Happy Lunar New Year 2017!

To my Friends who celebrate the Lunar New Year:

Happy New Year!!

Simplified Chinese: 新年快乐/
Traditional Chinese:  新年快樂

In Mandarin: Xīnnián kuàilè
In Cantonese: San Nin Fai Lok

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Simplified Chinese: 恭喜发财
Traditional Chinese: 恭喜發財

'Happiness and prosperity!'

In Mandarin: Gōngxǐ fācái
In Cantonese: Kung Hei Fat Choy

May you and your loved ones find Health, Happiness and Prosperity in the Year of the Fire Rooster!

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Happy ThanksGIFing/Thanksgiving! (2015-2016 edition)

I missed posting last year a "ThanksGIFing" post. Previous posts can be found here:

• Happy ThanksGIFing! (and Happy Thanksgiving 2013!)
• Happy ThanksGIFing/Thanksgiving! (2014 edition)

Given I've only made 1 GIF set for 2016 and I missed posting 2015 ThanksGIFing, this entry will be the 2015-2016 edition.

Just in case, readers do not know what 'ThanksGIFing' is ... what does GIFs have to do with Turkey? ThanksGIFing was a pun of ThanksGIVing ... I know, I know, I'm so punny! LOL @ me!!

For the Happy ThanksGIFing 2015-2016 edition, I'm going to post all the GIF sets I've made from 2015-2016 - the sets number 15 only.


Happy Thanksgiving to my readers who celebrate! I give thanks to many many things, however, suffice it to say, I give thanks to you readers for your continued support in spreading word about my blog and sharing posts!  


I thank you for joining me in my Sojourn of Septillion Steps... THANK YOU!!

Without further ado, here are the most popular GIF Sets of 2015 (well the period of Thanksgiving 2014 through Thanksgiving 2015) ... ENJOY!!

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2015-2016 Most Popular GIF Sets in Ascending Order

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15. 70th Birthday of Ted Lucaylucay:

Smooth!

3 more GIFs can be seen here:

• Happy 70th Birthday Ted Lucaylucay (Oct 5, 1945 - Mar 30, 1996)!

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14. Unbeatable GIF Set 2 - MMA Training:

18 more GIFs can be seen here:

• Unbeatable GIF Set 2 - MMA Training

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13. Happy 50th Birthday Nick Cheung! (Unbeatable GIF Set 1 - MMA Training):

14 more GIFs can be found here:

• Happy 50th Birthday Nick Cheung! (Unbeatable GIF Set 1 - MMA Training)

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12. Sonny Umpad: Sangot (Sickle) GIFs:

Enjoy 4 more GIFs here:

• Sonny Umpad: Sangot (Sickle) GIFs

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11. Happy 39th Birthday Leigh Remedios!!:

Check out 5 more GIFs here:

• Happy 39th Birthday Leigh Remedios!!

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10. Sonny Umpad: Kniferoll & Angles of Attack GIFs:

Lightning fast!

Check out 4 more GIFs here:

• Sonny Umpad: Kniferoll & Angles of Attack GIFs

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9. UFC Fight Night 61: 10 GIFs of Antonio Silva X Frank Mir:

Check out 9 more GIFs of :

• UFC Fight Night 61: 10 GIFs of Antonio Silva X Frank Mir

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8. 5 GIFs of stickchoke from Daredevil S01E08:

Good night! Sleep tight!! Don't let the bedbugs bite!!!

Check out 4 more GIFs of :

• 5 GIFs of stickchoke from Daredevil S01E08

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7. 7 GIFs of stickchoke from Blindspot S01E01:

Check out 6 more GIFs of :

• 7 GIFs of stickchoke from Blindspot S01E01

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6. UFC Fight Night 62 - Godofredo Pepey X Andre Fili GIF highlights:

Check out 8 more GIFs of :

• UFC Fight Night 62 - Godofredo Pepey X Andre Fili GIF highlights

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5. "John Wick" Bar Shootout Trailer GIF Set:

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Check out 12 more GIFs of :

• "John Wick" Bar Shootout Trailer GIF Set

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4. 13 GIFs of Ronda Rousey's UFC 193 Open Workout - Throws:

Enjoy 12 more GIFs here:

• 13 GIFs of Ronda Rousey's UFC 193 Open Workout - Throws

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3. Happy Birthday Lucy Liu!! (Elementary S03E01 GIF Set - Dr. Joan Watson vs Kitty Winter baton fight) :

En garde!

For 8 more GIFs, please check out:

• Happy Birthday Lucy Liu!! (Elementary S03E01 GIF Set - Dr. Joan Watson vs Kitty Winter baton fight)

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2. The Final Master GIF Set 1:

Please check out the following for 9 more GIF's in the Set:

• The Final Master GIF Set 1

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1. Bruce Lee vs Dan Inosanto!! and it's not the Game of Death!! (Green Hornet S01E10 GIF Set):



Knock! Knock! Who's there? HI-YAA!

Please check out the following link for the full GIF Set of :

• Bruce Lee vs Dan Inosanto!! and it's not the Game of Death!! (Green Hornet S01E10 GIF Set)

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Hope you enjoyed the 2015-2016 GIF Sets of this site!


I remain very truly yours in GIF-making! Looking forward to next year's Thanksgifing post :)


Happy Thanksgifing/Thanksgiving!!

NOTE: Posted Dec 7 and backdated to Nov 24.

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Happy Year of the Monkey!

I didn't have a chance to post on Jan 1, wishing the readers of this site a Happy New Year. Will take the opportunity today to do so with the Lunar New Year/Year of the Monkey.

Happy Lunar New Year! May the Year of the Monkey bring you and your loved ones Happiness, Health and Wealth!

I'm not that good with New Year's Resolutions.

I generally don't make resolutions as in making specific goals for 1 year ... kind of inspired by one of Scott Adams' books (creator of the Dilbert cartoon). Adams advocates a 'systems' approach instead of a 'goals' approach. If i don't make goal, i sometimes mentally beat myself up.

Looking to enable a system, and forming the habits that come from a systems approach for overall health.

Some of my NYR are specific goals though (lol at me)

• Learn and teach my wife the Yang Short Form
• Learn and practice some Silat Jurus
• Learn and practice some Iaido katas
• Add in Yoga's Sun Salutations into my solo workouts
• Practice working up to being able to do Yoga's Peacock pose properly
• More seated Meditation - work on sitting in Lotus Position properly
• Add in some solo grappling drills (no mat, no carpet, will see what i can do)
• Overall, continue to be active, watch what and when I eat, and trying to eat less

What are your resolutions? May they all come true!

Happy New Year!

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Happy Father's Day 2015!

Happy Father's Day!!!

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Happy Pi Day!

Click for larger pic

Posting at the magical date/time of 3/14/15 9:26:53 am!


There is magic everywhere, just got to be attuned to it, be aware, expand your consciousness, think outside the box, get out of your comfort zone and SEE! FEEL!


Consider this "a finger pointing to the moon..."


Making a wish ... LOL at me! 

Happy Pi Day!!

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Click for larger pic

Add caption

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Happy Lunar New Year 2015! / The Year of the Goat

... or Sheep or Ram!

To my readers who celebrate the Lunar New Year aka Chinese New Year, I wanted to wish you and your loved ones Health, Happiness, and Prosperity in this Year of the Goat!

gōng xǐ fā cái / Congratulations and Prosperity / 恭喜發財 / 恭喜发财

xīn nián kuài lè / Happy New Year / 新年快樂 / 新年快乐

nián nián yǒu yú / Wishing you prosperity every year / 年年有餘 / 年年有馀

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Happy ThanksGIFing/Thanksgiving! (2014 edition)

Last year I picked my 8 favorite GIFs that I've made and posted them here:

• Happy ThanksGIFing! (and Happy Thanksgiving 2013!)

What does GIFs have to do with Turkey? ThanksGIFing was a pun of ThanksGIVing ... I know, I know, I'm so punny! LOL @ me!!


Following up this year, I'm going to post the 5 Most Popular GIF Sets as well as picking 5 of My Favorites. It will not be easy. However, I wanted to share first the following quote from Henry Van Dyke:

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received.  Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling.  Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers who celebrate! I give thanks to many many things, however, suffice it to say, I give thanks to you readers for helping me do what I do!  


I thank you for joining me in my Sojourn of Septillion Steps... THANK YOU!!


Without further ado, here are the most popular GIF Sets of 2014 (well the period of Thanksgiving 2013 through yesterday) ... ENJOY!!

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5 Most Popular GIF Sets

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5. Counting down the 5 Most Popular GIF sets of 2014 is the nasty leg break in Chris Weidman X Anderson Silva II - UFC 168. The GIF below is the first leg check, it was the 2nd leg check that broke Silva's leg:

7 more Round 1 GIF highlights can be seen here including, WARNING!!!, Anderson Silva's nasty leg break:

• Chris Weidman X Anderson Silva II - UFC 168 GIFs

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4. Round 1 GIF highlights of the Jon Jones X Glover Teixeira - UFC 172 fight ranks as the 4th most popular GIF set I've made in 2014:

4 more Round 1 highlights can be seen here:

• UFC 172 - Jon Jones X Glover Teixeira Round 1 GIF Highlights

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3. One of the most painful MMA fights to watch was Jon Jones X Glover Teixeira - UFC 172. Jones clinched Teixeira and executed 5 shoulder cranks in 5 rounds captured in 4 GIFs (if I missed any, please let me know):

OUCHY!!

3 more GIFs here:

• Shoulder Crank GIFs from Jon Jones X Glover Teixeira - UFC 172

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2. There is a beauty in watching a good throw executed. Ronda Rousey is an Olympic Bronze Medal Judoka. This was the most viral GIF set I made prior to the Phil Simms knifethrowing set above from a video of a training session she posted to her Facebook:

SWEEEEET!!

Enjoy 10 more GIFs here:

• 11 GIFs of Ronda Rousey's More Nage Komi video

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1. This Phil Simms knifethrowing set was the most popular, out of all my GIF posts of 2014 to date, this went viral the fastest:

Did Phil Simms really throw those knives on the TV show Elementary? Find out the answer as well as checking 7 more GIFs here:

• Phil Simms - World's Greatest Knifethrower!! (Elementary S03E03 GIF Set)

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My 5 Favorite GIFs

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5. Coming in as my 5th favorite GIF I've made in 2014 is the martial arts legend, Dan Inosanto. He gave a demo at the Smithsonian Institute. It blows my mind how everyday objects can be used in Self-Defense. Here Manong Inosanto uses a "Malong" (similar to a sarong which is worn around the waist, the malong is slung over a shoulder) for a choke:

Check out 3 more GIFs of the Malong and Stickgrappling performed by Manong Inosanto and Guro Joel Clark:

• Manong Dan Inosanto - Malong/Stickgrappling GIFs

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4. In recognition of Dan Henderson's birthday, I made some GIFs of his knockouts. The Knockout is a thing of beauty, just like a well-executed Throw. Check out this KO from Dan's classic fight against Wanderlei Silva from their Pre-UFC PRIDE days:

Lights out!

Enjoy 3 more KO GIFs here:

• Today is Dan Henderson's 44th Birthday! (Hendo KO GIF Set 1)

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3. One aspect of the Martial Arts is Respect. This next GIF displays the Respect between 2 world-class grapplers. After ~14 mins grueling submission-only match, Josh Barnett submitted Dean Lister:

HESPECT! :)

For 9 more GIFs of the highlights of the match including some nasty Catchwrestling moves, please check out:

• Catchwrestler Josh Barnett submits BJJ Black Belt Dean Lister at Metamoris 4 (GIF Highlights)

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2. My second favorite GIF is of the BJJ great Rickson Gracie and his diaphragmin action from his Yoga/Ginastica Natural training. He demos it in the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie:

Please check out the following for the full GIF Set:

• Rickson Gracie in Incredible Hulk (2008) GIF Set 1
• Rickson Gracie in Incredible Hulk (2008) GIF Set 2

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1. Gina Carano, MMA fighter and actress was in the movie, Haywire. She can kick your butt, submit you, or disarm you with her beauty and smile. This is my favorite GIF of 2014 that I've made:

When asked a question, Gina's reply of "No."

Please check out the following link for the full first GIF Set of Gina in her movie, Haywire:

• Gina Carano - Haywire GIF Set 1

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Hope you enjoyed the 5 Most Popular GIF Sets of 2014 on this site as well as My 5 Favorite GIFs of 2014!


I remain very truly yours in GIF-making! Looking forward to next years Thanksgifing post :)


Happy Thanksgifing/Thanksgiving!!

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Happy Birthday everyone! It's Renri (Chinese:人日, literally Human Day) today.

According to Chinese culture, today is everyone's birthday! It's Renri (Chinese:人日, literally Human Day) today.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renri:

Renri (Chinese:人日, literally Human Day) refers specially to the 7th day of zhengyue (正月, the first month in the Chinese calendar). According to Chinese customs, renri was the day human beings were created. It is celebrated not only in China, but also other regions influenced by Chinese culture.

Happy Birthday everyone! or Happy Renri Day!

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Happy Lunar New Year / Year of the Horse!

To the readers of this site who celeberate the Lunar New Year, Happy New Year


Traditional Chinese: 恭禧發財
Simplified Chinese: 恭禧发财.


Gong Xi Fa Cai (Pinyin)
Gùng Héi Faat Chōi (Cantonese)(Cantonese popular spelling: Kung Hei Fat Choy)

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Traditional Chinese: 新年快樂
Simplified Chinese: 新年快乐.


Xin Nian Kuai le (Pinyin)
san1 nin4 faai3 lok6(Cantonese)


May the Year of the Horse bring you and your loved ones health, wealth and happiness!

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Happy New Year 2014 & 2013 Popular Posts

Happy New Year to the readers of this site! 


First off, let's start the New Year with a haiku from Kobayashi Issa!

New Year's Day

New Year's Day-- 
everything is in blossom! 
I feel about average.

~Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828)

May all your resolutions come true! May the New Year be better than the last for you and your loved ones! And hoping your New Year will not be average like Kobayashi Issa's LOL

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I wanted to post the Popular Posts of 2013 for your edification. So let's take a gander, shall we?


Top 25 Popular Posts of 2013

1. SELF-DEFENSE: Lee Aldridge - Eye Jabs, Telegraphing, and Pre-Fight Movement (Not sure why this article is #1 yet Lee Aldridge's others didn't crack the Top 25?!)
2. TRENDING NOW: The Jabbing File by Rastus (this doesn't make sense as this entry linked to The Jabbing File by Rastus which didn't make the Top 25)
3. THE WISDOM OF ... Rickson Gracie (I'm so embarrassed by this one - I misattributed a blog by Dan Lukehart to Rickson - Oh well, Live and Learn!)
4. I'm going to post Paul Vunak's Top 50 Combat Secrets (Popular instructor)
5. Tony Blauer - Ten Commandments of Street Survival (Popular instructor)
6. IN MEMORY OF: Tom "Billy Jack" Laughlin (Aug 10, 1931 – Dec 12, 2013) (Popular actor and movie)
7. Bruce Lee's Way of the Intercepting Fist graphic (although I thought the graphic was cool, some of it was wrong though)
8. James Coburn would've been 85 yrs old today! (Popular actor)
9. Tomahawk-throwing champ scares off burglar in her home (great feel-good self-defense story)
10. Tomahawk in Mel Gibson's The Patriot (2000) GIF set 1 (I love making GIFs, this was a popular movie as well as a popular actor)
11. IN MEMORY OF: Wong Shun Leung (May 8, 1935 – January 28, 1997) (Popular instructor)
12. IN MEMORY OF: Pendekar Paul De Thouars (1930 - Sept 11, 2013) (Popular instructor)
13. MOVIES: Once Upon a Time In China 1 (Full movie)(Popular actor as well as classic movie)
14. What Happened to MARTIAL LAW? By Dr. Craig Reid(Popular TV show)
15. “Six Inches of Steel”: Bowie knife fighting instruction by Louis Ohnimus (1890) (Great that a period source for the knife shrouded in mystery)
16. Randy Couture's Takedowns Animated GIF's Set 1 (My favorite MMA fighter proves he's still popular even after retirement)
17. IN MEMORY OF: Chris Kyle (April 8, 1974 – February 2, 2013) (That day was sad when America lost one of its heroes)
18. Randy Couture's Dirty Boxing animated GIF's (Randy doing what he does best!)
19. I met Donnie Yen at the 4th Annual New York Chinese Film Festival (Magical day for me!)
20. Jet Li’s The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (Full movie) (it looks like I wasn't the only one who liked this movie despite the reviews!)
21. IN MEMORY OF: Remy Presas (Dec 19, 1936 - Aug 28, 2001)(Popular instructor)
22. Dr. George Thompson - 7 Things Never to Say to Anyone, and Why Part 1 (Great article on tactical communication by the founder of Verbal Judo))
23. IN MEMORY OF: Great Grandmaster Antonio E. Somera (1957 - Oct. 28, 203 5:19AM) (Sad that both GME Leo Giron and GGM Tony Somera are not with us)
24. Krabi Krabong's Mae Sawks (Arjarn Arlan "Salty Dog" Sanford doing what he does best - using the Mae Sawks!)
25. ARTICLES: Personal Protection: Concepts for survival in the street (Great article by Andrew Williams, Rolf Clausnitzer and David Peterson)

There you have it! The Top 25 Most Popular Posts of 2013. In a separate entry, I will post my Favorites as well as the most Shared posts.

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What's a New Year without resolutions?

My resolution:

This year I'm aiming to post much more of my own writing. My hangup is that I'm not a writer nor am I wordsmith. The words doesn't come easily, but 2014 I resolve to be writing more. Last year, I wanted to post at least once a day and it looks like I missed posting on March 19-20, March 24 - I don't even remember why! But I made up for that by posting 555 times, which averages out to 1.52 posts a day.

This year I probably won't be posting every day, but still will updating the site often.

My best wishes for the coming New Year to you and your loved ones! May it bring health, wealth and happiness (not necessarily in that order)!!

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Happy ThanksGIFing! (and Happy Thanksgiving 2013!)

Happy Thanksgiving to the readers of this site who celebrate!

May you and your loved ones be thankful for what you have and not lament on what you don't have!

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Ok, above I covered "Thanksgiving", but what is this "ThanksGIFing". Well, Underground Forum member FoolKontakt posted "Happy ThanksGIFing !" to me in this thread. I thought that was punny! That pun inspired this post.


I'm going to pick my 8 favorite GIFs out of the 100+ posts with I don't know how many animated GIFs that I've created to date. I would've liked to pick 25 or so, but will stick to 8 so they fit on one page and have a reasonable pageload time instead of all 25 on one page or split across 3 entries. These are in no ranking whatsoever.


Enjoy!

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Manong Dan Inosanto flipping the Butterfly Knife (aka Balisong) in the movie Sharky's Machine

For more Balisong GIFs, please check out my Projects Page as making GIFs of Balisong has been an ongoing project:

• Projects

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Donnie Yen with a flawless suplex in the movie Flash Point

For other GIFs from Flash Point, please check out:

• Donnie Yen's Flash Point Animated GIF Set 1
• Flash Point GIF Set 2 (Parkour)
• Flash Point GIF Set 3

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The Spanking

UFC 44:  Randy Couture vs Tito Ortiz

For the other GIFs of highlights from that famous fight - Randy Couture vs Tito Ortiz, please check out:

• 10 yrs ago at UFC 44: Randy Couture X Tito Ortiz
• UFC 44: Randy Couture X Tito Ortiz - 2nd set of GIFs

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Flying Omoplata and Trapping from the movie Pacific Rim

More of the animated GIF's I made from Pacific Rim can be found here:

• Pacific Rim (2013) Animated GIF Set 1
• Pacific Rim (2013) Animated GIF Set 2
• Pacific Rim (2013) - 3rd & final set of GIFs 

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WEF 7:  Rich Crunkilton (black) vs Ray Totorico

Rich Crunkilton is one of my favorite MMA fighters. Frank Mir has called him a "takedown specialist." As if by magic, Rich almost immediatedly after touching Totorico, Ray went for a ride.

For more of Rich Crunkilton's Takedown GIFs I made, you can find them here:

• Rich Crunkilton's Takedowns Animated GIFs

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Benny "The Jet" Urquidez vs Yuen Biao from the movie Dragons Forever

Benny is called "The Jet" for a reason!

The rest of the GIFs are located below:

• Jackie Chan vs Benny the Jet - Dragons Forever GIF Set 1
• Jackie Chan X Benny the Jet - Dragons Forever GIF Set 2
• Jackie Chan X Benny the Jet - Dragons Forever GIF Set 3
• Last GIF Set of Jackie Chan X Benny the Jet from Dragons Forever 

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Brandon Lee vs Professor Al Leong in the movie Rapid Fire

I love the trapping in this fight.

Check out the rest of the Rapid Fire GIFs:

• IN MEMORY OF: Brandon Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) [Rapid Fire GIF Set 1]
• Rapid Fire GIF Set 2
• Rapid Fire GIF Set 3
• Rapid Fire GIF Set 4

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Bruce Lee side kicks Bob Wall from the classic Enter the Dragon

More GIFs from Enter the Dragon:

• If Bruce Lee Was Alive Today - Enter the Dragon GIF's Set 1
• Enter the Dragon GIF's Set 2 (Jackie Chan)
• Enter the Dragon GIF's Set 3 (Sammo Hung)
• Enter the Dragon GIF's Set 4
• Enter the Dragon GIF Set 5 (Jim Kelly)
• Enter the Dragon GIF Set 6 (Jim Kelly)
• Enter the Dragon GIF Set 7 (Staff)

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In a year's time, I would've made more GIFs. I'm such a GIF-making geek! I will post then some of my faves from the year.

In the meantime, please check out the link before for all my entries with animated GIFs:

• Animated GIFs

Happy ThanksGIFing 2013!

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EDIT 11/27/2014:  My 2014 edition: 

• Happy ThanksGIFing/Thanksgiving! (2014 edition)

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Happy 238th Birthday USMC and Happy Veteran's Day 2013!

This morning, I had to drive my children to their enrichment activity. I passed by a car that I noticed had a USMC logo on it. I made a mental note of the location of this parked car and dropped my kids off.

Today is the 238th birthday of the Marines Corp. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day.

I went back home and wrote a note and went back out driving to the parked car with my note.

Closeup of the Note

I felt good after that, hopefully the owner of that car understood the sentiment, as a parent of a Marine.



Happy Birthday USMC!


Thank you to all the Veterans, Past, Present, and Future. This post is for you!

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