KARATE KID

I suppose someone felt they had to do the remake. The only thing that spoiled the original kids' movie was that neither the teacher nor the student had a clue about karate. (When Miyagi fights in long-shot, he's doubled by Fumio Demura, who knows exactly what he's doing.) Many people are already saying the new movie should be called the Kung Fu Kid on the basis that a) it's set in Beijing, b) the martial arts are all Chinese (wu shu/kung fu), c) there's no karate in it. On the other hand, hardcore shaolin chan and hardcore shotokan (or other styles) really aren't that far apart.


So why go see it? It looks like fun, and the Miyagi figure is played by... Jackie Chan. Oh, my God. He's about my age. And he's old enough to be the wise, old teacher. Blimey.

On a forum that I breezed through yesterday, a newbie karate student asked forum members whether he should start weight training. The advice ranged from never, not until he's a brown belt, to start right now. Of those who advocated weights, some insisted he only do high reps, while others insisted only low reps would help. No one actually explained what attributes different forms of training develop; nor did they ask about the guy's background, circumstances, motivation and goals. Some didn't even seem to recognize the importance of strength training (though others pointed out that it's traditionally been part of karate - in Okinawa they used weights that weren't shaped like barbells, but it's still weight training - called hojo undo (rhymes with mojo mundo))...

Anyway, they ought to check out Alain Ngalini.

I wanna be him, when I grow up.