Matthew Lee Willis

LizzieLuvsPerry

2012-02-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

Howdy guys,

I was actually a huge fan of a series coming out called Lizzie Luvs Perry. I had a friend Kylie Baker that I had worked with on several other films and projects who was playing a great part in the sitcom. Well, she thought of bringing me in and seeing how I would do...well I GOTS DA PART! You are looking at Perry! No, not Rick Perry but a liberal waiter just waiting to kill these girls. Should be a great show and I am really excited to be a part of it!

Website: http://lizzieluvsperry.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizzieluvsperry

Give us some time while we build the social media part, but like it now and get ready for updates! A twitter account coming soon!

Going to Nicaragua

2012-02-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

That's right, I am going to be teaching Parkour and also be the volunteer coordinator for Fuego y Agua. FYA is a 25, 50 and 100k race up and over VOLCANOES! http://fuegoyagua.org

Thank you to http://josuecorre.com/ we are making this possible!

Wrapped on the Ascendant

2011-12-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

Sand Ninjas...seen left!

Hector Gonzales - Aaron Alexander - Matthew Lee Willis

Wrapped on The Ascendant. It was a great shoot. Thank you to all! Footage to come soon. Plus some really amazing GoPro Footage! Deepak Chetty did a great job with the film, the writing and the set. I am really impressed with what he was able to pull off and really excited to see what really ends up happening with the film.

I would like to give a special thanks to Adrian and Bob Ondarza for getting me into the film and doing all of the fight choreography. Thanks again guys! Here is their blog.

The Ascendant Photos

2011-12-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

Here are the photos from the trip we took. I think all of you guys will enjoy them! Here is the link!

It was a really great trip that I got to take and be a part. Sitting up and talking and even 2 or 3 hour dinners talking about Stunts in Austin and how we are going to take over the world! Soon enough, soon enough.

The Ascendant

Immortals U - Update

2011-12-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

[taken from ARCHIMEDES facebook]

So I have been working with Immortal U's - Rhonda Abrons Check out her actual IMDB here.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2337554 We just had a read through of the script and let me tell you, this is awesome. I approaced Rhonda early on in the selection process and she actually WROTE in a part for me! I am happy to be a part of the team!

The team just got their special effects crew. Check out their amazing reel and see all of what they are doign at the website below. I am so excited to be a part of this adventure!

http://www.archimedesmedialab.com/

2011-12-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

Screen Test of the new short film that I have joined.

The Ascendant - Location VFX Tests from Deepak Chetty on Vimeo.

The Ascendant Web Blog

2011-12-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

[take from theascendantshortfilm website]

Check out the Ascendant a new short film that I am in that is coming out around February. I have been doing some stunt choreography and training for the project.

We will be filming in Decemeber and there are some great stuff coming out of this UT film student. 1. We have a budget and 2. My next blog will show some pretty amazing VFX animation. 3. They are exceptionally organized. Cha Ching.

Here is the Blog behind everything.
http://theascendantshortfilm.tumblr.com/

2011-11-29T14:02:00.001-08:00

That is right, it finally came out! http://caseyjonesthemovie.com/ You can see me here kicking some but as a ninja and even as a Purple Dragon.

This is a definite must watch, not very long and you can count the flips in the video. Every time you see a ninja flip, let me know, because its me EVERY TIME!

Immortal U: "Highlander meets Firefly"

2011-11-26T19:56:00.001-08:00

A new web series that I am a part of is called Immortal U just got a pretty interesting review. It is pretty interesting, and you should be able to see what the series is all about!

http://www.thedarkleian.com/2011/11/21/immortal-u-highlander-meets-firefly/

2011-11-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

Check out my profile over on 7 Shades of Lenity!

http://www.7shadesoflenity.com/cast/matthew-lee-willis-lexan-caine/

Check out the latest episode

2011-11-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

My newest Reel!

It has been a while since I have updated this thing...so I probably should right!

Austin Roller Derby Performance

2011-04-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Check out the new performance. Taken from a camera phone. CAUGHT IN THE ACTION.

TXPK Shirts

2011-04-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Doing some cool things with Texas Parkour these days. We decided to make some shirts this last meeting, to spice up the amount of productivity we have. How do you like it?

Matthew Lee Willis

2010-09-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

Matthew Lee Willis: "I connected Blogger to my http://flavors.me page - http://flavors.me/matthewleewillis"

7 Shades Second Episode

2010-07-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here is the second installment of the 7 Shades Series!

Kings of Leon Tickets

2010-07-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

So, I have been working with this Beezag Company that gives you money for watching commercials right? I am almost to $5 but I heard they'll be doing Kings of Leon contest where you can win two tickets to one of their shows. So I kinda like Kings of Leon and I think people should check out the website so win some dang TICKETS! Oh, and take me to the concert!

Blog Sponsored

2010-07-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Beezag is something that I have been checking out lately. They pay you money to watch commercials. I log on every once and a while and gain 4 cents here 20 cents there. It will add up. Let me know if anyone else wants to do it...I think there is a referal program as well. I wont mess to much with that unless someone really is into the program.

Yea, thats right, my blog is sponsored...This wont happen to often but their music was really cool. Check it out.

We are very happy to give you access to our first short film in the " A Day in the Life Of... " video series. This particular video features the Up-and-Coming New York Producer Duo, The Knocks, who have collaborated with artists such as Ellie Goulding, Marina & The Diamonds, Samuel and Alex Winston, the White Tie Affair and Sky Ferreira. As part of the launch, Beezag will be running a competition, offering viewers who watch the video on the site, the opportunity to win Skullcandy headphones!
Together with Skullcandy, we created a unique 2-minute video (link below) that follows The Knocks on a tour of their Chinatown recording studio where the duo also performs bits from their new single: “Blackout,” a hands-in-the-air party track.
The Knocks are emerging as a force to be reckoned with as far as music production is concerned. Being able to collaborate with Skullcandy to bring this talented duo to the forefront has been an exciting project for us.

Check out a sneak peak of the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5IXjhDfGaQ along with attached photos of The Knocks wearing Skullcandy headphones. Feel free to use these pictures on your blogs.

Please send us a link of your write-up and you'll be entered to win Beezag Fan of the Week, a new feature available on our facebook fan page which launches next week!!! This is a very exciting time here at Beezag and we are thrilled to have you along for the ride.

If you have any questions, or need additional information including pictures or direct quotes from The Knocks, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank You,

Rozi Doci

Social Media Associate

rozid@beezag.com

Music Video Update

2010-06-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

So there have been a couple updates that I just wanted to share for the music video that I was in for Since October, "The Way You Move".

A couple cool things:
-They are now touring with Katy Perry
-The song is used for Wrestlemania!

NEW Embeddable Video

Since October - The Way You Move [Music Video] from Frederico Marques on Vimeo.

THE NEW Youtube VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmf5AqSGZ8Q

AOL MUSIC

http://music.aol.com/video/the-way-you-move/since-october/bc:90469704001

New Music Video

2010-06-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

"The Way you Move" Since October. Is the new music video that I did. I mentioned all the great people that I worked with last time...Here is the article over the piece. When I can get a better embedable video, I might just throw it up, but until then...check it out here :)

Here is the Twitter Feed from the Music Video ;)

So @matthewwillis #musicvideo that he has been working on just hit the store fronts. RT please http://ow.ly/1VMkh Tell him what you think!

Finally wrapped on the #musicvideo for @sinceoctober. Those are some good guys.
6:50 PM May 19th via txt

Just loaded up some video of @sinceoctober to my Facebook. They literally rock my socks right off! #musicvideo #fb
1:02 PM May 19th via txt

Yup in Nashville. #musicvideo http://twitpic.com/1p4sqc
8:15 AM May 19th via TwitPic

Heading to Tennessee for filing of Since October #musicvideo. Why do I feel nervous? I'm never watching final destination again! #FB
3:58 PM May 18th via txt

L & R arm, L & R hip, L & R shin...bruised. @matthewwillis = stuntman #dream #musicvideo #sinceoctober

Finally wrapped. 14 hour day. #musicvideo
10:46 PM May 7th via txt

These are my bad guys! #musicvideo http://twitpic.com/1lt3u9

Another day of #musicvideo shooting. Ending yesterday with awesome roof jumping and running... #sore #sunburn
7:09 AM May 7th via HootSuite

So, the director has me jumping from heights double the amount of times I asked. Here's to ice baths! #musicvideo
12:20 PM May 6th via HootSuite

We were all almost killed by this green screen! #musicvideo #fb http://twitpic.com/1ljz5w
12:16 PM May 6th via TwitPic

Just kicked @levimcglathery in the head and it was awesome! #musicvideo
11:10 AM May 6th via HootSuite

Zombie...Again

2010-06-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

So, with so many things going on right now, I might as well something up for you guys to watch right? Well, here is something from Randal Hopkins of Phantom Tree Productions.

#pkgentrip According to Twitter

2010-06-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

#pkgentrip over in a flash. My...what and experience.

4:08 PM May 31st via txt

Not too far along but making it. Coming back from #pkgentrip. (@ BP) http://4sq.com/bHSLtb

11:26 PM May 30th via foursquare from Orlinda, TN

Bar-B-Que with everyone and we are officiall on our way. #pkgentrip (@ Liberty Park w/ @walteranderson) http://4sq.com/bOHotl

5:10 PM May 30th via foursquare from Ohio, US

#pkgentrip training is over :) I learned so much. Get ready for this @texasparkour (@ Battelle Riverfront Park) http://4sq.com/cJnhsp

3:15 PM May 30th via foursquare from Downtown Columbus, Columbus

Time for second session! #pkgentrip (@ Battelle Riverfront Park) http://4sq.com/cJnhsp

12:59 PM May 30th via foursquare from Downtown Columbus, Columbus

First session of #pkgentrip day two was beautiful! My legs love moving. #win

12:09 PM May 30th via txt

I love Yann. #pkgentrip (@ Battelle Riverfront Park w/ @walteranderson) http://4sq.com/cJnhsp

10:57 AM May 30th via foursquare from Downtown Columbus, Columbus

#pkgentrip coming to the second day. Time for conditioing! (@ Battelle Riverfront Park w/ @walteranderson) http://4sq.com/cJnhsp

9:14 AM May 30th via foursquare from Downtown Columbus, Columbus

So fantasticly happy right now! #pkgentrip rules my life. Best decision ever.

5:39 PM May 29th via txt

So PUMPED #pkgentrip finally coming to fruition! Meeting PkGen and Yamakasi in T-minus 15 min.

8:12 AM May 29th via txt

@Yvonnalynn yea I had no idea of a mocap workshop but I can see how'd think that hehe. I'm @ a parkour workshop #pkgentrip

6:39 AM May 29th via txt

Back from checking out tomorrow's DOOM! #pkgentrip

8:40 PM May 28th via txt

RT @walteranderson: Finally in Ohio! @pkgentrip (@ Motel 6 Columbus South) http://4sq.com/9iLN9I

5:22 PM May 28th via txt

RT @walteranderson: Tennesse! #pkgentrip

5:22 PM May 28th via txt

RT @walteranderson: Arkansas now. Just finished up my driving shift. #pkgentrip

5:21 PM May 28th via txt

RT @walteranderson: Started the road trip! Woot! #pkgentrip

6:17 PM May 27th via txt

Great training today. Cat pass to slip-flip...not fun #pkgentrip

9:03 PM May 22nd via txt

Training tonight on one hour of sleep in two days. #pkgentrip

9:34 PM May 20th via txt

Sure wish I could train my own progressions vs always training other people... Uhg #pkgentrip #fail

9:38 PM May 10th via txt

Training @ Lamar and Denson today while its raining #pkgentrip

2:47 PM May 9th via txt

Stolen from Ozzi's Facebook. Thanks Ozzi.

7 Shades of Lenity (trailer)

2010-05-21T05:52:00.000-07:00

We are now on www.scifinal.com . Pretty interesting huh. Check out our new trailer. http://www.7shadesoflenity.com/great-news-were-up-on-scifinal-com/

7 Shades Of Lenity Trailer from Ideal Scene Productions on Vimeo.

Since October "The Way You Move"

2010-05-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

I spent two very long days doing a music video for the abnd Since October. I hear they are trying to get less growly and get more main stream. All I can say is that I really like this song! It was really neat trying to feel the music behind the movement. Here are a couple pictures that were taken. I had the great opportunity to work with Van Blumreich, Joshua Denning, Louis Moncivias, Levi McGlathery and a couple other gents!

Just some of the things that I got to do was jump down 3 story stair wells, jump in and out of cars and my very favorite was wall spin to Thai Kick! Can you say MAPK? (Martial Arts Parkour)

We were able to jump on roofs along with some very long but well timed out side summies on roofs and guess what? I was able to actually do some acting. I think Van did a great job putting together the story board and I am going to be in Tennesse next week to flip around with the band! Dream!

I'm in an AOL NEWS ARTICLE

2010-05-12T21:04:00.000-07:00

Yea, for the Media. Alright spinning this amazing thing we call Parkour.

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/is-parkour-poised-to-be-the-next-big-thing/19454877

What I did Last Week

2010-05-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Last week was quite possibly one of the busiest weeks of my life. Let me just tell ya about it. It starts:

Monday-
-I start work. Not always the hardest thing about my day but none the less it takes up my time. Just not always great though, when you start the week, not being able to talk.
-Lunch - You guessed it, no lunch. Meetings about the Home Town Hero card ( Thats right I got Jiffy Lube to sign up). Over 30 Jiffy Lubes in Austin and we get to have the deal with 16 Markets around the US. A big win for this guy who hates to sell things.
-Private Lesson
-After School Classes, then a quick 30 min break to make Mexican Casserole and jet out the door for training, which didn't end till 9:30. By the way, Mook Kicks for the Win! We were working on the Houston Show that is coming up soon! I had to stay up until 2am working on emails and documentation for the new Academy.

Tuesday-
- Much of the same. So I get to work, then at lunch I must take my deeply sick girlfriend home from work, late for work because of this, but I love her. After work I get to go to a talent scouting. We scouted ... and I got the job. Its going to be for a band called Since October...bigger post to come when that comes out ;) Its a big job though, youtube premier and myspace premier. Did I mention MTV?
-Not to be over shadowed I go to another audition the same day and landed that. Its is a great concept we shot this week, so look down further for the UT Lava Film.
-After this I decided to QM a QM, thats right after the scouting audition *1hr of showing off, then another hour of showing off for the second interview. Then the QM. QM a QM means to Quadrupedal a Quarter Mile. I was actually able to do it non stop and finished it in 9 mins. I was pretty happy about that! Then trained after. I finally got home and got to work on you know...the internet to follow up leads and email about the HOME TOWN HERO.

Wednesday
-Same old same old work till 5pm then off to training at 6:30. After training I went down town to see Yan Tierson. It was quite amazing. I also had to deal with the Girlfriend's parent which is always stressful, you know...because she hates me.

Thursday
-Everything went crazy this day. I had to leave some of my classes to realize...today I got the great opportunity to go to a motion capture studio. This came out of no where. Trust me kids this is what happens from a well laid facebook status update and a comment ;) I got to work with a woman name Janell Smith. She has worked on countless indies and big shots here in the Austin. She works motion capture, wire work and martial arts stunts mostly all the time. I got the call around noon the day before and was packed and headed toward Plano the next day. IT was pretty amazing. Went to bed late this night, staying with some friends up in Fort Worth...

Friday
-I had to take off of work this day. I had to wake up at 5 in the morning to get to the motion capture studio. I spent the whole day there working with the stunt coordinators and the motion capture artists. Sadly, I was not able to actually do motion capture like I was promised but the great people at Motus Digital now see my face! I did however get a random AOL NEWS article interview on the phone. That was interesting.
-At the end of the day I was able to actually do some good wire work. I can do as many front flips and backflips consecutively though. Wire work is fun! I also got to drive home in the worst thunderstorm of the year and got sleep by 4am

Saturday
-8 am call for the UT Lave Film shoot. We got to shoot some great stuff, more to come on that. It was wrapped at 4pm which I then proceeded to drive strating to a Zombie Shoot! Thats right, crazy time. 3 hours of make up by a guy I forget his name, but we are going to be facebook friends soon! I then proceeded to run around a neighbor hood fully zombied out, scaring children in their back yard in broad daylight and breathing down the neck of a co-star with blood dripping down my face.
-Due to technical difficulties we got out of there at 11 when it was suppose to be done at 9. 1:30 sec no cut scenes...are pretty dang hard to do when you have a blood tube shoved up your shirt, blood in your mouth, glass ready to throw in your arms and a pair of blinds...that wont stay on the wall.

Sunday
-Morning devotional matched with a drive back to UT. This day was the stunt day. I spent the whole day till 8pm flipping over office cubicals, pushing people into mail carts and jumping off a Asian man then saying "Ar-egato Amigo" Priceless and wonderful work this day. A wonderful woman by the name of Kylie Baker was in this (we had previsouly done the south western airlines shoot) and a man named Jonathan. Good times were had by all. Oh did I mention 4 nose bleeds this day. I was hopped up on medicine and dryed out.

So, the whole week with no time, no sleep and sinus infection festering...it was a great week!

Texas Parkour Academy

2010-04-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

After much time and effort the ACADEMY comes!

Starting with just children 4 to 7 and 8 to 13 first we already have a huge influx! We posted on Austin360, Craigslist, Austin Chronicle, Texas Parkour and I think another site...not sure tho. Want to see the info...check here.

Official Flyer:

This is a big time in my life and I am pretty happy that I get to share it with others on a younger level now. I want to thank all of those that helped me out along the way and tell them that I could not get here with out ya.

Home Town Hero Card

2010-04-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

Thats right check it out. http://www.hometownherocard.com . This will be helping Texas Parkour

So yea, interesting huh. Its basically a card that allows non profits to fund raise. What we do is get discounts on a card, business pay for nothing, just the discount. We in turn get non profits to sell that card. Pretty simple.

I'm not a sales man but this is good honest work. The main idea is to create something that Texas Parkour can use to help the community. We partnered with Nau Shoes and Take Flight to get this done. This should be really awesome.

Hilltop View Video

2010-03-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

You can really see that a lot of training is done at night. I feel this is really great because it helps with depth perception while training in low light to no light.

http://vimeo.com/9940565

Austin Parkour from hilltopviews on Vimeo.

Hilltop View Article

2010-03-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

A great article by Sharla Kew

" If martial arts are the fight of the “fight or flight” response in human instincts, then parkour is the flight.

Parkour has been called the French art of running away, but that is a poetic oversimplification. In French, parkour is l’art du déplacement, or “the art of movement,” and it has become popular among St. Edward’s University students. "

Partial Article: View whole article here: http://www.hilltopviewsonline.com/parkour-comes-to-austin-1.1170539

What is Texas Parkour to you?

2010-03-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

This was a questions asked at the workshop in Houston where we were celebrating the growth of the city. Thank you so much for all that love and help Texas Parkour. You can view the clip below.

Michael Strikes Again

2010-03-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

Michael Schulz has done some amazing work with us. He has even started to deem himself as a visual artist. Lets take a look at some of the recent media he has rushing through the i-webs? We recently worked on our ongoing project to make Parkour look amazing under all conditions, Michael just has a knack of making things look Epic (number one used Parkour terminology for awesome). Many of you know me and many of you would say, "Wow Matthew, you lack epicness." Guess what? Is this epic enough for you?

Here is the Video Teaser.

7 Shades First Episode (finally)

2010-02-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

We have been working on this for about 2 years now...and guess what...it just got real. (finally) So, why don't you check out some things I did over 2 years ago, with no idea of spacing or my look on camera. We were originally going to start a film and decided to go with web episodes. The Writer/Directors are Val Gameiro and Rita Quinn, two fine individuals if I may say so myself started the project deemed 7 Shades of Lenity. I have been able to look a lot more at the creative process of film since I was just a fledgling getting into the movie industry. Things have changed a lot and things are starting to work better in my favor. I always stand behind my work, but I will tell ya, this wasn't what I would call "instilling brilliance" on my part. There are some things that I can work on but, I am always my biggest critic. As time passes there will be more of me actually acting, and we will see where it goes alllll goes. Thanks team.

7 Shades of Lenity - Episode I, part 1 from Ideal Scene Productions on Vimeo.

New Commercials Coming

2010-02-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm working with a genius of his time. His name is Ben Gaskell, a recent convert to the Austin scene and he's been coming around checking out how amazing and cool we are, of course. We did a couple shots but we are working together for the next couple weeks to shoot a commercial for the new Parkour Academy we are soon to open up. Check out his little teaser here.

Texas Parkour teaser / frustrater from Benjamin Gaskell on Vimeo.

My 5yr Parkour Birthday Workout

2010-02-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

100 - Speed Vaults
100 - Precisions
100 - Wall climbs
100 - Safety Vaults
75 - Run to Cat
50 - Cat Passes
50 - Safety Rolls
575

300 - Straight Jumps
100 - calf raises
50 - Left calf raises
50 - Right calf raises
50 - Shoulder Shrugs
25 Squat on's
575

All Together 1150 +26 = 1176 ( I always do 2 extra ) One for me and one to grow on.

1176

To be quite honest with you...I did some other stuff but can not remember :) Thank you everyone that came out and trained!

5 yr Parkour Birthday

2010-02-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

Guess what? It's my 5yr Parkour Birthday on Wednesday(the only one worth celebrating these days). February 17th will continually live in my mind for all of time. I knew the day was going to be important (that might be why I remembered the exact day) when I first laid my eyes on Jump London. There are few in the United States that trained for this amount of time and even fewer in Texas...only one in fact Jereme Denis Sanders.

Can you see 5yrs of Parkour training in me? Some say yes, some say no. I agree with both. I can tell you this much. One thing that you'll never see, me quit. Other then God, Parkour is my goal, dream, hobby, love, life and inspiration for everything that I do. I have never stuck with anything this long. I am trying to wrap my head around this, having been training for half a decade. A lot of things have changed in the art for the better and for the worst. I have made 100's of friends. Trained in different cities and countries with the common unifying theme of Parkour. I have lost friends over those fun little indiscrepancies of Parkour.

I am glad to be helping others with Texas Parkour and the 20 or some emails I get a week from all around the world asking me question I can never really answer; What is Parkour? I want to thank each and everyone of you who has been there for me. You may think that I was there for you in Parkour but...it was you guys that have been there for me. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

To celebrate I will be doing what us Texas Parkour guys call a 350. I will not be teaching the Parkour Austin class that day but hopefully inviting everyone to train with me :) But watch out...I might turn this 350 into a 700... One thing is for sure "I am not stopping my training until its walking becomes hard"

The Humanzee's are Coming...

2010-02-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

What is better then Parkour? Using Parkour as a tool. Humanzee Parkour Ministry is a group that I have aligned myself with to help further the message of christianity in the parkour community and in the world.

Our Mission

We are dedicated to helping people overcomes life’s obstacles through physical and mental training with God’s help.

About Humanzee Parkour Ministries

Humanzee Parkour Ministries uses the discipline of Parkour to teach people of all ages to settle for nothing less than excellence. We believe that God truly wants all of us to reach our full potential in life. Jesus has said, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10)”. We are interested in training the participants in the Humanzee program for physical, mental, and yes spiritual obstacles that life tends to throw down at our feet.

Humanzee would like to welcome people of all walks of life, of every age and background, to join us in exploring a relationship with Christ in this wonderful discipline. For information about training times, classes and programs, please go to the contact us link at the top of the page.

Celebration and Growth Workshop

2010-02-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

We were able to get around 60 people at this workshop when all said and done. This was a great opportunity to help Houston grow and it was a SUCCESS. Here's some footage from the event and more to come.

Here are some photos:

http://tarasfantasticphotos.shutterfly.com/

Here are a couple videos:

Speed Grace Flow

2010-02-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

New documentary out about Texas Parkour. I think this is simple and effective. It has the ability to show some of our training and just some good fun clips. I hope everyone can enjoy this. It was put together by an UT Austin Film Student, Leland Ohlinger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ETBkqh06Q

Fort Worth Growing

2010-01-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things going on up north. It is too bad that I am not able to be up there. We have a lot of small groups going on for Parkour. I feel there are a lot of people that are just not be guided like they should. In better words, I am not there, so I feel it is unguided. Thus we just had a workshop in Fort Worth. I was blown away by the amount of people that showed up. All together I was able to train and train with around 50 people.

We have a great intuitive in place though. The Denton crew is really organizing and getting good! Keep it up guys. Here are some great pictures from the workshop. Pictures Credit: Bethany Hodge's

New Years Resolution

2009-12-31T15:00:00.001-08:00

Alright, so I have not posted of course in a while, though, when you type in my name this is the first thing that shows up so I really need to get on that right? Well, here goes my Resolutions for 2010.

1. Become Organized: I finally got to do this about April of this 2009 and then again around august 2009. What did I use? I used Google. I became a Google fanatic and went crazing taking advantage of their cal, docs, Gmail forwarding, Google gears and all of their syncing Such as Remember the Milk. The second way is by getting the Palm Pre. This actually helped me out a lot. This year Palm has a lot to offer and I hope it was the right move.

But how am I going to concentrate on being more organized? Well, I am scheduling each day with a new task and spending the better part of the free time I have specifically for that task. No, I will not be devoted to one task only that day but I will work on things for that project that day. Rather then a scatter of tasks. Remember the Milk will be helping me with this.

Monday: The Cloud

Tuesday: Peeled Onion Productions

Wednesday: Texas Parkour and Academy

Thursday: My Girlfriend (date nights etc)

Friday: The Cloud

The Cloud will consist of small projects including: Emails, Humanzee, Self Promotions, House Related Projects, LAUNDRY etc. I will also do more to schedule my Cloud Days so that I am not aimless.

Currently my training schedule consists of:

Monday - Gym Training

Tuesday - Humanzee Training (Parkour)

Wednesday - Teaching and Parkour Training

Thursday - Free

Weekend- Seminars and Random Training

2. Getting into Better Shape: I know a lot of people say this but seriously, because of becoming more organized I will be doing more Goal oriented training, which is what I am all about doing. I have concentrated on teaching a lot this last year and now its time to push off of that tanget and get a little more focused on me :)

3. Start a .org Community for Texas Parkour: This is a goal of mine that I feel very passionate about. I think once we get Texas Parkour training running a little more like it should in Texas I want to give the community the ability to get more .org centered. What do I mean by this? There are a couple things that need to happen this year. There is a park in San Antonio that needs to be built as well as one here in Austin. I want people to focus on these things and make it a reality. As well as a Community Booklet. Basically a guideline for a starting community. The ABC's of starting a Parkour community in your area...whatever area it will be. I want it to be a wiki and I want people from all over the world to help work on it to make it better, once we release a beta version. I want it to be given to communities on a donation basis. Along with it I want to pair myself with a community project and help the community begin by stating a workshop there, teaching the teachers and help them build their basis.

4. Finally Start a Parkour Academy: I have focused all of last year on my teaching and curriculum of Parkour. I feel that I personally am ready to open up a training academy. I have worked on business plans non profit and not. This is the year. I always felt that I needed my own place and my own space. This will not be true. I am going to pair with a school or another business and open up my school. I will build the equipment myself if needed and get on making this a reality.

5. Post More on This Blog: This will actually not be as hard as I though. I looked up a couple different ways that I can post using (Google extensions and Google wave) So, I am going to make it easy on myself and just go for it. Best of luck to me.

6. Make 5 New Videos This Year: This won't be hard, but it needs to be done. The videos will consist of:

-Progression Videos

-Blam a lama ding dong spectacular videos

-Unique Training

-Flow

-Texas Parkour Workshop Videos (promotional)

7. The Secret Goal: I feel you should always have a secret Goal. Oh, and I do. You just wait for when it pops up on this page. You will shout for joy when that is accomplished.

(photo credit: Chris Pichado)

MLW Takes a Step Forward

2009-09-18T12:34:00.001-07:00

In all rights and respect I am Texas Parkour. I am not abandoning my community but I am building a new front for Matthew Willis and his concern is Parkour. Look for the weeks to come of workshops, events and teaching that will now be allowed through my own personal measure. Thank you everyone and stay with Texas Parkour. Its a great community.

From what I have found I am in no way capable of running an organization with Texas Parkour's current leaders. I have fought for over four years to try and unify a Parkour community. From what I have seen there will always be those who question you and your integrity when you’re trying your best. I in no way attack persons individually. I have always fought for Parkour and Texas Parkour. I however am threatened personally about my tactics and am personally attacked for trying to solve issues in the ways I see as best. I am no longer allowing myself to be subjected to personal attacks from members of Texas Parkour . Texas Parkour has been a democracy since its inception but even in a democracy there are levels of authority. I have officially lost all authority over Texas Parkour due to the dance of misconception and spreading of hate. The process is as follows. I call a meeting of importance, half show up late and half don’t show up. I try to make the organization transparent and share everything with its leaders. Leaders then do nothing to help the organization, bicker about the organization and then do nothing. Respectfully the organization behind Texas Parkour is nothing without its leaders trying to lead. I have the inability to rally the leaders to do their job. It is a job, because you as a leader accepted the responsibility. Why be a leader unless you want to lead? Why accept responsibility when you have the intension to do nothing.

I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the gut, intensions or will power to remain a man at center attention. A man blamed for not making an organization better, when it’s all I want to do/have done. As much as I have done for this community I expected more from many of the leaders in the organization. I have always expected leaders to care for their community as much as I had and it just never happened. I laid in wait for people to care more and to grow their community. I give too much as a man to be mocked on public forums and to be disrespected by members. If anything I want you all to remember, I try. I try every day to connect new people to the art. I try on an everyday basis to make Texas Parkour better and it is beyond me to do so with the poison being laid around the organization. We have leaders who question ideas because they would rather talk circles around the idea of an idea. We even have a group of individuals turning a city into a relic for other organizations who believe in a lesser of two evils debate.

Whether these leaders do or do not, Texas Parkour is still lead by these people. I would like to include that a Leaders is not just an assigned representative of Texas Parkour, but those who you look up to in your community to do more for you. Not all Leaders have attacked me personally and I want to make that clear. As I stated above, I have the inability to lead my leaders. There are many reasons for this, personal inadequacy on my part and unwillingness to be lead.

I try too hard to be treated the way I have. I try too hard to be spoken to the way I have. I try too hard for Texas Parkour to go nowhere. I try too hard to have my efforts striped of all its good intensions. I try too hard to be heckled for what I stand for. I try too hard to allow people new to the art tell me how Parkour is/was/will be. I try too hard to get paid nothing. I try too hard for members to expect money from me. I try too hard to get organizations like American Diabetes association helping us, Clear River Advocates helping us to have them be put to a vote whether or not they are good enough for members/leaders to be a part of. I try too hard to be legally responsible for people who could care less they are ruining my image as well as Texas Parkour’s image. I try too hard to be disrespected on online videos of our own audience. I try too hard to be told I don’t understand what Parkour needs. I try too hard to let others teach Parkour inefficiently without me stepping in to help out. I try too hard to be spoken down to in front of my own class. I try too hard to allow people who don’t know much about Parkour come in and take over what people think of Parkour.

I felt that I have always acted in the interest of Texas Parkour's members. I have also felt that I never attack people on a personal basis and have always tried to work with others. I have recently been heckled for transparency and professionalism. Is my letter professional? I feel the members of Texas Parkour have a right to know my sadness over this issue. Texas Parkour has always brought me up, but it was because I fought and screamed the whole way. Texas Parkour was always destined to grow I just never thought it would grow away from me. What does this mean for Matthew Lee Willis? Matthew Lee Willis, will still do/train/teach free Parkour in and around all of Texas. Matthew Lee Willis will also be a part of Texas Parkour Inc…whatever comes of it in whatever fashion it resides. Texas Parkour has always been a community organization and it will now stand on community organization alone. Maybe that is what Texas Parkour needs? I give you all a personal invitation to email me or call me. I love you all and a very heartfelt God Bless to you all individually and your training.

Master of Backflips

2009-07-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Many of us want to learn a back flip. I want to show you a video that will undoubtedly explain what 90% of the people who come up to me already assume. Someone actually was able to put it down on a video and for that, I smiles on how accurate this situation truly is in the Parkour world. Enjoy.

San Antonio Workshop

2009-07-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

The San Antonio workshop went well on Sunday July 19th. Matthew Lee Willis and Levi McGlathery lead a 2 1/2 hour workshop with local Crossfitters in San Antonio Texas.

We started with a great warmup that even made the crossfitters break a sweat. We loved the space because we were able to utilize it with all the basic movements for Parkour. QM, Vaults and even some great Laches. The event was held at Alamo Crossfit. Texas Parkour will be back for more workshops in the future there! Thank you again Rick and Alamo Crossfit.

More Pictures

Questions

2009-07-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

This caught my eye, and I figured I would do a semi personal post, just so people could see a little more incite about me. What better to do that with then a random 50 question quiz thing.

1. What time did you get up this morning? I woke up at 7:30am

2. How do you like your steak? I like it Done, not exactly Well done, but just Done.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I saw Harry Potter last night, and it was alright, but not great.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Conan, The office, Daily Show, Colebert Report, Jimmy Fallon

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? I would only live there for a year or so, but it would be Lisses Paris. (parkour)

6. What did you have for breakfast? No idea yet.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Thai

8. What foods do you dislike? Mushroom, Liver, Fruit Salad

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Random Asian Shacks

10. Favorite dressing? Ceasar

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Ford Tarus

12. What are your favorite clothes? Loose pants, tennis shoes, Texas Parkour t-shirt

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? If I had a chance I would visit Paris for a while.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Empty

15. Where would you want to retire? In TX some where

16. Favorite time of day? 7pm

17. Where were you born? San Angelo Texas

18. Favorite sport to watch: I dont watch sports but it would be Gymnastics.

19. Is this worth it? Probably not

20. Who will comment on this? No one.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Anyone.

22. Bird watcher? I hate birds

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning

24. Do you have any pets? a cat. KEKE

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I'm moving into an apartment this week.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? Fireman

27. What is your best childhood memory? Really, just getting out of the house at any point and time.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Neither

29. Are you married? No.

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes.

31. Been in a car accident? yea like 10 or so, only 2 or so my fault.

32. Any pet peeves? Too many to say.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Hamburger (extra long cooked)

34. Favorite Flower? Dont have one.

35. Favorite ice cream? Vanilla

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Taco Casa

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Never took one :)

38. From whom did you get your last email? Tina Rottman.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Hardware Store.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? Not really.

41. Like your job? Yes sir.

42. Broccoli? Love it!

43. What was your favorite vacation? New York City

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? Chris Fontanes, Katie Beth

45. What are you listening to right now? The sound of me typing.

46. What is your favorite color? Blue

47. How many tattoos do you have? None

Expert Villiage

2009-07-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a little something that happened a couple years ago. I got a "parkour" gig to make some Parkour tutorials. Long story short, I didn't like them at all, I even said the wrong name of David Belle's Father. I asked for them to be taken down and I even asked for at least that one video to be taken down. They were not. Now, these videos have been up on Youtube for about 3 years now and I have learned a lot.

1. Don't trust that people care enough about their job to edit YOUR "umms" and "auhhs" out of a piece to make you look better. These videos being one large motivation to clean up my vocabulary, get rid of the word LIKE, and start to become a real teacher

2. Do not say SEEMENT. Hours of youtube comments of my trying to explain that you should roll on cement does not work or grasp your audience the way it should. Many comments involving semen are on these videos. I check them out once a year or so.

3. More people will recognize you for a video that you would expect. People have been truly influenced by my videos. I feel they are crap but I have emails coming in from all over the world and people in person tell me, "You taught me how to do a certain type of vault." I am extremely proud of that do not ever take as much credit as I should from these videos.

4. I am going to re brand myself. I am going to make a website dedicated to teaching more in the community and becoming involved as a master "workshopist". I am one of the best coaches for parkour in the world and the fact that I get that on a daily basis from friends, family and complete strangers fills me with confidence.

5. A lot of people have seen these videos. So much in fact that I am going to post the top viewed videos. I am so extremely surprised!

6. Too many things to still learn and not enough room to write them all down.

TOP VIEWS
372,000

203,100

178,000

Thank you all for your support.

T-Shaw and Matthew Lee Willis

2009-07-02T16:36:00.001-07:00

T-Shaw hooked me up a week or two ago. I got the game DAMNATION, which is actually pretty tight to tell you the truth. We are working on a promo soon for the CW Austin as well!

Check out the video here:

Taking Big Leaps Par for the Kour | FOX 26

2009-06-25T05:26:00.001-07:00

Well hello guys,

Check out the morning show that I went on this Wednesday. They did an awesome job with their research and they had a lot of fun before and after the clip.

Trampas Thompason

2009-06-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

At my internship last week I was able to talk to Trampas Thompson. If you just clicked his name you can see that he has done Pirates of the Caribbean, Resident Evil and also worked on bringing back the Nightmare on Elm St. franchise.

I got to talk to him for a while and he gave me some good advice that I am going to start using...

A. When I have the money.
B. When I get someone with a good camera and a professionalism about them.

Anyone have that?

Check out his REEL: (nice music and mostly Pirates of the Caribbean footage)

and this funny short he did:

Photo from : ActionFactoryStunts.com

Music Video Internship

2009-06-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

I recently did an internship at Brock&Allen Casting. They hold offices in Austin and Dallas. I was basically an AD and a Production Manager, though I was also a "councilor." I had a great time and I was able to talk to a lot of really helpful people and it was amazing. There were two groups and either you were a crew or an actor taking turns on either project. It was great fun.

Here is "my group's" video that we helped create the concept and then story boarded, created shot list and then acted in.

Turtle Time

2009-06-21T21:01:00.001-07:00

Here is something that I was in a while back that finally is seeing the light of day. There are some more things to this that has yet to come out but this is a cut of a fight scene that is...pretty Cowabunga.

Now, I was background for probably all of these but these are things that were specific to what I did.

19 sec drop down and look ninja like.
23 sec kneed to backflip ( I actually got hit and had a bruise from the actor) *were still friends*
44 flying side kick
50 sec backflip off chest (my favorite)

Casey and Mikey vs the Foot from Polaris Banks on Vimeo.

Pompeii Pictures

2009-06-09T15:32:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from the video shoot this last Saturday. There are a couple there, just start with with picture 57 and end on 60.

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/detail.sfly?sid=0AbN2zNi3ZtmTEdA&imageIndex=56&fid=30f6a1f2fd0ada03

Pictures from Dan Eggleston

Working for the Man

2009-06-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

A while back I told myself that I never wanted to work for the MAN again. Though, after a couple months of dirt cheapness, I took a summer job. I feel like crap doing it but I guess life happens.

I had a dream last night that I got pulled over and my registration was out, my insurance was gone, and I had warrants out for my arrest due to previous tickets that I could not pay. I woke and I was pretty scared...I guess, this job will help that from not happening. I have been skimming by for a while now and its time to take my GF out for dinner for once. Oh well...anyone have any jobs?

Connections have been my friend lately, here is a short video of pictures yesterday, at the ash shoot, sorry no ash photos.

Ash Face

2009-06-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw myself at Studio E. I helped on a film for Michelle Shocked's new video, Pompeii. If anyone has seen the the scene from Austin Powers where he is a photographer...that is how I felt Try (47 sec)

The first thing that happened was I was made up like, I was homosexual (not in the contract hehe) then told to argue with another man (dressed similar to me) and have an argument on camera. Finally at the climax of our fight, ash started raining from the ceiling. Interesting huh?

Next scene we had to get down on our knees. Then do the "Pompeii" dance which looked much like we were calling spirits. Eventually in the dance we went from happy go lucky until I bonked my friend in the head, which lead to me rejoicing more and him getting upset. He then pushed my face into the ground, that was fun. Later on came the kicker though, about 4 mins of improv'd ash coming down on our faces singing doh doh de dooh dohtt. This went from huggin, physically eating ash, and smearing it on our faces. *now the reference above seems just*

It was a fun shoot but, "What do you have to do to get a break? The great thing was that is was a pro bono shoot and because of that, we are going to be invited onto a shoot for real work with her next video comes out Paperboy. So all and all, it was a good day!

Google My Name

2009-05-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

I just realized when I googled my name, this blog is the first thing that shows up, maybe I should update it more...so I guess I should. Things that are going on:

-PKUSA-
We have that coming up June 25th-28th. This is going to be amazing. Everyone check it out. More information to come!

-Comic-Con-
The group (Team Gibbon)might be heading out to do a guerilla promotional event. There is a movie coming out in 2010 that might need some people at the convention for the 2009 Comic-Con. We will see what happens.

-American Diabetes Association-
We might be gearing up to do a couple exhibitions with the ADA. Though, we will be doing a exhibition at RioFest in Laredo. Things are gonna be fun.

Lots of more stuff, tho...we'll see for the next update.

New Show Reel

2009-03-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I was getting really tired of my last one, so I decided to make another one. This one should be better but I am still missing quite a bit of footage that I wanted to put in it. Soon enough I'll get a really good one. But here is the one that I will be using for now. Thanks everyone!

999Eyes

2009-02-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

I am training a women named Jackie in this group 999eyes. I am helping her build some confidence in her routine. We will continue our progress when we get together again in April. Check out the video.

999 EYES FREAKSHOW PROMO from laurent martin on Vimeo.

Help Out my Friend Get a Job

2009-02-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

Nicholas is a cool guy. He deserves what he gets. Check out his video here.

http://www.nomadnick.net/ Click on Blog>Click on Tourism Queenland

Then click 5 starts for his video here:

http://www.nomadnick.net/

Thanks guys

Oliver Martinez Shoot

2009-02-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you Oliver Martinez f0r a great shoot a couple weeks back. I got the pictures and they are amazing.

New Team Gibbon Video

2009-02-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

2009-01-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you Michael Shulz for a great photoshoot. http://www.michaelschulz-photography.com/

Private Lesson

2009-01-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

I am a circus/sideshow performer and have been working in the industry for three and a half years. I am sometimes billed as the worlds smallest acrobat as I am only 3ft7in.

That is right, I will be working with her very soon. We will all have a lot to learn from each other and I am very excited about the task in front of us.

Werewolf Movie

2009-01-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

Do you remember in my last blog I mentioned about "Old Hollywood"? The thought that you have a production company and everyone stays with the company and just continues to make movie after movie. Your hired again and again because your apart of the company. The project that I am currently working on this summer is going through the same phase. If the first movie goes over well, the company will decide to use all that it did as a model and go crazy big and make about 4 or 5 features a year. Using yours truly as a stunt man on all of them.

We had a meeting a couple weeks ago which made us all very excited about the project. I love how they are trying to stick true to all werewold beliefs and the script is fleshing out amazingly well.I can not tell you guys the title as of right now but just be sure to know, its going to be awesome. Here is a picture of the Werewolf eye I will be wearing for the film. Click on it, it is cool.

Something else I learned will be very difficult for me. I will have no thumbs. Thats right, I will have to do almost all of my "stunts" with out the help of good old thumby. Reason being is with being a werewolf you have a high thumb that is basically not usable, they are taking the same route. It will be esp difficult because one of the stunts I do requires me to Monkey on top of a rail. Training...begins now!

To tell you the truth I am rather excited about the different type of training. The ability to wear a contact (never worn before) with little image distortion and retriction of useing the thumbs. I am going to take this as a great way to stay with the parkour spirit and make myself really worth hiring for a film. Thank you all for supporting.

A Recent News Break

2009-01-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

Anyone ever hear of Nollywood? Yea, I hadn't either. Evidently it is the third largest Movie Industry in the World, First Hollywood, Second Bollywood, Third Nollywood. Nollywood is based in Africa. Hollywood 9.6 billion dollar industry, Bollywood 1.5 billion dollar Industry and Nollywood is a .5 billion dollar Industry.

Ok OK why do I say this. Well, I answered a craigslist post...of course and one thing led to another and I should be breaking down a time to meet with a houston satelite project that is going "old hollywood" (the thought that you have a production company and everyone stays with the company and just continues to make movie after movie. Your hired again and again because your apart of the company) This is all a shot in the dark, but they were extremely excited about the resume and reel that I got to them that they want to meet with me. Its pretty neat. We'll see what happens.

If I were able to be apart of the production company I would be able to travel a lot, get paid for it and being making movies all year round. It would be pretty awesome.

3Run Pictues

2009-01-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Credit : Patrick Yang
http://www.leximancer.net/

Zombie Movie Update

2009-01-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

I am the Zombie Preacher. It is pretty tight, I get to say things like

You see my brother’s and
sisters.....We shall not wait for
Heaven, but have it brought down
for us upon this earthly Hell!!!!

Though, I wanted to shoot up a video of something I made. It's me being turned into a zombie along with some extra little features.

Check out their website at www.livethedarkness.com

If you want to possibly be a zombie check out this THREAD

UPDATE

2009-01-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

In February there will be an article written about Texas Parkour and other underground sports in the Austin area. I hope that many of you will be able to see it. It will be apart of a magazine called Austin Monthly.

Pictured here is David Strohl of www.davidstrohl.net He has some pretty amazing pictures on there. He also took pictures of Patrick and I for the magazine. You should check him out!

3Run Comes to Texas

2009-01-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

3run came to Texas. That is right, they are a great group of guys. They are like every other traceur, though obviously something sets them apart from others. Training and Passion. You train because your passionate about something, of course. They have the right combination and they can really go after some amazing things. Thanks 3RUN for coming down and showing us all about our own locations.

Shaved Head

2008-12-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

That's Right! I had to shave my head because, guess what, I got a part in a movie I was really looking forward to. I got a part as a Zombie Preacher in ZOMBIE MOVIE. It is going to be a lot of fun. Here are some pictures...

Older Means Wiser

2008-12-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

Robert S. is 52 years old and lives in Texarkana, Texas. Robert is my new inspiration. I remember about two months ago a man emailed me about some possible training tips and techniques. Knowing he lived farther away from me I knew it would be even more difficult for me to help him. After some emailing back and forth Robert decided to come down to Austin and make a great trip and training out of it all.

Until I met him, I wasn't too sure how the events of the day were going to unfold. He held a book in his hand "The Self." I always thought those books were for people who didn't know themselves. Though he was teaching me. Before I tell you more about who Robert really is, I wanted to state what I felt from him first.

Surprised at his abilities I got a couple of ideas about him and his life. I saw in my mind, his mind working. I saw him watching a video. I saw him mentally attacking that video. I couldn't see him sitting and meditating over a thought he couldn't overcome in time. He trains his mind, and his mind trains him. I feel he has the biggest leap on me....experience. He has the ability to understand things that I would throw my body into to understand. He was able to asses the situation methodically instead of physically. My body unfortunately does not take that process. For me, its fail with the body and let the mind take over to fix the problem. It was so interesting to see it as the other way around. He worked smarter, not harder.

His background included several martial arts art forms and being an RN. Gentle and dangerous. He has a traceur's heart. Be strong to be useful. I believe this man has the greatest tools behind him to propel him into everything he wants to do. The greatest thing I think for him was the realization that he didn't have what he needed. Along came Parkour and someone to his degree of methodical training and thought, probably felt empty without this new art.

His training was great. Physical endurance was the down fall of the super 52 year old but his vaults were achieved if not the first time, then the second. Wall runs, which were never performed in his life were achieved with straight forward explanations. For some reason he felt I was the perfect coach. I felt he was the perfect student. We meshed in our training in an instant. I asked him to change his form, he had it locked into how I asked in seconds. Rolls improved, vaults improved and he was on his way to training correctly and effectively by himself. Not wanting to kill him with conditioning I decided to reserve for the end of our training so he could take back what he learned.

Our next meeting was agreed to be conditioning. Since then he has grown. Simple emails about shoes have spawned discussions such as, be strong to be useful in every situation. "Why worry too much about shoes when, I might be called upon at any time to use what I have on currently." Something I didn't even prompt.

He will learn much in his training. If any of you want to be more inspired by Robert I am going to tape a bit of our training next time maybe even have him talk a bit. Thanks for reading.

Video Shoot in Texas

2008-12-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

Even though I don't have the most BAMF of pictures to show what we did, I will be having those soon to show you. Along with Video.

The event started with picking up a sweet girl Janine Cundy. The production company needed a women and I felt confident in her. She came to the car with a hat on, protective I think. She had her shield on from us Texas Boys down here and she wanted to asses the situation. We talked more about traffic then anything else on the way down to the CENTRAL HUB of San Antonio, Jereme Sanders house. Grand Central was comforting and eased some great conversation into some great training. The gloves came off and we were all the best of friends. I think this is when Janine felt she was with "family."

Next day followed with scouting, eating and planning of the next days to come. The production company put a lot of faith in me. I had to put a lot of faith in the people that I trusted to do that job. What else could I do but to believe in everyone? This came up later in this session as a feeling of vagueness. The discussion turned to business and all was understood from that perspective. It was nice to hear from people, that they felt I was professional and had all eggs in one basket, a good head on my shoulders etc.

The next couple days followed with great video shooting, getting use to being in a suit and of course performing for the camera. I started to know more about understanding fear from the view point of others and pushing people to do what is need from them. Janine took a good spill the first day of shooting. It was a just mild injury and she was fine after that day (which was great) but she got to know a bit about performing and the feeling of messing up ... when it matters. I think she was able to grow from that and I am glad she had the opportunity (minus the twisted ankle) I loved listening to Janine yell to everyone she was o.k. in a tried, calming banter.

Devin was hard to handle...he is just pretty much pure skill and mouth. It is hard to be professional around him or for him to bring a professional feel to the rest of the crew. Though, if you have skill like him, it just falls into place I guess. Look at Gary Bucy right?

One of the highlights of the whole event was cutting my hair. Not so much in the highlight of "That was amazing, lets do it again". More of the break down and have a little girl fit. Which also happens to be the word of the month, little girl. I was told to cut my hair for the performance. I was actually kinda fine with doing it, I knew I had to at some point. Though, when it came to cutting it, I was upset already, I knew I was going to be. For 24 yrs, basically, I have been trying to keep my hair long. I actually thought it was really nice as well. I got a lot of people saying I looked so cute, handsome or professional with my hair short but it was my way of liberating myself and saying that I could finally do something for myself. I work at a laid back gym, I had business that didn't mind my hair being long so blam ...I got long hair.

When it was cut, I looked in the mirror. I saw, a person I had never seen before. It was a hair cut that I had never had. It was super close to all the ones I have had, but it wasn't Matthew. I freaked out. It was too short, it was too long on top. I broke down and you can guess it, cried like a little girl. WHY, why would I cry so after just some hair. Obviously it was a piece of me that went on the floor. Something devastating just kind of hit me. Then all the things that had been bothering me hit me. It was time for me to cry over all the stress and anguish and problems I was dealing with and I sobbed. It was a weird experience for me but I got over and I pushed through. I thought I would be upset the next day when people talked to me, but actually everyone was really nice because they just didn't really mention it at all and moved on. I guess it was nice for me to get over it, though I was ready for whatever came my way.

All, and all the production went over well. I got to jump onto a boat at the river walk about 100 times and I got to try my hand a little bit more at being an actual stunt coordinator. I felt that I had more of a hand here because they listened to me more and they let me run with a location and they trusted my judgment. PK Works is the production company in Dallas. Simple plug. They are awesome.

Janine and I got along well. I think the PNWPA should send her to be an ambassador for stupid boys. Trust me, egos and testosterone get in the way but what Janine did/will do is probably going to be a big step for the PNWPA to understand me more fully and allow us to have a better relationship in the future. She was able to take an opinion of me (one of a good opinion) and spread that back to the group. In January I will be heading up to Seattle to talk about how our groups and benefit each other ... as well as just having someone hold man hand hopefully in the process of creating the non-profit. The Parkour community has a lot to grow and I think our organizations will truly be able to fertilize that. Thank you all for reading a terribly long post.

Photo Credit: Tyson Cecka and Janine Cundy

Financial Depression Over

2008-12-09T17:49:00.000-08:00

Many of you may not know but due to hard work, ambition and dedication I am currently OUT of my financial depression. Lets take a journey on what landed me here.

I moved to Austin in the Month of August in 2007. I lived In Austin doing my 8 to 5 and barely getting anywhere with what I actually wanted to do, Act/Perform/Lead TXPK. I decided to take an opportunity in February to help start a weight loss program In Kerrville, Texas. My father was the man behind the master plan and I was the one with the knowledge. With aspirations of making this GIGANTIC I quit my job to undertake the building of a weightloss franchise.

Long story short...I did my job. People marketing the camp, did not. I made lower then expected wages and worked for one month. At the end of the weightloss camp, that I help structured, build and consult in, we were a success. We had two people go through our piolit program. Each of them loss 16lbs. Both of them loss 40 points on their colesterol. The biggest loser was one women who lost a total of 16" around her body. There is no doubt that I DID MY JOB as manager and head coach.

After the program was over I was in limbo to wait for the next session and I felt obligated due to my father being a marketer for the program. The camp started in April, so two months of no job. Two months more of trying to get the program up, I left for Austin and found myself in my a new home in August, due to great friends and their good credit.

Using Roman and Pinto beans, I was able to sustain myself, along with a lot of borrowing and begging from friends, I felt like a horrible person. This event crushed me this year. When getting to Austin I got a job that was...too good to be true. A month with gaining relationships with children, and putting myself deep into a gymnastics program that needed me intensly with no lucrative insentive, I got a second job. I had no time to myself, I worked 7 days a week but only had 25 hours in that week. I quit the second job after my 2nd month in Austin. I took my lowsey 20 hours a week job and SELF PROMOTED.

Thats right, I took up my own job. The job of self promotion, the job of making Texas Parkour work. The job of creating a performance team and MAKING SOMETHING OF MYSELF! AAAAAAAAAAAAAND guess what! It worked! Finally, as a result of my hard work, I started to post on THIS BLOG. Over and over, you saw me get opportunity due to the hard work that I put into myself, learning as I went.

Today, I got a check. A nice check from some work that I have done. This one check is a representation of how hard I have worked and how great life can be when you work for yourself and try really hard, and even get good at it along the way. Throught this month I will be getting back just minutely my financial dependence back. No more asking my girlfriend to cover dinner if she wants to go out. No more asking my roomates to buy food. Throught this month I will be getting more checks from the hard work that I have done. So much so, I could probably not work for a couple months and be happy. Though, as I have seen from 2007, I needed to be more prepared. Many of you know what kind of depression this can cause on someone and I am elated to be coming out of this.

This is a really great feeling. The feeling of being able to buy my own food, and take my girlfriend to a movie. Thank you all that have helped me along my way.

Matthew on Public Access

2008-12-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Check out the public Access Channel I was on. Its just interesting.

Watch live video from tysontv's channel on Justin.tv

Watch live video from tysontv's channel on Justin.tv

New PSA Video

2008-12-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

Howdy Guys. VIDEO UPDATE TIME. Thats right, I made a behind the scenes for a video that we did for the American Legacy Foundation. It was a two day shoot, and I am currently working on the second video for the project. For now, here is day one!

More Lenity Pictures

2008-11-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

Is This Art?

2008-11-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

I wanted to think of this as something super revolting and write it off as a foul piece of humanity, wrapped in a depreciating world of savagery.

Then I began to look into this a little more. Is this art; who is to say, it is not? A giant Penis, "hanging out" on this stretch of land for everyone to see. Where was the origin of the art? What is the audience for "The Piece" of art.

Well, I was out scouting a location for an upcoming project when the son of the director decided to run off. I chased him, under a bridge. Not knowing what was under the bridge, and this being Austin, I was worried. Until we happened across "The Piece". At first reaction, I was surprised and disgusted. (that's what she said) This young boy was subjected to the harshness of our uncouth world. He quickly disregarded it and didn't even realize what it was at the time.

So, we found our audience. Obviously not young children. Then I was reminded of a quote from my Theatre professor in College.

"Art is not meant to make you happy or cozy, art is meant to make you think."

I realized, that it got me thinking more then I had intended. Who was suppose to go under that overpass and see that rendering of a penis made from toothpaste and hate/love? What were the goals set when creating "The Piece"? What had the maker accomplished by completing his project?

I am not going to go as far as to say its art but I will tell you, its beautiful.

New Video Out

2008-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to throw out a video of some stuff that I have been doing lately!

Finding a Contact / Friend

2008-11-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

I figured I would take my chances at looking up professional stunt coordinators and also just professional stunt players to see what I could found out, learn and or get a nice contact. I present to you the last 12 mins of conversation I was having with a stunt coordinator in Texas. Do not get me wrong by this video, this guy is awesome, I love him and he was a great great man. Thank you so much Pat Henderson!

7 Shades of Lenity (pictures)

2008-11-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

7 Shads of Lenity (director)

2008-11-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

This has for some reason been hush hush. Not that I wanted the project to be but for some reason it has ended up this way. I'm involved with a webispode movement. I am a feature part and it more or less has everything to do with Free Running. A year ago I met with a man named Val Gameiro. He had moved here from LA and he was in charge of a writing group there. We met because we were the only ones that showed up to an actors meetup. We learned more about each other and became instant friends as well as people who were determined to stand up and do something. Val started writing. He had hear about parkour, he started to research as much as he could about the physical and mental side of the art form. He was very overwhelmed by what he had found. He decided to start training with us. Val is in his late 30's and he realized more once he started training.

He took away a lot more then I had realized. He told me a story of a wall. He felt as though he would never get up the wall. Little by little his technique improved. Until one large jump he touched the top of a 9 foot wall. He was astonished that his body was capable of doing something as phenomenal as this. His next attempt was with poise and confidence. He told me, without thinking about it, he knew and believed in his body. He "freed his mind" to borrow a line from the Matrix and just hit the wall, floated to grab the ledge and pulled himself up. He told me, that is the reason he continued to write the script and to make this something beautiful that we could all be mesmerized by. Not surprisingly in the script, I have to make it up a large wall to defeat the "bad guy."

Val is a great guy and you will learn more about him and the project as the days roll by. Thanks for reading.

7 Shades of Lenity

2008-11-13T09:58:00.001-08:00

This web series was inspired a while back...but I am going to give you the jest of it. There will be several episodes...and I am kind of a big deal in it. We shoot nights and weekends and its just for the love to get our names out and to do something amazing!

The web series is set in the NOT so distant futures. The future involves a landscape identical to what we have today but the United States is in Martial Law. A new task forced named Black Hand walks the streets. Due to our dictator government curfews have been imposed as well as the notion of the Red Scare "Even your neighbor can be a terrorist."

In a society where there is a camera to every third citizen and personally embedded GPS chips which also give you a criminal history, back ground information and what blood type you are ... a group of rebel freedom fighters emerge. They are called Free Runners. Using their skills to "stay off the grid" They quickly become enemies of the state and are deemed terrorists. With the help of non corrupt Colonel and a Black Hand Agent turned Free Runner (<--that’s me) Texas is on its way to be succeeded from the union and delare its self its own nation.

I have some footage but its a real rough edit spec just to see some camera angles and to see how things work with the camera and the actors....ENJOY

Doritos Contest

2008-11-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

Guess what...I entered a contest for Doritos. The team that put the video together (Anne Opalko, Matthew Lee Willis, Marcus Willis and Austin Opalko) has the chance to win a clump of money and a spot during the super bowl. It was a fun shoot with silliness and Anne Opalko doing a great job editing the project. So, what to do now? Go on and view the video. (some load time)

Here is the link so that you can post it and get a lot of people to view it as well. I am sure this is a "How many hits can you get" contest. The judges on the site pick 5 finalists. Then the public votes on them, and the one that wins gets aired. But all the finalists get $$! So, post it on your myspace, facebook etc. Twitter even. Thanks guys.

http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/gallery/video/378/

The Art of Displacement

2008-11-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for this for quite a while. I really love what Felipe Trevino did with this documentary. I am of course partial toward the documentary because I was a main focus in the film. I just really felt a good connection between everyone and I hope that everyone can enjoy it as much as I did. Please please please, share this with others.

The Art of Displacement is a short documentary directed by Felipe Trevino. This documentary takes a look at the art form called Parkour and its presence in Texas.

Features: Matthew Willis - Founder of Texas Parkour.
Music by: Calame, CDK and Mumblemix
Produced at: The University of Texas at Arlington
Official Selection - 2008 AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL

Shortcut

2008-11-02T06:18:00.000-08:00

I was going to put this in my last post "Knee Deep in Busy" but I decided not to for some reason. At any rate I have two small short films that I am participating in for this month of November. I justed filmed a project called SHORTCUT Randall Hopkins.

The project is about a man who breaks down on the side of a dusty dirt road.

Not knowing what to do about his predicament he tries to fix his car until finally gets upset and decides to take some quite time away from the problem.
Though, in all long and dusty roads things don't always feel quite right.
He reminisces about the problems and solutions that had gone through his head that day. He is haunted by an end to the mean. The not so right feeling catches him in the gut and he darts toward the car and pushes himself to the passenger side.Consequences of his actions have gone too far this time and they have come to haunt him. Until finally he wakes up and realizes it was all just a vision; a bad dream of sorts.
Haunted by what his action and revealing of the dead body in his truck. After mental toucher and hallucination, he takes his own life. *insert gun shot here*

So, yea that is what I did on Saturday. I actually got to lay face down in dirt for a while...a long while. Though, the director was cool and he let us have input with the project and its going to turn out great.

I also did a script reading for 7 Shades of Lenity. The Free Runner suspense movie. Its is going to be very well done and we have a lot of talent. More on that later.

Knee Deep in Busy

2008-10-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

Projects I am currently working on:

Something New- Some what of a Ninja Warrior Course. Thats right. I am in negotiations with a couple promoters to make this happen for Texas. It will be in Texas (probably Austin) and there will be parkour workshops the day before the event. We want to deck it out with everything. What is everything...well, you will see.

Ortho Production- Thats right, I got it. A while back I did a video performance and a Live performance with David Saucedo, Jereme Sanders and Mike Avery. We get to do it again with the new TXPK Performance team. It will involve a 3 or 4 day shoot in San Antonio starting Down Town and then ending up at the Hyatt outside of downtown. Then brought back for a live performance and PARTY, woot! Best part, we get paid.

Parkour Experts- No updates for this one, we should be hearing more in January

Werewolf- Thats right. I meet with the movie's writer tomorrow and we get to check out one of my stunts at a mall. I get to jump from the top part of the mall...onto an elevator. Along with some other things that I can not even say but they are thinking of grabbing some actors that are my very...very favorite. Oh, and I will probably be able to grab my SAG card after the movie. So, thats going to be good...or bad. We'll see.

Texas Parkour Performance Team- For lack of a better name this is the idea. It will take its course and slide from Texas Parkour as soon as possible but...to actually think you can have someone like ME (main organizer of TXPK) start a performance team, you wouldn't think things are going to be tangled and intertwined? There is no way that you can seperate them. So, no illusions there. It will TRY to act dependently of the organization though esp. because this will be a DBA and TXPK wants to be Non-Profit. Around 8 people submitted. I will have a post about how it turns out.Revolution Parkour- Yes anther performance team. I am joining forces with Adam Dunlap to help promote (a little) and find members for the team as well as join and help as much as I can. I personally think Adam deserves a great amount of respect and good luck to the open call for everyone joining.

PKFRinternational- What...another, another performance team. Thats right, PKFR has some pretty good things coming down the tube. Some possible performances in the summer as well as a new project on some regimented training ideas that we are all trying to put together and finalize and share with the community.

Matthew's Official Camera Man- Thats right Brad M. is staring a new production company. Enough days of working for other men Brad says..."I am creating my own productions." So, stay tuned for several samplers, chase scenes etc coming from him. He will work with us on promotions for Texas Parkour including promos for Workshops, Performance Teams and even some How To's.

All and all guys. It is a very exciting time for me. These are just brief explanations for all of what is going on. "Personal life, get the HECK out of the way, its time to be busy." I breath work these last two weeks. There was a media event in San Antonio...when I get that info I will post it here. Austin Magazine will be doing an article over us soon. As well as a New York Magazine WWW.FLYPMEDIA.COM . Like I said too busy.

Things have been getting so crazy I have not been able to blog like I wanted to. I will try to keep you all informed. I also think out there about people stealing ideas and being weird about telling you guys my business with TXPK and so on. Though, I figure. If I help someone so be it, they deserve some help. If I make someone mad, then tell me about it please. I would love to hear from you guys about anything. THANKS!

Media Event for TXPK

2008-10-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, we are having Fox News take a story over us this Saturday in San Antonio which will be very fun! Though, we had a small story over us this month from the UT newspaper. If I am not mistaken, this is our 4 article with the Daily Texan.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/dt_weekend/parkour_takes_the_lead

Parkour Takes The Lead
Amira Jensen

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Published: Thursday, October 23, 2008

Updated: Thursday, October 23, 2008

Many may recognize parkour from the chase scene in 2006’s “Casino Royale.” Sébastien Foucan, a French actor and co-founder of parkour, captivates the audience by scaling walls, jumping off buildings and being a monkey-like badass while making it look easy.

Parkour is described as getting from one point to another as efficiently as possible. While Superman can fly and Spiderman has his spidey webs, those who practice parkour depend on their body’s ability to travel and overcome obstacles such as walls and fences. They have taken the average human body and conditioned it to do graceful, stupefying things. It is “the art of movement.”

The Austin chapter of Texas Parkour often captures a walking, confused and awed audience of UT students as they practice weeknights on campus. They warm up by crawling up and down the stairs to the main building on their hands and feet, then move to wall climbing and other moves that would seem to guarantee a trip to the hospital.

“It helps starting in a group because they provide structural critique,” said Texas Parkour member Levi McGlathery. “It helps you grow and helps you train safely. The main thing is staying within your confidence and ability level.”

Free running is often likened to parkour. Although they look similar, free running focuses on the freedom of movement while parkour was developed more as a way of responding to an emergency.

“My goal is to bring the ability for school districts in Texas to follow parkour as part of their curriculum,” said Texas Parkour representative Matthew Lee Willis. “I want to bring this to students of every age, to show them efficient ways of moving their body. There’s nothing wrong with running instead of fighting.”

Back in Contest!!

2008-10-21T19:22:00.001-07:00

Formally known as BIG SHOT LIVE. I got a big break from them last year by them taking me all the way to Hollywood and work with Garret Warren at House of Moves. Look back for more information about last years win. Though, for now, its time to vote for me. Thanks guys. You have been great!

If you want to add this widget to anything of yours...then, it would help me out a LOT! I will have to email it to you though :)

Revolution Parkour

2008-10-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

Other then a few choice words "leading international pioneer in the implementation of Parkour and Freerunning" that every business uses to boost their rating, I am excited.

Thats right, Adam Dunlap is creating a team of professional traceurs that would compete with groups like Tempest Freerunning and Tribe. His business is be called Revolution Parkour. He plans to put together a performance team comprised of athletes all over the world. I have talked to Adam personally and he is promoting parkour in a positive light and understands the difference of pushing parkour and pushing performance. Hats off to him.

Adam already runs a website called Mr. Parkour. Adam sometimes known for taking stances on issues shows how he feels as well as gives us some good incite with the website.

Parkour Experts

2008-10-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

Opportunity is a' knocking lately. Great things are knocking. Filmed with a guy this last weekend who is putting together a Parkour Challenge Series, he's trying to at least. We filmed with him once and he had the wrong feel for the whole project. It was competition based and just throwing out what "skater style" movements. We quickly rung his bell and his tune sounded a bit different. He went home researched a lot and he got back on the horse and revamped the idea he wanted. The idea currently is to make a mini-series on parkour experts. People in their field who have been training and teaching for years. Getting a perspective on teaching is his goal now. Training methods outlined in each episode and include who "teachers" teach. It's a cool concept. I won't see anything from that until January when he is ready to start pitching it to networks.
By Michal Garcia

Commercial

2008-10-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

I was in a commercial a while back. Paid nothing for time...doing nothing. It was rather fun to tell you the truth. I got to train outside of the studio to get the hands all nice and rough and then they stuck my HAND in front of a camera and took a picture. I think that is my Hand >

Super easy job to tell you the truth, plus we got feed. You can not ask for much more. Here is the commercial as aired.

Follow link www.fueldfilms.com > Click Work> Click the HAND.

Following Through: Is opportunity knocking?

2008-10-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

Often times you have these guys come up to you and really just knock you off your feet with great ideas and possibilities. When getting into the business, you tend to ignore certain offers until actions are taken. What is with trying to promise something your never going to actually go out and do? This is not business, it's laziness. Then you have to look at yourself. You wonder, was it something that I did or was is something that I said that made this action not complete its course. Sometimes you know it's your fault.

For a while now people have had these ideas. One idea was to make a Parkour photo book. I think it would be pretty amazing, still no sign of progress. Another having a Parkour DVD. Much like skateboards to when selling a DVD with just footage on it. It's fun and it would have great interviews and so on and so forth. Hasn't happened. Great, Ideas...no follow through.

One thing that will be exciting if it happens. An Event. A true city event. There is a guy promoting us now along with his SUNGLASSES he helped invent and create from the bottom up www.teamspokiz.com . His name is Brian Regan. He has done a great job in trying to get us connected with people. He talked with Clif Bar and they gave us some free samples. He has brought us to expos to pass out flyers and a big one. He just talked to Merrell's about getting us to test some shoe. He is a self promoter and we are going to plan an event. Its going to be pretty tight I think. Mostly a business thing, but the main event will be Texas Parkour, teaching workshops all day as well as doing exhibition. Why wait for someone to call you. Make it happen. Blam.

At loss for a post

2008-10-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

I have been wondering for the last week, something really interesting to post. I started the blog really wanting to show a bunch of things that I am doing and showing and to try and show the excitement of Matthew Lee Willis.

Sometimes, we just have dull moments and that is it right now. Watched Heros today. Decided to take some time for me. I am always typing away on the computer, trying to self promote and what not, it was nice just to sit and watch a show versus try and answer and email or to create something so that I can get an email later that then I will be able to answer. Things will pick up and be exciting again.

I do a shoot tomorrow for a commercial. Its just a inside thing that I am doing for a friend. Later on this month we will be doing a media pickup for a San Antonio session. I am waiting on one important call for a possible job in December and January. That might be really amazing. Also, I am going to be doing some extra work for a film that is shooting in November. I wish my agent would call me back.

Update

2008-10-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

Werewolf. I got it. Info? It should be an actual feature film done with people that are actually known. I can not actually share any information...not like I have a lot but I do know that I will be in it the film. This is going to be a lot of fun. To to mention, if anyone knows me...a good amount of money I am not use to. Yup things are looking up.

I just finished a video of the AMD shoot that some of us had done, and I want to share that with you guys for sure. I do not tend to make super AWESOME videos, I am a man of nostalgia. So, my videos tend to be fun versus all about "Da' Skillz."

One Step Closer

2008-10-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

I have recently been giving myself a push to try and pick up some schools to teach Parkour as a supplemental P.E. class. I never wanted to push myself before because I did not feel ready. I didn't have a system of teaching that could adapt to all ages and level of ability. I had been working on a good outline and material to actually get this started and am not starting to feel confident on the ability of my new program. Eventually it will be assimilated by Texas Parkour and it will become their program.

I talked to the UT Elementary School P.E. coach today. I taught some gymnastics at a program she takes her classes to each month and she got to see me and my teaching skills in action. I then talked to her about the program and she was very excited to hear that I would want to be involved. We exchanged contact information and we'll be talking how Texas Parkour can be implemented into their program. It was a good day!

Bail Out Crisis, Got's You Nervous?

2008-10-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

I follow a Podcast called GeekBrief and it is a lot of fun getting gadget news everyday. If you want some info on something, she actually doesn't do too often, on the crisis here's something that might help. Nick Colas.

Out of Hand

2008-10-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

Self promotion can get a little crazy sometimes. Things are starting to get out of control. I have been trying very hard lately to do a lot for myself in terms of representation, business and try and manage Texas Parkour.

Well, I am finally starting to see the fruits of my labor. As of right now, I have the possibility of 3 paid gigs right now. A group that I worked for before contacted me and asked me to do another business meeting, the pitch goes in this week and we will know soon. I get to assemble a team for this as well.

Second being some simple modeling for ultra sound machines. Crazy weird but, I make some good quick cash and I might get to do it a lot during the year. Nice supplement to income.

Third being something I am really excited about. I am going to be a consultant for a Feature Film. It is a PG Werewolf Film. Very interested mix of rating and content but its going to be great. I am up for training, consulting and stunts. I might be able to do all three or just two or one. Either way its going to pay and I get to do what I love.

That doesn't even have anything to do with my agent, which is weird. This was all by "myself." Self promotion can help guys, just spend a couple HOURS a day doing it and it will pay off. Trust me. Things are starting to roll in. Now, I have to worry about being able to perform at my best for these events, onto some GOOD training now.

Auditions

2008-09-30T23:14:00.001-07:00

I have been trying lately to use Craigslist as my agent. It works if you want menial tasks that might give you some money a quarter of the time but no exposure. There are a couple good things that have come from it though.

I got a small shoot with AMD Processors. Its a sweet deal. We should be getting paid more and royalties from air time though for sure! It is only a web ad but it should still be making us more money.

Ninja Turtles fan based film. I got to do be a stunt man for a gang member for the shoot. Did pretty much a close line to gainer into a dumpster and fell to the floor. Got flipped into a trashcan as my final stunt. It was fun. The shot lasted 11 hours. Longest day shoot ever, esp. because it started at 8pm and I had to be there till 7am. Many people that know me know that I am in bed by 12am maybe 1am. After that you can't get me up till around 6am. To be awake during that time was actually pretty hard. It was well worth it though.

Two auditions in one weekend. I had an audition to play a gang member in a short festival film. I would be a guy trying to interfere with a man trying to pick up his son from an after school program before the Nazi principle makes him pay a bunch of money. It is pretty funny because the whole time the it seems as though, it was a kidnapping. Second audition consisted of me going into a room for about 2 mins and not even speaking. It was a music video audition. Evidently they said that they only had the good people audition. I feel that I still will not get the part because I was there for literally 2 mins. I held some girls hand and looked for an imaginary water fountain and BLAM, it was over. Update: didnt get the part, like I thought.

Tofu and Austin

2008-09-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

The beginning of my Blogspot. What an occasion? At any rate, I have been living in Austin for a while now and to begin I will tell you a bit about the city.

It is crazy. You can make Tofu taste like anything, I mean texture and what not are different...and sometimes, *Spooky Voice* they are not.

SO I made tofu burritos the other day. They were not that great but...if you add a lot of vegetables you can make it taste "good". Its kind of like if you add enough sugar or salt to something it tastes better. Tofu, it doesn't taste bad, it's just different then say...MEAT. Though, the reason to put tofu in something versus just eating a vegi-sandwhich would be, to have actual texture, "meaty" that's what will provide nutrition and protein.

So, I am eating a chicken tofu burger. HOW DO THEY DO THAT? How do you figure out what chicken tastes like, food engineering, so crazy. I heard that back about 40 years ago in Chicago peaches were not available, so people started engineering the apples to taste exactly like Peaches. Eventually it was outlawed. What I really mean is that it all has to do with fat.

Which brings me to this concept. People who eat "healthy" really don't have an idea of what they are doing. They look at it here in Austin and just say well, "its organic or its raw". This is the facade of Austin. I chalk it up to this, They look at one issue and HATE it, so they fight to change it. Once it is changed they don't look into it anymore.

How exactly? Well take Soy products for example. There are some products with little fat. The truth of the matter is most of them are high in fat. So your eating, a soy burger with Potatoes cooked in Coconut Oil. True its going to be less saturated fat...but its still a lot of fat on the other side of the spectrum. I think people need to worry not only about the where the food comes from and how it is grown but also the kinds of food they are eating.

Trust me Organic is the way to go with vegetables and so forth. Things do taste better, much better. Though, there are places like Whole foods which are a shell of organic things. There is a label they have 365 organic. Though, it doesn't mean its organic and I think people look at that and just put it out of their mind and buy. Just because these ideas of "organic". If something says organic on it, It doesn't mean that it is 100% organic. I think the number is around 65%. Sad huh?

This is how I view Austin as I said, just an ideals versus facts. If you haven't gotten it yet, Tofu can be made to covere up foods or processed into anything you want it to be. In the end you still have Tofu. Why run from that? I am finding true Austines this way. I am trying to get friends who think their thoughts out completely and not a some weird hippie, eclectic, and spiritual rise of non-sense. Someone who is the Tofu, "they gots ta have MAD tofu." They need to know all about their Tofu and if they want to add something its not because they are trying to cover up...their Tofu. Thank you.

Matthew Lee Willis

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