Lords Of Dogtown (2005) - Anyone who grew up in Southern California will talk with both nostalgia and frustration about the periodic summers of drought in which the oppressive heat is exacerbated by a shortage of its antidote--fresh water. In 1975, a clan of scruffy, rebellious teens found a way to turn this dearth to their advantage, using the sloping bowl of empty suburban swimming pools to create a new underground sport--skateboarding. The development, explosion, and corporate co-opting of this now ubiquitous sport was the subject of Stacy Peralta's acclaimed 2002 documentary, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS. Peralta, one of the original skaters who came to be known as the "Z-Boys," has penned this dramatized account of his own story, a kinetic and gripping tale with dramatic turns reflective of the extreme crests and falls of those concrete waves. When a shipment of polyurethane wheels arrives at Venice Beach's Zephyr surf shop, the proprietor, Skip (Heath Ledger), puts together a team of roughly a dozen local layabouts to try his new idea. At lightning speed, the three most talented become international stars, infusing sexuality, danger, and punk rock into a sport formerly associated with kneesocks and lite pop. LORDS OF DOGTOWN principally follows these three as they deal with sudden fame and fortune. Stacy (John Robinson) is the elegant, responsible beauty. Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk) is a frizzy-haired heartthrob with an overblown ego and penchant for pugilism. And Jay (Emile Hirsch), arguably the most compelling of the leads, supports his drug-addicted mother and is too cynical to be lured by the temptations of corporate vultures. Director Catherine Hardwicke, who fused gritty documentary techniques and high teen drama to great acclaim in her first feature, THIRTEEN, perfects that style here. The combination of a pulsating punk rock soundtrack, dynamic skateboarding sequences, and a gripping narrative combine in a forceful sweep that keeps viewers glued to the

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0K6lUm5ynw

Riding Giants takes us along surfing’s timeline from it’s early Polynesian roots, to its rebirth in the early 20th Century, to the development of a fledgling surf culture along the coast of Southern California in the 1940s highlighting the group of extraordinary adventurers that emerged: surfers who, not satisfied with the mere recreational and social aspects of the sport, began searching for bigger and bigger waves, pushing the boundaries of performance to explore the “unridden realm.” Riding Giants is the story of these big wave riders, of where and how their quest began, of the classic characters who throughout the eras chased their dreams out into the blue water, and of the surfers who still do today, riding 50, 60 and even 70 foot waves in a manner once considered the realm of fantasy