I’ve had to write a lot of new writer bios recently, which is both weird and very nice. It’s weird because for years I thought those were written by the editors of the publication/website/podcast/youtube channel/dog/piece of driftwood your work was appearing on. But no, turns out you have to write your own which is, essentially, [...]
I’m still making my way through those three cookery books I got for Christmas, focusing today on Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals and Simply Good Bread by Peter Sidwell, and it’s brilliant. I’ve never felt so able before, never felt so capable of trying new things, pushing my culinary luck. Don’t worry, I’m under no illusions [...]
Let’s talk about violence. Specifically, martial arts and being really specific mixed martial arts. In the span of my adult life, MMA has gone from a thing Brazilian men do to out manly one another, frequently bare-knuckled, and, I suspect, very occasionally on fire, to the sort of mainstream sport that gets covered by all [...]
Three lines of visual information, a family man, a big city, horrific violence. Three colours; red, white and black. Three acts; The Sailor, Old Jack and Lost Dogs. The last is the most important, because it encompasses the first two and links to them in a way which drops the reader back out at the [...]
I remember, years ago, traveling to a friend’s wedding to serve as an usher. We arrived the night before and stayed over and, this being the early ’90s in the UK on a Friday night, I of course ended up watching Top of the Pops. For the uninitiated, Top of the Pops was one of [...]
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law, Crowley once said. He was talking about ethics, morality, and of course sex, because Crowley was a big fan, but the same can be applied to fitness in general and martial arts in particular. Do what thou wilt. Do what you want, and sometimes [...]
I’m taking a break from Judo for a while. Not permanently, but I need six months or so away from the mat to get the rest of my life in order. However, I not only don’t want six months away from the mat, I literally can’t have it. I weigh 324 pounds. [...]
Let’s talk about fear for a moment. There was a time when fear grabbed my jacket before I’d even left the house. My pulse would rise, the bottom of my stomach would fall and I’d walk to Judo with a sick feeling. I was the fat kid. No, not even the fat kid, I [...]
It sounds faintly ridiculous to say that Judo is a polite sport but it is. There’s none of the overt brutality of boxing, none of the flashy savagery of Thai Boxing where one of the most effective ways to win is to kick your opponent in the same leg over and over in quick succession [...]
I’m scared of the big mat. There’s a good reason for this, and one we need to talk about. My Judo club is laid out on a balcony in the Railway Institute. There’s a sprung floor, two mats wide, some gym gear and an endearing and very small kitchen. Oh and a rack of [...]