Re-launching my Youtube Channel

So, with my son's 4th birthday fast approaching, I thought now would be as good a time as ever to Re-launch my Youtube channel, and to do so in a major way. I say so because the last major thing I did for YT was Fists of Absinthe, which was produced and released right when my son Ty was born. (My wife was literally securing locations for us, handling insurance, etc while she was in the hospital). Around that same time (largely because of the production of the film), I also started Quiet Flame Productions and the Quiet Flame Stunt Team, and between all of these things, my Youtube channel, (as well as my own film career) pretty much just fell off.

While I don't regret any part of any of that, and I'm generally happy with where everything is, in recent months I've really come to realize just how much of the process of building out these things and taking care of family has cost me personally. In getting my functional fitness certification from IHP, and redeveloping my core, I realized just how much strength I had lost (and how generally out of shape I had gotten), and it made me stop and reflect on a lot of other things as well. I think at the end of the day, there always has to be a certain balance to everything and one way that I had gotten out of balance was in taking care of myself. Both of my parents basically lived their lives in the service of others, and while I agree on it's importance, I also think you have to do for you too. When I was training in Taekwondo in Korea, I was good friends with a member of the Canadian national Olympic team, and one of the things he told me that always stuck with me was "If you wanna win, sometimes you just have to be selfish." As long as it's in under the auspices of balance, I agree with him and think he's right.

In any event, when I was going hard on Youtube 4 years ago, I was getting about 30,000 hits a month, and had around 17,000 subscribers. Now, I'm at about 14,500 subscribers and about 15,000 hits a month. You are officially a "social media influencer" at 5000 subscribers, so I am still well in that range, although nowadays you aren't something serious until you have about a million or so.

In any event, in order to re-launch the channel, I am filming all new episodes of "How to Defeat Dudes" (my flagship show) and launching 2 other new shows: "Martial Strengthening" and "Inside the Stunt Actor's Studio". The first, as the title would imply is a show dedicated to showing people how to strengthen their bodies specifically for martial arts. The second runs along the lines of How to Defeat Dudes, and is also comical in nature, but centers around teaching fight choreography techniques as opposed to self defense techniques.

Beyond this, the one video that I'm the most proud of right now is the Re-launch video itself- 36 Weapons of the Human Body. This video represents the culmination of a 20+ year career of martial arts and I couldn't think of something more appropriate to Re-launch with. It's something that I have had bouncing around in my head for forever and I feel super happy to have finally shot it and edited it...and can't wait to share it.  Interestingly enough, I can also see a big jump in my maturity as a producer/editor as well because the quality of this vid is well above things I have made before. In any event, lots of good of stuff on the way, and this is just the beginning. At 15K now. My goal is to have 100K of followers by the end of this year. Lofty, but certainly not impossible.  To put it ebonically, Ain't nothin to it, but to do it! YOSH!!

Blazing a Hollywood Trail: Intimacy Coordinator Rachel Flesher

With Rachel Flesher- an international intimacy coordinator whom I graduated from stunt school
with back in 2011.  

So, it's not that often that I use this blog to write about other people; but every once in a while you get to spend time with someone who is doing something that's so unique that just worth writing about. In this case, the person is question is Rachel Flesher, a friend of mine whom I graduated stunt school with back in 2011. While teaching fight choreography and Japanese weapons work at the Paddy Crean this past winter I had a chance to catch up with her, here what she was up to, and actually take a few classes from her in a field I had never even heard of before: intimacy direction.

As aforementioned, Rachel graduated from stunt school with me 8 years ago, and also had a strong stage combat background, but in recent years, she had taken her training in a completely new direction, and was now doing intimacy coordination for Netflix and CBS. In hearing that she was doing this, in one respect I was surprised, but in another I could see the parallels:

- An action director’s job is to map out an action sequence to best tell the physical, action-oriented parts of a story, and to do so in a way that keeps the actors/stunt players safe.

- An intimacy director’s job is basically to map out sex scenes in the same way to make sure that no one is getting traumatized or taken advantage of. 

While an action director maps out the course of the action and how the camera will be used for it, the stunt coordinator’s job is to work with the stunt people themselves to make sure that everyone is communicating well and that everything is done in a way so that no one is harmed. 

While a stunt coordinator's job is to make sure that a stunt performance runs smoothly with no physical injuries
an intimacy coordinator's job is to make sure of the same things in intimate scenes with no emotional abuses or injuries. 

An intimacy coordinator’s job again is to do the same thing; to work with the actors to make sure boundaries are set, expectations are met, and consent has been properly granted for every step of the way- so that both parties can relax and do their jobs without feeling like they are being taken advantage of- by either their partner or the director.

While one might question the need for such a position (in contrast to stunts where people can get seriously physically hurt), it’s important to remember just how mentally traumatizing film work can be and for all the same reasons. At the end of the day, the director just wants the shot, and oftentimes, they are willing to go to any lengths to get it. For example telling a small child that his dog has died in order to get him or her to cry, or like in the Alien movies when actors were suddenly sprayed with animal blood with no forewarning to get a "real" reaction.  

In the same way that you wouldn’t want to ask a war veteran with PTSD to re-live a scene of getting shot at or watching his friend die, you also wouldn’t want to ask a person who has been raped, sexually abused or molested to re-live something similar without forewarning and the proper mental preparation. This is particularly true because so many people can carry sexual trauma without being open about it. 

While I was only able to take a few classes on it, I got to work with both Rachel and Alicia Rodis, both of whom work with and represent Intimacy Directors International. The perspective Rachel (coordinator) and Alicia (director) offered was absolutely fascinating; and applicable to not just intimacy direction, but stunt work and just better dealing with people in general. There was a lot of discussion on things like the difference between permission and consent. (Permission is given from someone from above like the director, and consent is given by the person engaging in the act themselves)and how to best get everyone into a mental space where they can open up to portraying intimacy organically without anyone being coerced for forced into something they don't want to do. I am a huge fan of life-long education, and I found this really enlightening. It was also fascinating because it's such a new field or set job, but it makes so much sense that you wonder why it was never there in the first place. But this is exactly the challege for Rachel and the others working in this field- they are creating it, defining it, and standardizing it as they go. I would encourage anyone who works in entertainment to learn what they can about this; I also applaud Rachel for her amazing work and look forward to the chance that I can work with her in the future.

More on Rachel and her work:
http://www.kokandyproductions.com/rachel-flesher/
https://www.writerstheatre.org/rachel-flesher-biography
Intimacy Directors International

Muay Thai Training in Bangkok

A shot with Tom, one of the Muay Thai instructors
at Chang Action in Bangkok,
who is also a TKD blackbelt. 

So in recent months I’ve been flying back and forth to Thailand to work on the pre-production side of an international Thai action film. 

While the work has been really cool, and I’m seriously digging it, I’m not actually moving all that much while I am there. That combined with the fact that I’m working with an incredibly generous producer who loves to share the richness of Thai delicacies, the fact of the matter is, these trips haven7t just been hard on the stamina, they have been hard on the waistline, haha. 

As I was out there and off diet for a full week this time, near the end, I was really starting to see it, so I thought it best to not just take in the local food cuisine, but the martial arts cuisine as well. 

The venue of choice was a Muay Thai gym called “Chang Action” near the place I was staying (at the suggestion of the producer). 

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. As I was pretty out of shape, and had never practiced Muay Thai before, on the first day, I tried to quietly come in to join the class in the back being as innocuous as I could. At which point my boss walked in and said in Thai. “Hey everyone. This is Chuck. He’s a big-time taekwondo champion from America.” There goes that. 

We started off with conditioning and light stamina work, which was totally manageable, and then after that, I was asked to go 4 rounds of target kicking. For anyone who has never fought before, even pro taekwondo fights are 3 3-minute rounds. 4 3-min  (especially when you are out of shape) was going to be exhausting as hell. To make matters worse, for whatever reason after all the conditioning was finished, everyone else left, leaving me alone with all of the coaches. 

Still, at that point, the challenge had been issued. And it was show my worth or look like a scrub, so I went full tilt. It was exhausting, but as I learned from TKD fighting, no matter how much it hurts, you have to show them you are in control, so I tried my best to do just that. Got through it and was just about to let out a big sigh of relief when the coach said “Hey you. One more round.” And damn did he push. By the knee drills at the end of the last round, I was completely exhausted. 

At that point though, I could tell that it was because he actually liked me, and it was that coaches “love tough” kinda thing, so it was actually really good. I quite liked the fact that they had the attitude of "This is how we train. Keep up." As opposed to sugar coating it or making it easier, the responsibility of being on top of your game stayed on your shoulders. Don't know if that is a Muay Thai thing, if that is because all the teachers are young guys, or if that is a Thai thing, but it seemed to be pervasive for everyone regardless of athletic background or age. And it was shocking to see regardless of the aforementioned factors, how people did just that. Made me think, "Damn, I need to push my TKD students way harder." haha. All the while remaining jovial, and lighthearted in a very Thai kind of way. 

During the session, I was also shocked at how many high kicks and spin kicks they asked me to do; but later on I found out why. The owner of the gym also ran a taekwondo club, and half of his fighters were also TKD blackbelts. 

Overall, I was really really happy to have been welcomed (and respectfully) put through the ringer at their gym, even though I was a foreigner, and from a different background. (By the end of my second session, they actually asked me to teach them some joint-locking) I remember listening to one fighter talk about fighting and training with Thais on their home turf, and he said it’s just like being a houseguest. If you are polite, and respectful, you are welcome. If you are obnoxious, arrogant, and self-righteous, you are not. I tried the former and completely found that to be the case. My gut feeling through, is that that is the same pretty much everywhere. :) 

2017- Looking backward...and (more importantly) forward.

Sunset in my hometown at the end of 2016; looking forward
bright sunrises in 2017. 

First blog in over a year. Actually two. But with 2016 and all of it’s perils behind us, I thought that it was time to push forward, and in doing so, actually reach back- back to the source, the original motivation, and the “f*ck this, no excuses” attitude that has gotten me this far. 

At the beginning of 2016, I listed out ten goals that I had for the year, and publicly stated them on Facebook so that I would have everyone to hold me accountable. So what I would like to do now is take note of those goals, what I could do, what I could not, and why. 

First off the ones that are completed: 

Pay off all of my credit cards- DONE. 

Reach 1,000,000 Hits on Youtube- DONE. (Currently at 1.3 Mil)

Work on my first International Film Project- DONE (Wrote a Thai action feature film)

Get a Japanese Driver’s Licence- DONE

The ones that are not, progress report, and reason for failure: 

Goal: Get down to 87kg (from 93kg)

Progress: Currently 90kg- halfway there.

Reason for Failure: Having Ty meant a general lack of sleep. Lack of sleep equates to laziness at workouts, higher cravings for sweet foods, and and far less physiological efficiency in fat burning. (If you don’t sleep well, you don’t burn fat well). 

Goal: Get my Ariel and TKD 720 kicks back

Progress:  landing them both again… but not consistently. 

Reason for Failure: Fine tune Athletic performance goals and weight loss goals are at odds with each other. The latter means you have less energy to work with; the former means you need to be running at your peak. Also goes back to the lack of sleep, and the crazy work load that goes with trying to feed a kid. Need to sleep more, and earn more per hour of work done. 

Goal: Create an extra $500 a month of passive income through video production. 

Progress: A little under halfway there- adding two more revenue streams in the next few months. 

Reason for Failure: One income backfired- in the short term cost more than it made- had to work more to compensate for the loss; consequently had less time and resources to produce. 

Goal: Complete the Kumon Japanese Grammar course, and move into the classic literature section. (2000 pages of work)

Progress: 1800 pages down. 100 pages into the classic literature section. 

Reason for Failure: Was waiting on the last package of notes to arrive before I left for Michigan, but they got lost in the mail and arrived after I left. (><)
Had I completed the previous section on my timing target there would have been time to get the last packet- even if it got lost in the mail. Shouldn’t have relaxed once I got near the finish line. 

Goal: Finish my current Korean textbook- 

Progress: Halfway there. 

Reason for Failure: Korean teacher’s husband got sick, and cancelled classes indefinitely mid-year. Didn’t find a new teacher. Ultimately no excuse. 

5/10. I don’t see this as a passing grade. Life always has challenges, and there are always roadblocks; but successful people are like sharks; they can only swim forward. As such, I have every intention of completing the remaining 6 goals, and as I complete them, add in several more:

1. Learn how to use the Tonfa, Sai, Western Single Sword, (Currently I can use Nunchaku, and Bo staff, and sword), as well as at least 3 firearms. 

2. Fully graduate from Kumon (complete the 600 pages of classic literature study).
3. Produce my next film or series. (4 projects currently in the works). 

4. Rebuild my person branding (which suffered a lot in the last year). Get back to Youtube and blogging and hit it hard. 

5. Rebuild my action instruction program, and (investor willing) open a brick-and-mortar gym. 

6.Reach a personal savings goal. (which I won’t publicly state so as to have the time and financial affordance to move in the right direction). 

2016 may have been a rough year (seemingly for everyone), but at least for myself, I plan on seeing 2017 at the opposite end of the spectrum. Day 2 now. Enough rest. Time to hit it hard. YOSH. 

Fists of Absinthe: Coming Late Summer

A still from the upcoming action comedy,
Fists of Absinthe (アブサンの拳）

So this past week, I wrapped on Fists of Absinthe, (アブサンの拳) an action comedy short film that looks to be my next big thing... When oddly enough, a month and a half ago, it didn't even exist as a thought... Well not exactly.

Since about last year, I've had an idea for a comedic intro to my webshow, How to Defeat Dudes, where I play a modern Black Samurai akin to Yasuke. (A character in Japanese history whom I have always yearned to play, but as yet have never had the chance to). In the skit, he is defending his sneakers against Samurai who want them for their lord. Aside from just thinking it would be funny, it would also give me a chance to do some swordplay-  something I have studied for several years now, and rarely (if ever) get a chance to use. I've also been yearning to do some kind of a futuristic Cyber Samurai thing for a while too, but up until this point, the opportunity for it was never quite there. 

Then, near the end of March, while filming the first few episodes of Martial Arts in Slow Motion at the Youtube Studio, one of the staff came in and let me know that they were building a Samurai period set for Youtube Partners whom they thought had the potential to create great content with it... And that they would be partnering with Toei studio as well for sets, costumes, props, etc. As I had recently started a new Youtube channel just for action film work and projects that I and my stunt team were working on, that was all I needed to hear. I applied for the program immediately, and was one of a few people to be accepted.

With only a month to do all of the pre-production, (writing and editing the script, putting together a cast and crew, scouting and securing locations, etc), I set out to create something awesome... And it snowballed into something epic. 

Having a production budget from Google, and support of Toei studios, I felt as though there should be no excuse for this being anything less than a 100% professional production, and as such I felt that the shoes that the story revolves around were important as well. 

As luck would have it, Adidas had just unveiled a new product line, and in particular their newest high end running shoe, the Ultra Boosts. Using a new kind of technology, the shoe offers a new level of impact absorption while also giving the wearer a feeling of "spring" with each movement. 

Given how much action would be in the film  (chase scenes, parkour, etc) I thought that this would be an excellent shoe of choice, and Adidas was kind of enough to supply pairs to the actors and stuntmen involved in all the action, as well as offer social media support.

 With that, everything simply snowballed. 

Completing make-up for the "future" fight sequence.

I contacted an American director whom I was a fan of, and with him he brought the DP, and post-production team. People and businesses started offering us their locations instead of my having to ask for them, etc, and before I knew it, I was at the helm of a major project. 

As great and amazing and awesome as all of this was however, it also made the project incredibly complex... At a time when my wife and I were gearing up for the delivery of our first child, (who was born the week before we started shooting) and as luck would have it, I had also just gotten cast to play a character in the biggest theatre show in the country at the same time. (地獄のオルフィアス)

Needless to say trying to handle all three of these things at the same time made this simply the hardest and most sleep deprived month I have ever had. 

Thankfully though, I had the best cast and crew that anyone could have ever asked for on this film, their work ethic was just phenomenal, and in the end, I think we made an excellent film. Having a cast and crew representing Japan, the States, and Canada, I feel honored and privileged to have been a part of it, and at the end I think we have something that people from both sides of the globe will really enjoy. As they say at Adidas, "Impossible is nothing." ;)

5 Factors to Consider when Choosing a Martial Arts School

Of all the questions that people ask me the most on the topic of martial arts, probably the most common one is how they can go about the process of finding themselves a good martial arts school. As such, I thought it would be nice to make a video blog out of it, so that people can find it online, have it look back on as a reference, and/or share it with their friends. Anyway, here it is.

Hope you find it useful, and it can help you to choose the right martial arts school for yourself.

Training in Japan 2: Tricking and stunt work at Studio BOS

Just finished editing the next episode of Training in Japan, profiling Studio BOS, where I do a lot of my trick-kicking, gymnastics and stunt fall training. Check it out! 

Sushi Typhoon Quadruple Movie Premiere

This past saturday, I attended the Tokyo Premiere of 4 Sushi Typhoon films: Aliens vs. Ninja, Dead Ball, Yakuza Weapon, and Hell Driver. It was great to get out there as I had a chance to catch up the with the films' producer (who also produced Death Trance), as well as spend a bit of time with Yuji Shimomura, and Tak Sakaguchi. My good friends (Kentaro Shimazu- whom I squared off against for the sword action part of my demo reel) and Asami were also there, as well as Yassy, as well as an actress whom I used to do pronunciation coaching for Miho Ninagawa, Miho Ninagawa. It was my first time to see everyone together since returning to Japan, and that made the trip out to Ginza for the premiere worth it inandof itself.

As for the films itself, Yakuza Weapon was heralded as having the best martial arts action, but unfortunately as I had a rank test in Karate that day, I had to miss it. Aliens vs. Ninjas also looked like a lot of fun. The only film I was able to catch was Dead Ball, and it was absolutely hilarious. Shockingly so. Although I had an idea of the kind of stuff that Sushi Typhoon makes (just from the people involved, and their previous work), I had no idea they would pull it off as well as they did until I actually saw Dead Ball. Although it didn't have much in the way of martial arts action, it was quite simply a hilarious film. Shockingly so. Imagine a live action version of South Park (complete with all the blood, profanity, and intelligent purpose behind it) done in typical Japanese slapstick style humor, and you are starting to get the point. I was also surprised at the fact that the film actually had some really huge names in the Japanese entertainment industry as well such as ( )the guy who plays Will Smith, Keanu Reeves and most other major Hollywood male celebrities in Japanese voice overs), and ( ). It was simply awesome. I've already decided to buy a bunch of copies and give them away as christmas presents. Can't wait to see AVN, Hell Driver and Yakuza Weapon!!

Martial Arts Action at WE Kids Health Expo!

Today I spent the day running a booth offering people an intro to martial arts screen action at the WE Kids Health Expo in Meridian Mall. Although I love the mission of the expo (showing kids a wide range of ways to exercise to help combat child obestity), I wasn't exactly sure how well my own particular interest would go over. (Particularly since MA action and stunts is much more for adults than anything else). Still I decided to set up a booth and give it a try anyway, and it turned out to be a great day and an absolute blast. I had a monitor with some action scenes playing and that was enough to get people's attention, so I had at least 10 or 12 people stop who and give it a try. Basically, I would just run them through a short sequence (and at the end have them throw me to the ground with an Irish Whip) and they thought it was hilarious! Eventually, I even started getting crowds to stop and watch and a few people even expressed interest in coming to my next seminar (next Sunday, Feb. 27th) which I thought was very cool.

Probably the highlight of the day however was a chance meeting with Michigan State junior XMA champion Micah Moore. His TKD school also had a booth at the Expo, and his master (who is a friend of mine) suggested to his mom that he meet me. From there, he wandered over to my spot and I took a minute to show him a few moves he'd never seen before. Apparently he had a good time because he came back a few hours later, and basically stayed to continue practicing. After a while I got so into teaching him that I stopped promoting my own stuff altogether. As a teacher, it's a rare chance to get to work with someone that motivated, (particularly of that age) and the kid just impressed me beyond belief. Backhandsprings, 540's 720s, you name it, the kid could nail it. Even the stuff I showed him, he got with no problems at all. The only thing he couldn't quite land was an Ariel (no hand cartwheel), but I'm sure that with one or two more sessions, he can get it. Particularly if we do it at my gymnastics gym where I've got all the right equipment to teach him. I've got a great feeling about this kid. Very much looking forward to working with him further.

First Day of Training at WWW

Today was my first day of training at the Winter Wonderland Workshop sponsored by the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) and the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat (BASSC). It's being hosted at a resort about an hour outside of Chicago, so it took a bit of logistic finagling to get myself here, but thus far it has been totally worth it.

The workshop is 3 days in total, and you have 4 classes a day, with each one being an hour and a half. This morning's class focused on the art of intimate killing (i.e. choking someone to death, maiming them with a knife, stabbing them and/or pulling the blade out so you leave a gaping wound).

After that, the next class was elemental combat which focused on choosing and interpreting one of the four basic elements (earth, wind, fire, water) within yourself, and then adapting it to fencing / swashbuckling style fight choreography.


In the afternoon, the first class was an introduction to further knife work (i.e. cutting angles, targets, etc). And the last class was short staff, but the instructor (who seriously dislikes the way short staffs are commonly 'cheapened' in contemporary stage combat choreography chose to focus on martial techniques instead, drawing heavily from Aikido. Cool sh--.

Unquestionably the highlight of my day was during the knife class. Near the end, instead of just giving us choreography to do, in order to make it more real and really get us into the mentality, the instructor put all of us in a circle, and made us chant 'Two men enter, one man leaves!' then two at a time we entered the 'ring' as combatants in white T-shirts. Instead of a knife, we were armed with a marker. As such, 'cuts' show up on your shirt, and a deep one means you lose. As a martial artist with 17 years of highly diversified ring fighting experience, I know how to move. And as a function of it, I was fairly confident that I would do well, if not win. In the end, out of the 20 or so people in the class, it came down to myself and one other guy (who I found out after was a martial artist of 30 years). Although I had the advantage of reach because I was a lot taller, he was really quick, and he got a stab in on my stomach. With that, he (and everyone else) thought he had won the match, until he stood up straight, and the long black mark starting from the Karotid artery and running across his trachea showed that I had slit his throat in the process.

Michigan State University Action Seminar

Recently, I had the pleasure of giving my first American action seminar at Michigan State University. It was a lot of fun, and at 14 students, I was pleasantly surprised to have a full turn out. The seminar ran for about 3 hours, and covered stretching, basic kicks and punches, breakfalls, and finally fight choreography. It was my firtst time teaching in English, my first time demonstrating my action ability in the states, and it was being overseen by a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, so I was a bit on the nervous side... But overall, I was really happy about how it turned out.

Probably the most comical part of the seminar was when we were practicing breakfalls out of a kick to the stomach, and the students insisted on yelling "This...is... SPARTA!!!" while they did it. (For those who don't know, Michigan State s sport teams are called 'The Spartans')

Anyway, the timing was just right, we got to everything that I wanted to get to, and everyone understood the choreography (and thankfully thought it was super-cool).

With that, I feel like I've got the confidence to move forward with organizing more, and with the excitement building as Michigan s film industry continues to grow ( from 3 films and. $2 million dollars in 2007 to 50 films and $300 million dollars next year) this is a great time to be here... And to be the only one in the state who can do what I do.

Chuck`s first Rock and Roll Musical!! ...with Katana fight scenes (?!)

So after the success of the short film, Miki asked me to join her again for an up and coming rock and roll musical she is co-producing called AWAY IN THE LIFE. Having very little theatre experience, I jumped at the chance, and so far, it has been a ton of fun to work on.

Insomuch as I can piece together without reading the script, (all in Japanese) it revolves around the formation of a rock band with a bunch a wild characters (an old narcoleptic woman, an ex hard-ass turned flaming drag queen, and a former super-nerd... turned hard-ass). Apparently, Miki's character is based off of a really famous old school Japanese rocker who will actually make an appearance during the show. Thus far, it looks hilarious, and I wish I had some way to show it to people at home.

As for myself, I will be playing a security guard (/ninja?) and I don't have any speaking lines, and am mainly there as an extra comic element.

Initially, as I was only brought in at Miki's request, (and the director had never heard of me) it seemed like the director didn't know what to do with me. As such, for my first scheduled practice (which I cancelled another job to go to) all I did was sit there. I was barely even acknoledged by him, let alone kept in the loop as to what was going on. Needless to say, my manager, Taka was none to happy about this, and after politely politely mentioning it, I was given another practice day.

As I could understand the director`s reservation about using someone who 1) he`d never heard of, and 2) he hadn`t screen himself, I thought I`d have to really grab any chance I could get to show him what I could do. Finally, after I was allowed to join a practice, he had asked me to do a certain scene where I usher a woman off stage. Instead of simply doing as he said, I picked her up, threw her over my shoulder and carried her off-stage. It completely caught her off-guard, her reaction was hilarious, and he loved it. As did everyone else. At that point, he seemed to take a liking to me. And he started expanding my role to the point that now I'm in 4 different scenes. He even asked me to go to Osaka with them for the Kansai shows. (Which regrettfully I had to turn down because I'm working full time).

I really feel like I've melded fairly well with the rest of the cast as well, and for the scenes that I am in, we've gone past just 'doing' and has actually started 'creating'. It feels good to know that I can have synergy with an all-star cast of Japanese talent, and that they could feel so comfortable working with me (especially since my Japanese still has a way to go). My agent Taka said this musical is going to be really really big, and he will be shocked if I don't start getting a lot of work from it afterwards.

As a live stage necessarily means no retakes, it`s both a bit scarier and more intense as compared to working in front of a camera, but I also think it will be more fun, as we will have the energy of the crowd to feed off of. I`m looking forward to the challenge. Should be fun!

Sukeban Hunters Hits Theatres!

The latest film project I did, Sukeban Hunters hit the theatres in Shibuya this weekend, and I`m looking forward to getting in to theatres to check it out. After checking out the new trailers on the website, (which were head and shoulders better than the last one released for both films) and getting a glimpse of the final product, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how much more polished it looked with the sound and visual effects in place. Just goes to show you the difference between the rough cut and the final (and why a lot of directors don`t want to show their rough cut to their actors ;)In any event, I`m excited to see them both in their entirety.

Unfortunately, Im in the middle of rehearsals for my first major theatre production, and have two all-day practices next weekend, so Im just going to have to wait a bit.

Duel in Hell


Final Death Ride Battle

11.20.09 - Norton Anti-Virus Campaign Video

Two days after the Playstation game shoot, I had another shoot for a Norton Anti-Virus Promo Campaign. (Click here to read about the campaign).

Basically, at the beginning of the campaign, there was a video to introduce a story about catching digital criminals, (click here to see it) and the PV I took part in was the video to close the campaign. This was the most interesting job I’ve done for a number of reasons.

The director was British, and the AD was Danish, so it was probably the first time in my work history that I could communicate with 100% fluency to people in both positions.

Beyond that, as you can see from the video, it was shot in a public bath which meant mosiacs on the crotches, spending most of the shoot in a hot tub (which sounds cool at first but gets tiring after the 4th or 5th hour straight), and trying to do a fight on very slippery floors. (So much in fact, that the 'Police Chief' was actually able to slide me across the floor at the end.

In the PV, my character was a ‘Yojimbo’ (A Yakuza Boss’s right hand man/bodyguard) but I was the center of the commercial and had almost all the dialog. This was challenging because it was ALL, not just in Japanese, but in Kansai-Ben,( the accent that people speak in the Osaka area), which I have had almost no exposure to.

Because the director wanted it to be re-written in Kansai-Ben (most Tokyo-ites think it’s a really comical dialect), the script wasn’t finished until the night before, and I didn’t actually get it until 11:00pm- and we were expected to be on location by 6:30am the next day.

Thankfully, we were filming sequentially, and I wasn’t needed until the 5 or 6th scene, so I had a few hours to go over my lines with a Japanese assistant. And we drilled them. It was tough, and (unfortunately for the other actors) it took a helluva lot of takes to get through my scenes. Now I know how Lazlo (who is Hungarian) must have felt during the Playstation commercial. Everyone was really cool and patient though, so I was pretty happy about it.

I also got to do the fight choreography for my scene. There was more I wanted to do (utilizing elements of the environment) but I the director wanted to steer clear of anything that was too dangerous looking. Apparently doing a pseudo-naked fight was risky enough.

Back in Uniform...

Started a new program at a health club in Saitama called 'JoyFit' today. The club is beautful. Everything is new looking, and it's expansive. Looks just like a gym back home. My program is called 'Taekwondo & Stretch' (Japanese English) and it consists of stretching techniques (dynamic, static, and partner stretches) coupled with Taekwondo techniques to improve muscle strength and flexibility. Had a turn out of 31 people for the first class. The studio was packed. Not bad for a start up. Still have a few ideas for things I need to add to improve the program (as well as things I need to take out), but overall looking forward to doing it again next week. It was my first time actually wearing my black belt in years, and I loved every second of it.

The Beautiful Sadness

A long time ago, when I first met Master Jang (my Taekwondo master in Seoul) and told him that I had come there to train because I wanted to go to the Olympics, he told me two things.

1) I am proud to teach you.
2) You will know ‘beautiful sadness’.

Being the traditional martial arts master that he is, he said no more than that, and simply left it hanging for me to process in my own way. In my youthful arrogance however, I assumed that I already knew what he meant.

Having had experiences like being forced to drink the water out of a used ashtray, and being locked in a pitch-black hole in the wall where I couldn’t stand up or laydown for several hours on end when I was a kid (long story) I’ve never felt as though I was a stranger to struggle.

At the same time though, having the child-like sense of humor and wonder that I do, as well as a ‘I love-everybody’ attitude, people have always persisted in looking down on me as naïve, ‘ignorant of the world’, easily-hurt and in some cases, just plain stupid. (Given the fact that I finished school with a 3.99 in my last semester and I’m teaching myself 6 different languages at the moment the latter has always amazed me).

When he spoke of the beautiful sadness, this is what I thought he was speaking of; the feeling that most of the people around you may not really know or understand you…(sadness) But that consequently, their lack of understanding also gives you a certain freedom from their criticism. (beautiful). Afterall, if no one around you takes the time to really know, how much can their opinions of you really matter? Not much.

For myself, at the end of the day, being accepted or rejected by most people means about as much to me as whether or not I have the time to take a shower before I go to work. To put it frankly, in other words, 9 times out of 10, I could give a sh-t less. It was this feeling of isolation coupled with social invincibility that I thought he was speaking of.

In the past 10 years of life however, as I’ve grown older, and gained experience in chasing this dream, I’ve come to realize that that is only one type of ‘beautiful sadness’. … And that what he was speaking of was another.

The beautiful sadness he was referring to doesn’t stem from that type of situation at all- it stems from sacrifice. In particular, the sacrifice that it takes to be the best at something.

As a former Korean ROC marine, and a graduate of one of the top taekwondo programs in the world, he knew full well the pain of pushing the human body past the limits of what it was physically meant to do… and the empowerment that comes from proving time and time again that your mind and will are both 100 times stronger than your body ever will be.

He knew full well the loneliness of dedicating so much of your time and energy to training that it was impossible to maintain relationships (or sometimes even friendships)… but also the fact that you develop amazing life-long bonds with those who are patient enough to come to understand.

He knew full well the desolation of failing 1000 times over… but also the insurmountable drive that develops to always pick yourself up one more time that life can ever knock you down.

The beautiful sadness he was speaking of, was the personal loss of self that comes from giving yourself to an ideal, but the strength that comes from realizing that it was always the ideal that mattered most anyway.

2008: Countdown till 30...

As I have mentioned to you guys before, I started this journey when I was 15. May 14,1994 to be exact. The first day I started taekwondo training. At least that’s the day I think best represents a starting point. Strictly speaking, as I said in the very first blog, I knew I was going to be doing all these things when I was about 11. Although I don’t remember the date (I didn’t write it down or anything), I do remember the day. It was late spring, I was walking home from school, and ‘the path’ simply laid itself out in front of me. It wasn't something I decided to do, and it wasn’t something I was looking for. It was something I simply felt like I was supposed to do.

It didn’t feel like a daydream, it felt like a vision. It was a known. Kind of like when you go to bed at night, and you know that the air you’ll breathe when you wake up will pretty much the same as when you went to bed. Can you prove it? No. But do you question it? Of course not. Because you just know. That kinda thing. Well… maybe that’s a bad example… given how quickly the environmental situation is worsening in China right now, peeps out there might be questioning that as we speak…but you get the idea.

There are other reasons I’ve learned to listen to my intuition too. For one, since I started this process, ideas and answers come to me in dreams a lot, and if I remember them, both are almost always more efficient than what I can come up with when I’m awake. Besides that, as strange as it may sound, I tend to get De jevu far more often when I listen to my intuition than when I don't. As if this particular path has already been laid out for me, and I’m simply retracing my steps.

I remember reading a long time ago, that Crazy Horse used to say that he had a certain ‘medicine’, and that as long as he walked ‘his path’ correctly, he would never be killed in battle, and he never was. (Eventually, he was killed by one of his own people). Perhaps he was speaking of something similar, and perhaps that's why I've never had any particular fear that things weren't going to work out for me either.

Beyond that, even when I’ve failed or made mistakes, the things that I was able to take away from those failures have always been far more useful later on than things that I would have taken away from a win. It's like every battle that I have to fight in life is like a lesson. If I won, I learned something. If I lost, I learned something different, and usually more important. The harder the battle I had to fight, whether won or lost, the stronger it made me, and consequently the greater my potential for success became. It’s like nature’s way of finding balance. And now, after all the struggles that I had to go through to develop my product and my own action acting career, both are almost ready to launch not in one country, but in three- and all at the same time. Amazing.

There were times however (and there still are) where I have my doubts. According to some psychological texts I’ve read, it’s also entirely possible that I simply suffer from “Delusions of Grandeur.” Lord knows that for all the progess I’ve made, I still make some pretty stupid mistakes from time to time. And despite all the amazing things I’ve learned and perceived in my efforts, for the most part, I still haven’t overcome the same inherent faults in my character. (Like the way I put things down when I’m not paying attention and then having no idea where I put them later- damn I hate that). In any event, things like that make me wonder if all the people who looked at me (and still look at me) with doubt are in the right, and me and my intuition are the ones in the wrong…

But either way, I always knew that if I followed my intuition and ‘walked the path’ it seemed to be whispering in my ear, I was bound to find out. And now here we are in 2008. Year 14 of the journey… and the next major crossroads.

At present, I’m at the airport waiting to fly to Chejudo, Korea where I will start my last hard push to win my own success as both an action actor and a business person. While I’m down here, I’ll be able to spend this month working full-time, with all of my expenses paid, while I spend my nights and weekends smoothing out both my action demo reel, and my product line, Phat English. Once the job finishes, I will return to Tokyo, and make my second (or third?) attempt at finding freedom from the burden of both financial struggle and full-time work.

From there I’ll have 8 months left time my 30th birthday- The time at which I either lock myself into this path or walk away from it, move to California to start the Ph.D program I’ve been putting off since I finished my undergrad. I guess in a way, the next 8 months will determine who is more ‘delusional’- me for listening to an intuitive feeling that keeps telling me ‘You can do this’. Or everyone else for doubting in it.

I'm not a basketball player...but I play one on TV

Before I left Japan to come home for Christmas, I had a chance to play the role of a basketball player on TV and in a print ad. Although the actions they needed me for didn’t require too much in the way of actual skill, the predominance of my time on both sets was spend hanging out and shooting hoops with the other actors (and actual players) on set. Initially, I was hesitant to take the jobs, but at the end of the day, I had a great time on both sets, and was actually surprised by the fact that I did pretty well. After almost 15 years, I could still shoot, dribble, and do lay-ups pretty much as well as I could when I used to play before. (But then again, I didn’t actually try dunking or anything fancy either- who knows what a disaster that might have been).

As I was on my way home from the shoots this really made me wonder just what I might have done with basketball had I stuck with it, and what life directions it might have taken me in. At the time that I quit, I certainly loved to play. When I was a kid most of my childhood went towards more intellectual pursuits like reading encyclopedias, memorizing dictionaries, and either building or trying to invent things. As a 9th grader, Basketball was the first sport I’d ever actually tried. And I loved it. Unfortunately however, as I had no previous experience with it, I just wasn’t particularly great at it… and as an African American I caught hell for it all the time. As a genetic anomaly or something. Finally, after a year and a half, I was convinced that I was just awful at it, and I walked away from it, embarrassed to play. And it wasn’t until I did these jobs that I finally came to realize that I actually wasn’t that bad at it at all.

Besides that, given how many other sports I’m come to play well, and just how many things I’ve had to figure out on my own in order to build a company and an action movie career at the same time, Im confident that I could have been really good at it had I simply ignored the mockery, and kept with it.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve developed such a fetish for trying to achieve the impossible and prove everyone wrong. It’s almost certainly why I ended up loving Asian martial artistry so much- 1)It wasn’t black or white. It was politically neutral. 2) There were no teams involved. No teammates or opposing teammates to have to live up or get along with. In the ring, there was me, and there was the other guy. He talked to his coach. I talked to mine. During the match, there was no talking, because there’s no time for it. At the end, we shake hands and walk away. It was pure…and I always loved it for that.

Perhaps this is also why being set up in that kickboxing match 2 years ago was such a hard experience to swallow, and why it still makes me so angry to think about. It took that neutrality away from me. They did all the things they did because I wasn’t Japanese, and as a taekwondo player, I came from a Non-Japanese style of Martial Arts. (My opponent was Japanese and from a Japanese style, and the crowd was also 100% Japanese.) The few other American fighters taking part were sponsored by the American producer himself so of course, they couldn’t do anything about them. It didn’t take a Ph.D to see what the domestic side fight producers wanted- even before the match took place. And the events that transpired in both the weeks leading up to the match, and the day of the fight itself certainly seemed to be directed towards that end.

One thing’s for sure though. If having the racial experiences that I had in the west pushed me to explore new cultures, then the raw-dogg racial experiences I’ve had in the east has pushed me to rise above them. Afterall, if you can’t fit in anywhere, you might as well be a role model everywhere ;)