Martial Arts Movie Stars Bruce Lee And Jim Kelly Wore Onitsuka Tiger Sneakers

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[Press-N-Play®] Fu-Shnickens – Movie Scene

"My chopstick will drop kick, my chow mein's plain,  I do the tiger, the snake, the Big Daddy Crane!!"– Poc Fu, 'Movie Scene'

Schwarzenegger 'sez: "Build more muscle in just 7 weeks with the Joe Weider Musclebuilding Book!"

Hey, kids... Come 'n' get your Kung Fu Spex!™

 

Have you ever wondered what it might have felt like if Bruce Lee had roundhouse kicked you in the head? Well, wonder no more! That super-dizzying sensation can be yours every time you put on a pair of Kung Fu Spex™! A blinding blast from the not-so-distant past, Kung Fu Spex™ were made using the same once-top secret technology developed by scientists in the 1970s to assist CIA agents in nefarious interrogations conducted by the spy agency during the Vietnam War. Who needs LSD, acid, heroin, ecstasy, or any other drug for that matter? Just put on a pair of Kung Fu Spex™ and you'll be down on the floor, drooling like an infant and soaking in your own excrement in no time! Talk about an altered state! To order a pair of your own psychedelic sensation-inducing Kung Fu Spex™ send $9.99 (cash only) to Kung Fu Spex c/o Your Kung Fu Sucks, 4321 Sesame Street, Chicago, IL 60666. (Recommended for adults age 18 years old and up!) 

 

Note: Kung Fu Spex™ should not be worn while operating heavy machinery, driving, cooking, walking, or during sexual intercourse. Extreme dizziness, vertigo, vomiting, loss of muscle control and temporary memory loss will occur. Guaranteed or your money back! 

Kung Fu Spex™ © 2015 South Side Superflat

[Flashback] Marvel Comics X Bathing Ape Limited Edition Sneakers!*

*Originally published on the KFG Myspace blog, circa 2005  

No matter how old you get, there will always be something that can bring out the kid in you. For example, right now the Japan-based clothing brand Bathing Ape has got me feeling like a Spider-Man Underoos-wearing 10 year old. Winter of 2005 will bring the staggered release of "Bape's" new limited-edition sneakers line Bape X Marvel, inspired by the characters that we all know-n-love from the pulse-pounding pages of Marvel comic books.

The shoes in the Bape X Marvel line are coordinated in the bright, primary color palate of our favorite characters: the patriotic red, white and blue of Captain America, the red and gold of Iron Man, and the green and purple of the Hulk, to name a few, with the Bape shooting star logo variously integrated on the side. On the right heel of each sneaker appears one of the old Marvel logos, and featured on the left heel is the classic "floating head" motif––a design staple found on the covers and inside the pages of Marvel books in the late 1960s and early '70s.

As if producing such a cool shoe line wasn't already a big enough coup, for an added measure of design genius, the sneakers from the Bape X Marvel line will come packaged on carded blister packs––the packaging type used on action figures since the days of Mego toys. The card itself is also gorgeously embellished with vintage images drawn by artists from the old school Marvel Comics bullpen like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Byrne, and many other legends.

In line with the adage that sez' that the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys, the prices on the Bape X Marvel sneakers will run in the usual $100-$300 range that Bape's limited-edition sneakers usually inhabit. But if you've been really good at being bad, then go ahead and spoil yourself with a pair of these super cool kicks. Just like the comic books that inspired them, the shoes in the Bape X Marvel line are destined to go up in value, sentimental and otherwise.

Leaked? SDCC 2015 Ultimate Spider-Man 'Shanzhai' Teaser Poster & EW Magazine Cover!

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Are these leaked images of SDCC Ultimate Spider-Man teasers the reason that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have so abruptly and mysteriously pulled out of pitching their tents at San Diego Comic-Con next month? St. Paco (aka Professor XXL) ain't really one to spread rumors, boys and girls, but...he's gonna offer a co-sign by spreadin' this one. [Innocent smile]

[Press-N-Play®] Dezine – My Lover

All songs posted to the Your Kung Fu Sucks! blog are the property of their respective copyright holders.Their use here is strictly intended for promotional and informational purposes only. NOT FOR SALE. Please support the artists featured on the YKFS blog by buying their original CDs and mp3s where and whenever applicable. Any artist who would like to have their music removed from this promotional project may do so by contacting the administrator at stpaco@gmail.com.

Making the "Leaked" SDCC Ultimate Spider-Man 'Shanzhai' Teaser Poster & EW Magazine Cover

Between you and me...and a bunch of other people who'll read this, I'd also planned to do a Spider-Man-related mini movie poster back at the time that the Marvel Blaxploitation mini movie poster series was produced (blogged about here). I toyed around with a few different designs, but I just couldn't make it happen. Maybe I had completely run out of creative juice after making the other four pieces in the series. 

Actor/rapper Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) has been thought by many to be a promising prospect for the Spider-Man role in film ever since he sprang out of bed rocking Spidey costume pajamas in the opening credits of the Community TV show. The audacious notion of a black Spider-Man even prompted Marvel writer Brian Bendis to actually create "Miles Morales", an all-new web-slinging hero for the 21st century inspired by Glover.

Despite a few years of DG buzz, Marvel Studios recently made known the plans that are being hatched to do another Spider-Man movie relaunch, including the character's introduction into the Avengers movie universe. But right off the bat they made it clear that they intend to use some other as yet unnamed actor, instead of Mr. Glover as Spider-Man. I'd bet my comic book money that I was far from alone in feeling annoyed with that news.

Fortunately for me, though, thanks to the Photoshop™ gods and perseverance on my part, I've had an opportunity to visualize a tiny bit of what has been pinging around inside my brain ever since the idea of Glover playing Spider-Man on screen began to waft through the ether. But first, how about a little bit more backstory. 

 A week ago, during the early part of a phone chat with my friend Gigi, I was gently scolded for my not yet having put together a zine & art show that I had talked about doing; a ten year retrospective on my underground publications and art. She finally cut me some slack, though, since I am still working on essays for the book that I'm writing and designing. 

After that call ended,  I felt inspired to go through old folders on the Mac, and to look over the pieces that I'd planned to showcase in the exhibit. In one of the folders were the previously failed attempts at a Spider-Man mini movie poster. The creative juices promptly began flowin', and somewhere around 2 hours later, it all came together. But I continued to tweek and twerk (no, I didn't really twerk) the design for several more hours.

It's funny how that works, kiddies. Something that didn't at all gel creatively before––no matter how hard you tried to make it happen––finally comes together. Admittedly, though, part of the problem is that you kept (or keep) approaching the subject from the same direction. Yet, by taking the idea back to the proverbial drawing board, and starting from scratch, you achieve the creative breakthrough that you'd hoped for when your project was started.

Beginning this blog entry, I had planned to share some of the disparate visual elements that went into to making the full mini poster image (there's 30 layers to this thing). But now I don't wanna ruin the illusion. I also thought that I'd detail the story ideas that I have for my "Ultimate Spider-Man" movie, which I've set in Chicago, Tokyo and Hong Kong (NYC settings have become a bit cliché in movies today), but I think that I'll hold onto 'em.

 If you liked last year's Marvel Blaxploitation mini movie poster series, then I hope that you'll dig this new addition––and bonus. It was a lot of fun bringing these new pieces to life. Especially when considering the major difficulty that I'd had with making a Spidey piece the first time around. As they say: perseverance pays off. Or is it persistence? [Shrug] Meh. Same thing.

Shoutouts to Donald Glover, Jamie Chung, Jamie Foxx, Brian Bendis, Marvel Comics, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures, Entertainment Weekly, Complex, San Diego Comic-Con––and anyone who temporarily fell for the illusion in this digital hatchet job and believed for a moment that an Ultimate Spider-Man movie was on the horizon. Uh, and shout out to Samuel L. Jackson, well...just because. 

[Archives] Vapors All-City Magazine – Tokyo Issue, Dec-Jan 2003

Features: Ipath Japan//DGK SF-Tokyo//Lui Araraki//Street artist Naomi//Def Jam Japan//Large Professor

[Archives] 'Underground Artists' in Newsweek, featuring Phase 2 (Oct, 1971)

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[Bookshelf] The Collected Works of Vaughn Bode

In the early days of Ebay, I flipped this super vintage poster of a sexy centaur woman by the late comic book artist Vaughn Bode (1940-1975) that I'd found in a local bookstore. But I'll probably never part with the five trade paperbacks in my collection that feature Bode's collected comic book works. Published by Fantagraphics Books, these stellar trades contain classic strips by Bode culled from various self-published underground comix as well as comic strips that the cartoonist produced for several magazines, including National Lampoon's, Heavy Metal, and Witzend. Some of the trades from Fantagraphics' Bode Erotica series (4 volumes) are a little harder to find now for a reasonable price, but the Cheech Wizard, Deadbone and Junkwaffel trades can usually be found for around retail price. A must have for underground comix historians and students of old school graffiti art. Collect 'em all if you're cool like that, or just stick with the two Cheech Wizard volumes to get a sample of Bode's genius.  

Work in Progress – Chico Roland Filmography

I'm not sure if I'm gonna use this in the essay collection that I'm working on, but I've been putting together a filmography on the prolofic African-American presence in old Japanese films and TV shows of the 60s, 70s and 80s known as Chico Roland. If you've seen Gamera vs. Monser X (1970), or Sonny Chiba's The Streetfighter (1974), then you've seen Roland in what are certain to have been his most widely viewed bit parts in the English speaking world. 

With regard to his filmography, it may actually end up being posted on YKFS when it's done, and I may run with something else on him for the book. In the meantime, shared above is the promo poster for the 1968 film, Great Insect War (aka Genocide), one of the thirty-something flicks in which Roland made appearances––but his face is also on the poster. If you're a fan of what is affectionately known in the states as 'Asian trash cinema', then Great Insect War is a must. Roland's amateurish but heartfelt brand of acting is over the top, but convincing.

There's even an action figure of Roland's character Charlie that was included with Shochiku Studios' DVD release of the film in Japan. You're really too cool for school when you can say that you have a toy in your image––in addition to having also filled out a wide variety of large and small roles in Japanese TV shows and films. 

Oh, and if you're indeed game to checking out Great Insect War (aka Genocide), I recommend that you juxtapose that watch against Seijun Suzuki’s Gate of Flesh (1964). Roland had a small part in the latter, but the film overall is a fairly stunning production.

Shochiku Science Fiction DVD – Great Insect War (1968)

'Black East' from Giant Robot #64

Download images and enlarge to read

Eiji Tsuburaya on remaining childlike

"My heart and mind are as they were when I was a child. Then I loved to play with toys and to read stories of magic. I still do. My wish is only to make life happier and more beautiful for those who will go and see my films of fantasy." – Eiji Tsuburaya

Source: Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters by August Ragone, page 14

Godzilla vs. Hedora poster, Poland (1971)

Is this Godzilla vs. Hedora poster from Poland graphically badass or what? It would probably look great on your wall.* [Hint-hint] And if you haven't seen the 1971 film Godzilla vs. Hedora (aka Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster) in a gazillion years (as was the case with myself until last fall), or if you've never even seen it at all, a new DVD release from Kraken Releasing and Toho hit the domestic marketplace late last year. Unfortunately, the DVD case isn't half as cool looking on the shelf as the previous Toho releases from Sony Classic Media (blogged about here), but at least you can finally complete that Big G" movie collection. Ebirah – Horror of the Deep (aka Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster) has also been released. 

*Image is sized at 8.5 x 11 (300 dpi), and suitable for framing.

NOW SHOWING...

It's Saturday afternoon, boys and girls, and you know what that means? You bet your Fruit Loops––it's time for Your Kung Fu Sucks! Grindhouse Cinemas™ to bring another senses-shattering installment of the Monsta Mashin' Matinee to your desktops! This month's creature feature is a showing of Yog the Space Monster aka Space Amoeba (1970). And as always, kids, this Vintage Video™ is available as a free avi or mp4 download courtesy of the fine folks over at Archive.org. But you're also more than welcome to watch it front-row-and-center at the YKFS blog. But do bring your own popcorn, Sno-Caps or Jujubees, please.

[Press-N-Play®] OFouR – PNG Queen

Meant as a 'single' from the Survival 101 mixtape. Cross-continental shout outs to Robby-T and the rest of the team!

All songs posted to the Your Kung Fu Sucks! blog are the property of their respective copyright holders. Their use here is strictly intended for promotional and informational purposes only. NOT FOR SALE. Please support the artists featured on the YKFS blog by buying their original CDs and mp3s where and whenever applicable. Any artist who would like to have their music removed from this promotional project may do so by contacting the administrator at stpaco@gmail.com.

Hip Hop Family Tree Three-In-One

Hip Hop Family Tree Three-In-One: Featuring Cosplayers. May 2015, FIRST PRINTING. Art & stories by Ed Piskor. "Cosplayers" art & story by Dash Shaw. • Featured on the front are: Ice-T & Darlene, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, MC Ren & Eazy E (NWA), Snoop Dogg, Humpty Hump, Salt-N-Pepa, Eric B. & Rakim, MC Hammer, Notorious BIG, Slick Rick, Adrock, Mike D, Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys), Run, DMC, Jam Master Jay (RUN-DMC), Russell Simmons, LL Cool J, Kool Moe Dee, KRS-One (Boogie Down Productions), and Tupac Shakur • Shout outs to DJ Darrell D for the hook up!

Queens & kings of rap, magazine pin-ups

In Search Of...Taiyo Matsumoto's No. 5

Hello!

Thanks for visiting. The pulse-pounding post you're probably here looking for has been remixed and remastered and moved over to my page on Medium. You can find it by clicking here.