Training Footage finished, Little jobs done

With the wife on holiday I have a few more minutes in the day to do stuff I have been meaning to do but haven't, I've finally cleaned out the house and my new car and put some seat covers in and it looks aLOT nicer now, check it out :)

Sporty huh? :) Been watching My Kitchen rules on TV which is simply the best cooking show out there! It's the second season I've watched and its amazing how human social interaction works, theres always backstabbers and jealously, all around nice guys and friends who seem like more than friends. Below is what I had for tea last night, hardly ala carte but I had half an hour, not 5 hours like the pros haha ;)

In order to get ahead in lfe you have be enegaged and involved otherwise you do what you always do and plateau. I Haven't been to the library in a while so I decided to make the drive down to central yesterday and these are the three books I will be reading over the next couple weeks. One for fun, one for inspiration, one for work ethic, I might make a blog about the sales stuff next time if any of you out there are into sales, it's a lot like martial arts for me, all knowledge is useless knowledge if you don't apply it. Yesterday this chinese guy was flashing buying signals all over the place and by the time I realized I had a different customer who was taking ages and he was walking out the door. Boom, no sale for you.

Another thing with goals and the law of attraction is if it isn't constantly in your mind the opportunities to fulfill it will be a lot harder to come by, this is budget but this is my vision board I have in my living room, as you can see it has my dream house, my dream car, pics relating to my goals as well as my goal list for this year.

Enjoying Football at the moment, will be playing 3 times a week, attempting or working on most of the goals on the list. Be interesting if I get them all by the end of the year, especially number One!!!

Also, having nothing to edit I finally put together the test angles I shot with Sana in December at the JKD gym, the finished video is below and cut to Yelawolf's Firestarter track off his new mixtape which is awesome, it makes a big difference to me having good music to listen to, bought Ellies album, frank ocean, didos album and the killers new album all recently and enjoying the trip to and from work haha Anyways, enjoy the video below,

Last of all, finished the outline of the Ivy Investigation series and seriously considering shooting that before Chase, that way I can do a bit of acting and have something to sell or on-sell after Chase comes out. Plus I think its good though different, I'll shoot the pilot over the coming weeks and see if people like it :)

Till then, enjoy April and may every day be full and prosperous! Always look for opportunities ;)

2013 - Film progress

December/January didn't hold much careerwise, just focusing on learning the job, now that I know how to do it I've started work on the Chase rewrite. I sat down with an Indian Actor who is making moves at the moment and he is keen on the film providing he gets more screen time, so I've had to change a few things so now it's back to the original buddy film idea. Here's his IMDB profile anyway. He's professional and easy to get on with so if all goes well (our schedules, financing etc) He will be the co-lead of Chase. I'm also looking at Lee Ah Yen who I worked with back in a couple of student films Last year at being the villian but again, thats subject to his availability as he's been mad busy recently which I congratulate him on :)

Unti then I'm chilling like this guy and working on the script :)

In December I was looking at testing out the canon 5D with a friend, Sana, who I had worked with before on a student project. We ran out of time to shoot everything but after seeing the footage, I'm pretty impressed and will add that to my 'to buy' list. In the meantime though I will just buy a cheap camera to shoot some quick test films before my mock trailer for Chase. Below are some of the pics, what do you think? (tomorrow I will add the edited video of what we finished)

Also in December I traded punches with a TKD guy as I searched for an actor to play the part of the enforcer in Chase. We shot some choreogrpahy I had written and got his neice to film it so we have a record of it, It turned out nice, the video is available to check out on my facebook page, but here's a couple snapshots to entice you until we get top film the real gritty short film sometime next month :)

I'm back to regular training now, my aim is to train at least 3 times a week, which will improve my fitness, keep my technique sharp and also let me fufill my 'do one thing for me' promise I wrote in my resolutions for this year. Here I am below with Chris after a light sparring session :)

 So yeah, onward and upward! See you next post =) with some good news ;)

Thoughts on my martial arts journey

My journey into martial arts has been one prewritten for me. I joined karate when I was way younger maybe 7 or so? Only for maybe 4 months maybe as dad pulled us out cos he didn't think we were getting anything from it. They would joke about years later when I began promoting that during the bow in process one class when I was a kid with my head down thinking about the class ahead I actually fell asleep lol. Then again, thinking back, I can understand why. I joined the same club again in 2009 except this time it was as one its self defence consultants, selling karate memberships as well as training in the art with the aim of teaching it later. After that fell through, I stopped training.....as I found my self training not because I enjoyed it anymore but because I felt obligated to continue, seeing the path before me I quit.

It was also during this time I had been reading up and rewatching alot of Bruce Lee Movies and documentaries. I got my hands on as many books as possible and through his work I realised what it was that I was missing. No holds barred, free expression martial arts based on the science of using what works for you and discarding what doesn't work for you. I knew I couldn't learn from books alone but there were no JKD schools around me in Christchurch. So I kept fit in my backyard and by playing indoor football. And thought one day I could travel to America.

Then Last year March 2011 I moved to Auckland to pursue my dream of being an actionstar. And it was during my first time walking around the city centre that I discovered the martialarts shop, and that shop, thank god, I found a flyer about NZ's first JKD school opening up. I texted him right away, we got conversing and I was invited to his house as he and a couple of his students were training, Chris was his assitant instructor and those 2 taught me heaps. Sifu showed me some things and some nunchaku and I was hooked. I finally found the missing pieces to my expression. There is a bhudist saying, that when the student is ready, the master appears. I think this was happily, the case here :)

Anyway over a year or so later with a life full of ups and downs training and not training I am back in the gym. After my sanda fight a couple weekends ago I am back to prove to myself not let myself down again. True to form, on the thrusday after I returned to training and got back into spar, I won 6-1 sanda rules and didn't get taken down once. If I just don't think, relax and attack in broken rhythm I have all I need! The Wushu tournament showed me that I don't need to do anything but be myself and let my body do the work instead of overthinking things. I read book where Bruce lee once said when somebody asked him how come he can kick so fast, he said one day a ladybug asked a centipede how was it that the centipede could walk with all of those hundred legs? when the centipede tried to think about how he did it he stumbled and fell over. The moral being just be. Your eye blinks before you see the speck of dust in the air, alot of us speak before we think lol I just need to let my fist find the opponents target instead of taking that second to think how I'm going to throw this punch, because it's that second that the opponent uses to duck my punch and take me down.

So yeah, learning some Dummy stuff at the moment and more wrestling take down techniques, and the more I'm learning the more I feel I've found my calling. Just wanting to share this with you all because it feels good to find a home away from home. Sifu took his JKD class from his house to a memorial hall then to a school hall, and now he owns a fully customised gym with punching bags, a ring, weights equipment, dummies and wallbags. I'm happy I was there near the start and can see how big the club has grown, I also feel I'm a more complete martial artist then I once was. I hope to one day teach it. Because though sometimes the sweat and energy burnt on that gym floor can seem crazy, the rush you feel when walking away with a smile makes it all worth it :)

The Sanda Fight, My first public fight

"I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life."

MUHAMMAD ALI, comment after losing to Ken Norton, Mar. 31, 1973

Yesterday I took part in my first Sanda competition at the NZ national wushu champs, Weighing in at 69.1 Kg, and having trained about 4 times between the announcement of the competition and competition day without any sparring in between, I wasn't over confident nor naive to think I would do well, relying on natural ability and drive. However I thought that the experience of the fight and the opportunity to test myself against an opponent outside of the club was too big to be missed. Not only would this help me grow as a martial artist, but it could also be a catalyst to help me get my life back together . It didn't disappoint.

I knew in my heart I wasn't prepared and they say a fight is won or lost before you even step inside the ring. I thought that even so, I would be OK. A couple days before the fight I learnt some takedowns from Sifu and one of his talented students, but as brucelee said, you shouldn't punch but let the fist hit all by itself. I can kick and punch without thinking, but takedowns and counter attacking is still very thought taxing for me and I believe that downtime cost me this fight. (And obviously, the lack of real life training thanks to my car and transport issues. )

Walking into the gym bleary eyed and heart beating at 9 in the morning (fights at 11.30) I was instantly struck by the level of fighters there. I could already see from the build and the way they conducted themselves these guys had been training very hard for this, and possibly do this thing all year. I definitely felt way out of depth here. We warmed up in a nearby gym outside of the main stadium, before the organisers went over the rules.

Then we went back to warming up and they called the draw out. Murphy's Luck they called my name for the first fight of the tournament. The guy I was fighting was called Jack something, he was a member of an mma club (they told me after he had fought before), and he took me by surprise with a square sock to the face, a little dazed I continued fighting, trying to work my way in, but my efforts tired me quickly. His takedowns were pretty efficient and he made good work of the thigh kick punch combo, in fact, it really impeded my efforts to fight my thigh was so bruised from the whelps.

Anyway, The fight ended near the end of the second round having been thrown off the mat 3 times. He went on to win the gold medal so I'm not complaining, Well done to him, it's uncontested that the better fighter on the day won that fight. I'm grateful to learn this lesson the hard way. Since then I have fought in the ring at my club, with a slight limp, but did well, dominating and in control, not on the back foot retreating like I did back then, now I'm back to my normal self, dancing to my own rhythm, striking with my own trigger. When takedowns become second nature to me and a punch is nothing more than an annoyance instead of a threat, I'm going to get one of those medals next year. Til then, I'm going to train, train, train :)

Here's some pics, 

and here's my bruise from my opponents leg kicks. thanks friend ;)

I'll post the video too once I edit what I have together in one coherent clip. Til next time!

New Year, New opportunities :)

Happy New Year Everyone! Time to eat last year's challenges :)

2012 Promises to be a defining year for me as I create more opportunities and finish projects that have long been gestating. So let me share with you all what to look forward to;

1) I graduate from SAE (knock on wood) March 2012 and then I can start work on my Indy no-budget feature, Chase. (completely rewritten from the original sci-fi action thriller I mentioned months ago which is now retitled Hunter).

Chase will be a 80 minute feature film and I aim to start shooting April 2012, hopefully to be edited and available off my website Dec 2012/Jan 2013. It's the story of a wannabe action-star (yes, loosely based on an exaggerated version of me) and his road to honesty. I've written 5 fights into it and plenty of comedic gags as well as some heavy drama to give my first feature some heart and soul.

2) Also in March I hope to have also finished Phonecall, the action/thriller staring Nazim Khan and myself. I hope to enter this in some low key festivals and spread the word about my style of film. All i have left to shoot are the 2 fight scenes, a flashback and some pick up shots.

3)Also in March I will also enter JOB 23 into film festivals too, this drama/action film is what I have decided to turn in for my SAE definitive project, though I had wrestled with shooting Bouncer or Maria, I have decided that budget and cast/time frame wise this is the safest and easiest option.

4)In order to become the film star I am aiming to be I need to work on my acting as well as getting exposure on national television and more views on YouTube. I will be chasing as much extra work as possible as well as trying for ads, student films etc, but I am hoping working on my own films will give me the exposure I seek. I don't want to start my website without something to sell to a fanbase I can grow, so I'm working hard on my Actionstar webseries....

5)I aim on learning Nunchuku and Parkour properly this year so I can feature them with my Jeet Kune Do in my movies, as all 3 very exciting to watch onscreen in my personal view, I want to be able to execute them as perfectly as possible.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to have some more videos or photo's to share with you over the coming year as I chase my dream of becoming New Zealand's first action star :)

Thanks for your support even though as an action hero I'm only in the beginner stages :)

2010 Showreel and latest Sparring Video vs a Kickboxer

Hi Team :)

Things have been quiet lately on the film front, my wife's finally here in Auckland living with me so been spending alot of time with her lately (movies, monopoly, dates, walks, planning, jobhunting etc) but back to filming stuff late this month. In the mean time I have cut some videos for you.

2010 Showreel.

This is basically all the best bits of my actionwork in 2010 cut together into one file using windows movie maker. Also, a good reference to use against my current work to see how far I've improved :)

Latest Sparring Video

I sparred with a kickboxer who was looking at maybe joining the club, I lost a contact at the start of the fight so I didn't give 100 percent and I hadn't trained in the last week so was unfit as, so excuses aside I thought I did alright, still, as Sifu said I have to stop being nice and kill it. Next time. On a side note I have thumb-nailed a pic from the first round below, he was going to kick me and I was in mid air yet somehow my force (no gravity though) knocked him down. Thought it was pretty cool.

Have finished and handed in my definitive Film script for the end of course assignment. 12 minutes long (which was the max) and it's tentatively called 'Maria'. It's best to describe it as a cross between Drive and Unleashed with a female hit man as the main lead. The problem won't be the violence/drama/casting. It's gonna be the fake blood!! because I have written LOTS into the script. Though I have still got to wait and see if it gets approved first. Will keep you posted ;) Until next post, smell the roses, enjoy life and chase your own dreams :P

Make your magic :)

Sparring Video: Matt K vs Lee Ah Yen Oct 12th

This is the sparring Video from the October 12th spar between Me and Lee Ah Yen ('Everyones a loser when it comes to love' and the upcoming SF project) Which was a fun bout and good for when we choreograph the SF project in late November.

An example of his reach advantage due to his massive height lol, he can punch in the face before I reach his. Below are other screenshots during the match, anyway looking forward to shooting our first fight scene together in November :) Til then, news assignment, All blacks final, Bring Wife to Auckland and News Show production to go ;)

JCP - 2nd JKD test film :)

JCP (Jie's cigarette pack) is our 2nd test film, the weather was great which meant we could film in more space, plus I'm in this one too, anyway give it a watch and let me know what you think ;) Inspired to start shooting 'Chase' soon, getting better at shooting the action the way i want - considering none of these last 2 test films were choreographed or storyboard, turning into something natural :) See you with the sparring video Monday night :)

'Max' - JKD test film #1 and Almighty Johnsons Shoot

Hi. Have you watched the film? 'Max' was created and shot in 3 hours during a Sunday practice to show off some JKD techniques and also so I could get some practice shooting martial arts scenes as I get closer to filming 'Chase'. Check it out, they don't do nunchuk fights much these days in films but I love nunchuks and my club mate and sifu are awesome at them so why not give it a try myself? :)

Also finally got my copy of Blitz DVD and poster today, celebrated with a Matt special -obligatory pizza and coke :)

And on monday I was an extra again which was awesome, the more I do the more chance I have of climbing the ladder. This time for Almighty Johnsons, as they shot their first episode for the new second Season. It was the first time that I had been on something professional that was shot on location. (all others have been in sets in warehouses) They had booked out a Pool bar on K road for the day and we shot some scenes in there. When I first arrived I wasn't sure where to go then I found all the buses and trailers were parked down the street. So I got there, introduced myself, met up with the other extra's and then got costumed up, which was good, as I've pretty much worn all the good 'bar clothes' i have in all the Shortland St shoots. In this role I was just one of the pool players playing in the background. Which meant remembering when and how I took my shot in time with the other guy I would be playing with, Once we figured out a pattern it was easy. Also not actually hitting the other balls so as not to disrupt the sound from the main action :) i thought today would be the day I would be able to drink some real beer since it was real bar, but na, still non alcoholic beer lol

After We shot through some takes we had lunch. Lunch! I hadn't been offered lunch on a film set before so this was new, the other extras were mostly from the same agency as me so we all got along fine, so many jokes (restaurant jokes, date jokes etc lol) as we ended up eating our lunch in the service driveway under the building, the catering crew had laid down 10-15 tables and the 50-60 of us had the healthy meal down there. It was a help yourself to roast chicken, yams, pumpkin, salads, breads, pudding, and it was really nice. Afterwards we chilled upstairs as they shot some close ups of the actors and then we finished our scenes and wrapped. Overall, a fun day and I'm hanging out for power rangers or something new next :)

More news in a couple days when I upload the club's Second test film and some Info on Chase :)

Arrrrrr Eyeliner.

So, Today I did my part as an extra on the set of Go Girls Season 4, Playing 'Pirate Pete'. Very strange/wonderful/enjoyable experience. The cast and crew were all very polite, warm and caring and it was nice to be in their company for the afternoon. I was amazed at how they introduced themselves to me, the 'stars' were all very human and kind, it was inspiring. Wardrobe had organized an awesome costume last week for me and today I wore it on screen. We did so many takes as The Go girls crew took shots with more camera angles and affecting lights, props, etc. Was pretty fun watching it all happen. Also another day where I had to hold a fake bottle of beer for an hour or so that I'm dying to drink just cos It's in my hand and smells real. And by coincidence or design, I met another extra who I might end up casting in Chase as it turns out she has a black belt in Taekwondo and is interested in starring in my film :)

The Day finished later than I expected so I went straight to JKD practice after the shoot wrapped for the day. Anyway, as promised, I asked one of the costume ladies if she could take my picture before I finished for the day and fortunately she said yes, so here is me in full gear! (thanks Miss!)



Needless to say, When I turned up to JKD practice an hour late with black nail polish and remnants of black eyeliner I was questioned with smiles and jokes. Just practiced knuckle jab and one inch punch today so worth going, plus I also got the sparring video from Sifu where I fought Matt UK but I won't post that on you tube. It was good but neither of us did anything that would interest a non martial artist so next time I will try put on more of a show so I can post the video.

Anyway, School again tomorrow, Have got to finish this commercial! Due on Saturday, and I still don't know what I'm doing yet. I'm thinking of Apples. lol. See you in a week or so ;)

Batman: "Freeze! " MF: "that's 'Mister' Freeze!"

Hey guys/girls :)

Been watching batman cartoons lately, The Bruce Timm ones, not all these new age ones -the true dark original ones, really awesome, miss this sort of cartoon, ahead of it's time really. Growing up it influenced me alot so now that I'm older and can appreciate it more I tracked down a copy of the DVD and am reliving the claps, laughs and good times :) Batman's voice (bruce timm) and The Joker and his voice haven't been equaled since, in either cartoons or the movies. Just throwing that out there. I been a big batman film since I could talk lol. And still am, Bring on The Dark Knight rises next year :) Also Expendables 2 is gathering momentum, Jason Statham vs Scott adkins? (Fantastic, big fans of both)and Donnie yen vs Jetl i? (again, always cool -OATIC2 and Hero) Just hope they shoot the fights so you can see all the techniques and drama clearly, looks great, and since Chuck norris is in there, I wonder if there will be any chuck norris jokes? lol Love action movies soo much :)

In other news that probably relates more to this blog, This is the latest Sparring video from August when we tried out wrestling in the ring for the first time. Considering there is no 'give' in the floor, I think me and Richard were just running on adrenaline, needless to say, lots of bumps and bruises the next day :) Sort of damaged my confidence a bit, but I fought Matt last week and by second round back to my mobile ghosting self, will post that video when i get Wednesday night if Sifu remembers ;) Also shot a short film for the club, testing out some techniques, I just have to add sound effects for punches/kicks/nunchuks etc and i will upload that too :)

Above is the finished music Video that Nazim and I shot for a school assessment. For the 2 hour shoot time and edited during the week before the due date, I think we did pretty well. Anyway, i will blog more next time, about the long lasting Street fighter project (school work and our schedules making getting together and shooting this more difficult than we anticipated), Go girls, and your first look at Chase (the script I will finish tonight, then i get to play dress up to test out different looks for the main character ;) haha)

Anyway, Life is going good and all sorts of opportunities and challenges await :) Keep following, I'm sharing my Blue print :) Yeah, good or bad, smile and enjoy it, live for the moment. There's a reason for everything if you widen your perspectives....a couple favorite quotes....

"A smile confuses an approaching frown." and "So many languages in the world, and a smile speaks them all" and lastly ;

"A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give." ~Author Unknown

Shortland Street, Christchurch and the mutating assignments

Hi! :) It's Been a while since my last entry but I haven't had any new footage available to share recently. I will have some new stuff for you next week so I will just spend this quick moment sharing what steps I have taken since my last blog on my chase for fame, fortune and respect.



First professional Job Late last month (and today, My second :D) as a Shortland Street Extra! :) Shortland Street is New Zealand's leading Drama. (soap) A Hospital Drama which screens 5 nights a week for 15 years and still going strong. With viewings in Britain, Australia, Fiji etc It is arguably our most successful local TV production. And I, finally, had the stars align themselves in order to get selected. (I am stoked with my talent agency right now)

As an Extra you are pretty much background talent, making the scene with the actors more believable. For example, A scene in a bar between a guy and girl wouldn't be as realistic without the crowd behind them, notice how none of passing crowd look at the camera like you see in your live reports on the evening news? That's because they are paid (or unpaid in student cases) to be there because like it or not, subconsciously as a viewer you notice these things, and the idea of film and television is to immerse you in their world and the more you can relate the easier the transition.

I can't share too much of how the crew works but what I can tell you is that it was eye opening and I am quite excited/scared of trying to get into this industry, with all the organized chaos and intimidating equipment I'm not sure I have the confidence yet to direct something of that magnitude. I'm a trigger happy guy who just aims his camera and shoots shit. I can't imagine sitting in the directors chair while camera machines glide around you, boom mics and lights swing above you, assistant directors and producers surround you and actors and actresses ask you questions all the while keeping your composure and trying to get all the magic shots before the deadline, *deep breath* well, The team sure work for their art that's for sure ;) The more I work the more my confidence will grow.

The Hospital scenes I did background work in was a)being pushed in a wheelchair, and b) Walking from one end to another through the doors holding flowers, then today (If you will opportunities into existence, they will come) We shot in the Bar, talking with other extras over drinks and overall learning heaps. My confidence is growing, especially since being around established actors and not acting like a puppy dog though these guys are local stars (in my head I'm like holy of holies wow, I have the biggest crush on that girl and she's here? In front of me? She's even more beautiful in person!!! on the outside? I'm playing it cool like it's just another day at the office- not easy) :) I mean, When I told my mom I got work on Shortland St (her Favorite favorite show) She was excited too, though you can imagine my expression when she asked if I played the drug addict last night, I told her they shoot 6-8 weeks in advance So no, but keep your eyes open in 6 weeks for me :).

In More good news, I might get a part in another NZ show but this time not as an extra, my wife is excited for me and supports me but for this one I'm actually quite scared but like the saying goes (well, the book) Feel the fear and do it anyway! so more news WHEN that test screening turns out OK in October :) (Positive things happen to those who attract it with positive thoughts)

Went to Christchurch for My nieces 3rd birthday party, Caught up with the whole family and wife and relaxed, also caught up with my music business partner. Was a really great weekend, was a little sad on the flight back to Aux but as the wife says, no guts, no glory. The next 4 weeks are going to be a pressure cooker, but with pressure comes diamonds ;)

I have (in order) the following assignments to complete; my 3d production, Music Video, Tv Commercial, Film Essay, News production and the assignments keep coming!!!! So yeah, that's what I'm fighting with over the coming month.

Also on the personal project side I have to finish editing 'Mondays' (my gun test short film) and start work on the street fighter production as my hair is almost the right length now...

And to finish up with, JKD is going awesome at the moment, Learning wrestling over the last couple of Sundays which has been great and I'm all over Little Idea (Siu lim tao- Wing Chun's first form) like a rash, Been watching alot of fights lately too so can't wait to get on the dance-floor again and kick it, anyway, It's been real, see you in a week or so ;)

Don't forget you can waste time all you want but you can't buy any more of it, so make every moment count and achieve something of importance to your goals and dreams once a day, routine is a cancer so do something once a day that helps you grow as a person ;) And Just in case you forgot what a KO looks like....

Take control of your circumstances, Don't let them control you :) Kick them in the face! :P