Cinematic Weves

A TOTALLY TUBULAR SURF ART BOOK RIDES HIGH

For surfers of a certain age, just the title of Matt Warshaw's book of surf-movie poster art, Surf Movie Tonite!, brings memories of possibility: a packed high-school auditorium, the waft of patchouli and dope, a bottle of peppermint schnapps, a VW van. In the dawning era of the surf film, you could shell out less than two bucks and join throngs of your salty compadres—guys you wouldn't think twice about dropping in on at your favorite break. The high of a good film had that kind of power, and this collection of memorabilia, along with Warshaw's smart overview of surf-flick history, captures that acid-flash stoke of the day. It's all here: airbrushed bikini babes, gruesome wipeouts, cartoons of layabout surf gremlins. As Warshaw recalls, "Thirty years ago going to a big-deal surf movie was a little bit like going to Woodstock." Flipping through this book is an awesome way to legally trip back to the time when surf was all that mattered and a dude with a tripod might create a classic. -LOUISE RAFKIN

LOUISE RAFKIN