Ben Gravy Train

RIP El Slammo.

 

Lame.
Save the hero worship for your social media accounts.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

His self promoting videos are nauseating

 

Yeah nobody should be allowed to promote themselves. We should just have like no freedom of speech or something. Btw, is someone forcing you to watch those vids?

 

Booze and drugs destroy brain cells, leaving little holes in the brain. Ocean water enters through the ears, nose and mouth carrying a parasitic fungus that occupy those little holes and take over the host organism. The fungus evolve and develop their own culture and communication system and then interact with other infected organisms.

Make sense now? It's just like the zombie ant fungus only it targets surfers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el38z2pg7R8

 

I got to say, i do watch some of his videos. Mostly just when there's swell to see how my neighbors to the south made out. I'll skip all the talk and just watch the surf footage.

I used to hate him. Still kinda do. Might be jealousy. But i got zero respect for people who make a living making YouTube videos. I wonder if YouTube offers there users 401k

 

Why?

 

I have no problem with anyone who finds a way to make a living outside of a 9-5 job. Ben and his family seem like average everday people and are a lot like the people I grew up with in NJ. His videos are fun, not preachy, and he has fun making them. I would personally find it oppressive to follow myself around all day with a camera and I suspect at some point he will too. Good for him finding a way to make a living that allows him the freedom to do what he loves when he's young enough to do it. I'm also pretty sure he recognizes that his vlogs aren't real life and is using them in the age of social media to promote himself and a product. Who among us that owns a business wouldn't use everything g available to us to promote our service or product?

 

Believe it or not, it takes work to make those videos every day. He has to film almost everything he does (also means paying people to film him), then edit those parts down every night and add music. He drives/travels a lot and also has to try and come up with new ideas to keep the content fresh (which is obviously difficult because most of the vids are filmed in the same spots).

It's definitely a full time job, and he gets paid both through youtube and brand sponsors...enough to scrape up a living and still be a full time surfer. He also asks for donations directly to his paypal account. I don't know if that's just a low class thing on his part or just smart, but morons are actually sending him money and gifts .

 

i find him unattractive

 

Mostly because i hate social media and how it's blown up. Everyone has become self absorbed. I know It's allot of work to film and edit how he does. It's a pretty pretentious thought to think people want to "follow" you around everyday. What's even more sad is that people actually do then send him money.

You guys are funny on here. Just a few months back i was getting crap for being a "millennial" while I'm out busting my ass everyday. Now your defending a guy who films himself every day essentially doing nothing.

 

I actually do watch and comment on most of his videos under my business account on youtube. I didn't start out wanting to do that but after watching them for a while I started liking the adventures and liking what I saw of Ben and his family personally. They all seem real to me, like arguing fighting etc, kinda like my own family. Also Ben is really good about interacting with his viewers and takes the time to respond to comments which makes you feel like you are part of the gang. I'm pretty sure if I contacted Ben and wanted to stop by and talk about helping each other promote our two businesses I could meet up with him within a week. Idk, to me that seems cool.

I definitely get why it's weird to just send someone on YouTube money. But I see no problem supporting someone by buying a candle or a tee shirt if it helps him out. He does a lot of work making the videos and creating content and does a really good job with the edits. It really is no easy task putting together a professional looking end product. To do it everyday would burn me out in a week, he's been doing a vlog every day for a year and other edits for many years. No one thinks twice watching hours of tv and being bombarded with advertising for garbage you don't want or need. At least Ben is promoting products that are relevant to surfing, except maybe that tooth whitening product.

 

IMO as a business owner with rider/reps - it's great seeing him evolve to a (self proclaimed semi) professional surfer who can now seriously reps brands and put out fun content without every other word being "****ing nuking!" Seriously, homie is surfing some funny spots. Years ago, I could care less. Now I think he's got the right idea.

 

if he can make it, fine - but if he has to solicit donations, he isn't making it.

surfing owes nobody a living.

 

Dude is a good surfer. But like most NJ pros he's kind of a dime a dozen in most locations around the world with serious waves.

Thanks to you tube, Instagram, etc these guys and their photographers all have a platform to gain some degree of surfing celebrity. Just think, little less than 10 years ago the only time you'd hear or see most of these guys would be a little black and white photo in ESM once a year. Color if they got lucky.

Technology is truly amazing and changing our world.

 

Ive noticed a similar pattern between people like Ben Gravy who grew up inland but moved to the beach at a later age. They all seem to get very stoaked about surfing but are one dimensional with the ocean in general. Besides surfing they don't appear to appreciate any other qualities about the local wetlands or ocean in general. Like if the waves are 2ft and choppy Id rather spend my day fishing, hunting, sailing, etc. but these guys are always out there and are the most vocal on social media. They also aren't fully a member of the local community because every other weekend they are are visiting family in PA. Maybe I am just being pessimistic about an influx of people moving to be beach idk...

 

I first saw one of his vids over a year ago and thought it was pretty cheesy, but ended up watching another and another. If the location was familiar or someplace I was interested in I'd end up watching and over time definitely stopped being critical, he's just doing his thing. For me it kind of fills that reality tv, guilty pleasure void I use to get from the drive through shows, (and there was one called the 808 on fuel tv for a while). Like someone else mentioned, you don't have to watch..
I did finally watch the Jersey film Dark Fall last week, really liked it, almost didn't recognize him, great shot of him getting a sick barrel in the beginning

 

don't really know the whole ben graeff saga but I know his pops surfed,pretty sure he grew up near the beach and been surfing since he can walk.

I grew up inland and moved to the beach at a later age.i don't live near the ocean but its 10 minutes away,used to take an hour when I was a teen.

and I do appreciate the other qualities of being near the water,i fish I walk down the beach in the winter time.dont have a sailboat lol

hate him or love him he still is a good surfer,for jersey.just like every other surfer from jersey,minus dean randazzo,they look good in jersey but u throw them out at pipe or chopes or any heavy wave and we don't charge.so whats that say about the rest of us