So after many months of waiting for the DVD from the library, finally got to watch Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story from 1993. This is a somewhat fictionalized account of Bruce Lee’s life and career – BL is played by Jason Scott Lee (no relation) and there are other cameos from actual Bruce Lee students and friends throughout the film.

Having now seen all the BL movies (there are only 4, after all) and several other documentaries/etc. I can truly say this is an entertaining, well done film, for the most part faithful to the subject matter and BL’s life and career. Jason Scott Lee is convincing as Bruce Lee generally and in the multiple fight scenes. I also liked that they really tried to show BL as a family man, and while definitely someone obsessed with personal growth, martial arts and ultimately success in film, that he’s not as easy to figure out on the surface as you might think. And they included nods to Lee’s humor as well – there are a number of sequences that reference humorous bits from the movies or earlier documentaries, which was nice.

Certainly with a career as varied and intense as Lee’s was (despite being tragically cut way short), the film still manages to touch on many points of his life and career, even though they overdo the ‘grudge match’ he had with a chinese ‘master fighter’ (in that case won easily, probably easier than even in the movie) because at the time his teaching of Americans the ways of Kung Fu were considered forbidden. And it shows the struggles he had financially in addition to dealing with the 60’s fairly racist America (from an Asian perspective) we tend to overlook these days. The Wikipedia article otherwise details differences between reality and this film, but there aren’t really that many.

I think this movie is a great intro to BL if you haven’t watched his movies or know anything about him other than seeing posters (and hearing people screech and scream when playacting at kung fu). At minimum it should inspire interest to watch and enjoy more…..? 🙂

candybowl

Saw Manooghi Hi at The High Dive last night – another great show! They also played a few new ones that aren’t on CD yet – should be good. It was kind of weird since we got there WAY too early – around 8pm – it looked at first like no one was going to be there – it was us, bartenders and M.H. hanging out.

But then people started filtering in (including the opening band, who seemed to be showing up a wee bit on the late side). The openers – can’t remember their name and they never actually SAID it out loud – played some forgettable stuff for about 45 min-one hour, then M.H. played not long after, getting done around 1130 or so. Despite being a Sunday night show, it was pretty packed out, and it looked like there were more than a few M.H. family members in attendance – veddy cool!

This show came on the heels of eating at Delancey over in Ballard (finally) – also very good, it’s a gourmet pizza joint – basically Seattle’s version of A Pizza Scholls in Portland. While my personal fave here is still the nearby Crash Landing (because ‘grease is the word’) and in portland – Escape from New York – this was damn good. And *this* came on the heels of a wedding the night before that was catered by Via Tribunali! Between friends, family, relatives, music and pizza – it doesn’t get much better than that. 🙂

I will upload some abbreviated, way-too-dark videos from my phone/the show shortly, but in the meantime, SEE THIS BAND!

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we were at a family reunion in Southern Oregon this past weekend. There were many highlights, but the first one was a blast down the Rogue River on one of the “Hellsgate” jetboats. The one we were on had 3(!) 454-V8 engines in it, each powering a single jet. It’s basically a flat-bottom metal (steel or aluminum, not sure which), shallow box with bench seats across – then a raised podium deck at the back for the pilot. Our boat could hold up to 81 people (it was their biggest one, they have several) and it was all but full. Apparently these things can get up to about 55mph on the river – I truly believe that’s likely NOT the top end, but may be the ‘safe’ top end.

So, they get you in there, and you start blasting down the river. Then the guy starts talking up how wet you’re going to get – and then slams on the brakes, which makes the boat all but nosedive into the water and raises a huge wave over the front of the boat. Hence, water. Not unlike getting doused while whitewater rafting, but we weren’t in any rapids (at the first one, anyway). So on you blast down the river, and the guy does 360’s a few times, and alternatively tries to douse the entire boat through a series of maneuvers – none really crazy, all very fun. Then you get to a narrow canyon and the boat idles through that while he talks about your surroundings – the boat then turns around and heads back a short distance to a shore facility where you eat a big dinner – then you zoom back up the river (while your pilot and usually at least one other boat try to alternate at crossing each other’s wake and dousing each others boat from side to side, etc.).

It was great – our clan had about 34 people, the rest of the boat was filled with others – what’s also cool about this is that it’s truly an all-ages activity (unlike whitewater rafting!) where you have fairly old people on there all the way down to kids. And everybody is having a ball.

Besides the blasting around like crazy people, there was a lot of wildlife (several osprey, blue herons, ducks, swans and a bald eagle) around to see, and many people waving from the shore (I’m sure the residents who live along the top part of the journey aren’t near as ‘enthused’ about the jet boats as we were :)). There was also a couple risque ‘floor show’ events that I won’t discuss here, but were pretty funny. The food feast was bbq chicken and pork with salad, beer/wine and some basic antipasti. Not fine dining, but definitely did the job.

it was a GREAT way to start the weekend – if you are ever in Grants Pass (or Gold Beach, for the one that comes up the river from there) – don’t miss out!

candybowl