It’s not the size of the duck in the fight, but the size of the fight in the duck that counts.

Excerpted from The Master Method: Four Steps to Success, Prosperity and Inner Peace by Master Marco Sies

Growing up, I experienced difficulties and personal conflict that I’ve worked very hard to overcome. Some of these struggles stemmed from negative influences and people who told me I wasn’t good enough…I was inferior…I wasn’t smart…I was too poor, too small, too unattractive to make anything of myself. I was told so many negative things so often, I actually spent many years believing these things were true.

Very small for my age, I was a dark-skinned boy living n a not-yet diversified [Chilean] population where light skin was admired and favored. At school, little girls told me I was ugly, and the boys bullied me relentlessly. I remember being thrown headfirst into a trashcan, and the humiliation of a group of boys whipping me with their neckties and making me run like a horse while they laughed. Even some of my relatives made hurtful comments…

Some of those negative childhood experiences stayed with me well into adulthood. I now understand that these experiences were necessary to help me identify what I didn’t want for myself…

By the age of five or six, I already had a fascination with kickboxing, persistently pleading with my dad to show me moves and “train” me. Although I wanted to be a great fighter, no one took this undersized boy seriously, and especially one who had his head buried in philosophy books most of the time.

A New Determination

When I was 15, an exhibition by world champion kickboxes Bill “Superfoot” Wallace in my hometown changed the course of my life. I was awed by his power, mastery and discipline, and I decided that very night I wanted to become a world champion. I would train and learn and work harder than anyone ever had and let nothing stop me from reaching my goal. When I shared my thoughts with others, they scoffed and laughed at me, but once my decision was made, I began to make my plan.

I began working every job I could find to earn even the smallest amount of money [for training]. I washed dishes, helped people carry groceries to their cards, I swept floors, and I even walked several miles to and from school so I could save my bus money. I was determined to accomplish my goal, and I knew this was going to help me get closer to it. Small opportunities began to fall into my path, and eventually, I was able to find work at a martial arts school cleaning floors, bathrooms and mirrors. I never looked at these duties as beneath me, but rather as an opportunity.

This first martial arts job allowed me to train and improve my martial arts and kickboxing skills, and after a couple of years of relentless, grueling work, I proudly became the Chilean National Champion. I was only eighteen years old, and it was an enormous achievement. I maintained my title fro the next three years, but my eyes were still on the world title…I knew I had to go to Europe or the United States.

Coming to America

I arrived in America with $40, a couple pairs of pants and shirts, some music tapes and my martial arts uniforms. I settled into an ambitious routine, working as a cleaner late at night, delivering newspapers in the early morning hours and still training at every opportunity.

We would often drive all night to get to an event and then go straight to the weigh-in. I would fight and we would drive straight back home because hotel accommodations weren’t in the budget.

The world of kickboxing is a tough business, with purses going mostly to the promoters and the actual fighter taking the physical punishment for only $200 or $300. In those early years, I met people who promised me training, fights and other “deals,” but I didn’t understand anything about contracts, and was so green I assumed no one would be unethical or have bad intentions.

At one point, I was convinced to travel to California with the promise of big money for just a couple of fights. I spent two months there and never got paid a dime. I returned to the East with nothing–no job, no money and no place to live.

At this low point, I found myself homeless, and I didn’t know where my next meal would come from.

Despite these major setbacks I never lost faith. I was so focused on becoming a world champion…without knowing why, I was accepting everything I experienced as part of my journey. In hindsight, I realize each trial gave me the knowledge and tools I need to become a kickboxing world champion.

Within a few months I was back on my feet, and even though I had to work even hard to sustain myself, I didn’t worry. I couldn’t afford a boxing gym, but I found an old couch near a dumpster, took the cushions off, tied them to a tree, and that became my punching bag. I trained in the parking garage at a local mall, running up and down the stairs, and I ran sprints in a local park. I used all the creative means I could think of to continue my training every single day in hot sun, rain or snow…

Continued in The Master Method: Four Steps to Success, Prosperity and Inner Peace by Marco Sies.

…Actors often brag about how much Krav Maga or karate or capoeira they had to learn for their roles, but to judge from the onscreen world of modern action movies, that kind of skill set is hardly rare: A built-in understanding of martial arts is instilled in everyone, be they hero, villain, or mere henchman. (Fortunately, heroes always get to fight off bad guys who somehow know the exact same form of martial arts they do.) Too often, it seems like movies grind to a halt for obligatory hand-to-hand combat with low stakes and little invention, as though the screenwriter typed, “A fight breaks out,” and the director left it up to the second unit and fight coordinator to fill three minutes.

With little in the way of stakes, a sameness in presentation, and no blood or bruises, martial arts have turned action scenes into dance scenes…Gone are the days when a fight might involve a gun, a makeshift weapon, or a hit that actually hurts.

Mr. Buchanan misremembers the history of violence in cinema.

Before The Matrix ignited our current wuxia craze, with its improbable spinning kicks and high-precision fisticuffs, how did our heroes show their combat prowess? Primarily, as I recall, with a bullet-deflecting aura, flawless aim, and a bottomless clip.

In other words, these earlier fights were conducted with magical talismans, and not any representative of actual firearms. Imagine Harry Potter with a five o’clock shadow, versus an army of cross-eyed dragons that can’t shoot straight. In whose eyes were these gun battles any more realistic, or exciting, than (even formulaic and poorly choreographed) hand-to-hand combat? Within which paradigm it easiest for us to suspend disbelief, or to empathize?

America has always been uncomfortable with self-cultivation myths. The power of the cowboy, our original American superhero, flowed through his sidearm–and we are apparently meant to imagine he cast it himself, along with all the ammunition; but in contrast to legendary Eastern kung fu masters, our storied independence was always a product of the general store.

Superstar Jackie Chan, for example, is a real-life product of long and bitter kung fu training, and in the films that built his career, many of his characters share a similar background. Whereas, when courting an American audience, his movie plots too often concern a cybernetic tuxedo, or a magical medallion. (If you’ve seen either of these, then you know that twice is already too often.)

Fortunately for martial arts fans, not all on-screen violence is mediated by technology. While today’s hand-to-hand combat can be frantic, yet implausibly sterile, some scenes from decades past are unintentionally hilarious. Star Trek is a prime example, illustrating that there never was a greatest generation, or a golden age for violent action.

So what are the crucial truths about fighting and martial arts that popular movies obscure? An easy answer is, all of them. In greater detail: first, that there is even a difference between fighting and martial arts. Second, that there is a difference between fighting for dominance, and fighting for survival; even when lives are at stake, action movie heroes are more concerned with displays of personal heroism (no surprise here), and less with pragmatism or efficiency. Third, that a “successful” overt action is, at best, a rectification of previous failures at covert influence…

How are martial arts and the entertainment industry influencing each other? Is either improving, or corrupting the other? What do you think?

The Contest

I need you to help Karate Kyle express his seething rage. First, decide what he needs to say. Second, jump over to quickmeme.com and type in your idea–you’ll receive a captioned image immediately. Finally, save it, and leave a link to your original creation in a comment below.

Submissions will be accepted until April 8; then voting begins. Three winners will receive fun custom bobbleheads from 1minime.com:

• Winner #1: Readers’ favorite submission (with 10 or more votes)
• Winner #2: My favorite submission
• Winner #3: A randomly selected personal subscriber

Winners will receive a free handcrafted bobblehead of any person they choose, including themselves, each with an approximate value of $70. Every legitimate entry will increase your chances of winning, so get busy: Karate Kyle is waiting, and you don’t want to make him angry.

Update

Place a vote for your favorite submission below. Voting ends on April 16. (New submissions are welcome, but they will not be eligible for a prize.)

Hey, Zangief Kid. Millions of people are talking about you these days. They are talking about that final bullying event, captured on video two weeks ago, that made you Internet famous. Reporters, school officials, and other so-called experts are discussing how such events should be “handled” or “managed,” as if they indicated a simple policy failure.

I think you know better, Little Zangief, and so do I. Now, rather than adding to the punditry, I’d like to say a few words to you directly. But first, a quick recap, and please correct me if I am wrong…

School bullies hounded you for years. They tormented you daily, to such an extent that others were reluctant to be seen as your friend, lest they be forced to share in your suffering.

When a group of bullies ambushed you, their scrawny leader throwing punches while the rest stood by in approval, you finally snapped. They had your back against the wall, both figuratively and literally, Zangief. So, on the fifth punch, you grabbed the bully and gave him a piledriver! Wow!

The Internet approves.

Violence was the solution

I guess you’ve figured this one out already, but when adults tell children that “violence never solved anything,” they are lying. At times, it can seem a harmless little white lie, offered by those who care about our children, and want to protect them from harm.

The truth is that violence is a solution. Maybe it is not an ideal solution; and yes, while it is solving one problem, it often creates another. But there is no denying, Zangief, that absorbing punches with your face constitutes a problem–and that your direct aggressive action stopped those punches immediately–and perhaps forever.

You can safely trash most of the advice you’ve been given thus far. No, every bully is not secretly a coward on the inside. No, they are not actually trying to be your friend. If common sense had any useful advice for handling bullies, this world would be a different shape indeed.

Bullies never die

Look at what is happening in Libya today, or the broader Middle East region (or any other region). Bullies do not simply evaporate after high school; they rise to the highest levels of business and government. Bad news, Little Zangief: bullies run the world, with help from their enablers.

You’ve already met a few of these enabling characters. They are the people who stand by and watch, while their leader smashes your head. They are the people who respond to such injustice, by enacting and enforcing “zero tolerance” policies on self-defense. Lacking the strength, courage and wisdom to conquer their own bullies, they choose to collaborate instead. Let’s hope your recent example will inspire them to make different choices.

The logic of the melee

Little Zangief, I realize that your Spinning Piledriver was not the product of a careful and deliberative thought process. They finally pushed you too far, and you reacted without thinking. For your own safety, this is a situation you must avoid in the future. It is best to simply never let them push you too far.

Did you overreact in this specific case? In light of what actually happened, I would say no. A few punches resulting in no serious injury, were traded for an awe-inspiring body-slam resulting in no serious injury. Fair and square. Evaluating your actions by considering what never happened, due to those actions, is a little trickier–and this is where the experts and authorities usually go wrong.

The truth is that, by the sheer magnitude of your response, you may have saved someone from getting stomped by a gang of thugs. That person was yourself, of course; and because it was yourself, some naive observers will feel justified in labeling you as a willing combatant, rather than as a hero.

They will insist that you should have done something else instead. Perhaps you should have predicted your ambush, and tattled preemptively. Or waited peacefully until your bullies’ little limbs were tired of pummeling you, then crawled home to await tomorrow’s beating.

Or maybe you should have responded to each single punch with exactly one of your own, in a display of perfectly “proportional” and “appropriate” self-defense. I counted at least three co-conspirators on the scene–so if you have eight arms, eight legs, and supernatural stamina, then it could work. Probably not, but just maybe.

I’d like to say that you can just ignore these silly folks; but you cannot, because they staff the organizations that will decide your fate. They are policemen, parents and concerned citizens, reporters and editors, prosecutors and judges, principals and members of the school board.

Welcome to the complex world of self-defense.
Welcome to adulthood, Zangief Kid!

By day, he is a professional mixed martial arts fighter, with multiple black belts and a winning record. By night, he is Seattle’s own neighborhood crime fighter, operating under the costumed alias Phoenix Jones.

Phoenix recently shared his origin story, methods and motivations with NPR’s Michel Martin…

So I said “call 911, I need help.” And he answered, “I can’t…it’ll ruin my YouTube clip.”

Michel Martin: I think people would like to know how this got started…

Phoenix Jones: …I had a son, and we were playing at Wild Waves. As we leave, my son falls in this broken glass right by my car…someone had broken the window. His knee is cut open and he’s bleeding really badly. I’m trying to stop the bleeding and I see a guy run across the street with a camera phone. I’m thinking, “Perfect, he’ll call the cops.”

So I said “call 911, I need help.” And he answered, “I can’t…it’ll ruin my YouTube clip.”

Michel Martin: But how did you go from that…to wearing a costume and deciding you’re going to do patrols?

Phoenix Jones: I know that sounds like a large leap… What happened is, I’m cleaning the glass out of my car, and I found a rock inside a mask, that they used to smash my window. I left the mask in my glove box.

A couple weeks later, I’m at a bar doing what I normally do–driving people to the bar, dropping them off and waiting for them–and a friend of mine gets assaulted outside the bar. And there’s about seventy people watching. The guy who did it had a whole lot of friends there, and I didn’t want to just walk up and say “Hey, you shouldn’t do that,” because I knew people would see my face. I opened up my glove box to get my phone and call 911, and I saw the mask.

I put on the mask and made a commotion. The police showed up, and they were able to arrest him. And that is how Phoenix Jones was born.

Listen to the full interview at NPR’s Tell Me More.

The Best

Bodyguards and Assassins
Winner: 2010 Hong Kong Film Award, Best Film

Bodyguards and Assassins [IMDB rating: 6.9/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Cung Le

14 Blades [IMDB rating: 6.3/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Zhao Wei

Ip Man 2 [IMDB rating: 7.6/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Darren Shahlavi, Sammo Hung

Ip Man 2

Ong Bak 3 [Amazon Blu-ray, DVD] [Netflix] [IMDB rating: 4.4/10]
Starring Tony Jaa

Reign of Assassins [IMDB rating: 7.0/10]
Starring Michelle Yeoh

Black Dynamite [Amazon] [Netflix] [IMDB rating: 7.4/10]
Starring Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall

Black Dynamite

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen [IMDB rating: 6.2/10]
Starring Donnie Yen, Shu Qi

True Legend [IMDB rating: 6.3/10]
Starring Man Cheuk Chiu, Michelle Yeoh

The Karate Kid [Amazon Blu-ray, DVD] [Netflix] [IMDB rating: 6.2/10]
Starring Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith

The Rest

And these are some of the martial arts films I didn’t see, mixed in with a few I do not care to recommend…

• 12 with Mark Strange
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Beatdown
• Born to Raise Hell with Steven Seagal
• Circle of Pain with Kimbo Slice
• City Under Siege with Collin Chou, Wu Jing, Shu Qi
• Damage with Steve Austin
• A Dangerous Man with Steven Seagal
• Dragonball: Evolution
• Game of Death with Wesley Snipes
• Ip Man, The Legend Is Born with Ip Chun
• Jackie Chan, Kung Fu Master with Jackie Chan (but just barely!)
• Kung Fu Chefs with Sammo Hung
• Kung Fu Hip-Hop 2
• Kung Fu Master with Yuen Biao
• Legend of the Tsunami Warrior with Dan Chupong
• Little Big Soldier with Jackie Chan
• Martial Spirit
• Mulan with Zhao Wei
• Never Surrender
• Ninja with Scott Adkins
• Ninja Assassin with Rain
• Ninja’s Creed
• Undisputed 3: Redemption with Scott Adkins

Which of these was your favorite?

Reviewer Mark Pollard says:

THE BLACK NINJA is one of those “should have” films. It should have been marketed as the no budget, amateur project that it is, rather than as a potentially gratifying B-grade exploitation piece in order to keep expectations to a minimum. It should have been a short film, omitting overlong dialogue while making better use of limited resources. It should have been campier. A vigilante ninja clad in black while riding a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle should not be taken seriously. Finally, it should have had nothing to do with ninjas to begin with since the martial arts action is miserably weak. And last but not least, it should have never been made.

Ninja Squad

IMDB says:

It grates my potatoes when I read “This is worst film ever!” about films like Battlefield Earth, Pearl Harbour, etc. OK, these films are dreadful and made by people who should know better but compared to [Ninja Squad], I would describe Battlefield Earth as a cinematic masterpiece.

Ninja Terminator

What is the worst ninja movie you have ever seen?

Shinjido literally means Danny’s Way, a label given by one of my students to the variety of techniques that I have developed for martial art. I attempt to find the easiest solution to a problem either in attack or defence. My work is based on sound principles and the techniques serve to demonstrate the principles. I have applied this approach to judo starting from the premise that our sport is fighting within specific rules and limitations…