A League of Their Own, with Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, and Geena Davis. Sweet and cute, generally. I'm still curious as to why the real-life women's league is defunct, but the movie was a nice presentation of and dedication to its beginnings. There's a lot of genuinely funny moments, and natural, smooth acting. And the no-crying-in-baseball scene, which is definitely worth rewinding all the way back to; and the girl who played Tank Girl is in it.

definitely gets a rating of eep, but they get like that, albeit to a lesser degree probably, on the way to Phoenix as well

Colonel Blimp - strange and interesting music videos (I liked Oceania by Lynn Fox, Blazing by Diamond Dogs, Out of Sight by Blue Source and Sing for Absolution by Ark)

Wagiman online dictionary - "Ten speakers and 'several' dialects! Now, that's what I call stubborn diversity."

The Art of Daarken - art (some Eberron and George Martin stuff in there)

Serenity - no, I don't remember exactly why the television series [Firefly] fell flat for me, but the few vague reasons why seem to be blown out of the water by this trailer

I could see this kind of hat making for bad come-ons come Halloween

The Alternative Dictionaries - ah, joyous day (though I'm curious as to what dialect of Arabic they use, because someone tell me if I'm wrong but it's certainly not Levantine)

yet another reason why Get Fuzzy is aweso

      "The problem for the Aztec oral culture, based as it was on a ritual and cyclic interpretation of reality, was that there was simply no place in its scheme of things for the unpredicted arrival of Cortez...Aztec communication is always between man and world, because knowledge always proceeds from a reality which is already fixed, ordered, and given. On the other hand European communication is between man and man.
      ...Montezuma's problem was that no basis existed for an adequate understanding of the information he recieved about the conquistadores because no place existed for them in Aztec reality - the Other was always that which could be foreseen...When he receives information from spies about Cortez, 'Montezuma lowered his head, and without answering a word, placed his hand upon his mouth.' Faced with the inexplicable, the only recourse of the oral system is silence." - from The Empire Writes Back

      Recently a TKD instructor that rents mat time from our dojo failed a student at a rank test; the student had just plain stopped, unable or unwilling to go on. One take on that is that the instructor was perhaps in a sense almost trying to make the student give up, having him run suicides for faster and faster times every time another student performed better than him in a given technique or form sparring. That perspective would point out that the student certainly wasn't going to get any faster or better as he was more and more physically worn out, and that such a purely physical aspect shouldn't have that much of a place in a rank test. Another take on the issue is that the student hopefully walked away from the test with the realization in mind that maybe he really wasn't ready for it at that point, but that he will be able to become ready for it in the future. The test of his conditioning, according to this perspective, might not be so central to testing, but should nonetheless be a vital and important part of the student's general training. From this side of the issue, the only really lamentable part is that there was no dialogue between the student and teacher after the test.

interesting verb: cathect, to inject with libidinal energy

though Xuemei and I are quite pleased with our Chef Tony knives, these probably top them, at least aesthetically

"All satire...necessarily carries a utopian frame of reference within itself; all utopias, no matter how serene or disembodied, are driven secretly by the satirist's rage at a fallen reality."

a wonderful rundown of Sayoc Kali, probably of general interest as a martial arts article, or especial interest if the fight scenes in The Hunted are considered amazing

Paige Bradley - sculpture

collection of advice for randori-practice, generally specific to aiki/jujitsu/judo or shuai chiao, but the ideas are perfectly applicable otherwise

hazaar fucked - bit on mixed languages (hazaar means thousand)

personal Rosetta stone - probably not generally useful, but the different scripts are pretty

"...let a sufferer try to describe a pain in his head to a doctor and language at once runs dry. There is nothing ready made for him. He is forced to coin words himself, and, taking his pain in one hand, and a lump of pure sound in the other (as perhaps the people of Babel did in the beginning), so to crush them together that a brand new word in the end drops out." - Virginia Woolf, 'On Being Ill'

eva widermann - art

stealth tech - interesting article via Wyatt

The Art of Joe Chiodo - he did a great Freefall portrait once, for the two that'll get that reference

      I thought this article was great, because I'm a linguaphile, but it also reminded me of a martial arts thing (can one be a martial arts nerd?). In any case, it was a random connection that happened in my head while learning forms for our dojo's Okinawan karate; forms, at least on the English side of things (as opposed to Japanese kata), I thought, might be kind of like Plato's forms. That is, in the sense that they are an ideal to work towards; the trick is, the exact movements are almost never something that one would use in a practical sense, so to me that's like the ideal never quite showing up in our perception of the real world/real fight. We take what principles and ideas and sequencing we can from the forms, but we still have to live in the shadowplay real world. Maybe that's trite, but it's a work in progress, so neener.

From the aforementioned article, an interesting way of description, haven't quite figured it out yet: "...the higher, intuitive, self-knowing mind, which connects with consciousness; the lower-thinking, rational mind, which connects consciousness to the outer world via the senses; and the ego, which exists in a space between the higher and the lower mind."

Every movement a cut.

When we use the wooden swords,
sometimes I wonder if they are still alive
in some way. Does the heat of our hands
waken something in the dead material?
They dry, quiescent in their racks, freed
from any aroma of trees but still rich in red
brown golden color. But in our hands, they
sing as they part the air, and snarl in voices
of boughs breaking when they clash. Dead,
and alive.

But there should be no clash, he instructs.
It would ruin the edge. Every cut, every
thrust, every parry passing each other with a
whisper and a caress. In dilated time, the
dead wood becomes part of a living limb,
and strikes.

A stick in the shape of a sword has no real
edge, though. It is no razor, but a bludgeon.
Why not let it impact heavily,
use what weight it has? It is no blade.
Regardless, he says, slipping my parry and
placing the living wood, gently, against my
deadened throat -
Every movement a cut.

I'm all written out from my thesis at the moment. So:

SWE3 game trailer - interestingly, better I think than the one for the movie in some ways

my favorite is 'it has no idea i'm gay'

superbike concept - I can't decide whether that's ugly or oddly intriguing, or both

supposedly, it generates a Mondrian image for you, though I'm curious as to what the rules that govern it are

Sideways, with Paul Giamatti, Sandra Oh, Thomas Church, and Virginia Madsen. As much as I tried to watch this with an admonition in mind that a film can be good even if you find some of the characters reprehensible, Sideways didn't really make it easy on me. The acting was superb nonetheless, and there were hilarious moments and touching moments. But there was also a good deal of space that had me uncomfortable or annoyed, and having to figure out what purpose that served. I'm not sure I want to go by my first opinion of the movie, but I don't really want to watch it again, either.

Beyond embiggens and cromulent - why yes, I am a complete and total nerd, and yes, I do enjoy that sort of thing

random poetic phrases I've heard lately:
"Every movement a cut." (in reference to swordplay)
"He takes himself away to a place that is more inward than is safe to go."
"A bottle of wine is still alive."

      As much as people complain about the long wait times in Emergency Rooms, there is a good reason for it. In the triage area, there are usually two or three staff whose job it is to decide who goes into the ER when. The trick is, there is usually limited space in the ER, and potential patients might range from a total jerk who is complaining of phantom abdominal pain, to a woman who is humbly going into labor but not wanting to bother anyone (both of which actually happened on the same day). So the triage staff have to manage the amount of space in the ER and decide which of the people trying to self-diagnose themselves they should give a room to; basically, the people who rotate through that job hate it because of the stress involved.

Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel. As much as I'd like to recommend this book to everyone and their mother, at the same time I can think of less than a handful of people who might enjoy or appreciate it. Not for any pretentious reasons on my part, I hope, but because the subject matter - while in its simplest sense, is archery - is so esoteric. To paraphrase Herrigel, he is attempting to write about something that can't be communicated through text, so the best he can do is relate his experience and describe it. I thought it tangentially interesting that while the three primary arts discussed in conjunction with zen are archery, swordsmanship, and flower arranging, jujitsu was mentioned as a secondary aspect of zen - because of its similararity to sword-play in involving an opponent, but difference in that blending is the primary and necessary tactic.

I don't like it yet, and feel it needs to be changed and added to; bleh. Thoughts?

Ink

So this is what permanence feels like -
to outline the image in my skin,
it seems a scalpel must be drawn,
slowly, across my flesh.

Will this really last forever?

I ask myself as the bone
in my shoulder shudders
under the jackhammer rhythm of the needle.

Now a hook, tugging
at the nerves in my spine;
it seems a wonder
that I won't be able to feel

the ink. Something feels cool
and wet where the scribbling
of a dull razor isn't; blood,
blue dye, I'm not sure.

I roll my shoulders when he's done,
a sunburn of color across my back.

Basic Judaism, by Milton Steinberg. I read this because I've been curious about Judaism for a long time and never really been able to get straight answers about it, but this book definitely satisfied. The style is dry enough that I had to read it more slowly than I'm used to, but the information is simple and well-organized, so all in all it was pleasant enough to read.

Striking + Takedowns + Groundwork - I'm not really a fan of this website, but at least in this article they provide a really simplified summary of what goes into MMA training, with some nice examples of application on the bottom. The one bit I think they should have added one more bullet with is the 'Standing Grappling' section, which focuses entirely on Western wrestling takedowns, and ignores any of the aspects of upper-body work and unbalancing found in that same Western wrestling, Muay Thai, and Japanese wrestling. Oh, and dude in white, yeah your knee strike looks all pretty with your toes pointed, but seriously man, there is potential for pain on your part. Yes I know he can't hear me shut up.

"complete and total burnination" - we discovered a box of fireworks in cleaning the garage, but will perhaps have to experiment with a cholla

Storm Corps - yes, there seems to be something off about the art (which admittedly grew on me over time), but the premise is...interesting, the extended setting is very nicely put together, and later on in the story there are hints of what might be a really interesting riff, not sure how to describe it

      Periodic eastside KoSho news happy fun time: we still have lots of extra kicking and striking pads to sell for anyone interested, and even some Very Large Mirrors. I'm working on some paralette bars to add to the gym at the back, and we finally (thanks to Wyatt and my dad) have a decent training pistol to practice CDT take-away's with. Our burdgeoning MMA program is still, well, burdgeoning, but hey - that's why we're the eastside pizza delivery people/enlisted Marine or AF or soldier/night-shift cop dojo where we can barely get any schedule settled. But hey, relatively near 24/7 variable amounts of martial arts is a good thing. Yes.
      As for our aiki-jujitsu class the new drills of the day are the Ball Drills (for lack of inventive names as of yet). One involves tossing a medicine ball in any way at all, so long as the catcher blends with the momentum of the ball and uses its energy to keep it going to the next person. Or falls over in doing so and takes a medicine ball in the face. The other involves a marshmallow ball being whipped around the mats, and various airborne or possibly faceplanting on a failed attempt rolls that work on catching or picking up said ball, blending with said ball, and blending with the ground. These drills walk that razor line between genius and stupidity that makes class that much funner.

      Tangentially, I ran into an odd dynamic during kickboxing; the person that walked in the door turned out to be the popular, attractive senior I had sat next to as a geeky freshman in band. She was now fleshier, had a sorority girl tattoo, and didn't know a thing about martial arts, so now all of a sudden (in terms of knowledge/position, I mean) there was almost a reversal from the last time we'd seen each other way back in in high school. Awk-ward, and i'm still not sure why.

Macaulay's "Minute on Indian Education" - okay so I'm just using it for a footnote in my thesis, but it's pretty interesting to even just skim through in terms of historical perspective

henna - Anybody up for it? The last I got at the street fair wasn't worth saving from the quick erasing-by-hospital-soap

Coin Manipulation - Hoo boy...this was probably the worst thing I could look up while doing homework (re: X's scolding), but I'm rationalizing it by claiming that the 'balance toss' is perfect for practicing multiple [Western boxing] jabs (coming soon to a dojo near you)

      An ad hoc analogy for the development of physical intelligence, by Kevin and I...Kevin and me? Stupid grammar. Anyway, we likened the the increased connection between mind and body to evolution of the telephone. A little kid trying to tell his limbs to do something and then having something else entirely happen might be like the oldest-school phones where you didn't dial, but had an operator connect you. Moving up through various degrees, such as rotary phone and speed-dial, the other end of the spectrum would be the Zen end, as it were; the connection is already made practically before the thought happens.

Why is it that the only word Xuemei and I could think of for the male equivalent of "mistress" is lover? Or rather, aren't the connotations of each interesting when compared to each other?

Admiral, I shrunk the spy plane - periodic fun robot link (via Wyatt)

Really dumbed down folklore story of Chang E, the Moon Lady (because Xuemei was confused when I was trying to remember the old yarn about fae on the moon/the moon as Arcadia)

Ultimate Fighter - just a plug for what I originally thought was just another inane reality show but seems to have improved massively since it started, at least judging by the last couple episodes I randomly caught

Fire Warrior, by Simon Spurrier. Much to my dismay, I couldn't put this book down long enough to get any work done on my thesis, so hopefully my advisor will take a good book as an excuse. Yes, it's skiffy fluff, but it's good skiffy fluff, with the solid combination of a fast-moving adventure story, empathy-inducing characters, and cinematographic action. The climax is great, but the resolution after that is a bit of a letdown, though I suppose it is logical enough. There's some layers worth of social commentary in there as well, if I'm not mistaken, though I'm not exactly sure which way they were leaning, I need somebody else to read it to talk about it with.

World City Inventory

Britain for Americans - so much sarcasm...

the Falkirk Wheel - I have no idea; but it sure seems interesting

Sin City, with a helluva lot of good actors. Really...unique. The style was impeccable and true to the three graphic novels the three different stories in the movie are based on, though there were a few points where the actors seemed to be trying a bit too hard to imitate old-school noir. The distinct stories were interesting in that it seems like the movie ends three times over, which is apparently doubly trippy if you don't know it's going to happen beforehand. The subject matter and gore is definitely not for the faint of heart (or stomach), even in its stylized way, and while the nudity or near-thereof is certainly pleasant on a shallow level, the movie as a whole is demeaning to women. So...it was certainly interesting.

Thing With Feathers - art

Hm...Apu is the only one that stays the same...

Apparently, I am not the only one to have been charmed by the squishy intrigue that is the cephalopod -
-Hold the Kalamari - arguments both ways on intelligence, and "Researchers have discovered spines lodged in octopus brains, the result of a meal going the wrong way." I think it's kind of interesting that if you eat pretty much any part of a cephalopod, in a sense you're probably eating part of its brain.
-Cephalopod Research - general information and a few interesting videos from Down Under
-For some reason this reminds me of a zombie movie...with zombie coconuts. And seaweed. They really should have used the seaweed version for an underwater scene in an old Godzilla movie, in my opinion.

It's a good thing all my spare change is stuck in the giant pink fuzzy Buddha

Best. Hypothetical. Question. Ever.