Friday, April 18, 2008

The Difference Between a Good Day and a Bad Day ...




Lee Barden, a master of the nunchaku -- Okinawan rice flail -- aka nunchucks, or just chux. The video is of him doing a demo with a pair of these, one end of each which is soaked in gasoline and set ablaze.

The still is what happens when you kick the pan full of gasoline you left on the floor after you soaked your chux and fired 'em up -- and the volatile fluid sloshes up onto you and turns you into the Human Torch ...

Hell of a demo. So to speak.

He survived, but he's a lot more careful where he puts his -- expensive -- petrol these days.

4 comments:

Ed said...

Another reason the world hates us --- wasting spendy petrol. I would hate to be in the audience when the lit fuel comes flying off the chucks. Im sure someone here will find a way to market it in pay per view or into a new show - just more reality tv.... Glad the guy is OK. ?

steve-vh said...

I've seen the video, think it was on "impact, stories of survival".
Having seen Bong Jornales do this stuff many times of the years, this guy did so many things wrong that lead to this. Bong is extremely cautious and methodical.

Steve Perry said...

Back when I was doing demos, I used to bend a kitchen knife by putting the point under my chin and pushing it in. Blade was sharp enough to shave paper, but the trick was that the point wasn't quite that sharp, and the angle on the handle wasn't a straight stab. Looked impressive to pick the knife up, slice a piece of paper into ribbons, and then bow the blade against my throat.

I wouldn't do it today.

I saw a kung-fu "master" using a pair of machettes chop a watermelon into slices on a student's belly. I was the medic at that tourney, and I was close enough to see what the kid tried to hide as he got up -- a twelve-stitch hole where the "Master" had clanged the two blades together and dug a crater just next to the kid's hip bone.

My favorite martial arts demo doesn't look particularly impressive. It's a karate-style twisted punch that breaks a sheet of newspaper -- this is really cool. Somebody dangles a single sheet of newspaper like a cape in front of a bull, you punch it, you hear it crack! and it breaks in half. Laity aren't impressed but the martial arts guy can't wait to get home and try it.

Unknown said...

Wow, if you people knew what you were talking about, you could almost be taken seriously. It wasn't gasoline, it was lantern fluid. I didn't kick the pan, it was kicked on me. I created Fire chux and have done hundreds of shows without incident. My normal set up crew was in this particular showand not doing the setup. Important details were left to people that did not know what they were doing. My fault and mine alone. Bong Jornales does not do fire Chux and if he does, I can't seem find it anywhere. I will keep looking, but it has nothing to do with me being safe or not, just curious to see who it was you were comparing me to. You assume too much. I was the creator of Fire Chux and take full safety precautions. Sometimes, things just go wrong. My 15 minutes of Flame may never stop. :-)