White Guys and Martial Arts

From ages 11 to 17 I studied the art of Chinese Kempo Karate. It tought me discipline, patience, and self defense with my bare hands as well as a variety of weapons; Nunchuku, Bo-staff, Commas, Tonfas, and Kali sticks. A couple a times during the year there would be area wide Martial Arts tournements which highlighted 3 main categories; Single forms competition, team forms competition and Sparring(combat). It was during those times of competition where I learned that a lot of white guys took Martial Arts way to far and in my opinion violated the core values it represented. For some guys they would find it neccesary to rip off the top part of their uniform and flex their muscles during their form like it was a frickin body building competition. Other white guys would try to act extremely tough and uber serious like they owned the building and could kick everybody's butt in it. One day during a national tournement I walked past a guy who was obviously living vicariously through his young child telling him with an overly authoritative tone that he wanted him to Kia(shout) so loud that people would hear it down the street(seriously!).

Things like this ultimitely led to me losing interest in practicing Martial Arts. It seemed that there was an over-saturation of these guys within the Martial arts community and it is still evident today that it is a continuing problem. I say white guys because they are almost the only people I see act like that, occaisionally I saw an asian person act the same but it was few and far between. Chuck Norris actually confronted this issue straight on in an early 90's movie called "Side kicks" but not enough attention got paid to it because Martial Arts flicks were slowly dying around that time. Now they have come back with force thanks to the Amazing Jet Li and Jackie Chan, Jason Statham deserves credit too. I guess it just concerns me that everyone is focused on being the best fighter they can be instead of respecting the culture and history of it all. It is not to say however that I don't like fight scenes in movies because I do, I love'em. I also like them because the guy who acts like he can beat the crap out of everyone always loses and goes out like a punk. And deservedly so.

Vampires, Werewolves, and Me

When I hear the word "Vampire" I think of all the traits and ideas that has been tied to over the years. Things like; Power, seduction, mystery, darkness, sophistication, flight, terror, etc... I've always enjoyed vampire stories and films and thought how cool it would to be one(except for the lame twilight version) and what I might be like if I was one. I'd more devistatingly good looking than I already am, charming, quick witted, faster than a blink of an eye, and have strength that rivals the strongest beasts on the planet. Oh have I longed to fit in with that crowd, but alas it may have not been meant to be. Can't fit in with the cool kids or the people I always thought to be cool and envied, but is it so bad not to fit in with them?

When I hear the word "Werewolf" I think of; Unbridled terror, Barbaric brutality, Violence, depression, Inner turmoil, lack of self confidence, hidden strength, morality and sometimes virtue. Their howls sending tingles down your spine. For centuries all over the world people have feared Werewolves even moreso than Vampires. Either because of the thought of being killed with such savaged violence, or because they didn't want to be turned into one. With the latter hollywood made films in the 1940's and on about the reluctances in becoming a Werewolf. The protagonist always serching for a way to end end his sickness while other hollywood films made it cool to be a vampire.
It's soooo bad to be a Werewolf right? Well if people were humanizing vampires and giving them the ability in literature and film to choose between right or wrong, why not give werewolves the same choice? Why give them the short end of the stick? They were once human too, infact they live as a human for most of the time before they transform before they turn into that mindless beast. Somewhere though along the line these people that portrayed Werewolves as vicious beast forgot that wolves are actually very smart, cunning, swift, agile, and very social, and don't quote me on this but I think they mate for life. So if real wolves are like that than why can't Werewolves be like that? I haven't found a good argument for it yet. Tradition certainly isn't one.
Finally with movies like "Underworld", "Wolf" and even the teeny bopper "Twilight" it ain't so bad to be a werewolf anymore. Which is good because unlike vampires I fit into the Werewolf crowd very well and I can turn all of my turmoil into something positive and focus on the more important things in life and forget superficial benefits of being a vampire. Vampires, Werewolves, as long as you are happy with what you are than there shouldn't be any need worry.

Me Blog

Hi Readers,
This is a personal blog of sorts that I am allowing my friends and the public to see. It will be a more intimate view into my life, my thoughts, and my beliefs. You may get offended though I don't think I'm too offensive, you may laugh, and you may cry. So read and Enjoy, or not, the choice is up to you.

I don't know why but a song that I haven't heard in a long while just popped in my head as I was sitting and thinking Hey I should start a blog and that song was "Swinging on a Star". It's an old timey song I think, but I thought it would be great for my URL link, however I wanted to add my own little twist on it. Being the nerd that I am,thinking that I was being cleverishly gothic, I decided I would make it "Swinging on a Dark Star".
I have always thought that I am a tad Goth if you want to call it that. You know the people that waer all black and have multi-coloured hair, with chanins and piercings and what not. I however never really ventured into the whole lifestyle. I like the color black, I like skeletons (just see my shirts to prove it), I like night time, and vampires, and midievil crap, and romance, and Opeth, etc. But I like a whole slew of other non goth-related stuff and I never really wanted to belong to one social group and outlook. I guess also that I am possibly too nerdy to fit into that category anyway. So if you wanted to fit me into category I guess it would have to be "NERD" with the Sci-fi, the video games, the fantasy, Samuel L. Jackson, the Star Trek, the Harry Potter, the froin laaaaavinnnn! Do you see!!!
Anywho stand by for new posts. I can't guarantee they will all be great though. Ta ta!