I'm glad E talked me into renting a movie rather than spending another night web surfing at the coffee shop after a shift at the Diamond Mines. Otherwise, I would have never found a used copy of Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer on DVD for sale.This is a movie I always wanted to own so I could show it to my future kids. I may have mentioned it on here a few posts past, but the movie touches the child...
Monday, February 28, 2005
Sunday, February 27, 2005
The last thing on my "Things to get my grubby paws on" list:Technorati accountdel.icio.us accountRSS readerI have that RSS reader (which also reads Atom feeds, too). There are a million and one of them out there, so I chose the simplest looking one, called RssReader. Thank God 90% of the blogs/web sites I read have feeds. This way, I can streamline my internet time a bit. The only thing this particular...
(MINOR SPOILER AHEAD, but I don't care -- read this post or not, but don't say I didn't warn you. Plus, this is my blog, and I'll leave as much or as little spoiler space as I damn well please.)E and I saw Constantine on Friday night. I tried to like it, I seriously tried. I only made one "Matrix IV" comment. Now, to be fair, all the basic elements of the Hellblazer mythos were there. And, I'm...
Thursday, February 24, 2005
I'm not sure whether or not to turn these posts into a weekly thing, rather than 2x/week. I'm not really learning a lot of "new" things, so to speak (though, when I do pick up new things, they really feel like rare gems). Rather, I'm learning to actually apply what I know.But then again, I have a file on my computer where I go in week after week and try to jot down some notes about whatever training...
Which Extremity of the World Are You?From the towering colossi at Rum and Monkey.YOU ARE THE NILEAt 4145 miles from your furthest extremity to the Mediterranean Sea, you outdo the Amazon to become the world's longest river. The piranhas hate you.Beneath you lies an underground river with six times your volume....
Quote of the DaySo, the girls were home sick yesterday and the boys went out and got blasted.-E to me, tongue-in-cheek... I thinkYes, DATU_B and I had some marguaritas at the "$2 marguaritas on Wednesdays" place in town. For the first time, I sat in the smoking section. Neither of us spoke, but B wanted to distance us from some undesirable he recognized. Immediately upon sitting in the smoking...
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Continuing E's education of British cult sci-fi TV, I've been showing her old tapes I have of Blake's 7, in my opinion, the best written sci-fi series EVER. It was a series that showed the blurry line between a terrorist and a freedom fighter. There were no black-and-white good guys or bad guys. And, the so-called...
Just a couple of things, really...ISAE and I are now licensed to get legally married in our county of our state sometime in the next 60 days. Incidentally, the marriage will be 30 or so. DALAWAI'm on my alma mater's alumni mailing list, and saw in the most recent email a solicitation for submissions to a faculty, staff, and alumni literary mag. I looked it up and used my new method of deciding...
Monday, February 21, 2005
... as in celebrities that send creepy letters to random people. E and I got these in the mail some time ago, and just laughed. How did she get my address?? An urgent message? Well, I'd better open it right up, then. Hey, I'm all for celebrities lending their name-recognition for a cause. But, isn't...
Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills HimselfBy ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press WriterASPEN, Colo. - Hunter S. Thompson, the hard-living writer who inserted himself into his accounts of America's underbelly and popularized a first-person form of journalism in books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," has committed suicide. Thompson was found dead Sunday in his Aspen-area home of an apparent self-inflicted...
Saturday, February 19, 2005
I have virtually all of my freedom of movement in my neck and shoulders. There're only vestiges of pain as I try to stretch. I decided it wasn't enough to justify continuing the Vicodin, but perhaps enough to continue the Flexiril. There are still some monkey-fisted knots of tense muscle, but those improve with each dose of the muscle relaxant. I've added Scott Sonnon's Warrior Wellness DVD series...
Friday, February 18, 2005
Well, my comrade at the Diamond Mines came through with a pair of sticks made from the "ironwood" that the local Bando people use, cut at the appropriate serrada length for me. They're not pretty, but they've been smoothed down as much as possible without messing with the integrity of the wood, and have this slight wideness at the ends (from where branches were about to grow) to make the pieces a...
Well, I made it through last night's Fight Club without much pain. Vicodin is good. Last night, I had the double whammy of dealing with both BILLY_JACK and KENPO_BOY. BILLY_JACK was laid back, I have to say. Of course, staying as far away from him as I could helped, too. And, in the brief time I worked with him on a drill, there wasn't time for him to make one of his stupid, adolescent, racist,...
Thursday, February 17, 2005
I almost forgot that I submitted another piece a few days ago. Ironically, it seems that it was rejected the same day the other one was published. According to the editor's email I just received...I'm going to pass on this one, but thanks again for the York Peppermint Patties piece. It's proving very popular on the site.Submit again soon.John WarnerI guess it was rather lame, but hey. I'd put it...
I'm still not sure if I'm going to go tonight, but since it'll be mostly FMA stick-work done by DATU_B. As long as there's no throwing involved, I should be good to go.Last session was the first time I saw my good friend (not) KENPO_BOY, the arrogant hyperkinetic who thinks he's Ed Parker's gift to martial arts. To his credit, he's significantly calmer than I remembered. But, still just as arrogant....
I spent most of yesterday couch-ridden and on Flexiril and Vicodin because I came home after Fight Club two nights ago to find that I could barely move my neck. I'm not exactly sure what I could have done to cause all of that. I can't think of anything offhand in the padwork I did. There were some grappling takedowns, too, that started out in a collar-and-elbow tie, but I was never tied up that...
Monday, February 14, 2005
Here's something from the private journal I keep (the one I don't post online):I feel a distinct lack of stimulation.It doesn't feel like depression, or even boredom, necessarily. Today's a day off from the Diamond Mines, and I've made rather insignificant progress on a multitude of tasks I wanted to accomplish today, accomplishing only two or three things of any real significance.I feel like Peter...
The other night, E and I sat down to an old favorite, Glengarry Glen Ross. Watch it once for the David Mamet script and laugh at the large helpings of profanity and verbal abuse the characters heap upon one another. Watch it again to see it for the fascinating study of human nature that it is. And to think it almost didn't get made, despite the cast list - Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey,...
...because apparently, no one can seem to come up with a convincing reason to trust them over anyone else.Is the truth about the 9/11 crash of Flight 77 to be found in the link I referenced here, or in this month's cover story in Popular Mechanics? I read bits of the article in the hard copy version. But, apart from the "We're PM, b!+ch!" vibe, I really didn't see any reason to trust that their...
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
Well, how can last night's session top the last one I wrote about? There was no blood to be had, whatsoever. Last night, I noticed just how much my awareness has expanded doing padwork without the use of my specs. I simply can't make the mistake of focusing, say, on a fist and thus react too late when it starts coming. I've no other choice than to focus on what I see, namely, a mass with four...
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Yes, much like the good Doctor, I've changed my appearance... at the bottom of the right menu bar, that is, with the help of Portrait Illustration Maker. I'm glad this Doctor didn't come and subject me to his mental domination for borrowing his image.
Here are some I made, in order of preference.&nb...
I've ranted a bit on this before - a commentary on NPR by author Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) on Misunderstanding the First Amendment. I largely agreed with his main point...The First Amendent protects you from being jailed, tortured, or executed for speaking your mind. Period. It is part of the United States Constitution, which sets the rules for how our government behaves. It does not protect...
I get asked this question often enough. Now, I'll be able to answer...
You Are From Neptune
You are dreamy and mystical, with a natural psychic ability.
You love music, poetry, dance, and (most of all) the open sea.
Your soul is filled with possibilities, and your heart overflows with compassion.
You can...
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Robert Palmer, Johnny Cash, ODB (ok, just kidding about that one)... and now...Jazz Organ Pioneer Jimmy Smith Dies
Wed Feb 9, 2005 5:00 PM ET
By Arthur Spiegelman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Organist Jimmy Smith, who helped change the sound of jazz by almost single-handedly introducing the electric riffs of the Hammond B-3 organ, has died at age 79 at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, his record label...
...because, as most of you know, I don't do spam. I could, but the majority of people in my address book would likely jam objects into my eye sockets if I did.Meme sent by E...1.What time did you get up this morning?9:55 AM2.Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds (bling bling!)3.What was the last film you saw at the cinema? House of Flying Daggers 4.What is your favorite TV show? Blake's 75.What did you...
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Ok, truth to tell, I'm not all that upset. DATU_B and I have shown that kamagong (or whatever it was we had), no matter the density or diameter, will shatter in North America. Mine took a mere 4 hits (read: 1 "test" and 3 full power shots) against combat-grade rattan before it broke cleanly in two. A picture will be forthcoming.
Another lesson we learned was that a bad time to practice espada...
Ok, Chicago, you've got one more chance. The next album you release better be an album of NEW material, NOT another repackaging of your greatest hits with a couple of new songs thrown in of the sort you've been releasing for what's been damn near a decade now. I've been holding out since Chicago XXVI, now. So, having every numbered album from CTA on, how many versions of You're the Inspiration,...
So, DATU_B calls me up about 30 minutes ago to tell me that The Traceless Warrior commented about this blog -- kind comments, at that. Being the kind of guy he is, DATU_B just had to throw in a joke about, "Yeah, you've been challenged to a patayan by a Silat master." I could feel my life think about starting to flash before my eyes before he goes, "Nah, just kiddin...
Monday, February 07, 2005
DATU_B sent me this presentation about the Flight 77 strike to the Pentagon on 9/11. Or, was it?
Could be real. Could be fake. The point is that all these years later, people are still looking for whatever it is they consider "the truth" behind it all. Me? I'm still wondering about who was mailing all that anthrax around. But, what does it say about me when, overshadowing these issues are:...
Sunday, February 06, 2005
ONE
A friend of mine at the Diamond Mines was (is?) a Bando practicioner (he goes fishing with the grandmaster occassionally). We were talking about my kamagong/ironwood problems. Well, not really "problems," as I still have two intact sticks -- but, for how long? Anyway, he related an analogy of a relative who travelled abroad who made himself drink the local water to acclimate to whatever nasty...
Friday, February 04, 2005
Well, I skipped Fight Club again last night, after finally getting the coach's pass and all. Oh, well. Mrs. DATU_B has been out of town, so the man invited me over. After a Tecate or three, we played with kamagong and watched The Punisher, which was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I wished The Russian was played by Dolph, but that's just a fanboy talking. The same fanboy who isn't...
Thursday, February 03, 2005
This is along the lines of this picture that I've made reference to not too long ago. It's a minute-long .avi video from Filipino Combat Systems. In it is a demonstration of various methods of closing the distance. But the real interesting stuff takes place after the 30-second mark when the man to the left does some very interesting-looking close range stuff.
Can't wait 'til Fight Club tonight,...
This is why The Traceless Warrior is my favorite blog. Not only can he make an angry, yet completely thorough argument against a quiet movement to allow non-US-born citizens to become President, but he can also dispense knife training tips.
I bow down to this blog. My blog wants to be like his when it grows ...
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Random thoughts and happenings, but of some more substance than what blaxploitation movie I saw lately.
ONE
I spent a little bit of time before and after the Diamond Mines at the coffee shop. In the morning, I only had 20 minutes, just enough to check my email. I bore witness to two ladies and a young man in the midst of a crisis. One of these people was someone I had written about before - a...
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
In lieu of attending Fight Club tonight (I'm just too tired tonight), I spent some time going over the Inosanto book while listening to mediocre poetry at the coffee shop. Incidentally, this coffee shop began offering a light roast, and I got to be the second person to sample it. I have to say, I noticed the caffeine difference. But, I digress.
I saw of photograph of a technique that seems a bit...
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