Category: Cartoons

Newsletter 13

1. Children’s forest school, what a terrific idea and one that I wish had been available when I was in school. I came across this interesting school as I looked into methods that would allow me to get off the grid. I was intrigued with an article I read in the Toronto Star newspaper about tiny houses. I had this ambitious idea to find some property up northern Ontario ways and build or rebuild a stone house.

2. I spent this week working with a designer developing a promotional video for my upcoming book. It’s a 30 second video and I posted it to vimeo. Check it out when you get a chance. The featured photo in this newsletter is of the protagonist of my upcoming book, “Samba on a Snowy Day”, getting ready for a photo shoot or a haircut.

3. Many of my favourite books are the ones that I consider to be reference books. “Karate-Do Kyohan” is such a book, I keep coming back to it for inspiration and motivation. Written by Gichin Funakoshi and translated to English by Tsutomu Oshima, it is a fascinating read for Shotokan enthusiasts or anyone interested in the true spirit of karate, as a way of life. Last week I mentioned another of my reference books, Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo, one of my students was inquiring about the terminology of the basic techniques.

4. I have been checking out some of the Grammy nominees as they were recently announced. A vocalist I really like and have been a fan of since I first head her on pianist Josh Nelson’s 2006 album, Let It Go, Sara Gazarek, she performed vocals on one of the songs “Leaving Here” and I loved her voice. And now she has been nominated for a Grammy in the jazz vocal category. For a list of all the Grammy nominees on this the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards which is scheduled for January 26, 2020, at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

5. Yesterday I succumbed to my craving for Vietnamese noodle soup. Unfortunately most restaurants use Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG) in their soup. This is something I would like to avoid. However once in a while I partake in a grilled chicken noodle soup.

The one I had from Purple Bubble in Ajax, Ontario was really tasty. Which likely means it had lots of MSG.

Thanks for reading. If you like what you’ve read forward this to someone you think will enjoy it. Check out my blog, follow the link, sign in.

Tags Gichin Funakoshi, Josh Nelson, Samba, Sara Gazarak, Tsutomu Ohshima

allergies Autumn Books Cartoons Children Children Activities Coaching Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo

Newsletter 11

Hello all!

Some things that interested me this week, and I hope will be of interest to you too.

Here are my five items, links or suggestions that should get you some inspiration and information.

1. I renewed my membership in the Ontario Coaches Association for another year. I renewed because I believe this is a valuable coaching/instructing resource. I have taken many National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) courses through the organization. One of the courses that I enjoyed, Fundamental Movement Skills, teaches the building blocks of physical literacy. The building blocks that will give children competence, confidence and motivation to try many different physical activities.

2. A child in one of my karate classes told me he had a peanut allergy. This came about during one of my classes and as I was teaching the kids how to make a proper fist and my analogy, was to imagine they had peanut butter in their hands and they should squeeze the peanut butter through their hands. My student interrupted me, “But sensei I can’t have any peanut butter”.

I have my first aid certificate and we deal with Epi-Pins and anaphylaxis is covered in the course but I decided I would take the allergy aware course too. And now I am certified. I must remember to say squeeze the pizza dough through your fingers.

3. I found a great movie on Crave this week, an acquaintance had told me about it, The Green Book a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Farrelly and starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. The film was written by Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie and Nick Vallelonga. The film, which won best picture at the Academy Awards, depicts the burgeoning friendship between a black classical pianist and his Italian-American driver as they travel the 1960s segregated South on a concert tour.

4. My scheduled meeting this week with Josh Miller, the illustrator of my soon to be released children’s book Samba on a Snowy Day was great. We usually meet at a Toronto library, this week the library was closing early and we took our meeting across the road to a bakery, coffee shop. We discussed the layout and reviewed all of the illustrations. I am very happy with Josh’s art work, he is a master illustrator.

5. What I am re-reading, Shinden Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo, an instructional book I keep coming back to as a master reference – It is in Japanese, with tons of photographs. Written by Hosho Terushige Shiokawa (1926-2014); a Japanese master martial artist who I was fortunate to train with in Japan in 2002.

Thanks for reading. If you like what you’ve read forward this to someone you think will enjoy it. Check out my blog, follow the link, sign in.

www.paulyanuziello.com

Tags Brian Hayes Currie, Hosho Shiokawa, Josh Miller, Mahershala Ali, Nick Vallelonga, Ontario Coaching Association, Peter Farrelly, Shingikan Martial Arts Dojo, Viggo Mortensen

Cartoons Children Activities Coaching Entertainment Jazz Martial Arts Rock & Roll Yoga

Newsletter 7

Hello all!

Some things that interested me this week, and I hope will be of interest to you too. Oh – by the way, my attempt at getting unhooked from my smartphone didn’t go as expected. I’m down 40% in screen time from last week with an average of two hours and some minutes per day. Six of those hours in the week were using the smart part of the phone as my GPS while driving. My attempt to reduce screen time continues.

Here are my five items, links or suggestions that should get you some inspiration and information.

1. Ginger Baker passed away this week, he was one of the greatest influences for me in drumming. Pictured here are some of my albums that he is featured on, Cream, Blind Faith and Baker Gurvitz Army. Rolling Stone Magazine had this to say about Ginger Baker – Cream Drummer .

The Ginger Baker Trio, was his outing with jazz greats Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell, an album he made in 1998 – Going Back Home shows Baker at his foundational best, check this performance, it gives you an idea of his jazz roots, Ginger Baker Jazz Trio Performance.

The documentary, Beware of Mr. Baker, check out the Trailer For The Documentary, this is an interesting view into Baker’s life, by filmmaker Jay Bulger. Luckily I still have some of my Ginger Baker records, I’m going to give Mr. Baker a spin right now, his playing is still inspirational. RIP Ginger Baker.

2. Yoga kids is a great idea to help get kids active – Go Go Yoga for Kids: A Complete Guide to Yoga… by Sara J. Weis – is a book, and I love this concept and think it’s great for children, a yoga practice plan for kids. A session plan that takes yoga for children where it needs to be, there are some great resources here for teachers, parents and coaches, gogoyogakids.

3. When I read this book on teaching yoga to children it reminded me of the High Five Training highfive.org, that I took a few years ago. It is a method of training coaches to provide activities and environments where children feel safe, welcome, competent, connected, empowered and special. This course changed the way I go about teaching karate to children.

4. For my Canadian friends and any interested bystanders, I have been muddling through the issues that will affect our country for the next 4 years. The Canadian election is set for October 21st. I found this great summary of a survey on some important issues, enviro survey summary, that provides a guide to some of the more important questions and issues that I am interested in. They summarize how all of the parties stand on said issues.

Do you know who the parties are? Bloc Québécois – Conservative Party – Green Party – Liberal Party – New Democratic Party – People’s Party. Do you know who you will vote for? Take a stand, make sure you get out there and let your voice be heard, cast your vote.

5. I met up with a friend of mine over the weekend. Rick Hotton, a karate master, an author and an illustrator, he is also the founder of an international group known as Sunday Morning Keiko a community of like-minded people celebrating the martial arts journey.

Rick was in town for a karate seminar and I met up with him for some after seminar socializing in Burlington, Ontario. He is a wonderful storyteller and a fascinating individual, he has a book entitled Holy Molè Cartoon. Randy Moore has written a great article, Rick Hotton and the Mindful Art of Holy Molè. Check out his cartoon, it’s good fun and it’s mindful.

Still friends after this awesome kick to my head.

Thanks for reading. If you like what you’ve read forward this to someone you think will enjoy it. Check out my blog, follow the link, sign in.

www.paulyanuziello.com

Tags Ginger Baker, GoGoYoga, High Five, Holy Molè, Jay Bulger, Randy Moore, Rick Hotton, Sara J. Weis