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The Karate Kid is one of the classic movies of the 1980’s. It inspired boys (and girls as well) from middle school to college to take karate lessons and stand up to bullies – the latter being a common theme of the movie that many kids could relate to.
If you’re not familiar with the film, it’s centered around Daniel LaRusso, a teenage boy who recently lost his father, who moves with his mother from New Jersey to California. Daniel quickly makes some new friends and is invited to the beach where he meets Ali Mills, the school sweetheart. In an act of chivalry to protect Ali from her ex-boyfriend, he inadvertently makes enemies with a gang of karate students from the notorious Cobra Kai dojo and that’s where the fun begins.
The 1975 boxing match where virtual unknown Chuck Wepner nearly went the distance with then World Champion and boxing legend, Mohammad Ali, inspired Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky. Rejection after rejection didn’t deter Stallone from pursuing his dream, he persevered and eventually saw his script make it to the big screen (where he was able to star in it). The film eventually won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1976.
This month’s theme for the Video of the Week is “Inspiration from TV & Movies.” Let’s face it; the entertainment industry is one of the biggest influences in our lives regardless of how much we try to not let it. But as much as sensationalism of celebrity scandals and “art” trying push the moral envelope tends to dominate the news, there are a lot of things that we see both on TV and in the theater that can truly inspire us.
So this month, we’ll focus on some of the more powerful scenes of inspiration and motivation from film and television.
The end of the year is typically a time for reflection. In this day and age when our media is dominated by bad news and negativity, we often look back at our own lives and see things to be worse than they actually are. We often don’t realize how much we contribute to others each day and that’s why “It’s a Wonderful Life” is my favorite Christmas movie.
I’ve always been impressed by Josh Groban’s music but there’s something special about this song. It seems like most of the newer Christmas recordings are simply whoever’s topping the pop charts using their own style to sing classic Christmas songs. I find it hard to believe that generations to come will replace classics from Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Brenda Lee with songs by ‘N Sync, Jessica Simpson and Hannah Montana. But “Believe” is one of the more recent songs that has a chance.
Here’s an excellent video of the song with clips from “The Polar Express.” If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s definitely worth a watch.
One of my favorite Christmas specials is “A Charlie Brown Christmas
I like the overall theme of the movie – Christmas is too commercialized and the spirit, message and true meaning get lost in the shuffle. Here’s a scene from the cartoon where Linus explains the true meaning of Christmas to Charlie Brown.
I’ve added this segment as something fun for Fridays. Regardless of whether or not the videos have something to do with communication, they’ll at least be entertaining or interesting. So here’s the first one…
As an avid guitar player in high school and college, I’m still a huge fan of guitar heavy music. I was so excited when a friend introduced me to Trans-Siberian Orchestra – a band that combines a rock band, choir and orchestra to pump out some great Christmas tunes.