Episode 172 - The Last Dragon: LIVE!

[HotSaucerman 2051]

Did Sho-Nuff remind anyone else of Deon Cole?

[HotSaucerman 2051]

Listening to the episode: They're talking about a lot of details that I don't remember from the movie. This movie was so boring, despite the occasional cheesy goodness.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

An observation... the video jukebox in the pizza shop is actually one of Arkadian's jukeboxes. It has an "Arkadian" logo on the front. That totally explains why it was playing Angela's video, which is a sneaky, but still fairer way to get her video to the public. Probably also explains why Eddie has 5 jukeboxes in his office... maybe...

So that's how U2 got the idea to put Songs of Innocence on my fucking phone!

[Supremeweaver 9]

First off ,great show and I always enjoy everyone's perspective.

 

I want to start by saying that this is my #1 favorite movie. I have always loved it since i was 7 and it was on continuous play on HBO. I own the VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and the Soundtrack on CD. I still watch it from time to time and usually find a way to have my friends and family watch it. I too thought that the pop star was a Cindy Lauper rip off but she did a great job of really making you believe she was that kind of character.

 

I usually don't comment on the boards as most of the movies aren't in my wheel house of knowledge but, as you can see in previous statements, this one is branded to my brain. So i wanted to point out a couple of things that i heard and thought would be insightful.

 

I think everyone thought that Leroy having social problems was a sign of some mental incapacity to be in the world but I have always thought that the character was mimicking the Kung Fu character that David Carradine prorated in the Kung Fu show. I think he traveled the world not having the knowledge that commonly comes from living in modern society. This would explain his child like wonder of modern social cues and not having the skills to begin a relationship physical or otherwise.

 

Another comment that the group made was that Leroy didn't contribute to the pizza place that much as his training took to much of his time. I thought about that maybe the family suffered because of it until i realised that he had his own dojo. I know its Harlem but the rent to maintain that space, utilities and have the time to teach would probably come from paid membership from parents and students. This would mean that the family could probably have a good life as I don't see a Leroy being into materialistic things like money.

 

I could go on forever but this the last i will blather on about. With the glow, i think that it was the self enlightenment of believing your are the master. This is why Shonuf was able to obtain the glow for himself. The whole quest for this glow was a movie to say that you have in you what you need to succeed in life.

 

I hope this helps and the true master is in you!!

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

There's been a lot of commentary on how Leroy seems socially or emotionally stunted in this movie, as though he just stepped out of some remote monastery in another country. This seems odd, given that we are shown at the end of the first scene that Leroy has just been training in a houseboat docked in New York City. So what's going on here?

 

Brainwashing. We need to take a close look at this guy who calls himself "The Master:"

 

 

I realize that everything coming out of his mouth sounds warm and fatherly, but let's look at the facts here. Leroy immediately grovels at the Master's feet after thinking that he's displeased him in some way, even after Leroy just caught an arrow in mid-flight (which should please any teacher). There's a series of "patches" that Leroy had to "earn" in order to complete his training and apparently attain some kind of mystical "glow," all laid out on a chart that seems important at the time but later has nothing to do with anything. Then he sends Leroy out after "Sum Dum Goy," which turns out to just be some fortune cookie machine and not any kind of martial arts master. Faced with these facts, he hands Leroy an empty fortune cookie and reveals that his treasured medallion was also fake, before announcing that he's hopping on a plane to Miami.

 

What does this all tell you? He's making this shit up. This "Master" guy is just a huckster. His training is some weird mix of Chinese and Japanese cultural touchstones with no internal consistency. Now, obviously the Glow turned out to be real, and Leroy certainly did have talent, but is there any evidence that this so-called "training" had anything to do with him attaining this final level? None that I can see. I'm not sure how much Leroy paid for these years of training, but hopefully he can get his money back before this guy spends it all in Miami Beach. He's sure not coming back to New York.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Korean chop sticks are made of metal.

 

[/adds nothing to the conversation]

[NundercoverBrother 174]

 

I realize that everything coming out of his mouth sounds warm and fatherly, but let's look at the facts here. Leroy immediately grovels at the Master's feet after thinking that he's displeased him in some way...

 

 

Leroys sensei even calls him out on it during the groveling scene in the beginning "...ah, youve been to the movies again..."

 

Hes trying to build up Leroys confidence that Leroy is the true master that his journey is that of self discovery and being a self made man.

 

...Im just saying Leroys teacher doesnt do mall karate like a Rex KwanDo

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

There's been a lot of commentary on how Leroy seems socially or emotionally stunted in this movie, as though he just stepped out of some remote monastery in another country. This seems odd, given that we are shown at the end of the first scene that Leroy has just been training in a houseboat docked in New York City. So what's going on here?

 

Brainwashing. We need to take a close look at this guy who calls himself "The Master:"

 

 

I realize that everything coming out of his mouth sounds warm and fatherly, but let's look at the facts here. Leroy immediately grovels at the Master's feet after thinking that he's displeased him in some way, even after Leroy just caught an arrow in mid-flight (which should please any teacher). There's a series of "patches" that Leroy had to "earn" in order to complete his training and apparently attain some kind of mystical "glow," all laid out on a chart that seems important at the time but later has nothing to do with anything. Then he sends Leroy out after "Sum Dum Goy," which turns out to just be some fortune cookie machine and not any kind of martial arts master. Faced with these facts, he hands Leroy an empty fortune cookie and reveals that his treasured medallion was also fake, before announcing that he's hopping on a plane to Miami.

 

What does this all tell you? He's making this shit up. This "Master" guy is just a huckster. His training is some weird mix of Chinese and Japanese cultural touchstones with no internal consistency. Now, obviously the Glow turned out to be real, and Leroy certainly did have talent, but is there any evidence that this so-called "training" had anything to do with him attaining this final level? None that I can see. I'm not sure how much Leroy paid for these years of training, but hopefully he can get his money back before this guy spends it all in Miami Beach. He's sure not coming back to New York.

Between this movie and Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi, it's almost as if there is some sort of trend of stereotypical martial arts masters emotionally and physically abusing their American-born, socially awkward students....

 

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Between this movie and Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi, it's almost as if there is some sort of trend of stereotypical martial arts masters emotionally and physically abusing their American-born, socially awkward students....

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Between this movie and Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi, it's almost as if there is some sort of trend of stereotypical martial arts masters emotionally and physically abusing their American-born, socially awkward students....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP69wn8xtS4

 

This is true, though at least Miyagi showed up for his student's big fights. Leroy's master is off to Miami when shit goes down.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Leroy's master is off to Miami when shit goes down.

Would you say... He's trying to make... a Miami Connection

 

 

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Would you say... He's trying to make... a Miami Connection

 

And taylor anne photo just made a "C.S.I. Miami" connection... (Volume Warning for the "C.S.I. Miami" link)

[Cameron H. 23786]

Just butting in to say this is the best thing I've ever read...

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/mradamscott/status/915386079913680898

 

 

[Cockney Mackem 514]

In the world of this film Vanity is an extremely desirable woman who is looking for a relationship, but there are no available men. Even when she essentially makes herself available to the entire city by offering a date with her as a competition prize, the only people in the whole of NYC showing an interest are Leroy's little brother and other twelve-year-olds. She instantly goes for Leroy and makes huge efforts to get with him, even though he dresses and acts like the village idiot, because he's literally the only available male over the age of consent. Her frustration when she throws herself at Leroy and he runs away suggests she hasn't had sex in a very long time. I'm surprised she didn't give one of the kidnappers her phone number.

 

I also have a theory that this film is a bizarre extension of the Sucker Punch universe where each of the characters is undergoing a shared delusion in Berry Gordy's nightclub. Eddie Arkadian and his crew seem to think they are characters in a 30s gangster movie and just adapt their psychosis to the whole music scene environment they find themselves in, Leroy thinks he's a character in a Bruce Lee film, Sho'nuff thinks he's in a gang film, and Leroy's brother is a child who thinks he's an adult (and a pimp). Berry Gordy is some sort of all-powerful, unseen psychiatric puppet master applying shock treatment to various disturbed people.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Just butting in to say this is the best thing I've ever read...

 

https://mobile.twitt...386079913680898

"By Scott Adams"

 

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

"By Scott Adams"

 

 

I know! And you cannot read it without hearing his “teenage” voice in your head. It’s even written in his normal cadence.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Just butting in to say this is the best thing I've ever read...

 

https://mobile.twitt...386079913680898

Just when you think you couldn't love a man anymore.

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

The whole Jewish & Asian thing is a racial stereotype that Jewish people have a specific fetish for Asian people.

 

My theory is that it's a reference to the Jewish practice of going out for dinner on Christmas day to Chinese food restaurants, on a day when they and movie theaters are among the only outlets not usually closed, while Christians are at home having family dinners (with the family in A Christmas Story going out for Chinese food when their meal gets eaten by the dog the exception that proves the rule). The "Jewish Chinese-food-and-a-movie Christmas" is at least well known enough that SNL did a segment about it:

 

[media='']

[/media]

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

It so happens that callow misconceptions about sex involving belly buttons also turn up in Stephen King's It.

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

Wouldn't "Santa Claus with a mohawk" just be Mr. T?

[SweatyPremise 28]

What does this all tell you? He's making this shit up. This "Master" guy is just a huckster. His training is some weird mix of Chinese and Japanese cultural touchstones with no internal consistency. Now, obviously the Glow turned out to be real, and Leroy certainly did have talent, but is there any evidence that this so-called "training" had anything to do with him attaining this final level? None that I can see. I'm not sure how much Leroy paid for these years of training, but hopefully he can get his money back before this guy spends it all in Miami Beach. He's sure not coming back to New York.

 

One man's huckster is another man's prophet. I think he's a great Lama in the Vajrayana tradition. I would not be surprised if he had a relationship with Leroy. IN fact, I think there's another cut of this movie where Leroy is an orphan. It would make the plot make quite a bit more sense. But it would also cut out all the drama and really make it boring to mainstream audiences. No clue how they got so many episodes out of Kung Fu.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I don't have much to add this week, but I wanted to give June a shout out for the following exchange (paraphrasing):

 

Paul: Being from New York City..

June: Paul grew up on Long Island, everyone.

[Cameron H. 23786]

If you could see any two musicians kung fu fight to the death, who would they be? Fighters can be picked from any era. Can be anyone living or dead. No rules. Any resources at their disposal is allowed.

 

I'd pit Glenn "Mother" Danzig's brute strength

 

 

against Frank "The Chairman of the Board" Sinatra's cunning and (alleged) mob ties.

 

[tomspanks 9039]

Taylor Swift vs Kanye West, for sure.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Taylor Swift vs Kanye West, for sure.

Lord, what happens when you don't want either to win