Stole this from Bobbe:
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Forbidden Kingdom - In theaters April 18th
Karate Kid meets Wizard of Oz.
This movie oozes with cheese, but I had a blast. This movie brought back memories of BLACK BELT THEATER. You hear tons of old Chinese sayings that you grew up with as you train in traditional martial arts.
"learn it all so you may forget get it all.""be like water"
"must taste bitter before sweet"
"remember to breathe"
"he who honors his teacher honors himself"
I bet they had the line, "see noting so you may notice everything." The scene probably got edited out.
Jackie praying for rain...eeewww, but totally hilarious.
Lots of CGI and wire work.
Yuen Wo Ping made some interesting comments about the movie.
The fight between Jackie Chan and Jet Li rocks. I wish they had more fight scenes together. A friend of mine didn't like how balance the fight scene was without a clear winner. He thought that Jackie's or Jet's ego couldn't take a beating.
Teaching a Dog New Tricks
Today I met another instructor at the academy where I train. Guru Marc Denny (discovered on the net that he is also known as "Crafty Dog" and a co-founder of the Dog Brothers) showed me some cool take downs and submission holds. He had me demonstrate some of the moves on him so I can get a feel for the technique. The class was pretty physical. When Guru Marc got me in a painful submission he would call this uncomfortable position the negotiation position.
Guru Marc: As a short guy if you fall down you may end up on your back.
I nod.
Guru Marc: I hate to hammer the fact that you're short, but you may have noticed that.
I laughed. I'm around 5'5".
Guru Marc worked with me to show me options that I can use in the real world.
He talked about having an exit strategy. The guy you fight may have a buddy or two or a whole gang.
When fighting give your opponent something to think about so you can misdirect and hit him hard in a better place.
Some of the techniques we practiced for the hour:
When your opponent/partner has a stick and you don't circle to the outside to gain distance. As the circle gets bigger and bigger the guy with the stick has to close the gap to hit you. When he closes in to strike you wrap one arm around his stick hand while your head sinks into his neck and your other arm wraps around his neck to help squeeze your head into his neck (this also may work when he wants to throw a jab or anything else to close the distance).
My notes so I can remember (no video taping allowed):
left arm - around the top of his right arm above the elbow and grab your own bicep on the right arm
head - into the side of his neck
right arm - wrapped around his neck being pulled into your head to create a sandwich effect
left leg - left neutral/front stance
right leg - back and far from your opponent
Push your opponent until he bases.
Knee your opponent until he tries to cover the blow with his free left hand.
Your left arm is still wrapped over his right arm trap his left hand when he tries to block your knee strikes.
Variation 1: Right kick/knee with a reinforce snake disarm (prayer) and follow thru with a right forearm strike to the neck.
Variation 2: PK take down (if head is lower then spin him using your leg over his head and move his arm to turn and spin him to the ground and land on his ribs and chin with your knees
Variation 3: Pick up his leg and take him down and spin around to knee him in the head.
Guru Marc: As a short guy if you fall down you may end up on your back.
I nod.
Guru Marc: I hate to hammer the fact that you're short, but you may have noticed that.
I laughed. I'm around 5'5".
Guru Marc worked with me to show me options that I can use in the real world.
He talked about having an exit strategy. The guy you fight may have a buddy or two or a whole gang.
When fighting give your opponent something to think about so you can misdirect and hit him hard in a better place.
Some of the techniques we practiced for the hour:
When your opponent/partner has a stick and you don't circle to the outside to gain distance. As the circle gets bigger and bigger the guy with the stick has to close the gap to hit you. When he closes in to strike you wrap one arm around his stick hand while your head sinks into his neck and your other arm wraps around his neck to help squeeze your head into his neck (this also may work when he wants to throw a jab or anything else to close the distance).
My notes so I can remember (no video taping allowed):
left arm - around the top of his right arm above the elbow and grab your own bicep on the right arm
head - into the side of his neck
right arm - wrapped around his neck being pulled into your head to create a sandwich effect
left leg - left neutral/front stance
right leg - back and far from your opponent
Push your opponent until he bases.
Knee your opponent until he tries to cover the blow with his free left hand.
Your left arm is still wrapped over his right arm trap his left hand when he tries to block your knee strikes.
Variation 1: Right kick/knee with a reinforce snake disarm (prayer) and follow thru with a right forearm strike to the neck.
Variation 2: PK take down (if head is lower then spin him using your leg over his head and move his arm to turn and spin him to the ground and land on his ribs and chin with your knees
Variation 3: Pick up his leg and take him down and spin around to knee him in the head.
INTRODUCTION TO MADJAPAHIT SILAT
No matter where I go Silat finds me.
A friend told me that my local community college teaches North African martial art. I have never seen this style so I was curious to discover this mysterious martial art. When I talked with the instructor Nathen Carlen he told me the art was Pencak Silat, an Indonesian martial art. I had a few months exposure to this art before in South Central Los Angeles.
Time goes by and while I was training in Kali Silat I came across an article about Bobbe Edmonds on the net. I checked out his blog. From there I came across Mariah Moore.
More time goes by and I discover a DVD by Suzanne Luna Spezzano on YouTube. I asked Bobbe his opinion of Suzanne and her DVD. He gave glowing recommendations about her and her DVD. I must say that this DVD is quite a find. She explains each technique clearly and repeats the moves a few times. The DVD is well organized and is a better production than most martial art DVDs.
I emailed Suzanne to compliment her DVD and we began to email each other back and forth. She invited me over to where she trains in Marina Del Rey. I took Bobbe's advice and drove down to the Inosanto Academy. When I got there the training facility looks like a HUGE garage with lots of training tools available (bags, wooden dummies, sticks, staves, boxing gloves). I would put up a picture but the place has a no camera policy. The people there are very nice, especially the head instructor Guru Dan Inosanto. He's around 72 and he moves super fast and makes everything look easy. Guru Dan is also super nice. One of the most humble man I ever came across.
I'm looking forward to training with Suzanne when she gets back to Los Angeles.
A friend told me that my local community college teaches North African martial art. I have never seen this style so I was curious to discover this mysterious martial art. When I talked with the instructor Nathen Carlen he told me the art was Pencak Silat, an Indonesian martial art. I had a few months exposure to this art before in South Central Los Angeles.
Time goes by and while I was training in Kali Silat I came across an article about Bobbe Edmonds on the net. I checked out his blog. From there I came across Mariah Moore.
More time goes by and I discover a DVD by Suzanne Luna Spezzano on YouTube. I asked Bobbe his opinion of Suzanne and her DVD. He gave glowing recommendations about her and her DVD. I must say that this DVD is quite a find. She explains each technique clearly and repeats the moves a few times. The DVD is well organized and is a better production than most martial art DVDs.
I emailed Suzanne to compliment her DVD and we began to email each other back and forth. She invited me over to where she trains in Marina Del Rey. I took Bobbe's advice and drove down to the Inosanto Academy. When I got there the training facility looks like a HUGE garage with lots of training tools available (bags, wooden dummies, sticks, staves, boxing gloves). I would put up a picture but the place has a no camera policy. The people there are very nice, especially the head instructor Guru Dan Inosanto. He's around 72 and he moves super fast and makes everything look easy. Guru Dan is also super nice. One of the most humble man I ever came across.
I'm looking forward to training with Suzanne when she gets back to Los Angeles.
My Martial Art Journey So Far...
I've been playing around with FMA and Silat for a little bit. By chance I discovered that my local community college was teaching Kali Silat so I enrolled in the spring class of 2008.
My first encounter with FMA was around 2002 when I met a homeless man in Northern California who wanted some change for some coffee at an IN&OUT fast food. I just got him a burger and drink instead of coffee (I don't think they sell coffee). He told me about Escrima Serrada. I never heard of any Filipino Martial Art. I knew nothing about angles. As a kid I grew up learning Korean Martial Arts (TKD, TSD, Hapkido) and Aikido in college.
We would meet once a week and he taught me Escrima Serrada for $20 a lesson. After about a year he would move down to Los Angeles.
When I moved down to La La Land I looked around for a martial art to study again. Using the internet I discovered Chinese Street Fighting (Kung Fu San Soo mixed with FMA) at a local Japanese-American Community Center. We would meet once a week during the weekday and Saturday morning to train. The instructor appeared to have a difficult time showing up to class so a higher rank student would teach. I decided to find a Kung Fu San Soo school that trained all week. I did a free class and the instructor knew his art well. The people there were cool and kind. The head instructor would use me to promote his art (in the kids class) because I was able to break my fall from my Aikido training. He also had other students practice on me as well. It appeared I was the only one that could break my fall at that school. We did no workouts. We hit no bags. We did not spar. We pretend to hit each other with light contact. There was no testing. You get a belt after the instructor felt you have improved enough for the next rank. After three months I looked for another art to study.
I discovered, MartialTalk, a martial art forum. I came across American Kenpo Karate. I found out that Bryan Hawkins had one of his school near my home. I asked around the web about him. Quite a few people gave glowing recommendations about him. I did a free class with him. He answered all my questions. I stayed with him for about 8 months until school started.
A member at MartialTalk left a post for free Kali Silat training over at South Central. I met the instructor at Leimert Park (South Central LA). He wanted to improve the neighborhood.
My first encounter with FMA was around 2002 when I met a homeless man in Northern California who wanted some change for some coffee at an IN&OUT fast food. I just got him a burger and drink instead of coffee (I don't think they sell coffee). He told me about Escrima Serrada. I never heard of any Filipino Martial Art. I knew nothing about angles. As a kid I grew up learning Korean Martial Arts (TKD, TSD, Hapkido) and Aikido in college.
We would meet once a week and he taught me Escrima Serrada for $20 a lesson. After about a year he would move down to Los Angeles.
When I moved down to La La Land I looked around for a martial art to study again. Using the internet I discovered Chinese Street Fighting (Kung Fu San Soo mixed with FMA) at a local Japanese-American Community Center. We would meet once a week during the weekday and Saturday morning to train. The instructor appeared to have a difficult time showing up to class so a higher rank student would teach. I decided to find a Kung Fu San Soo school that trained all week. I did a free class and the instructor knew his art well. The people there were cool and kind. The head instructor would use me to promote his art (in the kids class) because I was able to break my fall from my Aikido training. He also had other students practice on me as well. It appeared I was the only one that could break my fall at that school. We did no workouts. We hit no bags. We did not spar. We pretend to hit each other with light contact. There was no testing. You get a belt after the instructor felt you have improved enough for the next rank. After three months I looked for another art to study.
I discovered, MartialTalk, a martial art forum. I came across American Kenpo Karate. I found out that Bryan Hawkins had one of his school near my home. I asked around the web about him. Quite a few people gave glowing recommendations about him. I did a free class with him. He answered all my questions. I stayed with him for about 8 months until school started.
A member at MartialTalk left a post for free Kali Silat training over at South Central. I met the instructor at Leimert Park (South Central LA). He wanted to improve the neighborhood.
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