Bringing the Pain & "Karate Kid" Remake Looks Meh

Current Tunes: Strapping Young Lad – Love?

Throwing my jeans into the dryer earlier today, I wondered why exactly I hear so many people say they don’t like doing laundry. I don’t get it. Doing laundry is a cinch. Maybe my view of laundry stems from my undying love for clean, hot clothes fresh from the dryer. It’s the best feeling ever. Beyond that, aren’t there other more irritating house chores? Sweeping/mopping the floor? Washing dishes? Laundry’s just picking up some clothes, dumping them in the washer with a little soap, then bang! Twenty minutes later they’re clean. Done deal.

Sorry to disappoint you, but this isn’t a post dedicated to the virtues of laundry-doing. So now that that’s covered…

I woke up and worked out today. Holy crap did that hurt. Daily workouts, along with a balanced and healthy diet, is a serious goal that I’m incorporating. I’ve done it before too; I’ve had significant two or three month periods where I did work out regularly and saw results. I eventually fell off the track though; I don’t particularly remember why and I don’t particularly care either. I’m not going to let past failures at this inhibit me. Looking toward the future, that’s what happens from here on out.

Though it’s moderately frustrating at the starting phase, and for a very strange reason. I only worked out at about 75% intensity as I was at during my peak exercising stints. My mind wants me to be back at the level I was at during my peak, but because it’s been so long since I worked out I have to start slowly, of course. Lest I kill myself. However, this is just another facet of teaching myself to reject the idea that failing once before means I will always fail. That is a fallacy and it is one that I am done with.

My dieting plan is a two-fold attack. The first part is learning to cook things. I barely know how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich or pasta. I think a major problem in my normal diet is I eat too many things that are processed, easy-to-fix foods that are loaded with calories. If I would just learn to cook well, I could eat healthier food I’m certain. And loose weight, which is of course the final desired result.

The second prong of this battle strategy is eliminating certain foods all together. Yes, all together. From here on out, no more soft drinks, no potato chips, no frozen chicken tenders, no more cookies, and most sadly, no more beer. Soft drinks I have eliminated before; I remember a good three or four year stretch where I never drank one. The difficult part is finding something to substitute for soft drinks. All the other things I can find easy substitutes for that are healthy, but tasty beverages that aren’t water are not easy to come by. Tea is definitely a candidate to replace coke. I’ll manage though. Success is the only option.

On the movie front… A new trailer for the remake of “The Karate Kid hit the Internet today. I heard about this a while back, and what made me not immediately vomit at the news was the fact that Jackie Chan was to be involved in the Mr. Miyagi role.

But, of course, instead of being a Japanese-American war veteran, Chan looks like he plays a homeless, drunken, street-dweller. Maybe that’s not the case, but that’s how it looks. Well regardless, looking at the trailer the one problem that’s grating on me now is actually the title. They should have changed the title to “The Kung Fu Kid.” It’s kind of an insult to both Chinese and Japanese cultures by mislabeling this film; Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art and Karate is uniquely Japanese, for those of you who do not know. There might be some who say I’m nitpicking, but people in this country would pitch a fit if a movie suggested some cultural facet based here in America were confused with, or drawn parallel to, Canadian culture.

I’m just saying is all. The real truth of the matter is they probably kept the title for its clout and prestige, to help sell a product to the masses. Everyone knows the original film, and that’s a selling point for this film. Even if the context and culture have been completely changed, for many people it will still appear to be the same film all over again. Bah, Hollywood can be oh so frustrating sometimes.