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 :)

Last week. This week.

Last week I did 3 days on Shortland Street and 1 day on Power rangers which was fun, I met some great people, had a good time and enjoyed my time there. Happy to get filmwork since it had been a small while since I was job hunting a bit.

If you read my blog regularly you might have noticed I deleted a post that I made about that week's work which I removed because I accidentally might have spoiled things I didn't mean to spoil which was a huge misjudgement on my part. So I just wanted to apologise to all those involved and who it may have affected and to also say that I didn't intend any wrongdoing or deliberate spoiling of any story for the shows intended viewers. I was just sharing what I've been up to but its only now I realise that people actually do come across this blog so in that regard, I will be much more careful when writing about extrawork that isn't my own productions as I don't want to be 'that' guy who people won't hire cos he talks too much. I really need any filmwork I can get if I want to make a career out of this and as New Zealand is a small industry where everyone eventually knows everyone I'd hate to get a bad reputation. (especially since I planned to pitch something to some of these companies late next year) So yeah, if you did happen to read any of my blog about this before I deleted it if you could be really nice and keep the information to yourself until either of the episode airs, I'd appreciate it greatly :) Again, a Massive sorry to anyone I've upset or caused headaches for. I'd kick myself if I could reach, I feel so stupid. 

In other news I started my first day at a Temp job as a cratewasher in a production environment. Safe to say It was the last day too. I'm soo tired after 8 hours of scraping, stacking, unstacking crates. I thought it was easy, I underestimated my physicality as it suits bigger guys who have more reach and more batteries lol Then again, skipping breakfast wasn't the smartest idea was it. (it's been a day of bad decisions it appears).  But was worth it, met another contact I can use in my film as a fighting extra so the day was another day closer to my goal after all. Will be hunting for more office based work in the mean time.

Also got Arnold Schwarzeneggar's new book. Bodybuilder. Actionstar. Governer. Legend! was so excited to buy it! Now I'm excited read it! This guy's a huge idol, I always love hearing about people who do what they say as those sort of people inspire me. Bruce Lee, Jose Mourinho, Arnold schwarzeneggar, Donnie Yen, the list goes on :) So yeah, once upon a time in a small farm village in Austria....

Also been on the internet for an hour now, I should really work on my script, so in the words of one of the greats ...

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!

Thirsty - a student film shot earlier this year

So, after trawling across Youtube I finally found that student film I acted in earlier this year with my friend Nazim Khan for his friend who was producing the short film while she was studying at NCBT/FTI, they titled it 'Thirsty', it turned out pretty good, amazing what difference a Dolly makes, it looks better than any of my films anyway so well done to them ;)

It was fun to work on and hats off to the team behind the camera, Just thought I'd share this with you guys while I'm hunting other projects :)

End of September Status

So, here we are at the end of September, and I am still standing on the shore, waiting for the boat that will take me across the ocean to the promised land. So much has been going wrong, money problems, car problems, creative blocks, fitness problems, relationship challenges...It just seems like when it rains it pours, but I am a positive guy, and I try to implement Dale Carnegies dealing with worrying method (pretty much imaging the worst outcome and working backwards) which generally works for me, but it doesn't keep the banks/partners/and self disappointment at bay....but God helps those who helps themselves so I have the calls out ;)

There has been some filmwork offered from the agency to its members but I haven't been tall/big/available enough for any roles I've submitted for. I've also looked at student stuff and industry opportunities but sadly in Auckland alot of the work is unpaid or requires heaps of experience which doesn't suit me as I need money to fund the vehicle to get to these places and the film course I did is practically worthless as a qualification, the thing I got from SAE is some time to plan and practice films. 

Anyway, Job hunting for a real wage job has been fun (sic) I was about to do an interview last week at the airport when of all the days it could have happened, that was the day my car broke down. It's blown the head gasket and needs several changes and replacements. Overheating, it looks like how I feel. Crippled again by my lack of cheap reliable transport I figure now is a good time to make the most of the free time, But the 6th rewrite of Chase keeps stalling and I can't train as I don't have a car to get the gym in town (half a city away) without my club it's a little hard to self motivate, I try to go to the gym here but just end up punching the heavy bag, and doing some basic weights, skipping rope and chin ups which doesn't really help my sanda chances. Fighting empty shadows, its like dry land swimming as Bruce lee said..I need real training partners, The car is supposed to be fixed this week, so I'm on the mark, waiting for the gunfire. Plus sifu has mats now so I'm super excited to practice wrestling!

It's amazing that throughout the day you can come up with a million ideas but when faced with a blank page and a deadline, the ballpark is empty. The reason I have rewrote Chase again and again is because I need stakes. Like every good movie ,believe it or not, the success of your enjoying the film comes down to the character, his/her journey, the obstacles, the resolution and the whole execution of it all (casting, shot types, coherency etc). 

My character Chase, is a middle aged guy who moved to Auckland several years ago to become an action star, he holds down a part time security guard job to pay the bills and isn't sure where he stands with his ex-girlfriend. When a rival actor takes a role that was supposed to be his, Chase decides it's now or never and takes drastic measures to get the role. So, basically I have te first act completed. I have the ending climax location and 20 minute group fight scene in mind, it's just filling in the blanks and making sure all characters grow good or bad throughout the film, and that you, as an audience, care about Chase.  Anyway, in brighter news I saw myself on TV again, remember that day I said we shot in the Italian restaurant for Shortland St? Well It finally aired. Basically Unseenable but at least it wasn't cut :) I'm in the blue shirt eating imaginary food (actually I had a cake and lettuce on my plate which made no sense but so far away from camera it wasn't important lol)

Oh well, thats it from me for this post, I don't want to come across as depressed cos I'm not, but if my life were a movie I'm counting on the next couple weeks being the time where all things start to go right for the hero :) Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon :) And for inspiration check out Arnold below saying what the goal for any of us should be :) And what I came to Auckland to do....I came to Conquer!!!

Emperor Clip, still hunting and new adventures

Emperor made it's film debut at Toronto (TIFF) over the weekend and congrats to the director and his team as they had good reviews and have distribution for spring next year (american time) so our autumn I think ( if it bows on our screens the same time). One of the things I like about this piece of news is they released a clip which i have shared above. It's of 2 days I was on set for so I was stoked to see how it turned out, It does look like the inside of a plane and the airport looks terrific. Plus I can clearly see myself in the same frame as Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones :) Consider me pretty happy :) I screenshot it since I probably won't find other 1 second cameos from myself til the DVD comes out near the end of next year. here are the 3 from 13 seconds on ;)

I'm in the middle right as TLJ passes me then below as they cut angle, I am middle Left looking up at TLJ. I wonder if diff version in movie or night, we as soldiers were all holding something, like I was holding a bible and rosaries. And when he said swagger in person it rolled out more like thunder, but hey, movies are larger than life :) Great to see all the extras and co-actors get their shine on in this clip lol, looking good as a group there :)

In other unrelated news I watched Expendables 2 with the wife this weekend, was as awesome as expected :) Jet Li's fight scene at the start was epic and choreographed excitingly and Statham did get to fight with Adkins after all, I hope that the two make another film together as I would have enjoyed a much longer fight but I guess they were pressed for time. Simon West did a good job directing, better than the Mechanic anyways...

The action in this film was pretty good and the story held together. This movie is EXACTLY the type of movie you want to see on the big screen and not just on tv, to appreciate the enormity of the Explosions and Gunfire as they engulf you in surround sound. I was so happy they had alot of funny one liners and JCVD shined as the villain, Schwarzenegger is charismatic as ever and since seeing (finally) I saw the Devil a couple nights ago (came in the mail after what seemed like forever) I am practically frothing to see Schwarzenegger in a Kim je woon film, The Last stand. Arnies first film as the lead since Collateral Damage and the California Governator :)

Speaking of I saw the Devil, I have been a fan of Lee's since I first saw a Bittersweet Life years ago and instantly wanted to be like him lol, Its great to see him still kicking ass and not caring about the names, He's scored recent Hollywood coups in GI JOE 1 and 2 and now he's been confirmed for RED 2, so I'm happy the rest of the world are learning of his talent. Watching this film reminded me of the tone I was going for in 'Inevitable', the project I plan to film after Chase. Serious, some black humor and some great set pieces, but story is king. Sorry, I'm just excited to finally start shooting something. Anyway watch I saw the devil if you get a chance, very gory and exciting thriller.

In the last of the news I have for you in my efforts of becoming a actor/director in this city, is that a) the job hunt continues, I actually landed a couple but had to decline because the hours wouldn't leave it free for me to do my martial arts at night, or spend time with the wife, something will come up, I'm trying an online venture so maybe I will make some luck. 

and b) I have entered into my first professional fight for Sanda for the Wushu champs this October (less then a month away now, nervous but I'm sure I will do Ok for the first fight I hope) I want a medal. I'm not leaving without one, so I definitely need to train harder on my conditioning since KO's are allowed and head kicks (which suits me fine). You win or lose before you even get in the ring so Bam! Lets get out there! in the words of one of the greats, I'll be back! :)

A month and a half at imaginary sea

Well here I am again, in the same position I was in a month ago. Unemployed, cameraless and foreverwaiting for a big break to push me forward into my proposed career.

After 5 weeks selling energy door to door I walked out. There was plenty of sales training and work but no time for Matt. that's no time for JKD training, acting, or spending much time with the wife apart from the weekends or half of it, and to top it off the money I was earning was going back into it for petrol and food and any cancellations. I also lost quite a bit of the muscle I had gained before joining this job (no time to eat properly plus tons of walking/running) (pic below taken 1st Jul 2012)

so frantically trying to work out again and build it back. All in all, I felt as though I was swimming in a whirlpool, the momentum I was making was in fact sending me in circles. I had to ask myself did I really want to be doing this, So, even though I enjoyed the team work, targets and the job, I quit knowing I wasn't doing my life the way I set out to do when I first moved here. So now, in my search for employment while I prep and film my debut, I won't be taking commission jobs or jobs that leave me finishing at 10 pm at night. On the plus side, I will be able to watch the fencing and Taekwondo at the olympics now we have figured out all we needed was an antannae plug and not the whole Freeview TV setup box. Awesome :)

On the day of the wife and I seeing spiderman, the NZ cops were outside the cinema doing their thing as people protested national asset sales. I took this photo cos I like cop cars (just not following me lol)

Nothing else to really report, I checked out the Amazing Spiderman and Dark Knight Rises both on IMAX. Very awesome movies, The action in both was very top notch. And was extremely excited to see both on the giant screen, now for Expendables 2!! I also caught up on alot of the films I missed out on while doing my job. Here's some of my fav pics from the films...

The fight scene in the subway of Amazing Spidermans was my fav, It's like Jackie chan meets Spiderman. Andrew Garfield's acting was very cool in this. So much Parkour, the action in this film is shot very awesome, makes Peter parker very believable :)

And Bane was the only villain in the dark knight series where you really want Batman to fight and kick the shit out of the bad guy, it was very cool and their witty skirmishes were very cool too. I wasn't impressed with the ending between the two and I hope they can meet again, alot of Hollywood punches (big swings, not very technical) and not as physical as I have seem them both perform in previous movies, though in suits I can imagine the discomfort lol. Very cool movie. Batman's partnership fight with Catwoman on the roof/tunnels was pretty cool in my opinion too :)

Watching these classics onscreen was a nice inspiring reminder for myself for why I wanted to get into the film industry. Plus, I did a full 7 hour day on Shortland st in an italian restaurant in the CBD in my first week back, won't spoil the scene, but I'm happy to be doing filmwork again (even if just as an extra), so I'm back in the swing of things now. On the downside I got a 200 dollar ticket for my rego or the sticker being affixed improperly, beats me, I paid the parking meter, but Auckland council seems to be quite profit hungry IMO. As you can see below, it's a very nice restaurant.

Below is the Atheltes foot commercial. Don't bother looking for me, It's hard to even recognise some of the people I met there. We really were just background lol and only involved in like 15 secs, but still a very nice ad so well done to the team.

Got the blackbelt mag I saw on Blackbelt's FB page, so happy to see it instores here. Love Bruce Lee, He's the man!! :)

Anyway, will leave you here for now as I regroup. I have applied for everything from government jobs to more sales jobs. I'm quietly confident I will gain some income. But in the meantime I share this comic below which sums up my feeling over the last couple weeks. Do you ever look up at the stars at night? I found myself looking alot, I miss my family in Christchurch and I hope to visit them soon, it's almost been a year since I've seen them. Also I'm 26 this year, where has the last 8 years gone since I finished high school? I really need a fulltime job and to get this movie finished. I can't live a life full of promises, I have to live a life of full of life...