I have a weakness for movies featuring martial arts, so if a Jackie Chan movie is on, even with bad English dubbing, I'll remove my thumb from the remote.
I was watching the 2010 version of "The Karate Kid," which is actually about kung-fu, but whatever.
Dre, who is getting killed at school by a kung-fu robot masquerading as a 12-year-old (I'm sticking with that theory) is being trained by a secret agent posing as a maintenance man (still sticking with that) Mr. Han.
Now Dre, like most kids, has no problem coming home and chucking his jacket on the floor, no matter how much his mother bellows otherwise.
His first training exercise with Mr. Han is to take off his jacket, throw it on the floor, pick it up, put it on the hook, then put it on, take it off, for hour after hour after hour after hour . . .
The first day, when he gets home, his mother asks if he learned anything. "Nah," he says, mindlessly placing his jacket on the hook. His mother's mouth drops open.
Repetition is one of the best ways to teach ourselves good habits. Like when I eat vegetables. Then I want more vegetables, no matter how much takeout is tantalizingly waved beneath my nose. "Any steamed broccoli, please?"
Dr. Phil said that it is possible to potty-train a child in one day, based on repetition. Going through the motions ten times in a row reprograms the brain.
Take getting up early in the morning. My brother is certainly not a morning person, but he wants to make it to his shiurim before work, to the point that he now automatically awakens with the dawn. People think he's an early riser by nature. He ain't. He's really not. He's so not a morning person that when he still lived at home, he took the long way out the door because if he sees anyone, he may have to kill them. But do anything enough times, and it's no longer an effort.
We always knew practice makes perfect. Even About.com has an article on how to break a habit.
What I am annoyed about is that in "The Karate Kid," Jackie Chan only has one fight scene. That guy is a human windmill, and they give him one fight scene?
5 comments:
Ahem.
Wax on. Wax off. That's the way it's done.
oy vey. I though you said you can't stand fighting? Anyways, after seeing real fighting, this stuff is just depressing. It don't work like this in real life - and I'm not even talking about using the sleeves or making kids slap each other. O well, enjoy it if you can!
First off, it's cuz he's getting old and can't do it anymore. And second, stick with the original! Wax on, wax off.
MGI: I'm afraid Luke was quite remiss in introducing "The Karate Kid" in my formative years (he kept it to "Back to the Future" and "Star Trek: TGN" and "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" and . . .)
Anon: Yeah, sure, that's why we like Taratino, for the "real life" aspect. I don't like real life fighting. I like fake fighting, when stunt men walk off the set and get a cappuccino after being stabbed in the gut.
FG: We shall not speak of icons getting old. I've had to face Carrie Fisher becoming an emphysemic hag, Harrison Ford a humorless grump, Data getting fat (androids are supposed to be unchanging!), and have you seen Leonard Nemoy lately? I'm amazed he was upright for the J.J. Abrams redo! So if you will kindly leave J.C. alone, thank you! He's not old, just um, out of shape. Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, the original Star Wars cast is getting long in the tooth, eh? Well at least the guy who played Chewbacca can still wear the suit and look exactly the same for the upcoming trilogy.
As for Nimoy, well what do you expect? He and Shatner are over 80, Kelly and Doohan are dead, the only one who looks at all reasonable is Uhura. She has managed to age very gracefully.
Post a Comment