Stickgrappler's Sojourn of Septillion Steps

In Memory Of: Jerry Poteet

2012-01-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

It is with deep sadness that I report that JKD legend Jerry Poteet has passed away. Another of Bruce Lee's original students has joined him training and trapping in Heaven. I fondly recall buying the early VHS series he had and working the material.

My deepest condolences to his loved ones and students.

For more information:

http://www.jerrypoteet.com/jerry-bio.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Poteet

BOOKS: "The Principles of Unarmed Combat" by Mark Jacobs

2011-11-24T02:08:00.001-05:00

At last month's The Vanishing Flame: Burma event, I had the privilege and honor of meeting Mark Jacobs. Mark currently is a contributing editor as well as writing the monthly column "Far East" for Black Belt magazine. He had no ride to Connecticut and I volunteered to drive him.

Prior to our face-to-face meeting, we had exchanged a few emails when he was researching Phil Dunlap for his column. He came across my old archives in his internet searches and got some background on Phil. After his initial email, I thought his name rang a bell and I wasn't sure if he was the author of an article that appeared in the magazine Men's Fitness about the Dog Brothers. I asked him about it and it turns out that was his article.

Mark has a new book out, The Principles of Unarmed Combat. Copying the description from the publisher's site:

In The Principles of Unarmed Combat, Black Belt Magazine columnist Mark Jacobs breaks down the essential skills of empty-handed martial arts. Whether you train to win in the ring or survive on the street, this book will show you why some fighting skills work and why some don’t. Plus you’ll learn how to troubleshoot problem areas in your training, no matter what style you practice.

Mark Jacobs has interviewed doctors and physicists, analyzed key scientific studies and synthesized the best available information about how to make martial arts work better. The result is a comprehensive, heavily researched guide to everything you should know about striking and grappling, offense and defense, and even the mental aspects of training.

The Principles of Unarmed Combat is made up of over 50 chapters, organized into 10 information packed sections. You’ll get all of the topics you’d expect to find in a comprehensive guide to the fighting arts: posture, footwork, positioning, striking, kicking, takedowns and groundfighting. But unlike most how-to books, you’ll also get hard-to-find insider information on advanced topics like transitioning, fighting from the clinch, pain compliance, fight psychology, real world defense strategies and the dark side of sport fighting.

Mark Jacobs has combined his decades in the martial arts with his skills as a professional journalist to create one of the most comprehensive books ever written on the skills, techniques, strategies and tactics of unarmed combat.

On the drive down, my training partner was napping as the event finished at 12 midnight, and his car was at my house and he would have to be awake to drive home. As a precaution, I drank a Red Bull AND a Coke Zero prior to the drive home. I was pretty sure I would not fall asleep at the wheel, but you never know. Thank goodness Mark was awake and in a chatty mood. There was one stretch where there were no lamps and it was raining pretty hard. We chatted on various topics including MMA and but of course martial arts. Everyone made it home safe.

He offered to pay for gas and I could not and would not accept his kind offer. He had his publisher send me a review copy of his book. The book finally arrived and I will start reading it tomorrow. My review is forthcoming. Although I consider Mark a friend, my review will be objective. At a little over 350 pages and 50 chapters or so, I don't know when I will finish reading and post a review LOL.

Ordering Info

http://www.turtlepress.com/The_Principles_of_Unarmed_Combat_p/342.html

Check the link out for some sample pages as well as a Table of Contents and brief bio on Mark. Looks like Turtle has free shipping!

Rickson Gracie: "You have to be able to live in your worst nightmare."

2011-11-24T01:42:00.001-05:00

In the current issue of Black Belt magazine, I read an article on Rickson Gracie and his combat psychology. I typed up one part of the article for my personal notes and also to share with you. IMO, this quote is very powerful and pure gold!

I liked the writing style of the author and cannot wait for the book to be published. Although I have many books on my To Read list, when this book is available, it will jump to the top of my list! In all likelihood, I won't have a chance to train with Rickson Gracie, let alone the other 9 masters in the book, but from the article, it is clear that the author was able to get into the minds of the masters. Rickson IMO is a throwback to the warriors of old... part warrior and part philosopher. Showing my age here, but to paraphrase the old E.F. Hutton commercial, "When Rickson Gracie speaks, I listen!"

How many of us are mentally tough enough to put ourselves in a place/situation that we know will test and challenge us? It is easy to be complacent and always look to do what you are strongest or feel the most comfortable doing, but can you do as Rickson advises? Is your ego/confidence fragile? Are you mentally tough?

... Gracie talked about the importance of regular jiu-jitsu training and being put in uncomfortable situations.

"Where there's discomfort, there's fear," he said. "In these very tough positions, you're in a little piece of hell. And through this daily suffering, you learn to survive in these situations. You have to find comfort in uncomfortable situations. You have to be able to live in your worst nightmare. Jiu-jitsu puts you completely in the moment where you must have complete focus on finding a solution to the problem. This trains the mind to build that focus, to increase your awareness, your capacity to solve problems. Sometimes, you don't have to win. You cannot win. But that has nothing to do with losing."

Source
"Live In Your Worst Nightmare - The Fighting Wisdom of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Master Rickson Gracie"
by Steven Abood
Black Belt
January 2012
pg 65

Note

Rickson is one of 10 masters author Steven Abood interviewed and is writing about in his upcoming book "Ten Jiu-jitsu Masters". It's a book that chronicles the life stories and life lessons he learned form a decade of training under the greatest masters of our time. Abood posts as "FatBuddha" on http://www.mixedmartialarts.com.

11/11/11 11:11pm/Happy Veteran's Day/Jan 2012 Black Belt magazine heads-up

2011-11-11T23:12:00.001-05:00

Just missed posting on this magical date and time. LOL @ me

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To all veterans, Happy Veteran's Day!

This one is for you Grandpa. He served America during World War 2.

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Check out the Jan 2012 Black Belt magazine, there's an interesting column by Mark Jacobs called Far East... this month's profile/column is on Master Zulfi Ahmed. He learned bando from a Pakistani master as well as Dr. Gyi. Talks about his childhood and traveling all over learning many other styles including Kushti.

This issue of Black Belt Magazine also contains:

- 2 MMA Champions...2 MMA Organizations...1 Exclusive Interview (UFC Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Bellator Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez)

- Go Inside the Mind of BJJ Legend Rickson Gracie - article by Steven Abood - this was pretty interesting. Love these types of articles where the author/interviewer are able to get into the minds of their subjects, in this specific instance, the great Rickson Gracie!

- Learn to Develop More Explosive Karate Kicks and Punches - Live In Training: Chinese Martial Arts Done Right in Northern California - about Dr. Yang Jwing-ming.

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For more information on Master Zulfi, please check out his site:

http://bushiban.com/

IN MEMORY OF: Smokin' Joe Frazier (January 12, 1944 – November 7, 2011)

2011-11-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

Copied and pasted from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/sports/joe-frazier-ex-heavyweight-champ-dies-at-67.html:

November 7, 2011

Joe Frazier, Ex-Heavyweight Champ, Dies at 67

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Joe Frazier won the undisputed heavyweight title with a 15-round decision over Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in March 1971, in an extravaganza known as the Fight of the Century.

Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight champion whose furious and intensely personal fights with a taunting Muhammad Ali endure as an epic rivalry in boxing history, died Monday night at his home in Philadelphia. He was 67.

His business representative, Leslie Wolff, said the cause was liver cancer. An announcement over the weekend that Frazier had received the diagnosis in late September and had been moved to hospice care early this month prompted an outpouring of tributes and messages of support.

Known as Smokin’ Joe, Frazier stalked his opponents around the ring with a crouching, relentless attack — his head low and bobbing, his broad, powerful shoulders hunched — as he bore down on them with an onslaught of withering jabs and crushing body blows, setting them up for his devastating left hook.

It was an overpowering modus operandi that led to versions of the heavyweight crown from 1968 to 1973. Frazier won 32 fights in all, 27 by knockouts, losing four times — twice to Ali in furious bouts and twice to George Foreman. He also recorded one draw.

A slugger who weathered repeated blows to the head while he delivered punishment, Frazier proved a formidable figure. But his career was defined by his rivalry with Ali, who ridiculed him as a black man in the guise of a Great White Hope. Frazier detested him.

Ali vs. Frazier was a study in contrasts. Ali: tall and handsome, a wit given to spouting poetry, a magnetic figure who drew adulation and denigration alike, the one for his prowess and outsize personality, the other for his antiwar views and Black Power embrace of Islam. Frazier: a bull-like man of few words with a blue-collar image and a glowering visage who in so many ways could be on an equal footing with his rival only in the ring.

Ali proclaimed, “I am the greatest” and he preened how he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Frazier had no inclination for oratorical bravado. “Work is the only meanin’ I’ve ever known,” he told Playboy in 1973. “Like the man in the song says, I just gotta keep on keepin’ on.”

Frazier won the undisputed heavyweight title with a 15-round decision over Ali at Madison Square Garden in March 1971, in an extravaganza known as the Fight of the Century. Ali scored a 12-round decision over Frazier at the Garden in a nontitle bout in January 1974. Then came the Thrilla in Manila championship bout, in October 1975, regarded as one of the greatest fights in boxing history. It ended when a battered Frazier, one eye swollen shut, did not come out to face Ali for the 15th round.

The Ali-Frazier battles played out at a time when the heavyweight boxing champion was far more celebrated than he is today, a figure who could stand alone in the spotlight a decade before an alphabet soup of boxing sanctioning bodies arose, making it difficult for the average fan to figure out just who held what title.

The rivalry was also given a political and social cast. Many viewed the Ali-Frazier matches as a snapshot of the struggles of the 1960s. Ali, an adherent of the Nation of Islam who had changed his name from Cassius Clay, came to represent rising black anger in America and opposition to the Vietnam War. Frazier voiced no political views, but he was nonetheless depicted, to his consternation, as the favorite of the establishment. Ali called him ignorant, likened him to a gorilla and said his black supporters were Uncle Toms.

“Frazier had become the white man’s fighter, Mr. Charley was rooting for Frazier, and that meant blacks were boycotting him in their heart,” Norman Mailer wrote in Life magazine after the first Ali-Frazier bout.

Frazier, wrote Mailer, was “twice as black as Clay and half as handsome,” with “the rugged decent life-worked face of a man who had labored in the pits all his life.”

Frazier could never match Ali’s charisma or his gift for the provocative quote. He was essentially a man devoted to a brutal craft, willing to give countless hours to his spartan training-camp routine and unsparing of his body inside the ring.

“The way I fight, it’s not me beatin’ the man: I make the man whip himself,” Frazier told Playboy. “Because I stay close to him. He can’t get out the way.” He added: “Before he knows it — whew! — he’s tired. And he can’t pick up his second wind because I’m right back on him again.”

In his autobiography, “Smokin’ Joe,” written with Phil Berger, Frazier said his first trainer, Yank Durham, had given him his nickname. It was, he said, “a name that had come from what Yank used to say in the dressing room before sending me out to fight: ‘Go out there, goddammit, and make smoke come from those gloves.’ “

Foreman knocked out Frazier twice but said he had never lost his respect for him. “Joe Frazier would come out smoking,” Foreman told ESPN. “If you hit him, he liked it. If you knocked him down, you only made him mad.”

Durham said he saw a fire always smoldering in Frazier. “I’ve had plenty of other boxers with more raw talent,” he told The New York Times Magazine in 1970, “but none with more dedication and strength.”

Ali himself was conciliatory when Frazier’s battle with cancer became publicly known. “My family and I are keeping Joe and his family in our daily prayers,” Ali said in his statement over the weekend. “Joe has a lot of friends pulling for him, and I’m one of them.”

And when word reached him that Frazier had died, Ali, in another statement, said: “The world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration.”

Billy Joe Frazier was born on Jan. 12, 1944, in Laurel Bay, S.C., the youngest of 12 children. His father, Rubin, and his mother, Dolly, worked in the fields, and the youngster known as Billy Boy dropped out of school at 13. He dreamed of becoming a boxing champion, throwing his first punches at burlap sacks he stuffed with moss and leaves, pretending to be Joe Louis or Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore.

At 15, Frazier went to New York to live with a brother. A year later he moved to Philadelphia, taking a job in a slaughterhouse. At times he battered sides of beef, using them as a punching bag to work out, the kind of scene used by Slyvester Stallone in the film “Rocky,” though Stallone said that he drew on the life of the heavyweight contender Chuck Wepner in developing the Rocky character.

Durham discovered Frazier boxing to lose weight at a Police Athletic League gym in Philadelphia. Under Durham’s guidance, Frazier captured a Golden Gloves championship and won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

He turned pro in August 1965, with financial backing from businessmen calling themselves the Cloverlay Group (from cloverleaf, for good luck, and overlay, a betting term signifying good odds). He won his first 11 bouts by knockouts. By winter 1968, his record was 21-0.

A year before Frazier’s pro debut, Cassius Clay won the heavyweight championship in a huge upset of Sonny Liston. Soon afterward, affirming his rumored membership in the Nation of Islam, he became Muhammad Ali. In April 1967, having proclaimed, “I ain’t got nothing against them Vietcong,” Ali refused to be drafted, claiming conscientious objector status. Boxing commissions stripped him of his title, and he was convicted of evading the draft.

An eight-man elimination tournament was held to determine a World Boxing Association champion to replace Ali. Frazier refused to participate when his financial backers objected to the contract terms for the tournament, and Jimmy Ellis took the crown.

But in March 1968, Frazier won the version of the heavyweight title recognized by New York and a few other states, defeating Buster Mathis with an 11th-round technical knockout. He took the W.B.A. title in February 1970, stopping Ellis, who did not come out for the fifth round.

In the summer of 1970, Ali won a court battle to regain his boxing license, then knocked out the contenders Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. The stage was set for an Ali-Frazier showdown, a matchup of unbeaten fighters, on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden.

Each man was guaranteed $2.5 million, the biggest boxing payday ever. Frank Sinatra was at ringside taking photos for Life magazine. The former heavyweight champion Joe Louis received a huge ovation. Hubert H. Humphrey, back in the Senate after serving as vice president, sat two rows in front of the Irish political activist Bernadette Devlin, who shouted, “Ali, Ali,” her left fist held high. An estimated 300 million watched on television worldwide, and the gate of $1.35 million set a record for an indoor bout.

Frazier, at 5 feet 11 1/2 inches and 205 pounds, gave up three inches in height and nearly seven inches in reach to Ali, but he was a 6-to-5 betting favorite. Just before the fighters received their instructions from the referee, Ali, displaying his arrogance of old, twice touched Frazier’s shoulders as he whirled around the ring. Frazier just glared at him.

Frazier wore Ali down with blows to the body while moving underneath Ali’s jabs. In the 15th round, Frazier unleashed his famed left hook, catching Ali on the jaw and flooring him for a count of 4, only the third time Ali had been knocked down. Ali held on, but Frazier won a unanimous decision.

Frazier declared, “I always knew who the champ was.”

Frazier continued to bristle over Ali’s taunting. “I’ve seen pictures of him in cars with white guys, huggin’ ‘em and havin’ fun,” Frazier told Sport magazine two months after the fight. “Then he go call me an Uncle Tom. Don’t say, ‘I hate the white man,’ then go to the white man for help.”

For Frazier, 1971 was truly triumphant. He bought a 368-acre estate called Brewton Plantation near his boyhood home and became the first black man since Reconstruction to address the South Carolina Legislature. Ali gained vindication in June 1971 when the United States Supreme Court overturned his conviction for draft evasion.

Frazier defended his title against two journeymen, Terry Daniels and Ron Stander, but Foreman took his championship away on Jan. 22, 1973, knocking him down six times in their bout in Kingston, Jamaica, before the referee stopped the fight in the second round.

Frazier met Ali again in a nontitle bout at the Garden on Jan. 28, 1974. Frazier kept boring in and complained that Ali was holding in the clinches, but Ali scored with flurries of punches and won a unanimous 12-round decision.

Ali won back the heavyweight title in October 1974, knocking out Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire — the celebrated Rumble in the Jungle. Frazier went on to knock out Quarry and Ellis, setting up his third match, and second title fight, with Ali: the Thrilla in Manila, on Oct. 1, 1975.

In what became the most brutal Ali-Frazier battle, the fight was held at the Philippine Coliseum at Quezon City, outside the country’s capital, Manila. The conditions were sweltering, with hot lights overpowering the air-conditioning.

Ali, almost a 2-to-1 betting favorite in the United States, won the early rounds, largely remaining flat-footed in place of his familiar dancing style. Before Round 3 he blew kisses to President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, in the crowd of about 25,000.

But in the fourth round, Ali’s pace slowed while Frazier began to gain momentum. Chants of “Frazier, Frazier” filled the arena by the fifth round, and the crowd seemed to favor him as the fight moved along, a contrast to Ali’s usually enjoying the fans’ plaudits.

Frazier took command in the middle rounds. Then Ali came back on weary legs, unleashing a flurry of punches to Frazier’s face in the 12th round. He knocked out Frazier’s mouthpiece in the 13th round, then sent him stumbling backward with a straight right hand.

Ali jolted Frazier with left-right combinations late in the 14th round. Frazier had already lost most of the vision in his left eye from a cataract, and his right eye was puffed and shut from Ali’s blows.

Eddie Futch, a renowned trainer working Frazier’s corner, asked the referee to end the bout. When it was stopped, Ali was ahead on the scorecards of the referee and two judges. “It’s the closest I’ve come to death,” Ali said.

Frazier returned to the ring nine months later, in June 1976, to face Foreman at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Foreman stopped him on a technical knockout in the fifth round. Frazier then announced his retirement. He was 32.

He later managed his eldest son, Marvis, a heavyweight. In December 1981 he returned to the ring to fight a journeyman named Jumbo Cummings, fought to a draw, then retired for good, tending to investments from his home in Philadelphia.

Both Frazier and Ali had daughters who took up boxing, and in June 2001 it was Ali-Frazier IV when Frazier’s daughter Jacqui Frazier-Lyde fought Ali’s daughter Laila Ali at a casino in Vernon, N.Y. Like their fathers in their first fight, both were unbeaten. Laila Ali won on a decision. Joe Frazier was in the crowd of 6,500, but Muhammad Ali, impaired by Parkinson’s syndrome, was not.

In addition to his son Marvis and his daughter Jacqui, Frazier is survived by his sons Hector, Joseph Rubin, Joseph Jordan, Brandon Marcus and Derek Dennis; his daughters Weatta, Jo-Netta, Renae and Natasha, and a sister. His marriage to his wife, Florence, ended in divorce.

Long after his fighting days were over, Frazier retained his enmity for Ali. But in March 2001, the 30th anniversary of the first Ali-Frazier bout, Ali told The New York Times: “I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn’t have said. Called him names I shouldn’t have called him. I apologize for that. I’m sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight.”

Asked for a response, Frazier said: “We have to embrace each other. It’s time to talk and get together. Life’s too short.”

Fascination with the Ali-Frazier saga has endured.

After a 2008 presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, the Republican media consultant Stuart Stevens said that McCain should concentrate on selling himself to America rather than criticizing Obama. Stevens’s prescription: “More Ali and less Joe Frazier.”

Frazier’s true feelings toward Ali in his final years seemed murky.

The 2009 British documentary “Thrilla in Manila,” shown in the United States on HBO, depicted Frazier watching a film of the fight from his apartment above the gym he ran in Philadelphia.

“He’s a good-time guy,” John Dower, the director of “Thrilla in Manila,” told The Times. “But he’s angry about Ali.”

In March 2011, however, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the first Ali-Frazier fight, Frazier said he was willing to put the enmity behind him.

“I forgave him for all the accusations he made over the years,” The Daily News quoted Frazier as saying. “I hope he’s doing fine. I’d love to see him.”

But as Frazier once told The Times: “Ali always said I would be nothing without him. But who would he have been without me?”

Some links:

RIP Champ

The Vanishing Flame: Burma - Saturday, October 1, 2011

2011-09-29T07:56:00.000-04:00

Been jammed at home, been wanting to put this up earlier...

Copied from Real Art's The Vanishing Flame: Burma Facebook page:

One Night only, Saturday, October 1, 2011

RAW Teaser from Vanishing Flame on Vimeo.

... The Vanishing Flame series by filmmaker Vincent Giordano is a twenty-year investigative journey into the hidden martial traditions of Southeast Asia and India. This special presentation focuses on the martial traditions of Burma exploring the rich ethnic diversity and cultural heritage woven within the ancient martial traditions.

The evening will include a series of short films, followed by a live discussion with a panel of experts highlighting not only the physical techniques but also the deeply spiritual roots of the traditional martial arts.

Special Guests:
Burmese Grandmaster Maung Gyi, Ph.D.
Master Zulfi Ahmed
Master Mary Mester
Camus Celli

"Perhaps most interesting was his piece on the rare Tiger Spirit Dancers Of Myanmar (formerly Burma) engaging in a ritual that supposedly infuses them with the spirit of the beast. The practice is becoming increasingly rare because it's frowned on by the country's authoritarian rulers…the footage made for a unique, colorful look into a nearly extinct cultural tradition."- Mark Jacobs, Black Belt Magazine

(2011, Burma/USA, 70 mins)

Please visit Real Art's The Vanishing Flame: Burma Facebook page or http://www.realartways.org/ for directions or more info.

The special guests should make this night an especially memorable event... a Who's Who of Bando and the Martial Arts in general. Couldn't make the previous event, trying to make it to his one. Enjoy!

The Vanishing Flame: A Filmmaker’s Journey to Document the Endangered Martial Arts of Asia

2011-03-01T23:28:00.045-05:00

Screening and Live Event hosted by The Museum of the Moving Image

Sunday, March 20, 1:00 p.m.

35 Avenue at 37 Street
Astoria, NY 11106

Over the past two decades, New York filmmaker Vincent Giordano has traveled throughout Southeast Asia documenting martial arts masters whose unique styles and practices are on the verge of extinction. This journey has taken him to India, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Giordano will talk about his journey and mission with Warrington Hudlin, Museum trustee and Fist and Sword series curator. The program will include rare public appearances by some very special surprise guests, and the talk will be highlighted by the screening of Giordano’s footage of endangered Asian martial arts and their last master practitioners.

Following the screening, Vincent Giordano will participate in a DVD-signing in the Museum Store.

Free with Museum admission.

This is an exciting opportunity to meet Vincent Giordano and learn more about his research projects into the dying Southeast Asian martial arts. If you are a member of the Vanishing Flame emailing list, you know about the upcoming book, The Vanishing Flame. For those that don't, the book will be about the dying bareknuckle arts of Southeast Asia. Vincent Giordano has shared some of his research via his detailed email accounts of his trips as well as footage of various styles/arts/fights on dvd to list members only. The Village of the Keris dvd which I reviewed here was a commercial dvd. The members only dvd's are not sold as commercial dvd's, therefore, it's usually no-frills but each dvd are nominally priced compared to commercial dvd's.

Wonder who the surprise guests will be? This may be a veritable Who's Who in attendance. I am so psyched! Anyone going?

Copied from http://www.movingimage.us/visit/calendar/2011/03/20/detail/the-vanishing-flame-a-filmmakers-journey-to-document-the-endangered-martial-arts-of-asia

REVIEW: “Village of the Keris” DVD

2011-01-11T17:48:00.000-05:00

When I think “Thailand martial arts”, Muay Thai, Krabi Krabong and the various bareknuckle styles comes to mind. Little did I know that in the Southern region of Thailand, Silat is practiced instead of the indigenous Thai arts. In the “Village of the Keris” DVD, some of the Sila (Thai Silat) as practiced in Southern Thailand are demonstrated from the various lineages.

The meat of the DVD has Guru Atabu instructing on the making of the Keris as well as a form and application. Like Muay Thai’s 1-2-Round Kick, the “Village of the Keris” DVD is a good combination of overview, history, and technique. Excellent production values and good information makes this a good DVD. I highly recommend the “Village of the Keris” DVD to anyone with interest in Silat, Keris, Thai arts, as well as to any martial artists who contemplate travelling to different countries to train from the source.

For ordering, please go to http://www.thaikris.com/.

IN MEMORY OF: Ted Wong

2010-12-02T23:24:00.039-05:00

It is with deep sadness that I post of the passing of Sifu Ted Wong. My sincerest condolences to the Wong family and his students. The JKD Community has a suffered a great loss, and if I may be so bold, indeed, the Martial Arts Community has suffered a great loss.

An Intercepting Fist (2008) - a film by Annette Lee

www.brucelee.com's Remembering Bruce Lee - Shannon Lee and Ted Wong

I have not had many opportunities to formally train but of all the instructors I've wanted to train with, I wanted to learn from Sifu Ted Wong. One of my training partners, T, was fortunate to have had a private lesson with Wong Sifu some years ago.

Wong Sifu, may you rest in peace.

BOOKS: Way of the Ancient Healer by Virgil Mayor Apostol

2010-11-04T23:55:00.001-04:00

Way of the Ancient Healer: Sacred Teachings from the Philippine Ancestral

Traditions by Virgil Mayor Apostol (North Atlantic Books)

...
Way of the Ancient Healer provides an overview of the rich tradition of
Filipino healing practices, discussing their world influences and role
in daily life. Enhanced with over 300 photographs and illustrations,
the book gives readers a rare look at modern-day Filipino healing
rituals, including personal examples from author Virgil Apostol's
own experiences with shamanic healing and dream interpretation.
...

Please visit for more details:
 
http://www.rumsua.org/Other_Literary_Works.php#ancient_healer

Book is due out 12/28/10... this should be a good book. Not many,

if any at all, books on Hilot and the Filipino Healing methods.

Forthcoming review. My thanks to my good friend P. for the heads-up

on this book.

LINKS: Rumsua.org - Filipino Healing traditions

2010-11-04T23:50:00.012-04:00

http://www.rumsua.org/

My thanks to my friend good P. for the heads-up on this site. I've always been curious about Hilot,

the Filipino Healing Art, when I first read about it years ago on the now defunct Eskrima Digest.

There is an 1980's or 1990's article profiling Sam Tendecia in either Inside Kung Fu or Inside

Karate. If I recall correctly it mentioned that Dan Inosanto had an injury that Sam Tendecia cured

using Hilot methods.

Lots of information/articles on the Filipino Healing traditions at Virgil Apostol's site. Please visit it

and check it out. I will be later!

Filipino Martial Arts: From Kali and Escrima to Boxing

2010-11-04T23:45:00.000-04:00

October is Filipino American History Month
Upcoming Event—October 27, 2010
Filipino Martial Arts: From Kali and Escrima to Boxing

The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program and the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) present a screening of the documentary film, The Great Pinoy Boxing Era (Corky Pasquil and Agrafino Edralin) and hosts a panel discussion and demonstration on Filipino martial arts. The Great Pinoy Boxing Era is an insightful portrayal of the Filipino men who came to the U.S. not only as farm laborers but also as prize-winning boxers during the 1920s and 1930s. The film will be followed by a presentation from Professor Linda España-Maram along with presentations and demonstrations by internationally renowned martial artists Dan Inosanto and Rosie Abriam. Gem Daus of the University of Maryland-College Park will serve as moderator.

For those unable to attend the event, a live broadcast will be streamed on the day here.

When: Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 6:30—8:30 p.m.
Where: Carmichael Auditorium, National Museum of American History

More info here:

http://apanews.si.edu/2010/09/27/the-great-pinoy-boxing-era-showing/

Here is the whole panel discussion... let it load up... about the 1 hour mark, Guro Inosanto puts on a 25 minutes Filipino Martial Arts demo. Simply amazing!

Check out:

http://www.mybarong.com/great-pinoy-boxing-high-bandwidth-version-art-1082.html

for the documentary film, The Great Pinoy Boxing Era.

My thanks to Terry Crutcher for the heads up!

BOOKS: Americane: The Grasso / Morale Method of Personal Defense

2010-11-04T23:40:00.002-04:00

A practical guide for Personal Defense with a walking stick written by Ralph Grasso and Joshua Morale. It's 61 pages and can be purchased here:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/americane-the-grasso-morale-method-of-personal-defense/13513616

I will be purchasing this and a review is forthcoming. If you frequent the various Martial Arts forums, Ralph Grasso should be no stranger. He was a student of the late Carl Cestari as well as Amante 'Mat' Marinas and others. I expect the book to be good. The material will be simple and straightforward. I cannot wait to read the book!

Dog Brothers on Pay-Per-View Monday, October 18, 2010

2010-10-11T22:28:00.000-04:00

Great news... the Dog Brothers will be on PPV!

Cut and pasted from http://www.indemand.com/product/view/200437:

Stick Fights: Dog Bros' Cruel Combat
PPV Premiere: Monday, October 18, 2010

Dog Brothers Martial Arts (DBMA) presents its legendary Stick Fighting Battles for the 1st time ever on Pay Per View! Using its unique, “system of many styles”, DBMA combines Filipino & Indonesian Martial Arts and Dog Brother’s Grappling & Stick-Grappling, with some of the more traditional martial arts including Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and Akido. Watch these Extraordinary & Explosive “never before broadcast” bouts that take MMA to the highest level of Combat!

Running Time: 0:58
Rating: TV-14 (L,V)

Spread the word!

IN MEMORY OF: Master Christopher "Topher" Ricketts (1955-2010)

2010-10-06T22:54:00.009-04:00

Another terrible loss to the FMA Community. Yesterday Master Christopher "Topher" Ricketts of Bakbakan International passed away after a battle with cancer. He was only 55 years of age. He was one of the founders of Bakbakan, and also one of Antonio "Tatang" Illustrisimo's students, having studied under him along with Tony Diego, Yuli Romo and Edgar Sulite.

http://www.myfma.net/forum/topics/master-christopher-ricketts

My sincerest condolences to the Ricketts family as well as to the members of Bakbakan International and the Kalis Illustrisimo family.

Here is a videoclip of Master Ricketts and Tatang:

IN MEMORY OF: GM Ben Largusa (1926-2010)

2010-10-05T22:54:00.010-04:00

It is with sadness that I report that the Filipino Martial Arts community has lost another, GM Ben Largusa.

Image from Dan Inosanto's The Filipino Martial Arts book.

Copied and pasted from http://www.villabrillelargusakali.com/:

Grandmaster Ben Largusa was the first man to bring the Kali into the United States public arena. At the 1964 Ed Parker International Karate Championships held in Long Beach, California, he gave America its first demonstration of Kali. Also in attendance were numerous martial artists from around the world, including Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, and Jhoon Rhee.

Born on Kauai, Hawaii in 1926, Grandmaster Largusa’s first exposure to Kali came when as a toddler, he watched the Filipino men in his hometown of Kilauea, Kauai, Hawaii practice with the sticks.

Although his Filipino Martial Arts training began under his father who exposed him to the basics of Kali, his first formal instruction came from Master Augustine, an Eskrimador. In 1945, his study in the art came to a temporary halt when he joined the United States Army. While in the service, he trained in a variety of styles including judo and boxing.

When he returned to Kauai in 1951, he was fortunate enough to become a student of Grandmaster Floro Villabrille. At 25 years old, Largusa trained one on one with Villabrille, who was still in his prime at 39 years old, for 7 unbroken years. At the onset of his training, Grandmaster Villabrille had him promise to never teach anyone else other than his own sons the deadly art of Kali. At the time, few people had ever heard of Kali. It was a closely guarded secret that was passed on from teacher to student and father to son. Only the students deemed loyal were taught the art and it was never taught to non-Filipinos. He left for mainland in 1958 but remained in close touch with Villabrille and trained with him whenever the opportunity arose.

Largusa’s genius became apparent when he systemized and broke-down Villabrille’s fighting techniques, and put into place theories and philosophies that comprise the art. He explains that Villabrille “was greatest influence in my life because he opened my eyes to many things, allowing me to observe, analyze and finally modify things for the better.” It is for this reason that the art is known today as the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System. As the years passed, he saw the need to perpetuate Villabrille’s teachings and to promote a part of the Filipino heritage. With Villabrille’s blessing, he began teaching a select group of students privately in his home in South San Francisco, California in 1969. The first generation included his sons Lindsey Largusa and Jerry Largusa, Greg Lontayao, Mel Lopez, Tony Lamadora, Greg Rojas, Kaohu Cummings, Ted Fidel and Rick Reyes. As Floro Villabrille’s foremost student, Ben Largusa was personally chosen as his successor to the Villabrille Kali System. In 1972, Villabrille bestowed upon Largusa the rank of Tuhan (Master) of the Villabrille Kali System.

In 1973, the Largusa School of Kali, in South San Francisco, California, was formally opened. It was the first school to teach Kali to the public. Later that year, the Kali Association of America was formed as the governing body of the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System of which all member schools fall under.

In 1981, Grandmaster Villabrille presented Tuhan Ben Largusa the Conveyance of Life Interest, which gives him the exclusive right, license and authority to continue to use the name of the Floro Villabrille School of Kali in perpetuating and promoting the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System.

Upon Grandmaster Villabrille’s death in 1992, Tuhan Ben Largusa succeeded him as Grandmaster of the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System. In 1994, Largusa named Professor Mel Lopez as his successor and bestowed upon him the rank of Tuhan (Master) of the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System. In keeping with Grandmaster Villabrille’s wishes, the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System has only one Grandmaster and one Master.

Grandmaster Ben T. Largusa entered eternal rest on October 3, 2010. He is preceded in death by his son, Lane and is survived by his wife, Philomena, daughter, Lois and sons, Jerry and Lindsey.

If you wish to leave your condolences, please post here:

http://www.villabrillelargusakali.com/?page_id=318

My sincerest condolences to the Largusa family and to the rest of the Villabrille-Largusa Kali System practitioners.

RIP Manong Largusa.

Burglars Said to Have Picked Houses Based on Facebook Updates

2010-09-20T21:00:00.013-04:00

In a previous post, I wrote about Why I Won't Use My Real Name on the Internet. This is a short followup of something that was reported in the New York Times recently. In this day and age of the Internet, Identity Theft, Privacy and Cyber Security, I hope this site's readers will use a little common sense when they are interacting on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Cut and pasted from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/burglars-picked-houses-based-on-facebook-updates/

September 12, 2010, 10:24 am

Burglars Said to Have Picked Houses Based on Facebook Updates
By NICK BILTON
Illustration by Nick Bilton/The New York Times

If you plan to log into your Facebook account and announce to the world that you’re heading to the beach for the weekend, you might want to append the status update with a warning that your home is under 24-hour surveillance, you have a 140-pound Rottweiler who hasn’t eaten in a week and that you own a really good alarm system.

If you don’t, you personal belongings could be fodder for some tech-savvy burglars.

According to New Hampshire’s WMUR Channel 9 News, three local men, Mario Rojas, Leonardo Barroso and Victor Rodriguez, have burglarized more than 18 homes in the Nashua area of New Hampshire simply by checking status updates on Facebook and then pillaging the houses of victims who announced on the social network that they were not home.

Nashua PD via WMUR Channel 9 News. From left to right, Mario Rojas, Leonardo Barroso, Victor Rodriguez.According to the news outlet, police said they had recovered from $100,000 to $200,000 worth of stolen property as a result of the investigation.

According to local police, investigators tracked down the burglars by listening for the sound of a specific kind of fireworks stolen from a home. When they heard it, they said, they arrested the suspects and their loot.

A Web site called Please Rob Me had noted when people informed the world they weren’t home by their status updates and check-ins on some location-based social networks. But the site has since shut down, noting that the site’s founders are “satisfied with the attention we’ve gotten for an issue that we deeply care about.”

Ron Dickerson, captain of Nashua’s Police Department, told the local news that people need to “be careful of what you post on these social networking sites.”

Be wise and stay safe!

Why I Won't Use My Real Name on the Internet

2010-07-05T23:54:00.005-04:00

In the current landscape of the Internet, social networking is huge be it Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Classmates, Linked, etc. Most people who frequent the social networking sites or utilize their services/benefits use their real name. After all, these sites/services help you to find lost friends/relatives/classmates, find jobs, etc. It is in your best interest to use your real name.

With that said, however, there are a few reasons why I don't use my real name on the 'Net. It doesn't matter if it's a martial arts forum, a self-defense forum, or a social networking site.

First, not many people on the 'Net know me by my real name. Most know me by my nickname of "Stickgrappler". Perhaps it's like the chicken or the egg... if I started off using my real name then most people would know me by that over my nickname. Regardless, if I had to do it all over again, I would still go by a nick instead of my real name. It's not like I'm out to troll or anything like that which is one of the reasons why people use a nickname.

Second, the Internet works in mysterious ways. The depths of cyberspace has yet to be determined, and it has ways to "remember" things. You may post something on some forum in 1999 and forgotten about it. Years later, that post may resurface to haunt you. Perhaps you badmouthed an instructor or a forum member. Someone with even whitebelt "Google-Fu" skills will find you via that post.

Speaking about Google... search engines like Google are so powerful and fast, for a searcher who is persistent and creative, finding information on you will be easy enough. Also, Google and some other organizations are out to archive the whole Internet since the beginning! Who knows what they have archived?!

A few months ago, there was some news on Facebook setting the default setting of sending your real name and friends to marketers and you had to go into the settings and manually choose not to allow that. What you thought was private only to you and your friends with a flip of the switch essentially became public info. For the record, I'm "Stick Grappler" on Facebook, although I've not been on it for over 6 months. Too busy to get caught up in the Facebook Friend-zy.

Last but not least, and probably the most important for me: I do not want my previous, present and future employers googling my real name and finding out my likes/dislikes, hobbies, religious and/or political views, etc. It's a double-edged sword. Depending on the situation, having your real name on the Internet can be a boon or it can be a hindrance. Think of it this way: if you used your real name, and you made some snide remark many years ago on what you thought was an obscure small forum, it may come back to haunt you. Perhaps you were applying for a job and your prospective employer googles you and from your postings from years ago, determine you will not be a good fit in the company. Perhaps your current employer finds your Facebook page... your forum postings and noting the times of posting were during work hours... I'm sure you get where I'm going with this. In my opinion, if you have no vested interest in promoting yourself, there is no real need to use your real name.

Bottom line: I am not an instructor looking for students. I am not trying to sell you anything via my site. I am leery of my employers (past, present and future) of being able to find info about me from the depths of cyberspace. I will generally not use my real name over the Internet.

Will you?

UFC 116 - Lesnar X Carwin - the most anticipated heavyweight fight ever

2010-07-04T03:14:00.000-04:00

Last night was the UFC Heavyweight Championship unification bout between reigning champion Brock Lesnar and Interim Champion Shane Carwin. This match was fireworks from the start.

3 gif's I made. If they don't show up, please let me know. First 2 shows Shane in action. Last one is Shane just before round 2 starts looking at Brock.

I rooted for Shane. I felt Carwin should've paced himself better instead of going 100% in each and every punch he threw in round 1. He was noticeably tired.Carwin tapped to Lesnar's choke in round 2. Lesnar was able to weather the storm of Carwin's onslaught in round 1. Lesnar showed some groundfighting skills in round 2.

Much respect to both Lesnar and Carwin.

Some new changes to the site...

2010-06-18T00:41:00.000-04:00

Please accept my sincerest apologies on how long it's taking me to revamp the site's looks. Once it is halfway decent looking, I will be adding new content. Or maybe not. I'm not sure. Please bear with me. Some changes I've accomplished so far:

Sidebar Looks Misaligned in Internet Explorer

I'm using Firefox at home and the site looks ok. I checked this site using Internet Explorer and *gasp*, the sidebar is below the main body. Regardless, this current template is temporary, until I have time to really learn and mess with CSS and design the way I want the site to look. Yet more steps in my sojourn. So my apologies to any readers checking this site on via Internet Explorer.

Compact Header

Probably the first noticeable change is a smaller header. Moved the items around to make the header a little more compact. That reminds me, I need to make a banner of it in case there may be link exchange requests.

Added a Search Box

This temporary template had no search box, I added one to my sidebar. Was easy enough.

No More Blogger Navbar

Got rid of the blogger navbar on top. That too was easy fix.

Added an Animated Favicon

Added a "favicon" which is animated. For those that don't know what a favicon is, look at any webpage in the URL section of your browser. For example, if you are on Google's page, you will see a "G" right next to "http://www.google.com". If you were in any webpage in Internet Explorer that didn't change their favicon, you would see the blue "e". For Blogger, it's an orange rounded square with a white "B" in it. This was a tad harder, but also easy enough. I used http://www.html-kit.com which was easy to use.

Upcoming Changes

Want to Add the Blogumus Flash Cloud for Labels

Added Blogumus instead of the Labels listed straight down the sidebar. The preview worked. When I saved the change and went to view the site, it didn't work. Need to figure out the glitch. It will take up less space, but may be a nuisance to click on the right label you want. We will see... I may keep it or not, it will depend on the feedback. Also, I may have way too many labels and need to tighten up on them. Again we will see.

Navbar

Also working on populating my navbar below the header, which starts with "Home". Possible and probable categories will be:

About (something about me, the site, and a FAQ)
Contact (how to contact me via email or contact form)
Subscribe (subscribe by email or RSS when new posts are published)
Articles (martial arts and self-defense articles written by me or others)
Reviews (instructional, movies, books, etc -- some by me, some by others)
Links (i have a lot of links I want to put up, but i need to think up a way to make it presentable and not one looooong page of links

Last But Not Least

I will be trying my hand at writing some self-defense related articles. I will be archiving great articles I've come across. Also, lots of reviews to put up, both mine and reviews written by others. And I will be moving my original archives over to this site. It's been a long time coming.

My apologies to you all. Please bear with me. Thank you.

Very truly yours in the martial arts and self-defense,

~sg

Revamp of site in progress

2010-06-10T07:36:00.001-04:00

Frustrating, very frustrating. Thought I resolved my computer issues (first malware, then malware again, malware yet again, and lately then no digital signal sent to the monitor)

Wanted to revamp the site and 'open for public' all in one go, but with the computer issues, please forgive the appearance while the site is under ongoing construction.

Army's new DVD - Techniques for Light Indian Club Swinging

2010-06-02T07:25:00.011-04:00

My friend Army has a new DVD either out or about to be available. It deals specifically with light Indian clubs . It is 90 minutes long. I will be ordering it shortly and post a review. I have a backlog of reviews I intend to post

If you are interested, please check out Army's site:

http://www.agelesstrength.com

Good luck in your training and enjoy!

LINKS: General Amnat Pooksrisuk Thai Martial Arts

2010-05-05T08:05:00.000-04:00

http://amnatpooksrisuk.com/index.html

Awesome! General Pooksriruk has his site up and running. I was able to attend one of his Thai Bareknuckle Boxing seminars a few years ago. It was a blast. He was one of the instructors to Tony Jaa. Always interested in checking out Bareknuckle Boxing in its various forms as I feel it's closer to my needs of self-defense. There are some distinctions between Western Boxing as it's a sport with gloves and Muay Thai as well. Bareknuckle Boxing techniques takes into account the lack of gloves to protect your hands. Therefore techniques as well as targets will differ. This is a fascinating area of study for me.

If you are interested in the Thai Arts, please check out General Pooksriruk.

Battle Scarf - Functional Item and Improvised Weapon

2010-05-05T08:00:00.013-04:00

I was catching up with reading the forums and sites, and while at Pete Kautz's site, Alliance Martial Arts, I found out about the Battle Scarf. It seems like it is a great everyday functional item which can definitely be used as an Improvised Weapon for self-defense. Too bad Spring is upon me as Winter just passed, but I will be ordering one soon to check out. For anyone who doubts the power of Flexible Weapons, the Youtube clip above should help change your thinking. The power of Flexible Weapons with the breaking of cinder blocks with just a Poland Springs bottled water is awesome!

Pete Kautz has written a great review on the Battle Scarf. Read it here:

http://www.alliancemartialarts.com/battlescarf%20review.htm

For another review, please check this link:

http://tacticaledgecombatives.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-jays-battlescarf.html

If you are interested, please check out:

http://www.battlescarf.com/

In full disclosure, I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form to Battle Scarf, Pete Kautz/Alliance Martial Arts or Tactical Edge Combatives.

If you get a Battle Scarf, please let me know your thoughts and experiences with it.

EBOOKS: Safety Response: The Essential Guide to your Personal Safety by Aran Dharmeratnam

2010-05-05T07:52:00.001-04:00

This informative manual addresses subjects such as awareness and aggression disengagement. It covers avoidance, the different forms of hostility including less discussed forms such as spatial aggression and distance based aggression. It also looks at some of the physical tactics that predatory aggressors use such as the various grabs, use of projectiles, intimidation and set ups. Plus there are numerous insights into concepts that people can use to avoid trouble such as: tactical dialogue, reading the aggression triggers and reserved tactics. These insights are very useful for both men and women interested in self defence and awareness training.

I bought this ebook about a half year ago. I was interested in Aran's book as he has a Law and Criminology degree. Wanted to check out his perspectives given is formal education on self-defense. Recently, I started reading it and am half-done. I like what I've read so far. Full review shortly. Please check out if you are interested:

http://www.globalkick.com/safetyresponse.html

LINKS: Hertao Self-Defense and MMA Blog

2010-05-05T07:49:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine was teaching in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. For those that don't know about Katrina, in the history of the United States, it was one of the five deadliest hurricanes to hit America as well as being the costliest with respect to damages incurred.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

I didn't know that Katrina wiped out his business. Living through the rampant crime must have been very difficult. He emailed me recently to let me know of his new site as well as his new ebook. He gave me a copy of the ebook for review. I will be reading soon. The review is forthcoming after I get through the backlog of books on my to-read list as well as writing the reviews.

I will be catching up with him via emails as well as reading the articles on his site and blog posts

http://www.hertao.com/

If you want to check out his ebook:

http://www.hertao.com/selfdefense/self-defense-ebook

Can you imagine living in an environment that was a natural disaster and having to deal with crime and safety daily? This is what he went through after Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps he will share some of his experiences and insights.

Upcoming changes to the site

2010-03-25T01:15:00.003-04:00

First off, please update your bookmarks. My site's URL is officially:

http://www.stickgrappler.net

The URL took effect about a month ago. I have not been posting as of late. I am somewhat of a perfectionist. I wanted to revamp my site prior to the URL going live but I didn't master the CSS/HTML enough to give my site a facelift (yet). Also, I am not satisfied with the interim design and my ultimate design I've not accomplished yet given my crappy CSS/HTML understanding.

The first step I took is accomplished, stickgrappler.net is now a reality for me. If not for Blogger adding in some key features I've always wanted implemented (read more link and pages), and the easy registration of the domain name, stickgrappler.net probably would've still languished in the back of my mind.

I will make small and gradual changes instead of the all-sweeping-one-fell-swoop-massive-facelift I wanted to do initially. Baby steps, baby steps... Stupid perfectionist in me got in the way of posting. What is more importand? Posting or looking good? (That was a rhetorical question by the way)

Whatever I come up with on the new look of the site, may or may not be the 'final'. I will play with various elements I want to change and see where that takes me.

I will be writing articles for the site, doing martial arts dvd/book reviews, interviews, posting articles/information I think is useful for you the reader, movie and maybe TV reviews, making more animated gif's and the proverbial 'a whole lot more'.

I want to thank you, my readers, in advance for your patience and visits!

I remain very truly yours in the martial arts and self-defense,

~Stickgrappler

p.s. it looks like the 'read more' function is not working with this template... UGH

Facebook "Friend-zy"

2010-03-25T01:02:00.001-04:00

Sometime last year, I decided to sign up on Facebook. I wanted to check out the buzz surrounding it and experience the social networking phenomenon firsthand. I must admit I was caught up in what i call the Facebook Friend-zy.

Facebook is a powerful social networking tool. It reminds you of birthdays, it allows you to send in effect a "blast email" informing all your friends of some upcoming event, it lets you put up pictures, it lets you post links to interesting sites you found, and it even helps you track down long-lost friends. I was able to find 2 friends I've lost contact with who reside in Croatia and Germany!

I sent out many friend requests. I found first the friends I knew, then i went to check out my friends' friends and so on and so on. After awhile, I looked at my friends list and realize there were people there that I didn't really know. There were some friends I only know as their forum nicknames and not their real names.

And then I started having virus/malware problems on my computer and it was difficult to get anything done. I was very, very frustrated with the virus.I lost contact with my friends via Facebook.

As I am slowly getting some time on the net, I don't know if I will be on Facebook all that much. It is so powerful and lets me catch up on the events in my friends' lives that it takes up a lot of time! I apologize in advance to my Facebook Friends if I'm not on much. It's been probably half a year or close to it since I was last on. What free time I have I will be devoting to this site. If I get a chance, I will stop by Facebook and say hi. So for whatever this is worth, I'm "Stick Grappler" on Facebook.

Now I wonder if I should check out Twitter? LOL I'm kidding!

P.S. Sorry to my Facebook Friends, Jan 1 is not my birthday as I listed on my Facebook... I will explain in a future article about the false birth date.

A Word About My Reviews

2010-03-25T00:45:00.001-04:00

I have to get this off my chest. In the interest of full disclosure, my reviews will be from the point of view of a beginner. We are all of varying skill levels, experiences and understanding in the martial arts. What you may find not useful to you, I may find merit in. Vice versa, I may find something I don't like and you would like.

I view myself as a beginner in the martial arts. I am not being humble, just honest with you. Although, I have a strong interest in the martial arts since I was a kid, I have not practiced since I was a kid until present. I was in and out. If I did keep it up, I can probably be called an 'expert' given my time put into the martial arts. But alas, I am far from an expert, maybe a knowledgeable beginner. My main areas of focus are the Self-Defense, Filipino Martial Arts and Jeet Kune Do Concepts. My secondary areas are Wing Chun Kuen, Muay Thai, Boxing and Tai Chi. And although I won't list them, there are a few more styles/systems/arts I am into which I have but an inkling of knowledge/experience in. It is from this background, this "lens" if you will, that I will be reviewing.

I dread writing reviews. So far, my site doesn't have many reviews.Whatever reviews I do have on the site are generally if I liked it or not. I am not a writer. I struggle with composing what I want to write when I care about what I write. Most times, I post on forums and those writings tend to be during a break in the workday. My concentration is mainly on work, but I divert some attention to posting when there may be a lull. Those posts tend to be quickies, that is, I was not out to write an article, just expressing my thoughts briefly. My reviews will be thought-out and not a quickie.

What will my reviews entail? I don't have a set format yet. It will include any combination of the following:

Whether I liked it or not
Things I didn't know
Has it changed my view on anything
Is the author right or wrong
Favorite quotes
What was my take-away from it
A link(s) to other reviews on the net

Also, reviews are tricky in that I will be reviewing some of my friend's products. I will not lie to you, that's not who I am. I will write out explicitly that it is a friend's product I am reviewing. However, please know that, even though it is my friend's product, I have purchased it. I did not receive it free. I will write an objective review. I and my site are not out to sell you anything. You will not see Google Sense Ads here. I will not have anything for sale here. This site is not out to "pimp" my friend's products.

Now that that is out-of-the-way, are you ready for some reviews?

Catchup I

2010-02-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hello all:

My last post was in September of 2009. Since then, my home computer system has been plagued with viruses, malware, spyware and something newer called scareware (some sort of malware scaring you into buying their antivirus product). My wife and kids have been on the computer more and I don't know how our system got infected. Actually, I know partially why... I run Windows Vista at home, and Windows is infamous for having a lot of holes which hackers exploit. Total frustration spending time cleaning my system, reinstalling programs etc.

Although I have not been actively posting, I've been trying to learn some CSS and HTML and blogging in general. I will be in the process of upgrading my site. Changes are coming, and hopefully better and easier for you to navigate and check out. I've noticed my site received some spamming comments. My apologies for that. I've deleted them, and have decided that I will moderate my comments, that is, you post a comment, I will have to approve it, and your comment will be posted. This will prevent the spammers from posting.

Many events transpired since my 'absence' which I will post about in a future "Catchup 2" entry. One of the events which necessitated action on my part was the closing of the free webhosting Geocities. Some of you may know, I have a site hosted on Tripod, also a free webhost. I do not know if Tripod intends to shut down or not, but there's been something in the back of my mind that I've never gotten around to: porting over my tripod site over to here. My original intent was to build a separate site housing the archives I set up on Tripod. However, I may just merge the archives with this site here. Regardless, check out my old archives at:

http://stickgrappler.tripod.com

Blogger has implemented some changes which I've always wanted, and my vision of what and how my site should look like is slowly becoming a reality. Stick (no pun intended) around for the upcoming changes. I think it will be to your liking.

As always, I remain very truly yours in the Martial Arts,

~Stickgrappler

MOVIES: ICHI (2008)

2009-09-15T22:54:00.001-04:00

NOTE: Please click thumbnail for bigger picture.

No, not Takashi Miike's ICHI THE KILLER. I'm too much of a wussy to watch that to the end. It was too gory/over-the-top for me and I usually start a movie and finish it no matter how bad it is. But Miike's movies I just cannot stomach. Well SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO is an exception. But I digress. Director Fumihiko Sori (VEXILLE, PING PONG) reimagines the classic ZATOICHI, the blind swordsman/masseuse.

Ichi honors the classic tale of the blind samurai while casting the legend in breathtaking new light. In a role traditionally played by men, award-winning actress Haruka Ayase is both tender and brutal.

Beautiful Ichi wanders blindly from village to village, searching for the sightless swordsman who long ago taught her to kill. Her technique is exquisite and explosive, her defenses as impenetrable as the darkness in which she moves. Many along her solitary path are touched – some by the sound of her delicate music, others by the edge of her lethal blade.

Also starring Shidou Nakamura (Letters from Iwo Jima), with original music by Lisa Gerrard (Gladiator, Dead Can Dance).

NOTE: Please click thumbnail for bigger picture.

TRAILER

Official Site

I cannot wait to watch this!

NEWS: Johns Hopkins student kills apparent burglar with sword

2009-09-15T22:24:00.000-04:00

Cut and pasted from:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/samurai.sword.killing/

Johns Hopkins student kills apparent burglar with sword

* Story Highlights
* Suspect died at scene; he had severed left hand and lacerations to upper body
* Students confronted man in their garage, police say
* He lunged at students, and one defended himself with samurai sword

updated 12:47 p.m. EDT, Tue September 15, 2009

(CNN) -- A Johns Hopkins University student killed an apparent burglar with a samurai sword after discovering the man in his garage, police said Tuesday.

Baltimore, Maryland, police received a phone call shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday about a suspicious person, and an off-duty officer arrived at the scene with campus security, city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

When authorities arrived, they heard calls for help and for police, he said. They discovered a suspected burglar with a severed left hand and severe lacerations to his upper body, Guglielmi said.

The suspect died at the scene, he said.

The man had entered a home where several Johns Hopkins students lived, Guglielmi said. Four students, one armed with a samurai sword, had confronted the suspect in the garage.

The man "lunged" at the students, and the student with the sword defended himself, severing the man's left hand and cutting his upper body, Guglielmi said.

Police did not release the name of the suspect, who Guglielmi said had a long criminal history, or that of the student.

Police questioned the three witnesses, Guglielmi said, and released them. It was not immediately clear whether all four students lived at the house, he said.

Authorities are determining whether the student will face criminal charges, Guglielmi said.

Burglars had taken two laptops and a Sony PlayStation from the students' home Monday, Guglielmi said.

The burglary suspect had been released from prison Saturday, Guglielmi said.

NOTE: My sincerest thanks to my friend Greg for sending me the link!

IN MEMORY OF: Patrick Swayze

2009-09-15T17:18:00.004-04:00

Dalton: "I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice."

RIP Patrick Swayze

Wiki entry

My 300th post - 8 year anniversary of 9/11/2001

2009-09-11T16:39:00.003-04:00

"Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail."

~George Bush 09/20/2001

Totally unplanned but coincidentally this is my 300th blog post. How appropriate to have a special post for the occasion.

My friend kot1k of the Spladdle forum posted this earlier today:

09-11-2009, 10:40 AM
kot1k

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It’s pretty crazy in downtown Manhattan right now. There’s a massive concentration of cops, firefighters and news vans. Everybody is converging on the WTC site. The usual memorials are going on, all the streets are blocked off, and there are tons of cops checking bags in the subway. All this is going on but it doesn’t really feel like anybody remembers what they felt like 8 years ago. People obviously remember what happened, but the feeling is pretty much drowned in time. Didn’t really want to post this, but here’s my story from 8 years ago (Massive FRAT):

I was working at 222 Broadway. It was my first day in a new group so I wanted to get in earlier. I got on the Q (It was still the express back then) on the Sheepshead Bay stop. The trains were running like shit, so they kicked us off at Prospect Park stop and made us wait for the next train. Finally, a bit later than I wanted to, I got out of the train (I think I switched to the N at DeKalb, can’t remember anymore) at Courtland Street. Didn’t even bother to look at the towers to my left, made a right by the Marriot, and got my ass to my building.

My new bosses were smoking by the entrance. I shot the shit with them for a few minutes and made my way up. I was on the 9th floor, with my back to the windows facing WTC. I booted up my comp and as I was loading Outlook I FELT a massive explosion. The windows shook, as did the building. I ran to the window and saw a bunch of debris floating through the air and birds flying in crazy patterns. I looked down, and didn’t see anything (I initially thought that it was a car bomb again). I crouched by my window and looked up, and that’s when I saw the giant gaping hole in one of the towers, with flames coming out of it. I sat there for a few minutes, and went back to my desk. The TVs were all on CNBC or CNN and they already found footage and started playing it. I went back to the window and sat there staring at the towers.

As I sat there I saw a plane coming, but in my mind I thought that I was still watching TV and that was a replay. I was shaken out of my delusion by the second explosion. That’s when the total realization of how fucked this was sank in. I sat there for a few minutes looking, until I saw a few people falling or jumping from the towers. I can’t remember what I felt, but I got up and started trying to get in touch with family and friends who worked near by.

My parents were on vacation in France, so there was no way to reach them. My grandma who I was living with at the time was working the Primary Election for NYC, so she wasn’t home either. I left a voicemail on the answering machine saying I was leaving the building and I would be home soon. I tried to call a few friends, but by that time most lines were overwhelmed, so it was next to impossible to reach anybody.

A good friend was starting her second year in Med School in Israel and was supposed to fly out that day. That wasn’t happening, so she was home and I managed to reach her. We were on the phone while she was watching the news. It was a live feed, but had a few seconds delay. I felt what I thought was an earthquake, and saw the first tower collapsing. I yelled into the phone, “they’re falling” before dropping the receiver and jumping over my cube to get into the stairwell. The whole building was shaking. Everyone went into the lobby and waited around, but no one had any idea of what to do. You couldn’t go outside, since the whole street was filled with smoke and dust. It was a very strange feeling of helplessness. Just as that was happening, we felt another earthquake. It was the second tower collapsing.

The whole mass of people lost it and panicked. People began screaming and scattering with no real place to go. Somehow I ended up in a second level sub basement with about 10 other people. We sat on the floor and just waited. For what, I have no idea. After about 45 minutes a cop in a facemask came downstairs to tell us to stay put. In another 45 minutes the room started filling with smoke and dust because the filtration system was overwhelmed. Some of the women started crying and got panicky again. I decided that it’s probably safe to leave. We had a few water bottles with us, so I took off my shirt (I had an undershirt on), soaked it with water, and wrapped it around my face. I suggested to the people in the room that they should probably come with me, and about 6 women came along. I took my little procession out of the building.

The air was bad, but not terrible. There was about a half an inch of dust on the ground though. I hate to think what was in that dust. We walked away from WTC towards the bridges. Much of the smoke was blowing towards the Brooklyn Bridge, so I decided that it would probably be best to walk towards the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown. I separated from my companions a few blocks away when I was pretty sure they were OK and out of danger.

I crossed the bridge with a million other people. There were no cars. In the middle of the bridge a couple of fighter jets came overhead and a thousand people hit the deck.

The rest of the story is pretty mundane. I walked for a few hours to get home. I got together with ALL of my friends later that night. I’m still shocked that I didn’t know anyone who was killed personally. The weird conclusions from that day were that I felt no fear. None. Maybe I was in shock, but I had very little emotions throughout the day and the days after. The only real fear I felt was when I got on a plane two weeks later and there was a small Muslim dude wearing religious garb. The entire flight was looking at his the whole trip, ready to pounce and kill his ass even if he so much as moved.

So that’s it. Don’t know what else to say…"

kot's story makes my story (click here)look like a walk in the park. I would've been p!ssing in my pants if I was stuck in a room not knowing what was going outside for more than 30 minutes.

Stickgrappler went to Disney World and all he got us were these lousy pictures?!?!?!

2009-09-10T16:28:00.002-04:00

8/31/09 - 9/5/09 -- 6 days and 5 nights... took my wife and 3 kids to Disney World. We have never been there. Great time was had by all.

At Epcot, there is a World Showcase, a few countries were represented. Took some pictures of slight 'martial' value.

*** Norway ***

*** Germany ***

*** Japan ***

There were walking canes hand-carved by an African artist that I was not able to take pictures of :-(

Next time, I go to Disney World, I'll be sure to get you guys a T-shirt and a mug or something instead of lousy pix :-)

Enjoy!

EDIT: ugh! the 2nd pic in Germany should be showing 3 stautes. You can save the pic and view it offline in your pic viewer of choice.

EDIT 2: looks like the pictures I put up to my Facebook is not showing up. When I have time I will upload the pix to my pichost. Sorry about that.

UGH! Missed posting at the time of 9:09:09 AM and PM LOL

2009-09-09T23:28:00.002-04:00

Since the date today is 9/9/09... it would've been cool to post at either the morning or the evening at the time of 9:09:09 LOL

Forgive my bad segue to:

Ah, The Magic of Numbers... the Asian cultures dread the number 4 as it's an homophone for 'death'. Superstitious people dread the number 13.

The Chinese MA is abound with the numbers 3, 5, 8, 13, 36 and 108 (did I miss any?). The Filipino MA have 12. It is said that Alexander the Great (or in his time) found that 'chunking' techniques in factors of 3 was useful for soldiers (or something along those lines). Dr. Gyi's Bando teaches in 3, 6, 9, and 12. IIRC the Thai MA teaches in 4 and 7's.

Don't think "Numberology" is a word, but I mean it to be the significance of numbers, especially with respect to the Martial Arts. I know there is "Numerology" which I vaguely think to be the study of numbers in relation to astrology/supernatural/zodiac... you get the idea.

Will have to research into the Martial Arts and the Significance of Numbers. Some future post in my Sojourn of Septillion Steps :-)

MMA: Meet Kimbo Slice tomorrow night (Thursday) at Champs Sports in Times Square, NYC

2009-09-09T23:24:00.003-04:00

My friend P. emailed me about this.

Please click the thumbnail below for a bigger picture and the details.

MMA: 1 year anniversary (and 1 day) of Evan Tanner's death

2009-09-09T22:10:00.004-04:00

I missed posting about the 1 year anniversary of Evan Tanner's death yesterday. My thanks to my friend Hugo Hanriot for reminding me about it. Hugo posted on his Facebook a link to a Youtube vidclip and the following:

"Tanner was one of a kind. He fought in the pre-Zuffa "dark ages" on MMA, won the Japanese "King of Pancrase" title, & won the UFC 185 title.

When he started fighting, his only training was high school wrestling & what he learned on the 1st Gracie Jiu Jitsu instructional videos.

He was a fighter who was more interested in being a seeker & a humanitarian, & developing into a hell of a writer. It's a damn shame we never got to see what he would've done after he retired from fighting.

Tue at 5:18pm"

RIP Evan Tanner

ABOUT ME: finally signed up on Facebook...

2009-09-08T00:04:00.002-04:00

...have no idea what i'm doing on facebook both literally as in how to navigate, find friends, add links and figuratively as i'm jammed with real life as it is. not as much time blogging, so why am i on facebook? LOL @ me.

there were some friends on there i recognized and some i've lost contact with over the years.

here's seeing if facebook is worth my time and effort.

LINKS: WWW.POCKETFIREPOWER.COM

2009-08-13T23:28:00.002-04:00

Been jammed with Real Life... trying to catch up on some emails. This was sent to me 7/6/09 by my friend Kilogulf59, whose Integrated Close Combat Forum I posted about 3/30/09 here:

http://stickgrappler.blogspot.com/2009/03/links-integrated-close-combat-forum.html

He wrote:

I'd like to invite all of you to stop in at a new forum. The place is called WWW.POCKETFIREPOWER.COM - Discussion dedicated to pocket defense handguns, knives and tactics... http://www.pocketfirepower.com/index.php

The gentleman who is the admin goes by the moniker "LUVMYSIGP225" and is a good guy and friend of our own 7677, who is a moderator there as well.

The flavor of the forum is somewhat different than ICCF nonetheless the philosophy is the same. In other words, good info, good advice, good people. What more can we ask for?

Do yourself a favor, go there today and tell them "Ken sent ya"...(they may let you stay anyway LOL)

Take Care and Stay Safe,
Ken

"REMEMBER ?What works for you may not, necessarily, work for me. Keep an open mind!"

Integrated Close Combat Forum - http://kilogulf59.proboards80.com
Scribd ?KG59/ICCF - http://www.scribd.com/kilogulf59
YouTube ?KG59/ICCF - http://www.youtube.com/user/kilogulf59

Check out http://www.pocketfirepower.com/index.php when you have a chance. I will register there when I have a little more free time and check it out for myself. I also intend to surf back over to ICCF and a few forums I've been meaning to check in (as well as catching up on emails LOL).

Oh, while you are at it, check out Kilogulf's links in his email signature! Enjoy!

BIRTHDAY: Belated Happy Birthday Joe Rogan (42)

2009-08-13T23:11:00.002-04:00

Picture borrowed from http://www.comedycv.co.uk. Click the thumbnail for a bigger picture.

2 days ago, August 11, it was Joe Rogan's birthday. I was jammed with real life and wasn't able to post about it. Happy Belated 42nd Birthday Joe Rogan!! Many more to come!!

On top of everything else going for him, he's a brown belt in BJJ and a color commentator for UFC!

Wiki entry

Joe Rogan's Official site

Bruce Lee lesson for Taky Kimura auction closed already

2009-08-13T22:28:00.001-04:00

July 28th, I posted about Bruce Lee's private lesson plan to Taky Kimura here:

http://stickgrappler.blogspot.com/2009/07/bruce-lees-private-lesson-plan-to-taky.html

I forgot to note when the auction officially closes... checked in tonight and it looks like it closed. It seems the auction started with $500 as the opening bid. There were 25 bids and the winning bid was $7259!

Some gems of in that lesson plan:

1) "Lee lists six important keys to “Combat,” which are “Timing,” “Distance,” “Speed & Rhythm,” “Initiative,” “Aggressiveness,” and “Choice of Attack.” Lee also lists three stages of combat “Attack,” “Counter-Attack,” and “Active Defense,” with other sub-categories underneath."

2) "I've just rushed the T'ai Kik wall chart form to you."

My comment: "T'ai Kik" is Cantonese for "Tai Chi/Taiji"... BL's dad knew Tai Chi too.

3) "...James Lee is going to send you a Lap Sao apparatus with built in resistance."

My comment: Not making a statement about trapping, but pointing out the specifity principle... and using certain apparatuses to train specific techniques.

4) "Of course, you must use the set system, that is REPETITION of each technique in sets for perfection."

My comment: 10,000 reps/hours rule

5) "Remember the idea that one has to come in thousands of time in order to perfect one Judo throw."

My comment: Again 10,000 reps/hours rule

I'm going to post about the "Principle (or Law) of Specifity" and the "10,000 Hours Rule" in future posts.

One year ago, 08-08-2008 Olympics held in Beijing, China

2009-08-08T09:59:00.005-04:00

Click thumbnail for a bigger picture.

WOW! Just a year ago, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing started. What an extravagant and memorable Opening Ceremony! So many memories, so many athletes breaking records and setting the bar higher and higher.

What was your favorite moment from the Opening Ceremony? Your favorite moment from the Games?

Wiki entry
Official site

MMA: UFC 101 Fight Card

2009-08-08T09:28:00.000-04:00

Click thumbnail for bigger picture.

UFC 101 Declaration takes place on August 8, 2009 @ the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Main Event: UFC Lightweight Championship
155#: Kenny Florian (13-3) vs. Champion BJ Penn (13-5-1)

Main Card
205#: Anderson Silva (24-4) vs. Forrest Griffin (16-5)
170#: Johny Hendricks (5-0) vs. Amir Sadollah(2-0)
185#: Ricardo Almeida (10-3) vs. Kendall Grove (12-5)
155#: Josh Neer (25-7-1) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (19-1)
155#: Shane Nelson (13-3) vs. Aaron Riley (27-11-1)

Preliminary Bouts
170#: Tamdan McCrory (12-2) vs. John Howard (11-4)
185#: Alessio Sakara (17-7) vs. Thales Leites (14-2)
170#: Dan Cramer (1-0) vs. Matthew Riddle (2-0)
155#: George Roop (9-5) vs. George Sotiropoulos (9-2)
170#: Jesse Lennox (14-1) vs. Danillo Villefort (9-2)

I do not know many of the fighters only the 2 big "name" bouts. BJ Penn, hard to not pick him when he's back in his weight of 155 instead of moving up to challenge GSP. Not sure if what I heard is true, both Florian and Penn are excellent grapplers, but they have a gentleman's agreement to keep it standup? If so, with Penn's excellent jabbing as witness his fight vs Joe Stephenson, I think Penn wins.

Hard to not pick Anderson Silva to win, until he loses, I'm going with Silva. I like Griffin and my friend Ausgepicht thinks if anyone has a chance to beat Silva it's Griffin.

What are your picks?

Cannot wait for later tonight for the fights!

Filipino Martial Arts: Upcoming Dog Brothers seminars/Gatherings

2009-07-29T16:28:00.001-04:00

Apologies to the readers of this blog as well as to Guro Crafty Dog and the rest of the Dog Brothers Clan. I neglected to post about upcoming seminars earlier.

First up, Guro Crafty Aug 1-2 at Fort Hood, TX. Check out this thread for more details: Dog Brothers Forum Thread.

Areas of focus will include:

-"Die Less Often" Defense against a Knife Attack and Accessing Weapons.
-Dog Brothers Stickfighting
-Introduction to Kali Tudo (TM)

Secondly, Toronto Canada DBMA Training Camp featuring Crafty Dog, Top Dog and Sled Dog Aug 21-23. Check out this thread for more details: Dog Brothers Forum Thread. This should be a great training opportunity, as you get to learn not from 1, not 2, but 3 original Dog Brothers! Sadly, I will not be able to attend. Taking wife and 3 kids to Disney World. Our first time.

it will be a full weekend of training with Crafty ,Sled , and Top Dog
accommodations and meals are included . there will be workshops you can attend as well from yoga to strength and conditioning space will be limited i will post additional information within the week if you have any further questions you can reach me at renecocolo@hotmail.com

Thirdly, the next Dog Brothers Gathering will be held September 20, 2009. Check out this thread for more details: Dog Brothers Forum Thread.

Bruce Lee's private lesson plan to Taky Kimura on auction

2009-07-28T23:28:00.002-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://www.rrauction.com:

Bruce Lee’s private lesson plan to his star pupil

Description

Amazing ALS in pencil, signed “Bruce,” three pages, 8.5 x 11, no date. Lee writes to Taky Kimura, his prize student and eventually one of only three Lee-certified instructors of Jeet Kun Do. In part: “First and foremost I like to impress a most important rule of teaching in your mind, and that is the economy of form. Follow this rule and you will NEVER feel like you have to ADD more and more so called sizzling techniques to keep our students interested. In order to explain ‘Economy of Form’ I’ll take a technique to illustrate the theory. Later on this idea can be applied to any technique. Together with the idea of ‘the Three Stages of a Technique [(1) synchronization of self, [2] synchronization with opponent [3] under fighting condition]. This program of teaching not only provide and endless routine of instruction, but a most efficient lesson plan that will bring result to all students. I’ve tested them here in L. A. and disregard how little we show each time…To illustrate the idea, I’ll take the Park Sao (slapping hand). Basically ‘Economy of Motion’ means all motions starts from the By-Jong position; secondly, Hands are to move first if it were hand technique [foot follows], feet first if it were foot techniques. So emphasize the above ‘Two Truths’ by practicing Park Sao fort in the touching hand manner…Each student must attack [in unison] from the By-Jong without any wasted motion. Now this has been overlooked basic theory of utmost importance. If any student does his Park Sao [or any technique for that matter] with wasted motion, back to the touching hand position he goes to minimize his unnecessary motion…I hope I have impressed in your mind a more important rule of our style-stick to the program I’ve given you, use variety, and do not worry too much that your students need more and more to stay with you-true if they can do perfectly all you’ve taught them. Remember the idea that one has to come in thousands of time in order to perfect one Judo throw. And of course use your own experience and imagination. You will do well. I have faith in you.”

The third page of Lee’s letter bears a detailed hand-written flow chart of combat strategy. At the top, Lee lists six important keys to “Combat,” which are “Timing,” “Distance,” “Speed & Rhythm,” “Initiative,” “Aggressiveness,” and “Choice of Attack.” Lee also lists three stages of combat “Attack,” “Counter-Attack,” and “Active Defense,” with other sub-categories underneath. A truly remarkable Lee letter, written to perhaps his greatest student, with a detailed explanation of his method, and a fighting flowchart in his hand, makes this an especially desirable letter. In fine condition, with mild handling wear and two deep central vertical creases to third page.

Pictures borrowed from www.rrauction.com. Click the thumbnails for bigger pictures.

NOTE: My thanks to my friend P. for the heads-up!

IN MEMORY OF: Karl Gotch (August 3, 1924 - July 28, 2007)

2009-07-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

Picture borrowed from http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com. Click thumbnail for a bigger picture.

Cut and pasted from www.wrestlingmuseum.com's bio on Karl Gotch:

Karl Gotch
By Steve Slagle

The name Gotch means a lot to wrestling, and instantly conjures up thoughts about the legendary turn-of-the-century exploits of the original World Wrestling Champion, Frank Gotch. However, unbeknownst to most contemporary wrestling fans, there was another man who wrestled under the name Gotch, a man who is considered by many to be nearly as important and deserving of history's praise as his more famous namesake. In Japan, Karl Gotch is held in as high esteem as Frank Gotch is in America. Likewise, his supreme wrestling skill is as legendary there as Frank Gotch's grappling techniques are here. The main difference, though, is that in Japan, both men are revered and respected, while in America, Karl Gotch is basically unknown by the vast majority of wrestling fans. Although he may not be as famous as many of the other Hall of Famers, Karl Gotch, a technical wizard and influential champion in the early history of Japanese wrestling, is every bit as deserving. Quite simply, he helped shape our sport into what it is today, despite the lack of notoriety in the U.S.

Karl Gotch was actually born Karl Istaz, in 1924 in Hamburg, Germany. He started his career in the mid-1950's, after being trained at "Snake Pit" Billy Riley's Gym in Britain, and he originally used the name Karl Krauser. As Karl Krauser, he won several tournaments throughout his native Europe during the first few yeas of his career. But in 1959, when he traveled to the booming world of American pro wrestling, he was greeted by a somewhat cold reception. Istaz was a shooter, not a performer, and as a result, he was often passed over by promoters who were looking to pack the house. Unable to do interviews (due to his accent, and mild mannerisms) that intrigued the TV wrestling audience, but more than able to wrestle circles around 90% of his competition, the highly talented Krauser was used primarily as a lower-card worker. His fellow wrestlers, who were higher up "the ladder" often ducked him, as they knew that Karl Istaz was a dangerous, highly skilled grappler. Not flashy, not flamboyant...but a man who could, and occasionally did, make performance-style wrestlers look highly incompetent whenever he wished.

In 1961, in an attempt to add to his persona, Istaz began wrestling under the name Karl Gotch (in honor of the late, great World champion) and slowly began rising up in the territorial ranks. Soon after changing his ring name to Gotch, Istaz finally began enjoying some well-deserved success. He won the AWA (Ohio) Heavyweight Title in September of 1962 by defeating Don Leo Jonathon, and held the then-prestigous championship for 2 full years before being defeated by the great Lou Thesz.

It was around this time that Gotch became involved in a series of real-life altercations with NWA World Heavyweight champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. Gotch claimed that a fearful Rogers was continually ducking his challenges. As the AWA (Ohio) champion, Gotch felt he was a legitimate NWA World Title contender, but Rogers continually refused to wrestle him. Rogers, on the other hand, felt Gotch (who was still far from being a "big draw") was simply trying to make a name for himself, at the expense of his own. "The Nature Boy" was not shy about telling Gotch, and anyone else backstage, what he thought about "the shooter". The animosity between the two eventually led to a locker room fist fight (which was initiated by Gotch) that saw "The Nature Boy" come out a beaten man. It also ended up alienating Gotch from even more promoters and fellow wrestlers.

Just prior to his altercation with Rogers, Gotch wrestled his first match in Japan, which turned out to be a 45-minute draw against established Japanese star Michiaki Yoshimura. Little did Gotch know that it would be in the land of the Rising Sun that he would achieve his greatest fame. So enamored with the talented and athletic Gotch were the Japanese, that he is, to this day, referred to as "The God of Pro Wrestling". In addition to the influence his unique technical style generated, Gotch help shape wrestling forever through the men he trained. Where would the business of pro wrestling in Japan be, had there not been men like Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Hiro Matsuda, Osamu Kido, Satoru Sayama (the legendary Tiger Mask) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara? Gotch trained them all, and many others, and instilled in them the same appreciation of wrestling skill and technique that had made him such a star in Japan. However, in America, things for Gotch were quite different. Although he was considered by many to be the "Uncrowned Champion", Gotch had to struggle for each of the few titles he gained during his 30-year career. He teamed with "Iron" Mike Dibiase in 1967 to win the WWA World Tag Team title in Los Angeles, eventually losing the straps to Pedro Morales & Victor Rivera. His other major title victory was the WWWF World Tag Team championship, which he won with Rene Goulet on December 6, 1971. After being defeated by Baron Mikel Scicluna & King Curtis Iaukea just 3 months later, Gotch soon left the WWWF and returned to Japan for the remainder of his career.

His last major title was New Japan's "Real" World Heavyweight Title, which he won in 1972. He spent the next several years in Japan as a premier wrestler and trainer. One of the biggest stars the island nation had ever known, he wrestled his last match on January 1, 1982 when he defeated Yoshiaki Fujiwara in Tokyo. Soon after, Gotch retired from the sport, in front of the fans that truly appreciated his talent. Through his talent, style, and influence, Karl Gotch established himself as one of the best wrestlers of his, or any, era. Despite his lack of fame and notoriety, he truly helped shape the sport into what it is today (especially in Japan) and was a genuine trend-setter, whose influence is still being felt to this day. With this in mind, The Ring Chronicle proudly inducts "The God of Pro Wrestling" Karl Gotch into TRC's Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame...

Some links and vidclips:

Wiki entry

Jake Shannon of Scientific Wrestling's Interview with Karl Gotch

IN MEMORY OF: Boxing's Vernon Forrest (41-3, 29 KO's)

2009-07-27T17:26:00.003-04:00

Boxing has lost another champion :-( RIP Vernon Forrest, the first fighter to defeat Sugar Shane Mosley.

Cut and pasted from NY Times:

July 27, 2009

Forrest, Ex-Boxing Champ, Is Killed

By DERRICK HENRY
Vernon Forrest, a former middleweight boxing champion also known for his charitable work, was shot and killed Saturday night in Atlanta. The police said that he had apparently been robbed and then exchanged gunfire with his assailant.

Forrest, 38, is the third prominent boxer to die this month. Arturo Gatti, a super featherweight and light welterweight, was found dead July 11 at a Brazilian resort. Alexis Argüello, a champion in the lightweight divisions, was found dead on July 1 at his home in Managua, Nicaragua. He had been elected mayor of Nicaragua’s capital last year.

Last September, Forrest reclaimed his World Boxing Council title at 154 pounds by beating Sergio Mora, an opponent 10 years younger. Forrest, who had a 41-3 career record with 29 knockouts, had been sidelined by injury and vacated his crown. In 2002, he twice defeated Shane Mosley and was named Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year.

Forrest, who lived in Atlanta, had stopped at a gas station on Whitehall Street in central part of the city to put air into the tires of his Jaguar when a man robbed him at gunpoint, the police said. Forrest, who also was armed, chased the man several hundred feet, toward a nearby intersection. The two exchanged gunfire, Atlanta Police Det. Lt. Keith Meadows told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Forrest suffered seven to eight shots to the back, the police said. Lt. Meadows said there was evidence that Forrest had used his weapon, but the police did not know if the assailant had been shot.

An 11-year-old boy who was in Forrest’s vehicle gave police a description of the assailant. The boy, the son of Forrest’s girlfriend, did not witness the shootings, the police said.

An autopsy was planned for Sunday, The Associated Press reported.

Forrest, a former W.B.C. super welterweight champion, was just as noted for his work outside the ring. In 1998, he started Destiny’s Child, a foundation for people with mental disabilities in Atlanta.

Forrest said he thought of starting the foundation after seeing an autistic child struggle to tie his shoes. “If you sit there and watch a person take about an hour to tie his shoestrings, then you realize that whatever problems you got ain’t that significant,” he said in a 2006 New York Times interview. “A light just turned on in my head.”

The foundation set up group homes in the Atlanta area.

“We teach mathematics and how to count money,” Forrest said in a 2003 Times interview. “We had this one 18-year-old boy to whom all money looked the same. He had trouble with quarters and nickels. Then one day, he said, ‘Uncle Vernon, I got it, I got it.’ ”

NOTE: My thanks to Guro Crafty Dog on the Dog Brothers forum for the heads-up.

BIRTHDAY: Happy Birthday Dan Inosanto!

2009-07-24T13:52:00.005-04:00

Image borrowed from http://www.filipino-martial-arts.co.uk. Click thumbnail for a bigger picture.

Maligayang Kaarawan Guro Inosanto! 73 years young! Many more to come!!

NOTE: My thanks to Tom Stillman of the Dog Brothers forum for the heads-up!

Some links and vidclips:

Official site

Wiki entry

NEWS: Bruce Lee's siblings authorize Chinese biopics (AP)

2009-07-21T15:54:00.000-04:00

Cut and pasted from Yahoo:

Tue Jul 21, 2009, 1:43 am EDT

HONG KONG - Bruce Lee's older sister and younger brother have authorized a Chinese company to make a series of biographical films about the late kung fu icon, saying they want to produce a historically accurate account of their brother's life.

Phoebe Lee and Robert Lee appeared at a signing ceremony with J.A. Media in Beijing on Monday, 36 years to the day after Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong at age 32 from swelling of the brain.

Lee became a source of Chinese pride by portraying characters who defended the Chinese and the working class from oppressors in films like "Return of the Dragon."

It wasn't immediately clear who will play Lee in the film series.

Producer Manfred Wong said the company plans at least three installments, with the first to tackle Lee's teenage years, adding he wanted to focus more on the late actor's personality.

"There will be kung fu ... But more importantly, we want to portray the real Bruce Lee. What is the real Bruce Lee like? He was very humorous. He was very obedient to his parents. He was very kind to his family," Wong said, according to footage of the ceremony on the Chinese news Web site Sina.com .

Robert Lee said he wanted to give an authoritative account of his brother's life.

"We've read many books and seen many movies about Bruce Lee, but there are many inaccuracies in them. They made up things," he said, without referring to specific works or factual mistakes.

"I'm more than 70 years old. I'm old. I want do something for my younger brother — to promote Bruce Lee's life story," Phoebe Lee said.

Most recently, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV aired a 50-part prime-time series about Lee last year.

Wong did not say how much the movies will cost. Calls to the company Tuesday seeking more detail went unanswered.

MMA: Despite rumors of Kimo Leopoldo death, he is alive

2009-07-21T12:28:00.004-04:00

Earlier in the day, I posted (along with a few MMA sites as well as the NY Daily News and the Sun, an UK newspaper) that Kimo was dead from a heart attack.

Apparently, Underground member OneManArmy aka Beau Taylor was trolling the UG as well as the MMA community with hjs post reporting Kimo's death. Word is Beau Taylor has been banned from the UG.

My sincerest apologies to Kimo and his loved ones over my errant post.

Cut and pasted from http://www.canada.com/sports

Early UFC star Kimo Leopoldo still alive, says attorney

By Dave Deibert, SP Online Editor, Saskatoon StarPhoenixJuly 21, 2009

Reports of the death of early UFC star Kimo Leopoldo appear to have been premature. Leopoldo’s attorney, Victor E. Hobbs, told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports that “Kimo has surfaced and that’s all I know right now.”

He referred all questions to Leopoldo’s manager, Ron Kort. Kort’s voice mailbox was full and could not accept messages, said the Yahoo! report.

Leopoldo, who became an overnight mixed-martial-arts sensation following his appearance at UFC 3 in 1994, was reported dead Tuesday by numerous websites, including TMZ, the New York Daily News and Orange County Register.

Leopoldo, known simply as Kimo in the MMA world, debuted with Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 3 against UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie. That night, the 6-foot-3, 235-pounder entered the ring with a massive cross on his back and pushed Gracie — then, a two-time UFC tournament champion — to the point of exhaustion before eventually submitting. Gracie could not continue in the tournament, however, due to the damage from his match with Kimo.

Kimo fought four more times for UFC: a loss at UFC 8 in 1996 to Ken Shamrock; a loss to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka via decision at UFC 16 in 1997; a win over Tank Abbott at UFC 43 in 2003; and another loss to Shamrock at UFC 48 in 2004.

His career MMA record is 10-7-1.

In July 2006, Leopoldo was scheduled to fight ex-UFC heavyweight champ Bas Rutten but tested positive for steroids in the days leading up to the match. He had also tested positive for steroids following his UFC 48 match versus Shamrock.

Earlier this year, Leopoldo was charged with possession of a controlled substance in Long Beach, California.

MMA: The Buffer 360!

2009-07-16T13:26:00.003-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Buffer:

In an interview with MMAMemories.com on March 26, 2008, Buffer stated, "let’s call it the 'Buffer 180°'." Buffer peforms 45° and 90° turn before most fights, and but reserves the "Buffer 180°" for main events and co-main events. At UFC 100, Buffer performed a "Buffer 360°".

Joe Rogan posted about UFC 100 and the Buffer 360 and put up these 2 vidclips:

My thanks the original gif maker for this:

Enjoy!

MMA: UFC Fantasy League

2009-07-13T15:45:00.002-04:00

Chad, a member on the Dog Brothers forum, formed a UFC Fantasy League called ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN. My first time 'betting' on this type of thing. I chalk it up to beginner's luck more than anything.

Also some of the fighters I didn't know, I just copied my friend Ausgepicht's picks. Of the 4 fights which I did know the fighters, I was wrong on Coleman vs Bonnar. I'm a Coleman fan from back in da day, and after the Shogun fight, felt Coleman should retire. Thought he would gas and that would allow Bonnar to win by sub. Coleman showed a lot of heart in his fight against Shogun and in UFC 100, he showed me he can still fight as witness his unanimous decision over Bonnar.

Click for bigger picture.

Lucky me over these picks, going to go buy the lottery tonight LOL.

MMA: UFC 100 - a few animated gif's

2009-07-13T15:36:00.001-04:00

My thanks to the original gif makers and to my friend Ausgepicht for posting the gif's to his forum Spladdle. I uploaded to my pichosts to help save on bandwidth. Enjoy!

GEORGES ST. PIERRE VS THIAGO ALVES

GSP won by unanimous decision. Despite a groin pull, GSP throughout 5 rounds continually took Alves down and controlled him on the ground. GSP's takedowns scared off Alves' kicks.

BROCK LESNAR VS FRANK MIR

Frank Mir's best chance in round 2 against Brock Lesnar was this exchange.

This was Round 2 of Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir. Round 1 was almost the whole round of Brock ground and pound similar to the round 2 G&P.

DAN HENDERSON VS MICHAEL BISPING

Henderson and Bisping fought because they were the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter season 9.

Bisping, known as a stand-up fighter only, tries to take world-class wrestler Henderson down.

The KO that put Bisping to sleep.

Here's a bigger pic of the flying elbow/forearm after the KO.

Bisping was told by his corner to stop circling to Henderson's power which was his right. One of Boxing's maxims says the same thing. He paid by not listening to the advice.

The preview of this blog entry shows the large pic correctly, but after posting, it seems to be cut off. Right-click save as and then view it offline.

Enjoy!

MMA: The Ultimate 100 UFC Fights - part 2

2009-07-12T11:51:00.001-04:00

75. UFC 1: Royce Gracie vs. Gerard Gordeau.
74. UFC 58: Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau.
73. UFC 52: George St-Pierre vs. Jason Miller.
72. UFC 92: Frank Mir vs. Antonio Nogueria.
71. Ulimate 96: Don Frye vs. Tank Abbot.
70. UFC 17: Pete Williams vs. Mark Coleman.
69. UFC 34: B.J. Penn vs. Caol Uno.
68. UFC 84: Lyoto Machida vs. Tito Ortiz.
67. UFC 31: Shonie Carter vs. Matt Serra.
66. UFC 94: Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn.
65. UFN 10: Spencer Fisher vs. Sam Stout.
64. UFC 62: Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Sobral.
63. UFC 50: Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre.
62. UFC 72: Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida.
61. UFC 80: B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson.
60. UFC 46: Georges St-Pierre vs. Karo Parisyan.
59. UFC 91: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture.
58. UFC 38: Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton.
57. UFC 69: Roger Huerta vs. Leonard Garcia.
56. UFC 42: Rich Franklin vs. Evan Tanner.
55. UFC 92: Rashad Evans vs. Forrest Griffin.
54. UFN 14: Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben.
53. UFC 64: Sean Sherk vs. Kenny Florian.
52. UFC 40: Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Sobral.
51: UFC 88: Rashad Evans vs. Chuck Liddell.
50. UFC 92: Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva.
49. UFC 71: Houston Alexander vs. Keith Jardine.
48. UFC 35: Jens Pulver vs. B.J. Penn.
47. UFC 31: Chuck Liddell vs. Kevin Randleman.
46. UFC 71: Quinton Jackson vs. Chuck Liddell.
45. TUF 4 Finale: Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell.
44. UFC 83: Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Serra.
43. UFC 45: Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg.
42. UFC 56: Georges St-Pierre vs. Sean Sherk.
41. UFC 81: Antonio Nogueria vs. Tim Sylvia.
40. UFC 15: Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort.
39. UFC 84: Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine.
38. UFC 31: Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo.
37. UFC 3: Royce Gracie vs. Kimo Leopoldo.
36. UFC 52: Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture.
35. UFC 48: Frank Mir vs. Tim Sylvia.
34. UFC 84: B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk.
33. UFC 63: Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn.
32. UFC 74: Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga.
31. UFC 75: Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson.
30. UFC 46: BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes.
29. UFC 98: Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans.
28. UFC 66: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz.
27. UFC 44: Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz.
26. UFC 87: Georges St-Pierre vs Jon Fitch.
25. UFC 57: Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture.
24. UFC 1: Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock.
23. UFC 65: Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Hughes.
22. The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale: Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida.
21. UFC 43: Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell.
20. UFC 79: Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Hughes.
19. UFC 82 Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson.
18. UFC 47: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz.
17. UFC 68: Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia.
16. UFC 58: Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher.
15. UFC 85: Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes.
14. UFC 34: Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton.
13. The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale:Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida.
12. The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale: Diego Sanchez vs. Nick Diaz.
11. UFC 86: Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson.

Part 3 coming soon with Fights 10 to the #1 UFC fight from UFC's 1-99.

IN MEMORY OF: Arturo Gatti (April 15, 1972 - July 11, 2009) (40 Wins - 9 Losses - 0 Draws - 31 KO's)

2009-07-11T22:13:00.005-04:00

Cut and pasted from ESPN:

Updated: July 11, 2009, 8:59 PM ET
Foul play suspected in Gatti's death

Arturo Gatti Found Dead At Age 37

SAO PAULO -- Former boxing champion Arturo Gatti, one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, was found dead in a hotel room in the posh seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas early Saturday.

Police investigator Edilson Alves told The Associated Press that the body of the former junior welterweight champ was discovered in his hotel room at the tourist resort, where Gatti had arrived on Friday with his Brazilian wife Amanda and 1-year-old son.

Alves said police were investigating and it was unclear how the 37-year-old Canadian died. Foul play is suspected in the death, the CBC reported.

"It is still too early to say anything concrete, although it is all very strange," Alves said.

A spokeswoman for the state public safety department said Gatti's wife and son were unhurt. The women declined to give a name in keeping with department policy.

"There were no bullet or stab wounds on his body, but police did find blood stains on the floor," she said.

Brazilian boxer and four-time world champion Acelino "Popo" Freitas told the G1 Web site of Brazil's largest television network Globo that he was a close friend of Gatti and his wife, and that he "knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate, but I didn't know they were in Brazil."

Francisco Assis, a local police investigator, told G1 that Gatti could have died up to eight hours before his body was found early Saturday.

Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs), nicknamed "Thunder", was best known for his all-action style, which was epitomized in his classic trilogy with Micky Ward in 2002 and 2003.

It's why Gatti was a fixture at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., where he drew huge crowds and fought many times, including the final nine fights of his career.

"His entire boxing career he fought with us, we've known him since he was 17," Kathy Duva of promoter Main Events told The Associated Press. "It's just an unspeakable tragedy. I can't even find words. It's a horror."

He won two world titles in his 16-year pro career. In 1995, he won his first one, outpointing Tracy Harris Patterson to claim the IBF junior lightweight title.

In his first fight after the Ward trilogy -- which Gatti won 2-1 -- he captured a world title in his second division, outpointing Gianluca Branco for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title in January 2004.

Gatti made two defenses before losing the title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via sixth-round TKO in June 2005. He returned to defeat Thomas Damgaard but lost his final two bouts, a ninth-round TKO in a challenge to then-welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir in July 2006 followed by a one-sided beating from former "Contender" star Alfonso Gomez in July 2007.

In the dressing room following the seventh-round knockout loss to Gomez, Gatti announced his retirement.

Referee Randy Neumann said it was tough for him to end that fight, simply because of Gatti's incredible ability to come back in fights.

"I couldn't stop that fight, simply because he was Arturo Gatti," Neumann said. "He was much more dignified to go out that way. He had to be counted out. When he fought, you never knew if he could come back. He looked beaten and still came back."

With that loss, Gatti acknowledged the end of all his travails and triumphs.

"I remember walking away from his last fight, and somebody walked up to him in the casino late at night and congratulated him," Duva said. "And he said, 'Why did he congratulate me?' And I said, 'He was excited to meet you.' And he kind of looked very surprised by that.

"He had no idea what an icon he was or how much he meant to people."

More than his titles, Gatti will be remembered for the slugfests. He was half of the Ring magazine fight of the year four times for two the Ward fights as well as his 1997 fifth-round knockout of Gabriel Ruelas to retain the junior lightweight title and a 1998 decision loss to Ivan Robinson.

Gatti had two memorable battles with Robinson as well as dramatic fights with Wilson Rodriguez, Angel Manfredy and Calvin Grove -- all before the trilogy with Ward that defined his career.

Gatti was a staple of HBO's boxing broadcasts, appearing on the network 21 times.

"HBO Sports is tremendously saddened by the passing of Arturo Gatti," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said. "He was one of the legendary warriors in boxing, and his three epic battles with Micky Ward will live on in the sport's rich history. All of us at HBO Sports will miss his warm and friendly presence, and our deepest sympathy goes out to his manager Pat Lynch, promoter Main Events, led by Kathy Duva, and the entire Arturo Gatti family. Boxing has lost a great and humble man."

Gatti had been working in real estate in Montreal following his retirement, but still attended fights, as he did in April for the Timothy Bradley-Kendall Holt junior welterweight unification bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cut and pasted from Fight News:

Arturo Gatti found dead!

Legendary former world champion Arturo Gatti, 37, has reportedly been found dead inside a beachside flat he was renting at the Hotel Dorisol of Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco, Brazil. He was found by his wife early Saturday with a head injury. Gatti had arrived with his wife and baby on Friday on their honeymoon. Local police consider his death suspicious.

Some links:

Official Site

Wiki entry

Boxing Record from BoxRec

My sincerest condolences to the Gatti family.

MOVIES: BESOURO -- upcoming Capoeira movie

2009-07-10T17:26:00.002-04:00

My thanks to my friend P. for the heads-up on this!

From the IMDB:

The plot: Based on the life of a legendary capoeira fighter from Bahia, "Besouro" spins a fantastic tale of a young Brazilian man of African descent in search of his mission.

Release date: 30 October 2009 (Brazil)

Sounds like what ONG BAK did for the Thai arts, what MERANTAU looks to do for the Indonesian arts, BESOURO may be poised to do for Capoeira.

Trailer up on YouTube:

KICKBOXING: Official K1 YouTube channel

2009-07-10T17:16:00.003-04:00

FEG's Sadaharu Tanikawa, K-1 Event Producer, announced today that an official K-1 Channel has been created on YouTube, the video sharing site with over 2 billion users.

*Now the world can enjoy K-1!

Built on the motto "From Japan to the World", the world's largest martial arts extravaganza "K-1" is now in its 16th year. Starting with a modest number of domestic fans back in 1993, K-1 events now boasts viewership in 135 countries. FEG, producers of the events, now wish to reach a broader audience and let them get know more about K-1 past and present. The first big step is opening the YouTube K-1 Channel (YouTube - Kanaal van K1). Not only will anyone be able to see K-1 events anywhere at any time, with the subtitle translation tools available, they'll be able to follow the commentary as well.

When the YouTube K-1 Channel opens on Thursday, July 9th, K-1 will be more accessible than ever. Content will include:

1. K-1 Archives = All the events from the very first one in 1993 to today in High Definition

2. Pre-fight Interviews = Pre-fight interviews capture the tension and excitement of the fighters before they step into the ring

3. Press Conference Footage = See the fighters face to face, sometimes for the first time, at the official press conferences

4. Post-fight Interviews = The elation of the winners, the disappointment of the winners, all captured in the post-fight interviews.

Bonus material:

1. Each video will come with comments and narration fully subtitled. YouTube's auto-translation tools will make the subtitles globally accessible.

2. K-1's official site will also carry the videos with extra content that will be constantly updated.

In Japan, K-1 is the first to enter into such a ground-breaking partnership with YouTube and the YouTube K-1 Channel, with archived K-1 events, interviews, press conferences, and also never-before-seen official content such as looks into the fighters lives, should give martial arts fans what they've always wanted - full access to the greatest martial arts show on Earth.

*K-1 events from the first in 1993 until today in Hi-Def!

*Captions convertable to any language!

*DREAM Channel opening soon for MMA fans!

K-1 Channel

My thanks to my friend P. for the heads-up. This is awesoome news! Some great stand-up action in K-1. Enjoy!

MMA: UFC 100 Fight Card

2009-07-10T16:48:00.003-04:00

Click thumbnail for bigger picture.

UFC 100 takes place on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

Main Event: Championship Bouts
HWY: Brock Lesnar (3-1) vs. Frank Mir (12-3)
170#: Georges St. Pierre (18-2) vs. Thiago Alves (22-4)

* Brock Lesnar is the current champ and Frank Mir is the Interim Champ. GSP is the current Welterweight champion.

Main Card
185#: Dan Henderson (24-7) vs. Michael Bisping (18-1)
170#: Jon Fitch (22-3) vs. Paulo Thiago (11-0)
185#: Yoshihiro Akiyama (12-1) vs. Alan Belcher (13-4)

Preliminary Bouts
205#: Stephan Bonnar (14-5) vs. Mark Coleman (15-9)
155#: Mac Danzig (19-6-1) vs. Jim Miller (13-2)
205#: Jon Jones (8-0) vs. Jake O’Brien (11-2)
170#: Dong Hyun Kim (11-0-1) vs. TJ Grant (14-2)
185#: C.B. Dollaway (9-2) vs. Tom Lawlor (5-1)
155#: Matt Grice (10-2) vs. Shannon Gugerty (11-3)

My picks:

Brock Lesnar - Thinking his training under Erik Paulson (or was it Greg Nelson?) will do him good. Don't think Mir will get an easy sub this time and Mir won't escape Brock's g&p.

GSP - Until he loses, think GSP is on the top of his game. Hard to beat now. Although apparently he has a swollen elbow or something which may or may not affect his performance.

Dan Henderson - I want and think Hendo wins, but part of me remembers how he eeked out a win against Rich 'Ace' Franklin and lost to who was it? Rousimar Palhares (sp?) ... his better fights may be behind him.

Jon Fitch - Don't really know Fitch or Paulo Thiago well, but looked up Fitch's record... think he wins by decision.

Stephan Bonnar - Think Bonnar will pull off a sub after Coleman gasses... I like Coleman from back in da day, but feel he should probably retire.

Tomorrow night will be a special night... the 100th UFC event... 16 years! I remember when I watched the first UFC, I couldn't sleep that night, I was so hyped up on the sheer adrenaline of watching martial artists test their disciplines against other disciplines.

Enjoy!

MMA: The Ultimate 100 UFC Fights - part 1

2009-07-10T16:39:00.004-04:00

Cut and pasted from Spike.com's blog:

The Countdown Has Begun
Posted July 06, 2009

The UFC Ultimate 100 kicked off last night with the first 25 fights as voted on by you, the fans. Starting the countdown with Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor, I was a bit surprised that this one didn't end up higher on the list, but as we pushed forward and relived fights like Hughes-Gracie, Penn-Uno and Liddell-White, it started to put things in perspective. Since 1993, there have been a lot of epic battles and if this countdown -as we approach UFC 100- doesn't get you amped up, then you might want to check your pulse and coordination skills because you could be a zombie regenerated from a human corpse on a mission to take over the planet.

Standing out among the first 25 for me has to be Serra vs. GSP I. Like every red-blooded American, I love the underdog/upset combo and so close to July 4, this one might have had a little extra spicy mustard.

"When I had George in trouble, I stayed calm and I picked my shots and I chose where to hit him and it worked out great," Serra recalled. It sure did work out great, for Serra and for all of us who got to witness one of the greatest upsets in mixed martial arts history.

GSP's response, however, is almost as inspiring, "I just tried to survive and get out. I tried to still exchange with him even though I couldn't stand on my feet. I was very dizzy," he told the camera, looking back. "And I learned from my mistake," he said with a crooked grin across his face. It's this attitude and insight that makes him so great and in turn what made Serra's victory so great.

Of course, GSP eventually avenged his loss to Serra and has yet to drop another bout since, some of which will appear later in this countdown among other classics like Gracie vs. Gordeau Evans vs. Liddell, Mir vs. Nogueira and the monumental Lesnar vs. Couture -all to be seen in the very next installment Monday night at 9.

Recapping the first 25:

100. Kelly vs. Talyor
99. Newton vs. Miletich
98. Florian vs Lauzon
97. Evans vs. Salmon
96. Hughes vs. Gracie
95. Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin
94. Penn vs. Thomas
93. Alves vs. Lytle
92. Penn vs. Serra
91. Franklin vs. Shamrock
90. Penn vs. Uno II
89. Jardine vs. Forrest Griffin
88. Edgar vs. Tyson Griffin
87. Liddell vs. Horn
86. Tanner vs. Baroni
85. Parisyan vs. Nick Diaz
84. Rizzo vs. Barnett
83. Liddell vs. White
82. St-Pierre vs. Trigg
81. Koppenhaver vs. Rollins
80. Franklin vs. Tanner I
79. Serra vs. St-Pierre I
78. Jardine vs. Liddell
77. Silva vs. Irvin
76. Hughes vs. Sherk

MMA: Sports Illustrated's Top 10 UFC fights

2009-07-10T16:32:00.002-04:00

Check this link for Sports Illustrated's Top 10 UFC fights... vidclips available:

Royce Gracie def. Dan Severn by triangle choke (UFC 4, Dec. 16, 1994)

Oleg Taktarov def. Tank Abbott by rear-naked choke (UFC 7, July 14, 1995)

Mark Coleman def. Don Frye by TKO (UFC 10, July 12, 1996)

Bas Rutten def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka by TKO (UFC 18, Jan. 8, 1999)

Frank Shamrock def. Tito Ortiz by TKO (UFC 22, Sept. 24, 1999)

Randy Couture def. Pedro Rizzo by unanimous decision (UFC 31, May 4, 2001)

Robbie Lawler def. Aaron Riley by unanimous decision (UFC 37, May 10 2002)

Forrest Grffin def. Stephan Bonnar by unanimous decision (T.U.F. 1 Finale, April 9, 2005)

Matt Hughes def. Frank Trigg by rear-naked choke (UFC 52, April 16, 2005)

Roger Huerta def. Clay Guida by rear-naked choke (T.U.F. 6 Finale, Dec. 8, 2007)

Spike TV has the program running now of Ultimate 100 UFC Fights and it counts down the fights leading up to the historical night tomorrow for UFC 100.

What's your Top 10 UFC fights? So many fights to choose from, I don't know if I can rank them let alone narrow them down to 10 only.

Enjoy!

NEWS: I just missed posting on 123456789

2009-07-08T12:38:00.003-04:00

Today is July 8, 2009 or in numerical format = 7/8/09 ... the time was 12:34:56.... so 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 :-(

In Memory of: Alexis Arguello (April 19, 1952 - July 1, 2009) (82-8 with 65 KO's)

2009-07-02T10:53:00.003-04:00

Cut and pasted from Fox Sports:

Alexis Arguello is shown here after winning the lightweight championship in 1981, his third title in three different weight classes. (Getty Images)

Hall of Fame boxer found dead; reports cite suicide
Associated Press

Updated: July 2, 2009, 8:34 AM EDT

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Alexis Arguello, who fought in one of boxing's most classic brawls and reigned supreme at 130 pounds, was found dead at his home early Wednesday.

Coroners were conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Sandanista Party's Radio Ya and other local media were reporting it appeared to be a suicide.
The La Prensa newspaper reported that Arguello — elected mayor of Nicaragua's capital last year — was found with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The 57-year-old Arguello retired from boxing in 1995 with a record of 82-8 with 65 knockouts and was a champion in three weight divisions. He was perhaps best known for two thrilling battles with Aaron Pryor and fights with Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and Ruben Olivares.

"I'm kind of in a daze right now. I can't believe what I'm hearing," Pryor told The Associated Press. "Those were great fights we had. This was a great champion."

Nicknamed "The Explosive Thin Man," Arguello was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, where flags were flying at half-staff in his honor on Wednesday.

In 1999, a panel of experts assembled by The AP voted Arguello the best junior lightweight and sixth-best lightweight of the 20th century. He never lost at 130 pounds, and his popularity in his own country was so great that he carried the flag for Nicaragua at the Beijing Olympics.

"Not only was he one of the greatest fighters I've ever seen, he was the most intelligent fighter," Bob Arum, who promoted some of his biggest fights, told The Associated Press. "He was a ring tactician. Every move was thought out. And he was a wonderful, wonderful person."

Arguello turned pro in 1968 and promptly lost his first bout. He didn't lose much more, and six years later knocked out Olivares in the 13th round to win the world featherweight title.

Arguello went on to win the super featherweight and lightweight titles, his 5-foot-10 frame allowing him to move up in weight without losing his tremendous punching power. At the time, he was only the sixth boxer to win championships in three weight classes, and was considered for a while the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Panama's Roberto Duran, another world champion at three weights, expressed disbelief.

"I can't believe it. He was my friend, my brother," Duran said. "His death is a great loss for world boxing and a much greater loss for Nicaragua."

The retired Oscar De La Hoya said: "I felt sad receiving the news and still find it hard to believe. Alexis was my idol. When I was young, I heard so much about him and his fights and loved his style in the ring. In my opinion he was one of the biggest and most influential fighters boxing has ever produced."

De La Hoya said Arguello attended his fight against Steve Forbes in May 2008, which was De La Hoya's last victory.

"We shared some great moments together before and after the fight," he said. "Arguello was definitely a legend in the boxing world because of all the joy he brought to his fans with his unforgettable career and amazing personality."

Arguello moved up in weight again in November 1982 to challenge Pryor for the 140-pound belt, a match billed as "Battle of the Champions." More than 23,000 fans packed the Orange Bowl in Miami, and the two waged an epic battle before Pryor knocked out Arguello in the 14th round.

"It was a brutal, brutal fight," Arum said. "That was something I will never, ever forget as long as I live. That was one of the most memorable fights I ever did."

The bout was named "Fight of the Year" and "Fight of the Decade" by Ring Magazine, but was shrouded by controversy. Pryor's trainer, Panama Lewis, gave him a water bottle after the 13th round that many believe contained an illegal substance - an accusation Pryor denied.

A rematch was ordered and they met again a year later at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. This time, Pryor knocked out Arguello in the 10th round.

"We always talk to each other about that first fight," Pryor said. "I never went into the fight knowing I could beat Alexis, I just went into the fight to beat Alexis."

Arguello announced after the fight that he would retire from boxing, but as so often happens in the sport, Arguello couldn't stay away from the ring.

He returned to win two fights in 1985 and 1986, then didn't step in the ring until 1994, when he made a brief comeback. He retired for good the following year.

"Alexis Arguello was a first-class fighter and a first-class gentleman," said Hall of Fame executive director Edward Brophy. "The Hall of Fame joins the boxing community in mourning the loss of a great champion and friend."

Arguello fought against the Sandinista government in the 1980s after it seized his property and bank account, but later joined the party and ran for mayor of the capital last November. He defeated Eduardo Montealegre, though opponents alleged the vote was fraudulent.

Arguello had returned Sunday from Puerto Rico, where he honored the late baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. His death prompted Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega to announced he was canceling a trip to Panama for the inauguration of President-elect Ricardo Martinelli.

"We are upset," presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said. "This is a heartbreaking announcement. He was the champion of the poor, an example of forgiveness and reconciliation."

Alexis Arguello's record on http://www.boxrec.com

Alexis Arguello highlights

Round 1 of one of the greatest boxing fights ever

Click the thumbnails for a bigger picture.

NOTES: My thanks to my friend P. who emailed me about this. My thanks to Ausgepicht and Leon for the links to the vidclips and pictures.

IN MEMORY OF: Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T18:59:00.002-04:00

oh man, a cultural icon of the 1980's - the King of Pop.

RIP Michael Jackson

In Memory Of: Farrah Fawcett

2009-06-25T12:57:00.003-04:00

RIP Farrah Fawcett

62 ... lost her bout with cancer :-(

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/25/obit.fawcett/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrah_fawcett

Official Site

52 HAND BLOCKS: Justin Porter's NY Times article on 52

2009-06-18T21:54:00.000-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://www.nytimes.com. My sincerest thanks to my friend P. for the heads up.

William Pearce, left, and Joseph Raven Ravera practice 52 Blocks fighting at Ultimate Karate in Harlem.

Please click for bigger image.

June 18, 2009
In Tight, a New (Old) Martial Art Gains Followers
By JUSTIN PORTER

IT has developed just below the surface of popular culture in the United States, in the streets, prisons and boxing rings. It’s gone by a few names: Stato, Jailhouse Rock, the 52 Hand Blocks, 52 Blocks and, for short, the 52.

For a long time it has been a kind of martial arts Loch Ness monster: an American fighting form with supposedly sinister origins that many have heard of but few have seen or experienced. No one, it seemed, had any concrete proof that it existed, or at least none they were willing to share.

Until recently.

Several instructors have begun teaching this quasi martial art. Videos are up on YouTube. And the name 52 Blocks seems to be gaining respect as the most accepted. To watch it demonstrated is to see quick strikes suited to a fight exploding in surroundings like a jail cell, staircase or hallway.

Lyte Burly, 34, teaches and trains in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. He was one of the first to put videos on YouTube. “There was a lot of chatter, a lot of audio but no video,” he said of the discussion forums and Web sites that would offer hints of 52 Blocks, but little information about where to go to find out more.

Mr. Burly has a background in boxing and Chinese martial arts. Now, 52 Blocks has become his main focus.

“They say offense wins fights but defense wins championships,” Mr. Burly said. He said the 52 Blocks’ great strength was what he saw as its ability to let the user control the pace of a fight, while avoiding being hit. When Mr. Burly moves, his compact frame easily slips around and away from punches and attempts to grab him. He blocks punches with the tips of his elbows and drops to a crouch to attack his opponent’s legs.

At the start of a session, Mr. Burly and his student used an empty basketball court. But 52’s flavor seemed diluted in such a large area. Mr. Burly and his training partner eventually moved into the confines of a jungle gym.

Now in a five-foot-square space, hemmed in on all sides by metal bars — but visible — the fighting style’s strengths became clearer. In these confines, Mr. Burly’s size is a clear asset. He shoved his opponent into the bars, using these “walls” as weapons. In tight quarters where a punch might be too long, Mr. Burly used his elbows to strike and shove.

After the workout, Mr. Burly talked about his desire to eliminate the secretive attitude that has added to 52 Blocks’ obscurity — but also given it some buzz.

At a martial arts school called Ultimate Karate in East Harlem, Daniel Marks taught the 52 Blocks on a recent Sunday. The school itself is huge, and often seems more so because Mr. Marks’s classes are usually small. Blue mats cover the floors, and the students and Mr. Marks train in gym clothes and socks.

Mr. Marks — who is not affiliated with Mr. Burly — towers over many of his students and instructs with a gentle, patient manner. After a warm-up that includes jogging, calisthenics and some basic shadow boxing, he teaches specific concepts of the 52 Blocks. Here it looks a bit more like boxing, but with a twist.

It is a style built for the inside game, short hard punches best suited to fighting in tight spaces, like hallways and cells. The guard is tighter to allow for bare fists and is a constantly shifting mosaic of elbows, twists and turns.

When 52 Blocks practitioners hit, they can target anything from the legs to the shoulders. Footwork is taught in small, tight patterns. Rather than dancing on the balls of the feet the way boxers often do, a practitioner of the 52 Blocks has footwork that is closer to the ground, lower and tighter, both in the width of the stance and the distance traveled with each shuffle.

Mr. Marks demonstrated a technique to break the opponent down by first defending against an oncoming punch and then systematically striking at the body’s flex points, like the shoulders and hips. When Mr. Marks talks about hitting an opponent, he’s looking to hurt, but also to force a reaction. If he wants his opponent to turn, he strikes the shoulder, aiming to turn him. If he wants his opponent to lean forward, he strikes the hip. Each reaction is a setup for another. As he showed these different options on a student, he spoke to the rest of the class.

“Your training should take you to a natural pause in the action,” he said. This pause allows a person defending his life to make a choice — finish the fight or escape, an option he advocates. By this time, the student being demonstrated upon is prone on the ground, unhurt but pinned by one of Mr. Marks’s knees.

The goal is to get where you were going safely, Mr. Marks said.

“Or if you got to use the bathroom!” said Mike Baltazar, a new student. The rest of the class laughed as Mr. Marks rolled his eyes.

A man who goes by Kawaun Adon Akhenaten7 — and would not provide another name — taught Mr. Marks 52 Blocks and acts as a kind of guide. Mr. Akhenaten7 lives in Philadelphia and, like Mr. Marks, is large and soft-spoken. He said he learned the style on the streets of Brooklyn while running with a gang of armed robbers, and was impressed after seeing it used in a street fight.

“It looked like a ghetto ballet, kind of like it was choreographed,” he said. “Men threw punches at each other that looked dainty until they made contact. It was barbaric but it was finessed. They were out to hurt each other and make each other look bad.”

Because the 52 Blocks exists practically as an oral tradition, its history is a bit murky.

Mr. Marks believes the system evolved mostly through prizefighting in the southern and eastern United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

No black man was allowed to contend for the world heavyweight championship until Jack Johnson in 1908. His victory changed boxing and history. Mr. Johnson fought in an unorthodox manner: he played a defensive game, preferring to counterpunch and capitalize on his opponent’s mistakes, qualities also found in the 52 Blocks. Also, Mr. Marks said, fighters worked for tips, so they often developed flashy, crowd-pleasing moves.

At least one writer in the white press at the time labeled Mr. Johnson’s style “cowardly.” Mr. Marks believes that this was one of the first signs of a style that might have become the 52 Blocks. He doesn’t think Mr. Johnson’s style could have just come from thin air.

“Who taught him?” Mr. Marks asked with a smile.

Mr. Burly also talked about racial stereotypes during this era. He mentioned a commonly held belief that black boxers “couldn’t take punishment,” that they were physically weaker. He thinks that this belief, later disproved completely by Mr. Johnson, may have influenced some of the ways black fighters were taught to box — more evasively as counter-punchers.

FIGHTERS in the ring have often been spoken of in connection with the 52 Blocks. Rashad Evans is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship light-heavyweight titleholder. Speaking by phone from Greg Jackson’s Gym in Albuquerque, N.M., he said that while growing up, he had heard stories about the 52 Blocks from older men when discussing prison fights, and saw what he assumed were parts of it in street fights.

In 2005 he met Daniel Marks at a seminar in Baltimore and found value beneath the legends, stories and memories.

“What it comes down to is just really practical boxing,” he said. From the 52 Blocks, he said, he gained a better knowledge of the use of angles in a fight. He said that while he’s nowhere near a master at the skill, he has seen his game improve.

MOVIES: Donnie Yen's IP MAN vidclips

2009-06-16T16:51:00.002-04:00

My thanks to MartialTalk member wingc for the following link to loads of Donnie Yen's IP MAN vidclips:

http://www.wing-chun.ws/

Enjoy!

MOVIES: Ip Man Chain punching animated gif's reupped to a backup pichost

2009-06-16T16:35:00.005-04:00

I've been busy with family and work, but I've reupped the Ip Man chain punching animated gifs to a different pichost.

http://stickgrappler.blogspot.com/2009/05/movies-donnie-yens-ip-man-chain-punches.html

Will upload others to my backup pichost. Learned my lesson, spread the pix out on a few pichosts especially since I also post them to various forums LOL

Enjoy the gif's again!

LINKS: Dog Brothers Martial Arts forums

2009-06-05T14:05:00.002-04:00

Woof:

Check out the Dog Brothers Martial Arts subforum on FMATalk.

Of course, there is the forum on the Dog Brothers official site too.

There is also a Members Only forum via the Dog Brothers Martial Arts Association. 1 year's membership is $75.

Enjoy!

LINKS: FMATalk forums

2009-06-05T13:45:00.002-04:00

Check out FMATalk forums, dedicated to the discussion of the Filipino Culture and Martial Arts. The forums are well-organized into the various styles/systems of the FMA.

Although I've not surfed there regularly in the past due to time, I will be going there as time permits in the future. I don't know the exact history/background behind the forum, but I'm guessing it's a spinoff from Martial Talk forums?

Enjoy!

NEWS: Martial arts actor Shek Kin dead at 96

2009-06-04T21:52:00.005-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://www.kungfucinema.com/martial-arts-actor-shek-kin-dead-at-96-7734:

Martial arts actor Shek Kin dead at 96

By Mark Pollard on June 4, 2009

Shek Kin Hong Kong has lost one of its greatest and longest living film treasures. Veteran martial arts actor Shek Kin (aka Shih Kien, Sek Kin), best known internationally for his role in ENTER THE DRAGON as "Mr. Han," died this morning at the venerable age of 96.

Gregory So, Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development expressed regret at the loss.

"Mr. Shek's brilliant career in the performing arts industry started in the 1940s. Since then he devoted lifelong commitment to the industry. He played a villain role in the Wong Fei-hung film series and had become one of the most recognizable faces of Hong Kong cinema," said So.

"With his death, Hong Kong has lost an outstanding performing arts talent. On behalf of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, I offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Shek's family."

Shek was one of the territory's most recognizable actors thanks to a prolific career that spanned over 50 years. Born in 1913, Shek was among Hong Kong's first generation of martial arts stars, including Walter Cho, Kwan Tak-hing and Yu So-chow, who flourished during the initial genre boom of the 1950s and '60s. Trained in several northern kung fu disciplines rather than Chinese opera like so many of his peers, Shek began appearing in Cantonese-language martial arts films in the late 1940s. Up until he was cast as the lead villain in ENTER THE DRAGON, Shek was best known as the lead villain in the long-running WONG FEI HUNG film series where he frequently crossed fists and wits with series star Kwan Tak-hing.

In the 1970s and '80s, Shek continued to appear in a variety of films, most notably in ENTER THE DRAGON but also in a comedic supporting role opposite Jackie Chan in THE YOUNG MASTER. He also frequently appeared in local television series. Shek Kin retired from the entertainment industry in the mid-1990s. His final film role was in Bosco Lam's comedy HONG KONG ADAM'S FAMILY (1994).

From wiki:

Kien died of kidney failure on June 3, 2009 at the age of 96. At the time of his death, Kien was believed to be one of the oldest living actors in China.

Because Shek Kin often played villains, one of his nicknames was 'Kan Yan Kin' (loosely translated as Kan = Evil; Yan = Man/Person and Kin being his name). A phrase/saying sometimes heard was "Kan gor kan yan kin" ... more evil than Shek Kin.

One reader's reply on Kung Fu Cinema said it best with:

Another great one passes.RiP Mr. Han you will be missed.Tell Bruce,Kwan Tak Hing,Alexander Fu Sheng,Lam Ching Ying and all the others we miss you all,and you are all irreplaceable.

My sincerest condolences to his family, friends and students. RIP Shek Kin

My Photobucket account exceeded monthly limit :-(

2009-06-04T18:03:00.002-04:00

My main pichost, Photobucket, emailed to let me know the following:

Attention Stickgrappler

You have exceeded the 25 GB monthly bandwidth limit on your free
Photobucket account. As such, your image and video links have been
temporarily disabled. Your images and videos have not been deleted but
will be reactivated on the 27th of the month, when your bandwidth
usage resets to zero.

If you'd like to re-activate your links right away, you can upgrade to a
Photobucket Pro account for FREE by clicking on this offer.

I guess I needed to push the envelope to get a feel on how many pix i can post here on this blog and on the forums. Sincerest apologies to all if you cannot see the pictures on this blog. Working on a go-around on this :-)

NEWS: RIP David Carradine

2009-06-04T10:14:00.003-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_en_ot/as_thailand_david_carradine:

Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

BANGKOK – Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He says Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.

The Web site of the newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide.

Carradine was a leading member of a venerable Hollywood acting family that included his father, character actor John Carradine, and brother Keith.

Here's the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carradine.

MMA: Lyoto Machida's "Boxing Blast"

2009-05-27T01:12:00.002-04:00

OK, I made this animated gif... it's Lyoto's "boxing blast".

Click the thumbnail for a bigger resolution picture!

Way past my bedtime... GN all.

MMA: 2 joke animated pictures of Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans

2009-05-26T16:27:00.003-04:00

Rashad was very classy in his defeat. I like him and I like Lyoto also. I was torn by this fight, but I was thinking Machida's style would be able to defeat Rashad's.

Here are 2 animated gif's I found off of Spladdle. The first one was made before the fight this past Saturday. The second was made after the fight. My thanks to the unknown gif maker(s).

Click the thumbnails for a bigger picture.

NEWS: Mike Tyson's Daughter Found Hanging From Cord

2009-05-26T12:53:00.003-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521777,00.html:

Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter is on life support and in "extremely critical condition" after she was found hanging Monday morning from a treadmill cable in her family's Phoenix home, police said.

Exodus Tyson's 7-year-old brother found her on a treadmill with her neck on a cable attached to the exercise machine, police Sgt. Andy Hill said, calling it a "tragic accident."

The mother sent the boy to find the 4-year-old girl who was playing in a separate room. The boy found his sister in distress and got his mother, police said.

"Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, and there's a cord that hangs under the console — it's kind of a loop," Hill said. "Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it."

The girl's mother took her daughter off the cable, called 911 and attempted to revive her.

Responding officers and firefighters performed CPR on the girl. She was rushed to nearby St. Joe's Hospital after she was found around 10:30 a.m local time, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported.

Hill said former heavyweight champion Tyson had been in Las Vegas but flew to Phoenix immediately after learning of the accident.

Tyson could not immediately be reached for comment. Calls to three of his representatives were either not returned or not answered.

Hill said everything in the investigation pointed to an accident. "There's nothing in the investigation that revealed anything suspicious," he said.

He added that responding to calls involving children is an officer's most difficult duty.

"Those are the things that stay with you in your career," he said. "We always hope for a miracle — not to have the worst happen to a child."

Tyson lives in the house with his girlfriend and their two children, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported.

Click http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/text_only/tyson_daughter_accident_05_25_2009 for more info.

My prayers goes out to Mike Tyson and his family.

MMA: UFC 98 - Hughes X Serra & Machida X Evans animated gif's

2009-05-26T10:59:00.007-04:00

Got these pix from Spladdle. Enjoy!

My thanks to the GIF makers at FightReport.com. Round 1. Click the pic for a bigger picture.

My thanks to the unknown GIF maker. Round 3. Click the pic for a bigger picture. Click the animated GIF for a bigger picture.

Hughes was rocked in round 1 from Serra's headbutt and right hand. Serra couldn't finish Hughes. Serra gets taken down in round 2 and Hughes controls and dominates with his ground and pound. Most of round 3 saw Hughes in control and with a little left to the round, Serra gets a takedown and starts his ground and pound. Hughes wins by unaimous decision.

My thanks to the GIF makers at mma-core.com for the next 4 pictures. Click the pix for a bigger picture.

Evans was tentative and when Machida turned it on, he exploded. First 2 pictures are of the KO that cemented the win of the Light Heavyweight Championship for Machida. The last 2 pictures were from earlier in the fight.

MMA: Dream 9 - Jose Canseco vs Hong Man Choi

2009-05-26T10:55:00.004-04:00

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/canseco+hong+man/video/x9ef1v_hong-man-choi-v-jose-canseco-dream_sport

sorry... cannot get it to hotlink or embed.

Enjoy!

MMA: UFC 98 - Evans vs Machida

2009-05-21T16:24:00.003-04:00

Click for a bigger picture.

Date: May 23, 2009
Time: 10PM ET/7PM PT
Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Tickets: Ticketmaster & Stubhub

Main Event: Light Heavyweight Championship
205#: "Sugar" Rashad Evans (18-0-1) vs Lyoto Machida (14-0)

Main Card:
170#: Matt Hughes (43-7) vs Matt Serra (16-5)
185#: James Irvin (14-5-1) vs Drew McFedries (7-6)
185#: Dan Miller (12-1-1) vs Chael Sonnen (23-10-1)
155#: Frank Edgar (9-1) vs Sean Sherk (37-3-1)S

Undercard Bouts:
170#: Brock Larson (26-2) vs Chris Wilson (13-5-1)
HWY: Pat Barry (4-0) vs Tim Hague (9-1)
155#: Kyle Bradley (13-6-1) vs Phillipe Nover (6-1-1)
205#: Krzysztof Soszynski (18-9-1) vs Andre Gusmao (5-1)
170#: Brandon Wolff (7-3) vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-3)
155#: David Kaplan (3-2) vs George Roop (8-5)

Sadly, I don't know most of the fighters.

I think Lyoto wins by decision unless he gets some miraculous opening Rashad presents him and Lyoto gets a KO. I think Lyoto is elusive enough and capitalize on his counter-attack game against Rashad. I like both fighters but going with Lyoto on this one.

Despite Hughes having lost his previous 2 and hasn't fought in some time, I think Matt Hughes wins, I don't think Matt Serra has adapted his BJJ to MMA. I don't see how Serra will win.

Looking forward to Saturday's UFC.

MOVIES: BANGKOK DANGEROUS - knife drill animated gif's

2009-05-21T16:21:00.003-04:00

In time, I will make more and add more knife scenes from movies... I only had time to make these 2 from Nicholas Cage's BANGKOK DANGEROUS

Click for bigger pictures.

I want to put up something from Tommy Lee Jones/Benicio Del Toro HUNTED in the future.

~sg

EBOOKS: Boxing by Philadelphia Jack O'Brien

2009-05-16T19:28:00.001-04:00

Kirk Lawson, yet again, has republished another rare OOP book. This time it's Boxing by Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. My sincerest appreciation to Kirk Lawson and his contributions to the martial arts community yet again!

Print: $9.70
Download: FREE

Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, Light Heavyweight, claiming "American Middleweight," and boxing in all divisions, including a Championship match for the Heavyweight Championship of the World against Jack Johnson, wrote his manual in 1928.

In his career he fought such notables as Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Bob Fitzsimmons, and even Anthony J. Drexel Biddle.

O'Brien's comprehensive manual includes not only the standard instruction on how to punch, defend, and footwork but also covers fine aspects of ring generalship such as reading an opponent's intention, likely fighting styles, how to escape being cornered. O'Brien also provides in depth instruction of training up, diet, even sleeping advice. He includes instruction on how to minister to common injuries, advice on body toughening methods, and teaches the aspiring Referee.

This manual is a classic piece of history and an indispensable addition to the library of any boxing historian, boxer, and aspiring martial artist.

Download the pdf here: http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_65/7150000/7150097/1/print/Boxing_by_Philadelphia_Jack_OBrien.pdf.

Enjoy!

NEWS: The World's Best Illusion: The Secret of the Curve Ball

2009-05-15T10:22:00.001-04:00

Devin Powell
Inside Science News Service
May 13, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ISNS) -- The three best visual illusions in the world were chosen at a gathering last weekend of neuroscientists and psychologists at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Florida.

The winning entry, from a Bucknell University professor, may help explain why curve balls in baseball are so tricky to hit.

A properly thrown curve ball spins in a way that makes the air on one side move faster than on the other. This causes the ball to move along a gradual curve. From the point of view of a batter standing on home plate, though, curve balls seem to "break," or move suddenly in a new direction.

This year's winning illusion, created by Arthur Shapiro of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, may explain this phenomena. His animation shows a spinning ball that, when watched directly, moves in a straight line. When seen out of the corner of the eye, however, the spin of the ball fools the brain into thinking that the ball is curving.

So as a baseball flies towards home plate, the moment when it passes from central to peripheral vision could exaggerate the movement of the ball, causing its gradual curve to be seen as a sudden jerk.

MMA: Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida 1 - Background and Takedowns

2009-05-14T16:54:00.001-04:00

NOTE: This entry contains gif's that I didn't make. I dl'd off of Spladdle blog and uploaded to my pichost to save on bandwith. My thanks to the unknown gif maker(s).

Let's take a look at Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida.

The buzz around Machida is that he is elusive, currently undefeated, and that his background is Shotokan Karate. To be trained in a traditional martial art and to be successful in MMA is a rarity these days as the MMA fighters of today seem to train a blended MMA hybrid style of BJJ, Muay Thai, boxing, and wrestling. It seems MMA has turned to the TMA to get an edge in MMA competition.

Lyoto Carvalho Machida (born May 30, 1978) is a Brazilian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter currently fighting as a light heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The son of a Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan karate master, Yoshizo Machida, Machida holds an undefeated record that includes victories over former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, and current UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn. He is currently ranked as the #2 and #4 light heavyweight fighter in the world by MMAWeekly and Sherdog respectively. Machida is noted for his karate-influenced striking style that implements an unorthodox stance and an elusive strategy.

Machida fights out of Black House.

For more info, check out:

Some animated pictures of his takedowns. A friend (ronin) says the punch to sweep takedown is from Shotokan.

UFC 76 - Lyoto vs Kazuhiro Nakamura - September 22, 2007

2 takedowns in this gif

1st one is probably in other MA, but when I first saw it, my knee-jerk reaction was that it's a silat takedown called, IIRC, Kengit Siko.

WFA - Lyoto vs Vernon White - July 22, 2006

UFC 79 - Lyoto vs Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou - December 29, 2007

UFC 67 - Lyoto vs Sam Hoger - February 3, 2007

takedown look familiar? :-)

UFC 84 - Lyoto vs Tito Ortiz - May 24, 2008

Suplex time.

K1 Heroes 1 - Lyoto vx BJ Penn - March 26, 2005

How would you describe this takedown?

UFC 94 - Lyoto vs Thiago Silva - January 31, 2009

My friend Ausgepicht posted to the Spladdle Forum:

Funny, if you showed someone a highlight or a bunch of GIFs of Lyoto, they would think he was a ridiculous, technical machine....which he clearly is, but if you told them these ninja moves were done rounds or fights apart, they would be flabbergasted.

I think anyone watching the GIFs or highlights would come away thinking that this is simply how the guy fights....just beating the sh!t out of everyone.

Truth is that there's at least 5 minutes between these ninja moves!

This is part of Machida's elusiveness… he picks his spots… counter-attacks. When I saw some of his fights, I was probably like a lot of the typical MMA fans, looking for an exciting match with a knockout for the payoff. I initially felt bored watching his fights. But as I watched more of his fights, I realize what was going on. He is an excellent technician. Great tactitian and sticks to his strategy of counter-attacking. This all adds to his elusiveness. He thoroughly frustrated Tito Ortiz when they fought. Ortiz is quoted as saying, "He’s very elusive and it was tough to chase him down, he’s a great fighter."

I've noticed Machida does something with his body which I call the Machida Sway. He sways/rocks his body to and fro, kind of like what the Dog Brothers call the 'snaky stick'. The stick hand is always in motion to mask the intention of a strike. Machida seems to me the same when he sways his body. In a future entry, I will take a look at his feinting... the Machida Sway.

Machida will be facing 'Sugar' Rashad Evans for a shot at the Light Heavyweight title. Good luck Lyoto Machida!

MMA: Bellator Fighting Championships

2009-05-14T16:01:00.003-04:00

There's a new MMA event called Bellator.

Bellator Fighting Championships is a first of its kind Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion that will be broadcast nationally in the U.S. starting April 2009 through an exclusive television agreement with ESPN Deportes. Bellator will also be broadcast to countries around the world through a collection of broadcast agreements.

Bellator, Latin for “Warrior,” began with the realization that the fighters and the competition between the fighters must be the central focus of any Mixed Martial Arts organization. With that in mind, founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney set into motion a new business model in MMA, where elite, world-class fighters will control their own destiny. At Bellator, fighters use their hands, knees, elbows, feet, hips and heart to determine who fights for the world title. In short, Bellator is a modern MMA tournament, bringing together a collection of world class competitors under one banner to fight for the right to call themselves World Champion. While matchmaking plays a key role in the development and maturation of fighters at various stages of their careers (particularly early in their careers), once fighters become world-class competitors, our belief is that they should be able to control their own destiny.

Bellator’s events will be nationally televised through ESPN Deportes, with each broadcast focusing solely on the fights and fighters. Bellator Fighting Championships is not a “reality television” program, but is instead real sports programming in its purest form. Bellator is simply the best fighting the best to determine who becomes champion and who earns the largest purse. Bellator’s premiere season consists of 12 two-hour events which will be broadcast every Saturday night in primetime, with the first show airing April 4, 2009 (click here to view full schedule). The nationally televised events will showcase a combination of tournament and non-tournament special feature bouts. There will be four simultaneous tournaments taking place in season #1 over a three month period: one in each of the Featherweight (145 lb.), Lightweight (155 lb.), Welterweight (170 lb.) and Middleweight (185 lb.) divisions. Eight world-class fighters from around the globe will be represented in each division. To win the Bellator Championship, a fighter must win a total of three fights, each consisting of three five-minute rounds over a three month period. At the end of the initial three month, 12-event season, Bellator will have crowned four Bellator Champions and will have awarded each Champion $175,000. In round #1 of the competition, winners earn $25,000. In round #2 (Semi-Finals), winners earn $50,000 and in the Finals, winners earn $100,000.

Check out http://www.bellator.com/ for more info. From this young event, comes an awesome sub as well as an awesome KO.

In the running for KO of the year :-)

BFC (Bellator Fighting Championship) 6 - Yahir Reyes X Estevan Payan - 5/8/2009 - Reyes with a spinning backfist KO of Payan

In the running for submission of the year :-)

BFC (Bellator Fighting Championships) 5 - Toby Imada X Jorge Masvidal - 5/1/2009. Imada with an Inverted Triangle Choke

NOTE: I got these pix off of Spladdle and my thanks to the unknown gif maker(s).

MOVIES: Donnie Yen's Ip Man (Chain Punches)

2009-05-13T10:17:00.003-04:00

Here are 3 animated gif's I made of Wing Chun Chain Punching. Granted they are from the Hong Kong movie IP MAN starring Donnie Yen (SPL, Flashpoint, Dragon Tiger Gate, Iron Monkey 2, Blade 2, Highlander 4, etc), but they looked cool, I was learning how to make animated gif's and I like Donnie's movies.

Enjoy!

TECHNIQUE: Superman Punch in MMA

2009-05-12T11:54:00.005-04:00

Here is an early instance of the Superman Punch used in MMA:

BIB - Beatdown in Bakersfield - Savant Young X Danny Suarez - 2006-11-17

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NOTE: The above 2 animated pix were made by me off of a youtube flv. The quality is not that good as you can see, but the source wasn't high quality:

2 recent instances of the Superman Punch. Not my pix, my thanks to the unknown gif maker(s) for them. I got them off of Spladdle and uploaded to my pichost to save on bandwidth:

UFC 92 - Forrest Griffin X Rashad Evans

UFC 94 - GSP X BJ Penn

For more info:

Check out my friend's, Jason Couch's, article on the Superman Punch here: http://martialhistory.com/2009/02/the-superman-punch/
http://www.markstraining.com/2008/03/rare-but-effective-strike-superman.html

Expert Village's How-To instructional vidclip

It is said that some TMA like Goju-Ryu, TKD as well as Muay Thai has this punch. Just curious, anyone recall the first instance of the Superman Punch in MMA?

MOVIES: MERANTAU (Silat movie)

2009-05-06T16:30:00.000-04:00

In Minangkabau, West Sumatera, Yuda a skilled practitioner of Silat Harimau is in the final preparations to begin his “Merantau” a century’s old rites-of-passage to be carried out by the community’s young men that will see him leave the comforts of his idyllic farming village and make a name for himself in the bustling city of Jakarta. After a series of setbacks leave Yuda homeless and uncertain about his new future, a chance encounter results in him defending the orphaned Astri from becoming the latest victim of a European human trafficking ring led by the wildly psychotic, Ratger and his right-hand man Luc. With Ratger injured in the melee and seeking both his “merchandise” and bloody retribution, Yuda’s introduction to the city is a baptism of fire as he is forced to go on the run with Astri and her younger brother Adit as all the pimps and gangsters that inhabit the night hound the streets chasing their every step. With escape seemingly beyond their grasp, Yuda has no choice but to face his attackers in an adrenaline charged, jaw-dropping finale.

Check out http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/nearly-three-minutes-of-extreme-ass-whuppery-the-trailer-for-merantau-arriv/ for more info as well as the official movie site: http://www.merantau-movie.com/.

The trailer looks cool. It may have some kerambit and sarong/malong scenes from the looks of the trailer. *crosses fingers* I love the sarong/malong material.

My thanks to Guro Crafty Dog on the heads-up.

MOVIES: Dark Eden (Silat movie)

2009-05-06T16:28:00.002-04:00

The Dark Eden Trilogy is a profound epic adventure in the spirit of 'Indiana Jones' meets 'Enter the Dragon'. An inspiring action adventure which captures extraordinary martial arts in a mystical quest for the truth. In the 1970s Martial Arts films were revolutionised by Bruce Lee, then Star Wars created the most epic fight scenes, and now Dark Eden will forever change the way the world views Martial Arts & Adventure Films.

Pendekar Steven Benitez is involved with this movie. Check out Sun Bear's blog for more info: http://thesunbearskendang.blogspot.com/2009/04/for-stickgrappler-dark-eden-trailers.html as well as: http://goldenlightstudios.com/glse/dark_eden.htm.

My thanks to Sun Bear for the heads up!

BOXING: Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton

2009-05-03T00:46:00.002-04:00

UGH! Real life - all day. Didn't have a chance earlier to post my prediction. Won't post the results in this entry. Will post the results when I find some pix to put up also.

I don't have time to watch boxing, let alone watch MMA/UFC's, which I really like to watch. Some UFC's I make the time to watch some of the bigger fights. There was so much hype going into Pacquiao vs Hatton that I made time to watch it. I've not watched either boxers' fights before. I will say this... OMG! the winner impressed me!

Time to sleep. Good night one and all.

SUBMISSIONS: Fashioning your own sticks from Rattan by Army Maguire

2009-04-30T23:54:00.000-04:00

Fashioning your own sticks from Rattan

A simple and easy method

by Richard “Army” Maguire

Here is an easy method for shaping, curing and burning a pattern into rattan sticks. I have spoken to many practitioners of martial arts and read many items over the years regarding working with rattan. Here is a method that I presently use and a few tips I use to fashion sticks for our Balintawak club. This by no means is the only way to bend a stick straight or the only method to burn a pattern into the rattan you use. It however is the cleanest and safest way to date I have found.

I will explain all the materials to get you started and the many steps to the completed product. There really are not many sources on the internet explaining the actual curing process of rattan. By curing I mean removing the moisture inside the rattan to make it hard. Once hardened it will not warp or bend but remain straight. You want to straighten, taper or finish your sticks for practice then cure them. Whether your choice of rattan is with the skin or not the curing process will remain the same. For more durable sticks as both for heavy use in hitting or furniture making the skin is left intact. In our Balintawak club here in Los Angeles, California we prefer to practice with rattan without the harder skin attached. This is done for safety. The light-weight, tapered and skinned rattan is easier on practitioners if an accidental contact is made to the head or bony areas of the body. For tire hitting or more durable applications a stick with the skin on is more practical and will hold up better.

Here are the brief steps to working and fabricating your own sticks for your practice.

Rattan purchased from a martial arts vendor can be expensive. Buying rattan in bulk and following these steps will save you lots of money while you learn a new skill. If you are reading this article you most likely are a martial artist or Arnis teacher or student. You will want to share this information and possibly your finished sticks with fellow students and enthusiasts of the arts. Making your own sticks for practice can save you and fellow club members as much as 8-10 dollars per stick. Let’s get started.

First we need a supply of Rattan there are two trusted companies that I deal with here in Los Angeles. I will include contact information at the end of the article. Both companies will send Rattan anywhere in the United States. If you live outside the US do a web search or look in your local phone book under Cane repair or Cane , Rush or Rattan suppliers. Bamboo will do you no good.

9 foot poles with and with out skin

You can buy Rattan pre-cut or in lengths as long as 9-12 feet. The easiest method to work with is to buy pre-cut rattan in 28 inch lengths either with or without skin. One-one and an eighth inch diameter is a common size. I suggest buying a variety of sizes for your first purchase to get familiar with the sizes and feel of different sticks in your hands.

This will give you a better idea of what to buy when ordering your poles or pre-cut sticks.

If you know the length of stick you want and diameter then move right into cutting the desired lengths once you get your stock.

Above is a photo of the basic tools to assemble for cutting, shaping, bending and curing the rattan

I use a standard handsaw with fine teeth to cut rattan. Some people use an electric cross cut saw. Either method will do. First measure the desired length then cut. Often times I cut just an inch longer than the finished sticks will be. This gives me a little room to play with. It is easy to over taper the ends when first learning to use a wood plane. I can cut back a little if I taper the end of a stick to0 much.

Two small hand planes and a little sheet of sand paper for shaping the rattan.

I use two small hand planes to shape the rattan. You can see them here in the above photo. The larger plane is set to take off a little more material .The smaller plane is for finishing and smoothing right before sanding. If you are going to leave the skin on your sticks then skip this part of the process and go right to heat curing.

I will share an easy way to trim a stick down to fit the hand the way you like and taper it. I must first mention there is a good reason why our club only practices with rattan that has been skinned. In a word SAFETY! We do not want to injure each other. If the rattan has the skin removed then it is lighter and has less density. This diminishes the force of impact. We do use larger and heavier sticks for strength and power practice or when tire hitting.

To remove the skin I lay the raw rattan on a flat bench and use the hand plane to remove the skin. I have two little tricks I use to keep the stick still so they are easier to plane. I have a block of wood attached to the top and rear of my bench.

Taking off the skin with the hand plane

I rest one end of the rattan on that and push the plane in that direction. I also have a few small recessed holes in the front of the bench. They not only will hold one end of the stick but give me an easy guide as to how much I need to take off a stick.

These recessed holes can be seen in the front portion of the bench in the above photo. I insert one end into the hole and hold the stick still with my body weight as I lean forward with the hip. I push the plane forward taking small bits of wood off till I get the desired shape. I examine the sticks many times to make sure the sticks are symmetrical and straight. If a stick has a slight curve when I start I ignore it. I can usually take that away as I remove material from the shaft of rattan. After getting the stick down to almost the proper size and taper I then finish it by sanding. Sanding can be done with sandpaper and by hand. I however do my sanding with a Flex Drum sander. Unlike a grinding wheel or other flat sanders this is a flexible shaft 8 inches long. Some are made of a spongy material or air filled and they conform to the wood when you apply pressure. This makes the job of sanding so easy and as well as fast.

Sanding on the Flexible Drum Sander

If a stick is very bent then I may straighten it first before investing any more time in the shaping.

There are two methods I use for bending rattan. If the bend is not too severe I can often just heat the stick where the bent portion is.

Heating the rattan with skin on to prepare it for straightening.

I run the heat gun up and down the bent area till it is very hot. This will usually make it pliable. I use a jig to straighten it. Another time that is suitable for straightening bends is right after they come out of the oven. You can place a number of rattan shafts in the oven to dry them out or cure them. We will discuss this further in the article. Usually just running the heat gun back and forth across the area you want straighten works very well.

A home made jig used to straighten rattan.

Insert the end of the stick into the jig and bend it straight. Here is a photo of a home made jig. Drill varied size holes in a strong piece of lumber. The holes must be large enough to accommodate the stick easily. Smooth the corners of the Jig holes so they do not dent your rattan when being bent. This idea has been around for years it is used by the Australian whip makers when straightening rattan for whip stock handles.

Now that you have trimmed the skin off shaped and straightened your rattan it is time to cure it.

There are three methods that I know of and they all involve heat. Some guys lay rattan out in the hot sun for a week or more. This may or may not completely dry all the fibers in the rattan. If rattan is at all moist inside it may bend or warp over time. It also may eventually rot if it is too moist and lose its strength. Heat will dry the internal fibers out. Rattan is hollow all the way through. If you blow very hard on one end you will usually feel the air from the breath pass through the stick and out the other end. When you heat rattan it will cause steam to exit the ends of the sticks if the temperature is hot enough. Heat an oven to 350 degrees then place your sticks on the oven rack and let them dry inside. Leave them inside the closed oven for twenty minutes checking them after the first 10 minutes. When steam no longer comes out the ends of the sticks they are done. Use oven mitts or welders gloves to remove them. Be careful not to lay them on the counter or the kitchen floor. They may leave marks or burn those surfaces. Have a suitable container ready to place them in before removing them. This is often a good time to straighten any sticks that have yet to be straightened. I will hold them with Kevlar oven mitts and bend them straight at this point also. Traditional men used open fire to harden sticks for spears or clubs. I personally like to use the electric heat gun. It is safer and does not risk fire in the home. When I use my heat gun I usually take my work outside. I stay away from cars or flammable or combustible liquids and paints.

If drying the sticks makes them hard and durable then water has the opposite effect. If you want to bend a length of rattan into the shape of a cane with a crook then soak the rattan for twenty four (24) hours. Do not exceed the 24 hr time period for it may have an adverse effect and the rattan fibers may start to come apart. I have soaked rattan thoroughly in the bath tub and then bent it straight. Make sure you tie or bind it for a couple of days or longer to allow it to dry before releasing it or it may snap back to it original shape.

Experiment with throw away pieces you have cut from longer poles. I soak some extra pieces, burn some, dry some, etch patterns in others. This way I am always learning new techniques. Play around have fun and learn.

Regardless of how you dry your pieces of rattan make sure they are completely cured. This will ensure that they last and hold up better under a lot of impact during practice.

Heat gun is easy and safe to control for creating burn pattern.

Heat Gun is Safer than an open flame to burn pattern into sticks.

I do not intricately decorate my sticks. I simply use the heat gun to spiral a pattern the length of the stick. These sticks are for working out they will eventually start to splinter and fray and come apart and will need to be replaced. This is why I do not spend much time in etching decorative dragons or burning intricate leopard spots into the wood.

Finally when I have gotten the shape, burned pattern and dried or cured my sticks. I sand down the edges on the ends with my flex drum sander. I want the ends rounded so if I come in contact with a training partner it will not tear or scrape the skin. Safety is our watch word. We are always courteous and safety conscious when it comes to our fellow Balintawak members. No need for heavy sticks or sharp stick butt ends when in practice.

Many people seal their sticks it helps hold the fibers together where they make contact with other sticks. Some guys do not like the feel of the varnish, shellac or wood sealer close to their hands. I personally like to leave the handle where the hands come in contact with the wood free of shellac or wood finish. I tape the handle area off and seal the rest of the stick. I like to use a water based product. This gives you the feel of the natural wood in the hand and still helps in protecting the wood fibers.

These directions are by no means the only way to treat or finish sticks. It is simply the way I have learned and developed over the years.

New sticks for the NNG Balintawak International Club

Grand Master Nene Gaabucayan and Francis Smith practice Pakgang.

Here are some more examples of sticks I fashioned and burned with a special one of a kind pattern for Grand Master Nene. You may get as creative as you like. Here is also a pair of Garrotes that I made for Grand Master Nene.

There are some arnis players who inject epoxy fillers or other synthetic materials into the raw rattan with skin intact. This is done after the straightening, curing and a pattern has been burned into the sticks. This is no job to get into for the beginner. It is messy and requires alot more equipment. It makes the sticks heavier but also dense. What I have shared with you in this article is the method that uses the least money, time, effort and tools. You can start making your own sticks with the shape, weight and feel you like. These will cost you no more than a few dollars each and give you years of service. Please share this information with others be safe and most of all have fun.

Suppliers of Rattan for making Arnis Sticks

Franks Cane and Rush Supply
7252 Heil Avenue
Huntington Beach, Ca. 92647
Phone: (714) 847-0707
Fax: (714) 843-5645
Email: mfrank@franksupply.com

Cane and Basket Supply Co.
1283 South Cochran Ave.
Los Angeles Ca. 90019
Phone (323) 939-9644
Email cbs@canbasket.com

BOXING: Pacquiao's popularity getting bigger as Hatton fight looms

2009-04-30T23:23:00.002-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-04-29-pacquiao-popularity_N.htm:

Click thumbnail for bigger picture.

By J. Michael Falgoust, USA TODAY
To understand exactly who Manny Pacquiao is requires deeper inspection than simply calling him the best pound-for-pound fighter today.

While he's the first Filipino athlete to appear on a postage stamp in his country, he's also a virtual lock to win a congressional seat in the Philippines when he runs next year. On Friday, when the next issue of Time magazine hits the stands, Pacquiao is listed as one of the world's 100 most influential athletes.

Saturday, when he meets junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton in the first major pay-per-view bout of the year (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET, $49.99), he could solidify his position as the best fighter of his era as he goes for a record fourth lineal world title after becoming the champion at flyweight (112), featherweight (126) and junior lightweight (130). He's also held major belts at junior featherweight (122) and lightweight (135).

"He transcends just an Asian fighter," says boxing historian Bert Sugar. "He's a great fighter."

It's an accomplishment that once seemed unreachable when Pacquiao — who grew up in squalor, living in housing made of cardboard — began his career in 1995 at 106 pounds, even though he won his first world championship three years later.

He didn't appear to be special. He had only four knockouts in his first 11 fights, and he was knocked out twice on singular body shots as a flyweight.

"When I lost before," Pacquiao says, "I lost because I couldn't make my fighting weight. I was too dehydrated."

As he added pounds, Pacquiao morphed into a fighting machine, dubbed the "Mexican Assassin" after toppling the holy trinity of boxing's featherweight and lightweight divisions — Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Barrera was considered the best pound-for-pound fighter, with Morales and Marquez not far behind.

All three are future Hall of Famers, but Pacquiao fought each at least twice, going 5-1-1 and scoring 11 knockdowns. Pacquiao is the only boxer to knock out Barrera and Morales.

Pacquiao also became the first fighter to stop Oscar De La Hoya below the middleweight division. In the highest profile victory of his career in December, Pacquiao battered The Golden Boy into submission after the eighth round.

As a result, he comes into Saturday's bout with Hatton as the favorite, although the Englishman is undefeated at 140 pounds, where he has been champion since 2005.

"The pressure is there and it is big, but I don't want to put that in my mind," says Pacquiao, whose trainer, Freddie Roach, has predicted a third-round knockout. "I don't want to think about that.

"Ricky Hatton is a different kind of fighter than I have ever fought before. The style of Ricky Hatton is not easy. He is a good fighter, and a strong fighter."

It took 34 fights before Pacquiao burst onto the American scene in 2001.

He was a big underdog against Lehlo Ledwaba — a junior featherweight beltholder who was being bred for stardom in the loaded 122- to 126-pound classes— but Pacquiao was too fast and too strong in his first fight under Roach.

Pacquiao, a southpaw who took the fight on just two weeks notice when Ledwaba's original opponent fell out, busted the South African's nose in the first round and finished him with a series of straight lefts in the sixth.

Proving that his victory wasn't a fluke, Pacquiao cleaned out boxing's most competitive division (126) for the past decade, triumphing where Latinos, especially Mexicans, had dominated.

"It's definitely unique. He carries his weight very well," says Shane Mosley, a three-division world champion who climbed from lightweight to junior middle (154). "His power stays around because his legs are big."

Last year alone, Pacquiao won fights in three weight classes. The Marquez win made him the lineal champion at junior lightweight, he won a share of the lightweight crown by knocking out David Diaz three months later, and six months after that he stopped De La Hoya.

Even Hatton can't deny the magnitude of such a feat. "That's incredible, bearing in mind the weight he's fighting at now. It's an absolutely unbelievable achievement," Hatton says. "From where Manny started to where he won his last world title, that is more impressive (than what I've done)."

Plenty of exceptional fighters have risen in weight only to falter. One of the most glaring examples is Alexis Arguello, a classic boxer-puncher who ruled between 126 and 135 pounds from 1974-82. But when Arguello moved up to 140, he lacked the firepower to hold off Aaron Pryor.

More recently, two-division lineal champion Felix Trinidad, the first to defeat De La Hoya in a welterweight unification bout in 1999 and undefeated between 147-154 pounds, rose to 160-170 where his two-fisted power hasn't been nearly as lethal. He's 3-3 there.

As a lightweight, Mosley won all 31 fights and 29 inside the distance for a 94% knockout rate. In the 20 fights he's had since, between 147 and 154 pounds, his KO percentage has fallen to 50.

"It's a little different for Pacquiao. Pacquiao is a little more amazing in that he can still be competitive with all this extra weight. That's remarkable. I kept my power at '47, but at '54 I lost a little bit."

Pacquiao insists that the argument over size or who'll be strongest is overblown. "Boxing is (about) more than hitting," he says. "It is using your mind, and being quick is very important."

Bob Arum, chairman of Top Rank Inc., which promotes Pacquiao, expects him to fight once more this year — provided he wins Saturday — and a bout in early 2010 before the fighter campaigns in June for a congressional seat in the Philippines. Arum recently had dinner with Imelda Marcos, the country's former first lady.

"They hope even if he's elected to Congress that he will continue boxing," Arum says.

PACQUIAO AT A GLANCE

Professional record: 48-3-2, 36 KOs

Opponent: Ricky Hatton, 45-1, 32 KOs

Best performance: 11th-round TKO vs. Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003 to win featherweight championship.

Quotable: "Pacquiao shows great flashes, great patience then great flashes. ... He's an Energizer bunny with a hell of a left hand. (Trainer) Freddie Roach taught him he had two hands. When we first saw him he was a one-handed fighter. He wasn't Manny Pacquiao as we know him today." -- Bert Sugar, historian

Being a FMAist at heart, and Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao was an arnisador, I'm rooting for Pacman. From all accounts, this will not be an easy fight for both fighters. Looking forward to the fight this weekend!

MMA: Jose Canseco to make MMA debut

2009-04-30T23:16:00.003-04:00

Cut and pasted from http://content.usatoday.com/communities/mma/post/2009/04/66217631/1:

Even by Japanese standards, Dream's open-weight tournament has an eclectic mix. There's Gegard Mousasi, ranked fourth among middleweights in the new USA TODAY/SB Nation rankings. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou has slipped in light heavyweight rankings. Bob Sapp, a former NFL lineman turned Japanese ring celebrity, will squeeze in an appearance between his Dec. 31 demolition of a cartoon character and his upcoming bout with former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley. Then we have two kickboxers who occasionally dabble in MMA -- Mark Hunt and 7-foot-2 Korean Hong Man Choi.

Choi's first opponent: former baseball player Jose Canseco. Yes, that Jose Canseco.

Multiple sources are reporting this, Sherdog and MMA Junkie among them. The official Dream site has a cardboard cutout of Canseco next to a cardboard cutout of Choi. Safe to say Choi will have the reach advantage.

Canseco's boxing experience is mixed. Former NFL player Vai Sikahema knocked him out. He then earned a majority draw against radio personality and former Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce.

Choi mostly sticks to kickboxing but has been a fixture of New Year's Eve MMA cards for the past three years, including a credible bout against No. 1-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. He's 1-2 in official MMA bouts.

By Beau Dure

Say it ain't so! I don't know how much training Canseco has had in MMA, but how old is he? 40-something going on 50? He has had steroid issues, marital issues, and I'm sure financial issues, in which this appearance at Dream may be one of the last paydays he may see. I hope I'm wrong ... I want Canseco to prove me wrong and be successful... I want him to have had MMA training and I hope he wins. But I really cannot help but think this is one of his last shots at any kind of payday. Good luck to Jose Canseco!

LINKS: Silat.tv

2009-04-30T17:26:00.006-04:00

Welcome to Silat.TV - The First Social Network Dedicated to Silat!

The Best Source of Silat Videos and Information on the Internet!

Image borrowed from Silat.tv.

Silat.TV aims to bring together Silat practitioners from around the world in a thriving, video-centric online community. Silat.TV is a community of mutual respect and camaraderie. All are welcome!

I've known of the site for some time but never had time to surf over there to check http://www.silat.tv/ out. From what I hear, it truly is THE site for silat. Check it out if you are into silat.

Enjoy!

MMA: Kyle Maynard - A True Inspiration

2009-04-30T17:04:00.000-04:00

Here's the American news program 20/20's piece with Kyle Maynard:

Kyle Maynard of Suwanee, Georgia, U.S. was born on March 24, 1986 with a rare disorder called congenital amputation. He has no elbows and no knees, yet he competed in the 2004 Georgia High School Wrestling Championships. He graduated from Collins Hill High School with a wrestling record of 35 wins, 16 losses and a 3.7 GPA.

He is the recipient of a 2004 ESPN Espy Award for the Best Athlete With A Disability and has been featured on many radio interviews, talk shows, and television programs. He has modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch. Currently he works as a speaker for the Washington Speaker's Bureau, specializing in motivational speeches. He is also the author of the memoir, No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life (Regnery Publishing, 2005).

Kyle Maynard is attending the University of Georgia, continues to wrestle, and expects to graduate in 2008 with a B.A. in Broadcast News. Also, Kyle has recently began training in Mixed Martial Arts, and there is an upcoming doctumentary on his story entitled A Fighting Chance.

Video source: ABC News 20/20 (2006)

http://abcnews.go.com/2020

There are a few more videos of Kyle Maynard on youtube. Check them out.

Remember when you don't feel like training or ever want to give up on something, there are champions like Kyle Maynard out there who won't give up, won't take no for an answer, always pushing themselves to the limit, giving 110%, ... Let Kyle Maynard inspire you in your endeavors!

MMA: Kyle Maynard - No arms, no legs... no problem!

2009-04-30T16:54:00.000-04:00

Cut and pasted from CagePotato:

Kyle Maynard – the former collegiate wrestler/congenital amputee with no arms past the elbow and no legs past the knee – will soon make his amateur MMA debut. If the name sounds familiar it’s because Maynard’s almost ridiculously inspirational story of overcoming his disability and wrestling at the University of Georgia has spread far and wide by now, and he even won an ESPY award in 2004 for “Best Athlete With A Disability.”

Now he trains at the Hardcore Gym in Athens, Georgia and has been saying for the past couple of years that he wants to get into MMA, but was denied a license to fight in Georgia. Apparently he faced no such issue in Alabama, because he’ll be competing at Auburn Fight Night on April 25.

A lot of people are going to say it’s crazy and maybe even dangerously negligent to let a guy with no hands or feet into a fight where his opponent is allowed to punch him in the face.

Here’s the thing: screw those people. Do a quick YouTube search and you’ll see he knows what he’s doing on the mat. He’s not some guy off the street, which is more than you can honestly say for Ross Clifton. Maynard trains at an MMA gym, and one assumes he has a plan for how he’s going to deal with the striking game (a plan I’m really interested to see put into action, BTW).

So to hell with Georgia, for not licensing him, and to hell with the people who think he shouldn’t fight. He’s going to fight, and we’re just glad not to be the poor schmuck who has to face him. Not only would that guy get booed if he just started teeing off on Maynard, there is also the very real possibility that Maynard will totally own his ass, like he did to this dude.

Here's a short clip of his MMA fight:

Not to trivialize Kyle Maynard's accomplishments... I am reminded of the scene in Monty Python's The Quest for the Holy Grail in which Arthur takes on the Black Knight. Both Maynard and the Black Knight are a testament to the indomitable human will! An inspiration to us all! I wish Kyle Maynard continued success in his endeavors.

NEWS: Girl beats off muggers with marching band baton

2009-04-30T16:41:00.002-04:00

QUARTZ HILL, Calif. – Don't mess with the marching band. That's what California authorities are saying after a 17-year-old girl used her marching band baton to beat back two would-be muggers.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Michael Rust says the Quartz Hill girl was walking to school April 24 when two men approached her from behind, tried to grab her coat and demanded money.

Instead, one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust says the girl then beat both of them with her band baton before she ran away.

The men had not been caught. But Rust says there's a clear message to take from the encounter:

"The moral to this story is don't mess with the marching band girls, or you just might get what you deserve. Final score: marching band 2, thugs 0."

Cut and pasted from Yahoo News.

YES! One for the good guys!

NEWS: Black belt teen strikes back at bully, and rallies community against racism

2009-04-30T16:36:00.005-04:00

JOE FRIESEN
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
April 30, 2009 at 4:21 AM EDT

KESWICK, ONT. — The 15-year-old black belt thought he was doing his tormentor a favour when he elected to fight back with his weaker left hand.

He had heard his white classmate throw an angry racial slur in his direction after an argument during a gym class game of speedball, and now the student was shoving him backward, refusing to retract the smear.

The white student swung first, hitting the 15-year-old with a punch to the mouth.

The 15-year-old heard his father's voice running through his head: Fight only as a last resort, only in self-defence, only if given no choice, and only with the left hand.

His swing was short and compact, a left-handed dart that hit the white student square on the nose.

The nose broke under his fist, igniting a sequence of events - from arrest to suspension to possible expulsion - that has left the Asian student and his family wondering whether they are welcome in this small, rural and mostly white community north of Toronto, one that has been touched by anti-Asian attacks in the past.

The 15-year-old, the only person charged in connection with the April 21 school fight, faces one count of assault causing bodily harm.

But a remarkable thing happened this week.

On Monday, 400 of his fellow students, wearing black in solidarity and carrying signs of support, walked out of Keswick High School to rally in protest in front of their school.

Organizer Mathew Winch, a Grade 12 student, said the school has fewer than 10 Asian students, but everyone wanted to stand up against bullying and racism. The story even hit the front page of local newspapers.

After the public outcry, the York Regional Police hate crimes unit reopened the case. Although the other student has not been charged, further charges are possible, a spokesman said yesterday.

The case is particularly sensitive because of a series of attacks on Asian fishermen in the same area in 2007 - given the name "nipper tipping" by locals - which led to a high-profile investigation by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Five such cases in 2007, ranging from violent car chases to fishermen on piers being pushed into the water, led to criminal charges. As a result of the publicity, many other Asian anglers came forward to say they had been abused or harassed while fishing in the Lake Simcoe area.

The Asian boy's father is a martial-arts master who trained with the Korean national team. He brought his family to Canada in 2004.

They settled in Keswick in 2006, and his son, who is still learning English, has studied hard to become a top student.

He proudly showed off a report card with a 90-per-cent average. The boy has struggled a little socially, his parents said, which makes the outpouring of support from his classmates all the more remarkable.

"It's the first time in my life I ever fought someone. I've been trained not to attack. It's total self-defence," the boy said. "I felt sorry because I broke his nose, but I can say he deserved it because he called me the racial comment. He started the fight, he punched me first."

He said the boy called him a "f*cking Chinese," a comment he instantly knew was far from a joke.

"It's upsetting," he said. "I don't know how better to tell it."

For the moment, both students are suspended from Keswick High School, but the Asian student's parents have been told he could be expelled and forced to find a new school.

They are shocked and saddened by the ordeal.

The day after the fight, an older cousin of their son's antagonist approached him in the school cafeteria and uttered a similar slur, compounding their sense of despair.

"He said, 'You punched my cousin you Chinese f*ck,' " the 15-year-old said. That student was overheard by a teacher and suspended.

His father explains that the easiest course would be to move somewhere else and get a fresh start for his son. But he can't do it.

"I don't want to run away. If another Asian kid comes to this school, what happens to him? Will he run into problems? Will they think they can just kick him out? I don't want to set that example," he said.

"Personally, for my kid, I should move. But as a Canadian I cannot move."

Cut and pasted from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

This is really sad at first, but heart-warming in the end.

EBOOKS: Stephan Kesting's A ROADMAP FOR BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU

2009-04-28T17:29:00.002-04:00

Check out http://www.beginningbjj.com/ for your free copy (if you haven't already) of Stephan Kesting's "A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu".

You have to add your email address to the form and you will be emailed the pdf or a link to to download the free pdf (forget which at the moment). In addition you will get a complimentary Beginning BJJ eCourse courtesy of Stephan Kesting.

If you have not heard of Kesting before, here is his bio (cut and pasted from his site):

"Hi there, and thank you for visiting my site!

My name is Stephan Kesting and I operate BeginningBJJ.com and Grapplearts.com. Through my DVDs, articles and newsletters, I have helped tens of thousands of grapplers all over the world improve their Brazilian Jiu-jitsu skills.

Grappling is my passion, and I want to help it become yours too. Whether your goal is to compete, challenge yourself, improve your fitness level, lose weight, or acquire some serious self defense skills I truly think that Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) has a lot to offer you. I'm not kidding when I call it the most sophisticated martial art in the world.

Why should you listen to what I say? Here's my brief biography and Martial Arts resume:

I am a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt, and have been doing martial arts for over 25 years. I am also a certified instructor in Erik Paulson's Combat Submission Wrestling, a black belt in Kajukenbo Karate, an instructor in Dan Inosanto's Jun Fan JKD, Maphalindo Silat and Filipino Martial Arts program. Additionally I have also studied Japanese Judo, Russian Sambo, various Chinese Kung Fu systems, Brazilian Capoeira, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and many other martial arts."

Read more of his bio at http://www.beginningbjj.com/about-stephan-kesting.html.

For anyone into BJJ or just grappling, this should really help your game. Check out the testimonals on his site.

Enjoy!

MUSIC: "Take Five" ~ The Dave Brubeck Quartet

2009-04-22T16:13:00.002-04:00

These two youtubes are not the studio version on the cd, but live performances. First one if from 1961 and the 2nd is from 1972.

This next clip is Kurt Elling and Al Jarreau performing "Take 5" from the LEGENDS OF JAZZ episode, The Jazz Singer.

Like life, jazz is the same, yet sometimes improvisation makes it different.

Enjoy!

MUSIC: "Let's Get Lost" ~ Chet Baker

2009-04-22T16:10:00.002-04:00

Another of my favorite jazz songs.

Enjoy!