Spontaneous Soliloquies

Movember 2011

2011-11-07T00:31:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since I posted on this blog, but now, with Movember in full swing, it might be nice to help my mustache-growing friends by not only donating to the cause (which I will), but by also encouraging them with stories and profiles of some pretty cool, famous and not-as-famous mustachioed dudes throughout the month.

Hopefully, these stories and profiles will help motivate all the guys out there to continue to wear the hair on their upper lips proudly for this important cause.

About Phuket Dragon Muay Thai

2011-03-17T08:14:00.001-04:00

So after two weeks of training at Phuket Dragon Muay Thai, I suppose that a review of the gym itself would be appropriate. This won't be the last post that I'll write about Dragon as I have every intention of coming back there eventually.

Let's start with the trainers themselves. The gym has a high quantity of high-quality trainers. These guys are all experienced fighters, most of them having close to 200 professional fights before reaching the age of 30. I remember even hearing of one of them having close to 400 fights with only about 30 losses. I think he won his last fight by giving his opponents three cuts to the face for a total of nearly 30 stitches.

In some cases, these trainers/fighters are like local celebrities. Walking around the bars and clubs in Patong at night, we were stopped more than once by people who recognized the trainers and asked to take photos with them.

The best part? Never in my two weeks there have I seen a trainer walking around and running his mouth trying to act like some tough guy with a huge ego. In an environment focused on constantly training for one of the most devastating full-contact combat sports on the planet, you might expect that the place will be full with cocky, testosterone-filled alpha-males.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead what you have is a whole group of guys who like to have fun and play around while making sure to train you hard and coach you to the best of their abilities.

Hanging around Nai Harn beach

Beach soccer with the Dragon trainers and fellow students

To make it even better, there are, if I'm not mistaken, 18 trainers in total (although I think I've only met half of them), with about just as many students or less, especially in the morning session. So the "group sessions" are pretty close to being private sessions. Each person training will have one trainer that's more or less assigned to coach them on their technique, their pad work, their bag work, their clinching and their sparring.

One-on-one training during "group sessions"

Me working on the bag under the watchful eye of my trainer Wut

Which brings me to the training structure. The training is always hard but is actually pretty loose in terms of structure. While we don't necessarily always follow the "official" daily program below, but it's usually pretty close.

For each session, we will usually start by warming up with a 25-30 minute run or 10 minutes of skipping using a heavy rope. This is followed by stretching, shadow boxing, rounds of pad work, rounds of bag work, front kicks and knees to the bag. Every other session, we'll do some clinching (usually in the afternoons) and a few rounds of sparring. Each session will last for about 2 hours. Most people do only one session a day. Since I wasn't going to be there for a long time, I figured I might as well take advantage of my time with these top trainers and do two sessions a day.

All this in the 35-degree Thai heat. Just to give you an idea of how tough the training can be, most of us usually have to drink 1.5 L to 2 L of water during the entire 2 hour session.

Even the ring gets rather sweaty after a full day of training

I had a great time at Dragon. The trainers and fellow students have been very helpful to a beginner like myself. This gym is only two years old and I do wish them a lot of success. In two more years, I can see this place really booming and filled with people who want to improve their muay thai technique and become better fighters. What I do hope for them is that they be able to keep the student to trainer ratio at 1:1 or 2:1 as the gym continues to grow.

Thanks to everyone there at Dragon and I hope to be back in Phuket to see you all again soon!

Fighting Style Differences: Muay Thai vs. Shotokan

2011-03-13T21:42:00.000-04:00

This post is going to be a bit longer and more technical than what I usually post, so for you non-martial arts practitioners, please bear with me.

Oh, and for you Muay Thai people out there reading this, I'M NOT AN EXPERT so please correct me if I'm totally off in describing the techniques.

Guard / Fighting Stance
Shotokan fighters, especially in tournaments, will normally have a natural turn in their hips when in a guard position. Usually, this is because we want to protect the body targets that the opponent can score on. The hands are more or less up, depending on the fighter's ability, skill, confidence and opponent.

Muay Thai fighters (a.k.a. nak muay) will actually have their hips facing forward and their hands always up to protect their heads from knockouts caused by shins, elbows, knees and of course punches.

The fighting stances are usually the same length and both styles will emphasize that the back foot be pointed as much to the front as possible and the back heel slightly lifted.

Front Kick
Both kicks require a knee lift and the contact point is the ball of the foot. The Shotokan mae geri is mainly thrown with a snap. Normally, we use it as a counter or a straight offensive kick to a vital point that may or may not end a fight. The Thai teep is more of a pushing kick with no snap (but with a strong pull back to prevent being grabbed). It's mainly used to create distance to set up for another offensive move. The knee doesn't seem to be lifted as high as in Shotokan.

What's also interesting in the Muay Thai front kick is the hand movement during the kick. Shotokan instructors will normally tell you not to move your hands when doing front kick. In Muay Thai, once the kick is thrown, the hand and arm on the same side have to be swung downwards to add more momentum and power to the kick

The last point is about the supporting leg and foot. Shotokan fighters will almost always want to make sure that their entire supporting foot is rooted to the ground and pushing off the heel. This will give their kicks a solid vertical base that can absorb and return impact from an opponent. Muay Thai fighters will do the opposite. They will lift their heel when they kick and push off the ground using the ball of the foot. This seems to give them more reach but also allows the hip to move even further forward for additional power.

"Round" Kick
These kicks actually look very similar with both kicks coming from the side and hitting the side of the opponent's body, leg or head. The obvious difference is of course the contact point. The Shotokan mawashi geri will hit the target using the top of the foot or the ball of the foot, usually hitting smaller, specific targets. In Muay Thai, the shin is the contact point of choice, and seemingly hitting a larger target area.

The leg lift is also very different. Shotokan karateka will get the kick in the air by lifting the knee (sideways, diagonally or straight up) before throwing the kick. The leg is then snapped back right as it makes contact with the target. Nak muay won't actually lift the knee, but instead throw the entire leg when kicking. Although the shin is brought back, there seems to be more of a follow through than a snap back. I guess you can think of either getting hit with a whip or with a baseball bat.

As for the supporting leg, both styles require the supporting foot to pivot to get the hip behind the kick and give it power. However, once again, while proper Shotokan technique requires the entire foot to be on the floor, Muay Thai requires a slightly lifted heel for the same reasons as the front kick.

Hand / Arm Techniques
Karate does seem to have a lot more hand techniques than Muay Thai. Although, I think this is mainly due to the fact that the boxing gloves somewhat limit what you can do with your hands. That's not necessarily a bad thing for Muay Thai. Even though they only have about 4 types of punches and maybe 4-5 elbow strikes, the nak muay get extremely good at these techniques and become very, very effective strikers.

To be fair, despite the many hand techniques that karateka become proficient at for self-defense purposes, on the tournament side, we do tend to limit ourselves to easily-controlled, linear techniques (even the constantly-used mawashi geri is quite linear if you break it down). I remember one high-ranking Japanese instructor jokingly refer to the World Funakoshi Cup tournament as the "World Reverse Punch Championship".

Contact Level during Sparring
I've had to make a bit of effort adjusting to some of the technical differences, but the contact level is something that I really had trouble adjusting to. The people I trained with at Dragon Muay Thai will confirm that. I've described my troubles with this in a previous post but it's definitely something that's worth talking about again.

When you're so used to stopping during a session once the slightest contact is made, it can be quite difficult to continue to hit (or get hit) when you suddenly move from a "semi-contact" to a "full contact" combat sport. I guess because you will end up with different partners, the key is to give as much contact as you receive.

I can probably go on forever with this, but I think this post has gone on a bit long enough.

Muay Thai Sparring

2011-03-05T00:12:00.001-05:00

During the last couple of days, I was finally introduced to the Muay Thai way of sparring. To be perfectly honest, I am ready to admit that I was incredibly horrendous at it.

Sparring definitely has some contact to it, though not full force. Gloves, shin pads, mouth guards and groin cups are the gear that you need to wear. Usually, you do four or five 3-minute rounds in the ring to simulate an actual fight.

You should expect to get hit. Even if it's not hard, your head will get knocked around if you don't keep your chin down and your hands up. Unlike Shotokan free sparring where the action is stopped once contact is made, in Muay Thai, the first hit that lands is just the beginning of a combination of punches and kicks coming at you from all angles.

My "counter-puncher" reflexes are also giving me a bit of trouble because there really is no way to be able to get a clean block and counter when a flurry of kicks and punches are coming at you. I seem to be constantly finding myself backing up and trying to create space so I can counter back. I definitely still have still have a lot to learn.

While I am more or less starting to get used to taking a hit, I'm still a bit unsure about how much to give back in terms of speed and power. Logically, you give as much as you receive, but that's never always easy when you come from a "non-contact" style like Shotokan. Even if it is only friendly sparring, the session can easily escalate if one of the boxers adds just a little bit more to his hits. And the last thing anyone wants is an injury from sparring.

Here's hoping the next sparring session isn't as crappy.

The Thai Boxer's Diet?

2011-03-03T23:52:00.002-05:00

One of the most important parts of training is what you eat. I've never really been the best at paying attention to what I eat, especially when I'm visiting a new country. I suppose that my attitude is that part of the traveling experience is trying to eat what the locals eat.

I have mostly been eating at restaurants in my area. They serve some great Thai food, but I really want to get more into the market and street foods around here. They are delicious and not to mention cheap. Here are a few tips when you are buying and eating Thai street food:

Make sure to have a good look around all the food stands first before buying anything. You could end up spending money at a stand only to find that there's something better in other stands
Only eat meat that's freshly cooked off the grill or the deep fryer. It tastes fresher, but is also safer than something that's been lying around for a while
Do the same with soups and fried noodle dishes. Make sure that the ingredients are cooked in front of you
Be adventurous with the meats on a stick. Chicken, beef, pork, sausages and fish meat balls are all great, but don't be afraid of eating an entire skewer of chicken necks or a small bag of chicken feet
When eating fruit buy unpeeled or whole fruits. If you are buying sliced fruits, make sure it's sealed and not sitting out in the open
Be adventurous with the fruit as well. It's very difficult to find fresh tropical fruits like these in North America
Never under any circumstances eat street sushi or any raw street seafood
Desserts like corn pancakes and rice cakes with shredded coconut are a must (Filipinos, think of puto, kutsinta, bibingka, etc.)
Make sure to enjoy the spices like red curry that makes Thai food so distinctive

I really haven't asked the trainers too much about what they eat when preparing for fights, but hopefully my current diet isn't too far off.

I have seen a few glimpses of what they eat. Every morning, a guy with a food cart attached to a scooter would stop by the gym selling breakfast steamed pork/chicken/beef buns similar to what you'll find in Chinese restaurants. He would also have what looks like shakes.

Of course, post workout, I've also seen a couple of the trainers just sitting by the ring eating a whole lot of chips. Go figure.

Train, Eat, Train, Eat, Sleep... Repeat

2011-03-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

So it's day 3 of my Muay Thai training here in Phuket and so far so good. With the jet-lag pretty much gone, I have been slowly trying to get into the training routine. It definitely hasn't been easy, but I think I can manage to survive it. The training itself is starting to be routine and starting to make sense. Here's a quick breakdown of a training session (more or less in this order):

30 mins run to warm up or 10 mins of skipping with heavy rope (since I'm in pretty crappy shape and because of the heat, I've been running for 20 mins instead)
Stretching
Shadow boxing
4 to 5 rounds of pad work with a trainer correcting technique (pushups in between rounds)
4 to 5 rounds of heavy bag work with a trainer correcting technique (pushups in between rounds)
100 front kicks (push kicks rather than the karate snap kicks) on a heavy bag usually done in a single set
100 to 200 knee strikes to the heavy bag, usually done in sets of 50
Clinch training
100 full sit-ups (at least that's what I'm able to do...)

These sessions are done twice a day, six days a week. Even though the schedule says the sessions are 3 hours each, it doesn't last longer than two hours. At that point, most people are already drenched in sweat and heaving for oxygen, at least for us beginners.

The strange thing that I've found though is that I haven't done any sparring yet. To be honest, I haven't seen any other do sparring since I got here. So it's either because we're all beginners and the trainers don't think we're ready to spar, or the sparring is only done later in the week.

It's definitely been a tough couple of days. My legs are sore. My back is sore. My arms are sore. My neck is stiff. My shins, elbows and knees are bruised. On the second session of the first day, I had to stop during the bag work because I was getting ready to vomit (though I didn't).

Muay Thai is a grind, there's no doubt about it. If you think your 9 to 5 job is tough, just think about the guys here in Thailand who put themselves through this daily so they can fight professionally and make a living.

Phuket First Impressions

2011-02-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

So I finally landed in Phuket earlier this afternoon. After running all the errands that I needed to take care of to get myself ready for training tomorrow morning, I was able to finally step back and make a few first observations about my home over the next two weeks:

Chalong, the place I'm staying at on the island, is the least touristy part of this mainly touristy Thai island
A lot of the locals I've met so far don't speak English
There are no beaches in immediate walking distance
There are no big bars and clubs in immediate walking distance
There are no big tourist sites in immediate walking distance
There are no sidewalks, which makes it necessary for pedestrians to share the road with cars, trucks and motorbikes running and swerving around very narrow roads
There are very few pedestrians (probably because of the above observation)
You need to take a taxi or rent a motorbike (scooter / Vespa type of vehicle) to get around
You can also take a "motorbike taxi" - They're basically guys on motorbikes in red vests asking if you need a ride
It's kinda tough to take a motorbike taxi if you don't know where you are and the driver doesn't speak much English
I am thinking of renting a motorbike to get around but are too chicken because of the way people drive
I am also freaked out about driving here because they drive on the left side of the road. Speeding cars, tiny motorbike, the odd pedestrian kinda freaks me out
Training-wise, everyone seems to be younger, stronger and generally in better shape than I am... this is going to be interesting training week
The people seem to be very friendly, though, so I don't think there's much to worry about.
It's so hot and humid here that a 15-minute afternoon walk will leave your clothes drenched with sweat

I'm not really sure how to explain this, but I must admit that I do feel a little out of place here. I don't know why that is. I've traveled alone before, and Thailand, aside from the language, doesn't seem all that different from the Philippines. It just feels like there's more that I need to adapt to in this environment. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If anything, it just makes me more curious to find out how the rest of these coming two weeks are going to play out.

Oh, and I managed to find a small, open air market that sells street meat, fish, clothes and mangoes. I'll try the mangoes out tonight. I'll let you know about the street meat after tomorrow's training.

First Leg of the Trip

2011-02-26T12:27:00.001-05:00

I was actually a bit concerned that my flight would be affected by the oncoming snow storm in Montreal, but I was fortunate enough to have the flight delayed by only 20 mins.

Just a quick update. It's almost 1am now at the Hong Kong airport waiting at a lounge for my early morning 9am flight to Phuket. Surprisingly, I think I slept a total of 60 minutes throughout my 15 hour flight despite my best efforts at not sleeping the night before to beat jet lag.

With another 15 hour layover before my I decided to get a brief look at downtown Hong Kong and try some food. I ended up at this nice little restaurant, but I think next time around, I'll try one of the many street food stalls for some Hong Kong "street meat" (no, not that kind of meat!).

Tonight's dinner: soaked noodles with braised pork.

I also found what looks like the tourist party area. I decided not to join in since I was walking around carrying my travel bag and the last thing I want to get drunk and lose all my stuff in Hong Kong.

I think the record was 10 shots in 7.3 seconds. I'm pretty sure I can beat that!

Street full of bars and clubs crowded with tourists and locals alike.

So I went back to the airport, checked in for my flight and am now resting at the airport lounge (which I probably overpaid for - around 85 CAD for lounge chairs, breakfast, showers, Internet access and TVs, newspapers and magazines).

I guess I should just take this opportunity to get some rest so I can get into training mode.

Upcoming Thailand "Vacation"

2011-02-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

After a long absence, I'm finally back on the blogosphere. For those who still don't know, I have exactly one week left before boarding the long flight from Montreal to Phuket in Thailand. The plan is to live and train at the Phuket Dragon Muay Thai training camp for two weeks to learn and practice muay thai, probably one of the most demanding forms of kickboxing in the world.

For now, I do have a few things in mind going in. First is my current physical condition. From what I've research, standard training is two 3-hour training sessions per day, six days a week. Each training session usually starts off with a 3K to 5K run as a "warm-up". My concern is that my current training schedule is normally made up of a single two-hour training session per day, four days a week combined with some basic resistance training two to three times a week. Unfortunately, because of the recent cold snaps and snow storms we've been having these past couple of months, my running has pretty much been non-existent. And of course, all this physical conditioning will be done in over 30-degree C heat and humidity.

From a technical standpoint, I'm not really too worried about taking a long time learning how to throw combinations of punches, kicks, elbows and knees. What is a concern for me is the contact level. While I've had my share of accidents during my 15 years in the supposed "non-contact" Shotokan style (black eyes, cuts, stitches, bruises, jammed fingers, joint sprains, bloody mouths, etc.), Muay Thai is a full contact combat sport. I've never been intentionally hit with a full contact shin kick to the leg or with a full force elbow to the jaw.

Now I have no intention of competing in a professional or amateur ring fight, but the training that I do will be geared towards that goal.

It will definitely be a great experience that will test me both physically and mentally. I'll do my best to provide some accurate descriptions (hopefully, along with photos and maybe videos) of my training and progress throughout the two weeks without using any hyperboles.

Of course this is still a "vacation", so I'll also take some time to experience the food, the beaches, the surrounding islands and maybe a little bit of the nightlife in Phuket.

In the meantime, enjoy some muay thai fight videos from the Dragon Muay Thai training camp.

On Faith and Bigotry

2010-09-08T03:04:00.000-04:00

As I was flipping through the channels last night, I ended up watching an interview on CNN between Anderson Cooper and Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Centre. For those who haven't been paying attention, Terry Jones is planning to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 by holding a "Burn a Quran day" at his small Florida church.

At one point during the interview, Cooper pretty much gave the pastor the definition of a bigot and then asked the pastor if he thought of himself as a bigot. After pressing the issue, the pastor reluctantly answered indirectly that he was a bigot. Whether or not it was a fair question on Anderson Cooper's part is another story. What I am interested in is this connection between religious faith and bigotry.

The definition of bigot that Cooper used was the following: "a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race".

Let's think about this for second though. According to their texts and religious practices a good Christian, Jew and Muslim must believe that their respective deity is the one and only true God and, by extension, that their faith is the one and only true faith.

I'm not too familiar with the non-monotheistic religions, but the claim of being the one true faith is prominent in Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

In the Christian New Testament, Jesus says: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
In the Torah, Yahweh tells Moses: "You shall have no other gods before me."
In Islam, one of the most important requirements to be considered a Muslim is an honest recitation of the Shahada in Arabic. In English, the phrase translates to: "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah".

The flip side of course is that if a person truly believes that their religion is the one and only true faith, then this person will have no choice but to believe that everyone else who believes otherwise is wrong and will eventually be subject to eternal punishment in the afterlife.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me, this pretty much means that to be a true believer of a given faith and of a given deity, there is no room for tolerance of other faiths because they will lead to the wrong path and eventual damnation (or at the very least, being removed from the presence of the deity). Therefore, merely tolerating other beliefs that do not match up with those of one's faith does not make one a true believer. That person is simply picking and choosing the pieces of a religion and is not fully committed to that particular religion's deity.

So really, in the end, is it really possible to be a true person of faith without falling under the definition of a bigot? What do you think?

MMA not an "Art"?

2010-08-24T15:44:00.002-04:00

I was reading this article yesterday and I have to say that I completely disagree. We "traditional" martial arts practitioners need to understand a few things:

The martial arts are not limited to the arts from East Asia where Zen and Buddhist concepts of satori, mushin, Nirvana, etc., are taught with the fighting techniques. Think of Krav Maga from Israel, Capoeira from Brazil, Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, "Western" boxing, Western fencing, Pankration from Greece and Savate from France as examples. These are all legitimate martial arts and they all have little or no connection to any esoteric ideas of spiritual self-enlightenment.

Martial arts techniques were created so people could fight, defend themselves (or others), and if necessary kill. The samurai used jujitsu in case they were disarmed on the battlefield. Karate was developed by unarmed bodyguards to protect the Okinawan regents from mainland Japan's samurai invaders and other foreigners landing on their ports. Japanese WWII soldiers were taught karate. South Korean soldiers learn tae kwon do. Israeli counterrorist units have to learn krav maga. Pankration was a spectator sport in ancient Greco-Roman times where matches ended when one fighter was either dead or too injured to continue. These fighters and soldiers needed to fight first. Spritual enlightenment was secondary to them, if it even was an issue to begin with.

Discipline, building character through physical training, good sportsmanship, etiquette, respectful bowing and other values that martial arts are supposed to promote came later. This was especially true for the Okinawan / Japanese arts. At the end of WWII, the occupying American forces demilitarized Japan. In doing so, Japanese attitudes towards martial arts changed.

The training was just as intense. However, instead of emphasizing the fighting and killing aspects of these arts, the focus shifted towards the spiritual and the philosophical. The thought shifted from "jitsu" (the skill) to "do" (the way). Aikijitsu became aikido, jujitsu became judo, karate-jitsu became karate-do, and so on. In order to show the American occupation forces that they've demilitarized, the Japanese taught the "do", not the "jitsu", to the American soldiers who then went on to popularize these arts in North America. (I'm not saying that the Japanese were hiding something, just that the mindset of the martial arts instruction changed.)

While the "do" aspect is not inherently a bad thing, a lot of esoteric myths, rituals and philosophies were added to the instruction.

Now, since most of the North American exposure to the Asian martial arts was initially from Japan, these same myths and philosophies became associated with all the other Asian martial arts being introduced, no matter where they came from. In fact these myths, rituals and philosophies almost became a requirement for a martial art to be accepted as "legitimate". This mystique is what makes the traditional arts appealing to many of us.

This lack of traditional mystique is probably why the traditionalists are saying that MMA should not be considered martial arts. Traditionalists complain about the overemphasis of the sports aspect of MMA. In the article above, the author also complains that MMA promoters are using the martial arts mystique as a marketing ploy.

I would argue that the "traditional" arts are just as much into sports and commercialization as MMA. Boxing is a multi-million dollar industry. Muay thai is a spectator sport that many people choose as a legitimate professional career path. Tae kwon do and Judo have standardized so much as a sport that they are now as much a part of the summer Olympics as Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling. The Japan Karate Association, who calls itself the "keeper of karate's highest tradition", holds world championship tournaments every two years.

As for MMA using the mystique of traditional martial arts for marketing, what do you think many of these "traditional" schools are doing to attract new students?

Having studied "traditional" karate for over 14 years, I can understand why a lot of my cohorts are quick to say that MMA is not a martial art. I disagree. MMA is the art of learning skills from different styles from all over the world, finding what works for you, removing the irrelevant myths and using what's left to win matches. While there will always be room for the traditional arts, I do believe that MMA is where the future of martial arts will be.

My only complaint about MMA: the ugly clothing lines (Affliction, Ed Hardy, Tapout, etc.) usually worn by annoying steroid-freak fans.

Fantasia Reviews: Overheard & Doghouse

2010-07-23T12:14:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite things about the Fantasia festival is the variety of entertaining films that you can choose from. You can watch a serious Hong Kong police drama about insider trading and corruption, then less than 24 hours later, you get to watch a gory British comedy featuring an entire village of weapon-wielding, blood-thirsty, female zombies.

Overheard
Overheard is another example of the Hong Kong crime drama that doesn't include big shoot 'em up and martial arts action sequences. Considering that insider trading is somewhat of a "victimless crime" and that you have some serious financial concerns, what would you do if you overheard conversations of some unscrupulous corporate boss? And on the verge of getting caught, how far will you go to "stick to your lies"?

This movie is a great depiction of the ethical and moral dilemma faced by a Hong Kong cop staking out corporate insider traders. It's a character-driven plot that works because of great acting and slow, deliberate pacing and a little bit of Hong Kong melodrama.

Doghouse
The template for the zom-com (zombie-comedy) was set with the great British film Shaun of the Dead. It was mildly messed up by the American-made Zombieland, but with movies like Doghouse, the genre should be back on track.

Though still not quite as good as Shaun of the Dead, Doghouse is getting close. You have half a dozen not-so-smart drunken British guys looking to check out some girls in an out-of-the-way village, the entire female population of said village becoming weapon-wielding, flesh-eating zombies, lots of nasty gore scenes, typical British banter and lots of over-the-top sight gags. Add a few funny mid-life crisis speeches about women (and why it might be better to be gay) and you get an overall great zom-com.

Fantasia Review: Raging Phoenix

2010-07-21T11:19:00.000-04:00

What do you get when you mix Chinese drunken boxing, muay thai, b-boy moves and a splash of capoeira in a martial arts blender? You get the wildly entertaining cocktail of a fighting style featured in Raging Phoenix.

The fight scenes were really what made this movie watchable. Whether they were fighting against guys in bladed, jumping stilts, a group of armed human traffickers, a kung fu master, a thai boxer or even some heavily muscled, bodybuilder chick in a bikini top and yoga pants, the drunken fighting style is definitely entertaining.

Unfortunately, unless you were as drunk as the fighters when watching it, that's pretty much the only thing that made sense in the movie. The story started off normally with the group learning this new martial art to get revenge on a gang of human traffickers in Thailand. But then, right in the middle of it, the whole plot just went batshit crazy and pretty much became a Patrick Suskind novel or its movie adaptation.

I suppose that a weird twist like that should be expected from a Fantasia movie, but in the end, it just made story pretty laughable.

Fantasia 2010: Weekend Review

2010-07-20T00:17:00.002-04:00

While having to watch two movies in a row made it a bit of a late night this past Sunday, it was still a good night for Hong Kong films. The first was an atypical Hong Kong crime thriller. The second is a historical drama / kung fu film set in Hong Kong at the beginning of the 1900s.

Accident
In many gangster movies, you always hear hit-men talking about whacking their target and making it look like an accident. Well, in this particular Hong Kong crime thriller, that's the exact M.O. of a group of killers for hire. Every murder is elaborately set up to look like a deadly accident. That is, of course, until one of the members of the crew gets killed in what seems to be a common street accident.

This is a great exploration of the main character's psychological state. It shows how a person's own strengths (attention to minute details and suspicious nature) pushes him over the edge into total obsession and paranoia. While you do get some pretty bloody and fatal "accidents", you will not find are rapid editing and shootouts that you normally see in the Hong Kong crime drama. The pacing is deliberately slowed down and the conflicts are more internal rather than external.

Definitely an interesting change of pace in the genre.

Bodyguards and Assassins
I'm a bit split on this one. It's the story of the exiled Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen going to Hong Kong during British rule trying to organize a "People's Revolution" to overthrow the imperial Qing dynasty. So as imperial assassins are sent there to kill him, his sympathizers recruit a rag-tag group of bodyguards to protect him as he makes his way through the streets of Hong Kong (hence the title of the movie).

The first half of the movie is a continuous build up to the ensuing non-stop action of the second half of the movie. This build up actually does a good job of making you care about each of the bodyguards who risk life and limb to protect the revolutionary leader. Unfortunately, throughout this part, there was just a bit too much propaganda (though I've been told this is relatively light) about the arrival of the "Democratic People's Republic" that will get rid of the decaying imperial rulers, free Chinese territories from the evil foreign invaders and create an equal and prosperous Chinese society.

It really is the second half that saves this movie. This part is a real treat to any action / martial arts film fan. This part consists of a group of outnumbered bodyguards defending a convoy of rickshaws from assassins with knives, swords, crossbows, spears, chains, hooks, explosives, rifles and terminator-like kung fu fighters coming at them at every turn. The result is an impressive series of group and one-on-one battles with both parties sacrificing life and limb to accomplish their mission.

The movie runs for about two hours and twenty minutes. I think, however, that the movie would have been better and about 45 minutes shorter if all the propaganda soliloquies were edited. Entertaining nonetheless.

Fantasia Review: Fish Story

2010-07-17T02:36:00.001-04:00

I don't often say this about movies, but it looks like Fish Story will make Fantasia history. It could become the first and only Japanese movie to win an audience's choice award with no gore, no bizarre sexual images, no zombies, no monsters of any kind, no giant robots, no over-the-top characters, displays a minimum amount of blood and very little martial arts action. That's really how good this movie is.

I don't think this review and my limited writing skills will do the movie justice, but I'll try. The film brilliantly intersperses six completely different stories spanning nearly 50 years through an obscure song titled "Fish Story" and recorded by a Japanese punk rock band in 1975 (apparently one year before the Sex Pistols popularized this kind of music). The story builds up to the year 2012 when a large comet is on the verge of crashing on Earth and killing all human life. But somehow, this song might just end up saving the world...

It's really hard to say more without giving away the actual story. All I can say is that the interconnected plots were solid, the great acting, the right amount of humour and of course very good J-rock music made this movie one of my favourite Fantasia films for 2010 (a close tie with Ip Man 2, of course). If you do get a chance, I would strongly recommend that you see it.

I've also included a video of the actual song "Fish Story" below. I couldn't find one with the English sub-titles, but it still sounds great.

Fantasia 2010 Review: Merentau

2010-07-16T01:00:00.001-04:00

Merentau is a rarity in the world of martial arts movies. For one, it is one of the only one of its kind to be made in Indonesia. The second reason is that it showcases a martial art that most western audiences have never really seen before: Silat, an Indonesian art that combines what seems to be Chinese animal forms with low kicking, pressure point striking, stick fighting similar to Eskrima and lots of joint breaking.

As far as the action sequences are concerned, I think that the lead actor Iko Uwais will do for Silat what Tony Jaa did for Muay Thai. He has showcased Silat in a way that will keep western audiences wanting more.

(As a side note, Uwais also does do a better job at acting than Jaa since he hasn't limited himself to simply running around the entire movie screaming "Where's my elephant?" while delivering an ass-whooping everywhere he goes)

Of course, the martial arts sequences are accompanied by some crazy stunt work that would make Jackie Chan cringe (or maybe even proud). Stuntmen are hit with bar stools, thrown through glass tables, bounced from the top of a ship container onto the corner of another, clotheslined off a motorcycle with a towel and even impaled on a bamboo pole before being dropped off a rooftop.

Add some insane bad guy bosses and a semi-decent plot into the mix and you've got yourself a great martial arts movie. Hopefully, more Silat films will be produced in the future because of this.

Fantasia Review: The Naked Kitchen

2010-07-13T01:04:00.001-04:00

The description for The Naked Kitchen was promising enough. A Korean love triangle story between a young wife, her aspiring chef husband and the stranger she slept with who ends up living with them. With a title and a premise like that you would expect melodrama, funny awkward moments, lots of great food shots, sex and/or sexual tension.

Unfortunately, the viewer gets very little of that and is left somewhat dissatisfied.

Although we do get some awkward moments, what we get most of the time is a bit of a slow story portraying what happens in relationships that you would describe on Facebook as "It's Complicated". The movie is capped off by an even stranger ending that really left this audience member slightly confused.

And as a final note, if Korean movie is going to have someone sing a French love song, the guy singing should really be able to speak at least a little bit of French.

Fantasia 2010 Weekend Reviews

2010-07-12T01:31:00.000-04:00

Here are three more reviews for movies I saw over the weekend. So for this weekend we've got zombies from Greece, old guys kung fu fighting in Hong Kong and mercenary gangsters from Vietnam.

Evil: In the Time of Heroes
The movie had many of the ingredients needed for a successful "zom-com" (zombie-comedy). Quirky characters, an ancient Athenian curse/evil that causes the zombies to appear, the prophesied "chosen one" who could battle the undead single-handedly, gore, skull stomping, blood, guts and scores of fast, ravenous zombies. It was definitely promising.

Unfortunately, there were just too many side stories to each of the characters that just couldn't be covered in a 90 minute movie. I would have preferred more focus on the main story. (An Athenian zombie curse that spans over 2500 years that can be stopped by a guy that was brought back to life twice sounds pretty bad-ass.) Instead, the side stories caused the movie to be all over the place and at times a bit confusing. Also, because it was more of a comedy, the creepy factor was just totally missing.

It was still definitely entertaining, but it could have been a whole lot better.

Gallants

This lighthearted kung fu flick was just a lot of fun to watch. The characters were quirky and funny. You've got a semi-amnesiac, womanizing kung fu master who just woke up from a 30-year coma, his two ageing yet very skilled pupils, and of course the young loser who wants to learn kung fu. At the same time, this film also did a great job of portraying the relationship and devotion between martial arts students and master.

What I also liked was that the movie really touched on the sad, yet continuing trend of schools replacing genuine martial arts instruction with a watered down "martial sport" supported by flashy marketing schemes.

Of course, the most impressive thing about this movie were the fight scenes. Not only were there no stunt doubles, wires or CGI used to enhance the action, the main actors/fighters were also well past 60 years old when they made the movie.

Enjoyable and highly recommended.

The Clash
The team that brought us the gem of a martial arts film The Rebel is back and ready to entertain. This time around, they've given us a serious, hard-hitting gangster action film. It combines the slickness of a John Woo gangster flick with the grittiness of a Tony Jaa work.

They really couldn't do wrong here. You've got a tough female fighter, an equally hard-ass male counterpart with an ulterior motive, a sociopathic mob boss in a white suit who's more than happy to do his henchmen's work, rival international gangsters, and fight after fight that combines high flying kicks, MMA holds and close range gun play.

Though, the story can be as simplistic and formulaic, the action is non-stop and will not dissapoint. If Vietnamese action films continue to go in this direction, we should expect some amazing things in the coming years.

That's it for now. The next review will be about a Korean love triangle that involves a whole lot of food.

Fantasia Review: Ip Man 2

2010-07-09T01:28:00.000-04:00

Kicking off Fantasia tonight for me was the sequel of Ip Man, Ip Man 2. Returning to the title role is the great Donnie Yen, this time along side the always entertaining Sammo Hung (who was also the film's action director). Although this wasn't their first movie together (see Kill Zone) it almost seems like Sammo was passing the torch to the new generation of Hong Kong kung fu stars.

After the success of its predecessor last year, Ip Man 2 certainly did not disappoint. Again, Donnie Yen's hand speed demonstrates how devastating Wing Chun can really be whether you're fighting a single unarmed opponent on a "slippery table" or dozens of them armed with knives, hooks, sticks and lead pipes.

Of course, the mixing of multiple styles made the fight scenes brilliant. Whether you had Wing Chun vs. Hung Gar, western boxing vs. Hung Gar or western boxing vs. Wing Chun, they were all spectacular. Add to that the right amount of humour, some Chinese nationalist sentiment, and references to Ip Man's most famous student, and you get an instant classic martial arts movie.

This is definitely a must-see for all martial arts movie fans.

Fantasia Festival 2010

2010-07-07T11:56:00.001-04:00

Definitely can't wait for this festival to start. In case you want to join me, you can find my viewing schedule here.

You can find the descriptions and trailers for these and all the other movies here.

This time, I do promise to post some quick reviews.

Cycling Safely during the Montreal Summer

2010-05-26T21:02:00.000-04:00

With the temperatures rising in this lovely city, we see more and more cyclists. We'll see even more so now with the increased the number of Bixi stations all over the city. Unfortunately, we also see more and more bike-related accidents and injuries (both to cyclists and pedestrians). So I thought I'd post a few tips:

Wear a helmet: Yeah, it can look dorky, but you'll probably feel less like an idiot if you crash and your skull's not cracked.
Beware the scantily-clad pedestrians: With the weather heating up, the less clothes people tend to wear. This is especially true for Montrealers who, after a long winter of heavy coats and sweaters, just want to peel off those layers get some skin in the air. Yes, Montrealers can be very attractive, so if that cute brunette in the short khaki shorts or the tall blonde in the white summer dress, or even the hot lady cop does catch your attention while on your bike, don't keep your eyes on her for too long. If you really have to look, at least slow your roll. Who knows, she just might smile right back at you.
Watch for car doors: When riding on the street, it's usually safer to move away from the middle to avoid slowing traffic and / or getting plowed from behind by some speeding SUV. Of course, this will bring you closer to parked cars. Just make sure to stay alert and watch out when approaching a parked car with people still in it. The last thing you want is to fly right through a car window because you were surprised by an inattentive person in a car.
Get off the damn phone: I really hope that I don't have to explain that having one hand on your cell phone (either to talk or worse to text) instead of on your handlebars is not only dangerous, but plain stupid. If you really have to talk, at least use a hands-free device.
Drinking and cycling: I've been guilty of this several times in the past. Luckily, nothing bad ever happened... You are probably more likely to get into an accident when cycling drunk because your balance is totally affected.

If you have other tips, feel free to post them. In the meantime, ride safe and enjoy the Montreal summer!

Random Spanish Observations

2010-05-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

I guess before I go into some long descriptions of how the trip's been going, I thought I'd post a couple of things that we observed during our stay in this country:

Generally very stylish and attractive people. Men or women, everyone is extremely well-dressed and well put together. I must admit that I felt like a bit of a bum walking around in my cargo shorts, my sandals and my blue Cookie Monster t-shirt. More on that later...
Stockings seem to be a must for women's outfits, especially in Andalucía. It could be over 35 degrees outside (which it was at one point in Sevilla) and yet you'll see women in dresses, mini-skirts and incredibly short shorts always wearing stockings to cover their legs.
Low-hanging pants for women. This, I totally disagree with. We've all seen the guys in North America wearing jeans down to their buttocks. Well, it seems that some of the younger, Spanish women are doing something similar, except that they wear it with tight, 3/4-length jeans. I just hope this trend doesn't catch on in North America. It's almost as ugly as wearing leggings for pants...
The cost of beer and wine is less than or equal to that of a Coke. Whether you buy it in a bar, restaurant, coffee shop, movie theater or grocery store, this is without question, an excellent part of daily Spanish life.
Glad we're not vegans or vegetarians. The food in Spain is made up of lots of pork, lamb, beef, chicken and of course seafood. Aside from the fresh fruits here, a vegan has a good chance of starving when visiting.
Jogging. Maybe I notice this more because I'm a bit of a runner myself, but people seem to love to jog here, especially in Andalucía.

That's it for now.

Booing Your Team

2010-04-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

Montreal hockey fans are notoriously noisy when their team wins, but especially when their team loses. We cheer whenever the team wins. And understandably, we boo when they team loses. The difference though is that while most fans boo the other team, Montreal fans boo their own.

Montreal fans have been criticized for doing that. But to be honest, I think that we're justified in doing so. There is a legacy of hockey greatness in this city. Hockey players are held in high esteem in this city. And if you consider the players' salaries, the exorbitant ticket and concession prices, I think the fans are allowed to expect their players to play their best.

Montreal hockey fans are passionate and will expect nothing less from their team. If the team plays softly, puts on a weak effort and loses their playoff spot when all they need to do is earn a tie, they shouldn't be surprised if they get booed out of the Bell Centre.

What do you think? No matter what the sport, are fans justified in booing its own team for their poor performance?

Zombies - Horror Monsters that Can't be Ruined?

2010-01-22T17:14:00.003-05:00

By now, we've all seen the vampire (and even the werewolf) genre ruined by the Twilight series, The Vampire Diaries and similar shows/movies. The vampire characters that once inspired fear and awe (see Bram Stoker's Dracula, Blade, Nosferatu, etc.) have sadly been transformed into over- (or under-) sexed, emo teenagers who are more likely to slit their own wrists instead of ripping someone's jugular out with their fangs. Vampires, by their nature are already seductive, so it was easy to create a pretty boy out of it.

Werewolf characters are usually physically and emotionally tortured by their curse, so it's easy to make them emo in their human form. All they need is a little black eye-liner. I'm just hoping that the upcoming Wolfman movie might redeem that.

The Frankenstein monster also has the potential to be ruined by Meyer-like authors. All it takes, as suggested by a female friend earlier today, is to have some mad scientist put together body parts of Orlando Bloom and Christian Bale and the genre is pretty much screwed. Just make the pretty boy "monster" out of "teen hearthrob" body parts and have him drowning in self pity over his maker not making a mate for him and you're set.

The same can be said about mummy movies. You could make the mummy character have super powers like the one in the Brendan Fraser movies and from there all you have to do is make the mummy/sorcerer be some emo-depressed teenager who was so sad that his girlfriend dumped him that he had his guys mummify him for eternity.

With zombies, however, it's thankfully not that simple to turn the walking dead into twilight teeny boppers. Zombies are decomposing, walking corpses that feed on living human flesh. So basically they're more likely to eat you than want to have sex with you. What's more, I don't think any author would create a teenage character who is so horny and desperate that they would resort to necrophilia. Zombies are mindless, feel no emotions, except maybe rage (as seen in 28 Days Later), and cannot revert back to normal human form. That means that there's no chance of them becoming some dumbass, brooding kid.

What do you guys think? If you were Stephenie Meyer, how would you turn a zombie into Robert Pattinson?

My 2010 To-Do List

2009-12-31T13:29:00.000-05:00

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, but I do have a few things that I'd like to accomplish by the end of next year. So here it is, a list of things to do before December 31 2010, 11:59 PM:

Travel to at least two destinations outlined in THE LIST
Go hang-gliding (as per THE LIST)
Run and complete at least one marathon and one half marathon
Learn how to swim
Learn how to drive a stick shift
Win at least one karate tournament
Significantly increase annual income to finance the activities on this list

I think 12 months should be more than enough to get all this done. What's on your to-do list for 2010?