The live streaming premiere of director Kai Neville’s “Dear Suburbia” on WhatYouth.com this past Monday (it’s available now on iTunes) is surely a sign of things to come.

Look no further than Wednesday’s live stream of Analog Clothing’s new release “Chromatic” as a signal that new media and its (legal) distribution and consumption are finally catching up with the times.

And while a treatise on the context of this topic may be better served in Wired magazine than this particular blog, the content of Neville’s film did in fact provide a glimpse of the very near future.

Particularly, the Hurley Pro, which begins its waiting period on Sept. 16 in Lower Trestles, California, and what we will see and what we will not.

In regards to “Dear Suburbia” (which is a fantastic snapshot of today’s most progressive, technical surfing) we will unfortunately not be seeing the standout surfer–Mr. Dane Reynolds–from the standout section, Japan, at this year’s Hurley Pro. (See tease below.)

Reynolds’ surfing in Japan in big, draining righthanders is raw, untethered, and animalistic, like Godzilla protecting Tokyo from Mothra.

While his “Dear Suburbia” cohorts–John Florence, Yadin Nicol, and Kolohe Andino(!)–surfed admirably, Reynolds once again raised the bar to a level yet to be touched, mixing power, speed, flow, and progression into a tasty stew of which only he knows the recipe.

We will, however, be seeing Messrs. Florence, Nichol, and Andino at Lowers in a week and each will have his own motivations for success at Trestles.

Coming off a fifth in Fiji and a third in Tahiti, Florence is currently ranked No. 3 overall and, at just past the halfway mark in the season, has a very good shot at his first world title. No more motivation than that is needed for the Hawaiian.

After an injury-plagued 2011, Nicol was looking for a bounce-back season, but so far two 13ths and three 25ths don’t bode well for his World Tour chances or re-qualifying the simple way. A result at Lowers (his main sponsor’s event) will go a long way towards improving a miserable 2012 campaign. He’ll also need to get some results on the qualifying tour to sneak into next year’s Top 34.

Andino, too, is coming off a serious injury, his being of the pesky “high” ankle variety that is reaching epidemic proportions on the pro tour (e.g. J. Andre, R. Monteiro, E. Geiselman, D. Paine). That, a handful of early exits, and a petulant outburst during his heat in Fiji proved that the young lion is fallible after all. Long talks with coach Snips should help his tactical and emotional game, but is he physically and mentally ready for dogfights with Medina, Slater, and Fanning?

That question will be answered soon enough.

Photo courtesy What Youth