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…

Ben Southall wins

Being appointed to holder of the ‘Best Job in the World’ has drawn a fair bit of attention. And rightly so.

Yesterday, his Afritrex site recived 16,000 pageviews…  the day before it was in single figures.

A Twitter search on his name reveals a torrent of tweets..

http://twitter.com/#search?q=ben%20southall

A Google search on his name reveals almost every news agency running a story and his name.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ben+southall&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq= (Good to see Afritrex.com at #2)

The news sites include;

New York Daily News

The Times

The Telegraph

The Daily Mail

U.tv

news.com.au

CNN

Professional Fundraising

TVNZ

Canada.com

Tradingmarkets.com

PR-inside.com

Yahoo

The Huffington Post

and many many more…. infact there are now 174,000 results on Google for “Ben Southal”…

I hope the servers hold-up…. 

1) I should really be a farmer, or a fisherman. I’m from so far north people often have no idea where i mean. Most of the folks from around my home village are traditional tradesmen, as is my family background.

2) Cold saltwater runs through my veins. I started surfing in my early teens – in the North sea. Surfing, and sliding sideways has been with me ever since.

3) I believe. Not in god, or the lottery, but in other things. Some of them are quite conspiracy-esque, but i still like believing in them. If this confuses you, search Google video for ‘Zeitgeist’.

4) Im well known for the web-side of my life, building and running websites, but im also an avid producer of video and VJ material too. Ive played video in New Zealand, Germany, Norway and lots of the UK for many artists both large and small.

5) Despite loving the things, i am quite allergic to cats. (ok, thats not terribly interesting – but there had to be a weird one…)

6) I have a bit of a facny for street-art, stencils and spray-cans. Good friends involved in the london scene have grown my interest, I wouldnt say im a collector, but i follow and visit shows avidly.

7) Having used PC’s, Mac’s and various other audio-visual kit, i think i might be nurturing a festish for Linux.  That scares me slightly….

And so, for better or worse, seven snippets from me…  now, your turn…

My tags…

Suburbia
WebRat
Otaqui
Cisnky
Holgere
Noseblunt
Klaustrofobik

Now it’s your turn….

Rules as copied from Plasticsnow’s blog:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

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… 

Arriving just about on time, I parked the cart and immediatley changed into climbing/walking gear. Ben was already warming up for the marathon, starting in 15 minutes time. We watched him round the first corner/hill at the 6 mile mark, then headed off to the summit of Snowdon. 20 minutes later it was raining, windy and damn good fun.

The night was spent eating fine Welsh beef T-bones and drinking whiskey.
The next morning I learned a valueable lesson regarding putting tents up before getting drunking and the rain starts. Everything was soaked.

But it was a great weekend.

The Flickr Set is here.

I usually manage to get down to the Boardmasters event, and last year we were covering the event with Thinkology/Culture as certified press. But obviously being nailed to a desk in London does’nt make that easy.

Happily the WQS events in the Basque end of France start on monday.. im going to be there. Watch out for the snaps over at WPSurf.

More later.

bp

Welcome to America trully implicates the American government in what is now a country I have no interest in returning to.
Despite having family there, I see no reason why i should even attempt to enter the borders. It would be easier, safer and more comfortable to fly to *any* other country in the world.

Has America become so afraid (guilt-ridden ?) that the only way to feel safe is to suspect everyone ?
Hmm  Innocent untill proven guilty ?  – I think not.

Goodbye America. Goodluck with making new friends.

A high-heel sprint race took place in St Petersburg last week.
The photos are fantastic, as you can see above.

And for £2000, sure, i would have a go…

More pics are here

Ben and Owen have the grand idea of circum-navigating Africa in a Landrover Defender, climbing 5 mountains and running 5 marathins along the way. Oh, and visiting 180 Victoria Cross sites alongthe way. And posting the entire journey on the web as they go. Over a year.

Fantastic.  Go and show some support for them and the charities.

The site is still in a bit of a mess, lots of content still to be added. But, the mailing list, tracking, Google Mapping and news system are all in place and working. The GPS tracking, charity donation buttons etc are next up.

What a lineup this year, with painters and writers from around the globe, and some of the finest and newest names, they are:

AROFISH (UK), BLEK LE RAT (FR), DFACE (UK), NICK WALKER (UK), M-CITY (POLAND), LOGAN HICKS (USA), DOLK (N), SIXTEN (SWE), RENE GAGNON (USA), CHARLES KRAFFT (USA), HERAKUT (DE), EINE (UK), KNGEE (JP), WORDTOMOTHER (UK), PØBEL (N), MIR (N), THE DOTMASTERS (C6), KAROLINA SOBECKA (USA), SLINKACHU (UK) TRISTAN MANCO (UK)

Check the lineup at Numusic..