I digress...

I have been successfully distracting myself with extreme surfing and skiing documentaries and I've stumbled upon yet another one that merits mention because it's so spellbinding. It's called "Riding Giants," directed by Stacy Peralta who also directed "Dogtown and Z-Boys," a documentary about the emergence of the extreme skateboarding culture in southern California (another title worth pursuing). "Riding Giants" is a reference is the waves of choice, roughly 30 to 50 feet where the bottom of the wave can become the top in just 5 seconds, and as they increase in size, they move faster, pushing a surfer to about 35 mph in some cases. The guys who favor these monsters are featured in action and interviewed in amazing cameos. The drama is as huge as the waves they ride. A few guys die. Others take waves never before attempted. Who knew there is an incredible wave half a mile out in the ocean, off the coast of San Fransisco, where the hazards abound including sharks, rocks and rip currents along with ocean chop. As one of the surfers says in the dvd extras, "the film hits you to the core and challenges you to be bigger, better and freer, and to take the chance that you've never taken but dreamed about." Does that include a bodybuilding competition? I think so! And it beats extreme surfing because, as someone says in the movie, "to catch the ultimate thrill, you must be willing to pay the ultimate price." Anyway, their bold sense of daring and adventure is very appealing. So is the hunky surfing star Laird Hamilton (pictured here) whose reverence for other surfing pioneers is very charming, considering that he's the world's best at riding giants.