"I have some friends that know how to surf..."

It is almost summertime, in the northern hemisphere, and with it picnicking with the family, beach days with friends and Hollywood blockbuster movie date nights at the theater. But you have certainly been following along with new drips from the mega-budget superhero film Fantastic Four: First Steps. It will be the third installment of the Fantastic Four franchise though a different tone from the previous ones, I think, and storming into theaters July, 25.

Pedro Pascal stars as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Susan Storm, Ebron Moss-Bachrach as Thing and Julia Garner as Silver Surfer.

The acclaimed 31-year-old actress sat down, recently, with Entertainment Weekly to discuss her role as the galactic shredder, sharing that she thought Silver Surfer was a man but was excited to play the part anyhow. Asked if she surfs, she responded:

No, I am actually afraid of the ocean. So no, but I can act. I have some friends that know how to surf, and they showed me some moves before I went out to London to just kind of get the body position of it all. And then I realized shortly after I was in London that I used some surf moves, but then I also used a lot of what I saw in the comic books. There were different poses that, the way that they would draw them, they weren’t surf poses — they almost looked like something you would see in sculptures. So I incorporated surfing with the poses of a sculpture, like moving elegantly, like a dance. So it was kind of a mixture of things, but a lot of it was from the comics that inspired me.

I became very curious, after reading, about what her surfing friends showed her re. surf moves. Like, did they describe Adriano de Souza?

Maybe Felipe Toledo?

Possibly Kanoa Igarashi?

If you were asked to help define the Silver Surfer’s look, which examples of surf moves would you have provided?

Enjoy The Fantastic Four trailer while you think.

“It doesn’t bring out the best surfing.”

The Battle for Los Angeles ’28 was a turn few saw coming. The City of Angels was awarded the Olympic Games in 2017 though the initial thrill quickly gave way to pitched partisanship. Namely, where would the surfing portion be contested? Lemoore, California attempted to throw its CAT hat into the ring but it was quickly yuck-yuck’d by International Surfing Association leader Fernando Aguerre. Hawaii was floated except not seriously, which left San Clemente and Huntington Beach.

Supporters of each burgh dug right in, attempting to win the nod with Huntington Beach emerging as the early betting favorite. Alas, Surf City backers had no idea that San Clemente had a plant in the planning committee’s war room, resident of Lower Trestles and former CEO of USA Surfing Greg Cruse.

The Mickey Rooney doppelgänger sat down with the San Clemente Times, recently, sharing how he pushed the Spanish Village by the Sea over the line, praising its assets, before breaking out a blowtorch and burning Huntington Beach to the ground.

“In late July and early August (the Olympic window), Huntington is either flat or you’re dealing with sweeping south swells that wall up through the pier,” Cruse maliciously shared, continuing, “It doesn’t bring out the best surfing.”

Wow.

Necessary, you think, to go scorched earth after victory has already been achieved?

Cruse continued roasting the rubble by adding, “Almost every surfer I spoke with wanted it here (at Lowers). This is where they train. This is the wave that raised them.”

Burn baby burn.

The plan, as it is now, is to provide room for 4000 spectators and rope off snowy plover nests.

Very cool.