In lieu of Frank's absence, I wanted to add a shout out to Wyatt who was interviewed for this article. Good luck Wyatt! We'll miss you!

Aaaaand somehow I fixed the blog, high-five!

Well, the bloggie seems good and messed up. Hm. Aaaand, off to Colorado!

Dissolution, by Richard Byers. Back in the day, R.A. Salvatore created the character Drizzt Do'Urden (if anyone every figures out how to pronounce that first name, please tell me), who proved to star in a number of very popular novels. But that's not important, nor is the argument as to whether Salvatore is a hack or not; rather the setting in which Drizzt originated and another most definitely skilled author are important. Byers makes the city of Menzoberranzan come alive with a variety of perspectives from his characters whom are easy to like even when they are just plain evil and decadent. Which all of them are.
Also, Byers' experience in fencing serves him in great stead in his writing. Each of the fight scenes is exciting and also absolutely clear. The only slight criticism I might make is that he occasionally described actions with weapons such as hammers with fencing terms, which threw me off a bit. There were also a few things that really interested me - one, as the entire culture that the characters spring from and are based in is completely despicable from a general moral code, at times I struggled with conflicting feelings. That is, I wasn't sure how I felt identifying with a character that I found witty and likeable when he nonchalantly suffocates a prostitute he just screwed over mightily (no pun intended), for a non-gruesome example. Also, as the setting takes place entirely underground, even if the drow are adapted for such living by seeing in the infrared and whatnot, what kind of circadian rhythms do they have going? There is some approximation of day/night cycles in the story, so that seems to imply something. And, with the brutally matriarchal society (figure that one out), I'd be interested to see how some Freudian psychology might apply, because many results of the gender-hierarchy certainly play themselves out in the plot.
Moreover, the novel presented something of an interesting zen exercise, in htat I could read it and practice not judging the drow culture as negative or positive, but just observing it as is. After all, within the story it seemed a viable model for civilization, just running on different underpinnings and assumptions for its rules.

Now, the ridgehand - a strike that utilizes the thumb-side blade of the hand or inside blade of the wrist, as far as I've seen it taught. There are three ways I've seen it used: one, in karate, as a sort of clotheslining augment to sweeps or just a strike in that pattern. Two, as an strike to the side of the neck from straight-on with a very shallow arc, also in karate. And three, as a strike to the ribs or back of head from a grappling position, ie, from within a bearhug or from under a mount in traditional jujitsu. Out of the three, I like the jujitsu method best, though the shallow-arc pattern is also intriguing, but the other kind I've had trouble with, if only because I don't usually fight in a way that puts me in position for it. In any case, does anyone else know of any techniques involving a ridgehand that might be interesting, or have any ideas?

Word of the day: apposite - being of striking appropriateness and pertinence

      From the the Scientific American at the mechanic's place, some interesting thoughts. What kind of explosion was the Big Bang? An explosion of space itself. That means that there was no center to the 'explosion,' and that space itself was/is expanding. The natural question: are we/galaxies/any kind of matter expanding as well? No, apparently coherent objects are not subject to the same effect, and galaxy clusters maintain cohesion by their relative gravitational attraction within, from galaxy to galaxy, and same for any smaller celestial system. Now, my question (not really understanding much of this except by clever metaphor and simile) is what would happen were we to figure out a way to set off a similar 'explosion' of space itself on Earth? Craziness, I bet. Craziness.

Scent of a Woman, with Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell. Nice movie. The chief reason for seeing I think would be Pacino's wonderful portrayal of his character, though O'Donnell did an able job as well. Nothing remarkable to note, I think, just generally solid all around.

By Heart - I'm with Mr Nunberg, methinks

"Thou who abruptly is a knife
dids't come into my heart..."
(pretty sure that's by Baudelaire)

"At the end of the [noh] performance, Ieyasu asked his companion whether he'd seen any gaps in the actors' concentration. Musenori noted that when one of the actors turned near a pillar, his awareness slipped. 'That's when I would have attacked him,' Musenori said."

-I'd feel bad for Warhol, but I never really liked his art anyway (via Kevin)

and, in the words of the horrible theme song to The OC, "California, HERE I COOOOMMMMEEEE" (for a few days)
*cough*

"From the moment the oracle speaks your future becomes your past." - mmm, thought provoking

Man without Words - As much as I adore language, this article actually kind of made me feel threatened at first in my usual thinking that without language we wouldn't really be able to sentient-ly think. But now that I begin to think that over from the beginning again, things like aphasia really do mess with that, and this mathematics deal - which, all in all, means more fun, in my mind (no oblique pun intended).

Word of the Day: caprine - of, relating to, or characteristic of a goat (I like how it's a pretty word in relation to goat's being the devil's animal and all, what with the creepy pupils)

girlskirtmission - looks like a fun new company (and I like the style)

(just because I like curves and cleverness)

(the other Scent of a Woman monologue)
"Out of order, I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul! And why? Because he's not a Bairdman. Bairdmen. You hurt this boy, you're gonna be Baird bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, FUCK YOU TOO!"

-from Scent of a Woman (which I still haven't finished) - Al Pacino's short monologue (though this in no way captures any of his cadence or intonation):
"Women! What can you say? Who made 'em? God must have been a fuckin' genius. The hair... They say the hair is everything, you know. Have you ever buried your nose in a mountain of curls... just wanted to go to sleep forever? Or lips... and when they touched, yours were like... that first swallow of wine... after you just crossed the desert. Tits. Hoo-hah! Big ones, little ones, nipples staring right out at ya, like secret searchlights. Mmm. Legs. I don't care if they're Greek columns... or secondhand Steinways. What's between 'em... passport to heaven. I need a drink. Yes, Mr Sims, there's only two syllables in this whole wide world worth hearing: pussy. Hah! Are you listenin' to me, son? I'm givin' ya pearls here."
-yes, I know, it's quite vulgar, but I'll get to the cleaner monologue from near the end of the movie later

I appear to be in a sad state, being that I was highly amused by this illusion

Buried Treasure - mmm, dinosaurs

I thought this hypothetical book title sums up the frustration some people have with BJJ nicely:
"Brazilian JiuJitsu Throwing Techniques -- This four-page book is a compendium of useful techniques to get your opponent between your legs."
(ie, they have very little throwing training, and sometimes emphasize the guard to an absurd degree)

Nice cadence and image:
"Face your fears, or they will climb over your back."
and from good ol' Phantom of the Opera
"We never said
our love was evergreen-"
and
"The Angel of Music sings songs in my head"

Batman Begins, with Christian Bale and Liam Neeson. First of all, I was very impressed; it's been pretty much unanimously agreed among the people I know who've seen it that it's the best comic book movie that's been done. As much as I already like movies that are darker than not, this one made me especially happy because in being darker than not it makes all the other Batman movies seem like exactly what they are - satires at best, farces at worst on the original intent of the comic. I also especially enjoyed the style of language used, and I kept wanting to liken it to that used in Kingdom of Heaven, though I'm not sure why. The other parallel between texts that I noticed was between Batman's nature as a superhero and one of Frank Herbert's aims in his Dune novels. Basically, both Bruce Wayne and the characters with extraordinary abilities in the Dune novels did not become as 'supernatural' as they are by virtue of genetics or fate or whatnot, but by discipline, hard work, and will.
      Back to the movie, there were only two things that disappointed me a bit; one, Christian Bale's ability in martial arts (re: Equilibrium) seemed little used, with horrendous amounts of close-ups in the fight scenes - though, I could see an argument that ambiguity in the fighting might accent some of Batman's mysterious nature and at times ambiguous morality - and two, Katie Holmes, with that stubbornly repetitive half-not really-smile. Xuemei suggested that Rachel Weisz might have been better in the role, which I would readily agree to because of my jonesing on said actress, but then my dad pointed out that perhaps Weisz is usually cast in roles that might be considered too 'tough' for that character.

Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag, with Cptn John Stratton. When we went to the National Air and Space Museum near DC, we had the good fortune of catching this IMAX documentary. It's about the AIr Force (and apparently international) equivalent of the more well known Navy's Top Gun program. And on an IMAX, hoo boy is aerial combat exciting. Beyond that, as a documentary Red Flag is quite interesting throughout (trivia! I had no idea the use of flares was so extensive). Tangentially, my parents walked out of the theatre in tears, on account of Wyatt going off to the Academy soon, for whatever that implies about the film.

Revolutionary Omo Plata - this article is a good article in and of itself, but it really caught my eye for this line: "Believe it or not, I first came across Omo Plata as a finishing hold in Indonesian Silat." And here I was thinking that was a uniquely j(i)ujitsu technique; goes to show you, I guess.

-well, I can't quite copy the exquisite formatting and font of the original, and not sure of the author, but I enjoyed it...

                  in the howling waste,
even the darkness has a voice.
      it titters and beckons,
   it begs and cajoles, it slithers
its way into your brain
         like a black, slimy worm - and
if you listen to it you're lost.
             the weaver of the dark'll
            have you, and
         you'll never see
                     the light again.

-other lines I thought had interesting images/cadence:
"The War of the Spider Queen begins here."
-
"...the dark heart beneath..."

China's Great Armada - a great article in the current National Geographic

"The writing of history is largely a process of diversion. Most historical accounts distract attention from the secret influences behind great events."
      I'm not sure whether I could lay claim to any truth in this quote or not, but it does call up memories of me falling asleep in what I thought would be interesting European history in high school, and makes me wonder whether it might have been more interesting...

Submission Grappling vs Classical Jujitsu - this article gets two thumbs up from me; finally, old-school jujitsu gets some non-dippy recognition. I'll note that for whoever's in Tucson, we have an interestingly wide range of options for jujitsu; the Kodenkan schools have something approximating the traditional variant in the article (though I hear that they're also starting an MMA program). The Ko Sho schools (plug!) forgo the preset kata, but maintain most of the traditional techniques through ties to aikido/aikijutsu while mixing in some new. And for Brazilian jiujitsu and MMA there are the Ultima schools and the training group at Rincoln.
      Also, the Ko Sho schools are working on developing the new-school jujitsu competition in Tucson (as opposed to the cage fights in Phoenix and the Kodenkan and Brazilian competitions) . There are two sides to it; the 'dual competition,' which can involve whatever combination of the sexes one wishes, are choreographed ahead of time. The judge chooses an attack, and one partner tries for it, while the other responds with a combination of strikes/throw/pin. Interestingly, from what I've seen excessive flashiness in technique (ie, doing a sacrifice throw by dropping into the splits right after a head-high kick) can actually be a hindrance in gaining points, with functionality taking priority. The other side of the competition starts out at striking range (something like one point for hand strikes, two for kicks I think) but once one person manages a grab of any kind, any strike thereafter is a point-deduction. From that point it becomes like judo, except with throws netting three points and submission equaling a win. Further updates to come...

Two Layers of Stretch - interestingly, I think the first line ("When working a joint, you must decide on whether to work muscle or bone") could very easily apply to martial arts as well

word of the day: versilibrist - a writer of free verse

phrase of the day: lèse-majesté - any slight or insult that wounds someone’s dignity

      Driving past an old-folks home where a family friend is staying sparked a discussion the other day. Basically, the family friend has some pretty bad delirium; she has almost no short term memory, and her long term memory is pretty shot to hell. I suggested that perhaps she has the advantage of constantly living in the moment, and so is in a kind of zen state. The response, in contrast, was that perhaps she is in an opposite state - not living in any moment at all. I'm not sure I've wrapped my head around the implications of that, but it seems interesting in a sad way.

Tian di ying xiong (Warriors of Heaven and Earth), with...I'm not sure actors to list, because none of us recognized any of the names as more prominent than the others. I think I ended up disappointed with this movie because I went into it expecting it to be a kind of period piece showing some of the relations between the Turks and Chinese on the Silk Road. Or at least a pretty good kung fu movie. Unfortunately, the Turks were extras who were at best culturally labeled by turbans, veils, and ululating during fight scenes (and what was with the "Mongols" who looked like Roman Praetorians with masks? and the completely out of nowhere fantasy element?), and the fight scenes were less than exciting. Nonetheless, some of the characters were somewhat memorable, and the landscapes were quite attractive, so it has that going for it.

-just because of all that Mario Party we've been playing

-I'm not sure by what authority this goes by, but it would be interesting to compare it to a similar study on English word use

-I know this article is about Mars, but Venus has no magnetic field? Huh?

Apparently my blog comes up on Google with the description, "Book and movie reviews, linguistics, philosophy, and musings on random events." I wonder who writes those descriptions, because I sure as hell didn't...

Mario Party 6 - I will not say how many hours we have spent playing this lately because it is just sickening. Basically, it's several similar boardgames, with basic-motor-skills minigames between each turn. And apparently something hypnotic. And we aren't even using it as a drinking game, which had been suggested to us.

Chapterhouse Dune, by Frank Herbert. Pretty much the same as what I said for Heretics of Dune, but with an ending that (at least for me) is heart-rending, and at the same time maddeningly frustrating because it is supposed to embody Herbert's disavowal of absolute endings - it's an ending that doesn't really end anything at all. Beyond that, the novel does plod along slowly, but not by virtue of its writing - rather, it's the sheer amount of ideas that Herbert crammed into this last Dune novel, as one critic adroitly pointed out.

"You cannot manipulate a marionette with only one string." - seems simple enough, but it seems like there might be more there, too...

word of the day: sangfroid - coolness and composure under trying circumstances

      On the way to putting Wyatt's balsa wood and tissue paper Spitfire in imminent peril from the top of a stadium staircase, we saw a rabbit reshaping its body in what seemed a horribly unnatural posture to me; then I realized it was stretching. Then it got me thinking, as much as we see other mammals like dogs and cats and....lemurs and the like getting their stretch in ways that we can't help but be sympathetically satisfied by, people don't often actually stretch that much. So: a roundabout yoga plug! Or at least just general stretching; if a rabbit can do it just based on instincts, then people should too!
      In other Southwest wildlife news, I found out at the Natural History Smithsonian that those little black beetles that are like stink beetles but not are called 'darkling beetles.' While I'm a bit abashed at having to go across the continent to find that out, how cool is that?
      In other news, I have an intense desire (one might even say a goal) to create an aquarium for waterbugs. Like, the kind one finds in pools in Sabino Canyon and the like. If the Desert Museum and the Smithsonian can do it, I can, damn it. I love those little guys.

"Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things."
Keats, Lamia

Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Much better than I expected, going into it expecting to come out shaking my head. Several things I thought were nice: much to my chagrin at the knowledge, that guy from The OC is in it. "The Girl from Ipanema" has a moment. Jolie is infinitely more attractive in my mind (considering I usually don't like her) when she's acting natural and not hyper-seductive. They did a great job of having Pitt's character use a very distinctly MMA style of fighting. And the jokes were actually quite good, and the corniness, not so corny.

"The person who takes the banal and ordinary and illuminates it in a new way can terrify. We do not want our ideas changed. We feel threatened by such demands. 'I already know the important things!' we say. Then Change comes and throws our old ideas away."

intriguing phrase of the day: "What does a mirror look at?"

"When Commodore Vanderbilt steamed back into New York harbor from his extended European grand tour, there was bad news. He penned the following note to two of his partners: 'Gentlemen: I find that you have been cheating me. I will not sue, because the law is too slow. I will ruin you.'"

word of the day: amphilogism - which means an ambiguity of speech, or an equivocation, brought on by grammatical fault (good vs well)

Questionable Content - Though I don't get any of the indie rock references, the rest of the comic is clever fun (and a Dune reference! ha!)---(and another!)

"You are the One. You are kali. You are the sword, you are the arrow. You are the symbol of victory." - inscription on a Sikh sword at the Smithsonian Natural History museum (I was tempted to scratch something about it being Neo's sword on the sign when no one was looking, except I thought the inscription was too badass to mess with)

      Random points of interest: aren't fountains intriguing? They are like sculptures, but instead of being made of a seemingly permanent medium like stone or metal, they partially or entirely made of a medium that is practically a definition of shifting protean...er...ness.
      There's this line in Heretics of Dune that I thought was nicely finessed. Basically, a city on the hyper-arid planet Dune/Rakis is being described, and right after it is noted that the priests' tower is the tallest building in the city, it's noted that there is a windtrap (a device for collecting water) that is higher. So, in effect, while the priests seem to have their proper place in terms of the apparent power structure (they're actually at the bottom, between the lines, besides the point), the need to gather water by a means identical to that of the peasants' method is placed in a more dominant position - establishing its place in the power structure.

I enjoyed this line:
"And Max took one step forward and became death, the world catching fire at his touch."

      At the Vietnam memorial in DC, a huge quantiy of little trinkets and flags and basically anything are deposited at the base of the wall each day, to be later collected and deposited in an archive. The one thing that especially interested me about these objects was the huge amount of poetry; unfortunately, the only ones of reasonable length that I saw to copy down were:

And when he gets
      to heaven
To Saint Peter he
      will tell:
One more soldier
      reporting
I spent my time in Hell

Yea, though we fly through the valley of the Shadow of Death, We will fear no evil, for We are the toughest Sons of Bitches in the valley. (I'm not sure where the line breaks were in that)

This can only lead to this

The Breast Cancer Site - endorsed by Xuemei

International Trepanation Advocacy Group - definitely not endorsed by Xuemei (and Kevin gets 10 points for the "Hi everybody!" reference that took me a while to get)

      There was this little blurb in the Smithsonian Natural History museum in the ancient sea life (aka my favorite) section about the notion that during the period when the only things that were really around were trilobites and cephalopods, the world might have been totally silent (in terms of life making noise and/or getting jiggy to said noise).
......
......
The question is, was it an uncomfortable silence?
*ba-doom tshhhhh*

Cold Steel, by John Steyers, as found in my Granddad's study. And not the Paladin Press reprint, but the actual one from back in the 1950s. Besides the campy appeal of the 50's hairstyles and writing style, I thought the most interesting aspect of this book was its nature as a forerunner to the modern USMC combat manual (also available from Paladin Press, ironically). The progression from sabre-style knife fighting back in the day to the modern kali-resembling style is especially interesting, and the shift in bayonet technique as well (now that stocks are not shatter-able wood anymore, there's more thought put into using the whole rifle as a weapon; further, the modern manual addresses multiple opponents and Marines). Interestingly, the hand-to-hand combat hasn't shifted that much, perhaps just more refined by the application of martial arts organization to MCMAP, and the modern addition of jujitsu. Conversely, there is a whole section in Cold Steel devoted to.....unorthodox stick fighting, but man is it intriguing (the majority of the techniques iniated from a reverse grip - what the hell is that about? it bears testing....). Conversely again, the modern manual has a section on improvised weapons, such as shovels, tent stakes, etc. But: Cold Steel has a concluding section on knife throwing, with one style I'd never even heard of ('frontier' style or some-such); the funny part is, it doesn't even indicate that section is for combat, but more for children.
-->"Slam your heel or foot down on his instep or kick at his kneecap until he is down. Then stomp and kick the moving parts. The ankle, knee, fingers, wrist, elbow, and of course, the neck are good stomping grounds." - p124
-->"The stick is a versatile weapon and its technique rises far above the common thought of bashing in your opponent's head. And that's a good defense, too." - p160

High Gear in Action - while I'm still trying to figure out whether I approve of Tony Blauer's whole 'flinch' idea, these are some fun videos that demonstrate what appears to be great, but cost-prohibitive, equipment

Inconstant Constants - interesting, though I think I have something of a Baha'i opinion on the drive towards a theory of everything

The Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks at 8th and I in DC was a great way to spend an..er, evening. Before the show itself in the courtyard of the barracks, some of the Marines put on what was practically a comedy show ("No flash photography is allowed during the such-and-such....but that doesn't include now *strikes pose*"). The marching bands are top notch, natch, and the silent drill team is amazing (the only unfortunate part being that there isn't as much of that as in the Sunset Parade). The gals do get a chance to get pictures taken with cute Marines afterward, though.

Heretics of Dune, by Frank Herbert. Of course, I could gush about anything one of my favorite authors writes, etc. I will note a certain fierce pleasure in even understanding the novel, however. I had to read some of the chapter-segments repeatedly, but it was worth it. In Heretics and its sister-novel Chapterhouse Dune have an interesting pattern embedded within them - a plan or intrigue or what-have-you (or several) is set in motion in the beginning of the story. Over the course of the story, clues and even between-the-lines instructions are given, and the astute and persistent reader can solve the various mysteries (I will say with some consternation that it took me to the very last line of Heretics to have any solid revelation, though when I did it combined knowledge of martial arts, religious references, and the kind of quantum mechanics and existentialism from last semester's philosophy).

The Longest Yard, with Adam Sandler and Burt Reynolds. Through some of the jokes seemed forced and the McDonald's thing was just annoying, pretty good, overall. That is, I generally don't like comedies, but this was worth the matinee price, at any rate. And it had what any good football movie should have: awesome slow motion moves. Cousin Freddy cautioned back East that if one had seen the original it wouldn't be a good idea to see this one.

"Irritated one afternoon by a business partner's negativism, I snapped that we had enough problems without him playing the Mercutio in our garden. He was a red-headed Irish-American lawyer, a graduate of Georgetown, no less, where he lost his religion to no comparative effect. He turned beet-red with ire. I thought he would slug me. I still can't figure out what he imagined I was accusing him of, maybe masturbating, but the thrust of my jibe was utterly lost on him."

      So, back from D.C. and Virginia with lots of random stuff. My dad attended the 5th World Bonsai Convention, which apparently had some spectacular trees (having been styled since the early 1800's in some cases) and workshops with various famous senseis. He also got me a supercool knife and some very, very tiny scissors. We also saw a good portion of Rolling Thunder in our various drivings-around; and while this is totally disrespectful to the purpose of it, it provided an opportunity to see the backside of several female firefighters waving from the top of their truck. It also incidentally flooded the D.C. area with lots of really nice people, as bikers are wont to be. I also found out that scalp wounds bleed profusely (and that I really forgot how to catch baseballs). And I'll probably take a week or so to actually post everything from the trip, so yay.

Wyatt's usual hamburger review:
Uno - "10 oz, meat is good but bland, toppings are mediocre, bread is bland, nothing special"

"I can say God, but that is not my God. That is only a noise and no more potent than any other noise."