Jackie Chan gives us a tour de force of kung fu magic. Who else in todays movies can give you a fight between one drunk guy and 10 adversaries and pull it off in such a way that the results are both believable and hilarious!

##Drunk or sober, Jackie knows how to kick some butt!

[[dmii]] What can you say
about this movie except that it achieves near perfection in the Jackie Chan
movie style.

The movie centers around the Wong Fei-Hung character of Chinese legend.
The character grew out of a historical figure known for fighting against
injustice coming from foreign occupiers. The injustice that is the hook
for this movie revolves around a plot by the British to smuggle out
ancient Chinese artifacts, in particular a Jade statuette.

With the Drunken style of fighting, the practitioner attempts to mimic the movements of an inebriated person in order to confuse his opponent. At the
same time, the relaxed state of the body helps him to counter with
unexpected techniques. Does this make sense? In any case, when you see
this movie you really get an idea of why a drunken style might be
effective.

The fight choreography in this movie is so inventive and
entertaining that it could make a movie all by itself. But beyond that
there’s some very effective comedy thrown in for good measure. I remember
one of the times I saw this on laser disc with a friend whom I was sure
would find it to be just another bad kung-fu movie like the ones that used
to play on Sunday morning when I was growing up. But he absolutely loved
it! He was laughing so hard at times I thought he was going to loose
control (and the version we saw didn’t have subtitles and wasn’t dubbed,
so the comedy was purely physical and universal in its appeal). He also
loved the fight choreography. I can’t tell you how many times we backed up
the disc to watch a scene again. And each time his jaw dropped in
amazement (mine too)!

We visited my family in Montreal, Quebec. We had a great time, and got to dig ourselves out of an ice storm!

Feb. 20, 1997

Well, the Carney clan (boston chapter) headed to the Great White North[trademark] this past February to visit the Layden half of the family. What a great trip! We’d like to thank everyone there for making the trip so much fun, but mostly to Debbie and Steve for letting us stay at their little Chateau. We’ll definitely have to make the trip more often!

We arrived on Thursday evening just in time for dinner after having driven through Vermont and New Hampshire. The scenery was just beautify the whole way. I think we made the drive at just the right time. The skies (and roads) were clear and the air crisp. However, I was hoping to see a bit more snow by the time we hit Montreal. But alas, we made the trip one week too late (or early, see Debbie’s email regarding “Test and question”). We got to see Meghan for the first time. She’s a doll! In fact, Vanessa wanted to play with her like a Doll (just kidding). But Vanessa and Madison both love babies, so they enjoyed watching Meghan explore her world.

On Friday the weather turned nasty (freezing rain), so we didn’t do too much with the kids in the snow. We went to a fun place for kids for lunch. I can’t remember the name of it, but it had slides, tubes, and balls to play in. The kids had a ball! After that we went to visit Grammy Layden with Aunt Kathy. I was so happy to see her even though I don’t think she recognized me. She seemed very happy and content. Aunt Kathy took some pictures (we forgot our camera!), and I can’t wait to see how they came out.
Saturday began with much better weather, and Steve and I built a sled run for the kids off their deck in the back yard. They had quite a bit of fun. Steve even helped Vanessa build a little snow fort. Thanks Steve! That afternoon Vanessa and I went to a matinee of The Empire Strikes Back. It was great. She got scared a couple of times, but overall she really enjoyed it. We’re going to go see The Return of the Jedi next weekend.

On Saturday night, we went out to dinner with all of the Cousins that could make it, along with The Outlaws[trademark]. We went to Barbie’s and had a ball. But the night was only beginning. After dinner we all went back to Debbie and Steve’s. The conversation got a little raucous and we all had quite a few good laughs (Hey Carolyn, what was it that cat was doing??).

We left Sunday for the long ride home. Thanks again for making the trip enjoyable. We can’t wait to have some of the Canadian Cousins visit us next. So, when are you going to make the trip guys?