Bowie, but Abba and David Bowie. They’re part Studio 54 glitz, part classic songwriting, and totally otherworldly – caught somewhere between the city, the country and paradise, if you like. And when this LP, which is already out in the US, gets a European release in January, it’ll make them famous here, because us Eurofags have a history of adoring over-blown, camp and perfectly executed pop rock. If they’re bound for the cosmos, you might as well be onboard. Phil Hebblethwaite
listen
The melvins Blakroc Blakroc V2/Co-op Chicken Switch Ipecac Oh god, the horror remix of thealbum rock band vs. annoying a gaggleand of hip hop On paper, a Melvins is a really unnecessary MCs album. Inadvisable, butinspire at least the band – The idea, but these sludge rockers and, mlace, in here a good way,Black and Keys have soul and foul. a tight often –most mental PH drummer, and he sounds immense throughout. We begin with by far the best track – Ludacris and Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s – and there are others, like RZA’s and Pharoahe Monch’s, that also work well. No samples, all live, makes this neither fish nor fowl, but mostly meaty. PH
listen
Dead confederate pens Hey Friend What You Doing? Stijl Wrecking BallDe Kartel Some from Vice magazine says on the bumph thatdo comes Much likedude Titus Andronicus, Georgia’s Dead Confederate very with Pens’ debut that they’re the best new British band around. Take a serious, high-on-righteousness, super-male classic/epic rock. bow,know buddy, because youth counts for something, it never You the kind ofalthough thing: shout-outs to their dads for showing excuses making Hoxton bunkum an order high as them “what integrity means” on music the LPof sleeve, an as interest in this. the ForAmerican thirty seconds, are okay live, but their record of is so intensely Civil Pens War (de rigueur), and a bunch songs that the half hour your life lost listening to it. Avoid, shit. PH tremble and of pound, inyou a good way. Wrecking Balllike is dog earthy and unpretentious stuff that’s somehow weirdly outdoorsy sounding, if a little po-faced. PH
listen
Thee The raveonettes vicars
listen
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Back In AndOn Out The OfStreets ControlDirty Fierce Water Panda Everyone’s a Of thief in garage so if you’re going to pinch Weird record. course every rock, Raveonettes album sounds the a sound, you may as they well say, burgle Cramps and same, despite what butfrom that’sThe notSonics, the problem (they Billy Childish. Vicars, a bizarre bunch isofthat teenagers from on small always soundThee great). What’s many songs thistown Bury who are with their lot,pop, evenjust took fourthStLPEdmunds wrap seriously darkunhappy themes in pure sugar like ‘He their ‘Thee’ from Boy.by Doesn’t matter: they they wail, Hit Me (It Felt LikeBilly A Kiss)’ The Crystals did. But scream, where that 1962 they’re tight asand fuck,clever, and this is unquestionably up there withBe the hit is unsettling a track like ‘Boys Who Rape (Should best R&B-styled garage rockmisguided records ofand thecompletely year. PH stupid. PH Destroyed)’ on here is totally
The road Director John Hillcoat Stooped beneath a burden of profound sadness, The Road is a tragic requiem for the death of civilisation. As a Man (Viggo Mortensen) and a Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) drift through the landscape of a ruined earth, we follow them on a post-apocalyptic road trip through a world of taunting memories. It demands that we face the question of what we would do if it was us, and answer it with brutal honesty. But this is not a film of moral dilemmas – morality is a luxury in this landscape that has been purified by catastrophe. It is about how we shaped the world, and how we were reshaped in turn by the utter certainty of damnation. And if it falls slightly short of the Cormac McCarthy novel that inspired it, then it still reaches vertiginous heights indeed. Matt Bochenski
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Where The Wild Things Are
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Director Spike Jonze Inspired by Maurice Sendak’s children’s kids classic, classic, Spike Spike JonzeJonze has blasted has into orbitinto blasted on orbit a jet-propelled on a jet-propelled joyride of joyride pure movie of purebliss. movie Exhilarating, bliss. anarchic and Exhilarating, anarchic heartfelt, and Jonze heartfelt, has located Jonze has the wild located soul the of cinema wild inside soul ofthis cinema story inside of a young this story boy of who, a young denied boy hiswho, supper, denied travels through his supper, thetravels Jungian through hinterlands the Jungian of his own hinterlands imagination of his and own tames the primordial imagination and tames passions the primordial that exist passions inside. MB that exist inside. MB
sex & Drugs & rock & roll Director Mat Whitecross Ex-hobbit Andy Serkis gives an inspired performance as The Blockheads frontman Ian Dury in this wildly imaginative rock biopic. With production design by Brit Pop Art hero Peter Blake, Sex & Drugs explodes into neon life, exploring the contradictory passions of the eighties’ premier punk poet. And the music, of course, rocks. MB
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A prophet
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Director Jacques Audiard Blistering, visceral, exhilarating, violent: A Prophet is a cinematic call-to-arms from a director with all the weapons in his arsenal. The Scarface-style story of a young inmate who rises to become an all-powerful kingpin, this is modern filmmaking at its most trenchant; an intoxicating cocktail of arthouse ambiguity and dramatic pyrotechnics. French-Arab actor Tahar Rahim kills it in his first lead role. MB
crude Director Joe Berlinger Not Not to to be be confused confused with with Basil Basil Gelpke Gelpke and and Ray Ray McCormack's, McCormack’s A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, this is the more specific story of ofthe thetens tensof ofthousands thousandsof ofindigenous indigenousEcuadoreans Ecuadorians who took on global giant Chevron in a legal case worth tens of billions of dollars. It’s a dramatic narrative expertly told by Joe Berlinger, who strikes just the right balance between impassioned polemic and forensic filmmaking. MB
124 HUCK
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Avatar: The Game PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC Tying into James Cameron’s highly anticipated Aliens meets The Smurfs epic, this third-person shooter takes you to the lush planet of Pandora to shoot the shit out of a bioluminescent forest paradise and its magnificent creatures. But before you go thinking this is another imperialist war machine, the game takes you on a more enlightened path altogether, ditching the weapons and going native with the Na’vi. You may think it’s all standard fare and you’d be right, up to a point, as the gameplay breaks no new frontiers. But dust off those anaglyph specs because, like the film, it comes in 3D. 21st Century, yeah! Ed Andrews
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks DS The sequel to the Phantom Hourglass returns to Hyrule where Link is working as a railway engineer (yes, really). But you are not alone on your evil-defeating quest, instead flanked by the ghost of Princess Zelda who uncharacteristically carks it early on. This buddy system adds a new dimension to the challenges with you using the DS touchscreen controls to once again solve elementary puzzles, railway-based challenges and find the ever-elusive Master Sword. Link gets also gets to gotoallgo Indiana all Indiana Jones Jones with a with whip a whip too! Another too! Another charming charmingEd treasure. treasure. A Ed A
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Wii Now that winter is upon us, a new instalment of the creepy survival horror will make you feel even more cold, alone and isolated. You play as Harry Mason searching the streets of snowy town Silent Hill in search of his missing daughter. The game relies more on slow-burning creepiness instead of instant action, with a lot of the gameplay involving scouring around in the dark with your trusty torch and mobile phone. Yes, things will jump out at you and, yes, you will be scared. So be warned. Ed A
Where The the Wild Wild Things Things Are: Are: The The Video Video Game Game Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS Of course there was going to be a video game. This simplistic platformer sees you play as Max, running, jumping and climbing trees through the mysterious island and generally having fun with your magical sceptre. Along the way, you recruit the help of the various Wild Things to solve puzzles, collect all sorts of power-ups and hoard special goodies. It’s very much for kids but it won’t stop grown-ups having a good old wild rumpus, too. Ed A
Silent Hill: Shattered Skater Memories Nation iPhone/iPod Touch Wii With Nowmore that winter faux-extreme is uponclichés us, a new thaninstalment you can shake of theacreepy stick at, survival Skater Nation fussed authenticity. But for aand handheld free-roaming horror willisn’t make you about feel even more cold, alone isolated. You play as skate experience, withthe thestreets virtualof d-pad ontown the touch screen, it plays Harry Mason searching snowy Silent Hill in search of looks) like the Tony Hawk franchise With a variety of trickhis (and missing daughter. The game relies more of onold. slow-burning creepiness basedofchallenges to complete, keep you entertained at least instead instant action, with a lotitofwill the gameplay involving –scouring until your precious around in thesome dark hoodlum with your snatches trusty torch and mobile iPhone. phone. Ed A
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pics: zimtstern, michael müller, rudolf sterflinger/FVA muc
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The Road Cormac Director McCarthy, John Picador Hillcoat The successor Stoopedtobeneath No Country a burden For Old of Men, profound Cormac sadness, McCarthy’s The Road The is requiemto forthe thehuman death of civilisation. a Man (Viggo Roadaistragic a testament capacity forAs self-destruction. a Boyis(Kodi Smit-McPhee) drift through the But if this Mortensen) lyrical epic and of horror a requiem for civilisation, it is also landscape of aproof, ruined earth, weinfollow them onnight a post-apocalyptic our eulogy, our that even the darkest of the human road world of remain tauntingalight. memories. It demands thatand we race,trip thethrough embersaof hope The story of a Man face the question of what would dounnamed if it was us,apocalypse, and answer it a Boy journeying through thewe ruin of an with brutal honesty. this is new not aworld film of– moral dilemmas – morality charts the terrors of But a bleak the cannibalism, murder is a desperation luxury in this landscape thatinnocent has beeneyes purified by catastrophe. and – through the of the ‘good guys’ It is about how theRecorded world, andinhow were reshaped carrying the firewe of shaped humanity. the we sombre poetry of insecular turn by prophecy, the utter certainty of damnation. Andand if it falls slightlycri short it is an astonishing, vivid humane de of the Cormac McCarthy novel that inspired it, then it stillfrom reaches cœur from a peerless writer surveying the landscape the vertiginous indeed. Matt Bochenski peakheights of his powers.
Where The Wild Things Are Skateboarding.3D Sebastian Director Spike Denz, Jonze Carhartt Inspired by Maurice Sendak’s kidstoclassic, Jonze has blasted Taking skate photography, literally, the nextSpike dimension, into orbit on a jet-propelled joyride purewas movie bliss. Skateboarding.3D is what your coffeeoftable made for.Exhilarating, The result anarchic andshooting heartfelt,with Jonze has located the wild soul of cinema of three years a custom-made camera, the book inside this story of young boy who, denied hisaction supper, travels features a series of a beautifully shot portraits and shots of throughsuch the as Jungian hinterlands of his ownready imagination and skaters Scott Bourne and Olly Todd, to jump off the tamesas the primordial passions that exist inside. MB page soon as you slip on your anaglyph specs. Ed Andrews
Sex & Drugs & Henry RockDarger & Roll Klaus Director Biesenbach, Mat Whitecross Prestel It’s Ex-hobbit impossible to comprehend Henry Darger’s fantasy world on Andy Serkis gives an inspired performance as The anything less frontman than this paving slab-sized monograph by Klaus Blockheads Ian Dury in this wildly imaginative rock Biesenbach. That’s because the solitary never his biopic. With production design by Britjanitor Pop Art herointended Peter Blake, thousands of illustrations, sometimes long, to contradictory ever be seen. Sex & Drugs explodes into neon life,metres exploring the Magical gatefolds full of flowers, birds, butterflies and Vivian passions of the eighties’ premier punk poet. And thelittle music, of Girls allow the reader to feel like Nathan Lerner discovering course, rocks. the MB secret treasure for the first time. Shelley Jones
A Prophet The Thousands: Painting Outside, Breaking In RJ Rushmore, Director Jacques www.dragolab.com Audiard At less than fifty pages, this streetviolent: art journal barely scratches Blistering, visceral, exhilarating, A Prophet is a cinematic the surface, but does cover both big boys (Faile,inNick Walker, call-to-arms from a director withthe all the weapons his arsenal. Banksy) and some lesser-known names (Skewville, Veng). The Scarface-style story of a young inmate who rises toReleased become to with kingpin, The Thousands exhibition, curated by ancoincide all-powerful this is modern filmmaking ateighteenits most year-old RJ an whointoxicating also runs on-the-cusp art blog Vandalog, it’s trenchant; cocktail ofstreet arthouse ambiguity and a solid effort at DIY. What French-Arab were you doing when youRahim were his age? dramatic pyrotechnics. actor Tahar kills it in David his firstMcNamara lead role. MB
Read Hard Edited Edited by by Ed Ed Park Park and and Heidi Heidi Julavits, Julavits, McSweeney’s McSweeney’s From the indie depths of Dave Eggers’ publishing house comes a cornucopia of literary delights. This wordy corpus, featuring the best non-fiction and experimental journalism from left-field book review journal The Believer, is the perfect companion for lovers of words everywhere. It’s a book that lets writers write about writers. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Andrea Kurland
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Be part of the 10th
for Streetwear, Fashion, Sneaker and Skateboarding January 16 and 17, 2010 Frankfurt/Germany www.brighttradeshow.com
Photography: Jussi Oksanen.
Snowbo a super prding Jussi O ro k takes stanen progen he the roay on d.
I love snowboarding for a living, but sometimes my time on the road can be hard on my young family. I spend half my life away in the mountains seeking out the perfect cliff, only to come home and find one of my sons perfected his first steps while I was gone, or the other is mad at me for being missing for so long. So it got me thinking… why not put two of my biggest loves together and hit the open road with my eldest son, Gabriel, and road trip down from Canada to Southern California with him rather than on my own? So that’s what we did at the end of my season, and instead of my yearly solo mission to get all my stuff back home, I took a deep breath and partnered up with Gabriel on an adventure into unknown territory territory, (not the road we were taking – I had driven that many times before – but a one-on-one weeklong road trip, hotel hopping with a two-and-a-half-year-old!). Putting my snowboard aside, I fill my pack with diapers and matchbox cars and set off –- with with aa little little trepidation, trepidation,II must must admit admit -– for the familiar setting of Whistler, BC. B.C.As Asititturns turnsout, out,I’m I’mpleasantly pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy my little travel mate. Sure, there’s the missed nap melt-down that brings Vancouver airport customs to a halt, and the two-day struggle to find a pasta sauce that is just the right colour red, but Gabriel’s embrace of our adventure and awe at everything from Seattle’s skyline to Oregon’s redwood
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giants brings a fresh perspective on the travel that had become so old to me. I no longer want to mindlessly clock up the miles through the night with nothing more than my next destination in my head and a ‘Rockstar’ Rockstar in inmy myhand. hand.I Iwant wantto tofind findthe thetallest tallesttree tree in the redwood forest and the craziest-shaped rock on the beach with Gabriel. Snowboarding and my ‘to do’ list of tricks is far from my mind right now. Our journey weaves in and out of towns and remoteness, from the Nike offices in Portland and Robertson Boulevard in L.A.to LA. tothe thewild wildOregon Oregoncoast coastand andthe thehippie hippy town of Arcata, where Gabriel takes in the half-naked baked people with all the innocence a toddler should. At the end of a long journey down the 101, 101 aa newfound newfound and and stronger-than-ever stronger-than-ever father-and-son father-and-son bond emerges. I can’t help but wonder whether Gabriel will remember any of this, or has any better understanding of what I do for a living and why I am dragged away from home so much. Probably not, but when I show him the photos from our trip when he is older, he might just realise that my work and our family sometimes came together in a pretty unique way. Jussi Oksanen oksanenjussi.wordpress.com
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