Looking Sideways: 10 Things
Here are this week's ten things I thought were worth sharing
1. Last week, I posted an Open Thread over at my Substack around the ethics of fairly paying creatives and contributors.
I was interested in hearing other peoples’ opinions and experiences - and the reaction amazed me. The thread is now over 60 comments strong, with some really fascinating and passionate views on the issue.
Anyway, I’ve pulled out five things I learned about the issue in a new blog which you can read via the link below.
(Since I posted this I realised something else - absolutely everybody defending the practise is a creative who’s been on the receiving end. Not one person who has been involved in making a decision like this, whether event organiser, brand manager or team manager, left a comment or contributed. Make of that what you will).
2. The tension between ‘old’ and ‘new’ surf culture is a topic of constant fascination to me. And this story about ornery Malibu local Andy Lyon is almost the perfect metaphor for this theme, which is probably why it gathered such attention. Absolutely everybody covered this one. Watch the clip above, and check out the Beach Grit and Inertia interpretations of the incident by clicking the links above.
3. The fallout continues following the news that UK Sports has cut funding for GB Snowsport for the forthcoming Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic cycle. Planetski has a good round up of the backstory and the reaction here.
4. There’s been such an amazing reaction to my recent episode with Stacy Peralta. Thanks to everybody who has messaged or been in touch about that one. I also really enjoyed this piece on Stacy for Huck Magazine by my pal Liz Seabrook. Click here to read it.
5. From The Bottom of One’s Heart is Seen Snowboarding’s first full length all queer/trans snowboard video. Watch it above.
6. Snoopy is goofy? Gotta admit I was a little gutted to see this. Thanks to George’s Surf School for going into the history on this post after I posted the original Snoopy pic. Click the link above to read it.
7. As a friend of mine put it, most people would be happy with Jake Wooten’s FS 3 on a snowboard. Watch the full part above and stay till the ender…
8. Thanks to listener Neil for pointing me in the direction of this fascinating podcast about how a swimming pool designed in Northern Europe ended up changing popular culture as we know it.
9. Pretty amazing seeing Leo Baker getting the full Netflix treatment. Watch the trailer for the new documentary above, and click here to listen to my interview with Leo from summer 2020.
10. Entries to the LS x Db Fund are now closed. Massive thanks to everybody who entered - we had over 300 applications from people around the world with stories they can’t wait to unleash on the world.
Here’s what’s going to happen by the end of August:
- Myself and the Db team will whittle down the entries to a longlist of 20.
- From there, we will select the top 5, and then arrange 15 minute calls to learn more about them and their project.
- Then we’ll pick two winners, agree funding, announce them and their ideas, match them with mentors, help them create a plan, and get things moving.
- From then on, its an ongoing project we’ll be documenting IRL and on our social channels until release.
Hit the link above to read my Instagram post on the topic, or reply to this email if you have any questions.
Enjoyed this newsletter? Got questions about the Fund? You know what to do: