J-E-DOUBLE F...

Jesus, is the band Saliva really still around? Things like this astonish me. There were so many one hit wonder bands when I was in school, especially from 7th grade to 12th, and I figured most of them were done because they realized they weren't capable of making good music. Bands like Linkin Park almost fell into the pattern but thanks to Rick Rubin, they saw that their fans had moved on from the rap/rock thing, and they're still around. But Saliva? I just saw a commercial on RAW for them since they did the theme for No Way Out. Didn't these guys only have like 2 main songs a few years ago? There was their first "hit" (I use that term loosely), and then the duet the singer did with Nickleback's reason for sucking, ie- their singer. And here Saliva is, x years later. I don't care if they've "made it" since they're being recognized on tv or whatever. The fact that these guys sound the same as they did back then is sad. Godsmack was notorious for this. Remember them? Yeah, that's what I thought. I remember when a friend and I went to Wherehouse a few years ago because he wanted to buy their new cd. He put it in the car's cd player, but accidentally played the first cd first. It wasn't a problem since I didn't mind that album. But after a while, I asked him, "did the new cd start yet?".

...we couldn't tell when the old cd stopped and the new one started.

Then Godsmack's 3rd cd came out, and the few fans of theirs experienced similar things- not being able to tell that it was new material. Great, Saliva just made me talk about Godsmack for the last 3 minutes. See what these bands can do to me? It was even worse when Papa Roach came back from the magical land of obscurity, but I won't even go there. If anyone still listens to Last Resort and enjoys it, I don't know what to say. ARRRRRRGH. WE'RE ANGRY WHITE GUYS WHO NEED TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT HOW WE NEED ATTENTION BY WANTING TO KILL OURSELVES. WAAAAAAAGE!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!



Last night I watched Densha Otoko, or Train Man as it's known on Netflix. The movie was a lot different in tone from what I was expecting after I read the disc envelope summary. It's about a geeky guy who falls in love with a girl after semi-saving her on a subway train, but he doesn't know how to really do anything about it. So he asks a few people for help on an anonymous message board (basically the Japanese version of Craigslist). They all give him advice on how to ask her out on a date, clean himself up, get contacts, everything. It's really cute watching these people and how they act when replying to Train Man's messages. There's a group of 3 guys, all geeks themselves, who reply to him often, and whenever Train Man makes progress with the girl, they cheer him on and envision themselves in war, wishing they were as brave as he was. Another is a loner teenage boy who's cynical about how to show affection, but makes some good, warm-hearted replies as well. One more is a cutesy nurse who isn't over her previous boyfriend, and acts as more of a motherly figure in her replies.



That's really most of the movie- a geek getting replies from people online about what to do next with the girl. It might sound boring, but it's super funny and very cute. They did a great job with making this guy come off as the biggest geek ever. He wears Gundam shirts, has TONS of toys and figures (more than I would if I had never sold anything...or maybe just as much. I don't know), his room is literally stacked with comic books, and even girls on the street who give out free products while promoting the company they work for don't even give him samples. You can't help but wish this guy the best, and feel bad for him when he screws up here and there. Make sure you watch this one if you're looking for a romantic comedy that's both romantic and a comedy without being typical and constantly predictable. The only problem I had was the ending and that they could've ended it perfectly, but chose to keep it going for a few minutes more and make things confusing. Regardless, I give it a 5 out of 5, and it's the best movie I've seen this year so far.

Watching Train Man, I wonder how I got as far as I did with girls in middle and high school since I was't much different from him. 'must've been my style.

Since I'm too sore from working out in the gym last night, and can't do my usual routine, I'm making a move summary document for the move list I posted on here a few weeks ago. It'll just be kept aside for Kairi for when she's older, or if I ever find someone serious enough about wanting to learn everything. This one kid at work is showing interest in fighting after a few of the "big" guys there said I'd kill them in a fight, and he wondered how that can be since I don't look like much. Part of me likes that since, like The Beast in Kung Fu Hustle, that's a big element of surprise. But at the same time, I'd love to have the build of even someone like Rey Mysterio Jr. But this guy at work has a great center of gravity and if he learned a few basic things, he could handle himself well enough for people around here if anything ever happened. 2 or 3 weeks ago he asked me to show him a few things for a slow sparring session.

Don't get me wrong here, because I can't stand the thought of coming off as arrogant in talking about fighting, or sounding like I'm the be-all of martial artists since I'm definitely not. But the poor guy wouldn't have stood a chance against me using what he showed me. Oh my god, the kick he used...I wanted to let him hit me after that. I lent him my old Shotokan book that I let other students borrow. 'need to ask him soon if he's been reading it at all. He said he'd be up for doing this once a week in order to get better. That'd be really cool, especially if it were somewhere near work since James took Choi Lei Fut for I think 2 years, one of the more deadly styles. Of the people I know, the two I really want to fight are Dan and James. Dan's got most of the power advantage (though he can't do pull-ups while holding his legs straight out, but I can do about 15 in a row!) and from what I've seen, has some good speed too, but I don't know about his experience. James says time and time again that he's too old to do anything, but is sneaky, so I'd know that in advance and be looking for such things. I think James could be in good shape to spar if he'd work out even once a week. He's taught me a few nice techniques over the last 3 years working with him, so I know he's not just a commoner like what we mostly have in Hillsboro.

Just the thought of having anyone to practice with again, for any amount of time, makes me happy. Martial arts schools around here are always closing down after less than a year, and the majority of the ones in the area still are simply "karate" (no style of it, just plain "karate") and that god awful Tae Kwon Do. Dan said he's went to a TKD school that's been around for a long time and just watches them do drills. They've invited him to join the class a few times, so that makes me wonder just how far that could go. When there was a school right across the street from here, I asked how their sparring goes, and the guy said it's controlled contact and that your moves should depend on your rank. That's BS. Let's say I were to have enrolled there. I would've started out as a white belt, and had to've used the white belt set against my opponent, even if they were a higher rank? That's not how it is in a fight. The thought is just as ridiculous as modern Mixed Martial Arts and how they have weight classes. You either have it or you don't.