Pump Up the Jam

Today, I did a departmental talk on the research I did for my Master's thesis. In the hour before the talk, instead of fiddling with my slides, I prefer to watch videos on the internet to both clear my head and pump me up. For your own inspirational needs, I include a list of similar movies below:

Our first entry comes from Jackie Chan in the movie Miracles. Let me begin by saying that until this scene, this film is terrible. Just atrocious. The plot is nonsensical even for a Jackie Chan film, which generally only act as vehicles for his action/comedy scenes. But then he starts fighting seemingly a 100 men in a rope factory, and the film totally redeems itself. This may be the quintessential Jackie Chan scene. He is constantly being beaten up, but you know he is never going to get seriously hurt - or at least his movie character doesn't - and there are plenty of great physical gags along the way. For some reason, the dubbing is just terrible in all the clips I can find. Don't worry, there is very little talking in this clip. But that music is just awful!



Keep in mind, Jackie Chan famously does his own stunts, as do all the other characters in this film. Just incredible.

The second instalment on our list comes from the late great Warren Zevon. While this song may not pump you up, its a great tale about a hockey goon who just wants to score a goal. Unfortunately, he just isn't very good at the sport. It is kind of like Rudy - just with a puck.

Below is a live version of the song. I love the reactions from the crowd as they slowly get sucked into the song.



If you don't smile when Buddy scores and the crowd goes wild, I am pretty sure you are dead inside.

Finally, we have the cream of the crop. It is a montage of Wendel Clark highlights set to Metallica. You really can't ask for much more to pump you up, although it obviously helps that I grew up a Leafs fan.



I didn't appreciate Wendel Clark as much as I should have. I have never liked goons, even if Warren Zevon has made me reconsider my position, and I think that as a kid, I misunderstood Wendel's role on the team. I think this was mostly because I was young, impressionable, and he seemed to get a similar adulation from the crowd as did Tie Domi (who I really didn't like). In retrospect, that wasn't fair to Wendel, but not Domi - I still hate that guy. Wendel was never sent on the ice with the express purpose of fighting. Sure, it happened - a lot actually - but it was never a sideshow. It was always borne out the natural emotion of the game. And being tough certainly wasn't his only talent, as he was a hell of a hockey player. This last point is the key for me. I hate goons clogging up roster spots. But if you are tough and can play, I am plenty happy.

So thank you Wendel for all your years of service to the Leafs. And also for inspiring this video which can any Leaf fan raring to go - even if it is for an academic talk.