Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

[superunknown]

Hola. What's up?

I am new to the forums. Cookie-cutter SLI 9w8 sp/sx - I enjoy stuff like Soundgarden, martial arts and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

See y'all around.

[RedBeard]

Welcome.

[chriscorey]

'Sup! I hope you stick around and welcome!

[whittgenstein]

I LOVE the title of this thread!

Welcome to the board.

[ashlesha]

hello!

[GuavaDrunk]

'Sup. Which martial arts?

[malna]

The pointed barrel reminds me kindly that I have one Cowboy Bebop to finish watching.
Hello, superunknown.

[superunknown]

Thanks, everyone.

'Sup. Which martial arts?

Any and all that are conducent to the facilitation of my body. I do yoga, spar Muay Thai with a friend, study philosophical texts like The Sword and Mind. I'm looking to formally train in Aikido here in San Antonio. I've trained assorted forms of Wushu in the past.

Do you have any interests?

The pointed barrel reminds me kindly that I have one Cowboy Bebop to finish watching.
Hello, superunknown.

How could you forget! I'm in the middle of a current set of viewing, myself

[Words]

Welcome cookie-cutter

[squirreltual]

Hi

[GuavaDrunk]

Any and all that are conducent to the facilitation of my body. I do yoga, spar Muay Thai with a friend, study philosophical texts like The Sword and Mind. I'm looking to formally train in Aikido here in San Antonio. I've trained assorted forms of Wushu in the past.

Do you have any interests?

I've been doing Kendo myself for the past few years and have practiced shotokan and shito-ryu (sp?) Karate, Jiujitsu and had a brief flirtation with Aikido and Muay Thai. Overall most of my time is taken up by reading (mostly fiction.) What do you want your body to be able to do, if you have any set goals?

[superunknown]

I've been doing Kendo myself for the past few years and have practiced shotokan and shito-ryu (sp?) Karate, Jiujitsu and had a brief flirtation with Aikido and Muay Thai. Overall most of my time is taken up by reading (mostly fiction.) What do you want your body to be able to do, if you have any set goals?

Neat. I want to grow a mastery of assorted weapons, but I think a proficiency with no-sword should be established first for myself.

No, no real set goals. Sound body, sound mind. I am a physical person by nature, these thoughts and actions influence my natural capability no matter the activity I'm pursuing. I don't like focusing much on the "whooping ass" aspect of it like my Muay Thai friend does, the two fights I've been in were not instigated or perpetuated by me. I was able to neutralize them both through grappling, I think Aikido will be very in-line with my natural inclination regarding physical altercation. Though perhaps someday I would like to compete at some level. How did you like Aikido?

What types of things do you enjoy reading?

[Finale]

Welcome! And I also think it's a great thread title.

[fairylights]

Hi superunknown.

[superunknown]

Hi superunknown.

>=)

[Kalinoche buenanoche]

>=D

[GuavaDrunk]

Neat. I want to grow a mastery of assorted weapons, but I think a proficiency with no-sword should be established first for myself.

No, no real set goals. Sound body, sound mind. I am a physical person by nature, these thoughts and actions influence my natural capability no matter the activity I'm pursuing. I don't like focusing much on the "whooping ass" aspect of it like my Muay Thai friend does, the two fights I've been in were not instigated or perpetuated by me. I was able to neutralize them both through grappling, I think Aikido will be very in-line with my natural inclination regarding physical altercation. Though perhaps someday I would like to compete at some level. How did you like Aikido?

What types of things do you enjoy reading?

Kendo isn't designed to train you to use weaponry and survive actual fights, it's more about mental training with the physical skills supporting that aim, though of course the physical side it itself challenging to learn. You could call it a cultural, rather than martial, art. Most practitioners I've heard talking about it describe it as the most mentally challenging (as in working with the inside of your head, not just 'thinking') thing they're ever done.

My time with Aikido was mostly spent being a chatterbox so I didn't learn as much as I could have about it (youth!) I appreciated that it absolutely required good posture and balance and that you can pick up useful knowledge even with as superficial attention as I paid it - I remember a couple of locks and footwork/hand motions for evading someone rushing at you or grabbing various body parts. It also didn't require much raw strength as in punching or grappling and used precise and sometimes wide arching motions. There was a little thrill in being able to affect someone with seemingly innocent movements.

I mostly read manga nowadays; I have read a lot of more classic fiction including science fiction (Asimov, Lem) and some Russian authors (Dostoievsky, Bulgakov.) In manga I have found psychological and relationship-focused (the good kind of 'shoujo') stories most enjoyable, overall. I've picked up the odd technical text and greatly enjoyed it such as something about the evolution of insect flight mechanics.

Since you aim to enable your body, do you study much biomechanics? And do you have any interest in that new-fangled Parkour?

[superunknown]

Kendo isn't designed to train you to use weaponry and survive actual fights, it's more about mental training with the physical skills supporting that aim, though of course the physical side it itself challenging to learn. You could call it a cultural, rather than martial, art. Most practitioners I've heard talking about it describe it as the most mentally challenging (as in working with the inside of your head, not just 'thinking') thing they're ever done.

My time with Aikido was mostly spent being a chatterbox so I didn't learn as much as I could have about it (youth!) I appreciated that it absolutely required good posture and balance and that you can pick up useful knowledge even with as superficial attention as I paid it - I remember a couple of locks and footwork/hand motions for evading someone rushing at you or grabbing various body parts. It also didn't require much raw strength as in punching or grappling and used precise and sometimes wide arching motions. There was a little thrill in being able to affect someone with seemingly innocent movements.

I mostly read manga nowadays; I have read a lot of more classic fiction including science fiction (Asimov, Lem) and some Russian authors (Dostoievsky, Bulgakov.) In manga I have found psychological and relationship-focused (the good kind of 'shoujo') stories most enjoyable, overall. I've picked up the odd technical text and greatly enjoyed it such as something about the evolution of insect flight mechanics.

Since you aim to enable your body, do you study much biomechanics? And do you have any interest in that new-fangled Parkour?

Interesting. Well, someday I'll get around to it.

Cool. I've wanted to get into manga, just haven't found the time or story I'd like to invest in, I suppose. What's one of your favorites? I've read a pretty wide array of topics myself, but I've grown somewhat intellectually stagnant. I don't know where to invest my thought anymore, everything seems somewhat redundant. I hope it passes, with time.

Biomechanics, I do not. And Parkour, no Though when I go rock climbing I like to get a little wild. I go to Enchanted Rock, if you've ever heard of it...

[Words]

Manga is just comics, if you like comics, you'll gravitate to manga

[superunknown]

Well that explains that, I never really got into comics - sans standalone series like the Doomsday arc. I suppose my largest time spent liesurely has been towards videogames, in terms of being told a story.

I like that manga is close to book form, versus the episodic style of comic books. I'd read the entire comic section of newpapers except Spiderman and Prince Valiant, the two recurring stories they'd print. I don't know why I wouldn't. Just found them boring or hard to follow, maybe.

I'd like to explore what it has to offer, though. I think it'd make for a well balanced experience in life. I'll look for something when I finish this post!

[Beautiful sky]

[InvisibleHim]

He y babyface! <3

[GuavaDrunk]

Interesting. Well, someday I'll get around to it.

Cool. I've wanted to get into manga, just haven't found the time or story I'd like to invest in, I suppose. What's one of your favorites? I've read a pretty wide array of topics myself, but I've grown somewhat intellectually stagnant. I don't know where to invest my thought anymore, everything seems somewhat redundant. I hope it passes, with time.

Biomechanics, I do not. And Parkour, no Though when I go rock climbing I like to get a little wild. I go to Enchanted Rock, if you've ever heard of it...

I find the three broad types of comics (as in stories drawn in squares) I'm aware of have very different flavours. The continental (French/Belgian) style is fun and has a wide variety of kinds of stories. The US/UK comics have never appealed to me past the Sandman for whatever reason. Too much ado about superheros, subjective saturation of every panel with lines/colours.

The south-east Asian kinds (Japan, China, Korea) have a large proportion of stereotypical crap but some real gems, especially in older publications eg: the shoujo (relationship-focused plot) genre exploded into endless high-school dating woes where before it encompassed, say, sci-fi exploring gender balance in society on a world where the female humans died out and psychological fuckery where a kid was abused by his stepfather, murdered him and his own mother (the mother by accident) and is now entangled with his abuser's adult son (who hadn't been aware of the abuse.) The aesthetics admittedly do take some getting used to. ^_^

In terms of Japanese manga, I'm biased towards the psychological but the following are widely considered classics:
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo (first post-apocalyptic manga)
Bokurano by Mohiro Kitoh
Monster by Naoki Urasawa
Evangelion by whoever, easy to find
1/2 Prince by Yu Wo and Choi Hong Chong (Chinese, popular, funny. Story about a video game.)

Not quite classics but very good: Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara, Liar Game by Shinobu Kaitani (based on gambling, technical inclination.)
I hope this answer isn't too overwhelming to read! Let me know if you prefer specific kinds of stories or topics and I can see if I can find anything.

One book I'd recommend is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, if sheer intellectuality doesn't cut it for you anymore. The story is very good at dealing with excesses of only thinking or only indiscriminately feeling.

Just googled Enchanted Rock, it must be quite the sight in person! Any favourite climbing spots? Don't you roast and sweat yourself off the rocks in summer?