Cage Warriors 50 - Landmine

I'm not running out of games.

I'll never run out of games.

This month's been a great one for gaming to be honest. Sony finally pulled their fingers out and put Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the PSN and I won auctions on Sunset Riders, Parodius and Megaman X for my SNES.

It's good, it's always been good.

I've also ordered a few shirts from Meatbun.us as well. Insert Coin is cool in places but is quickly becoming a bit redundant somehow. That being said I rocked a Viva King shirt this past weekend.

This Saturday I worked my 11th Cage Warriors show this year and it began, as they all do, with a voyage.

Myself and Lethaby hopped on the 9:17 train from Stoke station and, after a quick change in Crewe, settled in for the 250 mile voyage with my Blackberry playbook and a boat load of mid 2000's mma to watch.

I had all kinds of Pride on there but it was Cage Rage that inevitably drew my attention somehow. It was cool looking back at that era where I was such a fan and seeing all the people I regularly chat to at shows now. I even saw a young looking Marc Goddard walking out with Ross Mason.

Dave's opening tack of "Hello Marc, I saw you on an old Cage Rage show on the trip here; you looked about half the size," didn't go as well as he thought it would in his head I imagine but that's another story.

The trip was really relaxing and a nice contrast to the usual marathon drives I've become so used to. I watched as the bustling countryside eventually became a snowy wilderness as we moved towards the highlands. As the train pulled into the final station before Glasgow I became more aware of the people outside, enthralled in the truly everyday.

For a brief few minutes I felt the most overwhelming sense of the Debord as I sat in the perfectly contained warmth and watched society tick over in front of my eyes. I couldn't have stopped anything from happening or purveyed my sense of attachment to these people running up and down and making decisions. It was empowering a funny kind of way. It's kind of romantic to watch the world go by from a safe place and, as much as I was aware of the way in which this spectacle mirrored most of our waking minutes, it filled me with many questions.

There's always many questions. Before I could ask any of them though, the train pulled into Glasgow Station and we went out for a wander before the show. On arriving in city centre, Dave and I grabbed an all you can eat Indian Buffet for 6 quid each, when in Rome and all that, and then made our way to the venue. It's nice to roll into a strange place and see familiar faces. Everything seems fine at that point. I was ready to judge some truly amazing scraps and I wasn't disappointed.

Take Care
Ben

That night we'll never re-live

I think I need to stop writing these at work. You can't see what this office looks like but believe me it's hardly Club Tropicana.

Imagine the set of a terrible sitcom set in the 1970's featuring a load of belligerent and disgruntled factory workers and their out of touch boss. The walls are white woodchip and the shelves are full of nonsense.

I share it with a gentleman called Matt Spooner. He, like myself, is a cynical Samaritan.

We both want to help people but, in the modern workplace, that really isn't enough anymore. It's about ticking boxes and jumping through hoops to ensure that people I'll never meet make more money than I'll ever see in a lifetime.

I think that's the problem with teaching in this kind of training provider context.

Everything is done to make money, not to help people out. I'm pretty sure that my cynical side has flourished more in two years here than it did during six years teaching young offenders.

Anyhow what's the point of this one?

There isn't a point I don't think. Writing just stops me thinking. I think that's why I'm doing it. I've not got a point or a message but sometimes I wonder if there always has to be one.

When I first started writing I would ponder for hours over drafts of different text. I'm not saying I don't edit things now but I often find that when I switch off a little bit that the best stuff happens. It's hard to define best . I think I mean writing that's a more accurate reflection of where I currently am.

It's Friday and

As I was writing this my boss walked in and gave me something menial to do so I look busy. It's the inference that I'm somehow mutinous that I resent the most I think.

Anyhow I digress.

I hope you people have a great weekend.
Thanks for taking the time
Speak soon
Take Care
Ben

Cage Warriors 49 - King of the Monsters

Sucks to be back at work again.

Everyone says that on these things right?

Well we can't all be wrong. Unless you are lucky enough to do something you love for a living.

Maybe even then it starts becoming like work somehow like it did when I was writing more for a living. I guess it's the human condition.

We just find it really sad, we thought being in a band would be so brilliant and yet it just becomes a routine like anything else. 

You know, whatever you choose to do in life, even if you love it, within a few months of doing it it's just the same thing every day but now it's just - wake up, travel, sound check, gig, wake up, travel, sound check, gig. 

When we first started that was brilliant and now it's just the same. There's something about human nature that just reduces life down to a routine.
Richey Edwards

This week's bundle of shiny violence came courtesy of Cage Warriors. I've been lucky enough to judge 10 of their events this year and every single one has been special in some way or another.

There's been no shortage of great fights, awesome company and phenomenal tea to be had throughout 2012 but I already knew that this show in Wales was going to be an amazing experience.

Cage Warriors 49 marked the organizational judging debut of my long time mma comrade Mr. David Lethaby who, after slogging away judging fights for years just like myself, got the call to head to Wales and make sense of it all.

The trips would include a flask of tea, S-Express, a long discussion about the Eastern front of the Second World War and some shortbread. Our hotel was out of the way but luckily enough we jumped in a cab with the usual suspects to get to the venue.

The evening was a cacophony of local heartache and close fought battles which I shall attempt to recount.

• Welsh fans love a bit of a singalong don't they. Yes that's obvious but it's a true spectacle to behold when you look up into the crowd to see hundreds of Welsh types singing "You Jack Bastard" as anyone from Swansea walks in.
• If you're sitting at a table with sweets that are yours and somebody says "What's that up there?", it's always a trap. Always. Damn you people.
• Once again a quick shout out to the likely lads who made the after show event such a civilised do. There's something magical about that first cup of tea after an mma event. That's some of my favourite stuff right there.

KING OF THE MONSTERS

It's obvious ain't it?

I'm off to for the first walk home in the dark of 2012 so, if I make it home, I'll speak to you good people very soon.

Take Care

Love Always

Ben

UCMMA 30 - Shinobi

This week I commandeered a teapot at work that was sitting in a drawer doing nothing.
I cleaned it up, disinfected it, washed it again and then went home to contemplate how righteous this all was.
This morning I walked to work and bought some sugar cubes and a small bottle of milk.
There's no way this decadence lasts forever but, while it does, it's truly glorious.

UCMMA you say?

Oh yeah I knew I'd started writing for a reason. I just got excited when I began to type and all I saw over the desk was my beloved teapot.

The event was full of the surreal excellence that I've come to expect from the Troxy on a Saturday night and as I strolled back to the hotel, I was amazed to think that I've been fortunate enough to commentate the show for the last two years. I can't tell you where all the time has gone.

These are the things I noticed from watching mixed martial arts this week:

SHINOBI

I've always loved the Shinobi games.

As a kid I used to pretend I was Joe Musashi and jump over things while dressed in an ill fitting headscarf that I found in a box full of linen. I didn't get injured either which is probably more of a miracle.

I think the thing I liked the most about Shinobi was the fact that he was faceless. In victory or defeat he adopted the same steel eyed determination to move forward and keep moving forward.

I like the fact that he just used to turn up, throw down and then leave.


Until next time
Speak soon
Take Care
Ben

Sometimes

You don't really need a lot of words when a picture holds a waterfall of memories.

If life is a treasure hunt then these pages are my map somehow.

I always said instruction manuals were for people who were scared of getting electrocuted.

Guess I was wrong.

Speak soon
Take Care
Ben

CWFN 7 - Killer Instinct

It's harder to find the words that don't make me sound like I'm taking this for granted every time I write something about yet another crazy Cage Warriors adventure.

I always end up sounding insincere in my head but on a very serious level every time I get details of the flights at work I can't focus.

Every time I see another fight announced I wonder how it'll pan out and if it'll be a tough one to judge and every time I get off a plane in a crazy country I can't wait to talk to a team of people who make the middle of nowhere seem like home somehow.

It's hard to put into words. It's like the way I wanted being in a band to feel like when I was 19. Anyhow this has got a bit misty eyed somehow. You good people want the scoop right? Here goes nothing:

• Crowds are crazy in Jordan. Seriously amazing from bell to bell and got involved with every single fight that happened.
• Business class is like another world. It felt like being part of a secret society that nobody else knows about. I drank so much Diet Coke I got a migraine. I don't even like it normally.
• Running through the airport to see Alison was amazing. Like film amazing. I nearly fell over as well. It's my feet I think. I'm a bit unwieldy sometimes.

 WHY KILLER INSTINCT?

One of the best things about videogames is how they take you places straight away without you even realising it. One of the best feelings I get playing games is still that flick of ruby light when my SNES powers up and I steel myself for whatever challenge is upcoming.

It'd be easy for me to half heartedly link a game to this event but Killer Instinct was the first game I played after I finished my last GCSE. I got home from school and walked to the bus station before jumping on the 6A. I looked out the window at a gloriously sunny day before I got home and sat down on my bed and turned the SNES on.

For that split second it's like there was nothing else. My life stretched ahead of me in a way that I'd never felt before and every time I hear the start of that game I always remember what it was like to stare down that seemingly never ending road. Killer Instinct was special in the same kind of way that this event was special.

It's not every day that hotel in the Middle East feels like home but from the second I got there to the morning I left it just felt perfect. Everyone who talked to me, hung out with me, drank tea with me or chatted about anything made the whole experience perfect.

If this is what I'm meant to do with my life then it feels perfect.

If it isn't then when the right thing comes along; I can only imagine how era defining it will have to be to top what I feel right now.

Take care
Speak soon
Big stuff happening this month
Go buy Fighters Only for me as well

Ben

UCMMA 29 - The King of Fighters

Hey ho,

It's a testament to just how busy I've been of late that I've only just had time to recollect my thoughts after one of the best card of fights I can remember for a long while at UCMMA 29.

It was the most entertaining night's mma I've ever commentated.

Ok there I said it. I legitimately mean it as well. Here's the deal with UCMMA that people just don't seem to get.

The white suit, the crazy one liners, the stupid facial hair and that unique Troxy atmosphere are EVERYTHING that makes that show more fun than I've got the words for. You've got to look at the big picture. It's entertaining for a million reasons. You've got to take a step down from which ever tall animal you're sitting on and take it for what it is. An amazingly fun mma experience.

Off to Jordan in a bit for some Cage Warriors goodness.

Speak soon times.

Ben