A very interesting article on vintage classic computing systems (and the lack of respect they get). I just love these machines, they are truly works of art.
Now if you could mount one of these babies in the trunk of a 1969 GTO Judge that would be super OG old school nerdcore PIMP… imagine your ultra mack power when you pop the trunk with the Colossus in the back.
0-3 at a local event.
First match, I was up 2-1 on Hugh Rogers with 6 seconds left with me on top, got reversed as time ran out. Tied 2-2 we went to overtime. We were using the CAWA grappling rules which meant that I got to choose either top or bottom position in open guard. I chose top. The rules say I had 1 minute to pass the guard or else I lost. I didn’t end up passing and lost. 0-1.
Second match was against Greg Edgelow who represented Canada in the Olympics at 90kg in wrestling a couple of times and incidentally was the first guy I ever wrestled at a senior nationals back in 1989 I believe. We scrambled around for a bit and then ended up taking me down and taking side mount. I re-took guard and then we went out of bounds. The way that the CAWA rules work is that when this happens you have to start in the middle in open guard (even though I had closed guard prior). He passed to side mount and I tapped from an arm triangle. 0-2.
Then I got the slapowitz of the group. I took him down with a fireman’s (1 point) then passed to side mount (2 points) then passed to back mount (4 points). He shook me off the front and we stood up. Then he clinched and I decided I was going to suplex him since he was a slapowitz and landed on my back. That was when I realized he probably weighed 280 pounds or so. Funny how sometimes you don’t realize these types of things until they land dynamically on your face from height. Anyway I scrambled to get out and got caught in a guillotine choke. Notably I did not tap this time. But I did have a nice snooze on the mat for a few seconds. Gak. 0-3.
Hugh ended up beating Edgelow. I was thinking afterwards that if (a) I had been able to hold on for an extra 3 seconds I would have won the first one 2-1; (b) If I had passed to full mount (3 points) before I took the back the last one would have been called (10-0 points). Anyway.
Here is a picture from the CAWA results page of me attacking Hugh with a fireman’s. Which he stuffed. Although I did end up taking him down.
This places my record to date this year at 9-8. Not stellar but will keep at it.
Actually I was looking through my old medals and crap and noticed that pretty much every good result I’ve had has been at 82 kg, even though I competed at 90 kg for a while. My weight is down around 213-215 right now and I am thinking I may cut down to 180 for the upcoming NAGA and Grapplers’ Quest events. I haven’t done that kind of cut in a long time, but it might be possible.
Obama Axes Pentagon Plan To Build Billion Dollar Tank In Shape Of Dragon
via Salsudo Torta
The Rain on Titan Falls Mainly in the Morning, But Also In The Afternoon
Mastodon is sometimes referred to as progressive metal in the media (think Tool) which I don’t generally like. A lot of that stuff goes overboard on the chops at the expense of making music you actually want to listen to (Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver excepted). But I had read a bunch of reviews of their latest, Crack the Skye, that were intriguing: themes of quantum physics, transcendence, epic story, etc. so I bought it.
Long story short, I really highly recommend it, it is exceptional. It is the sort of content that you really get into after listening to it several times. It is extremely dense and complex without giving the feeling that the density and complexity is an end in and of itself. I found myself thinking that in some ways it has a Mercyful Fate / King Diamond-esque flavor in that it is an epic concept album (think Abigail) which has complex and haunting melodies combined with throat punching pro- reptile brain parts.
Go buy it clones.
From Filmdrunk via Salsudo Torta. You should definitely read the comments.
Last week I had the opportunity to train at Team Sidyodtong just outside of Boston. This is the gym run by Mark Dellagrotte, at which several UFC guys train including Kenny “World’s Stupidest Nickname” Florian and Marcus Davis. It is an awesome gym, about 10 square feet, grimy, moldy and totally hardcore.
I competed yesterday in the NAGA East Coast Grappling Championships in both the Master’s (30-40 years) and Adult heavyweight (under 225) divisions. This was my first big US submission wrestling tournament so I was looking forward to seeing where I am in relation to these guys.
First up was the master’s division. There were 6 guys including myself. The brackets are single elimination.
First: Took him down with high crotch, passed to side mount, went for arm triangle, slipped off, scrambled, took full mount. Sat there for the remainder of the fight. Won 6-0.
Second: Took him down with fireman’s, got stuck in full guard, guy escapes to his feet, took him down with outside single, got stuck in full guard again. Up 4-0 with 30 seconds left guy gets kimura, I tap. I think I could have held out for the remaining time, I think in hindsight I was pretty safe from where we were. Learning experience.
Third: Took him down with outside single, got caught in half guard. Stayed there for the rest of the time. Won 2-0.
This got me a bronze medal in this category. The guy I fought in the second match won the gold. Although it was disappointing to lose like that I think it was an important learning experience about not panicking in that particular position and tapping too early.
Next category: Open. There were 14 guys in this division.
First: Took the guy down with high crotch, scrambled to pass to side mount. This guy was really explosive and quick like none of the other guys I’ve fought so far, more like what wrestling was like. Got side mount, but the guy pushed me off and sat up (which by the way is not easy to do). I looked over at the scorer’s table and I was up 4-0 with 2:30 to go. I then made what was in hindsight a bad tactical error. The guy was down on the ground like these BJJ guys like to do, I was standing up, and I dove down to pass the guard. We scrambled for a bit and then all of a sudden the guy had my back. We went at it for a bit and then he sunk a rear naked choke and I tapped.
What I should have down in hindsight is not gone to the ground when I was up 4-0 but remained standing and stalled the rest of the time out.
The guy went on to win the tournament, basically blowing through the other guys.
Since it was single elimination I was out.
I kind of have mixed feelings about the outcome of this one. On the pro side if I had been smarter or more experienced I’m pretty sure I would have won the first match and had a good chance to win the tournament. On the con side my BJJ skills are pretty damn bad. Basically at these tournaments I’m the best wrestler in the room but possibly the worst at avoiding getting submitted.
Anyway that ended my day at 2-2, putting my year to date record at 9-5.
I think the NAGA folks post a bunch of pictures after their tournaments, I’ll include some as they go up.
This is a little belated. I competed at an event on June 13th in Maple Ridge called the West Coast Submissions Championships in the heavyweight (200+) category. It was round robin which was interesting, and you can only win by submission. There were 8 people in the division so I ended up having 7 fights. One of the differences between freestyle and these submission wrestling tournaments is that in freestyle they only do one round of your weight class at a time, then you get to rest for a bit while all the other weights do their round, then you go again, etc. Usually you have about 1 hour between matches. Not so with these tournaments. The whole 7 fights were within an hour. So here’s how it went.
First: Took the guy down with fireman’s, passed to side mount, arm triangled the guy for about 2 minutes and he wouldn’t tap, so I let it go and took the arm triangle on the other side, put him out cold. Guy wouldn’t tap. He was out for about 30 seconds. 1-0.
Note: after squeezing as hard as you can for 3+ minutes try flexing your arm.
Second: Took the guy down with a fireman’s, passed to side mount, guy turned into me, I wrapped his neck with my left arm and sunk the guillotine, guy taps. 2-0.
Third: Took the guy down with high crotch, passed to side mount, passed to full mount, went for keylock, guy turns to his side, went for armbar, slipped off, scrambled back to feet, took guy down with outside single, passed to side mount, arm triangle, guy taps. 3-0.
Fourth: Very tired. Stalled on my feet for about 2 minutes, then took the guy down with high crotch, passed to full mount, went for keylock, guy wouldn’t budge, did the Molson’s choke for a while, went for keylock, guy tured, went for armlock, guy taps. 4-0.
Fifth: Very tired again. Took the guy down with fireman’s, passed to side mount, arm triangle, guy taps. 5-0.
OK so far so good. Now they tell us that we’re going to leave the mat we were on to go into a boxing ring which is about 3 feet off the floor. So I’ve never competed in a ring with ropes before.
Six: Stalled on feet for about 2 minutes. Took the guy down with high crotch, passed to side mount. We scramble for a bit, guy takes full guard back, my feet get tangled in the ropes, referee brings us back to the center. Guy goes for a triangle, I go for the stack, guy’s back/legs are up against the ropes, guy locks in the triangle, I tap with about 20 seconds left. 5-1.
Seven: My last fight was against the guy who won the event named Dan Maciver. I’d seen some of his previous fights and he looked pretty good. I took him down right away with a high crotch and was trying to pass to side mount but buddy was trying to lock in a triangle at the same time. I pushed him into the ropes and the ref centered us. We scrambled around for a bit while I was trying to pass. He locked his legs in some kind of reverse triangle (both of us were facing the mat). I tried to pull out backwards but he started doing an armbar at the same time. I pushed forward to avoid the armbar and he flipped over and cinched the triangle. I tapped. 5-2.
The guy I fought last won the event, the guy I fought first (who I put out) ended up coming second on some tie-breaking thing.
So my record so far including the previous tournament: 7-3.
My wife loves Jon and Kate Plus 8. I can watch it for about 3 seconds before the sounds of the Meow Mix jingle take over. It is very popular with a certain demographic.
Apparently Jon and Kate are having marital troubles. Not surprising given their household. So I was thinking the show might need another angle as they transition to a new stage in their lives.
I think you can kill two birds with one stone here. You could transition from the current show to a new version that could hit the much sought-after 18-35 male demographic as well.
Here is my idea:
Jon and Kate Plus Ape.
The premise is that you would lock the two recent divorcees in a house with a giant carnivorous ape. Cameras would roll as hilarity ensued. The kids could come over once in a while to capture the original show demographics.
