Leisure
This week is a bit different. I've got my co-worker in DC, Shahed Chowdhuri on the show, along with Pek Pongpaet (pong-pat) and Daniel Pesina. Shahed and Pek grew up together, and Pek met Daniel while studying at his Wushu. Daniel played Johnny Cage and ninjas Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Smoke, and Noob Saibot in several Mortal Kombat games, and Pek has worked on 6 MK games spanning 10 years. Master Pesina is perhaps most famous for his work as Johnny Cage and the ninjas in the first two Mortal Kombat games. He has also worked on films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze, Book of Swords, Press Start, and Mortal Kombat Fates Beginning, winner of the 2015 Urban Action Showcase Best MK Film award. Pesina appeared as one of Shredder's foot soldiers in the 1991 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Pongpaet’s expertise ranges from product design and development, and martial arts. Prior to Pinstagram, Pongpaet was VP of Product at Spoton, a loyalty and social media company. He's worked at Accenture Technology Labs in the research department coming up with next generation user interfaces. He was introduced to Chinese martial arts (Wushu) late in life when he met Master Daniel Pesina in 1998. He opened Pek to a new world of skill, discipline, artistry and mastery that would come to consume and permeate all of his life. His martial arts experience has led to motion capture roles in 6 Mortal Kombat games over the next 10 years. [T3:00] Where did the idea of Mortal Kombat come from? [T5:30] Studying martial arts [T7:45] Trying out for mo-cap in MK5[T9:20] Van Dam was planned to be the original Johnny Cage [T13:30] Can independent developers utilize motion capture today? [T15:45] How car has mo-cap come? The early days of Mortal Kombat [T20:45] Lost Mortal Kombat footage and digitized sprites [T25:00] What keeps these two busy today? [T28:45] What are the benefits of martial arts? [T32:00] Studying Wushu [T34:45] Question of the week