Blogs, a Forum, Some News and Reviews

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I'm finally pulling myself away from the forum Rum Soaked Fist where my comments were the center of controversy on two threads.  One now has over 100 posts, the other is at about 50 posts.

Here are some new blogs I've discovered:
Forum for Traditional Wu Tai Chi Chuan
Hao style Tai Chi Chuan Blog
eastpaw's yeast pause
The Tai Chi Notebook

and Masters of the IMA could keep you busy for a while.

I ran across this article on Stem Cell Experiments:
As military doctors in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen more horrific injuries involving skin, nerve, vascular and bone losses from explosions, they have tried to think of what more could be done for the victims besides bandaging things up and hoping for the best.

Maybe they could regrow the tissue: Grow the cartilage, grow the blood vessels, grow the nerves and even grow the bone.

If you're in San Francisco this Saturday and you want to see some Kabuki with a lecture, check this out.

And I'm going to try to catch God Man Dog at the Taiwan Film Festival.

Meanwhile, I saw Whip It! I think Drew Barrymore is the greatest film maker alive.  I pronounce her King of the Date Movie! Why did I have to come of age in a world without Roller Derby?  What did I do to deserve that.  God, are you listening?  If we are going to win hearts and minds in the Middle East, we've got to put together an Arab/Persian Roller Derby Team (any suggestions for a name?)

I also saw Zombieland, and if you often have the feeling that you are surrounded by zombies and only occasionally meet a human, this is the movie for you.  Fun stuff.

And I also saw Jennifer's Body, I don't know why people say it's full of metaphors, I think it was written by someone I went to high school with.  That's exactly how I remember it.

Oh and District 9, great story, and it makes fun of protesters.

Having a Ball Performing Martial Arts

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I couldn't help but comment on this little tiff.  Chris started it over here on Martial Development.  I think it relates to Chiron's comments on commitment.

Basically they are excited about a guy who chopped his arm during a martial arts ritual.  I've been blogging about this stuff all year.  Here are a few back posts:

The Real History of Martial Arts and Trance

The Origins of the Boxer Uprising

More Spirit

What David Mamet Understands

Basically it's all performance, even if sometime in the future it might be the thing that saves your life.  But even if it does save your life you won't know for sure that some other factor didn't intervene.  Perhaps your attacker slipped, or better yet he had a flashback to a Flintstones Episode he saw when he was nine and forgot to keep killing you.

Here is a real video!  One that demonstrates why the greatest performers are also the greatest predators! (Watch the whole thing, it keeps getting better.)