Creative excercises: Dumping Ideas

I have been writing my narrative for the film. Working alone allows you some freedom you don’t have with a large crew or staff. No one pressuring me declare a structure before I am ready. I have had the luxury of having a limitless journey of discovery in pursuing this documentary.

Before I write, I do an exercise where I just dump out everything I know on one piece of paper in about 3 minutes. Not an outline, not even really organized. Here is what I came up with in about 5 minutes, I went over. I let the film run in my head based on what I think I have. Imagined it from beginning to end for a minute and started writing. No way is it everything, no way is there any literal meaning to it, just dumping ideas. Somethings will have to go. Tying it all together is quite a task. Coherence, meaning, impact, chronology. Here I go.

1968 – Comic Ad – Histories and implications
1970 -Dojo War – The Versions
CAPSULE: Martial Arts History -Rise of the Chinese Secret Societies
Black Dragon-Green Dragons, Catholics and Muslims

Martial arts in Chicago
Chicago; Character of the City
narrative premises and ideas:
the world of children and the need for magic and power
the things that drive us to the martial arts
bullies and self defense, feeling of insecurity, need for discipline,
desire for fitness, desire for beauty, how it changes with
the acquisition of power, the maturity of spirit
the gaining or loss of ones way

1890s- earliest presence of Asian martial Arts
1917University of Chicago
1918 Northwestern
-Jiu Jitsu Institute 1938
-Mas Tamura – Mixed Martial Arts match 1943
– Japanese Internee Resettlement
– Gene LaBell hobos to see Tamura
Others from the early Days
– Bruce Tegner
-Don Draeger

The coming of Age of John Keehan:His Influences
1939-1957 Family life and School
Irish lad and the law, first arrests
-Johnny Coulon – Jack Johnson The Boxing Culture
-East 63rd Street
-1958 The Marine Experience
West Coast Exploration – San Francisco Chinatown
Contacts: James Yimm Lee
-T.Y. Wong
-Bruce Lee
-Ed Parker

– 1959 The Army – Arms to Raul Castro? Operation Water Buffalo

Close Friends: Tommy Gregory – Douglas Dwyer
Road Trips to Robert Trias
Gene Wyka
Charles Grusanki
The Indiana Crew – Fassbinder
1962 Madison Square Garden Tournament Loss to Gary Alexander
Toronto :Shimabaku
Chicago Defiance: South Side Dojo – Tolona – Jimmy Jones –
Race and the Martial Arts
1963 1st World’s Tournament Parker – Rhee – Trias

Rise of The Keehan empire
Martial arts Instructor – Contact with “Tokyo Rose”
Rise of the USKA
1964 The Split- World Karate Association – Woody Edgell
1965 Dynamite caps on Gene Wykas School
15 Schools
The Hairdressing Business -The Women
1966 Rush Street Dojo
The Pet Lion
Playboy
The Pornshops – Chicago Outfit Associations
Used Car lots
The name change

The Philosophy
Karate is For Sissies
Mixed martial Arts
Poison Hand in Chinatown
1969The Muhammad Ali Challenge

The Comic Ad
Comic Ads in general
The reactions – Martial Artist -Comic Book Artists
The sales

Dojo Wars general History and background
The Aftermath
Bob Cooley

Green Dragon Society – History – students
Thier Side

Dante blackballed
Post Dojo War
Disco Rush Street with Cooley

Escape to Fall River, MA
Luigi DiFonzo –
The purolator robbery
The Grand Jury
East Coast 1975
Mas Ayoob Interviews

Death of Dante

The legacy/The Influences
Howard the Duck
DragonBall Z
Robert Rankin

The Rise of American Mixed Martial Arts

That’s way more than 90 minutes worth of material. I Two words can represent volumes of information.