Bomb Planet Earth – Dotmasters & Teddy Baden from swinhoe on Vimeo.

and the Flickr set is here.

Last night I stayed up late to watch the WCT fellas finish off the contest in Tahiti. There’s nothing like a surf contest in a perfect location, streamed live over the web to get you pining for a wave. Sadly there ain’t nothing doing here for a week at least.

Taj was beaten by an on-form Bobby Martinez to take the title, with Parko, Slater and Bede all going out early.

Aritz had another good event taking out Kelly en-route to a semi’s spot.

And then after watching that last night, whilst eating breakfast I watched the second in the awesome South Pacific series on BBC2.

Awesome footage and insight into the world of the ocean and islands.

Then stupidly I link-out from a tweet and start reading about the North-east guys who are getting set for a Mentawai trip… which in turn reminds me that 5 good friends have only just returned from the damn place – where they scored (as you do in Indo…)

Some snaps from their trip are below…

Indo dream

Randall getting set-up to be slotted...

Mentawai Perfection

More Mentawai Perfection

Yet More Mentawai Perfection

Now, normally all this would be fine, I can handle a fair bit of land-locked torture – its good for the mind every once in a while. Except I have to drive to London tomorrow. And that just makes things worse.

In fairness, im going to see a good friend who has the Best Job in the World… so there are gonna be some good bits. But im also going to a funeral and that wont be so good.

Anyway, to come full-circle, envy is terrible, but Im not letting it get to me. Im using it to motivate and search for that trip of my own. I’ll ge my piece of Indo gold… im just waiting in the meatime. Making it work for me…

A weekend of drinking and water sports – in the freezing arctic winds – has left me somewhat destroyed.

Skimboarding at Beadnell Bay

Getting back to the desk and the safety of the internet landscape was pleasant, untill it all kicked off again.

Lobster Pot design for a business card

James has to hand in his final photography project on friday, and with the seagulls not playing-ball, i was roped in for an all-day photo-shoot and editorial profile to complete the job.

Then, I found out with a hugely sad heart that a good friend of mine from school, a fellow snowboarder, sailor, surfer and lover-of-life was killed in february whist cycling to work in Notting Hill.

Eilidh’s Memorial Ride from Giles Carlin on Vimeo.

The world is a more than a little worse-off without Eilidh Cairns in it. So sad.

And then then twenty minutes after finding out that news, this news arrived;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8035175.stm

Ben Southall is the new caretaker for the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Congratualtions Ben !!.

After last year and the trek around Africa (http://www.afritrex.com) he deserves some time off !.

I look forward to visiting….

Here’s the original Youtube clip for the job.

And im not proud of that, since i went and bought one, and have wanted one for a while… and now its all screwed-up.

Having now recieved a new phone, new contract, new insurance, and new round of tele-sales-muppet-phonecalls, I *think* i have a device that works, will have my number – eventually – and will hopefully change the way I work.

A few of the apps that the device is already sporting, include, Flickup, Fring, eBay, Twitterific, Last.fm, Delicious, RememberTheMilk, Oakley Surf Reports, Snow Reports, Pro RSS, Evernote, Google Earth  and some others. I’ll update this blog on how they perform sooner or, probably, later.

Along with the pain presented by Carphone Warehouse and O2, I am also suffering from a decent bout of man-flu, and have been for about 5 days. Less than fun, it has involved alot of sleeping… and not much else.

Ive watched the same film three times and not yet seen the end…  :/

We’re also working on a couple of projects in the background at the moment, things that will build momentum over the winter and produce work for the dark months. Applecore is one. Not much there right now, but its a winter project, and will tick over.

In other news, watching Fully Flared has taken up some considerable time this week, loving the insane effects at the start…  Watch it on Google Video.

Add to the iPhone fun a spot of socialising with Whatleydude and the MGoL crew..

And we had a bit of a laugh at the Newton virus malarkey…

Well, ive been very busy, as you can imagine. Lost of things to tell you about, but lets start with something fun.

My Day -

My Day 28 October 2008 from swinhoe on Vimeo.

This was a short one-day project shot and edited in 24 hours.

So, apart from that, im currently very busy down at BDP Media, and have been for some time.

Im also still working closely with Leon/C6/Dotmasters crew on the work and site/pubishing of the art theyre producing.

Keeping a hand in with Mad Dog as we love them so much, and they have a new book out, Whistler – its number ten !.

Also, been running around a fair bit, Amsterdam, Prague, Beadnell, Exeter… all good. Even a day out with Steve in London.

My last post being May, its only fair to tell you about the summer – Dads 60th went-off well, and a spent most of July catching decent size wave on the north-east coast. Nothing stupid, but we had it head-high for a week or so…  following that it was back to the grind in the smoke.

Ok, more from me later, i really am going to try and keep this more up-to-date.. should be easier once i pick-up my new toy later today..

Oh yeah, and this happened….

The world became a slightly better place with the election of Barack Obama..

Its now May, and the summer is rushing up to us.

Apart from other things, ive been pulling together a few pictures to print and show. The working set is here.

The last few weeks have been spent chasing goals around to varying degrees of success. My foot and ankle is still in a bad way, and my fitness is waning. Work with Mad Dog saw the end of the season, and a company meeting that was a very interesting experience.

I did manage to get an edit out for the NuArt and C6 peeps, which you can see on this page here.

Just gone this weekend, the Cans Festival, ran for three days showing some amazing work in a disused tunnle under Waterloo station.

Some photos here via Flickr and here, and a nice video here

So that sorted friday night out when i got into the private artists show, had a good look around then ran about in south london with Leon and Toby for most of the night.

Saturday was all about surfing, and, more difficulty, getting there.
After wrestling with the north circular for 2 hours i hit the M4 and was finally on the way. I arrived at Jamie’s place in Braunton and went to check the surf, of which there was none.

So with a heavy heart, and having been driving for 5 hours already, i got in the car and headed off to Dartmoor for the free-party where i was meeting Alan and Lucy… it would only get messier from here on.

So after spending most of the night dancing in a barn, or in a field or helping push some cars out of the field.. or trying to sleep in the drivers seat of my car… i got my head together at 10am and headed back to the beach for a surf with the boys.

It was shoulder-to-waist high, onshore and grey..  i was done after ab hour, a shadow of my former self. I must start surfing more..

So, now it was on again, more eating more drinking and a night on the tiles with Dan, Jamie, Al and Lucy… and the dangers of Timepiece.. decently pissed, i remember getting into a taxi at a kebab shop on Sidwell street, and then i woke up on the floor of a kitchen hugging a radiator. The lovely girl who awoke me made me tea, whilst the Dan and Jamie appeared from various bedrooms…

One fry-up later and i was back on the M4, feeling the heat and wishing i was already back in london.

Gotta love Bank Holiday weekends.

Ive been very busy over the las few weeks, touring europe and working on various projects, as well as taking some time off to visit people.

Lets see, where to begin…

Well Easter weekend was spent up in Beadnell visiting family and friends.
A fairly uneventful  couple of days was punctuated by the train home, which i had arranged to catch with Charlie. We got to Berwick with plenty of time, and had intended to get a weekend-first seat at the head of the train.

Sadly, this is what everyone else was thinking…  it was a busy train on a bank-holiday monday after-all. Infact not only were we unlucky, but everyone was. All of first call was booked. And it looked like we were spending the full 4 hours to Kings Cross standing.

Luckily two seats emptied at Newcastle and we were in the right place at the right time. There were alot of irrate people on the train, and alot of people standing, but i dont have any issue with the train company. They sold booked seats. If you board a train without a reservation, thats the chance you take. Bank holidays are busy.

We hit london late on monday night and i headed home to pack, in the morning I was off to Austria, Mayrhofen and the JibVid.

Mayrhofen rocked, the JibVid setup was smooth, the teams late, and the various staff and crew sorted.

The riding was crappy, with soft slushy snow in warm spring conditions, and my foot was still mending from the ligament damage, so i decided not to go hard on anything… i just hit the park for the first two days… which works well, since straight-lining everything was the call.

It has to be said, the park out there is top rate. Cudos to the Penken shapers.

We were introduced to Scotties (Scotland Yard) on the first night and had instantly found our home-from-home. Cold Erdinger flowed and even colder Jagermeister was issued in test-tubes. Fantastic.

The next couple of days we indulged in the JibVid, scoping the Vans Penken Park, meeting teams, setting up, being briefed, hanging with the Oakley staff and crew and then the eventual running of the contest on the thursday. Friday however was the real highlight, with perfect blue skies joining us for the Best Trick Contest, and of course the hand-in deadline for the teams. In the evening it all kicked off with the film viewing, judging and awards, Clash DJs spinning and Devils Gun raging.

Big congrats to the Onboard crew who stole first place from the infamous Lock Down Projects…

Photos of the contest here.

JibVid Press release here.

This years 15 films here.

So, with JibVid over, we thought we had it sorted… two more days in Mayrhofen to cover the research we needed, then off to Laax.
Almost. We had almost forgotten about Snowbombing…

By the saturday evening, it was clear that something was happening to Mayrhofen. The streets were awash with northern-english accents, posters and branding was everywhere in town… had we forgotten that Snowbombing was one of the biggest prties in the Alps ?

We spent saturday in Scotties hiding from the invaders, drinking Erdinger and Jager on-piece. Consoling each other and talking into cordless 1970′s telephones stolen from the hotel by the fabulous duo of Vicki Warner and Vicci Miller (complete with broken collar bone).

Sunday we decided to venture up onto the other side of the resort, as yet unvisited by us. We walked the short distance to the bottom station of the Ahorn, and bumped into Marc and Brian fro the Clash DJ crew. Once we reached the top, it was decided that snowboarding was out and drinking was in. A quick survey found us all at the nearest mountain restaurant.. including Marc with his slipped-disk.

After a brief chat and much joviality, we decided on a quick run. A good choice as it goes. The simple, short, wide run had rollers-a-plenty and left you wanting more. Sadly the newly visible White Lounge, that we found from the chairlift scuppered plans of riding, again, and we dragged the Clash crew off to the Iglu village for tunes and beer. The weather was stunning and i used the opportunity to roast my face and forearms by refusing to wear anything but a tshirt all day.

One beer turned into many, and before we had said “four Jagereisters please” it had turned 3pm and the fellas were off back to london, the only thing left for us was to ride back down the mountain and complete our days work. Oh, and for Gaby to stack it, and destroy her ACL and Medial ligaments in her left knee.. making her even more useless than me and my bad ankle.

Injuries aside we explored the bar at the bottom of the home-run. Sunk a couple more, then went home for a quick nap before dinner.

Monday – and all was back to work…. we were in super-power mode. we tied-up all the loose ends with research, photography and contacts and then drove out of Mayrhofen bound for Laax and the Brits.

As it goes, it wasnt that bad a drive, it took longer than it should have, we took a wrong turn, and i was stopped and issued a speeding fine by the Austrian police. So about fair i thought. (all hire cars should go at 160 kmph right ?)

We eventually arrived in Laax and found some digs in the recommened Capricorn hotel. The weather was thick and heavy, and you could feel the snow pushing in.

The Riders Palace was just round the corner and we were well setup for a fun few days dodging British champions skiers and snowboarders. As it turns out, everyone else from Mayrhofen was doing the same thing, and the Crap bar and restaurants were laden with riders, staff and industry types we had seen in Austria the day before.

The poor weather and lack of any riding ability between us hampered our exploration of the mountain somewhat, and i found to my dismay that Laax has LOTS of drag lifts… so i decided to drink.
And drink we did.

On the Tuesday night coming off the hill, and after three pints in in the Crap Bar, we headed back to the hotel to change. We got as far as the Riders Palace and decided to have one more…
We immediately bumped into friends and found that the fellas i was arguing with over world politics were actually the headline act for tonights party. Well, what could we do but take them out for pizza ?

The South Central guys were a blast, and we bounced stories and jokes all night before they headed back to prepare for their set. We had a quick change (it was 10pm and i was still in snowboard boots and googles…) then headed back for the festivities. South Central ROCK. End of story.

We socialised, networked and met peope, including Kathryn Miller, winner of 5 medals this year in the various womens snowboarding disciplines – top girl, we love her. Especially her hunger for dry slope kickers and body armour.

The following two days were hampered by heavy snow, high winds and low spirits, we truly had lived beyond our bodies means.
We tied up the work that was needed, drove around the resorts covering the bits we had missed, and packed up ready to leave.
Thursday at 9am and we were driving out of the alps to Innsbruck away from heavy snow…. it felt so wrong.

By thursday night, after a long exit procedure from Gatwick, we were starring at the somewhat brighter, but still depressing sight of the London’s urban sprawl…

Roll-on next season… or at least the summer and beach-time… 

I know, sorry, its been a bit dull around here, recently, tax, work, projects, dentists…

So, here’s a trailer to a decent looking flick. The MIT students who took over Vegas, briefly – a true story i hear..

http://www.youtube.com/v/IkLZ0uIEoSE

I managed to stay beneath the radar for most of it, and had a chilled time. Dinner with Pete, Breakfast with Al, a walk through central London with the camera, and a Sunday morning in he British Museum (they have some really old stuff in there…).

The Flickr Set

Ive traveled that road a thousand times now, without any great incident. Until today.

A motorbike cut me up just as i was passing a dustbin wagon. I was pushed into the side and clipped my hand on the rear pick-up arm of the lifting mechanism, flipping me off the bike and into the road. Thankfully the traffic was moving quite slowly, and the dustbin wagon was stationary, but having a transit van wheel at eye level approaching you is not something i want to see again.

My left hand picked up a couple of gashes, and my hip and elbow are bruised, but sadly it was my Powerbook in my bag that took the fall.

I must have landed square on the corner, and the casing is now bent to shit. At least it still booted and works…

Time for a new machine anyway ..