Jeff Speakman
Jeff Speakman (born November 8, 1958) is an American actor and a martial artist in the art of American Kenpo and Japanese Gōjū-ryū, earning black belts in each. Between 2008 and 2018, he was President of the International Kempo Federation. Early life Speakman was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, where he was a springboard diver at John Hersey High School and achieved All-American status. He graduated from Missouri Southern State College. He has said that the television show ''Kung Fu'' got him interested in martial arts, and he began by studying the Okinawan martial art of Gōjū-ryū until achieving black belt rank. His instructor then recommended that if he was really intent in pursuing martial arts as a lifestyle, then he should go looking for Ed Parker, a friend of his master. Speakman sold his car to pay for the moving expenses and met Parker at one of the latter's tournaments. Speakman spent years training in American Kenpo under his principal ins ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Missouri Southern State University
Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern State University was founded in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. At its conception, Joplin Junior College had 114 students and only 9 faculty members. In 1964, residents of Jasper County, Missouri approved a $2.5 million bond issue to begin construction on a new campus, where the university is currently located. The new campus opened in the fall of 1967 with 2,399 students and 95 faculty members. In 1977, the school was renamed Missouri Southern State College and officially became a state-assisted four-year college and part of the state of Missouri's higher education system. In 2003, the Missouri General Assembly authorized the renaming of the college to Missouri Southern State University - Joplin; in 2005 the university dropped Joplin from ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TV Movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for initial showing in movie theaters, and direct-to-video films made for initial release on home video formats. In certain cases, such films may also be referred to and shown as a miniseries, which typically indicates a film that has been divided into multiple parts or a series that contains a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Origins and history Precursors of "television movies" include ''Talk Faster, Mister'', which aired on WABD (now WNYW) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced by RKO Pictures, and the 1957 ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'', based on the poem by Robert Browning, and starring Van Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television. That film was made in Technicolor, a f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lionheart (1990 Film)
''Lionheart'', released internationally under several names including ''A.W.O.L: Absent Without Leave'', ''Wrong Bet'', and ''Leon'', is a 1990 American martial arts film directed by Sheldon Lettich, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and co-starring Brian Thompson, along with Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, Lisa Pelikan, and Ashley Johnson. Van Damme plays a French Foreign Legionnaire. When his brother is seriously injured, he returns to Los Angeles to enter the underground fighting circuit to raise money for his brother's family. The film's cast and crew included Michel Qissi who appeared in earlier Van Damme films: Tong Po, as the villain in ''Kickboxer'' and as Parades, a Kumite entrant in ''Bloodsport''. Sheldon Lettich helped write ''Bloodsport'', and ''Double Impact''. ''Lionheart'' grossed $24.3 million on a $6 million budget. Plot Lyon Gaultier is in the French Foreign Legion stationed in Djibouti, East Africa. After his brother, who lives in Los Angeles, is set on fire ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Slaughterhouse Rock
''Slaughterhouse Rock'' (also known as ''Hell Island'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1988 American supernatural horror film directed by Dimitri Logothetis, and starring Nicholas Celozzi, Tom Reilly, Donna Denton, Hope Marie Carlton, Tammara Hyler, Steven Brian Smith, Ty Miller, and Toni Basil. Its plot follows a college student who travels to Alcatraz Island with his friends, after having recurring nightmares of a rock band that was killed there. Plot Alex Gardner (Nicholas Celozzi), a college student suffers from recurring nightmares in which he experiences the deaths of the victims of a vicious killer who lived on Alcatraz, before it became a prison. When the nightmares begin manifesting in reality, and his friends see him hovering over his bed, his teacher (Donna Denton), an occultist, tells him to go to the island to face down the ghost of the killer. The friends become stranded on the island, and Alex's brother Richard ( Tom Reilly) becomes possessed, killing some friends and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Deadly Outbreak
''Deadly Outbreak'' (released in certain markets as ''Deadly Takeover'') is an action movie released by US-Israeli company Nu Image in 1996, and directed by former stuntman Rick Avery. It is set in Israel and follows the formula set by ''Die Hard'' rather closely. Additionally, the last act of the film also borrows heavily from the U.S. blockbuster ''Speed'', which was released just two years earlier. Plot Sergeant Dutton Hatfield is working for the American embassy. His latest assignment is to escort a supposed team of scientists inside the Research Development Institute facility outside Tel Aviv, Israel. However, the scientists are revealed to be terrorists in disguise, led by Colonel Baron. Baron is seeking retribution for his humiliation when he had an ideological disagreement with his superior officer General Miller, over the merits of the Gulf War, and Miller forced him to retire after Miller became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Baron and his eight men, including ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Expert (1995 Film)
''The Expert'' is a 1995 American action thriller film about an ex-special forces trainer who decides to exact revenge on the murderer of his sister after his death sentence is commuted. The film was directed by Rick Avery and William Lustig (who was uncredited) and stars Jeff Speakman, Jim Varney and James Brolin. Plot John Lomax is an ex-Special Forces trainer whose sister is attacked and murdered by serial killer Martin Kagan. Kagan represents himself at trial, calling in testimony from Dr. Alice Barnes that the murders were committed by Martin Mirman, one of Martin Kagan's other personalities. He is nevertheless sentenced to electrocution. John Lomax breaks into the prison where Kagan is being held to seek his own justice at the same time that Kagan is conducting a prison break of his own. Cast Production Larry Cohen Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television, best known as an a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Street Knight
''Street Knight'' is a 1993 American action film directed by Albert Magnoli and starring Jeff Speakman. Plot Jake Barrett (Jeff Speakman) is a former cop who retired from the LAPD following an incident where he failed to save a young hostage from a disturbed criminal. This incident has haunted him for the past several years, and he now works repairing cars at a garage once owned by his father. The city, which has been the battleground for a conflict between street gangs the Latin Lords and Blades, is currently under a tenuous truce negotiated by the heads of the two gangs. A group of Latin Lords members drive to a meeting supposedly arranged by Blades leader "8-Ball," where they are ambushed by criminals led by James Franklin (Christopher Neame). All of them are killed by Franklin except for their driver, Carlos Sanchez (Richard Coca), who flees. Franklin stages the scene of the crime to look like the Blades carried out the killings. A friend informs Barrett of a woman who needs h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Perfect Weapon (1991 Film)
''The Perfect Weapon'' is a 1991 martial arts action film directed by Mark DiSalle and starring Jeff Speakman, Mako Iwamatsu, James Hong, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Set in Los Angeles, the film relates the story of a young man (Speakman), who is trained in the martial art of American Kenpo, and his fight against the Korean mafia. Speakman was a student of and was advised closely by Ed Parker in the making of this film. The film's taglines included "No gun. No knife. No equal." and "Just try him." and is the only well-known Hollywood depiction of Kenpo techniques on-screen. The hit 1990s song " The Power" by Eurodance rap group Snap! is featured extensively in the movie's soundtrack. Plot Jeff Sanders (Jeff Speakman) leads a double life of sorts: by day, he is a simple, unassuming construction worker, and by night, an expert Kenpo student and master of his craft. Jeff's background is revealed; after losing his mother as a child, he became an outcast and frequently lashed ou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ed Parker
Edmund Kealoha Parker (March 19, 1931 – December 15, 1990) was an American martial artist, actor, senior grandmaster, and founder of American Kenpo Karate. Life Born in Hawaii, Parker began training in Judo at an early age and later studied boxing. During the 1940s, Parker was introduced to Kenpō by Frank Chow, who then introduced Parker to William Chow, a student of James Mitose. Parker trained with William Chow while serving in the Coast Guard and attending Brigham Young University, and in 1953 he was promoted to the rank of black belt. Parker, seeing that modern times posed new situations that were not addressed in Kenpo, adapted the art to make it more easily applicable to the streets of America. He called his adapted style American Kenpo Karate. Success and students Parker opened the first karate school in the western United States in Provo, Utah, in 1954. By 1956, Parker opened a dojo in Pasadena, California. Ed Parker's first ever black-belt was James Ibrao. His fir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th century. At its peak, it had more than 6,000 media subscribers. Since the first of several sales and staff cutbacks in 1982, and the 1999 sale of its broadcast client list to its main U.S. rival, the Associated Press, UPI has concentrated on smaller information-market niches. History Formally named United Press Associations for incorporation and legal purposes, but publicly known and identified as United Press or UP, the news agency was created by the 1907 uniting of three smaller news syndicates by the Midwest newspaper publisher E. W. Scripps. It was headed by Hugh Baillie (1890–1966) from 1935 to 1955. At the time of his retirement, UP had 2,900 clients in the United States, and 1,500 abroad. In 1958, it became United Press Intern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |