Giddying martial artistry 31/07/2006

Monday was a race home after work to watch the second series of the Contender. Me, my brother and a friend really got into the first series and it was probably the highlight of last years television. There were so many things to like about it in the music, the subject matter and the bone crunching reality of it. Ok it might have been edited to suit the audience but it still didn't change the fact that the guys had to man up when it called for and be responsible for their own destiny in the ring.

I loved the team games, the internal bickering, the bald headed trainer who we nicknamed 'Eight ball', Sly's little comments and the finality of a defeat. It was always so well produced in how they always concentrated on the losing fighter at the end of the episode and the sad music when he had to hang up his gloves and talk the lonely walk down the darkened street. We were always really behind Sergio 'the latin snake' Mora. He wasn't the show's favourite unlike Peter Manfredo but he impressed me with his manner, politeness, dignity and intelligence out of the ring and his gloves off aggression when in the ring. I couldn't stand Tommy, the hat wearing trainer or Manfredo's dad who looked like Jim Belushi but either way Sergio won and I was over the moon.

Sitting down to watch this series we felt the tingle and magic return when the first chords of the main tune kicked in. The actual fight was entertaining, if a little slow, but did have a knockdown which bodes well. Anyway at least it's started and will now be a regular Monday evening fixture which will cause me to tinker with my swimming schedule a little.

Two meetings on Tuesday which were fun though it was again bloody hot. Managed to grab a hot lunch at Fatty Arbuckles. It wasn't a great burger but it hit the spot and it's nice to occasionally eat a burger with a knife and fork. Another night of TV beckoned with the lost double bill. Two good episodes again. One where they developed Sayeed a little more and looked at his Gulf war past and torturing skills and another really thought provoking, imagination fuelling episode which looked at Claire's pregnancy and revealed another hatch. This show is getting more intriguing and thankfully in these two hit the right mix of entertaining and giving enough info but not too much.

I should have gone to the gym on Wednesday night but it was too damn hot and I wanted to tinker with my site a little. So I stayed late in the office, put on some streaming soundtracks and mooched around. Kept tabs on games and films on IGN and IMDB and entered my blog into another battle. Needless to say I got beaten again and I do know why. It's because it's too long but as I've said before the journal is about me and it's primary goal is to maybe drive others to my site. Just a little frustrating that it doesn't always seem to work. The internet can be a great place for making a connection and interacting with others. It can make you feel like part of a greater community and then other times leave you feeling as lonely as hell. You seem to make a connection with some people and hope some regular dialogue could be generated but it seems that some others just get bored.

Entered another battle on Thursday, which although I lost again, did give me the chance to discover the site of my winning foe. http://3point1four.blogspot.com/ Certainly an entertaining blog and written with the same honesty and sincerity that I try to attach to mine. He also had some views on women and relationships that seemed to echo many of those on my site. I don't mind losing if it helps me discover an interesting read.

Friday was a little sticky in the office and an evening water fight with one of my bosses seemed the perfect way to cool me down. Was particularly entertaining throwing an entire bucket of water over her in the car park. She had been squirting me with a water pistol so it wasn't without provocation or motivation. Once I dried out I raced home to collect my bro before returning to a cinema on the Greenwich peninsula.

One of my favourite films from last year was Ong Bak. A welcome shot of wire free, no cgi martial arts that left me giddy with excitement during and after I'd seen it. Needless to say that the star, Tony Jaa, had been working on another film which I'd been keeping tabs on for when it would arrive over here. It was a film from Thailand and subtitled to boot and because of this was only available on limited release. To this end the website directed me to the closest cinema to me that was showing it. It was a new complex that I'd seen when driving into the Blackwall Tunnel but never actually been to. It was quite cool really. Two floors of screens in a circular building. Got our tickets and over priced drinks and headed up to the second floor. Bearing in mind it's limited appeal I wasn't surprised at it being up in the gods. I was surprised however when I walked in to see three rows of about 15 chairs and the screen. It looked like a motion sensor ride that you might find in an amusement park and as it was full up we were left with the front row. In comparison it was quite a big screen and it was probably the closest I'd sat to a movie screen.

The movie started and in many ways it was quite poor. The acting from some people, the story, some of the dubbing and the way that things had been dreamt up that would look good in a set piece but no explanation given as to why they would be there. You could tell the film wanted to be a western one or at least appeal to the western audience and had it's share of flashy camera movements and quick editing which I did get a little concerned at. I don't mind some of the flashy stuff but I was worried that I might not be able to see some of the fight moves. The story didn't have a lot of cohesion or explanation and was shot on some of the graniest stock I've ever seen but after a time you didn't really mind. What it had was imagination and energy. It spent a lot of time showcasing the elephants which then paid off near the end and explained why Tony reacted as he did.

It wasn't your staid hollywood film that follows a series of tick boxes and although a little jumbled and chaotic, it was it's energy that dragged you along with it. When the fight scenes started you couldn't help but gasp out loud, maybe put together a little clap or even just quietly mouth obscenities. The fights in Ong Bak are excellent and I did wonder if they could be improved upon and amazingly they were. The first major fight in this bus/tram warehouse had some amazing stunts but still didn't catch fire for me. The next was this continuous four-five minute shot as Tony worked his way up this circular staircase dispatching goons at every opportunity. By the time he got to the top you could see his was completely knackered but it was still amazing.

The best fights though were the ones where he was upset. Then he was fighting angry and you could see the rage coming through in his fighting. There are so many martial arts films where the hero talks about his combat skills only being a form of defense and he seems to just parry blows and push others away. In this one though, and certainly at the end fight which seems to last for about 15 minutes, he fought annoyed and intent on causing some serious damage. This is the kind of fighting I've always wanted to see. A fighter who has had something taken from him and is so enraged he wants to take it out on everyone else. Tony goes through this troop of bad guys snapping arms, knees and any other bones he can think of in mind boggling, wonderful style. The moves are breathtaking and so inventive. I couldn't stop giggling in a mixture of shock and awe. He really gave the impression that he was dangerous and you felt like you wouldn't want to enter his body zone for fear of coming out with a dislocated shoulder and your arm broken in three places. The film even managed to inject some x-ray style footage of bones breaking and snapping.

You've got to hand it to the main lead. He researched the ancient art of Muay Thai for Ong Bak and in this film even went some way to invent a new style which related to the elephants (ie breaking, stomping etc). He is incredibly athletic, creative and does possess some emotional range. When he is torn apart by the death of those close to him you can really see it and the rage that the sorrow creates is unleashed in a wave of bone crunching fury. I hope he goes from strength to strength, getting more fame and bigger budgets. One can only hope that a hollywood studio doesn't get hold of him and water down his style and impact to the insipid level that it did with Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4. Considering this is only his second major film (take a look at Chan, Li and Van Damme's early films) I think he has a very promising future and one that he richly deserves.

Such an entertaining film. When I left the cinema I felt exactly like I had after Ong Bak. Tingling, breathless and light headed from what I'd seen. Ok the makers might have chucked just about everything in the film to push it along but in a way I respect them for doing their utmost to entertain the audience. Like I said before in this age of sanitised films where studios are wary of taking chances and want to put everything into the trailer this was a really welcome blast of exuberant film-making that dazzled, enthralled and exilarated me.

I had to be up early on Saturday to get my car in for it's first yearly service. Wow a year. It's been a good car and I've enjoyed driving it though I do confess that I hope I might have had a few more compliments from women about it. I don't mean that as some kind of chav, boy racer but I would have liked to have maybe gone out on a date once in it and had the car looking spick and spam in the evening when I picked up the girl. I'm not being a caveman but when you pay that little bit extra it would have been nice to have my ego stroked by a female about it at least once in the last year. Dropped the car off and not wanting to walk all the way home decided to go and find a park somewhere. Thankfully it was lovely and sunny and after grabbing some cans of coke found a little park. It was completely empty and I took the chance to soak up some rays and listen to my Nano. It was really nice actually. I read a little of the paper and it reminded me that it's possible to get some real pleasure from the simplest of things. Naturally I made a mental note that I should get up earlier more often but I'm sure that will never happen.

The garage called earlier than I'd expected and I picked it up with no troubles or problems to report. Hit the swimming pool with my bro and did about 30 minutes of lengths before they closed the swimming lanes and got out the float matts. The big kid in me was desperate to play on these and we spent the next half an hour clambering up onto and them and trying to knock each other off our respective circular floats. The only downside was that every time I tried to pull myself up onto a float I would rub my chest like it was sandpaper across the float. By the time I got out of the pool my chest was practically red raw and a little tender, especially when the hot water of the shower hit it. Went to the park after for some american football throwing. I enjoy it but I must admit my bro is very good at throwing, better than me, and likes to unleash some real long range 'bombs' now and again. I think I must have dozed off a little in the park before we grabbed some nosebag from Sainsburys. I even got a little quiche, how parisian!

Thinking that more people, ok girls, might be out now that pay day had come my friend and I decided to head out. Grabbed a drink in O'Neills but again seemed to be getting unnecessary knocking from shaven headed arsewipes so moved onto to another place. I must have seen about three sets of girls read my t-shirt and then start laughing and getting their friends to look over. This time it was the 'can you please tell your boobs to stop staring at my eyes' one. The third and final ones were a couple of girls who then actually took the time to tell me how much they liked my t-shirt and how it made them laugh. We started chatting and they were both very entertaining. They were both teachers and one was 33 and the other 24. The eldest had a very good line of conversation with an assortment of 'out there' questions and we impressed ourselves by getting Machu Pichu, the Ngoragora crater and the finger into the conversation. We bought them some drinks and discussed where we might move onto later on. We were having some laughs and the 33 year old revealed that she had never sent or received an email and virtually never went on the internet. Out went the point in me leaving her with one of my cards then. She seemed a strange one really. She didn't want to embrace the technology of the internet yet had a picture of her ample and impressive bikini covered breasts as a screensaver on a phone.

I thought we were getting on well although I felt the 33 year old, who was the more entertaining, was far more interested in my friend. We were all laughing and conversation was very diverse ranging from methods of arse wiping and kissing to music and movies. They weren't adversed to looking around at other guys in the bar which I'm sure they would have got the arse with if we have done it as blatantly as they were. The 33 year old started to talk about how she liked being in the nude and did the housework naked. I expressed concern that she might cause tugging on her breast muscles if they had no support when hoovering. She said that there wasn't a problem and I jokingly said well they look fine but if might be more of a 30 pen colouring set test rather than a pencil test if she continued doing so. She mocked that she didn't like me anymore. Her mate disappeared to the toilet, she then joined her and the next minute they both walked straight out without a word. I was a bit pissed off if I'm honest. I hadn't caused it and our conversation had moved to this level of sarcasm but I believe they had some more irons in the fire and wanted to run with another meet up. The biggest frustration was that it was now 11.30 and we had no chance of getting in anywhere else. We had thought of going to the bar from last week but even though it looked busy the bouncer wasn't letting anyone in.

How typical, I can understand them keeping options open but it was just the fact they we were now left with no options. I was disappointed in their lack of manners but hey that's girls. Only with hindsight would we have checked our watches and then left them at 10.30 to head round to the other bar. Knowing my luck it wouldn't surprise me if the misery had been in that night as well. I dropped my mate off home and headed home frustrated. It was just a shame that an entertaining night had been curtailed so abruptly and with no chance of us moving on anywhere else. Even more frustrating was that for some unknown reason the t-shirt was getting a whole lot of attention and may have garnered even more had we made to the other bar. I know everyone says that you don't meet women in clubs and I'm not looking for a future wife there but it would be nice to go once and maybe come back thinking 'wow, I met someone nice tonight, maybe something will come of it'.

Sunday was uneventful and we watched the Garfield movie on a friends recommendation which was truly dreadful. The only bit we laughed at was when of the dogs who could talk because it seems that some could and some couldn't said to Garfield 'what the hell are you talking about'. If only a studio executive had said the same to the guy who pitched the idea of this to the studio.

Until next week.