Stuff I Dig: Jigoro Kano's Mat and Streetfighting Demo (1912)

This short clip of Jigoro Kano demonstrating judo and jiu-jitsu moves wearing a gi and then stylish street clothes is better action choreography than most of the stuff playing on screens in your multiplex or television.

Also, on a filmmaking tip, this clip makes a compelling case for just showing the action straight-on; provided the actor has skill and style.

Fights! Fights! and more Fights!

These are my favorite fight videos of the week.

Take notes... never know when this unconventional leg sweep escape can come in handy.

Proof that it's never over until it's over... whether you're winning OR losing. Also, how stalling for time is an effective ring strategy sometimes.   
The Front Tiep is an awesome kick. Learn it and use it. 
But keep your balance, too.  
Seriously... don't fall.

The Beautiful Banal of Havana

I went to Cuba in May and this is what I saw.

The revolution is not just an event that occurred many years ago, the revolution is constant.  But it's not an earth-shattering event anymore either. It's ordinary. It has its flaws and imperfections. Yet it's still an ideal to attain. It's still trying to make a difference. It's still moving. It's still revolving. It's a beautiful attempt and a beautiful actuality. It contains moments of awe as well as awkwardness. It's worn down and ugly and rusty. It's waiting to be reshaped and it's waiting for no one in particular. It's just. It just is. It is.

A colorful street in Havana, Cuba - Danny Indio

Lebron Leaves: Tragedy or Comedy? or Tramedy?!?

I don't know if I got this from Greek drama studies or Antonin Artaud or Joyce Carol Oates but it seems the stage, like the arena, always serves as a perfect metaphor for the conflicts in life. And pro wrestling is, if anything, the stage and the arena come together in absurd unison.

Exhibit A:

A mubi review: W.R. Mysteries of the Organism

W.R. Mysteries of the Organism / W.R. - MISTERIJE ORGANIZMA | DUŠAN MAKAVEJEV | 1971 | yugoslavia | format: 35MM |  84 min  

What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire Dušan Makavejev has the answers (or the questions) in his surreal documentary-fiction collision WR: Mysteries of the Organism.

Here's Amos Vogel's take on it:

"Beneath the film's lighthearted frivolity lurks a more serious intent: opposition to all oppressive social systems, East or West, the removal of prurience from sex and a final squaring of accounts by the new radicals with the now reactionary Russian regime... a tribute to the power of ideas over institutions."

And here's mine on mubi. 

Because NOW it's summer....

A DAY AT THE POOL - IBIZA from AJG FILMPRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

What is it about pools? 
cool waters. 
hot sun. 
bare skin. 

It's no wonder that people love partying in the pool. And some of the best scenes in the movies take place there... 

EXHIBIT A

BOXING CHAMP VS BULLSHIT CHAMP

I'm always amazed at the delusions many men (and they are almost always men) believe about themselves.  It's a case of overconfidence going overboard. While there might be some benefits to overconfidence, the bs cockiness mostly leads to a life of pain.

EXHIBIT A

In this corner, standing 6'7" tall and weighing 215 lbs., undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, who has won 31 consecutive decisions by knockout. His opponent: Charlie Zelenoff, a YouTube troll who boasts about his boxing skills and has allegedly been harassing Wilder and his family for three years.

You can already guess how this is going to go.

And even with all that...

Zelenoff says he wants a rematch.

Stuff I Dig: GWGTB

Garfield Without Garfield's Thought Balloons, a riff on Garfield Minus Garfield which is a riff on Garfield.

This shit just keeps getting better and better...