Hero

Just saw a new movie today. It had Jet Li and some top notch fight coreographers to it's credit and I have to say it was one of the more impressive stunt fighting movies I've seen in a long time. Non-stop fighting from one end to another. The only "problem" though, is that the story entirely subsumes the action sequences!! As impressive as they may be, the movie itself is what grabs your attention.

It's a VERY eastern style of film, with only a few western style thematic elements tossed in. For comparison, Last Samurai was a western style movie about eastern culture, this is totally from and for a Chinese audience. Heck, the whole thing is in English subtitles. Also, if you've ever read a Japanese comic (sorry, 'graphic novel') you'll get an extra kick out of some of the fights. I can't recomend it to people by saying "You'll love it," but it is a very interesting movie. Don't let the beginning's cheesy beginning throw you off - it is supposed to be like that as you'll see it fits throughout the movie. The fighting isn't as impressive or astounding as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but the story is one that will stick with you much longer. That being a good or bad thing is still up for debate. If you see it, don't go expecting a traditional action film, rather go expecting to see a really interresting movie.

I think it's a movie definitely worth seeing once, even if you come away unimpressed. (which would be pretty hard.)

Yyyyyaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhhhhhh!!

Ever have one of those weeks where everything seems to conspire against you, or maybe not against you but at least against your time; where it seems like everything that really needs to be done is exactly what you can't get to do? Like blogging and email!

For one thing, our family has been really busy getting ready for a big ironwork show and most of my free daytime has been spent bending metal. Then at the bank, it seems to be the week for grumpy customers. Of course it's my fault that they are overdrawn and can't cash a $500 dollar check. "Every week I come through and cash my check and I never have any ID" -- I've worked here for over a year and I've never seen you before, besides, what are you doing driving without a license anyway?? Yes, you do need an account at our bank to cash other banks checks. The funds for checks from other banks are not immediately available because checks can bounce, be canceled, or stolen. Yes I realize that you've banked with us since you were sixteen, but you've been almost a thousand dollars overdrawn for six months and we had to close your account. You can talk with her, but my manager doesn't refund overdraft charges because you forgot to make your weekly deposit. And my all-time favorite: "I realize you know Buzz (president from over 10 years ago), but we still can't ______________ (fill in the blank).

And on, and on, and on, and on!!! If anyone at a bank asks you for your license, JUST GIVE IT TO THEM AND SMILE!!!! We really are just trying to safeguard your money.

Oh well, I have karate to keep me sane. Sensei says "Good job, you're really pushing tonight!" If he only knew!!!

Kanku Sho, Empi, and Unsu have been the focus for the last couple classes, and Unsu is feeling better. The final 360-crescent jump kick is still a bit rough but the rest of the kata feels pretty good. Not quite up to performance level, but very good for only 4 months. Empi has always been one of my favorites, and Kanku Sho is finally getting up to tournament level quality. All in all, I've had some GOOD classes (some of you will know what that entails) and life is good, at least until I get back to the bank.

Horray! They're home!

Everyone is home, safe and sound! They thoroughly enjoyed themselves out there with Norm, Pauline, Grandma, Shar, and the dogs. Katie came back with some clothes that she got while they were touring parts of Hollywood with Shar. She went to Hard Rock Cafe, Hollywood and got a cool hat, saw a ton of movie memorabilia, and got some fun pictures.

Now they are shifting back to Eastern Standard Timezone, and repairing all the damage that we three males visited upon the house during their absence! WELCOME HOME!!! Actually, for the most part we did well - we had Margaret here to keep us in line a bit. ;^)

Family reunion!

Well, yesterday I went to a family reunion; my dad's side of the family. My mom's side is all over the country, but my dad's is centered in western Pennsylvania, so our yearly family reunion is attended by far more people than I can keep track of. I missed the traditional golf game that morning as I was a church, but apparently the time was as full of laughs as it was bogies. Actually, while from all reports a hilarious time was had by all, they did quite well - most of them hit par over nine holes. That is WAY out of my league as I'm lucky to hit the ball when I swing, much less hit it in the direction that I would like. Maybe next year I'll make it to the gold game. I'll ask them to stick me on my own team and I'll consider it a victory if my score is less than their cumulative team score.

You are also reading the blog of the Grossman/McConnell family champion pie eater! Yes, that's right I downed a blueberry Hostess pie in record time! Mainly I was the fastest only because my dad had to leave a bit early. I inherited a great set of genes there! We had a talent show (I won a first place ribbon) and I played softball with a lot of the younger kids: pitched, fielded, pretended to drop balls, and happened to trip whenever I was about to tag one of the little kids, while they all batted, ran, stole, and generally had a time of organized chaos. It was a Blast!!! We also had absolutely gorgeous weather - mid seventies and mostly sunny.

Tomorrow, mom and Katie are getting home from California, so I'm doing a quick cleanup. Playtime is over!

It's a nunchuks night!

Shotokan karate tends to eschew weapons as a core part of the style. To my knowledge there isn't any official weapons training in the JKA organization despite their emphasis on tradition. Part of it is probably just because most people don't train in karate hard enough to be able to afford to branch off into weapons much. With dozens of weapons, some of them being a style in and of themselves (Kendo), unless you are training seriously almost every day in karate, weapons will probably be an interesting diversion - at least in our style. It's along the thought of "jack of all trades, master of none.

But there is so much you can learn while doing weapons!! We worked on nunchakus tonight. You know, those two sticks connected by a rope that you spin around. Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles uses them. :-) While working with them, I think I was able to develop my hip/arm coordination some and the strikes help your focus a lot!

If you've ever seen someone fight in a movie with nunchuks, they aren't doing it for real (duh!) because if they were, the first semi-decent hit from a nunchuk will flatten a person. Crushed bones, destroyed muscles, and snapped tendons are the result of even a decent hit -- far more than the bloody cheek or bruised arm! But don't worry, if you ever go up against someone who has a pair of nunchuks and he is spinning them around in all sorts of fancy ways, he either doesn't know how to practically use them or he's phenomenally good with them and you're as good as dead.

Now, isn't that a comforting thought to end on!

There and Back Again - by Jesse Baggins

Ok, ok. Lousy pun. Maybe there will be some LOTR nut out there who gets it.

Where I went 'There and Back Again' was Virginia for my son's second birthday. A quick explanation: he is absolutely nuts about fire engines and firemen. (and close behind comes any sort of motorized vehicle) So, we went to a fire station and got a tour! While he's not shy, he's not especially outgoing either, so imagine my surprise and amusement when the fireman who gave the tour came up to our group and Jeremiah goes directly over to him and wants to be picked up! By a stranger! All because of the fireman's uniform.

He loved the tour and we even were given the treat of having a call come in and watching the firemen jump into the truck and take off with lights and sirens wailing!

Needless to say, most of his presents were fire truck oriented!

After the party, Katie and I went to a terrific play, Guys and Dolls, with Charlessa and Joanna. A great production, by an excellent cast and crew. They kept it moving along very nicely, and while it probably trimmed out some of the finer nuances, I didn't notice, and it kept the audience engrossed for the play's entirety.

Now, Katie and Mom left for Arizona and California for visiting relatives and so it's just David, Dad, Margaret, and myself. While the mom's away, the house will play!

Sweat, sweat and more sweat!

For anyone out there who wants to lose weight, I have a terrific solution: come join my karate club! Especially during these hot, muggy summer days, we have an unbelievable workout. I have no doubts that I sweat off at least a quart of water. I stock up before I go to class, and we take lots of water breaks, but it's still a really heavily soaked gi that I pulled off tonight.

I'm not the worst either! Poor Dino (he's Italian) swallows half a gallon of water during class and is still losing water overall! His heavyweight gi can be wrung out like a washcloth. :^P

It's great exercise too, not just sweat. We covered Jion and Heian Godan for the class, and then after class was over, Sensei and I worked on Kanku Dai and Unsu. Anyone who takes Shotokan style karate, or a derivative thereof will understand my gibberish there. :^D

We've got the JKA Fall Camp coming up the second weekend of September, and there are five brown belts in our class that have never gone, that hopefully we will get to come along. Four of them are on track to test for black belt in a year and a half, so we'll be dragging them to this camp, or the next.

Ahhh, Fall Camp — cold mornings, an even colder gi, great training, lousy food, outdoor training, smelly cabins, a tournament and lots of friends.

YEEEHHAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!