Last week's News

News article for the week of 12/5/05.

Goodbye Mister Miyagi, I Wish We Could Have Done Better
By, Grey Effect

The death of actor Pat Morita, famous for his role as Mister Miyagi the sage like martial arts instructor in the Karate Kid movies, should have had better results.
That there have been a number of testimonials, memorials and numerous efforts to honor the longtime actor, one of the earliest Asian-Americans who rose to fame in the acting world, I honestly think that we could have done with fewer.
Cities around the world have naturally named streets after this man, considering it a fine kind of testimonial to the man to have landmarks bearing his name. There is nothing wrong with this, though cruising Pat Morita Drive in the middle of Lubbock, Texas can be disconcerting. Still if they can erect a statue of Bruce Lee as a sign of unity in the Slavic states it’s not that bad.
Similarly the renaming of schools, playhouses, small theaters and even dojos is appropriate.
That Miyagi is used at least as, possibly even more often than Morita to name these locations is a little disturbing. However if William Shatner Drive can turn off into James T Kirk Street, lead into William Shatner Lane and pass under the James Tiberius Kirk overpass in Shatnerville, Ohio then this is not much of a problem. As compared to the orbiting mass that is William Shatner’s ego at any rate.
That Ralph Macchio would attempt to revive his acting career by returning to his role as Daniel, this time the Master, mourning the death of Miyagi and vowing vengeance or teaching a new generation or something, is also not surprising. It could even be seen as an attempt to further honor Pat Morita, if you ignore the desperation in poor Macchio’s eyes.
Where you really have to start drawing the line is with McMiyagi Burgers. The new product for the ever-loving fast food chain is a rice patty, a beef patty, a slice of pickled ginger along with the usual lettuce and sauce in a sesame bun.
Aside from the obvious crime against food and digestion being committed here there are still multiple insults upon insults being leveled against one person.
I mean come on “McMiyagi”? Rice, beef and pickled ginger in a bun?
Things like this are blatant attempts to cash in on a transitory media sound bite.
Worse is news of a new Miyagi speak and say, complete with heavy accent that Morita himself had to fake.
It’s entirely possible the poor man is rolling in his grave to the point where Zombie Pat Morita or Zombie Mister Miyagi (it all depends on which persona feels more outrage) would burst up and terrorize us all were it not for the fact that the TV series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was based upon Morita’s early life.
No Morita was not a cheerleader in high school.
He did have shoulder length blonde hair for a while though.
At any rate this is far from over. Just as 9/11 continues to give crude, has been musician’s material Morita’s talent and subsequent demise will surely draw further attempts to sell more crap he never cared for.