my obsession (well, one of 'em, anyway...)

okay...

some people are a little surprised when i tell them how much i like watching boxing.
if there's a good match on, i can be glued to the set for hours.
what's a good match, you may ask? isn't it just two guys brutally bashing on each other until one of them is either unconscious or his face is too swelled up to see the other guy?
no, i really don't like those kindsa fights. when it's just a matter of two guys swinging around trying to do some kind of/any kind of damage, that's not cool. i'd rather flip it over to the food network and watch some guy bake a cake.
it's when two men (or women--women fight now too) get in the ring with all kinds of skills and training behind them and are put in the unique position of having to study and devise a strategy on the spot to defeat their respective opponent. when it's an exercise in watching and learning, in calculating what the other guy's gonna do next, what will he throw next, a left jab or a right uppercut? that's when it becomes something more!
yes, it can get bloody, and oftimes it can be brutal, but when you see a fighter, a good fighter, watching, gauging, calculating, it changes from a slug-fest to a dance. if he can figure his opponent out and then, systematically, counter his offensive blows and get through his defenses, that is the sweet science.

plus, okay, it's cool to see a guy get knocked out.

i'm telling you this because now i am hooked on both the ultimate fighter cagefighting on spike and on world extreme cagefighting on the vs. channel. UFC! WEC! i can't get enough! and much to sharon's dismay--she doesn't mind my watching it and will even sit and watch a match or two with me--i'm up last night until two a.m. glued to watching these guys practically trying to kill one another--and i just can't stop!
now, i used to flip right past it, certain that this stuff was just insane, that the rules (there are RULES?!?!!?) of this so-called sport were just crazy! mixed martial arts, wrestling, boxing, choke-holds, broken bones--this was just a couple of animals being tossed in a cage and left to fight until one of them was dead, right?

and then i watched one.
just one.
and that was it.

yes, it's bloodier, yes, it's brutal, yes, i have seen holds and moves that have made me wince~~!
but just like in boxing, i have seen some amazing competitions, seen some incredible victories by guys who have studied their adversaries, scrutinized their arsenal of moves, learned their rhythm and timing--and then stepped in to take them down. the fight can change in a heartbeat and it's thrilling and fascinating and compelling.

so that's why i'm so tired this morning.
how about you?


enough about my obsessions.
here's a squirrel asking for a hand-out.




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what i'm diggin'--
just finished listening to sarah vowell's assassination vacation (for, like, the fifith time--i love her voice and love her enthusiasm for history!) and now that i finally have my computer and itunes back, i'm catching up on episodes of coast to coast a.m. from the past two weeks! great discussions about 2012 and the end of the mayan calendar, as well as chem-trails (what are they dropping on us!), numerology, and other dimensions!
on tv; well, aside from the ultimate fighting bouts that i mentioned above, i enjoyed the second episode of castle, can see some comparison to one of my other favorite shows, life. laughed out loud a few times during earl, the office, and 30 rock last night and just can't believe that there are only two episodes left of ER! lookiong forward top watching last night's grey's later on tonight.
sharon and i watched one missed call the other night on hbo. shoulda been one missed movie...

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and here,
once again,
are your
"five for friday"

1. mark twain once said that the worst winter he ever experienced was summer in what american city?

2. what is the princess' actual name in disney's "sleeping beauty?"

3. united states currency is printed, not on paper, but on a "fabric" that is 25% linen and 75% what?

4. powered by the larva of moths, what nervous novelty items are called brincadores in their native country?

5. from the book of revelation, name the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

a.

b.

c.

d.




have a grape weekend!
smell ya later!
todd