End of the Year

I was in Florida for the holidays with 900 family members so I didn't get a chance to do an end of the year list. The thing is, living in Japan, I am never sure if the things I am exposed to in a year sync up with the American year. Also my memory doesn't conform to a year. I should make a list in real time. Nevertheless.

Songs of the Year

I don't have my ear to the underground anymore, so these are pretty mainstream.

Just a Band- Ha-He

Internet meme, but it couldn't be any better.



Cee Lo Green- Fuck You

I have been critical of Cee Lo in the past, but he killed it with this new album.



La Roux- Bulletproof

When it comes to pop music, I have made my case known: I am a sucker for a good chorus.



That being said, I still haven't listened to the new Big Boi or the Roots or anything else good.

Show of the Year

I went to a lot of good shows this year but none beat Superchunk at the Metro. Surreal seeing them again after 16 years, with their kids and in my neighborhood for an outrageous price.



Wave of the Year

I had no good waves this year, however I spent the morning before my wedding surfing with a bunch of friends, so that was cool.

Movie of the Year

What movies were this year? I am going to go with---

Exit Through the Gift Shop

This movie is so good and also has the best title of all time



Inception

Has a movie ever looked this good and been this good? Peerless.



Toy Story 3

I saw it in Japanese and it still ripped my heart out.



I saw The Social Network, Ghost Writer and The Town on planes so I need to call a do over on them.

Book of the Year

I don't know. I read a bunch. Born to Run was written like a magazine article, but it sticks out in my mind.

TV of the Year

Treme. Hands down. No contest. Eat lunch at Lil' Dizzy's Cafe.
Call me crazy.

Andy Irons

Here is a good piece on some aspects of the life of Andy Irons. It is always a frustrating mystery to me reading about the downfall of people who seem to have absolutely everything. But that is too easy a comment, isn't it? I don't know what he had or didn't. I can't know what was going on in his head. In Japan, everywhere probably, but that is where I am, there is a strong tendency to look at successful people and talk about how great their lives are. I always say, more forcefully now that this conversation happens in my house, "We don't know. You don't know. What happens in people's lives isn't always great and being rich doesn't always make them happy." If I got paid to surf everyday and was one of the best in the world at it I would be so insanely happy that I wouldn't even hate Limp Bizkit. But then again, that is easy for me to say as I am completely broke and don't even get to surf poorly anymore. I suppose it is a lesson in the gap between what you can see and the reality, although Irons seems to have been showing us the truth about himself for a while. Nevertheless, he was a surfer, a great one at that, and I am sad to see him go.

Joel Tudor

I confess to having never heard of this guy until he was brought up at the gym yeterday. Good on you man.

!Die 2008 Die!

I used to hate New Year's, now I just don't care. To be fair Japanese New Year has it all over the American one. We have K-1 and jinjas. Can't beat it with a stick. Everyone does these year end round-ups and I feel the need to play along, but I never had a good sense of what happened within the confines of a year, and living abroad makes it even worse. Your best movie of last year might have just rolled in on Betamax here. I don't know.

Album of the Year: I looked at other people's lists to figure out what albums came out this year. And the only one I had was Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static." Which I don't even like. I can't find anything that I listen to that came out this year.

Song of the Year: See above. The only song from this year that I know is A Mili. Maybe we'll go with that.

Movie of the Year: Hands down The Dark Knight. It absolutely lived up to all of its hype. I wasn't as nuts about Heath Ledger's performance as most, but it was very good. An action movie that was about moral choices and their ambiguous results. I liked it far more than I thought I would and I love Batman. I also got to see it in IMAX with Susan Goslee, whom I like watching movies with, so it was rad. Honorable mention: Tropic Thunder, which I also liked far more than I thought I would. I am sure I am forgetting something.

Fight of the Year: Conventional wisdom says Maeda vs. Torres. Probably. I am going out on a limb and putting in for some short fights. I will say Hazelett vs. McCrory. Penn vs. Sherk. And Le vs. Shamrock.

Wave of the Year: Not many to be had this year. However, I had a few hours at Waikiki, which, despite everything; the tourists, the crowds, the angry locals, the rented shit board, the time restrictions, is still one of the greatest experiences in life. I have said it before, they don't let you shag flys at Fenway Park. They don't let you play quarterback for the Packers, but anybody can paddle out at Waikiki and soak it all in.

TV Show of the Year: The Wire was on, so of course it was The Wire. That being said, we are in the golden age of television ladies and gentlemen.

I guess that is all I have. Hmmm.

Alive

And in Hawaii. Staying in the hostel I like less. Can't locate Akko. Worst comes to worst, I still surf Waikiki in the morning.

I Want This Wave

I know Waimea is way beyond my ability, but it just looks like such a ridable wave. That's Bruce Irons, by the way.

Mother F'n France

photo:testemale


That is a crazy set. In France!!! Bonne Chance, Mes Amis.

Interesting Surf Article

Good ideas for magazine articles are few and far between. This is one.

Australian Wave Porn

Shipsterns, Australia. Taken on the 14th. Photo by Andy Chisolm.

What a strange looking wave.

Backdoor Pipeline Jan. 18th

That's a person on the bottom right for scale, by the way.










photo: Tungsten

Holy F'n F!

Look at this! Look at this! This is where I grew up, but in 1973!!! And we thought we invented sand surfing. Mom! Look! It's Tim Quigl(e)y! I don't know who made this, but it is so great. Makes me wanna go home.

If You Didn't Know...

Maverick's and Pipeline are going off right now. Pipeline is so huge that 3rd reef is breaking but it looks like nobody can get out. Maverick's was so good that The Mavericks Surf Contest-which only happens when the surf is good enough-was decided this weekend. Check it out. Crazy video. Great weather.

Rebel Forces

I have been crashing at Tomo's. Dodging from house to house like the resistence. I am still maintainging a massive surfing beard and a suntan. Surfing has been good, if small, everyday. For a year or so there I wasn't enjoying it much. I think it had to do with Kumar being gone and sufing being something I usually did with him. I think I have made a lot of progress this month and actually feel better than a lot of people. As far as better goes. More capable may be more accurate. Engaged in a massive game of Scrabble with James and Cameron. Never play Scrabble with a Scotsman. Cam always makes words with no vowels and then insists that they are a word for a fog that moves in over Scotland on fall mornings. Scrabble has some serious flaws in its lack of reward for creativity and elegance. Much like life. Oh. Saw that one coming. Tomo's house has a Mac which for some reason doesn't like this site. Sorry for the infrequency. Also, I signed up to MIXI. It is like the Japanese MySpace...I guess. I am sure I will lose interest in a month or so. Good Japanese practice though. Today I was attacked by praying mantises.

Japanese Medicine

I was at an orientation for work where a European guy laughed about how bad the Japanese medical system was. He is an asshole. Not really, but if you are not an American, it is hard to understand what an amazing thing it is to walk into a medical clinic, say what is wrong and be treated. That's it. I have been to the hospital three times this week, after injuring my knee surfing. The total cost has been about $30. That includes two X-rays, two injections and three laser treatments. It is amazing what the American public will allow to be denied to them.

Tanegashima

The Tanegashima photos are up. You can see the Tsunami warning sign, a crab, three barebecues, 900 pictures of Fumiko who always seems to cover her face and then say, "Take it again." So that it ends up looking like I wanted to take so many pictures of her. No offense, but no. You can see the overhead waves at Tenjikan and the double overhead at Hotel Mae. Although the double overhead just shows up as a bunch of whitewater.

For James

Everytime I go surfing a get a song stuck in my head. It had been "The Bridge is Over." Then me and James got started on "Afternoon Delight" which has to be one of the most disgusting songs ever written.

The Toppy

The linear time is going to get weird from here on out. I will try to go back through the week in Tanegashima. But not all at once. James, Alex, Cam and I took the train down early two Sunday's ago. Alex and Cam brought their kettle so that they could have tea. My surfboard blocked off about two doors between the train cars. We took the Toppy, a high-speed hydrofoil, from Kagoshima to Tanegashima. The last time Cam took it, it crashed into a whale, or a North Korean sub, or something, at 78kph resulting in numerous injuries and an award for Cam's first-aidary. The dock smelled like evry dock I have ever been around. It always make me feel like vomiting a sandwich I haven't eaten. The engines sound like rockets and the ue the space in front of the emergency exit to store our boards. A typhoon was passing from Taiwan to China. We headed south through the relative calm of Kinko Wan to the point where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Japan. In the distance I noticed giant, crytal blue waves errupting like a nightmare compilation of lgihthouse posters. I mentioned them to Alex and assumed there was no way we would confront them. As we approached them at 70kph the whole boat began to take notice. It seemed like we all started screaming in unison. James suddenly woke up and pulled back the curtain. The captain rolled the hydrofoil hard to the left, making the view from the oppsing windows sea and sky. The TV was playing a broadcast of the Koshien High School Baseball Tournament, in which the end of each game is announced with a loud, screeching siren. It began to go off as the captian through the boat back hard to the right as waves roared up and crashed around us. I have never seen any waves like this in my life, not even in The Pass during a hurricane. I screamed like a little girl trapped in a hydrofoil, flying madly to its doom. Fortunately this only lasted for a few minutes as we cleared into open seas and set off towards Tanegashima.

Back From Tanegashima

I spent the week surfing on Tanegashima, an island in the Pacific just south of Kagoshima. I have way to much to tell in one post so will try to break it up and post some pictures soon as well. Several points: I have rad friends. Cameron compells people to spend way too much money. We have the power to make cool shit happen wherever we go. People who live normal lives are ridiculous. I am poor again. I was in the hospital this morning. Natsuki is rad. You can barbecue every day for really cheap. Never show Chappelle's show to British people, it's not that they won't find it funny, it will just be for all of the wrong reasons. I am brown. Snorkeling is something you should get excited about. Seasnakes are strangely hypnotic. Natsuki is way beyond rad. Tomoko, who runs Narai, is the nicest lady on earth. I will stop trying to explain surfing to people who don't do it. British people consume way too much beer and tea and will somehow convice you should play along. Be careful when you just leave Itunes running and do something else, because things get weird. I have a big surf beard like Pat Curren. Na-Tsu-Ki! Stay at Narai. Snorkle at Urata. Surf Tenjikan. The Toppy can be terrifying.

Finally Used the Hammock/Partied with the Nemesis

We went surfing all day yesterday. Nothing has changed at Kisaki except for the faces. It is a new group hanging around the tables and they have looks of pride on their faces like they discovered the beach. Whatever. Miles was still there. The nemesis, deciding he is now a surfer, poses as king of the parking lot. Chris Miyoko showed up and I surfed with Alex Moss for the first time. That was rad. It was Sunday so Kisaki was crowed. I had a lot of really decent waves. As I drifted farther up the beach I got into major asshole territory. There was one Japanese guy-there always seems to be- that paddles from as far away as possible and tried to snake every wave. If he makes it, he will take off on your face, if he doesn't he looks at you like you shiit on his house. I yelled, "Take it then motherfucker." At him at some point, but I am not sure if he cared. I was ahppy to find out that everyone had run into him that day, so I wasn't imagining it. Cam, newly single, wanted to stay at the beach and test his freedom so I busted out the hammock and slept in the woods. It started storming so I pulled my giant Postal Service shipping bag over my head and went back to sleep. The nemesis danced aound the parking lot playing terrible techno music on his van stereo for the better part of the night. I woke up at dawn and found that he had left all his trash and stolen all of our beer. Ass. Alex and I got into the ocean at about 5:30 and the line-up was crowded by 6am. We sufed for two hours and then gave it up do to overcrowding. I have a blister on my thumb from playing a guitar that is out of tune and missing strings. Alex and I worked out that every reggae song is the same so we would play and sing different ones at the same time and you couldn't really tell the difference. I came back to Cam's and slept all day. Didn't go for the evening surf and was called a "poof." I had to remind cam that he was the one sleeping on the futon in the back of his van while I was in for two hours this morning. Nevertheless, I would rather be at the beach. Still broke. A week until payday.

The Pop-Up

An element of my surf game that is really struggling is the pop-up. This is the most important element of your take-off as it decides how your whole ride is going to go. For some reason I got in the bad habit of grabbing the rails and draging my knees across the board. A lot of this is because I would surf for a while and get tired, and I was riding smaller waves that didn't make me pay for a bad take-off. I am really going to try and concentrate on correcting this problem this week before we leave for Tanegashima.