New Year's Resolutions vs Bucket List

As the New Year approaches, inevitably people will start making their New Year's Resolutions. I have been so burnt out from work and busy with the day-to-day activities of family life, I have not made any resolutions yet.I was watching Timecop earlier today, there was a commercial for Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman's new movie, Bucket List. According to the movie, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket".So maybe one resolution I will make is to not have anything to do for my "bucket list" LOLI will mull...

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REVIEW: Krabi Krabong: The Buddhai Sawan Path Deluxe 2 DVD set

"The sword was the principle weapon during the turbulent history of Siam but the art of fighting was taken a step further in skill by warriors who fought with blades in both hands." - Por Kru Samai MesamarnProduct DescriptionKrabi Krabong: The Buddhai Sawan Path is the first groundbreaking series to accurately document the ancient system of Thai weaponry. The art of Krabi Krabong as it was taught at the original Buddhai Sawan was a highly refined...

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FIGHT SCENE: Timecop - Jean Claude Van Damme vs James Lew (Flexible Weapons)

A digression from the Thai arts related entries. I was flipping the channels and watching a little TV with my kids on this wet, dreary Sunday. I came across Jean Claude Van Damme's movie Timecop. It happened to be the scene where James Lew and a few other bad guys were in JCVD's apartment and out to kill him. Sorry all, I cannot find a Youtube of the scene in question.James Lew brandished 2 knives at the outset of the fight and JCVD was lucky to...

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FIGHT SCENE: Bloodsport - Paco/Muay Thai

Continuing with my Thai style posts, remember the Jean Claude Van Damme movie, Bloodsport?At the time, Bloodsport seemed like a great movie, well the fight scenes. I don't know if it's me or what, after watching that clip, I was not sure why I thought it was good, let alone great LOL.Here's JCVD as Frank Dux vs Paco:Good or cheesy? This may be one to chalk up to "not as good as I remembered" L...

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TOM YUM GOONG: Tony Jaa and "muaykodchasarn"

As I mentioned before, I watched Tom Yum Goong recently. I watched it with my 3 kids, (9, 6, 4 years old). My kids loved it. Normally my wife wouldn't allow me to watch anything violent in front of the kids or *GASP* with them. She was in our bedroom watching TV which distracted her :)I was so into the action scenes appreciating the beauty of the martial arts choreography as well as some of the stunts that my mind's analytical faculties were...

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REQUEST: Black Belt magazine's 1971 Krabi Krabong article by Hardy Stockman

Before Black Belt magazine revamped their site, they used to have an extensive archives section. Some of the articles I was interested in I saved for offline reading. One article, which either I have burnt to a disc and misplaced or I never saved it in the first place. I tried the Internet Wayback Machine site and Google's cache to no avail.Just a shot in the dark, I am making a request...anyone who had saved this webpage and the pictures associated with it, please email me. Or if you have access to a scanner and the original magazine and can scan...

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LINKS: (Muay Thai) Khun Kao aka Brooks Miller

The name "Khun Kao" will be readily recognizable to anyone who has been to my site looking for Muay Thai info. Brooks Miller aka Khun Kao is very passionate about Muay Thai in all its varied aspects such as the ring fights, promotion, and teaching. He has ring experience, is a champion, is an instructor and has a knack of breaking a technique down so it is less complicated. Ages ago, before the martial arts forums on the World Wide Web exploded in...

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QUOTE: Tough

What is 'tough' ?Is tough being able to take a beating and get back up? Is tough being able to sit through something you don't like only to please your loved one because it's their favorite? Is tough putting on a leather jacket and shades with a cigarette in your mouth? Is tough being able to booze like there's no tomorrow and showing up for work the next day with a bad hangover? Is tough training in a spartan gym? Is tough being able to break a...

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FIGHT SCENE: "Oldboy" Hallway Fight

One of my favorite fight scenes. Not only does it feature a mass attack, lead pipes, hammer, it is in a narrow hallway and IMO, the best part is its use of pure boxing. It's a 3:42 clip, right about the 1:41 mark, the protagonist uses pure boxing to defend himself against 20 or so guys. The boxing ends about 2:50 or so.Enj...

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FIGHT SCENE: "Tom Yum Goong" - Tony Jaa vs 50 guys

I finally saw the movie Tom Yum Goong aka The Protector recently. Review forthcoming. As I watched the movie, I was already pretty hyped from the action scenes. When I got up to the penultimate fight scene, I was on a pure adrenaline high! There were only a few other times when i watched a fight, movie fight, or martial arts instructional which gave me such a rush of adrenaline, I literally couldn't sleep that night! It's late, I should be sleeping shortly, my brain is shutting down, but what comes to mind besides Tom Yum Goong is the first UFC...

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Merry Christmas 2007!

Merry Christmas one and all! If you've been good, I'm sure Santa will bring your heart's desire.Image borrowed from http://www.karateparty....

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My daughters got their ears pierced...

...today. Just got back from the local mall where we had the piercing done. I guess I'm naive to the methods of ear-piercing...thought they would numb the ears somehow with an ice cube or something. They took a gizmo and *POP* ears pierced just like that (with loads of pain of course). They pierce ears for free if you buy earrings from them.Time flies...my daughters are growing up fast and are young women pretty soon. My oldest is 9 years old and my 2nd daughter is 6 years old. I think I may need to get ready for all the gentlemen suitors with...

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REVIEW (DVD): The Physical Body DVD: Indian Wrestling and Physical Culture by Vincent Giordano

Reviewed by Stickgrappler WHAT IT ISN'T: This is not a how-to wrestle dvd, although martial artists of any experience will get something out of it. This is not a Panther video where something is shown in real-time and then that is repeated a few times in slow-motion, in addition to different angles to eat up the time. WHAT IT IS: 60 minutes of an insider's look into a world 90% of us (if not more) will not have access to, nor have the inclination...

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QUOTE: Bravery

What is 'bravery' ? Is bravery being able to step into the Octagon and fight a MMA fighter? Is bravery being able to raid a crack house? Is bravery being able to step into a cage with some lions? Is bravery being able to talk the school bully out of kicking the crap out of you? Is bravery being able to run into a burning building to rescue people? Is bravery being able to give a speech in front of an audience? What is 'bravery' ? When I think...

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FIGHT SCENE: Auren Poitrimoult's Green Hornet fan film

Here is a link to Black Belt magazine's interview with the director of this fan film: Aurélien Poitrimoult: Kato and the Green Hornet Get Ready to Sting Again!Enjoy!p.s. I wonder if the Hollywood version with Kevin Smith directing will be any good? Hope the action scenes will be just as good as this fan film...

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ZEN: Empty Your Cup

This was one of Bruce Lee's favorite Zen stories as well as one of mine's:Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!""Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"You may not agree with...

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My journey of a thousand miles...

Please forgive me for the cheesy attempt at a catchy blog name...I couldn't think of anything great in my opinion...I wanted to stress the long journey ahead of me and am reminded of the old saying,"The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."That saying coupled with the cheesy gimmick of alliteration resulted in:Stickgrappler's Sojourn of Septillion StepsI looked up 'sojourn' on Dictionary.com and this was its entry:sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\, intransitive verb:1. To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time.So technically...

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