"Daryl Vidal is no longer in Los Angeles. I checked the karate gym he used to work in and the company has been closed and deregistered. His name is also not on the telephone number register in Los Angeles and surrounding counties. I am trying to find a way to find it.
His last record of renting a house may have been in other cities."
Richard reported to Ronald in the office about finding a karate instructor.
"Thank you, Richard. If you can't find it, I'll find another way." Ronald was very satisfied with Richard. He was always very attentive to the tasks he assigned.
"This is the karate you want, the information about Japanese in California, and the records in various libraries in Los Angeles. I called you to ask..." Richard took out another piece of paper and recorded it.
Several libraries have relatively complete collections of historical records of Ryukyu Karate.
Since the Japanese were hostile to America during World War II, unlike other ethnic groups, they do not have complete cultural institutions in Los Angeles to collect and preserve the historical records of their nation. Many existing cultural institutions were created by Japan after the economy took off.
It was built with money from private companies and has no history of local Japanese descent.
In the next few weeks, Ronald spent time in various libraries, looking for the history of karate and Japanese Americans. He brought sorted cards, and when he saw interesting history, he wrote it down.
It would be better if the library can make photocopies. If you pay a little money, you can copy the contents of old magazines and newspapers. Even more convenient are several university libraries in Los Angeles, which are equipped with a microfilm system that can be used on computers.
Search, then pull out the microfilm, browse it with a special microscope, and print it directly when you encounter the required materials.
After Ronald's investigation, he discovered that Japanese had actually settled in California on a large scale before World War II. They also introduced traditional martial arts such as karate and judo to the West Coast.
Before Bruce Lee was born, karate still focused on stoppage, that is, until the point is reached, the moves will stop before they hit the opponent's vital points, and they will not really hit. This method dissatisfied the American people who advocate blood.
There have never been many spectators in the karate competition.
It wasn't until Bruce Lee demonstrated some of his unique skills at a karate conference that people became interested in karate. Various competitions began to be organized and held in various places.
Under the influence of Bruce Lee's ideas, everyone began to formulate various real-fighting karate rules. The common point is to hit the effective part of the opponent's body to score points. However, the rules of each tournament are different, and some only prohibit hitting the eyes.
Throat, lower jaw and other vital parts. Some pursue safety and must wear a lot of protective gear. Even kicking the head and hitting the back of the body are prohibited.
In general, even the karate competitions in California are still in a state of confusion. There is no unified organization and association to set standards, and the levels vary greatly.
On this day, Ronald walked out of the Albert Kinney Memorial Library next to Venice Beach, which contains some information on early Japanese Americans in Los Angeles.
Ronald lived here for a while while filming "Rock High School" and also ran a portrait photography studio for a while, making a little money.
Break dancing is becoming more and more popular in Venice, Los Angeles. The scene in "Flash Dance" in which the heroine is learning to dance with several Latinos and black people has become a new popular trend. Ronald saw several young men who were also dancing.
People formed a circle around the terrazzo floor, imitating the dance moves in the movie.
One of the young men on crutches was still correcting others' movements and teaching them essentials. He seemed to be the boss of break dancing in this area.
Ronald felt curious, so he stopped and watched, why so many dancers were convinced by a normal person.
"Come on, come on, handyman." Several young men shouted, asking the disabled man to dance a section.
Handyman's original meaning is a repairman, but this nickname is a bit weird to describe this man on crutches. Not only is his feet difficult to walk, but Ronald also looks a little stunted, which is a typical symptom of polio.
, must be regarded as a repairman who needs to climb up and down.
Handyman did not refuse. He threw away his crutches and fell on the terrazzo floor. Then he prepared his hands and started the Thomas full rotation of gymnastics. His feet were weak, but it did not hinder his wonderful movements at all.
It’s almost too much fun.
Then he straightened up like a carp, and then began to lean on his back to make a fulcrum on the ground and rotate. Although his legs and feet were disabled, his movements were smooth and very beautiful. When the disabled legs rotated, there was no problem at all. It all relied on two
Hands for support.
"No wonder he is nicknamed 'handyman.'" Ronald couldn't help but applaud beside him.
"Ronald, is that you?" A middle-aged woman passed by with a cloth bag and couldn't help but screamed when she saw Ronald.
"Ah, hello, Mrs. Weber!" Ronald recognized her as his neighbor who was renting a house in Venice at the time. He had hired her and her daughter when doing portrait photography.
Ronald hugged her warmly and said, "I still work in the film industry, but I haven't seen you for a long time. How are you? How are you doing recently? How is your daughter?"
"I'm fine. My daughter has graduated from high school and works as a cashier in a supermarket. She works very hard, and her boyfriend is a nice Latino boy. After graduating from college, he works in a law firm..."
Mrs. Weber has some Irish ancestry, and actually has a feud with her British cousin from America. They are also mainly Catholic, so they do not shy away from marrying Latinos who are also Catholics. Moreover, Latinos can go to college and work in law firms.
That would be a very good match for Mrs. Webber's daughter.
Inviting Mrs. Webber for a cup of coffee, it was an unexpected surprise to meet old neighbors. Ronald decided to set the background of the protagonist to Mrs. Webber's family. A single mother of Irish descent, taking her daughter with her for a job opportunity, right?
, the son in the script drove all the way to Los Angeles to pursue his dream.
The Weber boy's dream lover was set up as a local upper-middle-class family, with a large independent house in the suburbs. His father's job earned a good income, and his mother was a full-time housewife. She was also the school belle at school.
The school beauty’s boyfriend is a classmate of the same school, and he also belongs to the affluent middle class. Because of his violent tendencies, he formed a bullying group with a group of little boys and bullied the weaker boys every day. When he beat the protagonist one day, his violent behavior was discovered by his girlfriend
, so he broke up on the spot.
The boyfriend of the school beauty thinks this is the fault of the protagonist, and since he wants to get back together with his girlfriend to no avail, he bullies the protagonist every day. The protagonist’s face and body are covered with scars after he is often bullied by him.
The protagonist couldn't bear it, so he found a karate training class, became a disciple of a Ryukyu karate master, and learned the secrets of authentic Ryukyu karate. The protagonist shined in the championship and won the championship.
But the heroine in the dream lover saw that the protagonist also learned martial arts and won the championship through violent means. She thought of her violent ex-boyfriend and was neither salty nor indifferent to the protagonist.
The ex-boyfriend of the school beauty failed to get back together again, and this time he came to beat the protagonist to vent his anger. After learning martial arts, the protagonist defeated the bully and ordered him not to harass his ex-girlfriend, the school beauty.
In the end, when the protagonist was able to beat the bullying boy hard, he put down his fist again, because with martial arts, it is not necessary to use the same violent means to bully him back.
The heroine who happened to see all this changed her view of the protagonist because of this incident and kissed him.
After writing the main story, Ronald began to work hard every day to add details and small stories about the characters. Without the help of dreams, it is estimated that this movie may not have a box office, it has not been made into a video tape, and he has never seen it in his previous life.
While Ronald is working hard every day, "Valley Girl" is already in its fourth week, and next week his "Night of the Comet" will take over.
Went to the offices of Atlantic Pictures again, and Martha Coolidge, the director of "Valley Girl" was also there, and Ronald chatted with her for a while.
In the first two weeks, the reputation of "Valley Girl" was quite good. In the second week, the average box office dropped by 30%. The movie, which had been planned to be released for a month, only dropped by 5% in the third week.
.
Thinking of a counterattack in terms of word-of-mouth, The Atlantic arranged a hundred more theaters in the hope of getting a Cinderella hit (sleeping hit). However, the box office in the fourth week was disappointing, with a drop of more than 40% compared to last week.
After four weekends, the weekly box office of "Valley Girl" has dropped by $1.5 million. The Atlantic's prediction is basically accurate. The audience for this kind of urban funny teen romantic comedy is very concentrated in big cities, and the potential audience
It is also declining rapidly.
Atlantic has concentrated its filming in theaters with good early performance. The total number of theaters showing has dropped to more than 200, and it is estimated that it will continue to fall next week, and the weekly box office will drop to less than one million US dollars.
"Anyway, the total box office is close to nine million U.S. dollars, and I finally succeeded." Martha Coolidge was also very emotional when chatting. It was also very difficult to make this movie, but fortunately the final result was good, and she is not afraid of the future
We can no longer have a foothold in Hollywood.
"Yes, congratulations. Your first movie has grossed more than 10 million at the box office. It is estimated that it will be able to exceed 15 million by switching to long-term screening."
"Good luck to you too, Ronald, and I hope your movie will be a success too."
Ronald knew in his heart that Martha Coolidge was still a little unconvinced. Her movie's weekend single-box box office figures were still good, around two thousand. If his "Night of the Comet" could not surpass it by a large margin, the Atlantic Ocean would still draw