Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Mr Miyagi's Obituary

Metropolis has a nice obituary on the late Mr Miyagi who passed away last month. No, not him. Actor Pat Morita well known for his role as Mr Miyagi in the Karate Kid was one of my heroes during my teenage years. I remember using his famous "crane kick" technique numerous times when I was practicing martial arts and once in a fight. Well guess who won? The crane kick, of course! From Metropolis:
In Happy Days, Morita was balding, graying and goateed. In The Karate Kid, he was bald, gray and goateed. In Stars & Stripes, though, he was 35, clean-shaven, dark-haired and beatnik cool in a fishing hat, mock turtleneck and lit cigarette—he couldn’t have accessorized better if he’d brought Sammy Davis Jr. along for the photo shoot.

Since when did Morita get so, in a word (mine), cool? About the same time I recognized he wasn’t just a face, an actor or an icon.

The truth is, up until the day I wrote his obituary, Pat Morita was one of those people about whom I never imagined writing an obituary, chiefly because I never imagined Pat Morita dying. Dying means he would have lived, as a living, breathing person. Dying means he would have been mortal, no matter how many years he carried on henceforth in the cable universe. Above all, dying means he would have been human.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

IZ, I did not know u do martial arts. Got to show me the Crane Kick one day ok?

Anonymous said...

I did the crane kick once and got a groin strain after doing it.

Anonymous said...

How come u never show me your martial arts moves before? Do the crane kick next time. ;oP

Anonymous said...

*LOL*

The crane kick! That's the classic move of all time.

Anonymous said...

What's the Crane Kick?

Anonymous said...

IZ's famous Crane Kick!!

I've seen that before.

Hahahaha!

Anonymous said...

The Crane Kick is an arms-spread-like-wings one legged kick to the chin.

Anonymous said...

R.I.P Pat

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Hahahah. Oh well, a figure from a series of third-rate teen movies. I am trying not to cringe.

Crane kick. Pretty corny.

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