Category Archives: Martial arts

Doing some shots — of fiction that is –

Doing some shots — of fiction that is — over at Writer’s Lunch. http://h360journal.com/blog/2013/11/14/lets-do-some-shots-shall-we

Split Squats 50,Jackknifes 25,Pushups 50

Split Squats 50,Jackknifes 25,Pushups 50,Bicycles 100,Jump Squats 100,Wall Touches 100,P/ups barrel roll 25 @cabal_fang #WOD

Hat Racks, Crafts, and a Short Story

image

Hat rack I made from tree trimmings

My Sunday routine is to blog for the week.  Yesterday however I had three problems that prevented me from writing the usual four or five weekly posts.

The first: I realized that a man with a mild hat obsession should not be without a place to hang  his lids.  Otherwise he will find them all over the house, piling up in drifts like autumn leaves.  So I made a hat rack for my favorites and put the rest in the bedroom closet.

Problem two: We’ve been in this house for thirteen years and still have no proper curtains for the upstairs bathroom (I’ve been tied up, okay?).  So I got out the sewing machine and remedied that problem.

Third and most ‘pressing’ problem:  I had an idea for a short-story, a horror piece called Pressed Flowers.  I had started it earlier in the week and it was begging to be finished.  So I knocked out the second half and decided to post the entire tale on Wednesday.

Look for it — it’s a beauty.

Two posts is all you get this week.  Stop your whining, will ya?

 

AMRAYC in 8 mins of 7 Pushups and 7 Gobl

AMRAYC in 8 mins of 7 Pushups and 7 Goblet Squats 30#. Jumprope 5 minutes AFAYC @cabal_fang #WOD

Split Squats 50,Neck Bridge 90s,P/ups na

Split Squats 50,Neck Bridge 90s,P/ups narrow 25,Backups 25,50 Yard Dash 4,Bear Walks 100m,P/ups knuckle 40 @cabal_fang #WOD

Do You Know Who This Man Is?

imageYes, on your left is a photo of me wearing my Halloween costume.  If you don’t know who I’m supposed to be, on the right there’s a clue.

imageStill can’t figure it out?  Click here and you’ll get it.

 

Dirty Dogs 25/side,Crunches, legs up 100

Dirty Dogs 25/side,Crunches, legs up 100,P/ups narrow 25,Bicycles 100,Prisoner Squats 50,Wall Touches 100,P/ups prison 25 @cabal_fang #WOD

Cabal Fang, State of the Art

IMG_20121109_132322In 2008 I had an idea.  I could, based on my training in martial arts, hermeticism, mysticism and initiatory practice, found a new Western martial art unlike anything the world had ever known.  I thought it over long and hard.  Ask my friends, my wife, and my son.  I knew it would be difficult, that I’d face seemingly insurmountable barriers, that it might never take off.  Failure was definitely possible.

And that wasn’t all.  Even worse than some kind of failure there was the knowledge that when you create a martial art, you create a weapon.  How will it be used?  Who will it help or even harm?  Funakoshi basically created Karate — how did he deal with the possibility that his students could kill with the techniques he promulgated?

In the end I decided that I had to move forward.  Two things have happened in the last couple of weeks that make me feel that I made the right decision, that Cabal Fang is succeeding, that it’s on the right track.

A total stranger posted this in the Cabal Fang group on Facebook:

fbScreenshot

The Dr. Stetson he’s referring to is Dr. Stetson Kennedy, the writer and activist who broke the back of the Ku Klux Klan.  The library he’s referring to is the Civic Media Center of Gainesville, FL.  Words can’t express how happy I am to have Cabal Fang mentioned in the same breath with with Dr. Kennedy and the CMC.

Cabal Fang, the child I gave birth to in 2008, is growing up.  She’s affecting people’s lives for the better.  And this proud papa just loves the way she’s turning out.

1/2 Pyramid to 14: Pushups, Lunges, Jack

1/2 Pyramid to 14: Pushups, Lunges, Jackknifes, Jump Squats. 3 rnds Shadowboxing AFAYC @cabal_fang #WOD

What is Catch Wrestling, and Why You Should Care

Catch wrestling (or Catch-as-catch-can) has a long and complex history that is a microcosm of what was happening in the larger world during its rise, fall, and rebirth.  Learn about Catch and you learn about politics, commerce, and the Western psyche.

And who better to explain all this than Eddie Goldman, “the Conscience of Combat Sports.”  In his article Catch Wrestling Is Back: The Revival Of A Working Class Sport (it’s a whopper, coming in at a couple thousand words, but if you’re into Western Martial Arts, you gotta invest the ten or fifteen minutes it takes to read it) he brings it all to light.

Did you know:

  • That catch wrestling was once as popular as boxing in the US?
  • That it was a true working class sport “practiced by athletic clubs organized by labor and socialist organizations, even including the Industrial Workers of the World and the Communist Party of Canada?”
  • That the transformation of catch wrestling into the modern form of staged pro wrestling was “perhaps the greatest case of corruption in the history of modern sports, with an entire sport becoming fixed?”
  • That Kasushi Sakuraba, “The Gracie Killer” learned catch wrestling from Billy Robinson, who trained at the Billy Riley’s famed Snake Pit?

The story of catch wrestling would make a great movie, one filled with politics, drama, and action galore.  Hold on — looks like somebody already did.  Ed Asner  (no shock that he’d sign on to that project when you consider his political views) starred in The Wrestler back in 1974.  I think I’ll see if I can pick up a copy and give it a look.