Gaza

It's been three years since I've gotten a new board. This week, I got two.

Decadent? Maybe. At left a 5'4'' Terry Martin. At right a 5'10'' Aipa.

Will I live up to these two lovely new boards? Can I be with one without wronging the other? Will our Avatar dreadlocks bond or am I so out of practice that they'll drift leashless towards shore, only to be conquered by a more skilled suitor?

HOBIE FISH SESSION April 2009 from SABATHIER Thibaud on Vimeo.

I am featured standing on the beach in my wetsuit.

If anyone is in or around Santa Barbara, go see Gardens and Villa. They are seriously good at what they do. It's been nearly a month since I saw them play in Berkeley but I still have one of their songs stuck in my head and I can't/don't want to get it out.

Show dates and location and some songs on their myspace:

myspace.com/gardensandvilla

Trakovskyfilm.com

miniature La Bahia

miniature Ellen, Maureen, Rael, and Blake

miniature street in Gothenburg

It's been like so long since I've been to a house party with normal and friendly people of my own age that this superhero-themed fiesta in Barcelona was the funnest thing I've done in like forever.

This dude was laying down some fat beats in spite of (or because of?) his Transformer costume.

Nature Boy and Nature Girl took the cake for cutest couple.

Everything was gravy until this dude showed up...

and I was forced to hit up the tourist hot-spots.

The view from not my window.

In general, I had a really shitty time.

These sardines tasted what percent better because of the packaging?

Prehistoric art of Southwest France

The famous Upper Paleolithic cave painting from Lascaux, France, dating back to 15,000 b.c.

A painting discovered in Toulouse, depicting what is speculated to be some sort of prehistoric mating ritual. Note the traditional head adornment.

hang time

I usually try not to post too many pictures of myself but this one was just so ridiculous and exaggerated that I had to share it. Seriously, look at my pose! I don't even think the board is off the ground...but for the record, I stuck it.

I know it's tired for an American to talk about the "culture shock" when returning to America from wherever. Still, when I arrived in Penn Station in New York at 5pm a week and a half ago, I most definitely had it.

Some immediate observations from an American on America and Americans:
-Americans are big. Not obese, not even necessarily fat, just tall, thick. Grande. Super-sized.
-Not only are people big, but so is everything: the streets, the stoplights, the taxis, the burritos.
-Americans are ugly. Really people, genes are better in Europe. I saw more blemishes on one subway ride than six months in France.
-The infrastructure (airports, trains, etc) is dated.

Nevertheless, it feels kind of real, in a way that the kiddie-pool of Western Europe does not.

I shredded the Marseille skatepark...when I played Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 in ninth grade.

In real-life, I just rolled around for about 4 minutes until some twelve-year old told me his brother was going to beat me up.

There was this crazy snowstorm in England and my, uh, 'just for the weekend' Sweden trip turned into an exhausting week-long ordeal. On the plus side, I got to slip and slide around London for a day and take advantage of the favorable exchange rate.

Back to Sweden

Word

Steve Jobs?

This pic should be fairly self-explanatory.



Not unlike Del Taco in Irvine, the 2:30am Burger King rager is really where it all goes down.

If this makes sense to you, good. If not, don't worry about it.

just a couple more...

By night

Marrakesh

Got my hair did.

The process...

The final product. It set me back a big 25 dirham (3 bucks).