Whether she's stitching a zillion Polly Pocket's together to fashion a dress or providing a fallen bird of prey a proper burial, we can hardly say we love anyone as much as we do Courntey Jaedke AKA Napkin Apocalypse. If you haven't purchased our second issue and seen the final product from our journey to do a photo shoot directed by the one and only Napkin to Vallejo, CA  in all it's printed glory, you should do that now here in our store, and then peruse some outtakes and see how rad it is to go do something for the fuck of it.

And definitley check out Napkin's ETSY page and see why we're such big Kwertini fans and buy something while you're there.

One last thank-you to our lovely models Katie and Christine for their enthusiasm and willingness to feed and touch the animals. [...]

Something usually goes wrong. And that's why we love road trips so much. Weather, wind, lonely highway, marine predators and deep thoughts decide what happens, but it's the same reason we wake up to surf every day: the not knowing and our incessant urge to find out.

Owen Wright journeyed up the California coast and we documented.

Enjoy this slideshow of images today and come back Wednesday for the What Youth original short film: Usual Highway.

Photos: Chachi Craig. [...]

The California highway is a good conversationalist. It has a way of completely rearranging your brain and putting it back together. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. But it listens. It consoles, confides, advises and usually scares the shit out of you.

We spent a week on a California highway looking for waves with Owen [...]

The What Youth store has been injected with a new shirt today, and it's just in time for the holidays, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Haleiwa, your birthday, Jesus's birthday or whatever upcoming event makes you want to own a rad new shirt.

Want one? Click here and it's yours.

PHOTO: Chenoweth

I’m trying to keep calm. I’m trying to carry on. But after doing some responsible drinking, I’m going to chime in. Since Friday, two maneuvers were pulled off that were crazy. One by Dane in competition — a turn that perfectly demonstrates his disregard for things like waves, surfboards and competitive strategy. The turn was a big fuck you to no one in particular — they just bring that kind of intensity. [...]

If you have Issue Two of What Youth Quarterly then you’ve already read about our skateboard collab with Lance Mountain. If you don’t have Issue Two, you’re reading about the collab now. (Also, damn, check yourself.)

Lance designed the graphic above — inspired by an Arto Saari portrait, second slide, from Issue Two — for this collection of hand-painted skateboard decks. They go on sale this Friday exclusively in the What Youth shop. There are three numbered boards available — three, as in fewer than five or four. Click fast on Black Friday to make one of them yours. Special thanks to Create X Destroy for making this project happen.

We spoke with Lance about skateboard graphics through the years and about his own art, beginning [...]

We love looking at photos and then watching them come to life. We also love Dane. And that's exactly what's happening here. Above is a gallery of sessions with Dane that you'll see come to life tomorrow here at What Youth.

Click through the gallery for Dane's commentary on important things like these crunchy little [...]

New York-based photographer and surfer Johnny Knapp took one more tour of the destruction from Hurricane Sandy and filed these photos. As you can see, things still aren't well and won't be for a while. But it's another reminder that there's work to be done and not to forget our friends in the east. Below is a link to the good dudes at Waves For Water who have been supplying hands-on help since day one of the storm.

Thanks to Johnny Knapp for the photos and commentary, and thanks to all of you who have stepped up and helped out wherever possible.

To donate, please visit Waves For Water.

And check out more of Johnny's photography here.

On Friday we'll premiere an original short film starring Dane Reynolds. He'll be surfing in trunks and a T-shirt at a beachbreak that must be one of the most pleasant places there is to go surfing. Dane isn't as fond of trunks as you'd think though.

"When I think of surfing in trunks I think [...]

PHOTO: Neville

When we spoke to Craig he was just home from Europe before coming to California, then New York and New England.

Europe didn't end well. Craig is a kind soul and to move against him is an awful sin, and a Frenchman had sinned. It happens everywhere.

 

CRAIG ANDERSON: I’ve been home since last Friday, so almost a week.

WHAT YOUTH: Coming from France?

I was in France, yeah. I was going to [...]