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Faithful Friends Who Were Dear To Us, Will Be Near To Us No More

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“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is probably my favorite Christmas song simply because of its emotional ambivalence. It resonates closely with so many of the feelings I have around the Christmas season. The lyrics open up that uneasy longing for that unattainable ideal of Christmas that so many of us want. The holidays can be hard.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York
No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more
But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

My emotions during the holidays weigh heavily. Christmastime brings a contemplative melancholia that I actually revel in, and there is a wistful type of comfort in accepting this. In knowing that the season is steeped in nostalgia and want for a better time and place. In accepting that my memories will grow a little dimmer with the passing of the year. In acknowledging that our world can be unraveled, changed, and built back up with little of our own control. In understanding that friends, family, or loved ones are gone from our lives – for good. I feel akin with the folks who recognize that Christmas can be complicated, emotionally irresolute, and inherently blue.
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Teahupo’o

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Teahupo’o is the name of a large reef break in Tahiti. Named after a village on the southwest coast of the island, the break is renowned for its consistent barrels, heavy waves and shallow shoreline. An extremely shallow coral reef, which ranges up to 20 inches beneath the water’s surface creates an unusual wave shape with an effect of almost breaking below sea level. The wave’s unique shape is due to the specific shape of the reef beneath the wave. Its semi circular nature, which drops down sharply creates a ‘below water’ effect and the extreme angles in descent create an instant instability to the wave.

TeahupooImage via Surfblogspot

According to Surfing Atlas:

The extreme angle creates instant instability in the wave. The second stage of the reef proceeds uniformly down to the 300 metres contour in about 50 metres of distance, or a ratio of about 1/6 (.1667). The maximum steepness a wave is able to endure before it breaks is .17. So when height (h) is > .17 of wavelength (λ) then the wave will break. The reef at Teahupoo moves the entire available energy mass of the wave all the way from 300m to the 10m mark of the first stage of the reef at the maximum angle permissible prior to a wave breaking. Then at 10m prior to reaching the surface it puts up a steep wall of reef that causes the entire mass to fold onto a scalloped semi-circle breaking arc.

The result is an incredible moving wall of water. The video below was taken August 27th 2011 during the Billabong Pro waiting period. The French Navy labeled this day a double code red prohibiting and threatening to arrest anyone that entered the water.

Uncommon Skateboard Tricks In Super Slow Motion

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Watching these uncommon flat ground (street) skateboard tricks slowed down to 1,000 frames per second really highlights how difficult they are to execute. Watch through to the end to see all the tricks shown again at actual speed. Flabbergasting. The tricks performed in the order of appearance are:

  • Nollie Dolphin Flip (AKA Nollie Forward Flip)
  • Backside 180 Casper Flip (or BS 180 Hospital Flip)
  • Nollie Heelflip BS Body Varial
  • Nollie 360 Shuv Underflip (AKA Nerd flip)
  • Frontside Shuv Underflip (AKA Kiwi flip)
  • Hardflip Pretzel
  • Merlin Twist (Switch front foot impossible fs 180)
  • Nollie Heelflip Indy Grab
  • Early Grab Frontside 180 Fingerflip
  • Pressure Hardflip
  • Jovan flip
  • Backside Pop Shuv Underflip
  • Nollie Pressure Hardflip

    • It should be noted that since skateboarding trick names are defined by a common usage naming convention and these tricks are not very common, some of them don’t have well-established names so the creator of the video took some artistic license.

    Cloudscaping

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    Sure, I too am a little tired of the all the time-lapse photography on the internet these days. However, my love for clouds (I’m a long time member of the Cloud Appreciation Society) had me going gaga over this video called “Test D” by sixdegreesbelowthehorizon. Be sure to go full screen with this one.

    The Boards of Canada soundtrack is pretty sweet also. If you like that, check out sixdegreesbelowthehorizon’s video Dawn Convection.

    Surf Is Waaaaaaay Up

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    Garrett McNamara recently broke the world record for largest wave ever surfed. McNamara was towed into a 90-foot wall of watery death at Praia do Norte, Nazare, on the southern shores of Portugal. The previous record of 77 feet was set by Mike Parsons in 2008.

    Gnarly!

    And in case you were wondering, the biggest wave ever recorded by scientists measured 1,720 feet in height and killed two fishermen as it slammed down into Lituya Bay, a fjord located on the coast of Alaska on July 9 1958.

    Fun Hula Hoop Video

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    tab_ularasa takes found and experimental video and puts it to bands he likes. And he’s pretty darn good at it. There’s some great work in his Vimeo account that is certainly worth checking out.

    This one of a young girl hula hooping set to music by Ty Segall is great. I really dig the summery feel and sped-up, fluid movements of the performer along with the perfect editing that syncs the choreography to the music. Good stuff!

    World’s First BMX Triple Back Flip

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    A few days ago, on May 28th, Jed Mildon attempted and successfully landed the first BMX Triple Backflip in history. The trick was done in Taupo, New Zealand on a 20 meter (66 foot) roll-in ramp. The height of the ramp in the first part of the video is enough to make me squirm a bit.

    There is also more video about Jed’s preparation for the jump to be seen.

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