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Thoughts

Then:
Now the only movie in the Karate Kid series that had any major impact on me was the first one. When it came to theaters I was eight years-old. I didn't see it until it came out on video the next year. At the time I thought the movie was long and boring but it did get me somewhat into karate. I started looking around to local dojos, but I lived in the country and my parents didn't want to drive me to karate lessons and back every day. I remember, at this time you couldn't turn your head without seeing Karate stuff. Every week there was a karate book in the Weekly Reader and Karate related magazines thrived on the newstands (I bought a couple with my allowance). Flea markets sold throwing stars, butterfly knives, and cheap nunchucks. Karate was big for a while and I don't think "The Karate Kid" had everything to do with it but it had a great part of it. During lunch hours we would do the crane kick on each other. But then just as earlier ET made BMX biking cool before karate, Back to the Future made skateboarding the new big trend and I forgot about taking karate lessons and instead bought a skateboard and I still have permenant scars now from that era.

Now:I never thought about the Karate Kid again until 1996 when I was going through my big 80s revival period. I bought every 80s music compilation CDs I could find, and I dug up all my old 80s movies soundtracks. I moved out of the dorms and into a house with a few guys and did a lot less partying and hanging out then before so I started to rent those 80s movies. I got through all the major ones that I remembered, like 16 Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, etc. and decided to give "The Karate Kid" a try. Let's just say things have ever changed for me. Karate Kid put me in a realm, I relived my high school years, the girls and hanging out, the high school dances. I kind of relived my high school years through Danielson. In high school there were a lot of yuppie, preppie scum like Johny that I couldn't stand. I was like the Karate Kid, fighting the preppie cliques and getting the woman in the end and winning. Since then I bought everything Karate Kid that I can get my hands on and watched the movie I would say about 25 times. I love the soundtrack, and I feel that it was one of the best soundtracks that got the least recognition.

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