Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, July 21, 2006
How to win a fight (part IV)
A great fourth installment, thank you Mickey.
How is it (barring conspiracies) that so many great thinkers die before their potential can be appreciated by great numbers of people?
Bruce Lee RIP.Doing laundry sans a/c must be extremely unpleasant and particularly sticky and warm, I don’t envy you.
I hope your power lasts through the approaching thunder storm
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 07/21 at 02:38 PMHello Empress. The storm has come and gone. Bad, but not terrible. This morning, however, we had a thunderstorm that was likely the most intense I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I had to close all the windows in our airless apartment. I stared out at the torrential downpour...waiting for locusts next.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 02:40 PMExtremely intense lightening and thunder storms here in Chicago for the last few days as well…
Yesterday, lightening struck so near to me and the crack of thunder was so loud that my heart jumped into my throat and I ducked for cover. I was on an El platform and would have been embarrassed except that everyone else around me did the same thing.
Can’t wait to check this Bruce Lee interiew out at home (no sound here at work). Later…
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 07/21 at 02:57 PMYou’re gonna love the interview, JOS. As for the thunderstorm, I’ve never experienced thunder rolling in this fast. It was lightning-thunder-lightning-thunder...with no break in between.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 02:59 PMMickey it sounds like the storm that caused alot of damage in Eastern GTA a few days ago has been through your neighbourhood. There are still some communities without any power yet.
Same for me with Bruce Lee...have to hear it at home.
I “love” Bruce Lee.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 07/21 at 03:35 PMInteresting post, Mickey.
And a warm ‘hi’ to Amelopsis and JOS from a rather cold but dry Daylesford.
Have a good weekend, all of you.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 07/21 at 03:37 PMQueens blackout:
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 07/21 at 03:39 PMHello Helga. I hope to mail your books next week. Post office was closed most of this week.
JOS: Thanks for the link. It seems the electric cables here in Queens are ancient and this was a long time coming.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 04:41 PMMickey...tomorrow morning you can call here and complain about the power outage.
08:00 AM EDT
0:30 (est.) LIVE
Call-In
National Electricity System
C-SPAN, Washington Journal
Joseph T. Kelliher , Federal Energy Regulatory CommissionPosted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 07/21 at 05:01 PMThanks, RMJ...although it’s fruitless. The Big Apple bureaucracies would make Kafka wince.
Hey, once Israel invades Lebanon tonight (with U.S. Marines coincidentally in Beirut), NYC may have bigger problems than power outages. I truly feel that any attack on Hizbullah, Syria, and/or Iran will elicit a response far worse than Iraq.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 06:01 PMI’ve often disagreed with folks who claim the U.S. “lost” in Vietnam. This article is right down that alley.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 06:13 PMNice link in #11 Mickey. The mention of “creative destruction” is a bit odd---contradiction in terms if ever there was one.
I’m not so sure about all this fightin’ talk though. The writing’s good, and I see the intention, but it has taken me a long time to get away from the beginner’s mind that reacts physically to any physical threat. Best defense is a good defense and unless the situation’s serious enough to literally go for the jugular I prefer to (try to) turn the other cheek.
Someone tried to convince me today that the only solution to the problems in and around Israel is for Iran and Israel to lob nukes at each other. That’s some foul shit.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 07/21 at 06:43 PMHey everyone, hugs from Blighty. Its just starting to feel cooler here, I spose it is 1am.
(On the winning/losing of Iraq, I strongly recommend Greg Palast’s latest, Armed Madhouse.)Posted by Mew on from mew's stickysweaty snugglehouse 07/21 at 07:01 PMHowdy to all Expendables. May a cold front soon reach all of your hometowns (except for maybe Helga ;)
MZ, although I agree wih much of what Bruce says, I think I’ll have to disagree with the overall point of the article.
For example, I had somewhat “formal” training when I studied Longfist. But it had less to do with learning mechanical/robotic forms and sequences than it had to do with discovering the hidden power and form within. And as I’ve said before, the first two years were more mental exercises and conditioning, and developing reaction (push hands, etc.)
I’m a lower body person: long legs yet fast on my feet. And Longfist is a Northern Chinese style of Wu Su, with strong emphasis on kicking… So, I trusted Master Moore’s judgement that my emphasis should be on my kicking and footwork. He’d point out mistakes and helped me develop to my full potential, in my own way. That’s what made him a great instuctor, imho, just like what you might be suggesting in the article.
Now, I do agree that other styles (e.g., karate, tae-kwon-do, etc) are often mechanical, with hardly any focus on the individual. But I guess that I wouldn’t generalize for the whole of martial arts like that…
P.S. - glad to hear your power is back on after so long…
Anyway, have a great weekend y’all.
Posted by RT on from The Buyou City 07/21 at 07:40 PMDipping in...angina pectoris all day today.
HOT AS A CROTCH and not half as much fun here.
Bye
Posted by Mudge on from Austin, Texas 07/21 at 08:23 PMHello Mudge.
RT: I’ve gotten a few responses like yours from experienced martial artists and I think I may have hit a nerve. I was certainly not intending to over-generalize...but I wanted to generalize a little. Post-Bruce Lee, there are more and more free thinking fighters but I’d argue they are still the minority. Rigid dedication to style and form still reigns in many martial arts circles (and many other circles as well).
Btw, Has anyone seen this yet?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 08:27 PMMZ, from my own experience, I think I can safely say that fighting is more mental than physical. It’s more about reading into your opponent and calculating their next move(s). And that’s where training exercises such as push hands become useful..
So say your in a certain stance; then I will adjust accordingly in anticipation of a probable move. And what is one to do if I am in a low and balanced stance, constantly moving in various defensive forms in response to your moves (anticipated or otherwise)? My constant defensive movement makes it hard for you to exploit—so how do you approach me?
I am fluid, adjusting to your offesnive movements without giving hints of a strike. Because of training, I know several moves to defend myself from a single attack, and the one I choose depends on HOW you proceed with offense. I have perfected them to a T, just like when Bruce says practicing one kick 1,000 times is more useful than practicing 1,000 kicks one time, They are now natural to me as a result of proper training and discipline. Without that, you’d crush me.
As for Bruce Lee, I think he would agree with what I just said. Was he discilined? Yes. Did he know several ways to approach a certain situation? Yes. Did he perfect them? Yes.
But did he stick to only one style? No. He took the best from various styles and created his own, adding the street-fighter mentality to his approach. His legacy, as far as I’m concerned, is originality, ingenuity, and surprises. My only criticism is that he wasn’t exclusively a defensive fighter. And that’s perhaps one of the the reasons why he was so successful in Hollywood…
Finally, I agree with your remark concerning rigid dedication to style and form in various disciplines, especially Karate. A forward stance in that style is just begging for a knee to be blown out…
Perhaps make a distinction between tournament fighters (martial arts) and other styles which do not have a belt system (e.g., Longfist Kung Fu) in your next article?
Posted by RT on from The Buyou City 07/21 at 09:23 PMRT: If I ever get an offer to expand this into a book, I’ll have a chance to go into far more detail.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 10:08 PMForgot to say hello to Mew. Also, RT and Keir: Please realize that much of my “fight” series is intended as metaphor.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 07/21 at 10:11 PMComrades,
I was at the Sydney Anti-War rally today (see http://tinyurl.com/lwuhh for a description and photgraphs).
The police estimated that 15,000 marched.
For me, the hardest part was listening to women from Lebanon trying to explain to the bystanders that children were being killed by the IDF.
At least, there was no counter-demonstration by the Zionist supporters. Maybe the cold and wet weather kept them away.
To Helga, thank you for the invitation.
To MZ, thank you for those articles on fighting. I shall contemplate the metaphors.
Posted by Douglas on from Sydney, Australia 07/22 at 04:28 AM
Next entry: Blackouts and Urban Cavemen
Previous entry: Nothing short of torture
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
