DREAM 6

In the MMA world, that’s Mixed Martial Arts for people unaware, DREAM, an upstart promotion company that has come in wake of Japan’s prestigious PRIDE organization, will be holding it’s Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinals along with other spectacular match-ups on September 23, 2008 at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan. The Dream organization is doing a tremendous job at recapturing the essence and flair of the old Pride days. The very same days when Dana White, the UFC President, agreed Pride were an equal and worthy competitor in the MMA business. After the collapse and sequential buy-out of Pride by UFC in 2007 things looked a bit bleak overseas as far as MMA was concerned, but the Fighting and Entertainment Group along with Dream Stage Entertainment, former executives of Pride, have brought forth a new hope.


The Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinals will be holding my interest the most. Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1) will square off against K-1 superstar Melvin Manhoef (22-4-1) in one bracket while Ronaldo Souza (9-1-0) and Zelg Galesic (9-3-0) clash in the other to see which two will advance towards Dream’s middleweight grand prix finals the same night.

In my book the devastating and far superior striking that Melvin Manhoef picked up in K-1 will push him through to the next round. Though Gegard has great stand up, a good ground game and knows how to incorporate that all into the MMA world the ferocious power of Melvin will end the fight. Melvin will be too quick and too powerful for Mousasi.

The match I’m most anticipating between Ronaldo and Zelg will go way of Ronaldo’s previous eight fights, which is complete and utter domination on the part of Ronaldo with a side of submission. Since moving to Xtreme Couture gym Ronaldo’s already dominating fighting style has been intensified to a scary level. Though his stand-up is still in question for some people his ability to match and equal grappling superstar Randy Couture has shown he is a naturally gifted fighter with astonishing potential. However, if Zelg can keep this standing he has a good chance of beating Ronaldo, but with Ronaldo’s superior wrestling, which he used to overpower Jason “Mayhem” Miller in his previous fight, will be the beginning of the end because once on the ground he can do pretty much anything he wants with his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background.


On the same card there’s a great striking match-up between Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (23-6-2) and Alistair Overeem (28-11-0). In the States Mirko will probably always be remembered as the guy who was brutally KO’d by Gabriel Gonzaga with that outlandish high kick, but to the Japanese audience he’ll always be remember as the guy with the high kick highlight video. His match with Alistair is probably his hardest since facing Cheick Kongo back at UFC 75 and really is as important. If he doesn’t win at Dream 6 he will definitely instill doubt into the most concrete believer of the Croatian sensation. To be honest I’m not sure how this one will pan out. Alistair has really been improving the past 2 years while Cro Cop has seem to be on the decline. If the Cro Cop that fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira back in Pride Final Conflict in 2003 shows up we could not only have a highlight win for him, but a great and exciting fight. But at this time it is anyone’s guess who shows up to fight.


One more fight I want to touch on before departing this blog is between Sergei Kharitonov (15-3-0) and Jimmy Ambriz (13-9-1). Sergei almost looked to be out of a bout for this coming Dream 6 event because his original opponent had to pull out at the last minute due to a back injury. Nonetheless, they were able to get Jimmy “the Titan” Ambriz to step in and fill the void for Sergei. From what I’ve seen, whenever Jimmy fights top competition he doesn’t seem capable of pulling it together. Sergei has been almost of the same fate, but has notable and amazing wins over Alistair Overeem, Febricio Werdum, Pedro Rizzo and Murilo Rua, but when faced against juggernauts such as Aleksander Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira he’s come up sort. This should be a great slugfest from start to finish and I believe it will go in favor of the hard hitting Russian, Sergei.

Dream should have another winner on its hands with this event and I don’t think the fans will or should be disappointed with it. I’m very excited (and bias) as I hope you can tell. See after the SHHHHOOOOOWWWW!

I Want To Be A Screenwriter

I've been on a real film kick lately. Just snatching up movies left and right trying to find the ones with great scripts for studying purposes. The reason I want to study them is for my own script. I've had an idea for a movie script floating around in my head for a couple years now and about 5-6 months ago I wrote a short story version of it for a writing class. Ever since then I was encourage by my professor to "finish" it. So, that's what I'm trying to do.

You sometimes have to smash your head on the concrete before you realize, "before I run I must learn to walk." I did that very thing of course. I tried to immediately translate my "idea" and that short story into a script. Nah-uh. That was a big no-no. You have to learn the hard way sometimes, or at least I do. After that failed attempt I went searching online and found a couple of great websites that had famous screenplays and/or suggestions and advice. I read as many of those screenplays as I could and bought a book that was recommend. Since then I feel I have a better grasp on what I want to accomplish and everything is rolling along a lot smoother than before. Well, it's still fucking hard.











The book I picked up was Syd Field's The Screenwriter's Workbook. What a great read and what great insight into this hard profession. It has become an invaluable tool worthy of any sins it may dare me to act out! I kid. If you are interested in screen writing and not sure where to start or what to do in general pick this book up and you wont be disappointed.

Now, onto the movies I've watched due to reading this book and imploring the "exercises" from it:




















2046

What a phenomenal piece of art. I get a little weary calling movies "pieces of art," sometimes I even feel it is a bit pretentious, but 2046 was stellar from top to bottom for me. This gave me a new found love and curiosity for other foreign films. I'll just start by saying the brilliance on the technical side was jaw dropping and eye opening. The art direction, special effects, cinematography and camera work were all just top-notch. There were a couple of scenes where colors really dictated the mood ( I know that's nothing new, but the way this movie played with it made it standout for me). Another thing that really stuck out for me was the way the people, when alone, were framed in a shot. Very neat stuff.


I'm not big on foreign films, usually, and that's because I hate reading subtitles. I know it sounds a little trite, but I fell it takes away from my enjoying of the "visual" aspects of the film, which to me is one of the reasons films are around--to be seen. Glancing down to read really takes away from the visual experience for me and is distracting. Nonetheless, I felt everything in this movie worked and played off each other in a way that I got the best of both worlds.

The chemistry between Mr. Chow (sorry don't know the actors name) and Ms. Ling (I know her, but not sure of her name) was mesmerizing. At times I forgot I was watching a movie and I thought I was just eavesdropping. I've never had a movie do that to me before. Now, that leads me to the script which was very, very well constructed and quite possible the most original thing I've seen in years. It inspires me as a want-a-be writer to strive for something a little bit off the beaten path.

I hear people saying, even people that liked the movie, that it was too long. I find that funny because for me it flew by and didn't seem long at all. I'm usually the one saying movies are too long. Go figure.

I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't. Yes, I know I'm behind because some of you film nerds have already seen it.





















The Seventh Seal

Man, what a great idea and what a great movie. The writing and the acting really stood out for me! Highly recommend a viewing if you have not seen it. Yeah it's old, but one of those old movies that still "works." The questions brought up in this film are truly universal and work no matter the century or technological advancements; well unless we prove God does not exist. I'll write more later.