Was watching an American Express Card commercial featuring this very muscular blond surfer, doing all sorts of crazy windsurfing, diving into the waves off a helicopter and surfing some monster waves.

Anyway, I was in Blockbuster the other day and saw a DVD of a surfing documentary called “Riding Giants” featuring Laird Hamilton -- the same guy in the commercial.

I rented the DVD and was quite pleased on all fronts!

The DVD is a fascinating profile of big wave surfing. But the final quarter of the film features the hot Hamilton. God, he’s just beautiful. Apparently, he’s the Michael Jordan of big wave surfing and is as much fun to look at as he is good in the waves.

If you’re into a new fresh face, I’d recommend this DVD. Some of the other surfers in the DVD aren’t bad either. (The Men's Journal article below is excellent).

A great Men's Journal article with so-so pictures

Laird with Board

Laird Head Shot

Laird at Sundance Film Festival

American Express is running magazine ads in which he's shirtless...they should be pretty easy to find.

Laird Hamilton isn't exactly a fresh face, he's been in the surfing circuit for some time and I've always thought he was a god. You should see when he was younger, mmm mmm. He's still hot those. Aging very nicely. Lives on Kauai with his wife, the volleyball player.

60 Minutes did a piece on him not too long ago, first time I ever heard of him. He appears to be an incredibly grounded guy. With his ridiculously good looks and success, he could have an incredible ego. But like any surfer, all he wants to do is catch that next great wave. In his case a humungusly scary wave.

Somebody upstairs worked overtime when they put Laird together. wink