When you walk into a room, stop and look around you find the most amazing people – I recognized her smile and ease instantly.
I meant to go back and get her name, but Saturday night got twisted and it wasn’t to be. Maybe I’ll have another chance to sit down and get to know her a little more.
As for the venue, we don’t get out much, but have always wanted to hit the Distillery (“D”) in Calgary. In retrospect I guess I was expecting punk, maybe some thrash-metal, and was shocked to my core as soon as I walked in and heard the tight full sound and ripping vocals of Guerrista. I was blown away.
Off to Wal*Mart to pick up some cheap essentials and I ran into this young woman. I’d love to make a crack about People of Wal*Mart, but just can’t. I spent a few minutes watching how she interacted with people and her pet, and have been left with this picture.
Fielding questions about the type of snake, who she is, why she is sitting there in “public” with a snake, doesn’t she have a home, and during this and other well-meaning “advice” and “life suggestions” I saw her.
This is what I saw.
Lydia’s life is full. Lydia owns a pair of beat-up, Red Converse All-Stars that she unknowingly used to make me take notice. She’s a beautiful contradiction.
I’m trying to find a way to flow between Facebook, Twitter and this site better. Running around and taking pictures of the interesting people I meet has been uh, interesting.
This picture was taken in Okotoks last night — sometimes you see something about someone and just have to capture it.
I promised Gabe that I would write in a journal everyday for the sake of catharsis. It’s been her experience, she explains, that having some quiet time to reflect on life’s ebbs and flows increases visibility into one’s own life and direction; as a result this can make one happier and more complete a person.
I dropped in a picture just for the hell of it. I took it last night when Gabe was out working with her horse, Tori.
It was further suggested I write my musings in notebooks, pen upon paper, and three pages was likely the correct amount of writing to be done at one sitting. That may be right for some, but perhaps not right for others, namely myself.
Here we are then. Surrounded.
Several thoughts come immediately to mind; for example, the Loose Moose Theatre Improv Team known as The Battered Seal Pups jumps out as a poignant reminder of what free association is all about. Cats who were on their game. Theatre Sports off Aviation Blvd. in that dingy little theatre (actually quite big and full of reason) before “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” fame, with the carcinogenic popcorn and flat coke.
My dad used to take me there on Saturday nights for Theatre Sports to expand my horizons.
It wasn’t long before I was hooked; Keith Johnstone the mad genius, Dennis Cahill a savant, Bruce McCullough a genius of the genre, and I found myself selling cancer-causing popcorn to be able to touch and feel the brilliance first-hand of raw, unedited comedy directly from the minds of “those unfit to raise adults”.
To this day I carry the memories of The Battered Seal Pups in action. What an amazingly horrible, memorable, perfect name, for an amazingly, perfectly, rotten group of actors who lit the stage every time the took it.
This past week was silly. It was another week where every single day was a train derailment of hours colliding into each other and spilling across time and space.
Hard Knocks 11 is in the bag and for all intents and purposes it was a really good show. During the run up there’s always a thousand things to do and no matter how I try and get ahead of the game the last two days are pure mayhem. Add to that two other clients wrapping up their websites, another one waiting for some printing, and three new leads for new branding and marketing work.
In Hard Knocks land things are simple, but compressed. It’s as exciting as having a syringe of adrenaline stabbed into your heart … or so I’m told.
In 48 – 60 hours here’s what needs to happen in my world:
- Teach Jujitsu Wednesday and Thursday, miss Judo Thursday night
- Event Program – can’t be finalized until the day of the event due to fighters not making weight or not passing medicals
- Event Program – Chasing sponsors for logo’s and last minute format changes
- Tale of the Tape – can’t be finalized until the day of the event for the same reasons as the Program, but we’re also waiting for photography of the 22+ fighters
- Tale of the Tape – Transfer in a way that can be played on any variety of devices at the show – who knows what we’ll need to run it on this time
- CLIENT A and CLIENT B are approving final edits on their websites
- CLIENT C needs a new sign printed, mounted and delivered by end of day – Printer runs out of ink
- CLIENT C isn’t there to receive sign
- CLIENT D and E are new and want meetings for their projects
- Purchase and install new software for database management for CLIENTS F, G and H
- Domain Registrar accidentally hits a button and redirects CLIENT I website to Google Adwords, crashes client email, Registrar disavows any knowledge but the site is miraculously fixed within hours
- Cage Decals – two days before the event all the old sponsors are removed from the cage pads (usually at 10pm – midnight)
- Cage Decals – the day before the event all the new decals are put into place
- Cage Decals – art is usually approved the day its installed, which means it needs to be ripped, cut, masked and prepped that day
- Fight Card Updates – the card is continuously being updated right up until the day of the fight. We’re at the mercy of fighters, coaches, the commission and Murphy’s Law
- Fight Night – Secure cage-side location and begin the search for POWER. This time I was smart and brought my own extension cord and gaff tape, that didn’t stop us from having to source another extension cord due to a change in AV setup
- Tale of the Tape – AV company doesn’t have the media player to show the TOT on the big screens which means I’m driving 200KPH down the road to find a solution
- Announcers Intro and Movie – AV company can’t play it. DJ company can rip the audio from the MP4, but for some reason it doesn’t happen
- Live Updates to Twitter, HKFC Website and TopMMANews.com – happens flawlessly, but maybe that’s because I’ve had a couple of beers to steady the nerves and lubricate the synapses
This is a fairly typical couple of days and it’s lead me to realize that I need to hire some more people – what’s more is that I’m not even mentioning the chaos that is my personal life in those scant 60 some-odd hours.
This is fun. It’s exciting. But it’s also a little retarded to think this pace can be kept.
It’s amazing to me how much our generation has influenced the world we live in, and by influence of course I’m talking about the Internet and popular culture.
Allow me to explain.
When I was a young boy in the seventies and early eighties we had scrawny-thin, hard-wheeled skateboards, so unstable that if you hit even the smallest of rocks you were done. Face down skidding down the road.
Slowly but surely the wider boards with the softer wheels and cool graphics came onto the scene direct from California and a new counter-culture was borne. Half-pipes were being built in backyards and farmers fields while skateboarding was banned on sidewalks and the endless skate mazes of downtown everywhere — skateboarding is not a crime sticker were plastered everywhere.
Around this time the Ramones, Dead Kennedy’s and Sex Pistols ignited the punk scene which caused a flareup of local bands like DOA, SNFU, No Rebate, Zero Hour and a million other Canadian Punk bands I can’t remember the names of invading the airwaves of campus radio stations.
The punk scene was alive and well railing against the establishment and challenging corporate culture to actually listen to the voices not judge by the packaging.
The eighties gave way to the nineties and grunge was the transitional order of the day; articulating the punk message with more talented music and (perhaps) more thoughtful lyrics (maybe).
The interesting thing here is that now the rebels and kids that were influenced by the skate and punk culture were now breaking into corporate culture and exerting their influence. What used to be a counter culture started showing signs of mainstream acceptance.
Clothing changed radically. For example the torn and faded jeans that saw their start as ironed and creased Levi 501 on laundry day only to be brutalized in local moshpits suddenly became available off the shelf. Pre-stressed. Pre-Torn. You could look like a fashionable punk for $50 without the cuts or bruises.
Hairstyles got funkier and shoes got weirder.
Then the Internet hit the ground running and all the freaks who couldn’t find a home in Corporate Culture found an invitation to build a new world. We crept past the guards because they either weren’t looking or didnt’ realize the importance of what they were guarding. This ability to share information on a global scale.
Remember talking to potential clients and trying to explain how important this new media was? How often did you get shot down and were told “it’s just a fad.”? Fast-forward a decade since the dot-com meltdown and take a look around. From smart phones, to fashion, to the latest tech, our punk rock fingerprints are all over it.
Even the birth of the newest crappy music “perfected” with Auto-Tuner and Dub-Step is our fault, but that’s simply a function of the next generation trying to find their unique voice. As much as I dislike the music I’m more curious to see it’s evolution and that of their generation. But I digress.
Today we can build websites for a fraction of what we used to charge. Deploying and customizing a Word Press or Joomla CMS site does take a certain amount of knowledge, a bit of artistry and some digital alchemy, but it is fast becoming a commodity — something a monkey could do with enough banana incentive.
So where now is the value? What’s next in our (r)evolution? We used to say, “Content is King.” but that was abandoned for the sake of “The Medium is the Message”, and now I believe we can safely say that “Creativity Rules.”
True creativity comes from unobstructed, unfiltered truth. We built a culture where truth about ourselves and our neighbours and our leaders and our followers is paramount. Without this ability to unabashedly speak the truth and be honest about what we see, think and feel we’re lost.
Tattoo’s are fine. Piercings accepted. Fauxhawks encouraged. Neckties abandoned. Freedom of expression expected. About the only thing that’s taboo at this point is being disingenuous, and that’s pretty fucking cool.
Punk rock and skateboards saved our civilization.
Forester woke up inside a dumpster with a splitting headache wearing only one shoe and surrounded by rats. This was not unusual — he’d come to expect these sorts of things when he started writing again.
It smelled bad.
Somewhere in the corner of the dumpster a rat was clawing at what sounded like a heavy glass jar filled with marbles.
Pushing open the lid Forester covered his eyes against the sun, blinking away the wash of spots and looking out into the world. There have been worse days, certainly there have been better ones. The sun was shining and the smell of car exhaust and sauerkraut from some far and away unseen hot dog vendor replaced the fetid stench of the dumpster.
Fresh air.
The rat was still fussing with the jar. Forester waded through the garbage towards the sound. Some of what he stepped on was warm, some of it cold, other parts a strange combination of the two and moving, thank God he’d lost a shoe otherwise he’d never have known.
Nudging the rat away from the jar he reached down and picked it up — a 16 oz. mason jar filled with keys from a computer’s keyboard. He shook it. Only CTRL and Z keys. Unscrewing the lid he reached in and grabbed one of each, rolling them around in his hand; inspecting them before throwing them like dice.
The keys hit the ground at the same time and instantly the world went white.
This week has been crazy. Epic crazy.
The run-up to Hard Knocks Fighting Championship 10 this Friday has me working flat out. The only reason I’m writing this is to decompress a little before the next activity spike.
We’re adding some new sponsors to the cage so me and Kierin were at the Casino de-decaling pillars and posts to get ready for the new art. The cutter was running all morning getting everything ready to put up later tonight after the weigh-in.
Pixels are flying everywhere as we finish the Fight Program, and put together a one-pager for a series of Seminars I’m hosting on Saturday (more on this later).
Weigh-ins are tonight at The Blind Monk. We’ll be there a little later picking up the shots from HK Photography for the Tale of the Tape and online fight card so we can put everything in place in time to meet with the AV Team tomorrow morning and ensure everything is working for the event.
I’m picking up Ari Bolden from 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Victoria around 4pm tomorrow and taking him down to the casino to get into some of the chaos. We’ll be sitting ringside in blood-resistant ponchos to write the play-by-play for both HKFC and TopMMANews.com.
The following day I’m hosting Ari Taub (Beijing Olympian and HKFC CEO) for a seminar on Wrestling for MMA (10AM – 1PM) — cost is $60. Ari Bolden (Victoria, BC) will also be teaching a seminar on 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu (2PM – 5PM) — cost is $60. You can go to both seminars for $100.www.CombatArts.pro for tickets or call me at 403-982-2552 to order with Credit Card or just let us know you’ll be there.
A funny thing about Ari Bolden … there’s a seemingly small, but earnest contingent of BJJ practitioners who really don’t like him and will go to great lengths to tell anyone who will listen what a rotten person he is. I’ve discovered that’s contrary to reality and am looking forward to writing about this weekends events in greater detail next week.
Have a super weekend — I know I am.
Welcome to MichaelDargie.com and what used to be FreeThinkingRadical.com and www.PrehensileTales.com. The entire point of this website is to give me a place I can post shit about what I do and how I do it as well as just publish the things I create.
In exchange for continuing to “put stuff out there” I’d love it if you’d grab a sponsor spot and help fund my creativity. There’s no set price, you can offer as much or as little as you like, and when the spaces are full we’ll look at changing that.
Send me an email on the contact page so we can talk about it.
Current and Recent projects:
Branding a local architectural firm, branding and marketing local custom “green” home builder, marketing webeconomics in small towne Alberta, Art of Ju Jitsu (website and book), Canada-FC Parents Guide to Soccer in Canada (website and book) …
I’m playing with the template and hosting this week, but will be back soon to give the play-by-play for a variety of interesting projects I’m involved with this week, including writing for TopMMANews.com for the upcoming Hard Knocks Fighting Championship 10, and the various design and marketing things we do with HKFC.
This weekend I’m also putting on a 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Seminar featuring Ari Bolden of 10PJJ Victoria and Submissions101.com. Lots of positive and negative reactions around Ari … I’m looking forward to writing about it when all is said and done because I’ve talked with some of his detractors and some big names in Jiu Jitsu and MMA about him.
On Location
