why always wednesday?

god bless john milius & before him john severson. the john's knew... every great swell of size seems to show up on wednesday. its a really weird, consistent thing. can fritz coleman, dallas raines or the busty girl on nbc morning give me some meteorologic feedback?

all i know is that i hope we have a few more before the winter is over.

tyler hatzikian, hammerland - big wednesday - dec. 2009

allan c. weisbecker, still mad

i don't know why but it seems like all of us self proclaimed surf artists tip toe across a very thin line between completely self indulgent and certifiably mad. from timmy turner hiding out in the staff infested indo' bush to the meanderings of allan c. weisbecker - traveler, writer, mad man. at its core, surfing is a pretty selfish experience & yet certain artists have been able to convey their thoughts, feelings & ideas in a way that connect with the tribe. in the end, its all pretty primal. like the campfire stories passed down from our ancestors, modern surf media whether web based, broadcast, dvd or print form, tries to capture the essence of the experience and share it with others.

have you ever had a perfect session with no one out & wished you had just one friend around to share it with? i know i have and yet, i've had 100s of crowded sessions when i wished everyone would just go away. surfing is a weird thing that way. how do you share something special with your friends yet keep it all to yourself? just thinking about it is as painful on the brain as analyzing the space time continuum parodox of Terminator 2. if one thing exists, how can the other co-exist and vice-versa? headache coming on. weisbecker has been playing this role for a while and it seems he's found a new act. i'm not as jazzed on the creative as i am intrigued by the glimpse into an underground wanderer's mind. i will add, kudos to utilizing new technology in the cathartic effort to portray unique visual meanderings for the campfire.

Dazed and Confused from Nomad Productions on Vimeo.

Allan Weisbecker has written three books: Cosmic Banditos, In Search of Captain Zero, and Can't You Get Along With Anyone?. To buy the books, for more info and to sign up for his newsletter, go to banditobooks.com.

the future of magazines?

i remember when i friend of mine told me about the concept of digital magazines about 10 years ago and i thought he was on crack. now it seems like it's only a matter of time for paper to disappear. i do love the tangible process of holding a mag or seeing it on my coffee table but i must say - this new prototype for a digital magazine looks amamzing.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

nalu magazine interview

nalu magazine in japan recently interviewed me about living in the south bay of los angeles. there is an online version here but fyi - you must be able to read japanese!

liquid salt interview

glenn sakamoto kindly tracked me down to chat about all things surf for his insightful blog, liquid salt - check it out.

vibe ride...

i shot this with keith malloy, scott soens & scott kassenoff as a surf unit for a feature film that we won't mention. this was a pre-visualization we cut for the main unit to reference.

one cal. day - collector's board

after making singlefin: yellow, i asked tyler to build me a replica board of yellow that i could travel with. this point model has now traveled the globe and is probably the best, all around board i've ever owned. it's fun in small surf and really turns on in bigger point and reef waves. it even ended up in my 2nd film, one california day, when dan malloy took it out for a few waves in baja mexico. thanks to danny, my every day board is now a part of surf history. the board is well used but water tight - ready to ride or we can polish it up for a collector. i'm re-tuning my quiver and offering this board for purchase via the tyler shop. please call katherine for details. 310.322.6861

some lost images

i stumbled upon a few behind the scenes images from making one california day. thought they might be fun to share.

the masonic order of the rusty projector

the masonic order is doing some fun grass roots screenings on the sand at san onofre. they will be showing One California Day this saturday, aug. 29th @ sundown. i believe myself, mark jeremias and a few of the surfers will be there to enjoy the fun. all are welcome and it is free, well, minus the new $15 state park day fee to surf san'o.

the power of the doc.

hey guys, this is a powerful film about a very important topic. i'm not one to get political but i do appreciate the importance of filmmaking to inspire, educate and promote change. for more info check out the devil came on horse back. this title is available for dvd purchase and for rental through netflix.com.

aloha in a glass

so, my good friend's know that when i'm not making films or surfing, i'm usually checking out new bars and restaurants with said friends who happen to own bodega wine bar. i love to cook and i love to make a good cocktail, so i'm always interested in what others are doing.

on a recent trip to hawaii, although i wasn't supposed to be "working", my wife and i did take it upon our selves to savour a tour-de-force romping of waikiki's various drinking establishments - in simple, to rate the region for one thing:

thy best mai tai.

i find most mai tai's on the mainland a bastardization of hawaii's most delectable treat. the manhattan beach "rock n fish" navy grog is the best rum drink i've found with close 2nds to the mai tai's from the "outrigger canoe club of newport beach", the "purple orchid" of el segundo and the "bel air bay club". if you've found another good one - let me know, i'd love to check it out. fresh juice, crushed ice and a dark rum top off are key for me, always served in a bucket glass-never a pint.

and yes, i know the grog is a grog and not a mai tai - but that's my point, it is better than most mai tai's i've had in california... damn the man who first put grenadine with rum in a pint and passed it off as something even similar to the discussion at hand.

for the most part - the old fashioned and the "Ivy gimlet" have won me over in LA for drinks with flair. the margarita and dirty martini for simple fun.

but alas - having recently built our late gramp's stebbins famous mai tai recipe - i finally feel ready to play with this hawaiian concoction. the stebbins mai tai is an absolute classic, a secret family recipe created over 25yrs of island living, cheers to him. any of these, taste better in hawaii but for the record - here is what we found out on the shores of waikiki.

Magnum PI's old hang-out, the waikiki outrigger canoe club (not the hotel) has one helluva meyers rum mai tai and an even better view of sunset, perhaps it's private club status make it taste even better but good all the same.

the mai tai bar at the royal hawaiian is also worth checking out - named after the drink itself, one can imagine, they offer a pretty good one but they also offer a couple "variations" and in my book, do one thing, really, really well. ditch the variations guys. or at least, don't call 'em "mai tai's", call 'em "rum punch", "waikiki willies" or "moon over mai tammy's".

that said, hands down, the BEST mai tai we found in waikiki is that of the "house without a key" at the Halekulani hotel, it's not as sweet as others, offering a fine blend of citrus and a power pack of rum - 3 and i was pretty much on my ass... and much like the grog and the ivy's happy drink - the crushed ice was a big plus.

no surveys are perfect but don't worry - we had a few to make sure. they aren't cheap but we found them worth every penny or at least after one, you don't really care that you are drinking your dinner (we did that). live, classic hawaiian music on the Halekulani patio is a big plus and so is the view of diamond head but either way, this is truly one first class drink - no paper umbrellas or pineapple slices to garnish, your drink comes with a slice of lime, fresh mint, a sugar cane stick for a swizzle and a beautiful orchid. amazing. a complimentary basket of maui potato chips pushes things over the edge.

i found the attached recipe - although one server slyly mentioned that fresh squeezed lime juice is the secret - so perhaps this recipe is a sham? but it looks really close. worth trying it out at home, no ?

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/08/28/features/request.html

Halekulani Mai Tai

3/4 ounce (1-1/2 tablespoons) Bacardi Gold rum
3/4 ounce (1-1/2 tablespoons) Bacardi Select rum
1-1/4 ounce (2-1/2 tablespoons) lemon juice
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) Lemon Heart 151 rum
>> Mai tai mix:
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) orgeat syrup
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) orange curacao
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) rock candy syrup (simple syrup)

Combine mai tai mix ingredients and pour over crushed ice. Add Bacardi rums and lemon juice. Gently pour Lemon Heart rum on top so it floats.

Garnish with lime wedge, lime wheel, sugar-cane stick, mint leaf and a vanda orchid. Serves 1.

PS - for inner island travel, the mai tai at mama's fish house on maui and the princeville hotel on kauai both stand up as hawaii's best drinks. enjoy. a hui hou.

the longboard skate

about 10 years ago now (hard to believe) some friends and i saw a peculiar looking 5 foot plank of wood in a surf shop. Some guy was trying to pawn it off as a longboard skate deck. collectively, we found the concept enticing but his outline was just plain ugly. so we got to the wood shop and worked out a few templates of our own. The final versions, 12ply birch, 60" long- i should know the wheel base but i'm too lazy to check the garage, maybe 53".

we used to ride the hell out of these things. this was before the whole sector9 craze and after we showed ours at ASR they came out with a very similar Luke Nosewalker. bastards. i was taking orders and designing ea one by hand. custom artwork, colors, pin stripes, hawaiian fabric inlays, even the odd dingle berry (tasseled fringed). i even teamed up with legend jerry madrid for a while in an attempt to mass produce... a very frustrating venture.

anyhow, i found some old photos that friend/shooter laura doss snapped in the hills of PV. these things really helped my surfing. drawn out lines, foot work, drop knee turns, etc. they have some flex and do better on the strand than on hills. i custom hand painted about 200. i now have some blank decks lying around if anyone is interested. painted or blank- they should be enjoyed. i'll try and post photos of the blanks soon. cheers, baffa big board.

festibal surf film, san sebastian spain

i love spain. i truly do. i studied there over ten years ago, which makes me feel really old and well, i miss it - a lot. i've screened a few films at this festival and whenever i finish a film, i'm so broke from making it- i can't go visit the festival! that's just lame. my friend jamie went this year and i'm jealous and he's right, the redcam vs. 35mm debate truly rages on in every pub i enter!!! check out his cool article here and kudos to my buddy joel, the Waveriders gang and those cold looking beers they are drinking. hmmm... more jealous. maybe next year i can return to spain - with or without a film. definitely with a single fin.

the days before digital

i just love the old days, when CGI effects didn't exist and you had to do insanely stupid things like this to sell a product.

wave painting in motion

people have asked how i paint, so i thought it would be fun to post this - it was the wave painting for my series of prints. oil on canvas at 48 x 60 inches. created in manhattan beach, ca.

get surf stoked on your iphone

don't ya just love technology?

okay - so, i'd much rather you watch my films on a big screen with a great sound system - but if you need a little surf stoke while stuck at the office, in class, or waiting for the significant other to find that perfect outfit, fear no more. Singlefin: yellow & One California Day are both available for digital download at the surf network. now you can take 'ole yellow everywhere you wanna go. laptop. ipod. iphone at high quality h.264. enjoy & thanks for watching.

www.thesurfnetwork.com

and at

surfline.com

this is epic

sorry, but i am impressed.

I'm toying with doin' another film

never say, never - right? hmmm... i guess.  i keep swearing that my next film will be about something besides surfing - and i guess we did do the king of karaoke for fun but here i go again.  had a long talk with devon howard yesterday about an idea he and i have toyed with for a while.  it will have a coffee table companion book and possibly begin production this winter '09.  no more four year beasts, i want to release this in fall 2010.  i'm not giving too much away at this point but talking to the malloy crew and praying greenough borrowed falzon's copy of singlefin: yellow... and enjoyed it-  i'll keep ya all posted.  

Guerrilla Filmmaking II

a lot of people email me who are interested in making their own film and want advice or feedback.  here is an awesome resource i just found.  guerrilla filmmaking 101

Guerrilla Filmmaking

my friend ard has the below video posted on his site.

i saw it a long time ago and couldn't help but be inspired by viewing it again.  proof of what one camera and a little creativity can come up with.  i wanted to do some similar shots with tyler's roadster for One California Day but we were never able to put it together (above are a few of the original storyboards i drew to map out the sequence).  Chris Reynolds was going to help me mount cameras but we were worried about el gundo police, who tend to be bored and in large numbers... we were going to shoot early with no permit - much like the video below.  in the end, we were never able to find a day that tyler could help us get the shots- damn,  it would have been rad.

about the video - as ard matthews tells it:

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris early in the morning. The film was limited, for technical reasons, to ten minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.

No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit. The driver completed the course in about nine minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up real one-way streets.

Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground. 

The Drawer

i have a drawer full of crap.  i suppose many of us have drawers full of crap.  if we were to analyze these drawers we could probably get a pretty good idea of the person behind the drawer who throws all their crap into it.  every now and then i try to go through this drawer and deal with said crap - the funny thing is, every now and then the said crap is actually a gem. my crap varies from receipts for projects i'm working on to a spaghetti tangle of fire wires, usb cables and iphone chargers, the odd drawing utensil, dv tapes, a lego bobba fett key chain (a gem) and a few undeveloped rolls of film - super 8mm and 35mm stills.  it is the film that caught my eye last time - unmarked, unnoticed, un-claimed.  i processed the 35mm rolls and realized that it was the last decent winter swell to hit the south bay.  i love finding gems in my crap drawer.  i wonder what's on the super 8

The Real Deal

people always ask me if tyler really makes all his boards by hand or if that is just the image we convey of him in the films.  well, i recently stopped by to shoot a few things in his glassing bay for a little project i'm doing and there he was... as usual, quietly building boards.  now when i say building, i truly mean building.  over the course of six hours i watched him jump between four rooms, sanding in one, polishing a second board in another, checking up on a fin he was setting on a third, taping a new resin layer on a fourth and patiently keeping one foot in the main room for the various groms who kept stopping by asking for advice on their equipment. zeke is the real deal.

then he was off on one of his triumph motorcycles to grab some lunch.  i absorbed the quite space and reflected on the isolation.  the resin fumes tweaked my brain into a rather even keeled state.  just me and 5 beautiful works in progress.  the silence was a bit loud.

zeke motored back and we talked bikes - i've been wanting to do a motorcycle film for a while - i've actually even tried to raise some money - tough economy to raise money in.  we then talked cars.  the factory looks more like a car repair shop these days than a surfboard factory.  he put on a pot of coffee and we chatted about different design ideas and logos as we looked through old magazines from the 1950's.

i don't know if i benefit more from seeing his work ethic or just the passion he puts into building new equipment.  either way, he is focused and inspired and it's contagious.  

i told tyler about an old jacobs i had pulled from my neighbor mike's rafters - maybe a '64.   it was dirty and hadn't been ridden for ages.  i told mike that a sweet board like that needed to be enjoyed.  he agreed and before i knew it, we were pulling it down and i was off to the beach.  it was a small but clean el porto saturday, tall paul was posted up at rosecrans and i joined him. the board worked really well for me.  i grabbed one set wave and high-lined through a one block section (that's a decent wave in these parts).  upon kicking out, an older guy on the inside, bearded and weathered, eye-balled the d-fin on the jacobs.  i could tell he was calculating from deep memory about what year the board was built.  he stared long, he stared hard - it kinda made me uncomfortable.  the ride had been good but i thought maybe i snaked his kid or something, then unexpectedly, a slight smirk pierced through his lips.  he gave me a head nod and the double -that's right count 'em kids - two - the double thumbs up.  an elder's respect for riding old equipment well, my day was made.  it actually made my month.

i tend to like these "plankier" heavy single fins that i can drop knee turn and speed trim through sections - like it or not, i guess i've fallen into the 60's mold of a south bay power surfer.

tyler explained to me that my style and ability to sink the tail forgoes my need for a lot of rocker on a long board.  he said, essentially, the rocker throws off my flow from sinking the tail, pivoting the board and shifting weight forward to gain speed.  that's why- in his mind, i enjoy these older boards- they suit my style.

it wasn't long before we excitedly discussed the possibility of building me a new tyler off these older design theories.  zeke is thinking something in the vein of a 60's pig - with a really nice tail outline, a bit pulled in around the nose - limited rocker, no concave, some belly roll and super clean round rails.  i was stoked.  the next moment was unexpected - tyler walks me "out back" and lifts up a tarp.  now i've spent 9 years of making two movies around tyler but i've never seen this little area... it is here that my heart stops - some 7 or 8 classic 60s logs lie in a patch of grass - it was really weeds but grass sounds more romantic -  a velzy, a hansen, a jacobs.  he pulls out that jacobs and says, "here- try this one out, see if the outline works - we can adjust from there."

as life goes, since tyler handed me that board, i've been too damn busy to ride it.  but alas, i will put that beauty into some surf and he and i'll will sit down again, with another cup of coffee and we'll draw out my new ride for summer.

more to follow.  

Spit Studio, Hermosa Beach

I was lucky enough to drop in on the SPIT studio opening for photographer Bo Bridges and Co. Bo's work is outrageously cool and his creative team has hooked up with David Carson, one of my print design idols.  Spit is part gallery, part creative firm and the boys put on a killer host bar event flowing non other than Primo Beer.  Talking surf, art, graphic design and Primo? hmmm... no wonder i had fun.  Not to mention that the girl in the skate shot above was serving the drinks. Cheers to the Spit crew on a seriously cool space - how often do you get to stand in front of a Teahupoo grinder and pretend you're Andy Irons getting pitted?  If you are anywhere near the hermosa pier, go by and check out Bo's photography. 

Jasonbaffafilms.com

JASONBAFFAFILMS.COM  is up and running.  This will be my central creative hub, with links to all the movies, my production reel, travel imagery and artwork.  I'll be updating artwork and videos often so please stop by and visit.

Docu. tour with Utada - queen of japanese pop

you may have never heard of "utada" but my guess is that you soon will.  she is the number one selling artist in japan - of all time!  she has broken all japanese pop album/song/music billboard charts and she is currently doing a marketing blitz in the US for the release of her new album and free video download on iTunes.

i'm about to get on a private jet with utada and her entourage.  we are headed east for nyc and miami - i'll post some updates soon.  my producing partner and editor of my films, one california day and singlefin: yellow - carl cramer, is along for the trip.  should be fun.

A visit with Danny Hess- SF, Ca

i had heard about danny hess through the malloys and his beautiful boards caught my eye at the wet sand surf shop in ventura.  later that year i shared some waves with dan malloy in front of keith's house and he was absolutely killing it on his hess shortboard.  he explained to me the parabolic stringer set up and the flex it generated through his turns - all this resulting in explosive speed off the bottom.  it was around the same time that dan got a surfer's journal cover shot riding the very same board at rincon.  

while spending a day in SF tracking down local glassers with brad gerlach, we decided to stop in and say hi to dan hess and crack a few Primos.  having spent a lot of time in shaping bays i was really excited to check out dan's set up.  meeting new people can go in many directions and we sorta crashed in on dan un-announced but with our case of liquid social lubricant in hand, everyone settled in pretty quickly.  this being one of the things i love about surfing, it never really takes long to relate on a really unique level.  i've also found that as a filmmaker, i really enjoy talking with other craftsman.  whether its a board builder, a contractor or an artist, anyone who's mastered a craft usually appreciates others who have dedicated themselves to something they do.  the process of having a creative vision, mastering tools to execute it, staying open to where the process might take you seems to relate well with filmmaking and to building surfboards.

dan's setup is as much a carpenter's wood shop as it is shaping bay.  tucked beneath an old SF home, two wooden doors open to a space filled with lumber, cork, saw dust, metal tools and the quite master craftsman himself.  when i saw all the wooden "hand guns" he is also making for bodysurfing i knew we would get along well.  my dad taught me to bodysurf when i was about 6 and my first love for surfing came from there.  no one was around to show me how to ride a board so i would just bodysurf.  i even made my on "hand gun" in mr. wydra's summer wood shop class.  i think mr. wydra gave me an "A" on the project but that's probably because dan hess wasn't in my class.  his stuff is unreal, functional art.

his hospitality was all time and his excitement for these sustainable wooden surf craft was infectious.  the stringerless hess boards are built within a wood/cork outline.  eps foam is then placed in the center and shaped for deck and bottom contour, wood panel sandwiches it all together with a final layer of 4oz glass and epoxy.

dan showed us a board he had ridden about 50 times and it looked pristine, literally, untouched.  the whole concept is sorta mind blowing.  he is utilizing recycled materials, organic materials and creates a product that is more durable than the competition.  finally, the damn things just look really f'n bitchin'.  

we had a great time chatting - and the beer disappeared pretty quick.  dan kindly gave brad a wooden "hand gun" for body surfing.  all in all it was one of the more memorable nights from our week on the road and i really want to thank danny for taking the time to hang and talk story.  if you want to check out his work you can visit

www.hesssurfboards.com