If you’ve been to Sayulita, chances are you know what delicious goodness lies in wait, in the big haphazardly-built, blazing yellow building, fortified with wrought-iron signs, just off the square. Chairs, tables and old surf mags crammed into every single nook possible. In a town whose restaurants and businesses ebb and flow with the tides of the high and low tourist seasons, Sayulita Fish Taco is an integral part of Sayulita’s gilded prana. That is to say, Sayulita would not be the same without it.
Albert is the proprietor behind the famous yellow building and the delicious, distinctly traditional mexican fare. Always a smile and a good word, I’ve encountered him enumerable times out in the line-up, at ‘Rubber Dingies’ and ‘Enchiladas’, trimming his brains out with the ‘alma’ of an overgrown kid.
With a nice, twisted, sun-burnt sense of humor, Albert is the kinda guy with the ingenuity to rig up a user-controllable webcam so you can check out the front of his restaurant, never mind the ‘Mexican Waikiki’ otherwise known as Sayulita beach, just three blocks away, who’d want a webcam to check that out? He winks and says (and I’m paraphrasing, here) “Aw Yeah, it’s great. You can control the webcam and sometimes I move it to the other side of the pole, so you can see the big fiestas they throw in the town square”. The irony isn’t lost on Albert, that’s just the kinda guy he is.
Long after the snowbirds have all flown home, during the heart of the humidity riddled rainy season, you can still see Albert slogging in today’s catch as he sets his shop up for another day of fish tacos and cerveza. Albert has gone native.
I’m currently perfecting my technique of launching the 9-oh into the 3 foot shore dump, direct to the nose for a split second of crouched bliss and then punch through the tiny lip into 2 feet of water rushing up the steep beach.
Micro-seconds of trim can be stretched out into hours of joy.
A few weeks back, I was out scavenging the northern Bahia de Banderas coast for anything that looked like ridable waves. My tour of the local breaks brought me to Punta Mita, where I caught a few good ankle biters and then managed to snap off a few good shots.
As I was shooting the bevy of longboarders from the tip of a breakwater jetty, I caught the attention of a group of visiting “old dude” surfers throwing shakas my way (through my 100-400mm lens) as they were hanging out in the shade, on the beach. As I finished up and made my way over to the group, I was greeted by a guy by the name of Joe Doggett. It turns out Joe and his buddies return year after year, to Punta Mita, the ‘Mexican Malibu’ as he called it. We exchanged local surf break information and traded horror stories of how the area is rapidly changing due to spiralling out-of-control development. Joe mentioned that he had been a writer for the Houston Chronicle.
We eventually came around to the history of surfing in the area and how Punta Mita was discovered. Joe related parts of a September 1965 Surfer Magazine article, written by Bill Cleary, about his feral surf expedition on the hunt for “Mexico’s Malibu” as discovered by a screenwriter named Peter Viertel who found the fabled break while daytripping through the bay’s several breaks while his wife, actress Deborah Kerr, filmed her scenes in Night of the Iguana (the movie that literally put Vallarta on the map).
Joe Doggett’s stories and impressive knowledge of surf history, had me kicking my own teeth in, after I said goodbye to Joe and the crew without asking for his contact info or email address. A few days after I posted the photos from that day, flickr user Rex Enigma commented on Joe’s photo above, asking if it was indeed thee “Joe Doggett” and today Rex hipped me to a recent article in The Houston Chronicle, where Joe goes briefly in to Cleary’s 1965 Surfer Mag article and than continues on with his own long and varied history of visiting Mazatlan and Vallarta in search of surf breaks and the “Mexican Malibu”:
Other spots were excellent, but the Mexican Malibu was a no-show not enough swell, wrong angle, wrong tide, wrong week, wrong season, on and on over dispirited bottles of Pacifico beer at the cantina overlooking the beach.
Nirvana, at last
Then, as if in a dream, it was there. Last year, we pulled the board-racked vehicle to a stop and watched in disbelief as ruler-edged powder-green walls brushed by straight offshore wind peeled into the cove. We caught the Mexican Malibu for six consecutive days, with the swell peaking at 2 to 3 feet overhead. This spring, our trip was highlighted by three days of Mexican Malibu, with shoulder- to head-high sets each session. This literal groundswell of riches only can support the virtues of patience and confidence.
It’s an amazing story and a great read. I flipped out, as I read it and thought back to my conversation with Joe. Understanding the history behind this place I live in and how it fits in to the larger surf cannon never really even occurred to me, until my talk with Joe and his boys. I’d like to send a big, cosmic, shaka bra thank you, out there to Joe for unfolding a lesson and sparking a light in a new corner of my consciousness. I’m in his debt.
Incidentally, if there are any surf-memorabilia pack rats out there, that might just have the Sept ‘65 Surfer Mag squirreled away somewhere, I’d give my first born for a scanned pdf of the Cleary ‘Mexican Malibu’ article. My first born or some newly minted gold bullion. your choice.
Today's Most Influential Design - The Design 100 - TIME "Great design is no longer reserved solely for museum-worthy products, as multitasking designers turn their attention to everything from books to artisanal food, and from lighting to transportation"
Too Hard a Ball Right-Wing Radio yakker crashes and burns like the Hindenburg while trying to talk about appeasement … Holy Crap! keep diggin', jerk face.
Video: Rubies, "I Feel Electric" awesome song and video from Rubies, sonic sisters in the circle of awesomenss with Leslie Feist and Danielle Rubi. don't sleep!
TED | Talks | Mark Bittman: What's wrong with what we eat (video) awesome talk about how the western diet is totally unsustainable and dangerous to the planet. 10,000,000 cows, chickens, lambs and pigs born, raised, and killed every year. the take away? start eating more vegetables.
I posted about Isaiah Seret’s Hitler is Alive in Burma spot (starring Ellen Page) a few days ago, from the Burma Can’t Wait campaign. Now check out another spot of his entitled Voices (do yourself a favor and go watch it on YouTube and click on the High Quality version, unfortunately there’s no hard-link to the HQ). This spot goes completely in the opposite direction of the Hitler piece. I love it.
The music is by Vetiver - “You May Be Blue (Neighbors Remix)”
– I did the type cards on this one. nothing fancy. minimal, to the point.
Brooks: Neural Buddhists - International Herald Tribune Brooks is a bit of a wanker, but he has some pretty good points, chiefly that we are in the middle of a scientific revolution that’s going to have big cultural effects. this is an understatement of dramatic proportion. We are essentially headed for a new paradigm. and it’s going to happen faster than you and I think.
Blu's Latest Wall Animation - MUTO absolutely brilliant graffiti stop-motion animation done over the course of a few months. i'd love to see this in process.
CalArts homie Kevin Lyons has a new show Your Mom’s In My Business at the HVW8 Art+Design Gallery in Los Angeles, if you’re in the area and dig on hand-made design, go check out the show. Kevin is a heavyweight:
Printed Ephemera and New Works by Kevin Lyons
Opening Friday, May 9th, 6 - 10 pm, Show runs May 10th - June 15th
HVW8 Art+Design Gallery
661 N. Spaulding Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Gallery open: Wed - Sat, 1- 5pm
Or by appointment:
323 655 4898
Kevin Lyons is a 1992 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design where he received a degree in film. After working for Nickelodeon / MTV as an Associate Producer, he co-founded the NYC based design firm, stereo-type which for two years was responsible for much of the graphic look of the New York City underground Hip-Hop and Acid Jazz scene. This included the logo design for the long standing NYC based club, GIANT STEP. Stereo-type’s client list also included Soul Kitchen, 555 Soul and the LA-based, Brass Recordings. After receiving his masters degree from CalArts in 1998, Lyons has gone on to work for Nike, both in and out of house, was the former Art Director of Urban Outfitters on two separate occasions, and has been Art Director for filmmaker Spike Jonze’s Girl Skateboard Company. He was also the original US Art Director for TOKION Magazine and maintains long-standing freelance relationships with Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas, Stussy and Stussy Japan, Beams Japan, HUF, Nieves Books, Stones Throw Records, Commonwealth Stacks, and long-time friend and collaborator NYC artist, SSUR.
FontStruct | Build, Share, Download Fonts Holy crapola! FontStruct is absolutely amazing! not only can you share and download fonts for free, but you can build your own with their fancy web app. pretty f'ing cool. now why isn't there a desktop app that makes the process of designing fonts this simple, effective and FUN. Mac OS X programmers: i’m looking in your direction
Schitz Popinov 2008 award for best name for a music blog. I gotta get that on a tshirt.
Second McCain aide quits over ties to Burmese Junta lobbying We're talking about lobbying on behalf of mass murdering war criminals here. The real question media outlets should be asking is when did McCain find out and how long has his campaign known about this. These are people that could have gone on to run our government (as the case with the 2nd guy - aides usually end up in the administration).
Peggy Noonan's article from WSJ on Obama's missing 2nd act actually a pretty good read. she says a lot of interesting things. the Obama 2nd act thing is *very* dead-on. He does need it. but then she brings up the whole Obama is an elitist thing, which is classic wingnut talking points.
More Obama: Obama Campaign Launches "Vote For Change" Voter Registration Drive Uber-wingnut Peggy Noonan declared that Obama would need a "second act" to keep his story going. Well, never one to disappoint, Obama unveils his second act. and this one is gonna be *huge*. I can hear Rove and Spakovsky drafting up their talking points.
surfblog1000: Hot Photo #1 amazing longboard photo by surf photog master Grannis. now this is the kind of photo that keeps me inspired. i love surf blogs for this very idea, showing the awesome.
The thing that I really like about Shutter Butter is that the photographer is given audio space to put context to the images. You’re not only seeing gorgeous imagery, you’re getting to know the photographer that captured the image.
I do believe that audio can be distracting and can unnecessarily “color” the images. Non-narrated slideshows, gallery shows, monographs etc… all have their proper space. But once in a while it’s nice to get behind the imagery to understand the process.
My homie Isaiah Seret gets a super-huge write-up in the New York Times for his work directing Ellen Page in a spot for the Burma Can’t Wait Campaign:
The spot is one of 30 produced for U.S. Campaign for Burma, starring celebrities like Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston. They will be distributed on Fanista.com, a social-networking and entertainment retail site, then passed along to sites like YouTube and Google Video every day for the next month. The goal of the campaign is to thrust the cause of human rights in Burma — now known as Myanmar — into the orbit of A-list activist causes, along with Tibet and Darfur, and to encourage international pressure on a government that activists say is one of the world’s most oppressive.
…
A story that is going to hold people’s interest also needs a villain. While General Shwe is a natural in the role, said Isaiah Seret, a 30-year-old music video director who was enlisted to write and direct the Ellen Page spot, the general also came with built-in drawbacks — his name lacked impact, his face was forgettable. The general, Mr. Seret said, lacked what is known in marketing vernacular as a “unique selling point” — like Hitler’s mustache. So the director attempted to turn the general’s blandness into a joke. In the spot, Ms. Page scribbles a Hitler mustache on a large photo of the general and declares, “Make no mistake about it, he is a professional dictator.”
Isaiah conceptualized, wrote and directed the Ellen Page piece (which debuts in the next few days - i think), as well as seven or eight others that will be released one-a-day for each of the 30 days of the campaign. I’m super excited to see Isaiah’s name up in print. I think he hit a home-run with this spot. Sometimes stars align and this is one of those times. He’s been working like mad on this campaign and it completely dove-tails with his personal voice. This guy is definitely an artist to watch. Each time I see new work of his, I’m amazed at his progression in style and form, without losing his personal voice. I’m callin’ it now: Dude is gonna be famous.
Elizabeth Warren | The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren speaks at UC Berkeley. America's crashing credit economy is directly responsible for the continued rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class. Reality: You probably know more people who will file for bankruptcy than for divorce (although they may not tell you they are/have filed for bankruptcy). Big picture? We’re basically talking about the end of capitalism here. no joke.
Banksy Unmasked? | Gawker great article claiming Banksy is really UK stencil artist Nick Walker. I don't know if it's true, but a good read.
Under Construction Redux | All Forces Instead of throwing up some dumb "we'll be right back" message, when you're updating your site, Melvin has designed a very user-friendly version with social networking links, flickr photos, latest tweets and last.fm covers.
Kottke's "When Obama wins," awesome twitter mashup. my personal favorite: "When Obama wins, God will literally bless America"
Mexico?s Disgusting Response to Shark Attack San Fran native Adrian ruiz was killed by a shark, surfing Troncones last week and in response the Mexican Navy has been trawling for sharks, killing anything that gets in their way. Horrible news.
Wild Coast / Costa Salvaje WiLDCOAST protects and preserves coastal ecosystems and wildlife in the Californias and Latin America by building grassroots support, conducting media campaigns and establishing protected areas.
Mårten Lange | The Sea Raul Gutierrez points us to the hypnotic horizontal sea photos of Mårten Lange. This series has more than a passing resemblance to my latest surfing-themed photos. amazing series, i’d love to see these huge.
Farewell Books awesome cheaply constructed photography books. very cool idea.
Neutra-Designed Strathmore Apartment condo for sale LA peoples, listen up, one of the legendary Nuetra Strathmore Apertments is for sale. $795,000. hefty price tag, but come on, it’s a Nuetra! Architecturally significant houses aren’t recession proof, but when the market goes up, it’ll go up more. good investment.
The top shot taken on a surf trip to Ostula Michoacan, in August of ‘07 and the bottom shot, taken at local mainstay Quesadillas. Visual cousins.
On a side note: some jerkwad burned the ramada down at Quesadillas, this past week. The one the bottom picture was taken through. Nothing that can’t be rebuilt with a little hard sweat and a machete, but definitely a random, unnecessary act of destruction. totally bummer.
The Temas Blog "Musings about the Evolution of Consumer, Environmental & Health Policy in Latin America & the Caribbean". awesome english language blog on what's going on south of the US border. a great informational resource and very dialed-in.
Bio-Baby | Environment-Friendly Mexican Diapers? | The Temas Blog Interesting look at Bio-Baby diapers, made from organic cotton and polylactic acid (a biodegradable polymer). the diapers are made by 100% mexican owned Mabesa. we don't have any kids yet, but we're already trying to figure out what to do about diapers.
YouTube - Iron Man After Credits Iron Man was awesome. Robert Downey Junior was excellent. nearly perfect super hero movie, if not the GOAT. even Marcia really liked it. 2 thumbs up. don't bother to stay through the credits for the end scene, catch it on you tube.
Op's new "Open Road" summer marketing program is craptastic. c-list celebs in badly designed, cheaply made, slightly surf themed gear, make em drive a vw combi, do a pyramid in the sand and run around tackling each other and sell it at walmart. ok. would someone please shoot the person responsible for this?
I love this shot of Tzahui Poo, local Bucerias homie and owner of Mictlan Surf School in Punta Mita. Tzahui is kinda like the Michael Jordan of the area, güey gets serious air. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he doesn’t. But he always puts on a good show for the rest of us. Now if I could get him to stop stealing my waves, it’d be all good.
video of people removing bot fly larvae from a guy's back absolutely disgusting but intensely intriguing video of people pulling huge bot fly larvae from some dude's back. totally insane how big they are. i'm gonna go throw up now. the duct tape FTW
Cheeseboard pizza in Berkeley has a twitter account! Now this is why the freaking internet/twitter was invented. So that I, in mexico, can get the Chesseboard's daily pizza ingredients pushed to twitterific. The Cheeseboard is a collective coop, whose pizza is different every day. perfect use of technology.
Thursday the swell finally hit after solid weeks of small waves. Burros got the heaviest of the lashing, with wave heights topping out at 8 feet. Here’s the best of the bunch of photos Mosbeffers took on Friday. Two sessions: one in the am and one in the pm. During the time that these photos were shot, I was in the water either taking headers over the falls, getting dropped in on or just fighting for position (between the currents and the competition). I managed to get another session in, this morning (Sat) and it was the best of the three days. Not wave height wise, but sheer quality of rides. When it’s firing El Paredon is the shizz.
Nayarit surf forecast | Surfline the homies say the waves are huge at Burros and completely going off! i'm stuck at home with the visiting in-laws for the evening. waiting patiently for the early session tomorrow morning. i can't freaking wait.
Hi, my name is Ed Fladung, I'm a recovering web-designer who moved to Mexico about 4 years ago. Learned to surf, got married and bought a nice camera. This is my weblog/photoblog. It covers broad subjects like becoming an ex-pat, surfing, photography, graphic design, music, art, architecture, living in mexico, all things Apple and WordPress related, etc... You can find more about me here. I hope you enjoy.
Powered by WordPress and my own home-rolled flavor of the Qwilm! theme. I call it the QPwilm! theme and you can download it if you'd like. This is my 4th iteration past the publicly available QPwilm! theme.
