If it makes the mantle, it makes the mantle.
I’d wager the majority of hoes in Hollywood didn’t dream of becoming hoes. They probably started off with an innocuous dream of being an actress or a dancer or something. But the lifestyle invites a steady series of transitions where the lines between edgy and bad and debased get blurrier and blurrier until, before you know it, you’re pooping out balloons of H and doing fetish hardcore in a ratty studio apartment above Hollywood Boulevard.
Surf culture does that, too. You start off with this innocent little goal: A killer surf shot to go above the mantle. That’s it. One framed photograph of you head-dipping at your imperfect homebreak — just like every old dude you’ve ever respected has hanging somewhere in his home — so you can look back one day and whisper with equal parts pride and nostalgia, “Yeah, that’s how I spent my youth.” Already seeing a future reflection of the past before it’s even made present.
But then something happens. You surf more, surf bigger and with hotter surfers. You get better. You’ve already gotten the mantle shot long ago, but that wasn’t good enough. You want it published; a postage stamp in the local rag will suffice. But it’s not quite worthy of a Facebook profile pic because your best bro just learned how to do airs and already blew the bell curve by posting a sickie. Once you finally get your own flyaway photo, it actually does make the mag, a spread in a glossy one at that. But your friends keep talking shit about how you didn’t stick it, so now you need a sequence to show them all. That might even be worthy of a cover! Hell with that, maybe an ad campaign for a sponsor to emblazon across every surf shop window in America. Then again, video’s where things are really heading, so you need a clip. Ah, yes, just one clip. That clip can lead to another clip can lead to a blog can lead to Innersection can lead to… Stardom?
Maybe. But no matter where it all takes you, never be ashamed of that head-dip shot. And don’t you dare take it down.
Keep it right above the mantle.
