Can ya believe it? Still locked down and cooped up. How quickly could the world absolutely be turned upside down. When this was first coming on, I never would have anticipated the extremes in which it has gotten to. Never in my lifetime have we had such strange and turbulent times. Where seeing friends and meeting strangers is a bad move. Going into public is frowned upon. We are spending a lot of time with our house. Or an apartment. You might be spending time with family. Or your roommates. Or total isolation. Either way you splice it, every one of us is having our social sanity taken away, and we are unsure when it will come back (for good reason, I am no way against social distancing and quarantining). This time alone is going to grow stale quicker than it came on in the first place. Whether it’s working from home or just cruising around the crib, you might as well take some time to try new things. Yesterday, I tried this thing called “Coffee Soda”, in which I mixed cold brew with tonic water and squeezed a quarter of a lemon into it. You would surely only do that if you had been locked inside your house for 2 weeks. It actually tasted really good. As a coffee snob and coffee purist, I thought there was no way I’d like it. And that’s the point. We should be trying new things we never thought we would do in this quarantine time, simply to pass the time and maybe find new things to adore.
Now is a good time to listen to good music. If your life were a movie (and not like IG clout-chasers saying “Yo, last night was a movie”), the pictures associated with it would grow tiresome quickly. But maybe if you put a fire soundtrack behind the monotony it could be slightly more tolerable. I imagine walking to the kettle to turn on the hot water for coffee as an example. If I sequenced that to Al Green, you would think it’s another mellow early morning. But maybe if I put it to some wild techno or heavy bass rap, you would think something different was going to happen afterwards. No matter what, the next thing that was going to happen was the grinding of the beans. But the music could make you think otherwise.
We all have our go to sounds and the music we bump on the daily, pandemic or no pandemic. However, you might get tired of your normal wheelhouse of tunes, and be looking for something new to spice up the rotation during these quarantine times. So here is a small gift for all social distancing: I’m going to call it a 5×5. A pentagon. 5 genres and 5 songs from each genre. Maybe you’ll discover a new song you like. Maybe after listening to 5 songs, you might have a changed mind about the certain sound. Maybe you’ll still hate rap music. While there are tons of sub-genres and all that jazz (no pun intended), the 5 in this rotation are to the writers preferences: Hip-hop, Rock, Electronic, Reggae, and Blues. Hit play. Shuffling them is up to you.
(If I can’t get the embedded player to work, here’s a list of the 25 tracks):
[Peso-A$AP Rocky, Cabin Fever-Wiz Khalifa, Murder To Excellence- Jay-Z & Kanye West, Gatti-Popsmoke & Travis Scott, Soundtrack 2 My Life-Kid Cudi, Call It What You Want-Foster The People, Up All Night-The War On Drugs, Easy Tiger-Portugal, The Man, The Longest Wave-Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lost In Yesterday-Tame Impala, Land Of Promise-Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, Sorry-SOJA, Reelin-Iration, Stone Love-Pepper, True To Myself-Ziggy Marley, Wall Fuck-Flume, Runaway (U&I)-Galantis, Happy Violence-Dada Life, The Half-DJ Snake, The City(with QuinnXCII)-Louis The Child), I’m Still in Love with You-Al Green, Cigarettes and Coffee-Otis Redding, What’s Going On-Marvin Gaye, Pusherman-Curtis Mayfield, Changes-Charles Bradley]
We have a lot of time on our hands. Whether we like it or not, we are going to be stuck in the same routine for a while. Working from home, not really leaving the house, and seeing whoever you live with all day long are going to be very real circumstances for the time being (and most likely quite some time after). If you dwell on it too much, you are going to bum yourself out. Remember: it is for the greater good. The quicker we oblige to social distancing and quarantine practices, the quicker we can get out of the very funky time (hopefully). With all this free time on our hands and about a quarter of the social interactions we are used to on the daily, you need some noise to fill the gaps. Music is obviously a great choice (and that, we will be saving for pt. 2), but sometimes we need to switch it up. Ever listen to a podcast? Well, now’s the time to start. Here are some recommendations per the writers interests and biases (with duration included, as some are into short-form and others into long-form):
MUSIC
The Joe Budden Podcast (Long)
This podcast got me through transitioning from working in places that required interaction with customers to working in an office space. While I have loved all my previous and current coworkers, there are certainly times where I just need to plug in and focus to get things done. I felt often that music I was familiar with I would sing along or get easily sidetracked. Locking into a podcast of just banter was one of the best ways I could effectively get work done (at the time, this was mainly copywriting so it wouldn’t side track my word flow on docs). The Joe Budden Podcast is predominantly a music podcast, starting with roots in hip-hop but now covering most everything music related (from releases to the business to specific artists, even to Joe’s music career). The more you listen, the more you start to know about each of the characters and get the jokes that often fly under the table. In it’s evolution, they also cover current events and just about anything that makes headlines. The JBP is for sure the podcast I listen to most, and haven’t missed an episode since 217 (they are now on 334).
This music podcast differs starkly from the JBP. It’s main contributor is Cole Cuchna, a music nerd much like myself, but he is on a completely different level. Dissect takes iconic albums and breaks them down song by song, really taking a deep dive on underlying themes and even the construction of modern music. His selection is for sure Hip-Hop based, but covers some of the most critically acclaimed albums, from KDots TPAB and DAMN to Kanye’s MBDTF. I started with the Kanye album, and by the time I was finished I would argue that MBDTF is probably the best album of the 2000s. While some of it might be a little too in depth on musical notes and history, it does feel awesome to finish a season and have a whole new understanding of an album you already loved.
The first surf podcast I really took a liking to and since I’ve I listened and enjoyed every episode. The two hosts carry the show quite well, one a more average surfer and one an ex-QS surfer turned coach. They both typically tend to have varying perspectives, but always are crushing salt lagers (beers) in unison. Whether it’s contest wrap-ups, contest previews, fantasy surf picks, or the odd guests, they have classic surf banter you and your mates have. They definitely are tapped in to surfing, and especially that coming from their homeland (Australia). It is always nice to hear from the ex-QS surfer (Cahill Bell-Warren) as he has had a wildcard spot on the CT and has grinded the QS for quite some time. Now a surf coach, it’s funny to hear him talk either ultra technical as far as surfing or aussie-slang heavy about surfs or nights out on the piss.
Guilty bias since my dad was a guest on this one (you even can here me chime in on occasion), I actually had listened to the podcast before the invite was extended. The surf world is massive, and there is a lot going on in between the CT surfers, huge corporate brands, and just the culture itself. L8 Night and Choccy do a great job highlighting the more low key but integral parts of surfing’s upbringing. Whether it’s lifelong shop owners, people who steered some of the biggest brands before buyouts, or small groups of surf-minded individuals (companies or boardrider clubs), they cover it all. Both lifelong rippers and both currently working in the industry, it doesn’t get much more core. Whether it’s surf talk, brand talk, or just about anything surrounding the sport or the industry, these guys have the inside scoop.
I really like The Lineup. For me, I am guilty of listening to them all but really only love the ones based on the guest. One thing I love about every single episode though is the lightning round: 10 questions for the guest. My favorite to hear people’s response to is best & worst person to share a session with.
Forerunners is a Surfline-powered podcast that explains wave forecasts to their perspective zones. I couldn’t put it as a favorite since it covers everywhere, and I don’t need to listen to the east coast forecast if I ain’t gonna be over there. But I do love to get the most in-depth breakdown on surf if there is a forecast that looks promising.
Perspective
YNK (Medium)
Mike Stud has always been an artist I’ve been fond of since I found him. While I do like a ton of his songs, his personality at first is what sold me. I was tipped off by a friend to check him out around sophomore/junior year of college, and then fell into the vortex of his Tourings Boring series. One of the earliest vlogs for musicians (salute Wiz Khalifa with DayToday), it follows Stud and his childhood friends in all sorts of debauchery and trouble a couple of lower to mid-20 year olds could get into. Super loose, he was a party guy. When I listened to the first episode of the pod, I realized he had definitely made a lifestyle switch. Post break-up, Mike took his time to slow down and find himself, and in the process became very spiritual. He has taken the podcast platform to interview his friend circle and beyond: fellow musicians, top-level athletes, and entrepreneurs. You can cherry pick the people who you are familiar with, watch ’em all, or listen to their friendly banter when they are sans guests and just with the Steves.
Most of the pods spotlit during this post are in the middle or on the longer side. For me, I typically like to save podcasts for longer periods of time. However, there are some bite-sized podcasts out there that really give you a bang for your buck as far as quality content in a smaller package. While one that comes to mind is the NYTimes podcast The Daily, it recently got a little too corona crazy for me to want to listen to. The GQ podcast Airplane Mode gives you easy to digest tidbits of information, coming from all sorts of different people. From trainers to artists to writers, they all cover topics that they can transfer valuable info based on experience. From 30 minutes to an hour, with the odd long form podcast in there, Airplane mode is good to just get a quick fix. And I always gotta stay true to the GQ brand.
Here’s some shameless self(brother)-promotion. My brother recently beat me into getting into the podcast space (more on that potential later) by starting a pod with two of his closest friends. One thing brought them together when they were younger and it’s something they all still do currently, and that one thing is their love for classic nintendo games. Enter the Nintendads, as these 3 fathers chop it up about game news, express their biases, and overall just goof around. I gotta put some respect on the brozay, as they are only getting more and more quality. While I can’t always follow the subject matter, we all grew up on nintendo games, so the nostalgia just hits home. My one beef with theirs is that there is no video to go along with (while it is understandable since they do not live near each other). Knowing how all of them are, it would be pretty good to see their facial reactions to certain topics.
The Medium Rare Podcast (Short-Medium)
This one is my newest discovery on the podcast front. It is for sure my guilty pleasure podcast. It is no way embarrassing, but sometimes I just think to myself “why am I watching this”. It pretty much details the late-night antics and clout-driven activities between 3 close friends with money. While I am sure if me and my buddies somehow attained a nice amount of loot and a social following, we would be doing the same shit. In a nutshell, it covers girls, going out, fashion, and food. The food part is definitely what first drew me in, as it is interesting to hear their opinions about different food scenes (although it is all very high-end dining, which I won’t be partaking in anytime soon). But like I said, I got sucked in and now am playing catch up. It will act as an inspiration for when we are off quarantine and back to sending it (that’s some shit they would say). This is one I’d say is essential to watch, just because you can see how close of friends they are based on the body language and jargon between them.
Can you believe it? Being quarantined? It seems like there are varying circumstances all over the United States, but this eerie cloud of isolation and just a weird feeling in the air is ever prevalent. We could be hanging inside for a while, so time might start to move in slow motion. A lot of us are in the same realm that getting exercise and being active every day is a day well spent. While being cooped up, we can use this spare time we find ourselves with finding new love for things we do daily and get new drive that you might not have had. One of the things that people could lose sometime soon is surfing, and while this sounds trivial to some others hold it in high regard. Obviously it is a tad bit selfish to tote an activity so highly, but a lot of people find solace in the sea. A ton of us long for our time spent in the ocean, and with building stress and lack of other things to do this is something we look forward to doing.
Nothing gets you excited about surfing like a good surf clip. The crux of this though: most surf films can get us chomping at the bit to enter the oceans vortex, try and get as low to the water as possible, or as high above the lip as we can. A proper surf clip is something you typically don’t want to watch if you can’t surf. However, why not just build up all this froth and excitement, so when you get back to surfing you are absolutely tweaking to get back into the water. It could be tomorrow (watch any SoCal cam and it looks like business as usual) or a month away. Start getting excited, sooner or later we will be able to get back the thing that brings a smile to our face even on our darkest days.
So here they are, 5 relatively short clips that will surely get you licking your lips for some water time. While most are hi-fi performance hammers (guilty, as that is always what gets me the most psyched), it touches all facets of surfing, from tubes to turns to tail-high punts.
2019. from Ryan Callinan on Vimeo.
Ryan Callinan is one of the most fun surfers to watch on the CT currently, and is madly underrated. From a polished and powerful backhand to the things he’s done on the forehand that are hard to comprehend, this clip showcases Ryan does have the complete package. Filmed over a year and in all different locations, this should get you excited to just surf. Sure, we all won’t look like Ryan, but we all can try.
For What It’s Worth from Layne Stratton on Vimeo.
Cam Richards grew up in South Carolina and has quickly became a household name. With a crazy WOTW entry on a board shaped by his pops (that was well over 7’ tall), Cam has been touted as a pipe specialist. What some may not have known, is that Cam also has a crazy air game, from stylish straight airs to oops to backside spinny things. It’s always nice to watch someone that might have grown up surfing conditions you may have. Anything is possible with determination. Getting that wave that Cam got last winter and making every section, however, might take longer than you’d like (it’d most likely never happen).
Everyone needs a little spice here and there to reignite the fire. While most will not be able to surf a 4’10” as fluidly as Asher, it may trigger some curiosity as to riding alternative shapes. Watch enough Asher, Ryan Burch, or Bryce Young, and you might just pull the trigger on a fish or an asymmetrical or something even weirder. New boards make you draw new lines, and while we all don’t live by fabled point breaks and all don’t get consistently fun peaky waves, there’s no harm in trying something new. You never know, maybe you were born to ride a 4’10” twin fin.
Parker Coffin has a great Instagram if you want micro-doses of form and high flying airs to live in your feed. From a tack sharp backside that found it’s stride from surfing the Queen of the Coast to huge laybacks, Parker surfs fast. If you are a goofy foot, nothing is more fun than watching Parker tee off on a roping Rincon right, carefully cutting back and placing powerful punches. Parker gathered the clips and deemed it as a “surf bender”, something which just about everyone wishes they could be on the path to. Nothing is better than consistently surfing, because on one hand it keeps you happy, and on the other hand you get to sharpen your craft.
No matter what boards you like to surf, or who your favorite surfer is, you’d most likely be labeled as a kook if you had beef with JJFs rail game (or any aspect of his surfing). Rewind back to his Margies performance or watch some clips of him at rock piles and Haleiwa and you’ll understand. John draws unique lines and holds his turns much longer than most, giving pleasurable viewing and often (attempted) replicas of his surfing. You’ll need a big canvas if you want to draw the lines anything remotely similar to johns, so you might need to keep this one on ice until the waves get bigger than you are tall.
As I penned the opening bit to my last piece, I was dwelling on the fact that 2020 was the start of a new decade and one that was often romanticized about as “the future”. I lightly touched upon “…a virus spreading…” just as a casual reference to something that has clearly blown up since I originally mentioned it. Never would I think the next couple days would play out the way they have. With the cancellation of all and any events and asking people to gather in groups no larger than 10, it seems like a quarantined world is looming eerily upon us and for our own good there isn’t much we can do about it. With how rapidly this virus has spread and the media hyping it up more and more, it seems like following the “social distancing” protocol isn’t a terrible idea. Many things will take hits while others might be able to blossom. I think the outlook we need to have on this situation is one of untapped potential rather than forced confinement. Some of the things that might take a toll: social life, sanity lost due to being confined to your house for both work and leisure, and much, much, more. While many will view this confinement as extremely negative (in reality, it is, as no one should shield themselves from the outside world and not engage in social norms [also, the situation with the actual virus is extremely negative]). But let’s shine light on some of the positives we can establish from this. This is a great time to work on yourself. Whether that is expanding your taste in certain areas, gaining more knowledge (from any outlet you may find), picking up things you don’t do nearly as often or have never done before, or just critical thinking about your past, present, or future. Now is a great time for reflection. Try not to dwell on the negative too much. Keep it positive and inspirational, rather than dismal and down. Also try not to be down thinking about the things you could be doing if you were not on quarantine. There is no way around it, and disregarding what is seen as best policy puts you and also others at an extreme risk. And you should be thinking about others more than yourself. Most of the people reading this are not the ones worrying. As age grows, so does concern and wariness. While improving on yourself, you should stimulate your mind and social skills while reaching out to people you might not speak to as much. Your social circle is going to be small and repetitive for quite some time, so reaching out to friendly faces far and wide will help cope with the stress and current state of affairs. Talk more with your roommates. Learn more about the people you care about. With technology, we have communication at our fingertips. Use it (just not in over abundance, and if you need tips on how to reduce screen time, check this out[TLDR: read, write, practice something analog, exercise])! Although we will be inside a lot more than typical, get outside. Sit on a deck (if you have one), go for a morning or sunset walk, surf (which cannot be stopped, and I am pretty stoked to just surf a shit ton while on quarantine), or even just sitting outdoors and in the sun will feel a lot better than inside walls. Take this post as just tips and tricks to stay sane in this wild and erratic time. People will spin it many ways, some truthful and others far from it. Thinking in a positive and rational mindset will give you the most success and clarity. It is a strange time in all of our lives, young and old. But it will all work out. It always does.
It’s 2020. Can you believe that? Twenty Twenty. Shouldn’t cars be flying by now? Or AI initiating a hostile takeover on our lives? Or maybe the world should have ended on doomsday of 2012 and we are eight years further than we ever thought we would be. It’s 2020, and while some predictions are accurate, the world we live in is constantly changing. With a virus spreading, an interesting presidential race, and the evolution of modern technology happening all right under our noses, it is interesting to see how the start of the new decade will end. One thing that has been very prevalent the last 5 years and only getting more and more of the norm, is how much time we (as in just about everyone that is on socials or owns a smartphone) are glued to the small screen we carry with us everywhere we go. It isn’t necessarily a terrible problem, but sometimes time away from the screen is definitely needed. Here are 3 ways to kick the screen away (even if it is only for 30 minutes).
Pick up something tangible.
This is kind of another way of saying read a book, but that’ll come in a few sentences. Essentially, we are on our phone searching for content or chatting with friends. We all love to text and Facetime, but this requires staring at our screen or staring at it every minute between responses. A good alternative to this is picking up a cup of coffee (or a beer, or any preferred beverage or even snack) and to meet up with someone face to face. Sure it requires getting out of bed, leaving your house and looking presentable, and then spending money. Okay, so it is a lot more work then a push of a button. But someone’s literal presence is just different. On another note, for the content quest, pick up a book or a magazine. Whether you just like looking at photos or reading, there is something for everyone. Sure, you definitely will get judged more for reading a playboy magazine than getting stuck in the vortex of Instagram models, but at least you aren’t straining your eyes. Books are rad because they are pretty much videos. Except they require effort and imagination, which makes them worse than videos.
Make it a part of work.
If you have the ability to, maybe make checking socials a part of your job. Whether it’s freelance or even just helping someone out, there is a limit to how much you can look at your phone. If you are looking at it all the time for a paycheck or under a different account, it definitely will wear down your time for personal use. Same goes with computers. If you find yourself grinding in an excel doc or constantly surfing the web for work, you probably will get home and just want to disconnect. Both me and my roommate feel this way, but occasionally I overindulged in both my phone and laptop. It’s all relative, as sometimes you might binge and other times go completely analog for the day. This is realistically the least useful way to step away from the screen. This assumes you have a job that requires avid screen time, which isn’t the case all the time. And most who don’t have a line of work like this probably aren’t looking to get into the screen sector. All good, theres at least one other recommendation you can try above and below.
Do something and vow not to check it.
Hobbies are things you really like doing. If you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t put aside so much time to do them. A hobby could be designated time to not look at your phone and really enjoy what you are putting your focus into. Some hobbies are much easier to do this than others. Any sport will make you put your phone down. Especially surfing, which makes you most of the time leave your phone in the car and go bob up and down unbothered by other humans via technology. You definitely will still get bothered by either that annoying talkative guy in the lineup or the dude who you almost hit on that screamer of a wave as he just sat in the middle of the wave like a deer in headlights. Aside from activities that require exercise, there are plenty of other things you can do and just leave the phone far away. Drawing, learning to play an instrument, cooking, or just doing chores around the house are all great ways to avoid the screen. Just put it very far away and forget about it. If there is a reason you need to be by your phone (ie emergency or awaiting a certain call/notificaiton) so be it. Even 20 minutes with no screen is better than 20 minutes on the screen.
James Giordano 