July 8

I just feel like listening to some tunes today. Happy Birthday to Jamie Cook, guitarist for the Arctic Monkeys. Apparently, he's the tastemaker for the band, too; he's the indie aficionado that introduced the band to their post-Strokes sound.
Here's the video for a between-album release, "Leave Before the Lights Come On". It stars Paddy Consadine(Hot Fuzz) and Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead).


Today's entry's a little light(their first album came out in 2006), so here's another video, with a clown brawl:

July 3

Happy Birthday to the Chinese Hercules, Yang Sze, known to English-speaking action fans as Bolo Yeung. Bolo has been one of the most menacing villains ever onscreen, often without saying a word:

That's him in Double Impact; he's around 50 years old.

I'm still trying to verify his age; several sources say he was born in 1938, but his personal website says he was born in 1946. His story goes, he was already a renowned weightlifter in the 60's when he swam from the Mainland to Hong Kong to escape communism. He won the Mr Hong Kong weightlifting title for several years by the time he was discovered by the Shaw Brothers, and his acting career began en force.

Western audiences were introduced to Bolo in Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon", where Bolo plays the mastermind's main goon. Bruce and Bolo had been friends for some time, and Bruce even promised they would have a fight scene together in "Game of Death", but that scene was never to be.
The closest to an on-screen spar between the two are these between-takes photos from the set of "Dragon."

sparring w/ Bruce Lee


"Enter the Dragon" was enough to make him a big star in the East. (He even had a doppelganger, Lee Chun-Wa, who tussles with the like of Jackie Chan in 'Drunken Master.') Bolo's next breakthrough was in 1988's "Bloodsport", as Jean Claude Van Damme's nemesis. He became an action-star mainstay, starring alongside Van Damme, Cynthia Rothrock, Billy Blanks...

He even played a good guy in Shootfighter, cast as the sensei forced to fight for his students' honor. The movie has the bonus of pitting Bolo against the evil sensai from the Karate Kid, That Guy Martin Kove:


Now long since AARP eligible, he lives in California as a fitness and martial arts instructor. He announced his retirement from acting in 2008; with nearly 100 films under his belt, that's plenty for fans to discover...

June 28

Now that the Karate Kid has been successfully re-invented for another generation, it's a good time to remember Pat Morita. After all, it was his Oscar-nominated performance that elevated a teen movie into a signpost for a decade, and cemented his title as the most popular Japanese-American actor in history.
He managed quite a few firsts in his career. Morita was the Arnold that ran Arnold's on "Happy Days". He became the first Asian-American sitcom lead in "Mr T and Tina"; the cancellation of that show and "Blansky's Beauties" would make him one of the few actors to lose two shows in one season. In the wake of "Karate Kid", he got his own cop show, "Ohara":

Yup, that's Catherine Kenner,from "Being John Malkovich", as a junior detective. "Ohara", the first drama with an Asian-American lead, didn't do much better in the ratings; it lasted two seasons.
Morita's enthnicity was a double-edged sword, but he used it adeptly through the decades. He played at least as many roles in his native California drawl as he did laying on his Migayi-think accent. He was just as comfortable lampooning his iconic sensai character as he was reprising or ripping it off. Whether he was earning an Emmy nod (for the Kirk Douglas TV-movie Amos) or starring in a buddy cop movie with Jay Leno:

[Take THAT, Prince Humperdink!]
Morita schooled us all. Happy Birthday, Sensai...

May 23

Never mind Raymond; it seems everybody loves Mitch Albom. As a sportswriter, he's been the Associated Press's sports columnist of the year a record 13 times; nobody else has won it more than once. As a novelist, he wrote Oprah favorite "Tuesdays with Morrie", the most printed memoir of all time. He was Ted Koppel's choice as the final guest on Nightline. He founded several charities for the Detroit area, targeting illiteracy, homelessness, and the deterioration of Detroit's neighborhoods.
And I'm writing about him because of a song about hockey. He wrote "Hit Somebody(The Hockey Song)" with Warren Zevon, for Zevon's 2002 album, "My Ride's Here". It's an ode to one of those rarified creatures, the hockey goon, and it's a bittersweet and hilarious song, even without David Letterman's contribution. Of course, the song's getting turned into a movie, and Kevin Smith's going to direct. Smith and Albom are writing the script together, so it's already shaping up to be Kevin Smith's best movie ever.
For this reason alone, I want to wish Mitch Albom a happy birthday and a thank you. I think you'll feel the same after you listen to this song:

(I'm not even a hockey fan. Have to admit, tho, it's the Flyers' year...)

May 8

I'm writing a birthday passage about the guy you're not looking at in this picture.
This picture is considered one of the most iconic images in modern sport. I probably don't have to tell you about the guy standing in the center of the ring, the one they call "The Greatest". Today, I'm introducing you to the guy on the floor. He was Sonny Liston.

He was 6 feet tall, with a 7-foot reach. He was the most terrifying boxer of his time, an ex-con who punched his way out. By the time he met Cassius Clay in the ring, he had a 35-1 record and two championship belts; he was the heavyweight champion of the world.
Liston had fear and power. Clay was fearless, and his speed outdid Liston's power. Liston sat down after the sixth round, and Clay received the win decision by TKO. Clay declared himself "The Greatest" and changed his name to Muhammed Ali the next week.
But the picture you see was taken at the rematch. Liston attempted to take the title back the following year. Midway through the first round, Ali threw 'The Phantom Punch': a right to Liston's head that sent him to the canvas so fast that half the crowd didn't see it. While Liston lay sprawled on the ground, Ali stood over him, taunting him and the crowd. It took about 20 seconds for Liston to get back up.
A ringside photographer captured the moment, and the photo of that moment made the cover of Sports Illustrated; decades later, it made the cover of the magazine's "Greatest Sports Photos" issue.
Liston still boxed throughout the rest of the 60's; he would end with a 50-4 record. His body was found by his wife in their Las Vegas home in January 1971; authorities estimate he had been dead for about a week.
Local police declared it a drug overdose; Liston supporters cry 'cover-up', citing his phobia of needles, among other things... A medical examiner declared his death was due to lung congestion and heart failure.

To those who remember, Liston remains a fearsome legend. Mike Tyson considers Sonny Liston a personal hero, even before his own career echoed Liston's rise and fall. In both cases, their victories made them larger than life, but their losses revealed more about them, showed us how much they were like us after all.
Here's the punk band Stiff Little Fingers, with a live performance of their song about Sonny Liston, "Walking Dynamite":

April 22

Here's somebody I hope to discover today: Johnnie To. I've actually seen one of his early films, The Heroic Trio, but I couldn't tell you what makes his films his.

My filmmaking friend, on the other hand, swears by the guy; when most of the hot Hong Kong Directors of the 90's (Wong Kar Wai, Ringo Lam, John Woo, etc...)started using their visas, To hunkered down and kept making movies in his hometown. Ten years later, he practically was the Hong Kong movement.

He's recognized as proficient in a multitude of genres, from gangster films to romantic comedies, and he's won a couple dozen awards for his efforts.
I found this Veoh page assembled by a Johnnie To fan, with a few subtitled films of his; you can find more on the internet, if you're up on your Cantonese. Meanwhile, here's the R-rated (and potentially NSFW) "Mad Detective":

Watch Mad Detective in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

April 17

Here at the Birthday Blog, we love a good fight, and one of the best cinematic fights of all time features birthday boy "Rowdy" Roddy Piper versus Keith David, in a scene from "They Live". Now, this is not one of those blood-spattered kung-fu ballets or bombastically soundtracked climactic showdowns ala Rocky. I mean, the whole motivation is Roddy's guy trying to get his friend to put on a pair of sunglasses. The original script alloted about twenty seconds for the exchange.
Piper and David began rehearsing other ideas. Three weeks later...

In an interview with Freezerbox Magazine, Piper says that the original cut of the fight scene was ten minutes long, then trimmed for economy. A masterful performance featuring one of the greatest wrestling villains of all time.

March 24

Today's for one of the ultimate That Guys: partly for his prolific career, partly for his performances in some great cult films, and partly because his name's William Smith. This guy has played more bad bikers, vampires, gunslingers, and assassins than any actor I know. He was the last Marlboro Man on TV. He's Conan's father, for crying out loud!
And he's not just an actor. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War, spoke five languages, taught Russian at UCLA... Was a world-class arm-wrestling champion and competitive bodybuilder that set a world record by reverse curling his own body weight... He's got a 31-1 amateur boxing record and he used to have security clearance with the CIA and NSA (until he married a French actress.) He's even fought California wildfires as a volunteer fireman.
As far as acting goes, he's been a hero, and even a lead, in such 60's TV shows as Zero One, Laredo, and Wildside. But he's most utilized as a villain: some key roles include Falconetti in both series of "Rich Man Poor Man", the Russian Commander in "Red Dawn", Jude Bohner in "Gunsmoke", and Pharoah in "Legend of the Roller Blade Seven". Hey, when you approach 300 film and TV appearances, they can't all be winners. I still think that he's the next guy deserving a Tarantino career resurrection. A Tarantino film with William Smith above the title on the movie poster? Think of the opening weekend numbers!
Anyway, here's the climactic fist fight in "Any Which Way You Can", between Smith and Clint Eastwood. The setup is, they're two of the best bare-knuckle brawlers in the world. After spending the entire movie becoming friends and fending off the pressure to fight (from mobsters, promoters, etc,) they start to wonder who'd actually win. One thing leads to another, and...

March 6

Another ThatGuy for the birthday blog: Martin Kove. From the 80's on, he's been cinematic shorthand for 'bad news': the deputy that got on the wrong side of John Rambo in "First Blood", the lethal Cobra Kai sensai John Kreese in the "Karate Kid" series, the malevolent Mr Lee in "Shootfighter", and too many tough guys on too many TV shows. Here's a trailer for his 80's bid to action hero-dom:

He's always hinted at more: he was in the casts of Merchant-Ivory's first North American productions(no, they weren't kickboxing movies.)
Anyway, he's a working-class hero as actors go; this year alone, he has credits forthcoming in a dozen DTV projects, mostly monster movies and fight flicks. Maybe he'll get invited to the next Expendables movie...
Meanwhile, here's an 80's tv show that never got a chance; "Terminator" meets "Lilo and Stitch". Another time, another place, this could have been a 40-episode classic, minimum. Has it even ever aired on the SyFy Channel? Here's "Hard Time on Planet Earth":

February 5

Maybe I should wait, but Tony Jaa 's on the fence between legendary and ignominity. I saw "Ong-Bak" in the theaters in 2006, and saw what thousands of fans saw: the best aspects of Jackie Chan and Jean-Claude Van Damme pressed into one frame. So what happened? After "The Protector", he had a falling out with "Ong Bak" director Prachya Pinkaew, decided to direct "Ong-Bak 2" himself, and proceeded to go Joaquin Phoenix during production. "Ong-Bak 2" didn't set the world on fire, but number 3's coming out this fall anyway.
What's next, Tony? DTV supremacy? Immigrate to Hong Kong? Return Sly's calls and appear in "The Expendables 2"? Live in the forest with the elephants?
Here's a greatest hits clip of Mr Jaa in action, with the hope that there's more to come...

January 16

It's nice to get a chance to wander. In between packing rooms, I took a few moments to research today's birthdays, and found the name Stirling Silliphant. He's not a federal witness protection alias; Silliphant wrote some of the 60's mot acclaimed movies and TV shows, including "In the Heat of the Night", "The Poseiden Adventure," "Village of the Damned," "Route 66..."

And it was reading up about him that I learned about a lost Bruce Lee movie. Apparently, he was a student of Bruce Lee's, in his pre-superstar days. Lee and Silliphant co-wrote a script about Eastern philosophy: a young martial artist wanders in search of a mystic book, encountering many trials and battles, as well as wisdom from a mysterious sensei. "The Silent Flute" was supposed to star James Coburn as the wanderer, and Bruce Lee in multiple roles, including the sensai character. The project never got past the location scouting stage. Several years after Lee's death, Silliphant dusted off the script, took out the Tantric sex and some of the gorier fights, and sold it. Although it was now set in a fantasy world, "Circle of Iron" still possessed much of the koans and parables Lee had wanted to present to the audience. This time, David Carradine got Bruce Lee's role (again!) and some new guy had the James Coburn role It's generally considered a not-so-good movie, but still meritorious for its philosophy and audaciousness. Here's the trailer; it's not too hard to imagine what Bruce Lee would have done with the role:

December 17

Oh, man. Today's choice was a no-brainer for me: how about the toughest Filipino in the world, Manny Pacquiao. With a 50-3 record, he's the only boxer to take the title in 7 different weight classes. In fact, some analysts have ranked him as, pound-for-pound, the best fighter in the world. The other analysts are waiting until March, when Pacquiao will meet the other reputed pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
I prefer my fights staged for movie cameras, as opposed to people beating the living snot out of each other, but I gotta root for Pacquiao. He's kind of my Jim Thorpe or Arthur Ashe. I got a Filipino tan, from my mother's side. For every one person that successfully guesses so, I got fistfuls of people who think I'm Mexican, Thai, Pakistani, Indian, indian (of an indeterminate tribe), Columbian, Afghani... Movies aren't much help; the only mentions of Filipinos in films are punchlines for sex jokes. I'm happy to be able to point out somebody and say, "Yeah, that's a Filipino, like me." I can't say what type of movie star or politician he'll be, but at least he's a better example than, say, Ferdinand Marcos or Rob Schneider.
YouTube's acting funny tonight, but at least DailyMotion's got this posting of Pacquiao's "greatest hits". It's a decent way to get up to speed on why everybody's so excited about 'Pac-man'.

Manny Pacquiao's Greatest Hits
by chinoir509

December 2

On the days that happen to fall on a friend's birthday, I like to offer my column as a birthday gift - not just because I'm cheap, but because I hope they find somebody that they connect with. See, this blog is an informal litmus test to me, a chance to see if people born under the same day (and, therefore, the same horoscope sign) share any similar characteristics.
So, I called my friend, who shall remain nameless, and we went through the list of today's candidates, which feature a lot of crazy divas and hip rock bassists (which is a reason that my friend's remaining nameless; she doesn't play bass.)
Our choice for today: Lucy Liu, an actress whose roles come to her. For example, her "Ally McBeal" audition was for the role that went to Portia DeRossi; the producers created a role specifically for her. Same thing when she talked with the producers of "Sexy Dirty Money"; she said she was interested in the show, and they wrote a part for her. She's been set to produce and star in a relaunch of the Charlie Chan franchise, but her choices in recent films to star in (Code Name: The Cleaner, Rise: Blood Hunter, Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever) seems to have stalled those plans. (If a movie title has a colon in it, Lucy - don't do it!) Until then, she's keeping busy with UNICEF and voice-over work, in the animated franchises for Kung-Fu Panda (as Viper) and Tinkerbell (as Silvermist).

I'm an Asian-American who tried his hand at acting, so I got nothing but props for Lucy Liu, who's managed to play roles beyond her race (GridLock'd, Chicago), along with the roles that depend on her ethnicity (Kill Bill, Shanghai Noon) yet allow her to surpass stereotypes. She's not simply the go-to gal when you need to fill the role of a geisha, or balance the whiteness of a cast; she's a draw in her own right. Now if she could just pick better scripts...
And is it a step backward if I show movie clips of her using kung fu? Here's a fight montage, featuring Charlie's Angels and more Ecks vs Sever than you ever wanted to see...


It was either this, or that scene when she kissed Callista Flockhart...

November 30

There was a time that a kung-fu movie - any kung-fu movie - would do me good. Whether the background music was a wooden flute, a wah-wah pedal, or a Casio keyboard, a kung-fu fight made everything alright. I don't know if modern times ruined me, or I just grew up, because it doesn't have the same effect.
Anyway, everybody knows about Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan... the guy I always wanted to see was Gordon Liu. Maybe it was the determination in his eyes, maybe the shaved-head/yellow-monksrobe combination made him look like Charlie Brown... but seeing him in Master Killer II (that's what they called it on Commander USA's Groovy Movies, and I'm sticking with it) convinced me for five minutes that I could look cool bald. I never saw him make the jump across the Pacific, and figured he was lost to the ages...
...until Kill Bill. Tarantino gave him two choice roles: leading the Crazy 88 in Kato gear in Part I, and playing the crazy old kung-fu master in Part II. Meanwhile, he'd never gone away in Hong Kong, segueing into a TV career for the past few decades. But the Tarantino touch put him back on movie screens around the world; this year, he played the bad guy in the Bollywood film "Chandni Chowk to China."
None of my jibber-jabber is going to get across the awesomeness of Gordon Liu like a demo, so here's the Master Killer himself taking out a horde of Manchus, and ruining the door-to-door bamboo pole salesman industry in the process...

November 16

Today's birthday girl is Missy Pyle, who was starting to enter 'Oh Yeah, That Girl...' status [that actress you see on-screen that you immediately recognize as soon as somebody tells you another movie she was in that you LOVED...]
She's almost 6 feet tall, with those eyes that are two sizes away from those people in Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun video. Add to this her knack for fearless physical comedy, and you got a go-to girl whenever you need an interesting female in the supporting cast. She was the alien girl Lailari in "Galaxy Quest"; she went toe-to-toe with Queen Latifah in "Bringing Down the House"; she rocked the unibrow as Fran Stalinofskivitchdavitovichsky (sound it out) in "Dodgeball"... She even gave it a shot in direct-to-video paychecks like "Home Alone 4" and "Still Waiting." She's a pleasant addition to any film comedy, like finding out your TV dinner's got tater tots instead of crinkle cut fries. A couple of the right roles, and she might be another Carol Burnett...
Her real life's almost as funny: In 2008, she got married, and the grizzly bear that her husband-to-be had raised as a cub (part of his job with National Geographic, perhaps?) was a guest. In the same year, her high-profile role in a Broadway play presented her the chance to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange - on September 29th, a day the market dropped almost 800 points; she declined the opportunity.

I missed the Pacquaio-Cotto fight last night, so here's Pyle-Latifah:

September 2

MC Chris is not a nerdcore rapper. Even though he’s the voice of MC Pee Pants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Even though he raps about video games and girls that look like Emily Strange. Even though he’s celebrating his birthday this weekend at Dragon Con in Atlanta. Do not call him a “nerdcore rapper” or his entourage will kick your ass…
Here’s a fanvid of MC Chris’ Adult Swim alias, MC Pee Pants:


Guy LaLiberte’s also celebrating his birthday later this month – in space. Not only is he the founder of Cirque de Soleil, not only is he a world-ranked poker player, not only can he breathe fire – he’d paid the million or thirty to buy a round-trip ticket to the International Space Station.
Or maybe he just traded tickets.


Dan Southworth, ex-Power Ranger, is celebrating his birthday today. He was the “Quantum Ranger” in the “Time Force” season, which is somewhere between being a Red Ranger and a Black Ranger, apparently.

I’m pretty sure that, in time, the Power Rangers casts will be a repository for tomorrow’s action stars. “Kids Inc.” gave us Martika, Raphael Saadiq, and Fergie from the Black-Eyed Peas. “MMC” gave us Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling. And it’s still early yet, but the Power Rangers have already introduced the world to Amy Jo Johnson and… I don’t know, a bunch of karate teachers, so far.
But in this month’s Teen Vogue, apparently one of those former Power Rangers convinced one of his karate students to try acting, and that kid grew up to be…

Taylor Launter…

JACOB! JACOB! JACOB!

TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!




That oughta pick up the web hits…



And for all the Power Ranger and Twilight fans who’ve wandered in, allow me to introduce you to some real ass-kicking, courtesy of movie director and birthday celebrant Prachya Pinkaew. From the director of Ong-Bak and The Protector, here’s “Chocolate”:

(46 fishes to you, Prachya!)

We end today’s column with a tribute to Billy Preston, the sixth Beatle. There’s been plenty of writing about candidates for “fifth Beatle”, and I’m sure I’ll get into it later this year as their birthdays come up. I’m going to nominate, right here and now, Billy Preston as Beatle number six, because he came along near the end of the road, and helped the band produce some of their greatest songs before they were done.
The year is 1969, and Preston’s in London, playing in Ray Charles’ band. Among those attending is George Harrison, who walked out of the “Let It Be” recording sessions, with half a mind not to return. Having a second thought, he brings Preston to the studio. Being polite and British at their core, the Beatles behaved themselves and started to enjoy making music together again. The Beatles would go on to finish the “Let It Be” album and record one more, “Abbey Road.”
There’s too many contributions of Billy’s that I’m grateful for: “Let it Be” and “The Long and Winding Road”; Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful”; the Rolling Stones’ “Shine a Light” and “Wild Horses”… From Sam Cooke to the Red Hot Chili Peppers… Let me spotlight one of his solo numbers: