three60roundhouse

[color=indigo]Ok, I am a music fan(atic) (and a crappy musician), and though there have been many threads on what artists/types of music we like, never one on the ALBUMS we like! Listening to a good album to me is a practically religious experience! I have decided there are three types of music fans: those who like songs, who get along with the radio just fine because they like an artists singles, those who like artists, they pick their faves and anything that artist puts out will be good to their ears! (My brother is a Beatles freak, and if Paul McCartney farted into a microphone my brother would think it glorious music! ) But the type of fan I am is an album fan. I think putting out a song or two is great. But having an album where you don't have to skip any tracks is better. An album that sounds good as one, like a Floyd album, is great, but one with a lot of different types of songs, like a Zeppelin album, is great too! I am obviously a music freak! Everyone, what are your favorite albums!? My top few, in no particular order, are: Pink Floyd - The Wall (makes me mad that dark Side of the Moon is so famous, this album can't really stand on its own as a series of songs, but listening to it altogether as a whole is awesome!) Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (SO overlooked now that the band has "hit it big"! Great metal with a jazz/funk influence!) Beatles - Abbey Road (the one and only Beatles album i can stand as a whole. George Harrison shines!) Nirvana - In Utero (edgier than the immortal Nevermind, Cobain at his finest songwriting IMHO) The Who - Who's Next - (Every song is a rock masterpiece. Great production, and Daltrey was totally awesome on this album. A bit overplayed, a bit overdone, still great!) Rage Againt the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (the band has nothing more to prove, Tom Morello experiments with his guitar and makes some cool scratching sounds! Love the use of the bass wah!) Pearl Jam - Ten (Living in a shadow of Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder is still rocking, but will probably never top the Gen X anthems on this album!) Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (Had to pick it if not for the first 4 songs alone) The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (The only thing on MTV lately that is bearable. Great power chord pop, their vocalist is very different sounding) I have many, many more but I doubt anyone wants to know. Everyone thinks I should be a rock journalist....but I'm WAY too harsh on stuff I hate ! What albums would you bring to a desert island!?[/color]

[color=indigo]One in every 2.5 million sets of twins is born with both babies attatched at the head. These pairs usually have seperate brains, which would seem to make seperation possible, however some of the blood vessels pass each other and might be in danger during very high-risk surgery. Many of the pairs joined at the head will never do things such as sit up or stand up unless seperated. However, these surgeries are extremely risky and expensive, and the money could be used for treating other patients. If performed sucessfully, these surgeries could mean scientific breakthroughs in pediatric surgery and more hope for pairs doctors never thought could be seperated. What do you think: try surgery and risk death or use money in more "sure cures"? http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/national/18TWIN.html[/color]

[color=indigo]From now on, post threads about "superior art" or "art vs. art" or "one art vs. every other art ever created" in the "Art vs. Art" section of the forum! That's what it's there for![/color]

[color=indigo]For me, that still might be possible (the teacher/student thing) since one of the classes i have taught has a few 14 year old guys.....[/color]

[color=indigo]XpOiSoN FrEeX, to me, everything isn't for the club! If I met a guy I liked at my school (not gonna happen, no teenage guys at my school ), I would have no problem trying out a relationship! I'm single! Why not? We date people from high school, why not from MA school (actually, I go to an all girls school, so finding guys is hard! )[/color]

[color=indigo]The first 15 or so UFC's were great. IMHO. Pride gets the better fighters now, they pay better! The matchups are sometimes a bit dodgy in Pride (what is with Rickson and these no-namers !?) The UFC has SO MUCH ground and pound now, it gets so boring - this is what the WWF converts want to see, but for me, a grappler - seeing Tank Abbot like beatdowns is so annoying! I think the women in Hook N Shoot will make women's MMA much more popular - HOORAY![/color]

[color=indigo]I'd like it sometime in the middle of the week - Wednsday or Thursday maybe - and 7-8 Eastern Time? Does that sound OK?I'm usually busy on the weekends, the Friday chat thing was bad - I was always busy![/color]

[color=indigo]Monkeygirl, I think FoxyLady should be introduced to your stuffed duck! [/color]

[color=indigo]Do you think certain arts are better for certain types of people, like tall people and short people, slight people and muscualr people? I have noticed that tall people do exceptionally well in tae kwon do, and that in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu often skinnier people do well because they are able to slip out of holds. What part do you think physical build plays in your art?[/color]

[color=indigo]I have never worn shoes in my training. In TKD I have only seen one person ever wear them - she had a problem with one of her feet. I have seen people train in BJJ with wrestling shoes, but I wouldn't like the restraint of them.[/color]

[color=indigo]While I was training only in TKD, I always thought of getting my black belt as the time when I'd finally be able to prove myself. In TKD that's still what it is, I guess. I'm 15. In my school, that's just about the worst age to be. We don't have set ages for our classes. So when I train in the juniors class, I find myself beating most of the people there. When I go to train with the adults, they all whoop me pretty badly. There's never a hapy medium. I am bored in one class and overwhelmed in the other. There are so few teenagers in my school, oftentimes i find myself the youngest in the class by as much as seven years! I have no one with which I can connect. I'm training all the time with the adults now. I don't have very many friends in class. They all joke around with the instructors and call them by their first names... "Bill, Marty", to me they will always be "Mr. Stevens and Mr. Holmgren" because in the kids class you feel under the instructors for some reason. I think when I get my black belt, people will stop thinking of me as the quiet girl who works her butt off every single class just to go home totally battered and start thinking of me as the girl who may be physically the weakest, but to overcome adversity and a huge age gap, must be the strongest mentally. In jiu-jitsu, black belt to me is another world. After 6 months of training I am a white belt, no stripes (you need four stripes to be considered for promotion). I have never trained with a jiu-jitsu black belt, only browns and below. Black belt truly means mastery in BJJ; after 12 years of training the smallest and most dedicated percentage makes it there. Maybe one day I will have two! [/color]

[color=indigo]In tae kwon do, until brown belt we usually take 4-5 months. After that you wait until you are ready for black belt and have finished all your requirements to test for black belt (or junior black belt). In BJJ, we are a white belt forever ( that's the way it seems). Or until we show that we can "hang" with the blues on the mat and put up a good fight with them. And we know all the basic moves. In other words, a long time. It will be a year for me in March, but I'm having fun as a white belt! I'm thinking I might get a stripe soon, though (it takes 4 stripes to be ready to get promoted to blue belt).[/color]

[color=indigo]Yes, monkeygirl - in my school I have noticed many of these students intent on flirting with the instructors! However, they all seem to work hard in class since my instructor would not allow a student to slack off or grade quickly just because he liked her! Or vice versa! I think this phenomenon takes place often in my particular school because of the fact that my instructors are very young. The owner and head instructor is only 33, the next highest instructor is 31. The other black belt instructors are 24 and 16. The non black belt instructors are 21, 21, 20, and 15. We also have some assistants that are younger! Sometiems after class these bunnies and jackrabbits will go out with one or more of my instructors. I know that nothing serious will ever really come out of this, and they are young people having fun! I don't see a problem with it. [/color]

[color=indigo] Guys keep it friendly, we don't want this to escalate into something Patrick doesn't like! Moobrack, no two schools grade alike. There are many different sub-styles of ju jutsu, and I'm sorry if I cannot help you, but I don't know what you are looking for! Just practice what you learned in class, and that's what you'll be tested on! Sincere best wishes![/color]

[color=indigo]Sometimes if you have a bigger/better opponent in your guard and they are good at defending sweeps, you can sneak your way onto their back. Often when you try to roll them over during the sweep, you have one arm trapped. If they have good base in their legs, it's hard to roll them over, but since they have to be worried about being reversed, they sometimes aren't watching their back. You can grab their gi or neck, put your feet on the floor, and quickly hoist your way onto their back! Try it, I actually worked it once on a blue belt! [/color]

[color=indigo] I'm too poor I have to go to video stores and pray that they have something. They only have UFC highlights Ground and pound like that is OK, but I prefer what others call "boring" - long technical grappling matches. Also, all the tapes they have at Blockbuster, you have to be 17 to rent them! Even if they are just fights, because of "extreme violence"....so you have to be 17 to rent fight vids but not "Striptease" because it's R rated Arg![/color]

[color=indigo]For those of you who train in arts where you primarily fight on the ground, do you use the guard position a lot? If so, do you usually use open or closed guard? Do you like to go for sweeps or submissions? Do you use the half guard a lot? I'm pretty small, I only weigh 125-130, my instructor is like 165, so when I roll with him, he is usually totally dominating from the top! I find I have to use the guard just to keep safe! When I pull guard on bigger guys, I think I am much more aggressive...I like triangles and the kimura! I am pretty weak in the sweeps section - that is one of my main focus points right now! As far as the half guard, it's a great place to just sit and get a break for me. It's very hard to pass though![/color]

[color=indigo]On the topic of kiyaps, what is everyone's "personal sound". If you have more than one like Karateka, tell us that! Mine is usually the same sound just at varying volume levels, and it's just like, "ki". I find it's best to keep it simple! Some people have 2 syllable spirit shouts - I find that a bit over the top![/color]

[color=indigo]Um, we would have one unused headstone?? Seriously, I don't think that any one person has ever "revolutionized" the martial arts as much as some people give Lee credit for. He was a great artist, a greayt actor, but there are quite a few of the former and many more of the latter. [/color]

[color=indigo]In my world, it's train until you don't want to anymore! When training becomes a chore, there is no point. Training should be something you look forward to, something you want to do for yourself. You should not go because your parents say you should go, because your wife reminds you you need to go, or because your instructor calls your home asking where you are! Don't be a typical "tough guy" either. If you have a minor injury, maybe sitting a day or two is a good idea! Think....if you strain a muscle today, then train tomorrow you may hurt it more and end up giving up more mat time than you would have if you had taken care of the injury in the first place! [/color]

[color=indigo]Um, what case was that again? Sak is a great fighter, I'm a big fan....however I think the Gracies have done much better things instructing and spreading MMA and BJJ. A fighter can't influence many people. A teacher can.[/color]

[color=indigo]Thanks for the advice everyone! I find that the classes I have the most trouble with are the one with kids closer to my rank...for the most part things are going pretty well; I'm a familiar face at the dojang anyway (kind of a "mat rat" ) and however much the kids may "push my buttons" I think they identify more with me than most other instructors. [/color]

[color=indigo]Speaking of crop circles, I'm off to see the movie "Signs" which deals with that subject! I'll be back with a review [/color]

[color=indigo]"Silence of the Lambs", "Seven", and "Misery" are my top three! I love suspense! [/color]