Tuesday, September 26, 2006

San Francisco Tournament 2006

Got back from the San Francisco Plum Blossom Federation International Martial Arts tournament last weekend, and just had a chance to convert some of the pictures and video to files. Got bored for a little bit and started throwing things together to test out some new software, and came out with this. It is maybe a little entertaining, to a small set of people... maybe... I can't guarantee that set includes anyone other than myself, of course, but here it is just in case. :)



Posted By:James

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Bored, playing with some new software to see what it can do and how easily... so it's not super-amazing, but it's potentially entertaining to a small number of people. Potentially very small, maybe a set including just myself. :)

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Breaking video

Breaking video on Myspace

I finally got around to converting some video on mini-DV tapes into something more accessible.. here's a video of some basic board-breaking

Posted By:James

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Electronica music styles

Ever been confused by the difference between House, Trance, Techno, Acid, and other terms for electronic music? Have no clue what any of that is in the first place?

Well, I just found a site that has a REALLY good rundown of all of that, with samples, flow charts, etc. Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

More pics

I added a couple more pictures to the front of the Tournament yahoo photo album.

Here's one I just made, actually:






This one is interesting just because it made me realize how useful Photoshop is. :) Here is the original... it was a bit tilted, and showed whatever the camera was sitting on.






Next is the same image, simply rotated so that it is level... I based the level line on the camera height, so the curb line is still a little crooked, and the building lines are a little crooked as well, but they are angled in opposite directions, as would be expected based on the camera height.



That obviously left some weird gaps at the corners, so I just faked stuff to put there and made it look like what really SHOULD be there... but really, if you compare this picture to the actual location, you'd probably notice all kinds of discrepencies... but in the context of the picture, I think it looks pretty good. I'm not sure I'd even know it wasn't fully real just looking at it.

I also removed the thing the camera was sitting on at the bottom, and added the rest of the foot and leg of the far right person. Curious if there were any glaring problems I'd made here. This was the first time I'd done this with Photoshop, was just playing and learning how to do it, so I'm interested in knowing how it rates, as well as any tips.

Anyway, like I said, more pictures here

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Pictures

I've added various pictures from the past couple months to my photo album.

Specifically, here are some pictures from the tournament and trip.

And here are 2 albums from our trip to Brazil:
First set
Second set (too big for one album)

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

San Francisco Plum Blossom Martial Arts Tournament - 2006

Last weekend was the annual Plum Blossom Federation martial arts tournament in San Francisco. Mira Mesa White Dragon had it's largest turnout to date for this tournament, totalling around 30 attendees between the instructors and students. A number of us caravaned up, some others drove on their own, some flew, and for all I know, some just decided to be in San Francisco and just suddenly were.

We did really well, of course. ;) Most of our attendees came away placing in various events. White Dragon (including the other 6 schools) overall had a pretty massive attendance, but there were attendees representing a number of different schools in the Plum Blossom Federation, including some from Italy and other international schools. Myself, I was entered into 5 events, but unfortunately only competed in 4 (I missed the call for the 5th).

I placed first in the 'Advanced Tai Chi weapon set' division with the Tai Chi Cane set. In Push Hands, I was inexplicably put into the heavy-weight division, but still came away with 2nd place. The guy I lost to was 6'4" and a muscular 205 pounds, a full 50 pounds heavier than me, with fairly good skills on top of that, made the final round a bit rough. I tied for 4th in the 'Advanced Weapon form' division with the Ba-gwa dan-dao (8 diagram broadsword set) in a division with some REALLY good competition... just watching the others perform in that event was worth being in it, winning or no. Same with the 'Advanced Hand form' division, where I placed 5th with the Siu Fut Jeung (Small Buddha Palm hand form), the others in that division were amazing.

Not quite the number of medals I came back from the last tournament in May with (there I got 3 golds, 3 silvers, and 2 bronzes), but I competed in far fewer events, and the judging was done by judges from many different areas of the art, all of who probably look for different things... the fact that White Dragon artists consistently scored well even with judges from different backgrounds and schools says something for the way the school teaches. I found it interesting to watch martial artists from other schools competing too, the styles they use are often quite different from ours, but impressive in their own right. I probably learned a bit just watching some of them.

Was a fun tournament, will post link to the pictures shortly

Monday, September 04, 2006

Steve Irwin aka "The Crocodile Hunter"

Steve Irwin killed by sting ray.

Sad, but at least it was far less violent and quicker than what could have happened the way he lived. I could say more, but the hundreds of news stories and forums have said it all already. But I was sad to hear the news.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

George Lucas in Love

George Lucas in Love (safe for whereever)

I guess most of my new posts are Star Wars related, but that is a complete fluke... eventually I will probably say something profound and deeply insightful, but for now... Star Wars humor!