Currently browsing Posts Published August 2015

Page 1 of 1

Fortune Red

Posted by Sam Kressin in Personal Journal

, , , , ,

Fortune_Red_DisneylandFortune Red was originally apart of a Pirate themed Arcade Museum in Disneyland circa 1967. Today the still functioning animatronic fortune-telling machine sits outside near the exit of the Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland ride. Red dispenses 24 different  cards featuring a cartoon and fortune on one side and the history of the Jolly Roger on the other side. Here is the card I got the last time I visited Disneyland approximately 2 years ago.

Transcript:

Fortune Red has this to say:

Shiver me timbers, ye be the joy o’ me heart. ‘Tis fair weather and pleasant pass I sees in yer future. Witty ye be gay and attractive. Shipmates by the score and foc’s’le hands standin’ by to carry out yer slightest wish. yer charm and humor be matched only by the enchantment o’ The Magic Kingdom. And why not, sez I? ye live and let live and fair play be yer watchword. Ah but mark well me words, matey: The reward o’love be jealousy.

“Fortune Red,” Photo Credit: Photo by Loren Javier  used under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic.

Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary

Posted by Sam Kressin in Book Reviews, Comic Books, Opinion

, , , , , ,

Recently finished reading Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary actually I listened to the unabridged audio version of the book as I rarely ever read books anymore. If you are unfamiliar with Al Capp (1909-1979) he was a Cartoonist most famous for his news paper strip Li’l Abner a strip he worked on for forty years. Al Capp also wrote two additional comic strips Abbie an/ Slats and Long Sam. Capp used a number of assistants throughout the years to help him with his work including the great Frank Frazetta who worked on Li’l Abner from 1954 to 1961. Later on Capp toured college campuses as a conservative speaker and was accused of sexually assaulting a number of female college students. In 1968 at the University of Alabama police escorted him off campus for sexually assaulting a woman. In Wisconsin he was charged with sodomy the charge was later changed to propositioning a married woman to which he pled guilty to in a plea agreement. Later on Goldie Han while beginning her career as an actress reported Al Capp had propositioned her for sex during what he told her would be an audition to play one of the female characters in a film adaptation of his comic strip Li’l Abner. Although the book only dedicates one chapter to all of the sexual allegations made against Al Capp the evidence does sit in his favor and leads me to believe he was an absolute and complete piece of shit as a person. Over all this biography is a fascinating read covering not just the history and story of Al Capps rise to fame and fortune as a cartoonist but also a large part of news paper comic strip history as a whole. I highly recommend the book.

Back Board I Took Through Artists Alley San Diego Comic Con 1991

Posted by Sam Kressin in Comic Books, Drawing and Illustration

, , , , ,

Howard Simpson had never worked on the Simpson’s but he drew the Simpson’s on everything because they shared the same last name. Dan Barry drew the Indiana Jones he penciled a Dark Horse Series titled, “Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.” The half circle and full circle with squiggly lines in the lower corner is Rob Liefield and that’s suppose to be Deadpool LOL. The Daredevil sketch is by Ron Garney he made it out to my Brother Seth who was with me and around ten years old at the time. Of course Sergio Aragones did a cool Groo Sketch and Stan Sakai did a cool Usagi Yojimbo.

San_Diego_Comic_Con_Artits_Alley_1991

T-Shirt From One Of My First Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournaments

Posted by Sam Kressin in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

, , , ,

I started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu informally in 1995 with Trent Suzuki a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt who had trained with Rorion in Torrance during the garage days. Trent was one of my Karate / Tang Soo Do Instructors. He taught me what the guard was a basic arm bar, collar choke and to pass the guard. Training with Trent I didn’t practice a lot of transitions and escapes but focused more on striking and would plug in the Jiu-Jitsu techniques as it came about. Prior to this I already had several years of high school wrestling. A few years later in 1998 I began formally training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Joao Morias. This was a fun tournament we flew from Oahu over to Maui to compete with the other schools in Hawaii at the time.

Transcription

2nd Annual Brazilian Freestyle Jiu-Jitsu Open Tournament

War Memorial Gym, Wailuku, Maui Hawaii

August 28th 1999

New Research On The Shang Han Lun

Posted by Sam Kressin in Acupuncture

, , , , ,

If you are unfamilar with this book the Shang Han Lun was complied around the year 200 by a Chinese physician named Zhang Zhonjing. It is one of the oldest clinical text books in the worlds and covers a number of herbal formulas used for the treatment of infectious disease.  The research by Dr. Stephen Boyanton (PhD) examines a number of epidemiological factors taking place during the time the Shang Han Lun was compiled which may influences it’s rise in popularity, fame and usefullness to the physicans of both it’s time and the modern era. You can listen / watch additiona interviews with Dr. Boyanton on the Shang Han Lun here.

The Karate Kid: Daniel Son Is The Real Bully?

Posted by Sam Kressin in Karate, Martial Arts, Opinion

, , , , ,

The Karate Kid has for a long time been one of my all time favorite movies. I saw the film in the theater and it blew my mind. Now with this video out I don’t know what to think. It changes everything. Is Daniel really the Bully? or is this just an example of how someone can spin just about anything to mean something else.

Schwingen Folk Style Swiss Wrestling

Posted by Sam Kressin in Catch Wrestling

, , ,

Schwingen is a folk style of wrestling native to Switzerlan. The wrestlers are required to start with holding on to each others “breeches”  the potato sack looking things they wear. Billy Robinson wrestled and beat a Schwingen champion once and said the Schwingen style is one of the toughest he’s encountered. I have never formally trained in the style but here is a cool play list with a lot of techniques that could be studied.

 

Greg Capullo’s Bane Re-Inked By Sam Kressin

Posted by Sam Kressin in Comic Books, Drawing and Illustration, My Inks over My Pencils

, , , , ,

Capullos_Bane_Re_Inked_Sam_Kressin

A couple of months ago I attempted to ink an illustration of Bane by Greg Capullo. I choose to ink this drawing as a practice exercise to get better with my inking tools and because the illustration is done in a style I would never draw in. My in my first attempt posted here I inked Capullo’s pencils 100% with a brush and I took liberties to change just about what ever I wanted to or felt like changing. After showing it to my art teacher and mentor Joe Rubinstein he challenged me to re-ink it this time using a nib and trying to make it as faithful to the original pencils as possible. So here it is this is the best of my abilities at this point in time.

Who Does My Websites

Posted by Sam Kressin in Opinion

A lot of people ask me who does my websites. I was managing all of them solo with the help of a friend until the beginning of 2015. After several of my WordPress sites got hit with viruses multiple times I had to do something about it. I brought in Jay from Your Web Designer. I had worked with Jay a few times in the past now I needed someone who could stay on top of it and keep my sites running and virus free. He manages everything now. Since brining Jay on board I waste less time fiddling around with setting up and designing websites and I’m able to focus more on creating cool content and drawing. After clearing all the virus and malware Jay moved all my sites to a faster more secure server then redesigned a bunch of sites that needed over hauls. We  built everything all in Joomla with the exception of 3 websites I still need to be on WordPress. After that we came up with a plan to further secure my sites and we moved the Joomla sites to a separate server from the WordPress sites. WordPress is so popular and used by so many people today those sites get attacked a lot. We also back everything up each day. In addition to all of that I’ve been sitting on a number of urls for the past several years. These are urls I bought for future projects. Now instead of just sitting on these urls Jay built websites for all of them. I now have around 20 or so web sites! But we are constantly upgrading and improving each one. Even though you may only currently be aware of 4 or 5 of my web sites right now like http://sandiegocatchwrestling.com or http://samscontact.com or the site you are reading now I have many more completed websites I’ll be rolling out soon. Until then if you need help getting a website up here’s Jay’s contact info.

Star Wars Land?

Posted by Sam Kressin in Opinion, Personal Journal

, , , , ,

Ramones_Brain_DrainI’m honestly considering forsaking Star Wars completely and no longer being a fan of it. It’s ruined and I’ll never be able to enjoy it again. I will sell off all my Star Wars T-Shirts and toys and other stuff then move on with my life. Star Wars Land within Disneyland? Does an entire land of Star Wars really have a place within the original Disneyland? I always thought Star Tours was cool but it was only one ride and it fit within the theming of Tomorrow Land.  Disney is for the most part an IP farm now that doesn’t even animate the majority of their own cartoons. Watch park tickets rise towards $200 a day once this thing goes in and crowds sore to record numbers. I came across this Ramones album titled, “Brain Drain” when I was in highschool. I found it while thumbing through a bunch of CDs in some used records shop. I thought the cover art and album title were cool. I use to listen to this song from the album posted below over and over again it’s about not looking back. Star Wars has reached that time.

Speed Chess and the Martial Arts

Posted by Sam Kressin in Personal Journal

Speed ChessI’m 21 years old. I had had been working out a boxing center off of Santa Fe Road in San Diego that no longer exists the head coach in there he tells me if I play lots of chess specifically speed chess it will make my boxing better. He explains speed chess will train my brain to work faster and more decisively. Immediately I begin searching for someone to play chess against and this nerdy kid at the college accepts my challenge. We meet in the quad by his dormitory. He pulls out this really nice pocket chess set that fits into a leather pouch with his name engraved across it. As he takes out the pieces and proceeds to set them up I tell him I want to play speed chess. I explain the rules; we can only take 1-2 seconds before making a move. He does NOT like that idea at all and wants to play regulation but agrees to my request. We start playing I’m making my moves in under a second. He’s taking FOREVER. I keep telling him to hurry up. He proceeds to obliterated me.

I tell him, “look you have to move faster this is speed chess.”

“Okay,” he says.

We play a bunch of games and he destroys me every single game. While he did play faster he still took enough time make sure he wins every-time. Then I realize I may never be able to beat this kid in a game of chess but I will always be able to kick his ass in a boxing match.

Photo Credits: Photo by Jason Brown used under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic.