Old Videos and Pouring Rain

I was going through the household storage cupboards when I stumbled across my collection of VHS Surf Movies. My brothers and I must have watched PUMP, The Green Iguana and Sons of Fun at least two thousand times over the years. I can still hear mom walking through the lounge, saying, “Are you kids watching that Again!” half in disbelief, half in disgust. Not that I blame her— it was a tad slothful. But when you’re thirteen years old in PE, obsessed with surfing and unable to convince yourself the ripples at pipe are waves, you’ve got to do something. So we either skateboarded up and down the down the driveway all afternoon or watched surfing movies. It was more productive than lighting fire crackers or sniffing glue, I suppose.

If you’re interested in stirring nostalgia, there’s a rad website that reviews the 25 greatest surfing movies of all time— http://www.listropolis.com/2008/03/25-greatest-surf-movies-of-all-time/. North Shore (1987) was robbed. It doesn’t even appear on the list. What a sham— the cast and crew were incredible: Rob Paige, Occy, Laird Hamilton and Jerry Lopez. These are some of the biggest names in surfing history staring in a full on Hollywood cheese fest. It’s right up there with Thrashin’ (a skateboarding film of the same caliber) and Point Break (a faux pas amongst the kind of surfers it moronifies).



It’s weird how only certain movies and TV programs are appreciated by all generations, like surfing movies are.

If you weren’t a teenager (or a bit silly) when Ace Ventura came out, you won’t appreciate how priceless the humor was in 1994. I tried watching it with my land lady’s twelve year old daughter a few months ago and she wouldn’t sit through more than 20 minutes. Jasmine dismissed it as “complete rubbish”! I suppose it was a bit doff, but it holds a special place in my heart— right alongside Dumb and Dumber and Terminator 2.

There is also comedy that does go stale in time. Who’s The Boss is one of those programs that can never be revisited. Tony Danza’s character is the kind of guy likely to get punched at a braai if he were real today. I can just hear my Afrikaans friends talking about the doos with the kak laugh.

Horror movies are possibly better at transcending eras. The Exorcist will always be a scary movie in my mind. Every time I see that girl walking down the stairs backwards on her hands, I want to hose my bed down with holy water. I’d also be interested to see how kids nowadays respond to ‘It’. Pennywise the clown caused me too many nights of sleeping with the light on.

I don’t know… The rain is pouring outside today and all I want to do is rent North Shore, just like when I was absent from school so many years ago.

The competitive surfing world is standing by for the most crucial time of the year. The Triple Crown of Surfing starts tomorrow on the North Shore of Oahu (the 6-Star Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa is the first event). Competition goes bananas during these three WQS events left on the calendar. Amongst them are a host of South Africans, so log on to www.aspworldtour.com in the coming weeks to see how things are panning out there.