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Welcome, dear friends, to your pop culture time machine, covering everything from the iconic, to the ironic.
Welcome, dear friends, to your pop culture time machine, covering everything from the iconic, to the ironic.
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Friday, April 14, 2006
Karate Kid Friday
Because the weather's gorgeous right now, and it's starting to feel like summer, I hereby declare that this Friday is, in fact, The Best Around. That's right, kids - it's Karate Kid Friday.
Last night, while The Wife™ was with her small group, and after The Girl™ had gone to bed, I suspected that it was just about time to watch me some Karate Kid. As usual, I was correct in this belief. It's ALWAYS time for KK. In fact, it's never not time for KK.
Now, to add some variety, I watched most of the special edition DVD with the closed captioning turned on, just to see how closely it matched up to the spoken dialogue. Let me tell you...if you're deaf, you're seeing a completely different film from the one the rest of us are watching. The captioning is that bad.
So bad, in fact, that it completely changes character names (Daryl Vidal - the hotshot karateka who gets beaten down by Johnny in the semis - somehow becomes "Danny Duval"), garbles song lyrics (follow along with You're the Best Around. Yikes. It was bad enough BEFORE the butchery), slaughters Miyagi's humorous instruction (at the tournament, as Daniel asks his sensei if he has any last minute advice about how to win his first bout, Miyagi intones "Hai...no get-ah hit!", which the captioning scrambles into "Hey! Go get the hit!"), and has no idea whatsoever about what to do with the random Japanese scattered throughout Miyagi's speech ("Hai" becomes "Hey" each time, "Osu" becomes "Yes", etc.). All your captions are belong to us, it would seem.
Still, the special edition DVD is great, as the print they used for it is nice and bright, and the audio commentary is, by and large, terrific. It's nice to hear Macchio, Morita, and Avildsen reminisce, though about halfway through, you begin to wish that someone would crush Robert Mark Kamen's throat, he drones on so much. Mercifully, he has to leave early for some reason or another, so things pick up for the second half.
Today, as I sit in front of my computer, I listen to the soundtrack (Commuter's Young Hearts is blasting away right now...), contemplate the superior experience that IS The Karate Kid, and wonder when and if any of my fellow geeks out there will track down the Holy Grail of lost soundtrack tunes - the never released The Ride, by some group called Matches, which is heard as the Cobra Kai descend upon the beach party, and prepare to administer the first of countless beatings to our favorite NJ transplant. Forgotten the scene already? Then by all means, go watch the movie tonight. As Tommy would say if he were here, "Take a right, check it out!" In contrast, if Johnny were here, he would merely sneer in your general direction, and proceed to reverse punch, or roundhouse kick you silly - perhaps while dressed in a skeleton costume, and rolling a joint (this, from a so-called "ex-degenerate". Sheesh!). So really, we should all be grateful that he's not here.
Your assignments for today - 1. Come up with at least one Mr. Miyagiism (in honor of the late Pat Morita, bless 'im...), and deposit it in the comment section, and 2. Sweep somebody's leg. Do you have a problem with that?
As the wisdom of Miyagi applies to so many areas of life, it will be hard to pick just one for inclusion, but I know you can do it.
Why sweep the leg? Here, or on the street...a man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy. Take inspiration from the Kai:
OUT of commission.
Other related links for today (just click on the bolded text to follow the links):
Bobby Brown's MySpace blog. No...not THAT Bobby Brown:
THIS Bobby Brown:
That's right - the disgraced, disqualified "good guy" of the Cobra Kai blogs about karate, Johnny, and all of the various twists and turns his life has taken. He's deep, man.
80s Tees.com
Home of my favorite Cobra Kai t-shirt. Their newest addition is one I'll be grabbing, too:
Bobby's Cobra Kai Gi on eBay
You deserve no mercy! You already missed out, as the auction has closed. View and weep at the awesomeness you could have had for a mere four grand, or so. Better than any lousy "Meeahjee-Turbo" bike that scrawny Danny from Reseda might find himself tossing into a dumpster - that's for sure.
I hate this freakin' bike!!
Now, go forth, and wax on, or you'll get squished - just like grape.
Last night, while The Wife™ was with her small group, and after The Girl™ had gone to bed, I suspected that it was just about time to watch me some Karate Kid. As usual, I was correct in this belief. It's ALWAYS time for KK. In fact, it's never not time for KK.
Now, to add some variety, I watched most of the special edition DVD with the closed captioning turned on, just to see how closely it matched up to the spoken dialogue. Let me tell you...if you're deaf, you're seeing a completely different film from the one the rest of us are watching. The captioning is that bad.
So bad, in fact, that it completely changes character names (Daryl Vidal - the hotshot karateka who gets beaten down by Johnny in the semis - somehow becomes "Danny Duval"), garbles song lyrics (follow along with You're the Best Around. Yikes. It was bad enough BEFORE the butchery), slaughters Miyagi's humorous instruction (at the tournament, as Daniel asks his sensei if he has any last minute advice about how to win his first bout, Miyagi intones "Hai...no get-ah hit!", which the captioning scrambles into "Hey! Go get the hit!"), and has no idea whatsoever about what to do with the random Japanese scattered throughout Miyagi's speech ("Hai" becomes "Hey" each time, "Osu" becomes "Yes", etc.). All your captions are belong to us, it would seem.
Still, the special edition DVD is great, as the print they used for it is nice and bright, and the audio commentary is, by and large, terrific. It's nice to hear Macchio, Morita, and Avildsen reminisce, though about halfway through, you begin to wish that someone would crush Robert Mark Kamen's throat, he drones on so much. Mercifully, he has to leave early for some reason or another, so things pick up for the second half.
Today, as I sit in front of my computer, I listen to the soundtrack (Commuter's Young Hearts is blasting away right now...), contemplate the superior experience that IS The Karate Kid, and wonder when and if any of my fellow geeks out there will track down the Holy Grail of lost soundtrack tunes - the never released The Ride, by some group called Matches, which is heard as the Cobra Kai descend upon the beach party, and prepare to administer the first of countless beatings to our favorite NJ transplant. Forgotten the scene already? Then by all means, go watch the movie tonight. As Tommy would say if he were here, "Take a right, check it out!" In contrast, if Johnny were here, he would merely sneer in your general direction, and proceed to reverse punch, or roundhouse kick you silly - perhaps while dressed in a skeleton costume, and rolling a joint (this, from a so-called "ex-degenerate". Sheesh!). So really, we should all be grateful that he's not here.
Your assignments for today - 1. Come up with at least one Mr. Miyagiism (in honor of the late Pat Morita, bless 'im...), and deposit it in the comment section, and 2. Sweep somebody's leg. Do you have a problem with that?
As the wisdom of Miyagi applies to so many areas of life, it will be hard to pick just one for inclusion, but I know you can do it.
Why sweep the leg? Here, or on the street...a man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy. Take inspiration from the Kai:
OUT of commission.
Other related links for today (just click on the bolded text to follow the links):
Bobby Brown's MySpace blog. No...not THAT Bobby Brown:
THIS Bobby Brown:
That's right - the disgraced, disqualified "good guy" of the Cobra Kai blogs about karate, Johnny, and all of the various twists and turns his life has taken. He's deep, man.
80s Tees.com
Home of my favorite Cobra Kai t-shirt. Their newest addition is one I'll be grabbing, too:
Bobby's Cobra Kai Gi on eBay
You deserve no mercy! You already missed out, as the auction has closed. View and weep at the awesomeness you could have had for a mere four grand, or so. Better than any lousy "Meeahjee-Turbo" bike that scrawny Danny from Reseda might find himself tossing into a dumpster - that's for sure.
I hate this freakin' bike!!
Now, go forth, and wax on, or you'll get squished - just like grape.