Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Culture

Catching Up with Threads and Fins

Cator Sparks
By

As we mentioned yesterday, surfing is reaching new found popularity the sport hasn’t seen since the 50s. We wonder if it is a reaction to all the technology in our lives that has kept our heads down and fingers swirling opposed to taking a deep breath and finding our groove back in nature. Regardless, it’s a good thing.

San Clemente based surfer, Matt Parker has been riding this wave for eleven years now with his custom order board company, ALBUM Surfboards. They have sent boards around the world to clients from Nicaragua to Nova Scotia.

Recommended Videos

Recently he teamed up with some friends to launch an online/pop up showroom and blog, Threads and Fins in Newport Beach, Ca. The site carries some hard-to-find lines as well as showcasing original surf photography and stories.

We rang up Matt to hear more about this new adventure.

Did you grow up surfing? 

I grew up about 20-30 minutes from the beach; I got my first “real” surfboard when I was 12. I played in the sand and boogied before that. Later I took the city bus to the beach until my older brother got his driver’s license, which allowed us to go as much as we possibly could – before and after school, weekends, etc.

What is a highlight from your surfing career? 

Besides going to lots of beautiful, unique places to surf, probably taking my little kids surfing and experiencing the joy of seeing them get to their feet and shred.

What makes your boards different than others? 

For the most part, we only do custom boards. So almost every board we make is tailored specifically to the rider who ordered it.  We find out what is going to allow them to have the most fun in the unique environment and conditions that they surf? What’s going to allow them to maximize their ability? We customize for beginners to lifelong, serious surfers. For me, it’s about going fast and having a magic experience in the water – that’s the goal.

Is Threads and Fins your concept? 

Threads and Fins is something that a few friends, Mike Townsend, Billy Stade, Nathan Harris and I developed as a different type of surf/lifestyle shop experience. Growing up around surf culture forever, we just wanted something different. Very non-traditional, not clichéd – but more romantic and adventurous I think. It’s all about interesting stories, people, content, unique handcrafted products, emerging brands, showcased in a less traditional way.

Give us your top five surf spots in the US.

  • Trestles, San Diego County, California
  • Rincon, Puerto Rico
  • Blackies, Newport Beach, California
  • Oceanside Harbor, California
  • Ruggles, Rhode Island.
Cator Sparks
Cator Sparks
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Cator Sparks was the Editor-in-Chief of The Manual from its launch in 2012 until 2018. Previously, Cator was covering…
How long should you let new cigars rest in a humidor?
Cigar humidor

Looking at those beautiful, oily cigars you've just unboxed or unwrapped, the calling to light up is real. I get it. I always want to smoke my cigars right away, too. But you shouldn't. Mail day is always exciting after you've ordered a slew of new cigars. When they arrive, the real fun begins. You'll probably need to organize your humidor to make the new sticks fit or arrange them for optimal humidification. As you're handling them, it's difficult to resist the temptation to crack open the cellophane or boxes and smoke one right away. While you can do that in most cases, I would recommend against it. Depending on where those cigars came from, where you live, and how they traveled, they might need a little time to rest in a humidor. They'll need to replenish some humidity and moisture or dry out a little.
How long should you let your new cigars rest?

When you put cigars in a humidor, especially one that's filled, they'll soak up and release humidity over time until they reach the average RH (relative humidity) that you have set inside your humidor. If you have a device like a that does this automatically, it will produce moisture and humidity to keep the levels optimal. You can also achieve the same thing with in smaller humidors, which release and soak up the humidity to match the levels on the label. Boveda packs come in a range of RH levels, from the low to mid-60s to the mid-70s.

Read more
The 11 best Kevin Costner movies, ranked
He has a full resume of films, but if you're a Costner fan, then you must see these movies
Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves

An all-American, blue-collar working man turned Hollywood essential, Kevin Costner has lived a life full of experience and dreams that some can only imagine. Starting out as a small kid -- 5'2" at high school graduation -- who moved around a lot, Costner was fond of things like poetry, writing, and singing in his Baptist choir. Outside of the arts, he was also very interested in sports of all kinds, which is reflected in his film career to this day. Also a man of the outdoors, Costner built his own canoe at 18 and paddled it through sections where Lewis and Clark ventured. Fun facts aside, Costner had a full and interesting life before the world got to know him as the charming and eloquent movie man we know him to be today.
From his past life, accomplishments, and hobbies, Costner was fully prepared to write, direct, and act for the screen as he fulfilled yet another lifelong dream. A man who was once called "The King of the Sports Movie," Costner has been able to act in films of a subject matter near and dear to his heart that became the films he is best known for. And that doesn’t include his many other successful movies having to do with politics, crime, and romance that also make for some of his best roles. Luckily, we’re here to talk about all of those films at once as we celebrate the man who has accomplished more in one lifetime than some could in many. Here are the best Kevin Costner movies of all time.

11. Open Range (2003)

Read more
The best Quentin Tarantino movies, ranked – Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and more
If you haven't seen these films at least one time, you need to ... and then watch them again and again
Scene from Pulp Fiction, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson

Of all the contemporary film auteurs, perhaps no one’s work has permeated pop culture as thoroughly as Quentin Tarantino's. This director’s hyper-stylized, retro fantasy worlds have come to define cinematic coolness. His clever mashups of genres, exquisite sense of aesthetics, impeccable editing, uproarious suspensefulness, and impossibly quippy dialogue have been endlessly imitated.
Given the current political landscape, Tarantino’s work has undergone a serious critical re-evaluation from Black and feminist critics and scholars who point toward both his allegedly abusive behaviors and the offensive politics and rhetoric of his films. It’s true that in this new light, for many, there may be nothing redeemable about his entire oeuvre. 
However, to discard all Quentin Tarantino movies would discount the impossible talent of his frequent collaborators and stars, such as Sally Menke (who edited all of Tarantino’s movies until her death in 2010), Uma Thurman (who not only played the protagonist of Tarantino’s most iconic movies but was also credited as a co-writer on Kill Bill), Samuel L. Jackson (a frequent Tarantino star), and many more.
With that in mind, here’s our (subjective!) ranking of the greatest directed Quentin Tarantino movies of all time.

9. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)

Read more