Tara Dakides’ “Against the Grain“, a film by Josh Landan (Loose Change, Flow, upcoming film about Todd Richards).

For those of us who’ve been around snowboarding for awhile, this name is synonymous to “snowboarding” not just “women ’s snowboarding“. Tara has been kicking around since i started riding back in 1995 and its so inspiring to see someone from such an underdog sport (well, it was then) rise up to a level of elite athleticism as she has and to be recognized through competition, film parts, mainstream media and even a documentary. There are plenty of other incredible female athletes, snowboarders specifically, but i’ve always been inspired by pioneers like Tara, yes, people who go against the grain, cause those are the passionate ones, willing to challenge themselves, those around them, ultimately the world and a culture as a whole. Maybe they don’t know that they are doing it… but we can feel and it moves us.

What’s more, it’s refreshing to surround yourself in people who believe in something… it’s contagious and inspiring. Obviously his passion is going to light a fire on a whole different level but Barrack Obama kicks me in the ass the same way people like Tara Dakides, Tina Basich, Jamie Lynn, Mike Ranquet, Terje and others did for me while i was growing up. Maybe i didn’t become a pro snowboarder – though the tantalizing vision crossed my mind regularly throughout my late teens and early 20’s – but growing up watching these guys and girls showed me how to dream, and how to make those dreams take shape. So there i was, I got into snowboarding, then started watching snowboard films.

I like many other 14year olds busted out mom and dad’s camcorder and started making little videos and editing them to Beastie Boy soundtracks on our makeshift vhs editing systems and discman cd players at home. I really fell in love with the idea of filming which eventually got me to LA to learn the trade, and landed me a couple incredible jobs and introduced me to some amazing people who are some of my favorites in the world to this day… if it wasn’t for snowboarding would the interest ever sparked? hmmmmm….So yeah, i grew up wondering what it’d be like to get paid to do something that i really love to do and saw it happening right in front of my very own eyes… on the hill, in the films and the magazines, on the shelves, in the comps. Thank you snowboarding.

Anyhow, i digress (that happens often with me but you probably already knew that). It furthers my excitement when i see the people who inspired me from the beginning continuing to thrive in this industry. These days its so competitive and gets younger and younger every year. Though i don’t really know…ok, yeah you’re right, i haven’t met most of the people who inspire me these days (including but aside from bio-mom, the Queen of England) but i feel like i’ve been growing up along side them, and its pretty rad to see them killing it to this day. So yeah, check out the documentary film about Tara, regardless of whether you are really into snowboarding or even know who Tara Dakides is i’m sure you’ll find that little kid inside you…whether he or she is still kickin’ it with you today, or somehow got lost along the way… its good to be reminded of why we are working our asses off in our day to day…

keep dreaming.

Film Review click here.

More DVD info click here.

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