Bratty imp Fister, who has a unicorn horn, kidnaps Quigly and Amat for Gruesome, a large raging bull who wants to eat them to please his witch-like wife who has a big feather that can turn things into ice. When Alakazam and Lulipopo rescue Quigley and Amat, volcanos erupt, lava flows, and all hell breaks loose and it’s a race to save the close-to-death Dee Dee.
During Chinese New Year I stayed at Silvia’s sister’s empty flat next door to her parents, so Silvia could keep an eye on me. A few days later I asked her to take me back to my dorm room, there’s something I’ve got do and I don’t why or what it is. With tears, she took me back.Part I highlighted that the initial Chinese kung fu film to be dubbed in English and widely released in the USA was not Five Fingers of Death (1972), but rather Alakazam the Great (1960). This movie was based on the legendary kung fu novel about a monkey named Swuin Wu-kung in Journey to the West. At the time, I was unaware that this story would become intertwined with my life for the next 28 months, during which I went by the Chinese name Lee Ke-rei and embarked on a journey to the East.Along the way, they meet the rake-wielding pig, Quigley, who forces a young lass into marrying him and a cannibal Lulipopo, who fights with a half-moon shaped blade on a pole and wants to eat Alakazam. Rather than killing them, Alakazam befriends them and hires them as bodyguards. In 1979, I was on an airport tarmac, en route to Taiwan to search for Chi Gong. I believed that this practice would save me from the deadly grip of cystic fibrosis. My mother, who came from a family scarred by WWI and WWII, didn’t believe in saying goodbye as it felt too final. She broke down in tears, fearing that she would never see me again. My father hugged me tightly and whispered “Goodbye son” in my ear. My doctor’s ominous warning still echoed in my mind: “Without warning, cystic fibrosis will take your life within weeks.”
The Alakazam Gang
The gods search for a new animal-world king, only monkey Alakazam can fulfill the test-mission, but after becoming king he boasts he’s smarter and wiser than humans. To prove it, he defeats Merlin the Magician then calls out Amo by defiantly eating the forbidden fruit. Amo defeats Alakazam and imprisons him in a cold snowy mountain top cave until he learns the stupidity of conceit and selfishness. As monkey girl-friend Dee Dee brings him food, the cold drains her life. Alakazam begs that he’ll do anything to save her, so Amas agrees to help her if he escorts Amat on a pilgrimage. Maybe this film is pushing the notion that love conquers all. When I saw Alakazam, only dad and I were in the theater, in the middle of nowhere England and that made me feel safe. As a kid, because of CF, I disliked crowds, noise and always felt trapped if I needed to the toilet. Reading Xi You Ji gave me a strong sense of safety, I felt I was gonna be okay. Many Water Margin chapters focus on how 108 heroes meet each other while vividly describing great feasts and drinking binges to celebrate their brotherhood. My appetite returned. One of the famous chapters tells how Princess Iron Fan and Ox Demon King want to eat Monk Tang so they can live for 1,000 years, yet Tang is protected by Swuin, Zhu and Xia. However, Ox’s son, Red Boy (aka Hong Hai-er) has mastered the Three Types of True Fire in Flaming Mountain and they order him to kill Swuin. Just as all hell breaks loose, the Goddess of Mercy, Guan Ying, descends from heaven to make peace on Earth.Several months later, I was doing much better and was moments away from my Chi Gong mentor putting me through a harsh 30-Day test of worthiness on Monsoon Mountain. Crazily enough, a few weeks ago, the most obvious thing that I had never thought about was that I learned Chi Gong and overcame my deadly lung disease during the Year of the Monkey.In most cases, it’s obvious who each character in Alakazam represents. Some are less clear, yet my thoughts are that Fister is Red Boy, King Ama is Buddha, Queen Amas is the Goddess Quan Ying and Merlin the Magician is probably Lao Zi or some other Taoist sage. Completed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and written by Wu Cheng-an, Swuin rides around on a cloud and fights with a pole made from a strand of his hair. Accompanied by the rake-wielding pig Zhu Ba-jie and the Monk spade-carrying Xia Wu-jing, they protect Buddhist Monk Tang on a mission to collect sacred scriptures. I know this story…Alakazam the Great!
The Abridged Book that Helped My Troubled Waters
Throughout the film, Alakazam learns important lessons about humility, courage, compassion, mercy, wisdom and ultimately becomes a wise and powerful monkey king.From Your Site ArticlesAlso, this morning, as I was scanning the cover of Xi You Ji (1942), I read that the author Arthur Waley was praised from translating the original 100-chapter book into 30 Days, I mean 30 chapters. What more can I say? Just the following: https://chinesemartialstudies.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/monkey-opera.jpgIn the Alakazam English-dubbed version, Majutsoland is ruled by King Amo and Queen Amas with son Prince Amat in tow. Curiously, amo, amas, amat are Latin conjugated verbs for I love. In life, one never knows, where everything goes, so keep on your toes, and see where life flows.
Monkey King in Beijing Opera
When I began Chinese language classes, our Chinese teacher recommended we read the three greatest classics of Chinese literature that are required reading in Chinese high schools and they’re ultimately all kung fu novels: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San Guo Yan Yi); The Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan); and Journey to the West (Xi You Ji). Now that I’m sick and reliving my old bedridden habits, rather than doing jigsaws, I’m going to read these books.Related Articles Around the WebTaiwan, early 1980, my doctor’s threat was coming true. For months I’d hear that no one practices chi gong, and if they did, they’d never teach a white man. I was suddenly bedridden, couldn’t eat food, losing weight, coughing, no energy. My fiancé Silvia was watching me die. In Part 1, I described how whatever the powers that be in life, death, change, time, fate, destiny or God, Bruce Lee’s film Big Boss (1972) came unto me at a time of greatest need. I noted that I don’t believe in coincidences.
So how is my life inseparably tied to Swuin Wu-kung and Xi Yo Ji (Journey to the West)?Here are five interesting facts about Xi You Ji: it was the very first movie I watched, it’s a Chinese martial arts film, I was only five years old when I saw it, my doctor predicted that I would not live beyond five years, and coincidentally, I was born in the Year of the Monkey.
