More from the monk from Brooklyn

October 7th, 2010By Category: Travel

Antonio Graceffo, the amazing well-to-do stockbroker-turned-Shaolin Monk whom I interviewed earlier is set to release a new book soon, ‘Warrior Odyssey: The Travels of a Martial Artist Through Asia’. Given the girth of his experience in martial arts (and the fascinating life he leads) I thought it would be a great chance to catch up to him for a second interview.

Please tell me about your current projects.

I have two huge projects right now that mean a lot to me. The first one is the Brooklyn Monk in Asia Podcast. It is a humorous, anti-travel podcast, which rips on everything from the silliness of ancient cultures to the complete lack of substance in the western world. I tried to make sure I insulted every ethnicity equally. If there is one that I missed, please write in and I am sure I could think of something.

The show is dedicated to everyone who is over-educated, under-appreciated, under-paid and cranky.

My other big project is called Brooklyn Monk in 3D. It is a 3D TV series, similar to Martial Arts Odyssey. It follows me though Asia, training in different martial arts, in different locations. BUT, it is a professional show, shot with a full TV crew. It has professional editing. It even has microphones. And of course, it is in 3D. I love doing the show because, like my podcast, it has a lot of humor. I just let go and say what I want.

Brooklyn Monk 3D is an Al Caudullo production, and will be launched in October of 2010. Brooklyn Monk 3D will air on http://3dguy.tv/ Al tells me that he is in communication with several TV networks, and it is very possible the show will move to cable TV in 2011.

What is your book, ‘Warrior Odyssey’ about?

Warrior Odyssey is a chronology of my Asian adventures for the first 6 years. Each chapter is a country. It starts with Taiwan, then the Shaolin Temple in China, Then the Muay Thai Temple in Thailand, and it continues on recounting my experiences in that country at that time. There are two chapters dedicated to Cambodia, the second of which tells about working on a number of American TV shows, which we couldn’t name for liability reasons. The book tells about my first time studying martial arts in Philippines and ends with my work in Burma with the Shan rebels.

In each chapter, I tried to do justice to the country, the culture, and the martial arts I studied, but without going into as much detail as I did in any country specific books, such as The Monk from Brooklyn, which only tells about the Shaolin Temple or Re-Discovering the Khmers, the book I wrote which is a single in depth research trip in Cambodia.

You write incredibly detailed accounts of the people you met, the places you saw, and the experiences you gained in your travels and training? Did you always keep a journal, or are you writing everything from memory?

The Monk from Brooklyn was written as a diary, exactly as described above, except that I didn’t have a computer in China. So, I wrote notes in a hard backed diary. I wrote things as they happened, also recorded conversations I was having. But these conversations were in Chinese. Sometimes I translated into English, while I was writing and talking. But after a while, I couldn’t think in English anymore, so I often found myself writing the diary in Latinized Chinese.

The chapters of the book are actually dated. I read in a number of rejection letters from publishers that you aren’t t supposed to write that way. But my publisher let me do it. Also, some critics said that I repeated myself or even contradicted myself in the book. Both of those points were true. I repeated myself because it was a diary and I may have had a similar thought on two different days. I contradicted myself because for example, I met someone today, but didn’t know his name. I wrote about him for a week saying, that guy I met Monday. Then I thought his name was Tong, so I changed his name to Tong. But it turned out his name was Dong, so I changed his name to Dong. And this all happened over a period of days or even weeks in China, but because you read it over a period of twenty minutes in the book, it seems like an editing error.

I wanted to call this new style of writing reality-literature, like reality TV. But after I came out of Shaolin, I abandoned this style.

Do you feel like the book was comprehensive or do you feel as though there is still more still that you wished you could have included?

That’s a good question. I wish I had put more of the human stuff, the humor and trials and tribulations, but that would have made it too long. The book was already 80 pages longer than the longest book they were willing to publish. So, it’s ok, I am still writing.

Earnest Hemingway said that he never set out to write a book. He set out to write a single true sentence, and when he failed, he tried again and again. The failed attempts resulted in about 20 books and 63 short stories. I anticipate spending the rest of my life trying to write a work that reflects one of my experiences accurately.

Brooklyn Monk, Antonio Graceffo is a martial arts and adventure author living in Asia. He is the author of the books, “Warrior Odyssey’ and “The Monk from Brooklyn.” He is also the host of the web TV show, “Martial Arts Odyssey,” which traces his ongoing journey through Asia, learning martial arts in various countries.

Brooklyn Monk in Asia Podcast (anti-travel humor) – http://brooklynmonk.podomatic.com

Twitter – http://twitter.com/Brooklynmonk

Website – www.speakingadventure.com

Facebook – Brooklyn Monk fan page

Subscribe to youtube – Youtube/brooklynmonk1

 

Author of this article

Chuck Johnson

Chuck Johnson is a Martial Arts Instructor/ Action Film Actor based in Tokyo, Japan, and Michigan, USA. He has been teaching for 16 years, holds ranks in Taekwondo, Judo, Capoeira, and Karate, and is an experienced bodyguard. He is also a member of the Screen Action Stunt Association, and Society of American Fight Directors. Additionally, he has 10 years of ELT experience, and is the developer of Phat English, a system that uses specialized hip-hop music to teach the subtle nuances of GAm English pronunciation. For more information, visit www.chuck-n-action.com or follow Chuck on twitter at chuck_n_action

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Comments

  • tybkk says:

    Seriously…..???? He spent 3mths at the Shaolin Temple and quit because at his own admittance, he couldn’t hack it….!!! HE IS NOT A SHAOLIN MONK!!!! He did 3mths Shaolin Training…. And his overall martial arts skills is poor….

    He is nothing more than a loud mouthed American with a passion for martial arts

  • tybkk says:

    Seriously…..???? He spent 3mths at the Shaolin Temple and quit because at his own admittance, he couldn’t hack it….!!! HE IS NOT A SHAOLIN MONK!!!! He did 3mths Shaolin Training…. And his overall martial arts skills is poor….

    He is nothing more than a loud mouthed American with a passion for martial arts

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