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What’s it like to watch a Hollywood director turn your life-threatening ordeal into entertainment?
James Franco steals the show in 127 Hours. This is what he had to say about it.
A wolf in stilettos was crossing Iceland on his way to Vegas, got stopped at a traffic light and injured his Achilles, while Dolly the Sheep was speedflying in France. Sounds like a job for Leslie Nielson. Or something like that. Here's the stuff you should click on this week.
Photo courtesy of Flickr. FIFA announced today that Russia has won the bid for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar will host in 2022, The New York Times reports. The announcement follows FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter's…
Laird Hamilton (Photo by Tom Servais) Big wave surfer Laird Hamilton discusses the bestseller The Wave, Andy Irons' death, and George Clooney's abilities on the board. To listen to the extended interview click here, or subscribe to our…
Clif Bar & Company was among the top three Best Places to Work of 2010, and for lots of good reasons. But Clif's new headquarters in Emeryville, Calif., could give the energy bar company the extra shot of awesomeness needed to push it even higher on the…
In the early 18th century, only a few thousand species were known, the word “scientist” didn’t exist, and, according to Richard Conniff, “even educated people still inhabited a jabberwocky world in which monsters abounded.” Conniff’s ninth book, The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the…
In the early 18th century, only a few thousand species were known, the word “scientist” didn’t exist, and, according to Richard Conniff, “even educated people still inhabited a jabberwocky world in which monsters abounded.” Conniff’s ninth book, The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on…
Three Polish friends covered over 4,000 miles across Russia, Mongolia, China, Tibet, and finally, India, to raise awareness about what they (and Soviet prison records) call falsifications by Slavomir Rawicz, the author of The Long Walk: A True Story of a Trek to Freedom. Originally released in 1956, The…
In the age of Prii, An Inconvenient Truth, and reams of 100% recycled printer paper, environmentalism is as much a fixture in American society as football season. That issues like climate change and sustainable fuel are topics of conversation among government officials and citizens alike is taken for granted. Environmental…
Holiday gift ideas, surfing killer whales, flying versus driving, the best and worst of outdoor sports, and, of course, anti-matter. Here's what you need to click on this week. Why I Want a Wingsuit for Christmas (Don't Blink): Thanks to the…
SKATEISTAN: TO LIVE AND SKATE KABUL from Diesel New Voices on Vimeo. Recently, Vimeo highlighted a short called Skateistan. In the film, quick shots of chickens eating garbage, soldiers patrolling busy streets, and dust kicked up against worn down buildings are crosscut with shots of teens…
You don’t need van-loads of equipment to make a documentary. People all over the world are making pro-quality feature-length films out of their backpacks for relatively little cost. I’ve been working in India as a cameraman, filming for a project that will…
Sarah Palin checks fishing nets for holes, Photo by Gilles Mingasson An early review of Sarah Palin’s Alaska —Abe Streep Toward the end of a long montage introducing Sarah Palin’s Alaska, the Mark Burnett-produced, eight-episode series that premieres on TLC Sunday at 9 P.M. Eastern (7…
Obscure sports, a brief history of fossil fuels, “will write for ski swag,” and… Dick Van Dyke? Here’s the stuff you click this week. I Can Ride My Bike with No Handlebars: Those Are ‘Shrooms, Dude!Making Plastic from Mushrooms (…
James Franco, Photo by Chuck Zlotnick The new movie 127 Hours will reach theatres all over the country this Friday. If you haven't been reading our blog, here's the part where we tell you again that it's the story about…
Soldiers to the Summit – Veterans Day Tribute from ϳԹ ϳԹ Film School on Vimeo. –Joe Spring@joespring…
From Eastern Rises, winner Best Film on Mountain Sport, 2010 Banff Film Festival. Courtesy of The Banff Center The Banff Mountain Film Festival wrapped up yesterday, with Jason Burlage’s Mi Chacra taking home the grand…
The documentary, Free Shane & Josh, is 25 minutes of explanation of how three American hikers crossed near the border of Iraq and Iran and were detained by the Iranian military last year, Wend reports. Sarah Shourd, the one of the three hikers who…
Photo courtesy of Red Bull. Ultra-marathoner Karl Meltzer can outrun a horse. To prove it, Meltzer recently completed the first-ever run of the full 2,064-mile Pony Express route in 40 days, finishing on October 25. The run commemorated the 150th…
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a list of most wanted criminals and apparently the authority to make membership meaningful. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the EPA had Albania Deleon, 40, tracked down in Santo Domingo and extradited from…
By J.J. Kelley Perhaps you want to create a YouTube video of your cat riding a vacuum robot. Maybe you want to make an insightful feature-length film that will tug at the hearts of your viewers. Both are examples of a documentary, and…
Fourteen people have passed out while watching 127 Hours, the LA Times reports. The film tells the story of Aron Ralston, a hiker who amputated his own arm after a boulder…
The NYC Marathon is Sunday, November 7. If you’re going to be in the area, check out Born to Run author Christopher McDougall’s prelude event on Friday, November…
If you’ve ever been glued to the television during Discovery's Shark Week, chances are you've seen the work of Andy B. Casagrande. The 33-year old cameraman was obsessed with great white sharks as a kid and turned that passion…
Susan Casey (Photo by Ruven Afanador) Bestselling author Susan Casey discusses her new book The Wave, swimming with a tiger shark, and how—as newly appointed editor-in-chief of O Magazine—she’s showing her new boss how to catch a break.–Stayton Bonner How’d you make the leap from ϳԹ…
In an effort to bring you the best in outdoor news each day, we comb through a lot of Web content. And trust us, there's a lot out there. A good story can take a lot of clicks to find. But those clicks often lead us to content that, while…
The kayak action genre is generally known for pounding sound tracks and huck-a-minute waterfall drops. Wildwater, a new half-hour film from director Anson Fogel and narrated by kayak legend Doug Ammons that's making the festival rounds now, takes a slightly different approach. Shot with a…
Introducing the ϳԹ Journal. Steve Casimiro has renamed The ϳԹ Life and added the ability for readers to buy prints from noted photographers like Jimmy Chin, Chris Burkard, and others…
Spike TV just ordered “Coal”, a mining reality show from the creators of Deadliest Catch, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Thom Beers and Original Productions will follow a West Virginian mining company with 40 employees. It's not the first mention of a coal-related series.
Jonno Durant and Stefan Hunt, the documentary team that made Surfing 50 States and Somewhere Near Tapachula, have headed off to India for their next film, Surfing 28 States. Their goal is to connect with locals, lend…
Think Icarus in reverse. The following recently posted videos showcase extreme athletes pushing the limits of flying. The ϳԹ Life posted the following video of two basejumpers pulling their chutes dangerously close to the ground. Untitled from Steve Casimiro on Vimeo.
WARNING: This video contains graphic content. Watch at your own risk. Wouldn't it be great if everyone believed in climate change and was taking the necessary steps to reduce their impact on the Earth? We think so too. But is a video of climate activists pressing a big red…
Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Haden Church discusses moonshine, Disco-flavored Conway Twitty, and his new FearNet webseries Zombie Roadkill. –Stayton Bonner Any real-life ranger experience? My ex was a park ranger in Massachusetts during college. I periodically asked her about the nuance and protocol…
Often the most difficult part of being on The News Team is selecting which stories to share on The ϳԹ Blog. We comb through hundreds of headlines and links, videos and photos and try to pick the best. Presenting some of today's top stories from the great outdoors: Best Use…
Reed Timmer, star of the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers, turned chasing tornadoes into a career.
Bestselling author Sebastian Junger on his new book War, documentary Restrepo, and Afghanistan’s recent election. –Stayton Bonner The Perfect Storm began as an October 1994 ϳԹ story. How did you go from freelance war reporting…
“First Ascent: The Series” Trailer from Sender Films on Vimeo. Let's get one thing straight: First Ascent is not a series about climbing. It's…
National Geographic filmmakers were tracking elephant herds in Africa for the upcoming Great Migrations, airing in November,when a giant sand storm blasted into…
Two new videos with journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger have been posted on Made Possible. In the first, above, Junger talks about fear and risk when fighting or reporting a war. Risk is the fear that you'll die. And that's something…
Bestselling author Mary Roach on laboratory sex, space condoms, andFelix Baumgartner’s record-breaking attempt to jump from 23 miles above sealevel.–Stayton Bonner What’s the deal with people jumping from really highplaces?As a BASE-jumper, Felix’s day job…
The good folks over at Made Possible conducted a series of interviews with ϳԹ September cover subject Sebastian Junger. In the…
Photo Courtesy of Hurley Legendary freesurfer Rob Machado is having a busy year. First, he released and toured with The Drifter, a lifestyle film about his travels in Indonesia. Then he recorded the score to, Melali:…
It's time again for the Reel Rock Film Tour, the annual climbing film fest put together by Big UP Productions and Sender…
Author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger on covering war, being selectively lazy, and the rewards of following the rough road.
Heuga Can Do Trailer from Larkin Flynn on Vimeo. This past June I had the chance to hang out in Aspen with Mike Marolt—cpa, dad, high altitude skier, and filmmaker. On that Saturday night in…
New blogs and writers pop up constantly on the web. Here are a few new adventure related sites, reporters, and stories from this summer worth a read. The ϳԹ Life Gear BlogSteve Casimiro and crew started this new section of The…
As It Happens from renan ozturk on Vimeo. The good folks over at Vimeo recently chose As It Happens—a climbing series shot by Renan Ozturk and…
Need to improve your yodeling or candle-blowing skills but can't perform in the polluted air? Look no further than a breath of “Fresh Air,” which allows Hong Kong residents a chance to “experience breathing like the rest of the world…
Photographer Chris Burkard's image of Peter Mendria riding a wave off the coast of Chile won the overall prize in the Red Bull illume, a highly competitive action and adventure sports photography contest. More than 5,000 photographers from 112…
James J. Lee, 43, was killed by police inside Discovery Channel's Maryland headquarters yesterday afternoon, the Washiongton Post reports. Police shot Lee as he pulled a handgun and aimed it at one of his three hostages just before 5 P.M.
One of our favorite things to do with our covers is to put them up on facebook before they hit newsstands, then read the comments. We also like to hear what other magazine editors have to say. So we…
Uber-athlete Laird Hamilton talks to ϳԹ editor Mike Roberts about catching big waves and staying in peak shape. Want Hamilton's abs? Listen up. ϳԹ Magazine, June 2007 Download Athlete Interview: Laird Hamilton…
Chris Carmichael, founder of Carmichael Training Systems and Lance Armstrong's former coach, gives fitness tips, talks about how he built his fitness empire, and discusses what's next for him. Interview by Anthony Cerretani ϳԹ Magazine, May 2007…
Anthony Bourdain's new book is Medium Raw. What's more difficult—writing orcooking?Cooking is physical, which is why I havefeelings of self-loathing and guilt about the way things are going for me. Itdoesn’t feel like work. After…
Yesterday Vail Resorts announced EpicMix, an app where Twitter meets ski lodge tall tales. The press release, which we covered this morning, reviewed the what and when. Rob Katz, Vail Resorts' CEO, gave me the skinny on the why and how – and…
Vail Resorts has released a new ski and snowboard gaming app for iPhone, Droid, and Blackberry. Visitors can track and share their time on the slopes through the app via radio chips embedded in their ski passes. Mashable.com has an in-depth…
Our aching Lab Rat put the world's most expensive ice pack to the test. In this podcast, Nick Heil reads his article on Game Ready, a $2,500 healing machine. Read Heil's article. ϳԹ Magazine,…
Welcome to the tropical Philippine island of Jolo, where life is like a Corona ad—coconut trees, white-sand beaches, bathtub-warm seas. Except those guys in the water are U.S. Green Berets, and those kids on dirt bikes are jihadists known for kidnapping Western tourists. Even stranger? On this front, at least,…
As average Americans travel farther afield, a veteran traveler starts to feel, well, average. Travel writer Tim Neville shares his view on the growing trend of Americans traveling to dangerous places. (His advice? Be afraid. Please.) Read Neville's story. ϳԹ Magazine, January…
With the latest iPod evolution, our human guinea pig turns on, tunes in, and…drops out? ϳԹ's Lab Rat puts Nike's new iPod training system through its paces. In this podcast, Nick Heil reads his review of the Nike + iPod Sport Kit.
Can a performance supplement be legal, healthy, and effective? Our Lab Rat pops a few to find out. Nick Heil reads his story on Optygen, made by First Endurance. ϳԹ Magazine, February 2007 Download Lab Rat: Revving Up…
Welcome to the new Bolivia, where former coca grower Evo Morales has made the leaf a symbol of his two-year-old government. Now everybody's growing it, everybody's chewing it, and the war on drugs has taken a very strange turn. In this podcast, reporter Josh Hammer talks to Anthony Cerretani about…
Greg MacGillivray, 61-year-old cofounder of Laguna Beach, California–based MacGillivray Freeman Films and director of the 1998 Imax hit Everest, is as passionate about water conservation as he is about filmmaking. His film Grand Canyon ϳԹ 3D, made in partnership with Teva and the Waterkeeper Alliance, debuted in March 2008.
“First Ascent: The Series” Trailer from Sender Films on Vimeo. Sender Films has released First Ascent: The Complete Series, a great new collection of climbing videos starring the likes of Dean Potter, Chris Sharma, and Alex Honnold. The entire…
Presenting 25 of the best adventure, investigative, and nature documentaries ever. Plus: the best of a new generation of action films.
In between grad school, performance art, and soap opera episodes, actor James Franco found time to star in director Danny Boyle's new movie about Aron Ralston's survival story. You can check…
Police officers raiding a marijuana farm in British Columbia last week were astonished last when they discovered ten bears guarding the property, the BBC reports. The bears loped into view as the five officers approached. …
What do you get when you toss award-winning documentaries, artists, activists and adventurers all into Aspen’s Wheeler Opera House? The second annual MountainSummit in Aspen, a four-day celebration of film, adventure and advocacy. A slightly downsized…
Graham Bowley rehashes August 2008's tragic events on Pakistan's K2.
ϳԹ films so horrendously awful, they’re brilliant. 10The River Wild (1994) The plot is washed out, and villains Kevin Bacon and a pre-comedic John C. Reilly are mediocre at best. But when the bad guys force a buffed-out…
A new master of natural-history writing emerges with the story of a killer tiger in wildest Russia.
(Viking, $27, August) In The Black Nile, Dan Morrison and his hometown buddy,Schon, set out to trace the Nile from the Great Lakes region of Uganda to its…
Boogie 'til You Poop from Cedar Wright on Vimeo. One of the negatives of having a friend with a new digital SLR that captures great video? Having him record your most embarrassing outdoor adventure moment and sharing it on Vimeo. Warning: This video contains explicit…
Watch producer Jonathan Burhop’s short film on art photographer Howard Weamer. Since 1974, Weamer has spent every winter tending Ostrander hut in the Yosemite backcountry. Watching and listening to Weamer, who looks like John Muir and takes photos like Ansel Adams, spurs the urge to replicate his poetic lifestyle. We…
A new film sees Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding attempt to re-create the ill-fated 1924 Mallory expedition and solve the oldest mystery on Everest.
It's never been easier to show off your chops: Thanks to video sharing, any wannabe with an iPhone can aspire to a brief moment in the spotlight. But a few self-made stars manage to stick around. Here are four ϳԹ-approved YouTubers who've turned their 15 minutes into everything from Red Bull sponsorships to record deals.
Shark week is back on Discovery Channel. Last night the piscine extravaganza kicked off with a return to Seal Island in South Africa for Ultimate Air Jaws. It's the third time the Discovery Channel has returned to…