Johnny and Jess are seasoned travelers and sporadic van-lifers since 2011. Johnny plays in a few bands and Jess does contract work that leaves her the freedom to accompany him on tours. Recently, they started the Rainbow Network to document the stories of the interesting people they meet on the road. Since we're delving pretty deep into this whole van life thing, we asked Johnny and Jess to...
"Made in prison, inspired by freedom" aptly describes the founding concept of Dutch-based apparel company, Stripes Clothing. The company consists of three founders and one designer living in Rotterdam, all guys in their mid to late 20s who had been looking for a way to fuse their entrepreneurial and creative spirit with a means for spreading awareness of ex-inmates' societal reintegration....
Sinai Mejias is from Caracas, Venezuela and now lives on Oz’s Gold Coast. By making surfboard covers and running a DIY and hobby-based blog, she has managed to combine her background with her many loves: friends, family and creating. Her light-hearted outlook has translated into very cheery, colorful products. Here she shares her insight into discovering and playing with the blog and...
Tofino is a small, isolated town on Vancouver Island. While it's a popular surf and vacation destination in the summer, in the winter months the dropping number of visitors are replaced by the rise of post-delivered Employment Insurance cheques. Starting a new business is risky, but in one of these off-seasons, Nina Waltl took action. With the help of a community self-employment program, Nina...
To dig a bit deeper into the Nord by Nordwest Film Fest, since we won't be able to make it out from Cali this year, we talked with part-time filmmaker Nathan Oldfield about his film, The Heart and the Sea, showing at the fest. Nathan says his films are quiet, beautiful and brimming with sacred purpose. As a school teacher and family man, filmmaking sometimes takes a back seat,...
After seeing the Secret Sound Underground premiere at La Paloma in Encinitas, CA, a couple weeks back, it became clear to me that Jack Coleman has something to say to the surf industry. It might be easy to dismiss his films as drug-induced, "hipsteresque" montages of nostalgia and surf porn, but after exploring his whole body of work and recognizing his artistic progression, it's pretty obvious...
We've been pretty keen on cold water surfing this winter season. There's something about travelling to remote places to surf moderately good waves in ridiculous temperatures that is interesting, to say the least. So we're going to continue investigating this questionable decision with the help of filmmaker James Aiken. He recently wrapped up a short film about a trip to an incredibly remote...
Buster Biofuels is a San Diego-based company that reclaims used cooking oil from restaurants and converts it to biodiesel to refuel diesel engines. Their slogan, “Go Fuel Yourself,” embodies the idea that companies can look to Buster Biofuels as a biodiesel source to supplement part of their vehicle fleets’ fuel needs.
Buster Halterman, founder and CEO of Buster Biofuels, sits...
People think of product ideas all the time--those million-dollar ideas that are going to change one particular market or another. But then maybe you'll be watching late-night infomercials or leafing through a magazine to find that someone has already created your product. Or other times you just let it go because the risks are too high and you're not quite sure where to start. But when good...
Andrew Kidman is an accomplished musician, filmmaker, photographer, surfer and shaper. In this edition of Filmmaker Feature, Andrew discusses his upcoming project, "Spirit of Akasha" (a tribute to "Morning of the Earth"), and his new book, "Single." Listen to the recorded conversation between Andrew and Cyrus for further explorations into being an independent artist and role money plays in...