The Benefits of NYC

Now that I have bashed NYC and its "benefits" in the comments of my last post, I would like to talk about the coolest thing I have seen in NYC in years: The Jaded Assassin. TJA is a live action martial arts play. My cousin Nate emailed me and off we were to the Ohio Theatre on Wooster Street. (Way down town.)

Imagine a group of people who love martial arts movies, anime, and ass-kicking. They must've spent forever choreographing and practicing for this. Sure, when kicks miss, they miss by a mile, and everything is a step too slow to look real. But it is better than you could do without quitting your day job.

It was as cheesy and funny as any classic kung fu movie, and brilliantly executed on a low budget. These people are very creative.

For instance, there was one scene where the the hero and the villain were throwing shuriken (throwing stars) at each other, and catching them and throwing them back. How was this accomplished? Easy. The stage had a black background, some people were wearing all black suits, and they had short sticks with shuriken glued to the end. they ran back and forth twirling the sticks so the shruiken spun like pin-wheels and gave the (very weak) illusion that the stars were thrown and caught by the actors.

It was too funny. and there were many many scenes like this.

The story is centered around a woman named Soon-Jal who was raised to be the greatest warrior ever, and she delights in killing. In some ways, she reminds me of Hyunmi, except that Hyunmi is more vocal. (Soon-Jal has only about 4 lines of dialogue, otherwise she screams in rage, or the narrator speaks her lines for her.)

If you are anywhere within 100 miles of NYC, I recommend you buy tickets and see this show immediately. Tickets purchased through the website I linked above are $20 each (well worth it). Nate bought his tickets through Gold Star Events for $13.50 each, and apparently they have $5 tickets if you buy early enough. I would definitely see it again, so let me know if you want company.