Karate

'The Karate Kid' MPAA rating: PG for bullying, martial arts action violence and some mild language Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes Playing: In general release

So Mike Piazza was planning to go all Ralph Macchio on Roger Clemens? And then when he had the opportunity, decided just maybe it wasn't his best idea? Hey, that's show business, or at least the autobiography business. Piazza's memoir “Long Shot” hits the stores Tuesday, and although it deals with the suspected topics -- did not do steroids, should be in the Hall of Fame, is not gay -- in expected fashion, there is one surprising element. Piazza said he was so upset over Roger Clemens' beaning him during a game while with the Mets in 2000, he took karate lessons to prepare for their next encounter.

A 19-year-old motorist killed another driver with karate blows in a traffic dispute near this Balearic island town, police said Tuesday. The 25-year-old victim was dead on arrival at a hospital, they said.

The holidays are the season of sparkle. And that goes for beauty treatments as well as for Christmas trees. Spas and beauty companies are capitalizing on the allure of jewels and precious metals, hoping to harness radiance and a feeling of indulgence by adding gold, gemstones or diamonds to their products. "The purpose of diamonds in skin care is primarily for anti-aging. White diamond powder has very little therapeutic value," says dermatological chemist Ben Kaminsky, founder and chief executive of B. Kamins skin care.

A karate instructor at a Costa Mesa self-defense studio was arrested this week on suspicion of molesting a 4-year-old girl whom he was giving a private lesson, authorities said Thursday. Jon Patrick Harrison, 61, of Anaheim is charged with one felony count of lewd acts on a child. Harrison has been a martial arts instructor at United Studios of Self Defense for 10 years, and authorities worry there could be other victims, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

So Mike Piazza was planning to go all Ralph Macchio on Roger Clemens? And then when he had the opportunity, decided just maybe it wasn't his best idea? Hey, that's show business, or at least the autobiography business. Piazza's memoir “Long Shot” hits the stores Tuesday, and although it deals with the suspected topics -- did not do steroids, should be in the Hall of Fame, is not gay -- in expected fashion, there is one surprising element. Piazza said he was so upset over Roger Clemens' beaning him during a game while with the Mets in 2000, he took karate lessons to prepare for their next encounter.

The Rev. David Baumann is no ordinary priest. On Sundays he stands before his congregation at the Episcopal Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Placentia in full-length vestments of gold and black to preach the word of God. On certain other days, attired all in white, he throws punches and screams in Korean. At these meetings his congregation is smaller. Though listening just as intently as parishioners on Sunday, they sit on floor mats instead of pews.

Long Beach police offer some of the world's best karate instruction, according to a recent ranking issued by an international sports association. Based on its students' performance in amateur competitions last year, the Long Beach Police Athletic League was rated 24th among the world's top karate schools in 1996 by the National Blackbelt League and Sport Karate International. More than 80 children between the ages of 7 and 17 participate in after-school karate lessons taught by Sgt.

Cecelia Chapman enrolled in Tony Ransdell's karate class last week because she thought it would be good exercise. Then she found out she could be a weapon. "I liked the kicks," said Chapman, 66, of Reseda, one of a handful of older students who met in the Valley Senior Service and Resource Center run by the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly. It was Chapman's first class Friday, but already she felt like jumping into a Jackie Chan movie.

The karate instructor, dressed in white, baggy pants shouts, "Otagai ni!" The students obey and bow to each other. A moment later, he asks, "Adonde vas? " to a student retreating from a sparring partner. Then he tells the class, "OK, let's go line up." It's just another karate class at Hollenbeck Youth Center in Boyle Heights, one of several classes under the direction of sensei (teacher) Juan Larios at five city parks and two YMCAs.

Best known for his roles in the "Karate Kid," "My Cousin Vinny" and "The Outsiders," Ralph Macchio has decided to take a break from being in front of the camera and instead get behind it as executive producer of NatGeo's new reality series "American Gypsies. " Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m., "American Gypsies" centers on the Johns family and sheds some light on the modern Gypsy way of life in New York City. Macchio talks about his new show, the Romani lifestyle and his role behind the camera.

The Karate Kid (2010) Sony, $28.96; Blu-ray, $34.95/$38.96 Who could've predicted back in 1984 that a corny family movie about the noble art of self-defense would become so popular that its dialogue and story-arc would enter our shared pop-culture mythology? This year's "Karate Kid" remake updates the characters and the setting, casting Jaden Smith as a 12-year-old Detroiter who moves with his single mom to Beijing and gets kung fu lessons from their apartment's handyman (played by Jackie Chan)

Who says family films are just for families? In one of the more surprising developments of the summer movie season, three movies primarily aimed at kids and their parents are drawing a surge of significantly older moviegoers — many of whom are going without their children — in a trend that single-handedly has reversed the vacation season's box-office doldrums. Thanks to the performance to date of the PG-rated "Shrek Forever After" ($223.8 million in domestic release)

Hollywood got a much needed kick to the 2010 summer box office — from 1984. "The Karate Kid," which stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in a remake of the 26-year-old family favorite, waxed off the competition to land at No. 1 this weekend with a startling $56 million. It more than doubled the take of the big-screen version of 1980s TV series "The A-Team" starring Liam Neeson, Jessica Biel and Bradley Cooper, which opened to a soft $26 million. "Karate Kid" was the first surprise success of what has been a dismal first six weeks of the summer box office season, with many more poor performers, such as "Robin Hood," "Prince of Persia," and "Sex and the City 2," than hits.

'The Karate Kid' MPAA rating: PG for bullying, martial arts action violence and some mild language Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes Playing: In general release

Two beloved properties from the '80s will be duking it out for No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Sony Pictures' remake of "The Karate Kid" and 20th Century Fox's big-screen adaptation of the 1980s television show "The A-Team" are both poised to sell between $30 million and $35 million in tickets at the box office this weekend, according to people who have seen pre-release polling results. The movies are likely to attract distinctly different audiences. The action-heavy, PG-13-rated "A-Team" is tracking best with teenage boys and men, while the PG "Karate Kid" is more of a draw for families with children of both genders, as well as women.

With the possible exception of the Green Berets, virtually all martial artists trace their origins back into millennial mists where monks, most likely Buddhist, endeavored to teach their flocks how to defend themselves against the depredations of marauders. Karate is no exception.

Arms outstretched, David Jainchill walked across the room and felt along the wall until his fingers found the championship trophy he recently won in Black Belt karate. "He's very courageous, an intense human being," said John Giordano, Jainchill's trainer and friend for 17 years. Jainchill competes as a featherweight, in the 120-pound range. He's lithe and sinewy. Spiritually, he's animated and secure. It wasn't always that way. Jainchill, now 50, was legally blind by before he was 30.

"The Karate Kid" is a kung fu kick of a film that hits more than it misses, with its fresh prince of Beijing in Jaden Smith, its scene-stealing grand master flash, Jackie Chan, and a shiny-happy China travelogue thrown in for good measure, or tax incentives, one of the two. The grit and the grime of the 1984 original are gone, swept under some Oriental rug no doubt in the spit-shine director Harald Zwart has given every nook and cranny of the...

For years, Sony Pictures considered—and then decided against—updating "The Karate Kid," its beloved 1984 family film about a browbeaten kid (Ralph Macchio) with a single mom and the enigmatic martial arts coach (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita) who teaches the boy how to believe in himself, catch a fly with chopsticks and kick some bully butt along the way. Sony had pretty much beaten the franchise into submission, with the third sequel, 1994's "The Next Karate Kid" featuring 19-year-old Hilary Swank, marking the series' commercial and critical tap-out (a domestic gross of just $8.9 million, a Rotten Tomatoes score of a mere 6% positive)