Nobody Listens to Turtle

"When the wave breaks here, don't be there or you're gonna get drilled."

It wasn't my intention to make the last few blog posts about movies, it just happened that way. I don't consider myself much of a movie buff, I don't have the attention span for them, although with all the movie chatter lately I don't expect anyone to believe me. Truth is, I used to watch a lot more movies in high school and college, and one of my all time favorites is the 1987 classic surf film North Shore.

I grew up fully immersed in the surf culture, that is until a dolphin I mistook to be a shark swam under my board which would mark the end of my brief yet exciting surf career at the ripe ol' age of 15. My dad, cousins, uncles, and even my mom surfed. My mom was actually the first female on the surf team at her high school, something she reminds me and my brother of whenever we threaten to revoke her cool card. So being raised in a family full of surfers, naturally the movie North Shore was in the queue often. My favorite character from that movie has to be Turtle, the adorable board carver and local that teaches the kid from the mainland how not to be a "howley". I didn't pay much attention to the rest of Turtle's (who's real name is John Philbin) film career, he definitely ranks high on my list of pop culture icons.

Fun fact: The legendary surfer Gerry Lopez who played "Vince" in the movie is my dad's second cousin. I know, right? Dude.

[Photo via Hypokritical]