Cobra Kai

UFC live blog!

The Poop's official UFC blog is live! Or something. We're already wondering if this is a huge mistake. This is either going to be really entertaining, or The Poop's official jump the shark moment ...

turbosquid.com

It's a fight ring ... and a playpen.

For those coming in late, Kelly and Mike and Kelly's sister's girlfriend are coming to my house to watch tonight's action-packed UFC 92 pay-per-view, so we've decided to document the event as it unfolds. I believe this will make us the first parenting blog in history to live blog a mixed martial arts competition.

(No, we will not be drinking the Jim Beam.)

My sons are both in bed, but the 3 1/2-year-old has already gotten up once. The over/under on how many times he runs into the living room during the fight is seven.

OK, here we go ... THE LATEST UPDATES ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE ...

Peter Hartlaub (7:41 p.m.): The Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson fight ended in the first round. After about two minutes of dancing around the ring, a left hook from Jackson to the chin knocked Silva flat on his back. We thought he might be dead, but he just moved his extremities. Both fighters had really bad ring entrance music. Off-Topic Tuesday topic for next week: What would be your boxing or UFC entrance music?

Kelly Mills (7:50 p.m.): Since I missed anything relevant about the next fight (I was shoving my face full of pizza and throwing hooks at the air) I'll say maybe my entrance music would be some total emo crap, just so I don't end up overselling my skills. Oooh, someone just got a horrible knee kick. His knee actually looked like a rubber band snapping back. Isn't my recap just like watching yourself? I think I have a serious untapped talent for sports live blogging. Read More 'UFC live blog!' »

Posted By: Peter Hartlaub (Email, Twitter) | December 27 2008 at 07:50 PM

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Making things with light ... online!

Kelly's mention of her beloved Lite Brite in the Best and Worst Christmas Gifts post reminded me of this Web page that lets you make Lite Brite creations on your home computer.

We are the priests, of the temple of Lite Brite ...

We are the priests/Of the temple/Of Lite Brite!

Making things with light online was even more great a few years ago when a smallish San Francisco computer design firm set up a similar Lite Brite clone on their site. Apparently Lite Brite manufacturer Hasbro complained, so SFPG.com removed the page. (This is all that remains now.) It's pretty much the same thing that happened to Scrabulous, minus the lawsuit.

I didn't have a Lite Brite as a kid and only played with a friend's once or twice. My main Lite Brite memory was in college, when me and my three roommates bought one and would leave little messages for each other -- usually something inappropriate when another guy was coming home from a date.

Using the Hasbro site, I spent a good 20 minutes creating an awesome Cobra Kai logo, silently praying that an editor wouldn't walk in and think I was goofing around. (The three bottles of Jim Beam at my feet wouldn't have helped my argument.) In the end, I was happier with this re-creation of the album cover for Rush 2112 that I made at home, although I really needed a dark blue. More colors, Hasbro!

Read More 'Making things with light ... online!' »

Posted By: Peter Hartlaub (Email, Twitter) | December 19 2008 at 08:09 AM

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Parents who wear halloween costumes

I was all about Halloween costumes when I was a kid. And as a young adult looking for love, I enjoyed dressing up as well. Granted the number of creepy men trying to look like Jack Sparrow just so they'll get laid has been getting ridiculous lately, but I'm generally in favor of dressing up once a year as part of the dating ritual.

The enemy deserves no candy ...

80stees.com

The enemy deserves no candy ...

As a married guy with kids, though, the thought of dressing up feels kind of sad. For the same reason that I cringe when I see a mom dressed all slutty and dancing too close to the stage at a Sippy Cups concert, I don't feel right growing a moustache and putting on a Detroit Tigers hat and Hawaiian shirt like I did once in the 1990s. It was fun while it lasted, and now it's over.

Or is it?

Everything I knew -- or think I knew -- was thrown upside down the other day, when I received an e-mail link for a Cobra Kai costume. And not just any Cobra Kai costume, but one that was modeled directly after the one worn by William Zabka in "Karate Kid"!

Here's the text that accompanies the advertisement for the Gi, which unfortunately only comes in adult sizes at this time: Read More 'Parents who wear halloween costumes' »

Posted By: Peter Hartlaub (Email, Twitter) | September 19 2008 at 02:16 PM

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Gone But Not Forgotten: The Cobra Kai

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While I enjoy facilitating The Poop, starting a parenting blog was really my second choice, fueled by the fact that it would best serve Chronicle and SFGate readers. If I had it my way, I would probably spend my time creating an online diary focusing entirely on my all-time favorite movie, "The Karate Kid."

One of my favorite interviews ever was with "Karate Kid" screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, whose Sonoma winery I profiled here and here. He was really cool, his wine was awesome and he indulged my endless deluge of questions about painting the fence, crane kicks and the soundtrack genius of Bananarama.

But the best part of the movie is the super-aggro bad guy karate dojo led by William Zabka and Martin Kove. With apologies to the Nazis and the T-1000, the Cobra Kai were the greatest onscreen villains of all time.

"Karate Kid" has never totally dropped off the pop culture radar, but I've noticed that the Cobra Kai have been getting their due in recent years, with several songs written in their honor and other tributes. Here's why I think we could all use a little more Cobra Kai in our lives ... Read More 'Gone But Not Forgotten: The Cobra Kai' »

Posted By: Peter Hartlaub (Email, Twitter) | September 12 2008 at 05:02 PM

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