[ANSTHRLD] The Art of -fu. Check it out!

[Tim McDaniel]

Someone asked about the meaning of "blazon fu".  The Hacker's
Dictionary is a dictionary of computer slang.
<http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/F/suffix-fu.html>

     -fu

          [common; generalized from kung-fu] Combining form denoting
          expert practice of a skill. "That's going to take some
          serious code-fu."  First sighted in connection with the
          GIMP's remote-scripting facility, script-fu, in 1998.

I'm almost certain that Job Bob Briggs was using it before 1998, q.v.
It is found also in <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-fu>

For real-world examples, you can look at the movie reviews of Joe Bob
Briggs.  "While a movie reviewer at the Times Herald, he created the
humorous persona of 'Joe Bob Briggs' to review 'exploitation' movies."
He has a summary near the end of reviews along the lines of

     What we got here is: One breast. Seven dead bodies. Three quarts
     blood. Electro-heart massage. Sickle in face. Sickle in
     chest. Sickle in neck. Bad Loretta Lynn imitation. Snake striking
     wimp in the eye. Stuffed bobcat in attack position. Dollbaby
     shrine. Gratuitous gardening. Gratuitous "Help Me Make It Through
     the Night." Head rolls. Snake fu. Rat fu. Guinea fu. Drive-In
     Academy Award nominations for ...

"Da'ud Bob ibn Briggs Goes to the Movies!" is an SCA reviewer of
history-related films, who bears a strange resemblance to Da'ud ibn
Auda, twice Laurel King of Arms.  Or perhaps resemblance to strange
Da'ud ibn Auda.  <http://www.appletonstudios.com/movies1.htm>
The monthly review is at <http://www.appletonstudios.com/movies2.htm>
This month has two.  The one for Showtime's _The Borgias_ ends

     Good points: The sets. The costuming. The floors. The doublets
     were particularly nice. The banners. They used real heraldry in
     this production: besides the actual coat of arms of the Borgia
     family, I recognized the arms of the de' Medici, Colonna, and
     Farnese - though this last appeared on a white field, when it
     should have been yellow.

     Bad points: Jeremy Irons periodically sounds drunk, slurring his
     words. And Derek Jacobi dies way too early in the series.

     Three breasts. Two gallons of blood. Five dead bodies. Sword
     fu. Knife fu. Scourge fu. Poison fu. Dagger fu. Plots
     roll. Counterplots roll. Cart rolls. Gratuitous simulated
     sex. Gratuitous goat. Gratuitous turncoat assassin. Academy Award
     nomination to Jeremy Irons as Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia for
     "St. Augustine never had to vote in conclave," and as Pope
     Alexander VI for "What would Rome be, without a good plot?" A 72
     on the Vomit Meter. 3 1/2 stars. Da'ud Bob says, "It lived up to
     all of my expectations. Check it out!"

Daniel de Lyncoln
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com