Spent the weekend at the New York Surf Film Festival. It was amazing--there were some really fascinating and beautiful films shown, and honestly, it takes a lot to keep my attention through many surf films. I lose interest pretty fast when all I'm seeing is guys ripping huge airs cut through with shots of babes on the beach in tiny bikinis. What was cool about the NYSFF was that many of the films are really story-based: the characters come first and the gratuitous surf shot come second (or third, or fourth, or barely at all). That's not to suggest that the movies aren't about surfing, because the ocean is always there, underlying the different characters' motivations. Not one of the people featured would be the same if they were a hockey player or a musician; surfing is not an interchangeable facet of identity, it is integral and imperative.
More on this later--details, maybe actual reviews, etc. I've got to go work through some thoughts right now. I've been both inspired and completely derailed this weekend, as I was forced to a) realize that I've been a totally pathetic surfer over the last year and b) see that there are people who are actually making their lives work around surfing and doing good in the world and c) question why I'm spending another year in school, absorbing information, while I once again kind of skim past doing anything. So yeah. Lots to process. I want to go surf right this second, but it's kind of flat.
Well then. OK, brain, let's go sit somewhere quiet for a while and think this through.
