Jacob cast to star in the upcoming marital arts film, "Orion's Belt"

Last year around Jacob’s fourth birthday I took him to two Karate Dojos to watch some Karate classes. It took tons of persuading to just get him out of the car to watch a class. He finally came in, clinging to me like a monkey (perfect for a monkey technique of some sort! ;) ). There were a bunch of kids training. It was madness. But it did look like a lot of fun from my perspective.

But since then, just the mention of going to a Karate School or driving by and pointing one out would illicit some sort of emotional response and crying would erupt.

A few weeks ago we watched The Karate Kid together and he enjoyed it. The whole ‘crane’ thing started to make sense to him as I taught him some, what I called it, ‘Bird Technique’ way back when. He’d hop on one leg doing ‘wing actions’ (circle blocks) and I’d pretend to be a snake and try to attack him. I disguised two animal styles into playful activities. But now Daniel-San and the crane suddenly made more sense. Cool, huh?

Then last week I bought a hand target for Jessica and Jacob to practice on. I showed them a few Okinawa Te basic kicks, blocks, punches and stressed balance. Both Jessica and Jacob got really into it.

So I felt it was time. I dug up my old heavy weight gi and dusted off my black belt. Jessica found Donna’s old gi and put that on. Jacob swam in Jessica’s old gi but we folded up the arms and legs and it worked fine... then we drove over to Sensei Mike’s new Dojo in Eagle Rock.

Jacob was a little apprehensive at first but when Sensei Evelyn took Jess and Jake aside to train, he didn’t hesitate. He really wanted to learn some Karate!

I trained with the older/advanced students. It was really tiring. I’ve lost more than a step or two and I have no idea how I’ll ever regain that form again.

The end result (or what could be the beginning) - Jacob LOVED it. He told Donna he loved it. He called Grandpa to tell him he loved it. He wants to take classes. And so does Jessica. So finally, once again, I’ll be back on the mat training. But this time… with my kids!!!

And its just in time to start training in Karate so he could be available to play the part of 'Orion', a five year old martial artist, in my soon to be completed script, “Orion’s Belt”.

Wouldn’t that be great?

So the title above, Jacob cast to star in the upcoming martial arts film, "Orion's Belt" is a little bit misleading. But still... in a way its true. Heck, if its my film, he's got the part. He just needs to learn karate! And I need to finish the script! :)

I’m so proud of Jacob! He loves baseball, hockey and now he loves karate! Finally… or once again… 'he’s just like his papa’!

Here we are... And there he is...

"THE NEW KARATE KID!"



As a side note... Bella could be staring in her own film as well. "The Baby that ate Santa Monica Beach!"

Here she is right before the Mother's Day Beach Sand Eating Incident of 2005.



Believe me, she doesn't need to know karate to defend herself against Jake. She has created some very threatening moves on her own.



She's so cute!