Oh, and don't worry Japan. I'm not making wine or alcohol at home at all. I buy it from a store legally, though I have an interest in making wine at some point. I'll be sure to warn you if and when I do.
Oh, and I'm not Trent and I don't play guitar, and I've never owned a guitar and I'm not from Nova Scotia. I've never hired a prostitute in my life and I've never hired out as a prostitute in my life, but I'd never tell a woman what she can or can't do with her own body.
Brian Joseph Johns
Do you want to be a fashion or outfit designer?
You are an inspired student of Wing Tsun who has ascended to protect the teachings of your temple...
You are a champion martial artist, representing your fellow humanity in an eternal competition to the death... FIGHT and Finish him!
Want to pick your champion and style and then bout against the other greats of martial arts?
Play Shaolin versus Wutang [On Steam]
Play Kings of Kung Fu [On Steam]
Wanna be a Captain or Admiral?
Warning: This episode deals with sensitive topics and is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is definitely advised.
For your information, the character Helayne Ying aka the Butterfly Dragon, she's Chinese, not Filipino with all due respect, though in one episode of Two Butterflies, there is a tribute to the superhero Darna.
Dragon Butterfly is Japanese and soon to make her first appearance in this new series...
Chapters
- Lefrange - Le Danters - Le Farnham (Finished June 24
- Warehouse Warpath (Coming soon)
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National Breast Cancer Foundation [Donate] [Hope Kit] [Women's Programs]
One of their top priorities is educating women on what they can do to be proactive with their breast health. Knowledge and early detection saves lives.
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I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
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The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
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The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
United Way Worldwide
Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the various programs part of the United Nations' global mandate, as much a foundation as it is a roof around the world.
World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.
The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.
The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.
Wikipedia
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Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.
Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.
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Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:
The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined
by Brian Joseph Johns
Episode 13: The Dragons Rise
Lefrange - Le Danters - Le Farnham
Six years ago
College Street and Bay Street
Downtown Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
The meeting room, the second largest in the Police services building slowly filled up, as Sergeants, Detectives and their partners filed into the chairs lined up row by row in front of a podium at the head of the room. Each of the chairs had an accompanying attached desk, making the room appear more like a classroom than one being used formally for a briefing.
Detective Edward Farnham, an older man in his mid-forties, with well groomed platinum hair, and a dark blazer, white shirt and dark tie, walked over to his favourite spot near the center of the room. Behind him a younger fellow, dressed in a dark windbreaker marked DFA tried following him through the doors. One of the guards at the door, a Constable, grabbed hold of him:
"That's far enough. Detectives and their partners or trainees only," the Constable said to the younger man.
"Hands off. I'm his partner, Constable!" the younger man, a clean cut Indonesian fellow with gel packed hair (groomed) stood up to the guard.
"Somboon! Stand down. Officially, you aren't Detective Farnham's partner..." another much taller man confronted both Somboon and Farnham, the Constable guard smiling snidely at Somboon, which agitated the younger man all that much more.
"He's worked with me on several cases, Danters. He was key to one that we solved, and if you remember correctly, that story even made the news. Your press conference I recall?" Farnham jumped in to back up Somboon.
"Look, don't play politics with me Farnham. You report to me, and I told you three weeks that you've been assigned Ruthers. You purposely avoided me since then and worse still, you completely avoided Ruthers, sending my plans to complete shite. I won't have that from a man under my command. Do you understand?!!!" Detective Sergeant Danters, another old-school cop with a thick moustache and thinning hair challenged Farnham.
"Yes sir. I understand perfectly..." Farnham responded as several other Detectives squeezed by him and Somboon, filing into the meeting room.
"Somboon, you're to report to the Cyber Crime Unit immediately, and I don't want to see you and Farnham working on anything together unless there's a specific call for a DFA in the case. Do you understand?" Detective Sergeant Danters turned his attention to Somboon, who shrunk slightly before the man.
"I was only following orders, sir..." Somboon defended himself.
"...my own..." Somboon added very quietly under his breath.
"What was that?" Danters was quick to respond.
"I said I'm on my way," Somboon replied, quietly retreating two floors down to the Cyber Crime Unit.
When Farnham turned to leave, trying to make his way into the meeting room, Danters once again confronted him.
"Farnham! You're to work with Ruthers. Show him the ropes," Danters asserted himself again.
"Why don't you give him to Barry, or better yet Chuckson?" Farnham challenged Danters.
"Because I gave you a direct order. I want you to show him the ropes. That's all Detective, unless you'd prefer traffic duty?" Danters responded, completely unwilling to budge.
"Fine. Good day Detective Sergeant... sir!" Farnham responded defiantly, immediately trying to figure out how he could get out of training Ruthers.
Farnham ventured into the meeting room and Danters followed behind him, the two men separating as Farnham ventured toward his favourite spot near the center once again, and Danters toward the podium as the last few seats in the room filled up.
When Farnham got to his favourite seat, Ruthers was already there, seated.
"Danters put you up to this?" asked Farnham of Ruthers.
"Look. I know what you're thinking, but honestly, he told me to come directly to this seat. I hope I didn't say anything to offend you last time, but I'm really eager to learn from the best," Ruthers was another younger man, though older than Somboon by almost a decade.
Farnham couldn't believe that the man had made it through Police College, for he lacked all of the hardened edges that were often instilled not by the program, but by the social and union forces at play. Somehow, he'd managed to keep that naive innocence about him, and that irked many of his fellow officers, especially the other Detectives.
Barry just didn't have the time or patience to take someone under his wing, let alone someone who'd cut into his weekend golf. Chuckson on the other hand was a Detective who walked the fine line of the law, often dipping into the other side both professionally and for recreation. Someone who'd become far too accustomed to the lifestyle of those he'd investigated and as a result, he'd ended up becoming like them. His personal and sexual dependencies interconnected with the blackmarket economy. Donalds was not too far behind Chuckson in this matter, hence if Ruthers had trained with either Detective, he'd be a lost cause within a decade as a result.
Farnham knew exactly why Danters had assigned Ruthers to him. It was simple. It was because despite the nature of the work, Farnham had managed to keep an even keel throughout his professional life. When the day was over, he left his work at work. When he was at home, it was his home life that concerned him. His wife. His bungalow. His backyard. His barbecue and a cold beer.
He knew how to separate his home life from his work life. In a way to Farnham, it was kind of like when he was a kid. He used to play with action figures (before he discovered Nintendo), and quite often he'd play as a superhero. That hero often had two lives. Their life fighting crime, and their alter ego and this was a philosophy that had from an early age found its way into Farnham's psychology.
It helped him to keep his balance, but mostly because he lived in a community where the effort to break down those ideas had not yet arrived as it had in an ever growing list of places in the world. As the foundations of society were being secretly unraveled. He knew something was going on that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but never suspected that it would ever arrive in his community.
Danters had picked him to train Ruthers, because Farnham was able to keep this separation of home life and work life, and as a result, he never ended up becoming like Donalds or Chuckson. Both of whom were ticking time bombs of big problems that would eventually undermine the very reason they'd become involved with Police work in the first place.
By that time, the room had become silent and Danters, who was behind the podium was staring intensely at Farnham.
"Are we finished yet Detectives?" Danters said into the microphone, looking directly at Farnham.
"Looks like a lover's quarrel," one of the other Detectives remarked.
Farnham rolled his eyes at that particular Detective, and then looked back to Ruthers.
"There. You sit there, I sit here," Farnham said directly to him, and Ruthers stood from his chair and took the other seat beside it.
Farnham then sat down in his and folded his arms.
"Gentlemen. I know that most of you were eager get back on your caseload this particular Friday, but as it turns out, something very important has come to the attention of our department and seeing as we're the front line in this city between order and the disarray of lawlessness, we're involved, whether you like it or not. So in case you had plans to check out by 3 today, maybe to hit the driving range...?" Danters looked over to Detective Mark Barry, who smirked back.
"...or maybe get out of the city and up to your cottage with your husband...?" Danters then looked over to Detective Daphne Ellisman, who looked away.
"Don't worry Ellisman, I'll take you there in exchange for a little favour," one of the other Detectives Hill joked.
"I'd tie your necktie for you, but its already too small," Detective Ellisman responded, drawing laughter from the room.
"Are we done? Good. Today, I've got Detective Sergeant Lucien Marcier and Detective Pierre Lefrange from the SVPM. They've been heading up a rather large investigation into a car theft ring that has led them to our front door. Perhaps it would be better if I let them address you," Danters stepped aside as two men, one of them close to Danters age and similar thinning hair, the other a decade younger with a firm and clean shaven face, stepped up to the podium, the only one taking the microphone.
"Bon matin, Monsiers. I am Sergeant Dective Lucien Marcier and this is my counterpart from the SVPM, Detective Pierre Lefrange..." Marcier paused as one of the Detectives in the audience spoke up.
"I hope you brought some cheese with you for the rest of us..." Chuckson remarked, drawing both a few coughs and some laughter from the other Detectives.
"No, cheese, but plenty of poutine. I know how much you all love poo..." Marcier responded, rounding out the room in a short burst of laughter.
"In all seriousness Detectives. Detective Lefrange had been working on a case involving a car theft ring which has been operating between Ontario and Quebec for the last three to five years, and moving as many as sixty units a year. That's a street value of between one point two and roughly six million Canadian dollars a year. Small time compared with our national figures, but still sizeable enough to draw the attention of many investigative bodies between our two fine provinces. I'm going to give you over to Detective Lefrange and he'll explain the rest," Marcier stepped away from the microphone and gave it over to Lefrange.
"Initially, I'd been working on what I originally thought would be a very small missing person's case. The case of a youth from the west central Montreal area named Monique Defleur, who went missing almost a decade ago. We spoke with her parents and managed to trace her whereabouts after speaking with other witnesses at her former school, that she'd left in the company of a man known to Police as Samias Rickné, though he also sometimes uses the surname Facois. After tracing Monique's phone activity, we discovered that they'd fled northward from the Montreal area up to northern Quebec and the town of Chibougamau. When we looked further into their new residence in that town, we had the SQ check their phone records and found evidence to indicate that they'd given us the slip. They'd employed a SIM swap attack, whereby Samias and assumedly Monique had visited a cellphone service store somewhere between Montreal and Toronto, and had obtained an illegal alternate SIM from that store, while receiving a completely new SIM provided by the store owner. We eventually had the SQ come forward and let the victims of that fraud know that they'd been duped, and helped them to secure their phone while we looked into following up on Siamias and Monique's location..." Lefrange explained to the Detectives.
"What happened with the store who provided the SIM swap service?" asked Farnham, already having learned a bit from Somboon.
"We've been keeping them under surveillance ever since, but I'll get to that in a bit. We eventually got onto Samias and Monique's trail once again, when a trusted asset gave us his new phone number. The one he'd gotten from the cellphone service store. He'd been living with an auto-mechanic by the name of Caroon Edbedda, known as Caroona to all of his friends. He's been running the serial number stripping operation for the car theft ring, and it was Caroona that Samias had been seeking out since leaving Montreal. Caroona apparently gave Samias and Monique an apartment, expecting Samias to pay him from the money he made stealing cars. At this point, we don't know how involved Monique was, but we can only assume that she's most likely not involved, though there's a good chance that she knows quite a bit, and if apprehended, could be useful to our investigation with the right application of pressure," Lefrange explained to the Detectives.
"Who is Caroona's buyer?" asked Ellisman.
"That's the part where this story takes a turn for the unexpected. As it turns out, Caroona and Samias both have contacts within the Torman family organization. A name I'm fairly certain most of you are already familiar with?" Lefrange smiled as he spoke, drawing a bit more uneasy laughter from the room.
"Caroona as it turns out, was selling to a buyer connected to the Torman clan, and it is just one tendril connected to a massive network, where car theft is only the beginning. We're talking an extensive, country wide... possibly continent wide network," Lefrange paused without needing to drum up effect.
"So you're keeping this cellphone service store and its owners under surveillance for this reason?" Farnham confirmed with Lefrange.
"C'est magnifique. As it turns out, they are connected to the network and have been helping to keep the Torman clan of the radar and out of our ears," Lefrange explained to the Detectives.
"Why not take 'em, and make 'em work for us? Fifteen years in the big house is pretty good incentive for that idea," Detective Colson spoke up.
"They've been connected to this for quite some time. If we were to conduct such an operation, news would spread quickly and nobody from the Torman clan would ever use them again. They'd give us false leads and it would turn into a mess, and wouldn't be able to prove a thing. So, we've been listening and collecting, and getting quite a bit from it. However, the case of Samias gets even more interesting. It turns out that he ran into difficulty obtaining a number of cars he'd been, how you say? requested to obscond with. So, he thought he'd change careers and become a sex trafficker..." Lefrange stopped and looked around the room to see if anyone caught on.
"Don't tell us. His first trixy was Monique, right?" Farnham asked.
"C'est bon. Oui. But she wouldn't dance for him or anyone else for that matter. A very spirited kind of girl. The kind of spirit you'd hope most daughters have when separated from their parents and family. It turns out that this girl, she's got quite a meaty loaf between her ears. When she figured out what he was up to, she played him quite well and managed to stay out of the entire affair, while he managed to round up seventeen other women, all of whom worked directly for him, servicing his clients, while he paid them with pocket change, but mostly with narcotics..." Lefrange continued.
"Meth? Crack?" Farnham confirmed with him.
"Both. Yet, somehow, Monique managed to stay clear of that entire aspect and eventually managed to find her way away from Samias, but not without some serious fallout. She was close enough to him for the entire time to know almost everything about his and Caroona's operation, and probably has considerable intel on Torman's dealings with the smaller tributaries," Lefrange took off his reading glasses for a moment and looked around the room.
"They put a hit out on her..." Ellisman spoke up first.
"Not just Caroona and Samias. The big man himself. We had someone on the inside and intercepted a considerable part of their meeting, and though Torman didn't give the order, he was there when it was discussed. In the end, he left it up to Samias, who opted for the kill. A kill that less than a week later, and only two days ago, would be botched," Lefrange stopped and gave the microphone back to Danters.
"That's where we come in gentlemen. Two evenings ago, there was an attempted hit on the life of Monique Defleur as conducted by Samias Rickné. He was the only gunman, but in this botched attempt, another woman, was shot three times fatally, or so we thought. Helayne Ying was brought into Toronto General with life threatening injuries and underwent emergency surgery at twenty-three hundred hours two nights ago, and she'd been comatose and on life support ever since," Danters began.
"You say had, as if she recovered," Detective Frasier asked Danters.
"We received a call two hours ago that her bed had been entirely vacated. There are signs that the window might have been used to get her out of the building, but who would do that? What's the motive to remove her from a hospital and let alone, through a window? If they cared enough about her to try and revive her, then they'd have likely left her in the care of the hospital. From an analysts standpoint, this points to the possibility of vengeance on the part of the Torman clan or someone connected to it. Regardless, we have a number of accomplices from the attempted assassination of Monique Defleur in our custody, but none of the big players. Helayne Ying's well being might be at severe risk gentlemen, as whomever took her might attempt to make an example of her in order to frighten Monique into maintaining her silence before they're able to silence her. And they definitely will. That's the word from the Behavioural Sciences team of the RCMP on this matter," Danters looked to his Detectives and trainees throughout the room.
"There is also the matter of a connection between this, and the mysterious blonde haired woman who has been witnessed at every crime scene where industrial and commercial sabotage was employed in what we suspect to be connected to Torman's operation. She is most likely working for Torman, and assisting in sabotaging these companies so that Torman can buy them cheap, and then sell them after inflating their net worth. The connection is that blondie was at the scene of the attempted assassination of Monique Defleur, when Helayne Ying was shot," Danters looked around the room once again.
"So where does this confusing mess leave us, Detective Sergeant?" Chuckson asked, very obviously kissing ass with his use of formal rank.
"He wants us to find Helayne Ying, and bring in... blondie. Right?" asked Ruthers of Danters.
"We need all three of them. Helayne Ying. Monique Defleur and blondie. I want us to have this wrapped up before Monday morning. Its Friday at ten in the morning now. You've got the weekend to solve this mystery and find these women. I've given every single one of you access to the case details and intelligence provided by Sergeant Detective Lucien Marcier and Detective Pierre Lefrange. Your other cases are to remain on hold until next week. Do I make myself clear to you?!" Danters asked the men in the room.
"Sir, yes sir," the men responded half enthusiastically and certainly more frustrated by this turn of events.
The inconvience of its timing more so than the fact that there was the potential of lives at risk.
"Dismissed, and Chuckson? By Monday. No later!" Danters spoke harshly to Chuckson, but it was clear he was referring to everyone in the meeting room.
"Lets take a look and figure out where our first stop is..." Farnham told Ruthers as they filed out of the meeting room.
"Why not the site of the hit?" asked Ruthers.
"Too obvious. Lets talk with the accomplices in holding," Farnham overrode Ruthers.
"Lets," Ruthers smiled, all too eager to be working his first big case with the Detectives.
To be continued in The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes of our Own Reimagined: Episode 13 - The Dragons Rise
Written by Brian Joseph Johns
Credits and attribution:
Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Thank you to the divine Miss M and to Hirose of our Own for the inspiration for the character Aikiko Tanaka. May they always embody the empowerment of women and their self determination.
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Thank you to the divine Miss M and to Hirose of our Own for the inspiration for the character Aikiko Tanaka. May they always embody the empowerment of women and their self determination.
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
