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Latest Update: August 31, 2001 by Ben Marcus

2:47 ALASKA TIME FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 2001 THE DINING ROOM

I'm tired. This time I'm sleeping upstairs on a bunk and not in the van. It's getting too cold out there already. Ike will just have to sleep alone.

We did three hours of processing today, all of it on the good line and most of it big, solid silvers.

I don't like pink salmon much. They are hard to cut and clean and they are generally just a mess. I feel sorry for anyone who has to eat them.

The silvers are a pleasure. Big solid fish that cut easy and clean easy and when you have one in your hands, you feel like you have something valuable.

Not much else to report. They were playing lots of 70s super hits on the radio, which helped prod along the Santa Cruz article, which looks at this fast-changing world from a 70s Santa Cruz sensibility.

I miss the 70s, but I believe I have said that already.

I'm gonna pack all this up, put Ike in the van and hit the sack. The line will be on at 9:00 tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. I'm washing my Patagonia jacket and pants and socks, so maybe I won't smell so bad tomorrow in the library.

That's it for now. I'm pooped and I'm getting sick. This is not a healthy life.

15:00 ALASKA TIME FRIDAY AUGUST 31, 2001 THE LIBRARY IN VALDEZ.

Wow. I sat down in the library at 10:00 and have been working non-stop ever since. They are processing fish today and I should be there but I just felt I had better things to do.

The question is: Do I?

I just sat here and worked on the BORED! proposal and the Santa Cruz article for The Surfer's Journal and the Specialty Event story for Trans World Surf.

I am probably not the guy to be riding about the ASP and all that malarkey. I just looked at the WCT schedule and found that the Pipe Masters isn't even an event this year. Could that be right? Where have I been?

Anyway, I hashed out an outline to the Specialty Event story and sent it off to a bunch of interested parties, including Shaun Tomson and Ian Cairns and Jason Borte and half-a-dozen others. Maybe it will get some response and I'll get a good article out of it. Maybe not.

I also sent the BORED! pitch to Rosaldo Cavalcanti and anyone else who I thought might be able to help finish it. I sent it to Rosaldo first because he sent me kind of a promising e-mail.

In a message dated 8/31/2001 2:02:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time, rosaldo@openlink.com.br writes:

Hi Ben,

Your project sounds very good. I have one brazilian surfer that is looking for to join the trip.

You should have one Brazilian in the team in order to make it more international.

Also, i'd like to try to sell the series for the brazilian cable tv. Can we work it out ?

Best regards,

Rosaldo

ROSALDO

IF YOU HELP ME WRITE THE PITCH AND MAYBE HELP ME RAISE SOME MONEY FOR IT, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT.

LOOK OVER THE BORED! PITCH CAREFULLY AND SEE IF YOU CAN ADD ANYTHING TO IMPROVE IT.

I ESPECIALLY NEED YOUR INPUT ON THE PART ABOUT THE AMAZON BORE.

WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE BORE THAN I CAN PUT INTO THE PITCH THAT WILL MAKE IT INTERESTING?

SEE THE WAY I WROTE THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ALASKAN BORE? I BEGIN AND END IT TALKING ABOUT CAPTAIN COOK.

I WANT THEM ALL TO BE THAT COMPLETE.

WHAT ARE THE DANGERS THAT SHAWN ALLADIO WILL BE FUSSING OVER ON THE POROROCA? PRANHAS? CROCODILES? DISEASES?

WHAT INTERESTING HISTORICAL OR SCIENTIFIC FACTS WILL MR. WOOSTER-FOP BE YAKKING ABOUT IN BRAZIL?

AND WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF THE WAVE? IS IT DANGEROUS? FUN? CHALLENGING? LONG?

PLEASE FILL IN ALL THE INFORMATION YOU CAN, AND MAYBE WE'LL HAVE A TV SHOW.

I'M THINKING OF A BUDGET OF $300,000 TO $500,000 FOR SIX SHOWS.

IF SHAWN ALLADIO GETS INVOLVED, MAYBE SOME OF THAT MONEY WILL COME FROM YAMAHA. WORTH A TRY. IT PUTS THEIR SLEDS IN A GOOD LIGHT: SAVING LIVES.

IF WE PUT A BRAZILIAN GUY IN THERE, COULD YOU RAISE MONEY FROM BRAZILIAN TELEVISION?

LET ME KNOW.

THIS COULD BE REALLY FUN TO DO AND WATCH.

BEN

P.S. JACK MCCOY, IRA OPPER, MICHAEL GRABER, ANDY MARTIN, TOM WRIGHT, SHAWN ALLADIO, PAUL TAUBLIEB, JOHN MARKEL, KEN WILKINSON

I WANT TO ASK YOU TO DO THE SAME AS I HAVE ASKED ROSALDO.

IF YOU ARE AT ALL INTERESTED IN IMPROVING THIS VERY SPECULATIVE BORED! PITCH, PLEASE READ OVER THE DRAFT AND IMPROVE IT WHEREVER YOU CAN.

THE SYNOPSIS NEEDS TO BE WRITTEN COMPLETELY AND I WONDER ABOUT ALL MY ROUGH FINANCIAL FIGURES. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THINGS LIKE INSURANCE, OR HOW MUCH OF A FILM BUDGET TO DO FOR EACH SHOW, WHICH I ASSUME WILL BE SHOT MOSTLY WITH VIDEO AND DIGITAL.

SEND ANY CHANGES TO ME BY E-MAIL, PLEASE.

THIS THING PROBABLY HAS ONE CHANCE IN A MILLION, BUT WHAT THE HELL. THINK HOW MUCH FUN IT WOULD BE TO DO.

THIS WOULD BE GOOD TV: ACTION, ADVENTURE, COMEDY, HISTORY, SCIENCE. I LOVE THE CLIVE WOOSTER-FOP CHARACTER.

I APPRECIATE ALL YOUR INPUT.

IF ANYONE KNOWS PEOPLE WHO ARE INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH THE TIDAL BORES IN CANADA AND FRANCE AND SARAWAK AND CHINA, I'D LOVE A CONTACT NAME AND E-MAIL

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.

AIM FOR THE STARS, LAND IN A MUD-PUDDLE, EH?

SEE YOU ON THE BERM.

I also sent it to the Guinness World Records guys, even though the TV guy sent me a discouraging e-mail today.

Ben,

Once again, apologies, but we will not be attending your record attempt. I'd be delighted to see the footage when it's done, but we won't be sending a director from the TV department. If you want a GWR representative, you will need to contact the Director of Research Chris Sheedy at: chris:sheedy@guinnessrecords.com and he will advise you.

All the best,

Siomn C. Gold

I sent the following e-mail, with the BORED! pitch attached, to both Simon Gold and Chris Sheedy.

Simon Gold

Guinness World Records

August 31, 2001

Mr. Gold,

Thank you for your patient response to my pestering.

I am eager to do this Tidal Bore thing because I've seen the one in Alaska and I can only imagine that the bores in England and France and Sarawak are equally interesting and exciting.

I am hoping to use this attempt on the Alaska tidal bore to prod a BBC or Discovery Channel TV series into life.

The pitch I am putting together includes a Monty Python-ish character named Clive Wooster-Fop, who is pulled from the safety and security of his job in the Guinnness World Records research library, and reassigned to the field, to adjudicate a bunch of piratical surfers who are travelling the world, trying to set a world record for Longest Ride on a Tidal Bore.

This whole BORED! idea may be cool or outlandish, I can't tell.

I think it would be fun, interesting television. Fun to do and fun to watch.

I know you're busy, but if you could read the attached draft of the pitch (which is about 80 % complete) maybe you could give me some idea how my conception of this Wooster-Fop chap matches up with reality, and also tell me if Guinness World Records would be game for this sort of caricature of a Guinness employee.

Thank you for your time.

Ben Marcus

I sent a lot of e-mails in the last five hours and I'd love to tell you about them all, and I know you would love to hear about them, but I have to go toe the Valdez Vanguard and mail some things and then get back to the line, Hopefully they are doing silvers now and it won't be too unpleasant. There were a lot of fish in there when I left, and I'm sure there are some left over.

Slept in the bunkhouse last night and it wasn't too bad. Warmer than the van, although I did miss Ike. Can't bring him inside.

Woke up with a cold and that's probably why I wasn't into processing fish. You have to feel good to want to feel that bad, and I didn't.

At least I washed my pants and everything and I don't have salmon-a-tosis.

Evan accused me of writing a prank Caught Inside about Chris Mauro today. It wasn't me, but I passed along my Bill Sharp/Chris Mauro prank to Evan and Matt Walker.

Enough said about that. Soon the world shall know.

I'll work tomorrow, probably and then head for Anchorage on Sunday with a couple members of Team Turkey. Need to pick up all my Patagonia swag and whatever else is waiting for me at the home of Scott Liska. He'll be running his Montagu Cup over Labor Day, hopefully his wife will be around. I should call him right now.



TRAVELS WITH IKE

August 31, 2001
August 30, 2001

August 29, 2001
August 28, 2001
August 25, 2001
August 21, 2001
August 20, 2001
August 18, 2001
August 17, 2001
August 16, 2001
August 15, 2001
August 12, 2001
August 10-11, 2001
August 9, 2001
August 8, 2001
August 7, 2001
August 6, 2001
August 5, 2001
August 4, 2001
August 2, 2001
August 1a, 2001
August 1, 2001
July 31, 2001
July 30, 2001
July 29, 2001
July 28, 2001
July 27, 2001
July 24-27, 2001
July 22, 2001
July 18-20, 2001
July 18, 2001
July 17, 2001
July 16, 2001
July 15, 2001
July 13, 2001
July 12, 2001
July 10, 2001
July 9, 2001
July 8, 2001
July 5, 2001
July 4, 2001
July 3, 2001
July 2, 2001
July 1 a, 2001
July 1, 2001
June 30, 2001

June 28, 2001
June 25-26, 2001
June 24, 2001
June 23, 2001
June 22, 2001
June 21, 2001
June 20, 2001
June 19, 2001
June 18, 2001
June 17-18, 2001
June 16, 2001
June 15, 2001
June 14 , 2001

NORTH COAST
March 14, 2001
March 11, 2001

March 8, 2001
March 4, 2001
March 3, 2001
March 1, 2001
February 20, 2001
February 19, 2001
February 18, 2001
February 17, 2001
February 16, 2001


ALASKA 2000
November 19, 2000
November 18, 2000

November 15, 2000
November 14, 2000
November 14, 2000
November 12-13, 2000
November 11, 2000
November 9, 2000
November 8, 2000
November 4-6, 2000
November 3, 2000
November 1, 2000
October 31, 2000
October 29, 2000
October 27, 2000
October 26, 2000
October 25, 2000
October 22, 2000
October 22, 2000
October 21, 2000
October 19, 2000
October 17, 2000
October 16, 2000
October 16, 2000
October 14, 2000
October 12, 2000
October 11, 2000
October 10, 2000
October 10, 2000
October 9, 2000
October 8, 2000
October 7, 2000
October 6, 2000
October 6, 2000
October 5, 2000
October 4, 2000
October 3, 2000
October 2, 2000
October 1, 2000
September 30, 2000
September 29, 2000
September 28, 2000
September 27, 2000
September 25, 2000
September 24, 2000
September 23, 2000
September 22, 2000
September 21, 2000
September 21, 2000
September 20, 2000
September 19, 2000
September 19, 2000
September 18, 2000
September 17, 2000
September 16, 2000
September 15, 2000
September 15, 2000
September 14, 2000
September 13, 2000
September 12, 2000
September 10, 2000
September 10, 2000
September 8, 2000

September 8, 2000

PHOTOS
October 1, 2000
October 1, 2000
September 27, 2000

 

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