The Witch of Blacksprings

HEX

By Thomas Olde Heuvelt

 The only evil out there is not witches, vampires or other monsters. The worst kind of evil is generated from humans themselves. In the town of Black Spring there exists a witch and a curse. Or rather the ghost of a witch. A ghost that can become flesh and blood. The town curse is that once you decide to become a resident of that town that is it you are stuck there forever. Leaving the town for any period of time can lead to suicidal thoughts. These thoughts are fatal.

Katherine was a lone woman who lived out in the woods when Black Spring was a Dutch town. She had two children and one died. Then the dead child came back to life. Towns people freak out so they make her kills the child that was revived and she gets burned at the stake. For years she haunts the settlement. Eventually it becomes depopulated and another British town rises up in it’s place.  The British soldiers see her ghost and they get the bright idea to sew her lips and eyes shut. Eventually the British settlement fades and Black Spring pops up. Still haunted by the witch.

Leap into the modern day and the town of Black Spring is still dealing with the neighborhood witch. Hex is the in town organization tasked with handling the witch problem. Surveilance cameras are set up all over town. If she appears in the middle of no where local towns people make an effort to hide her so outsiders do no see. Under no circumstances are people to bother or try to interact with the witch. There is an app that is meant to track the appearances of the witch.

Messing with the witch is bad news . She causes death, destruction and all around mayhem. Back in 1961 the military wanted to cut the stitches of her eyes. That did not end well. Several people died. There are people in town who do not follow the rules laid down by Hex. You have Griselda who makes food sacrifices to the ghost. Several of the twon boys get it into their head that they want to mess with the witch.

A couple times they throw stones at her, injure her with sharp weapons and turn a dog onto her. This sets into motion a series of events that will lead to a fiery end. Get ready for chaos. The book is somewhat chilling but suffused with a certain bent of humor that makes what would be very scare to read a down right entertaining read. 

The real monsters are the towns people who tortured and killed the young Katherine. The ghost only comes back after it has been wronged. The ghost was also wronged by British colonists who sewed her mouth shut. But in reality Katherine is more humorous than dangerous. Mostly she shows up unexpectedly and people have to find a way to hide her. She is a comical nuisance.

Jaydon who is Griselda’s son of somewhat rebellious. He and a group of his friend are angry that they are stuck in this town for life thanks to a witch. The anger caused him to torture the ghost of the witch in a frightening way. Tyler tries to stop them. Jaydon still manages to sic Tyler’s dog on the ghost. Tylers dog dies. He gets punished as well. You would think because he tried to save her that  he would be saved. But good and bad pay alike.

Entrepreneurial Jeet Kune Do

The Bruce Lee Code

By Thomas Lee

 

Among the greatest of entrepreneurs certain name have a way of standing out. Steve Jobs, Bill Gate, Elon Musk and several others. One of the best known who had an entrepreneurial spirit was Bruce Lee. Now Bruce was an icon a hero that everyone looked up to. Know for his martial arts prowess and chiseled physique but little do people know that he was an entrepreneur. Bruce had big plans . He wanted to combine the east and the west and show everyone the good parts about Chinese culture. His way to do that involved show casing his Kung Fu skills. His original plan was to open up a string of kung fu schools. When Bruce found that he would reach more people with the cinema that is the route he took.  His role as Cato in the Green Hornet propelled him to fame and his character was the main item of the show. People liked Cato. After that role was finished Bruce did not have any roles. Being flexible and brave he went to Hong kong started his own production company and made several movies. Later he had a stronger bargaining . One could say that if he had plans on opening schools and then later he opened his own production company that he was pretty entrepreneurial.

When compared to someone like Steve Jobs he was an innovator. Bruce took what was there and made it simpler.  Easier to use. If anyone remembers using computer or technologies before Apple it was clunky and difficult. Now Apple products are one of the easiest to use and other tech companies have copied this approach. Bruce Lee also made things simpler. He hated forms and patterns and useless movement that cluttered up the martial arts. He wanted to make it more efficient and useful for  combat. Using Wing Chun as a basis he studied more fighting styles and he took what was useful and discarded the rest. He formulated his own martial art called JeeT Kune Do.

Not only did Bruce study martial arts and exercise routines but he was learning about eastern and western philosophy. He also studied camera angles and script writing.  A good entrepreneur is always curious and learning new things because when you start your own business you must do everything yourself.  If Bruce wanted to realize his vision of introducing kung fu and his philosophy to world he would have to do more than just act. Bruce had to write his own scripts, choreograph fight scenes and learn the basic of production.

Hollywood back in Bruce’s time was very racist. Chinese or Asian actors had limited roles.  Often times when certain characters were Asian in a movie they would often cast a white person to that role. Bruce himself was paid the price of a stuntman for his role as Cato in the Green Hornet. He had fewer spoken lines then his Caucasian counter parts. Bruce knew this racism was wrong but he had and enlightened outlook on it. It was wrong but he understood their reluctance and said that if an American came to Hong Kong he might experience the same thing. This impacted Bruce in a lot of ways. First off he taught Kung Fu to all nationalities something that the Chinese masters frowned upon at first. The second is that he reflected that sense of discrimination in his films. The Chinese Connection showed how Chinese and dogs were not allowed in a park. In Enter the Dragon you have an African American being pushed around by cops. Finally Bruce was like water. He was flexible. He knew America was a closed market so he went to Honk kong.

No nuggets here just the gist. Gonna have to read the book and pull out the nuggets yourself.

When Fire Says Be Like Water. Shannon Lee Renders the Teaching o Bruce Lee

 Be Water My Friend.

Be like water was one of Bruce Lee’s most famous teachings. However, Bruce Lee himself was in many ways like fire. He was burning with intensity and desire. To be himself he had to make his mark an he pursued it relentlessly. As a youth he was hot tempered and often found himself getting into scraps. To be the best he sometimes sought to always out do his opponent. It would cause his Wing Chun sifu to kick him out for a week so he could cool off and improve his ways.

Bruce took a boat and went out into the Honk Kong Sea. It was there that he punched and grasped a the water. From that point on he made a stunning realization. No matter how he grabbed at the water or punched at it , the water remained the same. Water was formless and adaptable. Being formless it could assume any form. Being adaptable if the river was on it’s way to the sea and an obstacle was placed in it’s path it would either go aound, move it away or go over it. Water is free to do that.

Shannon lost her father at a very young age. It impacted her greatly. Her brother Brandon died in the 90’s making a film called the crow. The grief was overwhelming and from her father’s words, martial arts training and therapy she was able to work though it. The book elucidates Bruce’s way, applying the concept of jeet Kune Do to everyday life.

What might be more amazing is that Bruce Lee was not only a martial artist and an actor but more importantly he was a philosopher who learned from everything. What is surprising is that he read several self help books and made use of such tools as affirmations, suggestions and making symbols of his growth periods.

Affirmations can be simple as I am a generous person. Of course Bruce had his own and he wrote them down in places to help remind himself of them. He believed in cultivating the mind and he subconscious. He made a symbol of a grave stone. It symbolized the death of rigid thinking and becoming a free thinker. He did not believe in being bound by a tradition or listening blindly to a master of sorts. He believed you should do your own research. He believed in learning from everything in order to be the best martial artist.

 

After a fight in Long Beach at 1964 Karate tournament Bruce Lee defeated a challenger. He should have been elated. Yet he was distraught. He found that he was out of breath and did like a million things wrong. He worked on them. He incorporated breath work, cross training, weights. In his martial arts adding to his Wing Chun he incorporated boxing moves, fencing moves and different forms of footwork.

While not a praticing Buddhist or taosist he learned from those philosophies as well. Bruce lee had an ultimate dream and like all successful people he realized it by never giving up. He approached it with enthusiasm and being like water when he experienced a set back he just kept on going and he went around the obstacle.

Too much to share in this book for a petty review. Buy the book you will be glad you did.

Haunted Glimpse into Delhi

The Haunting of Delhi City

By: Jhatin Basin

Delhi city is a city filled with many ghost and many broken dreams. Many of the residents live in slums, not even houses but rather bed roles and tents. Most of the people are beggars who make their livin by either begging or selling little cheap souvenirs. Authorities are indifferent to the plight of the street people. Delhi city also has the filthy rich who are sometimes more affected then the poor people.

Delhi city was built by both the British and the Indian authorities by dispossessing villagers and relocating them or forcing them to become begar. In one particular story a young woman enter the cosmetic industry and becomes uber rich. One day she finds that all her dreams are becoming true as soon as she makes the wish. After a bit this ability becomes frightening. After she moves into her childhood home in a very ritzy neighborhood. When they leave the ghost of an old childhood friend reveals herself and tells her that she granted all wishes because she wanted her as a childhood friend.  I will not spoil the ending.

Beggars are not all that innocent and good hearted. In one story there is an uncle beggar who looks after all the street urchins. One by one though they are led somewhere to their death. After three or four of these beggars dies it is revealed that the uncle is behind it. After all it was the beggar that murdered his family.

Stories of love and betrayal are common staple in India much like they are in Arabia. A daughter falls in love with a man that her father disapproves of. So inn order to avoid shame he has the daughter and the lover murdered. His guilt consumes him as he goes through lfe making life  like puppets of his daughter. He also goes on a killing spree to make young people about to get married rather miserable by kiling the groom.

Certain areas are always sacred and sometimes by the mentally ill. There is a spot by the metro wheere people leave candies and snacks for  a man and his children. Someone makes the mistake of smoking by the tree and the gentleman gets haunted for the evening. The story behind the children is that they were murdered by their mentally ill mother.

Overall haunting tales with sometimes surprise an ironic endings. Enjoy your glimpse into India.