Showing posts with label Birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birthday. Show all posts

Friday, November 27, 2020

Top 15 Bruce Lee Kicks in Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection) (1972)

11/27/2020 10:54:00 AM  , , , ,  No comments

 


I made a set of 15 animated GIFs of Bruce Lee's kicks in Fist of Fury aka The Chinese Connection in honor of what would have been his 80th birthday. 


Enjoy!

15. These 2 kicks kick off (pun intended!) the Bruce Lee action!



14. Front kick disarm!



13. Flying side kick vs Yuen Wah


12. Standing jump kick


11. 3 kicks


10. 8 kicks!
 


9. Low-high


8. Spinning like a top!




7. Crescent kick


6. Dragon whips its tail :)



5. Side kick FTW!



4. High kick which looked like it was a roundhouse but it looked like it ended as a high sidekick.



3. Bruce Lee vs Han, wut!?!?! ;)




2. When Bruce's Chen Zhen visits a park, the guard points to the sign:
"No dogs or Chinese allowed."
A dramatic kick, not so much a technical kick!



1. The defiance of Chen Zhen!
The movie ends on this freeze frame!!
Bruce Lee insisted that Chen Zhen had to die to make the point that crime and violence does not pay. Chen dies honorably.




If you liked this set of animated GIFs, please check out my other animated GIF sets of Bruce Lee's kicks:



Which is your favorite kick from Fist of Fury/The Chinese Connection? Agree with my rankings? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thank you in advance.




Please check out these selected Bruce Lee-related entries...



Animated GIF's of Bruce Lee:




Videos of Bruce:



Other Bruce Lee-related posts:


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Thursday, February 01, 2018

Happy 53rd Birthday Brandon Lee!

2/01/2018 10:54:00 AM  ,  No comments

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Saturday, December 02, 2017

Happy 49th Birthday Lucy Liu! (Singlestick fight)

12/02/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , , , , ,  No comments



Happy 49th Birthday Lucy Liu! 


For animated GIFs I've made from this scene, please check out:







For other Lucy Liu-related entries:





For further info on Lucy Liu the birthday lady:


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Happy 49th Birthday Lucy Liu! (telescopic baton)

12/02/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , ,  No comments


Happy 49th Birthday Lucy Liu! 

For animated GIFs I've made from this scene, please check out:








For other Lucy Liu-related entries:





For further info on Lucy Liu the birthday lady:


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Monday, November 27, 2017

Top 8 Bruce Lee Kicks in The Way of the Dragon (1972)

11/27/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , , ,  No comments



Today would've been Bruce Lee's 77th birthday!

In his honor, I am posting the Top 8 Kicks from The Way of the Dragon (1972) aka Return of the Dragon. I couldn't narrow it down to 7 kicks for the alliteration of 7's LOL

Enjoy!



8. "Dragon Seeks Path" & "Dragon Whips Its Tail"
(I know, I know, it's 2 kicks :-)
This was the first scene in which we see Bruce's "Tang Lung" in action.



7. The Overhead Lamp Kick
(Look at the height Bruce gets on his vertical jump!)



6. Bruce X Whang Ing-sik - fast kicks




5. Bruce X Bob Wall - fast kicks
(feint low, go high - front to hook kick aka roundhouse)




4. Bruce X Chuck - Oblique kicks
(feint low, go high - oblique to hook kick aka roundhouse)




3. Bruce X Chuck - 5 rapid-fire kicks in succession





2. Bruce X Bob Wall - Stop Kick





1. Bruce Lee's Side-kick




If you liked this set of animated GIFs, please check out my next GIF set:



Which is your favorite kick from Enter the Dragon? Agree with my rankings? Please leave a comment and let me know.




TRIVIA

My deepest gratitude to my friend Badger Johnson for reminding me about Way of the Dragon trivia.

  • Bruce Lee had Chuck Norris put on weight to appear larger and more formidable.
  • Bruce Lee cast Chuck Norris in the film, because he was one of the few who was fast enough to take him on. Chuck asked Bruce if he wanted to fight the champion (at the time, he was the US Karate champion). Bruce replied, "No, I wanna kill the champion".
  • Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris allegedly made real contact during their fight scenes.
  • Bruce Lee spent forty-five hours on the fight scene with Chuck Norris. His choreographed instructions for the scene took up nearly a quarter of the script.
  • Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris were both born in the year 1940 (Chuck Norris was just eight months older than Bruce Lee).
  • Chuck Norris once said that he could never beat Bruce Lee in a fair fight.
  • According to the Bruce Lee documentary, "Way of the Dragon" is Linda Lee Cadwell's (Bruce's wife) favorite of all her husband's films.
  • Bruce Lee made several 'firsts' in the Hong Kong movie industry whilst making this. It was the first Chinese film be made in the West, and he was the first Hong Kong director to view daily 'rushes' in color. He insisted on doing this so he could ensure exact color - matching in editing, due to combining the location shots in Rome with the studio footage at Golden Harvest. He also refused to use the standard 'canned' music and commissioned a new score.
  • Bruce Lee dubbed almost all of the English speaking characters in this film including one line for the boss. That line is: "Take him out, but be careful with that gun in public".
  • Bruce Lee wrote the death threat note which the mafia gave to Uncle Wang.
  • Bruce Lee turned down the lead role in Huang mian lao hu (1974)/"Yellow Faced Tiger", directed by Wei Lo, in order to concentrate on making this movie.
  • In a phone interview with journalist Alex Ben Block during a lunch break on the set during early production, Bruce Lee confirms that the original working title for was originally 'Enter the Dragon'. However, once Bruce had gotten wind, that Hollywood had become interested in making a martial arts film with Bruce as the lead role based on the success of his two earlier films made in Hong Kong, Bruce decided to reserve the name and title 'Enter' for his first Hollywood breakout film and changed the name of this film to 'Way of the Dragon'.
  • In the Chinese language versions of the film (Cantonese and Mandarin), actor Whang Ing-Sik, who played the Japanese Fighter, actually spoke both English ("Who can do Karate better than the Japanese?") and Japanese ("Omae wa Tang Long ka?" meaning "Are you Tang Long?"). He was really a Korean martial artist.
  • Was billed "Return of the Dragon" during its western release in order to cash in on the success of Enter the Dragon (1973) as its "sequel".
  • The whole thing was shot without sound, with the actors looping their lines in post-production.
  • Unlike The Big Boss (1971) and The Chinese Connection (1972), in which guns only come into play when cops appear in the endings, the film has a more consistent presence of guns throughout the film. Even Tang Lung asks if he can buy a gun. This most likely comes back to an answer Bruce Lee gave in "The Lost Interview" (1971), when he was asked why so many martial arts films were period pieces. He simply used his fingers to mock pulling a gun out of his jacket, saying that this was the big reason. This would also come into play in_ Enter the Dragon (1973)_, when he asks, "Why doesn't somebody pull out a .45 and *bang*, settle it?" in regard to taking out the main villain, Han.
  • Bruce Lee hired Tadashi Nishimoto as cinematographer because he considered the Japanese to have greater technical expertise.
  • This was the first film that Bruce Lee made on equal footing with Raymond Chow, after they partnered their own company, Concord Productions.
  • Bruce Lee hoped to cast point-fighter Joe Lewis as an opponent in the film, but Lewis declined.
  • Last movie to be filmed in the actual Roman Colosseum.
  • According to the assistant director, Ching-Shun Mao, filming around the Colosseum was strictly forbidden, and the few scenes actually filmed there were quickly shot without the knowledge of the Roman authorities.
  • Most of the crew did not have international passports or working visas which meant they could only work in Rome for a maximum of three weeks. Bruce Lee and the crew made sure they got all of their required footage within just two.
  • Bruce Lee also played percussion on the music for the soundtrack.


SPOILERS

  • This is one of only two films in which Chuck Norris plays a villain (the other film, Huang mian lao hu (1974), AKA: "Yellow Faced Tiger", is also a Hong Kong-produced film), and the only film in which he is killed (he is only knocked out in the other film as the villain).
  • Bruce Lee does not fight till almost 30 minutes into the movie.
  • Bruce Lee's character has only one confirmed kill in the movie. He just kills Colt (Chuck Norris). It's unclear if he killed Fred (Bob Wall) or knocked him out.
  • In the final fight between Tang Lung and Colt, Tang is using the traditional Kung Fu approach but nearly loses the fight. However when Tang begins to use the approach of Jeet Kune Do, Tang gets the upper hand.
  • Part of the music in this film is actually originally from the Ennio Morricone score for the Sergio Leone western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The music used for Chuck Norris is taken from that film's track, "As A Judgment" (AKA: "The Grand Massacre"), and "The Transgression" was used in many of the suspenseful scenes (including when Bruce Lee explores the Colosseum to face Chuck Norris' character). Additionally, an excerpt of a track from John Barry's score for the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971), "Death At The Whyte House," was used in the scene where Uncle Wang, showing his true colors, wickedly stabs Tony and Jimmy in their backs with a knife.



Please check out these selected Bruce Lee-related entries...



Animated GIF's of Bruce Lee:




Videos of Bruce:



Other Bruce Lee-related posts:




WORDCOUNT

(This section I will not add towards November's tally as well as the header picture and video I made above... I will only use hand-drawn pictures or animated GIFs I've created towards Nov's NaNoWriMo totals):

It looks like I made my goal of 50,000 words via text and pictures towards the National Novel Writing Month/NaNoWriMo. Although I had a secondary goal of blogging everyday which I was not able to accomplish, but with NaNoWriMo, the ultimate goal was to blog regularly.

This post: 9,066 (1,066 words + 8,000 [8 GIFs at 1,000 each])
November running tally: 83,220 words
Words in excess of NaNoWriMo's 50,000:  33,220

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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Happy 59th Birthday Mestre Rickson Gracie!

11/21/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , ,  No comments

Happy 59th Birthday Mestre Rickson Gracie!!!

Posting a video of his appearance from The Incredible Hulk (2008) in his honor today!




In case the video doesn't display correctly, please check out:

https://www.facebook.com/www.stickgrappler.net /videos/1672728899445004/

Will embed when I hav a chance if the YouTube video doesn't display properly.


For the animated GIF's I've made from this scene, please check out:





For other entries on Rickson, please check out:



For more info on Rickson:



WORDCOUNT

(This section I will not add towards November's tally as well as the header picture and video I made above... I will only use hand-drawn pictures or animated GIFs I've created towards Nov's NaNoWriMo totals):

It looks like I made my goal of 50,000 words via text and pictures towards the National Novel Writing Month/NaNoWriMo. Although I had a secondary goal of blogging everyday which I was not able to accomplish, but with NaNoWriMo, the ultimate goal was to blog regularly.

This post: 9,117 = 238 words
November running tally: 65,068 words
Words in excess of NaNoWriMo's 50,000:  15,068

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Thursday, November 09, 2017

The founders of Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do - crazy coincidence or conspiracy?

11/09/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , , ,  No comments

I'm a bit weak on Korean Martial Arts and its history. According to wiki, which I know is not the most reliable source, however, according to wiki, both the founder of Hapkido (Hangul: 합기도; Hanja: 合氣道) and the founder of Tae Kwon Do (Hangul: 태권도; Hanja: 跆拳道) share a birthday!Yep, you guessed it, it's a 2-for-1 today, Nov 9th is their shared birthday!  Happy Birthday Choi Yong-sool and Choi Hong Hi!

(Begin Billy Mays voice)

But wait! There's more!

(End Billy Mays voice)

An aside ... for my readers who are not familiar with Billy Mays, he was an American known for his television infomercials and one of his catch phrases was "But wait! There's more!" where the first deal he talked about and an additional deal to sweeten the the already great deal.

Alright, as if that is not mind-blowing enough of the shared birthdate ... according to wiki, they share the same death date!!! Read that again my friends ... not only do they share the same birthdate, they share the same death date!

I can hear you all now, "No way Stickgrappler!!" What are the odds of sharing a birthdate? Probably not as low as one would think given 365/366 days in the year, however, tack on that the two shared the same death date as well ?!?!?! Mind-blowing!!! I'm not a mathematician or statistician, so I don't know the probability of this happening. Crazy coincidence or conspiracy? Most likely shoddy historical records or perhaps intentional misinformation given the nature of wiki.

As of the time of publishing this blog, this is the extent of my research. I will keep digging!


With all that said, Happy Birthday Choi Yong-sool and Choi Hong Hi!!





Choi Yong-sool/Choi Yong-sul
(Hangul: 최용술; Hanja: 崔龍述)
(November 9, 1904 – June 15, 1986)


The founder of Hapkido would've been 113 years old today!  He passed at the age of 81 in 1986. He was born in South Korea and taken to Japan when he was 8 years old.

Excerpted from wiki:

Choi later stated that he became a student of Takeda Sōkaku (武田 惣角, October 10, 1859 – April 25, 1943), and studied a form of jujutsu known as Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu (大東流合気柔術) while in Japan.

...

He first called his art "Yu Sul (Hangul: 유술)" or "Yawara (Hangul: 야와라; Hanja: 柔術)" later changing it to "Yu Kwon Sool (Hangul: 유권술; Hanja: 柔拳術)" and "Hap Ki Yu Kwon Sool (Hangul: 합기 유권술; Hanja: 合氣柔拳術)" and eventually Hapkido.

...

Choi Yong-Sool was honored with the titles doju (Hangul: 도주; Hanja: 道主), which can be translated as "Keeper of the way", and changsija (Hangul: 창시자; Hanja: 創始者), which simply means "founder".






Choi Hong Hi
(Hangul: 최홍희; Hanja: 崔泓熙)
(November 9, 1918 – June 15, 2002)


The founder of Tae Kwon Do would've been 99 years old today!  He passed at the age of 83 in 2002. 

From wiki:

Choi is regarded by many as the "Founder of Taekwondo" (Hangul: 태권도; Hanja: 跆拳道) — most often by International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) organizations. Others, such as the South Korean World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) organization, portray Choi as either an unimportant or a dishonorable figure in taekwondo history, whether by omitting him from their versions of taekwondo history or through explicit statements.



Both the origins of Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do are steeped in controversy. Check the wiki's for more information:

For more info:



Happy Birthday Choi Yong-sool and Choi Hong Hi!!



WORDCOUNT

(This section I will not add towards November's tally as well as the header picture I used above... I will only use hand-drawn pictures or animated GIFs I've created towards Nov's totals):

This post: 645 words
November running tally: 40,570 words
Words left:  9,430

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Sunday, November 05, 2017

Ted Wong (Nov 5, 1937 - Nov 24, 2010) would've been 80 years old today

11/05/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , ,  No comments



Ted Wong (Nov 5, 1937 - Nov 24, 2010) would've been 80 years old today.

I made some animated GIFs of him in action as tribute from "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method:  Basic Training and Self-Defense" .

Enjoy!








In case you missed my other Ted Wong posts:




WORDCOUNT

(This section I will not add towards November's tally as well as the header picture I used above... I will only use hand-drawn pictures or animated GIFs I've created towards Nov's totals):

This post: 8,081 words = 81 text + 8,000 (8 GIFs @ 1,000 each)
November running tally: 28,122 words
Words left:  21,878

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Saturday, November 04, 2017

The Ultimate Fighter Finale Season 16 - Vinc Pichel vs Rustam Khabilov (3 Suplexes!)

11/04/2017 10:54:00 AM  , , , , , , , , ,  No comments



Happy 31st birthday Rustam Khabilov! I made a GIF set from his Preliminary fight vs Vinc Pichel in The Ultimate Fighter Finale Season 16. Khabilov suplexes Pichel, not once, not twice but thrice!

Enjoy the GIFs!




NOTE:  Posted 11/5 as of 11/4. This note is not included in Nov's wordcount.


WORDCOUNT

(This section I will not add towards November's tally as well as the header picture I used above... I will only use hand-drawn pictures or animated GIFs I've created towards Nov's totals):

This post: 11,036 = 36 text + 11,000 (11 GIFs @ 1,000 each)
November running tally: 20,041 words
Words left:  29,959

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Stickgrappler's Sojourn of Septillion Steps