The next wrestling party! Flower Power!

New Workout Begins!

I am hereby officially launching my push for the "Redemption of Captain Zorikh" video project. I went to the gym today.

I actually have gone to the gym four times in the past two weeks. Not much, I admit, but I gotta start somewhere. First I tried a 30-minute, upper-body circuit workout I found in an old Muscle & Fitness magazine. After doing that twice I realized a few thing things: 1) My pecs need more work, 2) My shoulders need to be handled carefully, and 3) this workout is for folks who go to the gym regularly and once or twice a month only have thirty minutes where they would usually spend a little more time. To build strength and muscle one needs to concentrate on body parts. On Monday I did back and triceratops, today I did chest and bicycles. I will try to go tomorrow or Monday and do shoulders, legs, and trapezoids. I do abs each time.

I also have a home workout routine I do that involves lifting furniture and super-sets with my barbell and dumbbells. I also am going to start running up and down the stairs like I did a year ago.

Over the past few months my low income and active work had conspired to lose me about 15 lbs. If I entered a grappling tournament now I would be fighting guys that come up to my sternum, I'm so light. So I have lost some mass, and people are noticing. My face is thinner, and so is my waist. But I have less body fat and greater definition than I had when I was 197 lbs., working out 4-5 times a week and eating a lot of high-calorie foods.

Wrestling party tonight, Combat Twister Video, more!

Hi Folks! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, eating much wonderful food with the people you love.

I have been busy here. I have posted up a short video on the making of “Combat Twister” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL5mUOb7Y6M) , the video shoot that took place a few weeks ago at the Halloween Adventure Costume Shop on West 43rd Street. It is backed by the music of STARK (http://www.starknyc.com), a hard rock band that performed at Frank Wood's birthday celebration. The video that I actually shot still requires a few hours and some financial support to finish.



I have also posted up a short statement form Neal Adams about Captain Marvel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5upTHccAQi0), made at the Big Apple Convention a couple of weeks age (and I edited in a few pictures of Captain Marvel, just to help get the point across). It is the first video of a new YouTube channel I have created, where I will be posting videos relating to the Captain Marvel Culture project.



Finally this week, it's that time of the month again, when Grapple Den hosts its monthly wrestling party. This, the last party of the year, will feature a X-Mas unwrapping match, blizzard wrestling, and of course, the royal Reindeer Tag-in Rumble! This will all go down at Tagine, that lovely Moroccan restaurant on 9th Ave near 40th Street on Wednesday, December 3rd, from 9:30 PM to 1:30 AM. As a special holiday present from Grapple Den, admission is half the usual price, only $10 per person this time! For more info, go to http://www.grappleden.com/party.

Now just a few plugs:

As you all know 'tis the season where we all are looking for that perfect gift for that special someone. Times are tough for all of us, so I hear, and Captain Zorikh is sensitive to this issue. That is why all products in the Watch This Space catalog, including the Pennsic War video documentary ( a great gift for that medievalist or LARPer), the Captain Zorikh music CD's (of which I highly recommend the Death Star Repairmen for that special Star Wars fan), and everything else is either $1 or 15% off, whichever is greater, from now through December 31. Simply deduct the appropriate ammlount from your PayPal order, or send a check or money order to the address at http://www.captainzorikh.com/wts/catalogue.html.

And should you find nothing there that is just right, remember that you can click on the link to Amazon.com from almost any page at http://www.captainzorikh.com and http://www.captainmarvelculture.com and a small portion of your purchase price will help Yours Truly finance future projects. Those websites happen to have lists of movies of interest to anyone who digs medieval/renaissance/ancient world/fantasy/swordfighting stuff, a list of comic book movies, and books about stage combat and armor, all linked to Amazon.com (and I know some of you out there dig that sort of thing).

And to wrap it up, plugs for two places in times Square that have kept me fed the past few months...

Dave and Buster's on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Ave is having a Punisher party, with free giveaways and other special stuff to celebrate the release of the new film, “Punisher: War Zone.”

Halloween Adventure Costume Shop on 43rd Street between 8th and 9th Ave, in addition to having hosted the Combat Twister video shoot, also has lots and lots of costumes and accessories, masks, wigs, hats, makeup, magic tricks, gag toys, funny nose & glasses, squirt guns, lightsabers, even plastic doggie do! It also has Santa suits and elf costumes of all sizes for any budget, and New Years party hats, horns, beads, noisemakers, confetti, and more!

That's Captain Zorikh for you, you never know where he will show up next!

Captain Zorikh
http://www.captainzorikh.com
zorikh@juno.com
917-865-1214

I need a new gig bag!

When I lost my guitar on the L train on September 22 of 2007, the Manny's Music gig bag that it was in went with it. Phil Fiumano of NewYorkRocksTV.com was good enough to give me one of his, but the bag it came in has given up the ghost. The zipper is shot, and it looks like I am going to have to decide whether to keep the guitar in the bag forever, or destroy the zipper.

Well, since I have to play the guitar, the zipper will have to go, so...

Does anyone have a guitar gig bag to spare? I don't care how many extra pockets it has, a lot or just one, it's fine. I don't care what color it is or whether it has any fancy brand or label on it. The important thing is that the straps allow me to carry it with the neck pointing up, but not too high above my 6'4" high head. This means the straps need to be attachable about halfway up the neck, not at the base of the neck like that ubiquitous, omnipresent bag that Guitar Center sells for about half a buck. I got that one already. I nearly broke the neck of my guitar off in the subway, and the case wound up falling apart when I used it as a sword case.

Musically yours, Captain Zorikh
http://www.captainzorikh.com

McCain is Mondale-Dole

I had been thinking this for a while, and the tonight's election results have proven it: John McCain is a combination, a pastiche, if you will, of Walter Mondale and Bob Dole.

Think about it. An aging, disabled war veteran and Senate elder statesman, running against a skilled and charismatic communicator, and countering faltering polls through energy and hard work.

I will let everyone else talk about the historic significance of the first black president, about how the economy was what won it for him, about how he was able to energize a previously under-active electorate, how this signals a change in the attitude of the nation and the revitalization of the Democratic party. I will allow others to express relief that this election was decided so early in the night and with so little controversy. I will even expect other people to point out how in even larger presidential victories you did not see such spontaneous expressions of joy as we did in Chicago and New York. I will just point out that as different as things may be, we can always see a paralell in the past.

Filmmakers' Meetup

I went to a "meetup group" of independent filmmakers tonight and made a pitch for my two short film projects, "The Redemption of Captain Zorikh" and "Kim Fu Yu vs. Jennny Rancid."

The first film is an absurdist comedy involving the ongoing conflict of two different women. I have shot the 2nd and 3rd scenes fo this 3 scene film already, the shot dri9nking contest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xodPhbxFTws) and the streetfight, and intend to shoot the "Combat Twister" scene on Sunday, October 26th.

The second is a "rocky/Karate Kid" type story that chronicles Captain Zorikh being defeated by Veve Lane, then working out, training, facing other opponents, and finally meeting her again in a tournament. I have shot the first 40% of it (you can see some of the working out comedy at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJOOOIxtO8Q), and need to finish the training montage, one scene of dialogue, one scripted match with another fellow, and the grand finale showdown with Veve.

In my pitch I described the marketability of the lead and supporting performers, Veronica Vicious, Morgan Sinead, Veve Lane, and Damien Terror Dog, how their videos, photo comics, trading cards, etc, have already sold well at conventions, on-line, and elsewhere, and several people came up to me interested in working with the project.

There were just a few things I forgot to mention or plug at the meeting, so I am taking the chance to do so here, and have posted a note on the Meetub Group message board, sending them to this blog post to read them:


1) I intend to shoot the "Combat Twister" scene on Sunday, October 26. I could use background actors, a low/no budget location, a girl-rock group willing to provide their presence for the shoot and music for the scene, food for the cast and crew, and volunteers for AD, DP, 2nd unit director & crew, and advice to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.

2) To help raise money for the project, I am selling various products I have created, including videos, comics (drawn and photos), and music CD's http://www.captainzorikh.com/wts/catalogue.html

3) You can see some of the footage I have shot already at http://www.youtube.com/user/captainzorikh and some more of Veronica Vicious and Veve Lane at http://www.youtube.com/user/jolievoltaire

I look forward to working with you!

Captain Zorikh
http://www.captainzorikh.com

Audition observation report

On Friday I went on an audition for a NYU student film. The scene was about semi-homeless wandered crashing at an old school buddies' house, and the awkward moment of trying to settle in with his buddy's wife. It was basically about the awkwardness of two people who don;t know each other trying to pass time and be polite and friendly.We have all been there, perhaps in a waiting room, or sitting in a plane, or being the first one to get to a party, or having to entertain your roommate's girlfriend...you get the idea.

I had read through the scene several times, but I couldn't get the feeling of artifice out of my system. It just felt forced. I had done a student film about a month and a half before, and when I saw it, I wasn't happy because the acting looked so forced, and I wanted to get away from that feeling.

So while waiting for the audition, I found myself in a waiting room with an actress also waiting for the audition. I asked her if she wanted to go over the scene, so we did. Then I started engaging her in conversation. I tried to guide the conversation into the same basic framework as the scene. As I did so I paid attention to where my voice was going, what my body was doing, how I was saying what I was saying. Thus, when I went into the audition, I knew where to go and how to deliver the lines.

I rocked the audition and go the part. We will be shooting the scene on Friday!

http://www.captainzorikh.com