129 pages. Editorial 86 pages Advertising 43 pages - 67% / 33% Previous Edition (67% / 33%) Trend - STEADY
I have always liked the 'feel' of SW, physicallly. Higher grade paper than the other magazines and the B format sets it apart form the others in the field (so same height as A4 but wider) No DVD, or beanie with this edition sadly.
Board short ads out the wazoo
Page 1, Dean Brady has had his boardshorts airbrushed out as part of the Rip Curl Mirage boardshorts campaign - yet to see what this product actually looks like. Keen to see if the elastostretch TM, R, C sticks to my penis like the Hurley type. These boardshorts are advertised as being 'weightless' I guess there must be an atom collider down at Torquay now that has managed to defy physics. Hydrophobic as well WTF?
Page 2-3 Hurley again reminds me of what...True Performance is
Page 4-5 Oakley turns their sunglass making expertise into making boardshorts now - I can see the connection, like Bic making surfboards.
Page 6-7 Wade Goodall flys the flag for Bong - hey! wasnt he the guy flipping me the bird in the ASL editorial this month...good day Mr Goodall. Dont believe every surf photogrpaher that says.."Hey Goodie, flip the bird mate...groms will love it...heheheheheh BURP"
Page 8-9 Brett Simpson is wearing a pair of boardies from Etnies that look like something that Charlie Sheen would wear to the beach as walk shorts
Page 9-10 Honolua - Someone wearing a pair of boardshorts you can get in Kuta for $2
Page 11 - Nice short by Vaughan Blakey on getting pole axed in Mexico
Page 14 - First surf stitch little blue man trap
Page 15 - First Patagonia print ad I have seen in an Aussie mag for ever I think. Here they come
Page 16-17 - Corona is back in time for summer and this time they mean business. Stand by for every Australian surf cam to follow suit with surfline and have a 30 second preroll of perfect surf before you get to see that in reality your local is 2 foot, side shore and packed.
Page 20 - 39 The showpiece Indian article convinces me I probably wont go surfing in India. Two decent surf sessions spread out over 20 pages is a S T R E T C H
A bit of the old SW technique of BIG text and full page stock shots oh so ever artistically out of focus to pad out a piece. Some nice writing in there though, this following an accident:
"Your accident has brought you closer to India...you have left some blood in the soil"
Ah the novelty surf trip, I think if you had of paid for this trip with your own money you would have been seriously pissed off. Was hoping for more, I think they went to the wrong place.(Kerala) http://www.surfingatlas.com/division/633 Andaman and Nicobar Islands would have been a far better choice.http://www.surfingatlas.com/division/610 Better points and reefs around Lakshadwep as well. http://www.surfingatlas.com/division/292 You would need a good month from my research to see most of the breaks in India work, too far north for reliable swell train activity. Tough to cram it in between boardshorts launch premieres. Didnt really do the region justice.
Page 40-41 - Back to the boardshorts. Andy Irons is wearing what looks like the flag of the former East Germany on his arse - good luck with that.
Page 42-50 Nice retrospective of South Africa's J-Bay in the wake of the cowardly murder of "Doc" Van Den Heuwel. Remeniscent of how Noosa / Byron have changed for Australia over the past 40 years. Still, living in the sand dunes as a squatter was always going to be a dangerous place to live, especially with the development and drugs around the J-Bay area now. RIP Doc
Page 56 - Rob Machado rides a Peruvian Reed boat. Is this what Rob means when he speaks of....true performance?
PAge 52-58 Whoo a minute, the cover said surfing in Peru, is this is? 1 cutback, a closeout an out of focus floater, Rob Machado wearing a headband? That took 7 pages?
Page 59 - Shot of Pinnacles, Telo Islands by Shane Peel with 6 guys out
Page 60-61 Two pages of the latest Okanui shirts. Wait and get them in Kuta for $2
Page 62-67 Cuba, Now I was here in 2002 and got nothing. Really keen to read this....um, 1 stock image of Ozzie Wright surfing in 2006 and a collection of full page shots that look like Lonely Planet covers and Havana club rum ads? More Cuban surfing on Miami Vice than this article.
Page 70-78 Solomons. Thats more like it, amazing how much more you get from a surf travel article that actually has good surf in it. The crew score great surf. Excellent photogrpahy from Mark Onorati from land / water.
Page 80-81 - Interview with Peter Phelps (Channel 9 Special Ops)
Peter talks about his forthcoming film: "...its like a twisted modern Australian Cheech and Chong, but with a lot more depth..."
More depth than Cheech and Chong? WTF? I read on excitedly hoping that Mathew Johns will be mentioned as having a starring role also.
Phelps: "...I play the town cop who is a racist guy who really wants to be black...its funny mate...its funny"
Phelps: "..Stone Bros is a road movie where you can see issues about the family life as an Aboriginal. The Director Richard (Frankland) really shows these issues and, as I said, its a really funny movie"
Okay Phelpsie, its funny mate whatever you say, chill..
STONE BROS. (OMM) is due for release next month.
Page 84-85 Some guy called Jason Apparicio from Trinidad smokes drugs and does an off the lip. The photo credit reads..."Jason throwin down big bumboclatt wha...frontside blast for the love of jah" whatever the fkuc that means
Page 87 Reviews - Matty G confirms my suspicion that Stone Bros. is a piece of crap straight to DVD production in his review.
Why is Vaughan Blakey now reviewing Ken Kessey's (1962) One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest? Only just get around to it? Seems a little random, having said that he does arrive at the correct rating of 20 out of 10
Sean Doherty just got around to reading Chick Palahniuk's (1996) Fight club and based upon his 12 line summary should read it again.
Surfing World reviews Surfing World on page 88, the results are predictable
Kristy Theissling reviews The Cove and predictably is incapable of applying any balance to what is already a sensationalised one sided piece of junk. We can all win arguements with extremes and this is what dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry and his Director buddy Louie Psihoyos have done with their 'film'.
Kristy writes: "Anyone who enjoys the thrill of surfing and sharing the ocean with dolphins will be haunted by the disturbing massacre scenes and therin lies The Cove's success" NO NO NO, therein lies its failure Kristy. When the US took over the post war administration of Japan their edict was 'cut off the head and work with whatevers left' The Japanese lost all rights to their land which the US knew would shatter their current doctrine. The Oceans weren't wrapped up in that policy and so the freedom to harvest whales and dolphins without interference became the only source of national pride. It's a complex issue which The Cove took an easy path on. Maybe if I show you some footage of Japanese women and children throwing themselves off the cliffs of Iwo Jima rather than be hosed down with US Army flame throwers you will see their side as well.
Page 89 - Can Newton Faulkner please get a fkucing haircut? Would there be redbacks in those dreadlocks?
Page 90-93 Sean Doherty's My Brothers Keeper (Official Bra Boys Story) - Arent we done with this yet? We didnt get enough with the movie? I could read books and watch films about Michael Peterson all day but I'm done with Koby's timeline.
Page 97 - Letters - Greg Webber voices what everyone has been thinking and calls bullsit on finless surfboards. Greg also alludes to something more ..."I'm in the process of making the thinnest fins ever in surfing. So little drag yet huge contact with the wave face and even deeper into it. Bigger, thinner longer fins slicing deep within the wave itself."
Dave Rastovich drops in a letter to correct some minor photo credit in a previous issue but not before he reminds everyone that Surfing World is "the leading edge, grassroots, most progressive magazine in our culture" - thanks for clearing that up Dave, must have been tricky to work out whether to publish that one or not.
Probably the worst finchop I have ever seen on the same page brrrrr
Page 98-99 Aust surf Movie Festival is coming Oct/Nov 09
Page 100 - Tracks and Surfing World are sponsoring the Jesus Pro AM, based on how much they hate each other that should be interesting post event party.
Page 102-105 Rastanomics...please..stop fueling this aquaboy defender of the ocean in recyled bong equipment crap. A boring pre-meditated piece riding on the back of the dolphin slaughter at The Cove to now suggest that all dolphins in theme parks around the world should be released. This quote from a 1 and a half page filler shot of Rasta on the only clean wave he got in India:
"Could Cetacean Editor (please, Cetacean Editor, what rocket scientist came up with that chestnut) David Rastovich live a happy and fulfilled life if he was only allowed to surf in wavepools and do tricks for trigger-happy tourists? Hell No!
There you go, stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
Page 107, Occy gets onboard the surfstitch bandwagon, ah..that must be why billabong gear always comes up first when I accidentally click on those little blue squares.
Page 108-119 Frankology- Black and White photo essay of a surfing violinist called Richard Tongetti. I know it sounds crap but Im not selling it properly, trust me, you'll like it Beautiful images by Jon Frank
Page 122 - Flash fiction from Sean Doherty. "Buckets (name of surfer) looked like he was from Middle Earth" classic
Page 123-129 ads. Of note, Analog has released a range of boardshorts printed in fabric that looks like your nans shower curtains after she has shaved her legs...so pastel couloured parrots with flecks of blood spattered over them.
So..to the tile of this magazine....RASTA DISCOVERYS SHIVA'S HIDDEN BOUNTY - beg to differ
THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE GLOBE, CUBA, AFRICA, PERU, SOLOMON ISLANDS -I'll give you 2 out of 4
Final Score: 6/10
