Cy prepping for Stoked and Broke with bamboo rickshaw

Below is an interview with the interviewer:

Describe your relationship with the ocean, where do you surf and what boards do you like to ride?

When I was a kid, I spent all of my summers down at the beach, boogie boarding or body surfing. Back then I spent more time riding my skateboard than surfing, but I always rode like I was on a wave.

Today, surfing in the ocean clears my head and nourishes my soul. I prefer a gentle peeler over a pounding beach break, so I surf places like San-O and the PV Cove. My favorite board is a 9′4 Bing Lovebird. It seems to handle pretty much anything.

What inspired you to start Liquid Salt?

Surfing is such a profound experience that I wanted to share it with others. Also I am very curious about what other people think and how they see the world. It just seemed natural to be able to merge the two.

Is this your full-time job or do you do other work as well?

It feels like a full time job. I spend an incredible number of hours being the web developer, designer, interviewer, photo editor, and basically the curator for Liquid Salt.

My day job is as a brand identity designer and strategist. I blend brand strategy with my background in design. My work includes identities, advertising, and packaging.

What is your process in deciding who to interview?

They have to be somewhat well known or established. Having a hidden talent like painting or photography is a plus. They must be interesting, and quite frankly I have to like what they are doing.

For someone coming to the site for the first time, which interviews would you recommend?

Doc Paskowitz, Paul Strauch, and Gerry Lopez. These individuals truly embody the “aloha” spirit. Even if you didn’t surf you could relate to the strong connection these people have with the ocean.

What is your (opinion) of surf culture today?

Surfing today is a unique culture that blends art, spirituality, nature, intelligence, athleticism and grace. All of this transforms into something that goes beyond sport and into a different realm. It’s very exciting.

Where do you think its headed?

It’s the young people like you and Dave at Almond who are taking surf culture to the next level. A combination of craft and aesthetics that will keep surfing true to the art form that it is.

www.liquidsaltmag.com

A Korduroy TV photographic collection curated by Ryan Tatar (www.ryantatar.com).

Part 5: Lachie Goldsworthy x Dain Thomas

all photos Lachie Goldsworthy (http://eraculprits.tumblr.com/)

Lachie Goldsworthy is one of the crew behind the Nine Lives Gallery in Australia. The Nine Lives is a gallery space in the heart of Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. They feature local, interstate, and the odd international artist – all of whom have provided an assorted array of visual pleasures. Citing a focus on affordable art, with no correlation between price and quality, Nine Lives aim is to keep the prices for works down allowing people the chance to have original artworks from talented emerging contemporaries on their walls. The space itself is a blank canvas of sorts, it can be used for exhibitions, showings, photo shoots, small events and temporary studio space. Prior artists include folks like Alex Knost and Ozzie Wright. On top of running this great concept, Lachie shoots film. One of his recent subjects was the proprietor of Sea Surfboards, a popular underground label featuring custom boards of all kinds and a unique clothing line. Check out Dain’s shapes and designs at www.seasurfboards.com and Lachie Goldsworthy’s photos at http://eraculprits.tumblr.com.

Check out her stuff out on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/elmaxo

This one speaks for itself.

We don’t watch much tv here, but try to catch Flight of the Conchords whenever its on.

If you’re not familiar with it here’s a wiki description- Flight of
the Conchords is a New Zealand comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie
and Jemaine Clement. Billing themselves as “Formerly New Zealand’s
fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy
folk duo”, they premiered in 2007 on HBO. The fictional series
revolves around the pair as they try to achieve success as a band in
New York City and try to develop an American fan base.

This week we are preparing to push off for a 10 day tour of our backyard. A little staycation-odyssey if you will for our new film called “Stoked and Broke.” Tomorrow we’re making surfboard trailers that we’ll affix to our backpacks, made out of the bamboo from the backyard. Amidst the preparations, my mind has been trying to hone in on the message of the film. I’ve been thinking a lot about surfing and the effect its had on my place in society…

Before I started surfing I equated happiness with attaining goals- homework, tests, catching fish, penciling my height further upward on the door frame… And for a long time after I saddled surfing with goals too- going down the line, doing a lip bank, cutting back, hanging 5, 10, winning a trophy, slapping on a sponsor’s sticker… I cared about moving forward, charging up that next hill, placing my next flag. But as the years went by and high school came and went, this drive began to wain. Not just with surfing, but with life in general. Despite coming from a family of college professors, I never graduated from college.  Instead, I bought a van, put a bed in the back and got a gym pass for showering.  Maybe age just starts to wear you down, but it seems now like surfing had a lot to do with it.

A few years ago, I was peering through the viewfinder my Bolex on the balcony of a retired couple’s 18th floor apartment, which towered over a popular beach break on Australia’s Gold Coast. I counted under my breath and methodically clicked the shutter of the camera, taking a time lapse of the scene below. In the azure water, hundreds of tiny figures on boards thrashed shoreward and paddled seaward/ thrashed shoreward/ paddled seaward. It began to look absurd, like the sound of a word when you say it fast 10 times. I think that’s when the epiphany came. Surfing is totally pointless. It’s the ultimate non-productive act- the biggest waste of time ever championed by modern man. But surfing made me feel better than anything I’d ever felt, while grabbing at goals consistently left me hungry and hollow. Now this is pretty radical thing for a world that depends on people basing their self-worth solely on their accumulation of things.



A Korduroy TV photographic collection curated by Ryan Tatar (www.ryantatar.com)

Part 4:  Liz Lantz x Jill Hansen

all photos Liz Lantz (http://www.lizlantz.com)

Liz Lantz (formerly Liz Cockrum) is a friend of mine and a brilliant photographer based in north county San Diego.  Her photographs from her Hasselblad are always spot on… perfectly composed and exposed.  She has a great photo essay called “Sirens” detailing the surf culture in women’s surfing.  These photographs are of Jill Hansen, a Newport Beach local surfer, artist, and designer.  Jill has a fine custom wetsuit line she designs called California Candy, which features cutting edge designs and premium japanese yamato rubber.

Parental Warning - this video contains just about every profanity known to man…

Good surfing at the end though.

3 Shades of Natural Beanie

Here is a cool one for the future surfer…

Knit Baby Earflap Hat

Here’s a nice stop motion animation. Stop motion is achieved by taking a sequence of still photos and stringing them together to give the illusion of movement. Here’s a cool tutorial on how to make your own stop motion movies:
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Stop-Motion-Animation