#kungfu

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #238: Collaboration with Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick – Benny the Jet vs. Jackie Chan Part 2 from “Dragons Forever” (1988)

Episode #238: Collaboration with Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick – Benny the Jet vs. Jackie Chan Part 2 from “Dragons Forever” (1988)

https://archive.org/download/podcast238_202002/Podcast%20238.mp3

This week, we have another special episode!  Jeremy from the martial arts site and biweekly podcast, Whistlekick, and I are watching a fight scene from the movie Dragons Forever and commenting on it.  (You can listen to the same episode with a slightly different intro and outro on Whistlekick as well – coming on 3/5).  If you didn’t catch our earlier collaboration from the 1984 Jackie Chan – Benny Urquidez film, Wheels on Meals, you can listen to that here.

As before, we are watching it half speed, which you can do on Youtube along with us by picking the playback speed (click on the gear in the lower right hand corner of the Youtube video window).  Here’s the clip:

 

 

I was able to find the Black Belt magazine article I referenced in the film, though it doesn’t talk about either of these fight scenes; I must have gotten that from somewhere else.  It is, however, an interview with Benny about his fights to date (this was from 12/1985), so a few years before this movie was shot.  You can read it below:

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Do you have any suggestions about other martial arts movie fight scenes that would be good to delve into like this one?  Leave a comment below or email me or Jeremy.

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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys!  If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.

If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!

 

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #234: Collaboration with Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick – Benny the Jet vs. Jackie Chan from “Wheels on Meals” (1984)

Episode #234: Collaboration with Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick – Benny the Jet vs. Jackie Chan from Wheels on Meals (1984)

https://archive.org/download/podcast234_202002/Podcast%20234.mp3

This week, we have a special episode!  Jeremy from the martial arts site and biweekly podcast, Whistlekick, and I are watching a fight scene from the movie Wheels on Meals and commenting on it.  (You can listen to the same episode with a slightly different intro and outro on Whistlekick as well; it’s episode 471 on his show.)  We are watching it half speed, which you can do on Youtube along with us by picking the playback speed (click on the gear in the lower right hand corner of the Youtube video window).  Here’s the clip:

And here are the notes I made highlighting some of our coments:

0:11 ground striking sequence with great choreography.  Nice neckspring by Jackie Chan (JC).

0:20 note the eye contact – this is clearly a contest

0:23 Benny the Jet (BJ) takes off his jacket while doing a spin back kick

0:33 if you look closely you can see this spin hook kick is blocked – but not by much.  Suspect the actors made a fair amount of contact while filming.

0:40 JC takes off his shirt to be manly.  JC does stomp/push kick, ends up on his back as does BJ

0:57 Note the slight head nod … as if to say – good shot

1:12 BJ has JC “on the ropes” (“on the table”)

1:18 BJ does a nice spin crescent that snuffs out the candles – wonder how many takes it took for them all to go out?

1:30 JC gets nailed in the nose (happens several times during this fight)

1:54 nice sweep by BJ

2:00 unintentionally funny dubbing followed by JC using a chair as cover and for rest – start of round 2!

2:24 JC is loosening up, BJ seems much more static in contrast – much more than he does in his usual fights.  Perhaps done intentionally?

2:42 vaguely Drunken Master style evasion by JC

2:56 BJ does a R leg mid round kick, JC avoids by dipping his upper body low and doing almost a meia lua de compasso with R hand on floor (capoeria style spin hook kick)

3:29 tickle escape

4:07 Manson Gibson / Kathy Long style spinning backfist by JC

4:12 lead leg R kick by JC setting up hands

4:46 close ups of JC pummeling BJ – though you can see most shots are blocked by BJ.  Probably happening fast enough a lay audience may not pick it up?

5:16 flying knee from across the room, kind of like what we saw in Ong Bak years later

Do you have any suggestions about other martial arts movie fight scenes that would be good to delve into like this one?  Leave a comment below or email me or Jeremy.

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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys!  If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.

If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #233: Lunar New Year 2020 Celebration with “Beautiful Warrior” – a Kung Fu Story Reading

Episode #233: Lunar New Year 2020 Celebration with “Beautiful Warrior” – a Kung Fu Story Reading

https://archive.org/download/podcast233_202001/Podcast%20233.mp3

This week, to celebrate Chinese New Year 2020, we’re reading a Chinese fairy tale, Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu.  (Click on the cover below to find your own copy.)

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Chinese culture doesn’t really have fairy tales like they do in Europe, but the idea is the same – unlikely protagonist confronted with an insurmountable barrier finds mentorship and uses his or her inner strength to triumph in the end.  Like the heroes of those stories, the two women in this story embody those ideals.  It also has the great line, “No problem can be solved by a drunken monkey.”

Check out some of the beautiful paintings done by the author, Emily Arnold McCully.

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And, before we finish, here are a few pictures of the glow in the dark Rocketeer figure I’ve been working on for the past few weeks.   It’s done!  Now I’m just making copies.

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If you haven’t checked out the episode on the CGG podcast on the Rocketeer (including some on the comics and the games), you can check it out here.

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9c855cfe-2bcf-4f9b-9681-898d80b49e9a

There are now Thirteenth Hour toys!  If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.

If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished one year ago, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #222: Reading Choose Your Own Adventure 88 – Master of Kung Fu

Episode #222: Reading Choose Your Own Adventure 88 – Master of Kung Fu

https://archive.org/download/podcast222_201911/Podcast%20222.mp3

This week, I take a trip back to 1989 in reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book – Master of Kung Fu by Richard Brightfield and illustrated by Frank Bolle.  It’s a real blast from the blast – a true mish-mash of 80s Asian tropes, including most of the stuff that permeated martial arts films at the time.  Some of it is truly, well, cringeworthy, like some of the 80s kung fu and ninja flicks back then … but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  I thought these books were the bee’s knees in 1989 so I’m going to try to suspend, you know, reality (at least in an adult sense), and appreciate this with the mind of an elementary school age child (which makes it awesome again).

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By the way, speaking of kung fu and ninjas, yes, they’re both in this book.  Yes, I know it’s talking about China and kung fu and white lotus societies.  There are still ninjas (suspend judgement, suspend judgement, suspend judgement, ok?  Ninjutsu has some roots in Chinese martial arts, and it all goes back to India and Tibet, anyway, so … you know, just go with it).

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Yup, straight out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – totally not joking … one of the more cringeworthy parts … product of the times.

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Basically sums up the 80s ninja craze – stick ’em everything! Especially wearing the black PJs in broad daylight, since you know, that blends in so well. It all made more sense in 1989.

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9c855cfe-2bcf-4f9b-9681-898d80b49e9a

There are now Thirteenth Hour toys!  If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.

If you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast Episode #210: Reflections on The 36th Chamber of Shaolin with Jeremy from Whistlekick

Episode #210: Reflections on The 36th Chamber of Shaolin with Jeremy from Whistlekick

https://archive.org/download/podcast210_201908/Podcast%20210.mp3

As mentioned this past Monday, this episode was done in collaboration with Jeremy Lesniak, the founder and host of whistlekick, a martial arts supply company and a biweekly martial podcast. Today, we’re talking about the 1978 Shaw Brothers film, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, a kung fu film that achieved a certain amount of critical acclaim and the rare crossover to mainstream popularity.

I think I first watched it as a child in its original language (Mandarin … I vaguely recall it being on a Chinese TV station that we sometimes got if the stars aligned and the reception came through in just the right way). The only thing I really recall from the film from that first viewing was the main character trying to jump over logs in the water, repeatedly failing, and trying again and again. It’s odd what your brain chooses to remember.  For some reason, that would be my image of the martial arts for the next several years – a series of esoteric, masochistic practices that embodied the literal spirit of kung fu (功夫, a.k.a. “hard work”) and not disproved by television programming at the time, like the 80s ninja films or the 70s Kung Fu series with similar portrayals of training at the Shaolin Temple.

I can’t say my own exposure to martial arts training (which started a number of years later and has continued into the present) has done much to entirely disprove that early impression, either. Training should be harder than reality, my instructors have often said. Interestingly, something I took from my rewatching of the film this time was just training harder and longer, expending more sweat and energy in the process, need not be the best way to achieve success. The main character in the film does train hard in his own right – don’t get me wrong – but he succeeds as much due to his own ingenuity as due to his persistence.

Films like this, as well as my own experiences, are probably why I wanted to write a martial arts story (which ended up being Empty Hands) mostly about training, since the journey from beginner to master seems much more interesting and inspiring than the incremental improvements of someone who is already exceptional or the nonjourney of someone who is already highly skilled and is just plying his trade without much change or improvement.

It’s also interested how much films of this era influenced many people a world apart. If you talk to many of the OGs in the hip hop scene in the late 70s and early 80s, they often reference these kung fu films as being influential and inspirational. Check out this interview with RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan below (the DVD commentary for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin has him on it discussing the film):

If you haven’t see the film, give it a chance and check it out!

In the meantime, check out whistlekick on social media on Facebook and Instagram.

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This page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a “starving artist” section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards.  Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so!  Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities.  Use the code “Thirteen” when you sign up to get 300 extra points.  The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  Click on the picture below to listen!

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast Preview for Episode #210

Preview for Episode #210

https://archive.org/download/episode210preview/Episode%20210%20preview.mp3

So – there won’t be an episode this Monday  … because the show instead will be on Thursday!  It’s a special one released jointly with my collaborator for this episode, Jeremy Lesniak, the founder and host of whistlekick, a most excellent biweekly martial podcast that you should definitely check out if you have any interest in the martial arts world (Whistlekick is also a martial arts supply company – check it out here).  We’re talking about the 1978 Shaw brother’s film, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin!

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As a frame of reference for what we’re talking about in this clip, check out this montage of the main character’s training:

Check out the full episode on Thursday!

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This page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a “starving artist” section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards.  Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so!  Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities.  Use the code “Thirteen” when you sign up to get 300 extra points.  The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).

 

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #70: Reading of Mark Salzman’s Lost in Place: Growing up Absurd in Suburbia Chapter 2

 

Episode 70: Reading Chapter 2 of Mark Salzman’s Lost in Place

https://archive.org/download/Podcast70_201612/Podcast%2070.mp3

On today’s episode, we read Chapter 2 of one of my favorite books of all time, Lost in Place, which is a memoir written by Mark Salzman about his childhood and adolescence in suburban Connecticut during the 1970s.  We read chapter 1 back in episode #57.  Here’s a quick recap from the film Protagonist, where the author brings us up to speed:

Here he talk about his kung fu instructor, introduced in this chapter:

Thanks for listening!

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  • QR code email signup Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!
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  • Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
  • Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
  • Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book?  Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #57: Reading Chapter 1 of Mark Salzman’s Lost in Place

Episode #57: Reading an Excerpt from Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia by Mark Salzman

https://archive.org/download/Podcast57_201609/Podcast%2057.mp3

This week, I’m reading the first chapter of perhaps my favorite book of all time, Lost in Place, by Mark Salzman.  I first read the book as a teenager and still find it hugely entertaining two decades later.  It’s probably not surprising that aspects of Mark’s writing style have influenced how I portray characters in books like The Thirteenth Hour.

He writes about his coming of age with an honest, Wonder Years-style of sardonic narration infused with just enough boyish innocence to capture both the magic and despair of adolescence and young adulthood.  That’s not everyone’s up of tea, of course, but when I first opened up the book, I immediately felt at home.  I imagine if John Huges (screenwriter and director of 80s teen movies like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club), had written a memoir, it would probably be something like this book.

On a personal level, I suppose it’s extra special since he writes about his experiences in the martial arts and early desires to be an astronaut (a lifelong hobby and short-lived career aspiration that my mother and father, like Mark’s decidedly earthbound parents, humored for years, for which I’ve always been grateful).

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I found out a short movie clip of Mark talking about aspects of his writing and some of the themes that crop up in his books as well as this clip discussing his first kung fu teacher in action.

As an aside, you can watch a movie Mark wrote and starred in based on his first book teaching English in China while training in Chinese wushu.  Watch Iron and Silk here.

And, if in the unlikely event that this page makes its way across your computer screen, Mark, PLEASE COME ON THE SHOW!

Ok.

I’ve gotten control of myself and will tone down the rampant fanboyism.  Can’t help it.  =)

As a side note, if you hear a sound in the background that sounds like Darth Vader, it’s because I was reading this episode while holding my daughter, who was sleeping.  Just so you know.

On that note, as always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #40: Martial Arts in The Thirteenth Hour

Episode #40: Martial Arts

https://archive.org/download/13thHrEps16On/Podcast%2040.mp3

Last week’s episode on the influence of gymnastics on the writing of The Thirteenth Hour leads to today’s episode which focuses more on martial arts.  Although I’ve alluded to other martial activities on this blog and in the podcast before (like archery and knife throwing), I figured it was time to devote more time to martial arts itself.  My experience since I was about 13 was with Eastern martial arts, so I borrowed elements of those arts in the style of unarmed martial arts Logan and his Imperial Rangers comrades learn and practice in the novel.

Here, he talks about how sparring sessions would typically go for him:

“… at this fledgling state in my career, things would progress something like this. In a somewhat paradoxical concern for safety, the instructors had us tie cloth pads around our shins, feet, hands, and head in an attempt to prevent injuries and simulate body armor but said that donning groin protection was “unrealistic” because no one walked around wearing it in daily life. Well, I’ve never seen anyone walking around boxing gloves or pads on their arms and legs either, but hey, that’s just me.

At any rate, then we’d each take a stance and start beating the living shit out of each other. Our trainers strictly informed us “don’t kill each other” since this was just supposed to be practice. “You have to help each other,” they said. Well, that was a load of bullshit if I ever did step in a pile.

Inevitably, the matches would revert to the following: your opponent, in an effort to impress the instructors, would throw a really hard shot, and if it connected, you would show your manliness by getting pissed and creaming him. Unless, of course, you happened to be me. I generally didn’t stand an ice cube’s chance in hell against those older guys.

Maybe the instructors noticed my incompetence and felt I needed more practice, or maybe it was just a punishment, but it always seemed that I had to spend twice as much time on fighting drills as anyone else, part of which involved more time with the practice dummy …”

Logan may have just been more honest about his shortcomings, but actually his isn’t an uncommon experience for folks.  Of course, consistent practice takes care of a lot.  Eventually, though, Logan learns enough to defend himself quite well.

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Logan kicks!  He wouldn’t be doing these kicks prior to his training – guess it paid off.  These high kicks make for flashy pictures, but I mostly envisioned he and the other Rangers spending most of their time practicing more utilitarian low and mid range strikes as well as those that utilize the body’s naturally hard spots (like knees and elbows – which he uses in the final fight).  

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Pixelart animation of Logan doing a sliding side kick.  This was from The Thirteenth Hour game that didn’t get finished.

As always, thanks for listening!

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  • QR code email signup Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast and a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour!
  • Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s instagram pages: @the13thhr and @the13thhr.ost for your daily weekday dose of ninjas, martial arts bits, archery, flips, breakdancing action figures, fantasy art, 80s music, movies, and occasional pictures or songs from The Thirteenth Hour books.
  • Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
  • Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
  • Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book?  Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!