Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015
2014 brought with it a lot of change to MBSB and with it, growth. The time had come where I decided to spend more time working behind the scenes of Milk.Blitz.Street.Bomb. in an effort to expand readership. Additionally, I needed to fix site related weaknesses that I was unaware of creating when I built the site. With that decision came the desire to add new voices; 2014 was a year of multiple perspectives. I’m incredibly grateful for all the contributors who took the time to let us all into their worlds. We worked hard and it paid off. Traffic to MBSB has increased and with it, my commitment to continue the trend.
In the upcoming year I’ll do my best to continue to bring you the best from content creators who are authentic in what they do. I aim to bring more than the generic, more than what is expected and often, less than the ordinary. If you think you’re down to be a content creator on MBSB, please send me a message via the Contact page and we’ll see if we can work something out. Content creators can use whatever medium they’re into – photography, video, writing, something else….the last thing I’m interested in is stifling anyone’s creativity or their voice. It’s okay to disagree with me or anyone else on MBSB. We’re all equals here.
My aim is to also start creating more content myself. I don’t know what form(s) that will necessarily take, there were moments in 2014 where I thought a podcast was a good idea as well as Vlogging on the MBSB YouTube channel. Neither options are fully off the table – we’ll see where 2015 takes me creatively.
I also want to thank all of you who signed up for updates to the memoir I’ve discussed creating (the sign up form is at the end of this post). At one time writing a memoir was a definite. Currently the memoir is on hiatus but not fully out of the picture. I want to be in the right place within to write it – it will be an emotional process, one that will require me to, for lack of better words, bleed onto the page. I’m not ready for the challenge yet.
Below you’ll find highlights from 2014. Each content creator has a piece below picked by me. If you have a favourite post, please let us know in the comments below. Likewise, if there’s anything you’d like to see in 2015, people you’d like to be interviewed, topics you’d like to be discussed, add your voice below…
Upward on Onward,
LDF
Highlights
Frances Watthanaya
The Pep Talk – Fight In Order To Live (Sôo pêua chee-wít)
The owner of Giatbundit Gym in Buriram Thailand inspires his fighters with this pep talk and gives the rest of us a taste of the reality of muay thai in Thailand.
Lindsey Newhall
The Perils Of Dating Your Trainer: Training Fulltime In Bangkok
Follow nak muay Lindsey Newhall who arrived in Bangkok, fell in love with muay thai and started dating her trainer. Part 1 of this riveting series!
Cate Gurevich
Annihilation Of The Self In Muay Thai
The way to master yourself is by mastering something else, and thus by becoming it, and inhabiting it. How muay thai, devotion and narcissism intersect.
Nick Harbison
Gentleman’s House Barber Shop and Cocktail Bar – Proponents of Change in Russia
Welcome to Siberian cocktail culture; old fashioned style, old fashioned service, and the challenge of getting Russians to stop drinking straight vodka.
Matt Lucas
Coach Rudi Ott On Building Fighters and Muay Thai In America
Muay thai coach Rudi Ott of Unlimited MMA gym discusses coaching fighters, muay thai in the USA and personal transformation through the sport.
Charles Brandon Stauft
An Introduction To Pencak Silat
What is Pencak Silat? Here’s the only primer you need to read on the Indonesian martial art which operates under tradition and a certain degree of secrecy.
Jessica Boyd
Cock Fighting: Beyond the Blood
Inside Thailand’s cock fights where tradition and way of life resemble the national sport, Muay Thai. Cockerels and Muay Thai fighters share a lot in common.
Laura Dal Farra
Boxing In Cuba – Training At Rafael Trejo Boxing Gym, Havana
A breakdown of training Cuban boxing at Rafael Trejo Boxing Gym in Havana, Cuba. Watch videos of the boxing instruction and technical drills.
Thanks for letting me be a contributor in 2014. Looking forward to writing more in 2015!
I’m stoked about the possibility of someday reading your memoir, however, I know it can be a difficult and rather painful process to go back into your mind and heart and bring all that to light again, sort through it mentally and emotionally. When you’re ready, it will come, and I will be waiting to read it!
Thank-you! I’m looking forward to working together in 2015!