the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

I'd hit both of them.

Bär wrote:I'd hit both of them.

Well I hope you are happy with sloppy seconds because I am moving in.

hyperbolic would be an understatement here. chris, why don't just admit you don't like his political and personal views. there's nothing wrong w/ that. but to say that the book is not written well because Smith will cite passages from Yates or Chesterson in between his descriptions of various boxers does no diminish the book in any way. in fact it adds to it greatly to the descriptions of the men. i could see how certain people may not like the book. but to say it is not written well.... you're talking about the most well read martial artist i can think of. i give it an 'A'.

grzegorz wrote:

Bär wrote:I'd hit both of them.

Well I hope you are happy with sloppy seconds because I am moving in.

Y'all are both b-b-b-b-bad to the bone!

"Chris, why don't just admit you don't like his political and personal views."

Actually I am unaware of his political views, as well as his personal views for that matter. Can't think of a single political view he has stated, probably because it's been years since I picked up (and put down) the book. But even with that time gap, I don't remember ever thinking about politics when reading it. As for personal views, they were so disjointed it is hard to really pick out one. When I say it was poorly written I really mean just that--as a book it is poorly written and organized, from a literary perspective. It is the mark of someone who attempts to be one's own editor or does not allow for an editor to contribute beyond a spell check. The fact that he is well read, thoughtful and experienced doesn't really have anything to do with this offering of literary jumble.

Astonished at the above post by Fleming.

I find Smith's writing erudite, compelling and beautifully referenced. Very few martial artists are as well-read as Smith who was subsequently a lit reviewer for the Washington Post and Guardian, FYI. Even fewer can draw parallells between Eastern and Western martial, estoric and ascetic traditions - which Smith does.

The fact that the whole book is a giant op-ed - rather than simply being a piece of reportage - does not detract from it. It is what it is.

I scribble for a living and while I suspect I am a better reporter, I wish I was half as good a wordsmith as Smith.

Oh just saw this:

SNIP
well I was walking down the street one day and that reminds me of so and so, yeah, he's no good whatsoever, and then I picked up a couple of shirts from the dry cleaners and the collars didn't seem too starched so I was happy. Yeah back at the kodokan people really trained hard back then and Bluming and Drager liked Japanese food. They sure trained hard but weren't as soft as Cheng Man Ching. Hey, that car just went 10 miles over the speed limit! Can you believe people these days? Sweet Georgia Brown!"
SNIP

Good work - keep at it!

Andy_S, i could not have said it better myself. what you wrote feels like you sucked the feelings out of my brain and put it into coherent words. cheers!

Andy_S wrote:Astonished at the above post by Fleming.

I find Smith's writing erudite, compelling and beautifully referenced. Very few martial artists are as well-read as Smith who was subsequently a lit reviewer for the Washington Post and Guardian, FYI. Even fewer can draw parallells between Eastern and Western martial, estoric and ascetic traditions - which Smith does.

The fact that the whole book is a giant op-ed - rather than simply being a piece of reportage - does not detract from it. It is what it is.

I scribble for a living and while I suspect I am a better reporter, I wish I was half as good a wordsmith as Smith.

What can I say, I guess I prefer a higher standard.

(the second funniest thing i seen on this site in a decade..)

Chris Fleming wrote:"well I was walking down the street one day and that reminds me of so and so, yeah, he's no good whatsoever, and then I picked up a couple of shirts from the dry cleaners and the collars didn't seem too starched so I was happy. Yeah back at the kodokan people really trained hard back then and Bluming and Drager liked Japanese food. They sure trained hard but weren't as soft as Cheng Man Ching. Hey, that car just went 10 miles over the speed limit! Can you believe people these days? Sweet Georgia Brown!"

Funiest thing I've read in years.

Lewitt

i'm pretty sure it was Bill Paul who is that judo champ who through Kumar through a window. cuz in that section of the book he says the guy who did it was a west coast judo champ and that he loved to march in gay pride parades and then kick the shit out of any "hell's angle types" who would fuck w/ them.

in the section on Bill Paul he talks about how Bill would do just that during "liberal" parades. also BIll Paul was a california judo champ. Smith took him to see Cheng Manching since Bill was a guy who loved to test teachers.