Telegraphing Movements

How is it possible to generate maximum force and power without telegraphing your moves?

A slight shuffle of one foot or a twist of a hip can destroy your chances of winning a fight. Especially to those who understand the motions. In a boxing or kumite tournament, it is critical to conserve energy while making effective strikes. But the most effective strikes depend on rotation and focus.

So, I wonder how. Someone, please tell me the secret.

Schemes of a Beauty (part 3)

Sigh. People forever love making trouble. Eliminate Concubine Li, please. Empress Dowager Dou, please start trusting your son.

• Concubine Li, you do know your schemes will get you and your son a terrible ending, right?
• Concubine Wang, as long as you don't become evil, I fully support you to be the Empress Dowager. 
• I'm glad that Empress Dou and Empress Bo came to an understanding before she died.
• Both Liu Qi and Guantao are idiots. They buy into Concubine Li's nonsense. I mean seriously? Why would Liu Wu get the throne if Crown Prince Liu Qi was guaranteed it?
• Ugh. The new Crown Prince Liu Rong is so arrogant and selfish.
• Yay! Empress Zhang, now Zhou Yan, is married to General Zhou. I feel happy that Yan Er had her lifelong wish granted. Also, I'm glad that General Zhou feels better over the death of Xue Yuan.  
• Princess Guantao is pretty stupid, but in some ways, she is clever.  So, as much as she irritates me, because she helps get rid of Concubine Li, I can live with her.
• Then again, she was the one who caused her father to have a shock and die. And she was the one who sent assassins to kill her brother. 
• It's always so sad at the end of every drama when all the good people die. 
• Empress Dou, please understand almost everything was not your son's fault. It was his concubine's fault.  Or his sister's fault. 
• I'm glad that Empress Dou and General Zhou have become super good friends. They aren't enemies anymore. It's sad they they are the last two. 
• Emperor Hui/ Dou Changjun truly gave up everything to ensure that Empress Dou would face less troubles in her life. He deserves to be worshipped as a hero. 
• It's sad to say that despite the drama may portray all of this as a happy and easy lifetime, in reality, their lives were very hard. 
• I'm surprised that General Zhou didn't have to commit suicide like his actual ending; but rather, showed him happily drinking tea with Grand Empress Dowager.

I appolgize if I keep changing or not changing the names of the characters as they are in the film, but it drives me nuts. I prefer using one name through the whole review. 

This drama was draggy in the middle, but had a good overall storyline.  It also is the closest to history as possible in all the period dramas that I have watched.

Rate : 6.5/10 

Question of 12/23

Which is more important?

True love? Or wealth?

There is no right answer to this. Even with each individual person, the answer can change.

Schemes of a Beauty (pt 2)

Now that I am some where in the middle of the 25th episode, I can say several things.

• Gahd. Yi Fang/ Yun Xi , stop letting your aunt go. She's gonna cause even more trouble for you later. You should have let Xue Yuan kill her.
• Yi Fang, tell the emperor the truth already. He loves you too much to be overly bothered. Of course he will be hurt that you are a spy, but the truth is always better than the lie.
• Shen Er, sigh, you keep misunderstanding your sworn sister. She only means good and you keep trying to harm her. It's just that she took your good luck and gave you her bad. Just accept your fate and live a low key life. 
• Emperor Wen/ Prince of Dai, you need to look after your children better. They are your future. Yet you allow them to start fights with each other and run amok.
• Eh. Did Yang Mi, Mickey He, and Feng Shaofeng all have to be actors in this drama? I'm tired of them already. And I only watched one drama with them in it (The Place.)
• And the two kids are so outrageous in their mannerisms. It almost matter if you don't like your half brother or Zhou Yafu. You can't just do as you please because you're the eldest children of the king...
•  Empress Zhang, please, don't isolate yourself. Even if you're the mother of the puppet emperor, the grandniece of the dead evil Grand Empress Dowager, the niece of the current emperor and a bunch of other stuff, you need friends. You still have almost two decades ahead of you (according to Wikipedia, she died before she was almost 40). You can't suffer for this long. Of all the characters, you're my favorite. Everyone else just either annoys me or is irrelevant.

So, yes at this point, I'm fed up with the drama. But I will finish it.

Schemes of a Beauty

Yay! More dramas. Especially when I shouldn't be watching them. I should be studying for finals.

Anyhow. It's pretty nice so far.

You got your standard characters :

• Evil empress
• Evil empress dowager
• The protagonist girl
• The person who misunderstands the main character
• The assassins
• The naïve, gullible folks
• The faithful servants
• The emperor
• The prince(s) who want the throne
• The imperial court
• The spy

Gahd. Yang Mi and Mickey He are in this drama too. Stop pairing them together. 

I'll finish my thoughts later on in the drama.

Children

How does one make a child obey?

Sigh. The children at my dojo do not understand respect and discipline. Or, rather, they have been conditioned to run freely. I know I often complain about this, but it's vexing.

As, yesterday, I was requesting for a younger brown belt, about ten years old, to help me with the white belts. But, he stayed put and started whining. It's rediculous. As one person, one black belt candidate, I cannot attend to two or three groups at once. So, I need help.

If they do not obey me, I understand. I'm not the sensei. I'm just a black belt candidate. But these two brown belts, a majority or the purple belts, and more than I can count of white belts refuse to listen to the sensei. (Currently, we have no green or yellow belts because they all disappeared.) Frustrating. I know I have no power to do anything, but, I do have a right to put in a complaint. If the brown belts are not orderly, no one else will be.

Oh, in cause you were wondering, no, I don't teach the class. I just assist at the beggining of class before all the other higher ranks come.

It's so irritating. The young brown belts jump up and down with joy when the class is dismissed. That is not okay behavior. If you don't want to come to class, stay home. We don't need you. Show composure during the bowing in and bow out of class. And all the time in between.

I know I'm being overly harsh, but the young brown belts constantly piss me off. (Sorry for the bad language. ) If the sensei personally lectures you in private to improve your behavior, you better do it. At this rate, they will get kicked out. Especially if they keep up this behavior when we go to our sister dojo next month. If the head sensei and his wife, the other head sensei see how poor they behave, they will get kicked out permanently. Even then, I highly doubt they will take the hint that was shoved down their throat.

I apologize for my rant. I just wish for a way to have these young brown belts understand the extent of their foolishness.

Tortilla Chips

I wonder how the tortilla chips from the store and the ones from the taqueria come out so crispy and tasty. Because I've tried making them at home. It was a failure.

So, could you, my delightful reader, tell me?

Isolation

Everyone has that day where they feel lonely. Where they feel it's all their fault. Even if it isn't. Then, those people have no one to talk to. So, it builds up. And they commit suicide.

So, talk to people today. And reach out to others.

Open Letter to Teenagers of Society

Dear Not Children Anymore,

Please stop whining about being treated like a child. That's childish.

Stop looking down on people like Miley Cyrus when you also try to pull off the same shit.

Please use your manners and be courteous.

You know very little. So don't act like you know a lot. Please.

You're lamer than you think.

So, rethink your actions.

Sincerely,

Samurai

Assumptions

It isn't okay to assume things. No matter what. When you assume, disasters can happen. So don't guess. Ask. But be polite when you ask.

The Stepfather (2009)

It wasn't scary. Even though it was classified as a thriller-horror movie.

It's an interesting concept though. The stepfather goes through many many single families. And he kills all of them at the end. It gives us insight into the minds of serial killers. They do have emotions, but the emotions are all wrong. 

I do recommend the movie. Do watch it. And watch the original movies (The Stepfather 1,2,3). It's on YouTube. 

Rate: 6.2/10 

1,000 Views!!!

Yes! I've passed the 1,000 views mark. That only took more than 7 months. Well, thanks anyways, guys.