Training Injuries

I have had lots of minor training injuries. Knock on wood, I've only had one serious injury -- my torn ACL last year. I am currently suffering from one of my oddest training injuries: I have mat burn on my toes.

We were practicing kuzushi in newaza last night. We started in a kneeling position and pummeled for position, grappling to feel the loss of balance, or the overcompensation in the other direction to fight a push or pull. Somehow, in the midst of this, the tops of my toes got a nice mat burn and I rubbed off the outermost layer of skin.

I was uncomfortable last night, but didn't think much of it. This morning I staggered into the shower and as the hot water hit my feet, I had a very literal rude awakening. Right now I'm looking at the thin scabs on my toes! Very weird.

Do they make sock rash guards?

Suck it, Daniel Craig!

That's right. It's a Daniel Craig-sicle. Apparently, in the UK they call these "lollies."

Go ahead and say it: "Lolly."

I'm not sure if these come in other flavors (Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, or Sean Connery) or not. I do know my wife says this looks yummy. I'll link another woman's point of view here.

The best parts from GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

There. I just saved you $8.50 and the cost of a soda and popcorn... Not to mention at least an hour and a half of your time. You can thank me later.

Summer Reading

Just a few of the items in my bedside stack for the Summer reading season. I got this book at a recent used book sale. It's a real treasure.

The latest thriller from Judoka, BJJ fighter, and former CIA officer Barry Eisler. This should be good too...

A couple of paperbacks for the beach. I always try to read at least one horror novel per Summer. A lot of horror novels are crap, so there usually aren't many to choose from. The "Genghis" novel is the second in a series. In this one the KhaKhan takes on China -- guess who wins?

Some military history. A couple of updates on US Special Forces, and then a general history of the Modern US Infantryman. I'm eager to see if it is pro or con SLA Marshall's theories...

Mmmmmmmmmmmm... Brain candy. Warhammer 40K novels to read on the beach. I've let these stack up for awhile. There's not much to these really. Good guys kill aliens. Good guys get screwed. Sometimes the good guys have their souls devoured... You know, the usual.

Most of these are going to the beach with me. I generally can finish about 8 to 10 books in a week. It drives my wife crazy. I also come home with a few more books.

It was just like this!

Yes! The Eighties really were like this. I swear to God!

Cue Piano!!!

Damn it, that was a freakin' show stopper.

Neck Knife

This is my latest acquisition: the AG Ringer Hawk from Columbia River Knife & Tool. It's a minimalist knife designed by cutler A.G. Russell. It was on sale last week, and the knife is being discontinued by CRKT. I picked it up for $13.95 plus shipping and handling. The knife is a solid piece of steel and the handle is designed to fit around the first two fingers. The tail provides some stabilization due to leverage against the third finger. The whole thing fits like a miniature brass knuckles. The two inch blade sticks out from the first at not-quite-a-right angle.

The sheath is a sturdy zytel and the ball chain was included. I'll probably replace the chain with paracord, which is more comfortable and quieter. The knife stays secure in the sheath thanks to an impression that acts as a hook on the first finger ring. I find the knife a little difficult to draw from the neck position. First, it's awkward to angle the fingers into the holes. Second, the latch for the knife takes up some of the room for your finger. Third, the hawkbill blade must be tilted to leave the sheath. I'll try to practice some more, but I'm not sure I'll get a smooth draw out of this design. That makes it somewhat awkward for the primary purpose of a neck knife like this: last ditch self-defense. I'd want something really quick on the draw in a situation that bad.

Once the knife is in your hand, however, this is a real monster for its size. It's like you have a tiny velociraptor in your hand. The blade is sharp and pointy. My self-defense guru told me to get a hooked neck knife because by the time you need it, the bad guy is in too close for a big blade. All you'll need to do at this point is rip and tear like crazy to inflict damage and make the guy get off of you. I think this will do the job.

Now... knife laws vary. I'm giving you the self-defense lowdown, but wearing something like this in your jurisdiction might constitute a concealed weapon. Moreover, the fact you've got something this vicious hidden on you might be considered premeditation if you use it in self defense situation. OTOH, it was $13.95... That's some pretty damn cheap insurance...

What I'm Wearing Right Now...

Gee, Dan...

This is kind of fun!

Below is what I wore most of the afternoon:

Unfortunately, wearing the white gi does not transmit newaza superpowers...

Flag Day

Today is Flag Day. Do you have your Stars and Stripes flying?

Last week we had the 65th Anniversary of D-Day. I sat my daughter down in front of the TV so she could see some real American heroes. We lose more and more of the Greatest Generation every day and soon no one will be witness to the close-run thing that was the Invasion of Normandy. Fewer and fewer veterans return to France every year to commemorate the event. This year one of those who went died in his sleep. I guess ever since he stepped onto Omaha Beach he knew his destiny.

Anyway, I was somewhat disappointed by the coverage of the D-Day gathering. They showed the leaders of the Allied Nations, they showed some of the vets sitting in the folding chairs. A few words were spoken about the actual historical event. I want to believe that was because the networks expect the American public to remember what happened -- but the cynic in me thinks the new producers are too young to have any clue about the significance of D-Day and really wanted to make sure there was time to fit more Jon & Kate + Eight gossip into my nightly newscast.

I got to wondering why we don't have a June 6th D-Day holiday. Too close to Memorial Day? That's an interesting practical possibility. I'm certain you all know Memorial Day started as a remembrance of all the fallen in the US Civil War and grew into a commemoration of all those who died in service to our Nation. We wouldn't want a second National Holiday sitting so close to an existing one...

And besides, a D-Day holiday would inevitably be moved to the Monday nearest to June 6. Would it really make any sense to remember D-Day on any day other than the actual date?

I suppose the same is true of a 9/11 holiday. This has been suggested as Patriot's Day, and an ideal opportunity to remember the Firefighters and Police who risk themselves for their communities everyday. But, it's too close to Labor Day, which began as a New York City holiday to give a day off for ordinary working citizens. Again, we're faced with the fact that a federal holiday would be under pressure to move to an nearby Monday, and does it make sense to remember 9/11 on a day other than 9/11? Attempts to create any kind of federal 9/11 holiday have also raised the issue -- can the calendar really take another federal holiday? Don't federal workers get too many days off already?

Interestingly, the only "obscure" federal holiday that has not been turned into a long weekend is Veteran's Day (November 11). [I'm deliberately leaving out Independence Day.] This is because it was originally Armistice Day, and recalled that World War I (you might remember this as "The War to End All Wars") was called to a halt at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In its original incarnation, it makes good logical sense to continue to remember on the precise date of the original event. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to change the focus to all veterans. This is not, in itself, a bad idea. But it does make you wonder why it is the holiday that has resisted being appended to a weekend. I mean, we have no trouble celebrating Martin Luther King's and Christopher Columbus' birthdays on the closest available Monday.

So, to go back to D-Day's 65th Anniversary for moment, my daughter watched the TV for a few moments before asking, "Daddy, why are all those old guys on TV?" What do you tell a four year old about D-Day? It's not like I'm going to dig out Saving Private Ryan and show her. But someday I'll probably do just that. But what worries me is this...

We have federal holidays for a reason. A bigger reason than picnics and parades and long weekends. But I often wonder how many people take a moment to think about those reasons. I also wonder how we sorted out our national priorities to arrive at the set of holidays we have. I'm not saying I'm about to start a campaign for a D-Day holiday, but if D-Day isn't worth a holiday -- what is?

Those D-Day survivors... excuse me: veterans and witnesses, will soon be all gone. Who will remember the razor's edge moment of that June morning in their absence?

Up

I'm sorry if this is beginning to turn into a movie review blog (and probably not a great one even) but I have to say something about how much I enjoyed Pixar's latest creation: Up!

This is easily the best movie I've seen all year, and validates my earlier statement that stories matter. This movie explores the simple theme of "the wonder of adventure" and uses a relatively simple, straightforward story to take us for the ride. Although it is computer animated, it shows far more humanity than all of the live-action blockbusters I've seen this season. At times I even got a little teary.

Go see it. Only the most heartless bastard could hate this film.

(Note to several of you heartless bastards reading this: You know who you are already. If you go see this and hate it, don't blame me. Blame whoever shredded your soul previously.)

New Additions!

I've added Dan Dorman's iconoclastic film blog, "Cinema is Dead" to my blog list on the left. Please see Dan's obituary on David Carradine. I gave him my best insight, and he manages to work it into a tribute to the man that acknowledges his bizarre ending.

I've also added what seems to be the definitive GI Joe fan site online: Hisstank.com. You can get news on GI joe in all incarnations and all media here. This should help keep you updated on the impending GI Joe armaggeddon: the August 7th release of the live-action feature film. It's looking dismal...

And, somehow and miraculously, I've managed to pick up a fourth "follower." Well, keep signing up, folks. It really strokes my ego. I notice his interest is in martial arts blogs, which indicates to me that I should start drafting more martial arts related posts. I've slacked off; sorry.

What hath Wolverine wrought?

So I saw the awkwardly titled, X-Men: Origins: Wolverine when it came out.

I'm a huge Wolverine fan; but who isn't. I also dig Hugh Jackman. He's the modern version of Sean Connery. Women want him, men want to be him. He also seems like a nice guy and a pretty good actor.

How was the movie? Meh. I didn't hate it. It gave me lots of what I wanted to see. The opening credits montage was kinda cool, even poetic in its way. I enjoyed the fights.

And it left me wanting more. I want to see Wolverine in Japan, meeting more mutants, fighting ninjas, learning who he is even though he doesn't remember his former life.

But if someone asked me to explain the story, I'd be hard-pressed. There just isn't much story that makes sense.

Because the movie is so blah, I wasn't going to say anything about it. But I thought Dan D. might want my take on it.

I even decided to ignore Terminator Salvation because I had a feeling it would be pretty blah. The critics have been telling me this is true. There was a time when I would've gone to see anything with the Terminator-name attached, but not after Terminator 3. That turkey killed it all for me.

The next movie I really want to see is Pixar's Up. I'll take my daughter. She's not as jaded as me, so even if it turns out to be bad (unlikely), I know she'll enjoy it. After that? What's left between now and the August release of the obviously awful GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra? Anyone?

Looks like a good Summer for book-reading. I have a whole stack building-up. I just finished the wonderful A Canticle for Leibowitz. This was very entertaining, and raised some very interesting isssues of moral theology. I recently found an old, out-of-print history March of the Barbarians, by Harold Lamb about the Mongol Empire. This is always good stuff, and this author knew how to bring these exotic people to life. I can't wait to read it.

I'm also working my way through several new martial arts books, of course.

BTW

The new GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra trailer...

They are losing me quickly. Can we please learn from the X-Men and Wolverine movie experience? Don't give me a trilogy of mediocre movies before you finally deliver the goods: let's just cut right to the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow movie. Seriously. I have zero interest in 90% of what I see in this preview.

Give me ninja and I'll be plenty happy.

Ninja = entertainment.

Oh, I'll go see this crap, but I'll be crying through most of it.

What's up with Kirk?

I saw the new Star Trek last weekend. It was great, but can someone explain to me why the new James T. Kirk is such a jerk?

I've seen various other websites describe him as a "dick" and a "douchebag."

Take the whole "Koboyashi Maru" Scenario. Sure, we always knew he cheated to beat the test, but I always figured it was more... clever? Stylish? Here, his behavior is completely inexcusable in a military academy cadet. Not only does he basically throw an inartfully-created glitch into the system -- the power even shuts off for a moment -- he acts like a cocky punk through the whole thing. Kirk might as well scream, "Hey! I'm cheating here."

So when he gets called before the Starfleet Academy honor board, I was all for drumming him out of the corps in disgrace. He actually makes things worse in the board through his behavior; he doesn't fess up to what he did, he refuses to see the point of the test, and he turns the accusation on the Academy by saying the whole test is a cheat. Try doing any of this in a modern day US military academy and see how far you get as a cadet... He acts like an incredibly immature boob. Even if the military has slacked off on discipline by the warp-speed era, why would they trust this guy with an expensive starship and a highly-trained crew? Put him under a strict officer to act as a mentor and break this stallion.

I know, the old Kirk (the "Shat Kirk") could be cocky and obnoxious, but he wasn't like this...

Welcome New "Follower!"

A hearty shout-out to my newest follower, Cornell!

Imagine, an entire university now follows me! I am incredibly honored, and even a little humbled...
What?
Really? You think "Cornell" is an individual's name?

So, it's not the institution of higher learning?

Oh. I feel a little silly.

Carry on...

Warriors with Terry Schappert

I'm late to the game on this. Hopefully you've been watching this show for awhile.

US Special Forces soldier Terry Schappert hosts this History Channel show. He travels around the world and examines different warrior cultures from various points in history. They usually pick one significant battle to use as a focal point, and discuss the culture, training, weapons, technology, and other aspects of the warriors being featured. So far, I've seen Vikings, Samurai, English knights, Germanic Barbarians, Mayans, the Knights of Malta, and (of course) the Spartans.

The show is more than a little reminiscent of Human Weapon or Fight Quest. Mr. Schappert finds experts and re-enactors in the fighting techniques of the warrior culture, and spars or demos with them.

Schappert is one of the best things about this show. He's obviously passionate about this subject. He looks like he's having the time of his life trying out a different fighting culture every week. I always look forward to the climax of each episode. Schappert flails around with the weapons as he narrates and pantomimes the course of the battle. It would look silly, IF he wasn't having such a good time.

New Addition to the Blog Roll

I'm adding the truly awesome blog Koga Ryu Ninjutsu to the blog roll on the left.

Please note, I'm not endorsing the site's veracity, only its entertainment value. This guy clearly loves ninja, so who am I to nit pick with him?

They're remaking what?

I learned this week that Liam Neeson will play Zeus in a remake of The Clash of the Titans. Ralph Fiennes will play Hades, a god I don't remember playing much part in the original.

This begs the questions: isn't the campiness of the original awesome enough? Do we really need a remake?

If there's an 80's movie begging to be remade, it's Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. It has the seeds of greatness there, but requires a more threatening villain. Please! Someone find a script writer to improve this!

More on LARPing

I got to thinking about my old LARP post; the one about learning stealth walking. A couple of recent incidents caused me to do more thinking about it:





The first item I stumbled across in the Science Fiction and Fantasy section of my local bookstore. It was the Book of Erotic Fantasy. It's a Role Playing Game supplemental rulebook described as: "A different kind of combatLove and Battle are both intimate acts, both done in heat and sweat, with the sounds of cries echoing in your ears. And really, who is to say which is the more dangerous? This book ads a new dimension to your game- intrigue and manipulation, marriages of power, dangerous seducers, sex and magic." Really? It's come to this? The D&D crowd get so little action they need to roleplay it out? I have a feeling you could psycho analyze the market for this endlessly. One of my thoughts was, "Just WHO is playing this?"

(No, I didn't buy it. I wiped my fingerprints from the cover and quietly slid it back on the shelf. I don't need the police coming after me when they find it on some serial killer's bookshelf...)

I also ran across an old news story about two young guys ("men," as you'll see, is not the right word), ages 20 and 19, who were arrested. A cop discovered them parked on the side of the road dressed in black ninja outfits, tactical vests, and weighed down with the stereotypical variety of exotic martial arts weapons. When questioned, they identified themselves as the "Shinobi Warriors" on a mission to deliver warning letters to neighborhood drug dealers. Their master plan was to use their "stealth" skills to post letters -- complete with dragon sigil and chinese characters -- directly on the doors of the drug dealers. The cop arrested them on weapons charges. The police were unsure of how many letters had been delivered, but the pair admitted the first letter had been delivered to the 16-year-old former girlfriend of one of the men.





Let me quickly note: these two guys were not reported to be connected to have any martial arts training; let alone a connection to the Bujinkan.





Clearly, these guys have problems. This was not an approved use of ninja stealth skills.But it too got me thinking: who do we expect the average student to sneak up on? And I'm betting that's one of the questions those outside the Bujinkan ask. If you teach a skill, there is an implication that it is a skill with uses.

In the old days, Stephen Hayes use to say stuff like: "What parent wouldn't want their child to have the option of hiding from bullies?" So, maybe it's not about sneaking up on some heavily armed sentry. Although it runs counter to the macho -- dare I say, "warrior?" -- image of martial arts; sneaking away is often a sane option when trouble erupts. Just consider some of the recent mass shootings. What's a better option if you find yourself unarmed against a guy with a gun collection? Are you planning to close that gap and apply seoi nage -- or do you think running away and hiding might have a higher percentage for survival? And, for all those tough guys -- do you think your plan might change if you had your family with you? Sneaking them all away from danger is probably a very attractive option.

However, I think the ancillary skills taught in the Bujinkan are intended to have a broader use. In and of themselves, they may provide options for extreme situation, but I doubt most people devote the neccessary to train the skills well. I believe the broader purpose is to instill "out-of-the-box" thinking. It's not just how to sneak through the woods, or start a fire, or make blinding powder; it's training in how to systematically overcome an obstacle -- any obstacle. Training like that is a kick-start to creativity. For a mature individual -- someone who recognizes the boundary between fantasy and reality -- this kind of training is fun and useful.

There's a very loud voice in the modern martial arts community that seems to be saying a martial art must make you the toughest guy in the ring to be any good. They have a point, but the fact is, most martial artists are not training for competition nor will the majority face life and death on the street. But all martial artists have to live, and hopefully a good martial art will teach strategies about how to face life -- in addition to a good, solid punch.

Another One!?

I've got ANOTHER Follower?

What's wrong with you people? Can't you tell a no talent hack when you see one?

Obit: Andy Hallet

I wanted to note the passing of actor/entertainer Andy Hallet.

Hallet is best known for playing Lorne the green-skinned, red horned, playful demon from the TV show Angel. Hallet died from heart failure earlier this week. He was 33.