(One of the few things our former President was actually good at: Handling his turkey.)

Announcements:

• I’m real close to being done with my review of some Praying Mantis DVDs. — look for the basic review on Blogcritics and also look for an expanded piece, here.
• I’ve agreed to do a weekly review of Seagal’s Lawman over at Blogcritics. The show is on Wednesdays, I plan to write the reviews on Thursday night, so by the time BC edits the review it should be live on Fridays. Lawman premiers next week on A&E.

Training Report:

Being sick and commitments at work have gotten in the way of training. I made my return last Wednesday but was still pretty weak from the flu. I missed this Monday again due to work but did attend class last night.

Last night I actually made it through all the push-ups without getting dizzy so I think I’ve finally recovered! Apparently we have a new person attending on Mondays — he’s attended the last two Mondays when I have missed. With luck we’ll both be in class next Monday and I can meet him. A new person on board means they’ll slow things down and also review techniques — all good from my perspective!

Level II and III Chin Na is going pretty good. Once I started these levels I felt totally lost! I can see that it may take longer than a year to test out of this material. My overall thoughts on level I have been reinforced by levels II and III: Some of this stuff would work, some of it is certainly unexpected, and it all makes a nice compliment to stand-up in-fighting.

Mantis: We fast tracked through the line drills and calisthenics in order to leave plenty of time for forms. In line drills we did focus on a few soft methods footwork drills but past that there’s nothing much to report.

I was taken to the end of Gong Li Quan however I’m doubtful I’ll remember it. I do plan to practice it later this morning so I don’t forget what progress I made. Missing this past Monday means I only had one day of forms week. Worse still, when sifu visited sigung he was imparted with many small corrections. So trying to absorb the corrections has slowed me down too.

As I was writing this I was looking for a video that shows Gong Li Quan done Mantis-style. No luck. I did find the following videos that were new to me and also interesting. So, I’ll close with them! The first one shows a little Praying Mantis application — I’m not sure what’s up with all that karate-style screaming but the video does show some applications. About half way through you can see some Mantis tripping — cool stuff! You can also see the high-low principle at work — basically in Mantis you spend a lot of time attacking high, then attacking low, then attacking high again.

The second video is another of those my style “versus” your style videos. This one conclusively proves that Yoga is superior to kung fu. After watching this one I expect many MMA fighters to  take up yoga.

-BCP

One of the biggest mysteries of the martial arts is internal energy. Wudan arts, like Tai Chi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang and Hsing i claim it. Supposedly it takes lifetimes to build, but when you get it you can defeat attackers with just a sigh and a brush of the palm.

Well, the truth of the matter is that internal energy is in many arts, and if it is not, it can be put into any art easily. The principles of internal energy, you see, are easy to understand. So if you study kenpo or tae kwon do, or even boxing, then the door is hereby opened for you, this article is going to lay out those principles and shove you through the door.

First, you have to have phenomenal basics, not just good, but phenomenal. What this means is that you must drop your weight when striking or blocking, and do so with such awareness that you actually create a beam of energy down your leg. You must align the parts of your body so that they form an unbroken line of intention, but are relaxed, very important that they are relaxed, because intention and energy will flow easier through a body that is relaxed.

Now, you must make sure that you move the parts of your body at the same time. Everything starts together, and everything stop together, this is called Coordinated Body Motion. Analyze your body so that when it swings into alignment all of the pieces are moving in harmony, and with consideration for their mass and size and shape and so on.

Now, you’ve got basics, and here comes the internal energy. Fill a pipe half with sand and cap it. Move that pipe in such a way that when you stop it all the sand strikes the inside of the pipe at the same time.

This is what internal energy is and does. It is energy swirled on the inside of your body in such a way that it hits the inside of the block, or strike, or foot, or whatever, at the same time. We used to develop this type of energy in karate all the time, but we didn’t call it internal because it didn’t have any undue significance, it was just the way you moved.

It is helpful if you move slowly, concentrating on feeling the motion of energy inside your body. And, to be truthful, the internal Wudan martial arts have arranged their forms so as to help the process. But you can feel it in Karate, or tae kwon do, or any striking art, if you just take the time to appreciate what you are doing.

The real key is that this method, and, to be truthful, all methods, rely on awareness. It is an idea that moves awareness, and the path of this awareness can be called Chi, or Ki, or Prana, or pneuma, or intention. Now, the real question here is whether you can take the time to invest your movements with chi, or intention, or whatever you want to call it, do you have the patience and the awareness to make something significant out of your martial art.

…… deadly … just …. slow ……

In the martial arts, I don’t care if it is mma, Pa Kua Chang, Shotokan, or whatever, there are three key ingredients. These three ingredients are what makes an art an art, and they are why people study the arts. Oddly, one of the ingredients is almost totally ignored.

One of the ingredients is the pursuit of strength. Muscle mags are filled with strength advertisements, and everybody obsesses on strength. Oddly, strength is the least important of the three essential techniques of the martial arts.

Another ingredient is technique, and this is the most important of the three essentials. Technique is measured by how little effort you need to make a move work. If you need a lot of strength, then your technique is not very good.

The second most important essential to good martial arts, and the one most people ignore, is speed. Interestingly, at least in the beginning, speed is very necessary to make a technique work. Yet strength is what everybody chases.

Yes, people try to get fast, a little bit, but it is an individual effort, and usually put aside in the pursuit of strength. People believe that strength is going to make them faster, you see. Well, it will, but there are flexibility drawbacks, and the speed gained is not always enough.

Speed must be developed in a fashion which tailors it to the technique. As knowledge of technique rises, so should the escalation of speed. In my over 40 years of martial arts I have found only one technique which develops speed in the proper manner.

The Speed Drill is based on a simple slap and grab motion. It makes all techniques as easy to enter as it is to slap a fly. And every technique can be entered using this slap and grab Speed Drill.

So practice the strength of Uechi, and build the technique of Aikido. Work the sticky hands of Wing Chun and focus your concentration into the great nothingness through Tai Chi Chuan. But if you want sheer, raw, powerful speed…you need to practice The Speed Drill.

I overmorgen får martial arts-filmen Ninja Assassin premiere. film:syn har haft i tankerne at lave et temaprogram om genren i anledning af den nye film. Det bliver dog ikke til noget i denne omgang. Men i forbindelse med researchen til det – nu i hvert fald midlertidigt skrottede – temaprogram, faldt jeg over dvd-udgivelsen Kung Fu Masters-Collection, som jeg vil anbefale til alle de, der holder af 1970′er-Kung Fu. Boksen rummer filmene Come Drink With Me, Master Killer og The Oily Maniac – et fint udvalg af Kung Fu-film, som alle er et syn eller gensyn værd.

I den her forbindelse vil jeg også minde om, at I endelig må byde ind med ideer til mulige temaer, vi bør tage op i film:syn på DK4. Temaet behøves ikke have nogen aktuel anledning. Interessante sager kan jo ofte være dybt uaktuelle.

Check out Martial History Magazine’s excellent piece on Chinese Martial Arts in the 19th Century.

The following are English language accounts of 19th century Chinese martial arts in China, which have always been rare due to the scarcity of English observers and translators at such an early time. I’ve stopped right before the Boxer Rebellion/Uprising (1898-1901), which deserves its own treatment and will be covered in a future article.

Not completely related but lets close with another recent video find: Something called Tai Mantis.

Tai chi praying mantis is unique in that it incorporates the circular movements of tai chi chuan, using the strategy of turning the opponent’s movements and energy against him. This style is famous for its seizing and locking techniques, and its arsenal of high and powerful kicks.

I definitely can see the Mantis influences in this Northern derivative.

-BCP

“When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.”

“Grasshopper! Get your butt back here with my pebble!!”

Here’s the latest newsletter, it’s about how Ilearned to kill a turkey, sort of. Happy Thanksgiving, and try not to laugh at me too hard.

Monster Newsletter #254–Happy Thanksgiving!

I give thanks that I get to work out!
Everyday.
Many times a day.
And I know you do, too.

I mean,
what else is there?
Eh?

Now,
I lived in Northern California.
place called Redwood Valley,
right outside of Ukiah.

And,
I had a couple of acres of grapes,
a bunch of chickens,
and considered myself
a gentleman farmer.

I should have considered myself
a grade A goof.

You know those fences with the thick wire and the squares?
The squares are smaller on the top of the fence than on the bottom.
Well,
the truth of the matter is
the small squares should be on the bottom.
Keeps the chickens in.
Hey!
I didn’t know that!
So I put up this fence to keep the chickens in,
and they walk out the big squares at the bottom.

My neighbor,
an old guy who really was a gentleman farmer
leaned against the fence and laughed until he cried.

Good for nothing gosh darn $%^$%^&*%^&!

And, then there was the time my wife told me to use the back driveway
when it was raining.
Well,
the back driveway was mud,
and my wife came out and observed
that I was stuck in the mud.
She said,
‘Mud spelled backwards is dum.’
Boy how she laughed.
And it was her that NAGGED me into using the back driveway.

My neighbor,
he was leaning against the upside down fence,
laughing till he cried.

God for nothing ^&*8 %^&*()!

But,
the topper was the rooster.
The rooster jumped on my youngest son,
big Fng rooster,
trying to get his foot claws
into my son’s face.

So I took a stick and,
using perfect form,
cut that rooster across the neck.

Man,
it was a perfect chop!

Rooster had to be dead.

Laid there like he was dead.

So I went and got the shovel,
and when I stuck it under his warm body,
he jumped up
ran around like a…
well..
like a rooster with his head (almost) cut off.

I had broken his neck,
but that didn’t stop him.
He jumped at me,
tried to claw me,
chased me right out of the
^%&*()*&^%&*()&^%&*(
henhouse!

Gosh darn rooster!

My wife asked why I came running out of the henhouse
looking like a zombie (rooster) was after me.

And my neighbor…
you know what that son of a $%^&*(OP was doing!

Leaning against the fng upside down fence laughing till he cried!

Now,
my neighbor wasn’t all bad,
and he was a gentleman.

After he stopped laughing,
he told me the truth about how you hang a fence.
And,
after he stopped laughing,
he got his tractor out and towed me out of the mud.
And,
after he stopped laughing,
he asked if he could have the rooster.
Said his wife knew how to cook tough old birds until they were the proper soft,
winked at me so I understood it was him that she had been cooking all these years.

And,
he told me all sorts of things about wine,
even brought a bottle of his own wine over,
and we toasted each other.

I toasted him and his generosity,
and he toasted how much laughter I had caused him over the year.

Yeah,
he had made the same mistakes I had made,
only fifty years sooner,
so he was not laughing at me,
he was laughing at himself,
and,
me given enough time,
(or, at least enough wine)
with me.

So,
how are you going to kill that turkey?

You have to kill it yourself,
you know?
You are a martial artist,
probably have a shiny sword hanging in your closet,
or at least some Cold Steel,
or maybe a Glock.

So,
how you gonna off the turkey?

You have to do it yourself,
or you aren’t really a martial artist,
right?
(grin, grin, grin)

I mean,
people shouldn’t eat hamburgers
unless they can confront slaughtering beef.

This vegetarian thing is silly.

Come on,
how you gonna kill the turkey?

Put it on a block and chop it?
Chase it down and skewer it with a sword?

Then pluck it and make a big hole in it
and reach your hand up in there and pull out all those gooey things?

Oh,
but don’t ask me to help.
I’m too busy over here,
leaning on this fence
and laughing until I cry…

HAH!

Here’s a link for you…

Blinding Steel
Happy Thanksgiving
all you turkeys,
I give thanks for your friendship
and all the work outs you’ve done over the years.

Al
=o)

PS–If you want the latest article, try googling ‘ The Secret Behind Real Karate Fighting!’

It makes me mad when someone kills snakes or dogs or cats or horses. I don’t even like to eat meat – that is how much I am against killing….

Charles Manson

Friday

I come thru Like Kung Fu
Humble your whole 1,2 1,2
Mic check, rap you like a jumpsuit
on the beat like a gumshoe

Old enough to be your uncle
Still find a way to punk you
The shit you been spitting is uncouth
I bruise you like plum fruit

Your dumb dude
I do what you can’t un do
Make art out of war, come at you with Sun Tzu
Beat me? i know you’d love to

But I’m deep in the chest
like the game of chess
heart beat to the beat of the art that i’ve been blessed
with
eccentric yes but
electric like Tesla
knock a jock off his fucking Vespa
order spaghetti then rob the whole Rest-
raunt
Vision The Kid Ridiculous, what else ya want?

Yeah, the Shaw Brothers were at it again with this masterpiece!  There’s a certain someone out ther who used to own this movie.  Is that still true?  I sure hope so, because I’d like to see it again.  Enjoy this trailer and then search your own copy out.

Kung Fu

Βλέποντας το συγκεκριμένο video θα αντιληφθείτε ότι η τέχνη του Kung Fu περιλαμβάνει και άγριο F@ck.
Δείτε το video.

We went and saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs we saw in the theater but chose not do to 3D because my kids hate having the glasses on and in 3D if you take your glasses off the screen is blurry… plus 3D costs more. I was the only person in my family excited to see the movie. I read the book growing up and was thinking it would be cool. I felt it was sort of a let down. Do not get me wrong the movie wasn’t horrible but I do not know that I will buy it.. Only time will tell though. I would give the movie 3 stars. My kids and husband felt pretty much the same way although my kids really loved all the yummy food and scientific stuff. The story was a bit weak though I think the essence of the book still shone through.

I saw both The Kung Fu Panda and WALL·E in the theater. At the time I probably would have said 4 1/2 stars for The Kung Fu Panda and 4 stars for WALL·E. Since I now own them both on Blu-ray and watch them quite often I would now have to say I rate them both 5 stars.

The Kung Fu Panda, is not only likable it is down right adorable. From the witty humor to the fantastic animation it is a solid movie. The story also is a good one with a good moral though I do not know if children grasp that level of it. I know my kids just think a big fat panda bear saying HI-YAH is hilarious.

WALL·E, on the other hand on first viewing was a bit depressing to me even though my kids thought it the most fantastic movie ever I was a bit annoyed. I think because I usually watch animation movies to escape the real world and this movie just made me think more about real things. It is a very deep movie. It delves into our world and how we are as people. Of course most kids won’t get this either. My two love it because there are robots and spaceships. Since it is Pixar you know the movie is Gold anyway.. or at least I do. Now that I have watched it a gazillion times I think my mind has kind of learned not to think on the things and just watch it for the silly parts, making it a more enjoyable experience.

Up, which is also a Pixar movie, is a great film. We saw it in the theater and at that time I would have given it 4 stars but now that we own it on Blu-ray I have to say 5 stars. It has a deep story ( more so for the opening of the film.) But it is a light-hearted, sweet, family friendly movie. I will say that my oldest child got the depth of the beginning in a way.. She wanted to know why the lady couldn’t have a baby.. My son not so much but he is very frightened by the “mean” dogs.  Overall, I give it 5 stars and I think right now it is the family’s # 1 pick.

Bolt, my daughter and I saw in the theater. She loved it I thought it was so-so. At the time I would have given it 2 1/2 to 3 stars.  Since then we have bought it on, can you guess? Yep, Blu-ray. After re-watching it, I think I would give it 3 1/2 to 4 stars. I think the casting of the voice of the lead girl (Miley Cyrus) was a bad choice. Her voice is kinda raspy and deep and for some reason it really annoys me. However, I LOVE the hamster’s voice – I think it goes perfect. The storyline was not too bad but at times a bit cheesy to me. Overall still good enough to watch. FYI – My son is very afraid of the green-eyed man.

 This was a wonderful warm day for us to go the beach to capture this young couple. We started With the water rushing through the rocks on the edge of the ocean and continued down the beach. I absolutely love the sunset in Virginia Beach and how it makes the sky dance with color. I hope to have many more shoots on the beach this year and would love to take you and your family out to capture the colorful sky. This is not limited to the engaged couple and would be awesome as a family shoot to send out as christmas cards. If you want to schedule an appointment contact us today.

rwidgeon@vbatoz.com   http://www.vbatoz.com   (757) 621-8288

More word of the week entry type things.
After having a bit of a break from doing anything last weekend I managed a bit more enthusiasm with the pencils this week. Cobbled together some images based on Lord of the Rings, one of the Fellowship, didn’t want them to look too happy as they’re heading off on a mission with little chance of survival. I’m happy with gollum and the other two were just filler. Not so happy with them just being plonked on a white background though.

Shane’s referenced a Hammer Horror film that I’d not heard of until yesterday. Looks like it should be good though. Kung Fu and Vampires. Coooooooool!
Excellent stuff as usual. Great composition and posing.
One day. I’ll learn to do this….*sigh*
I hope…

Next week word is WELCOME.

Dragon Set – ‘Lung’ The Dragon Set picks up on the Chi developed in the Snake Set and further develops it into internal power.The Spirit of the Dragon is one of elusiveness. The Dragon will disappear and reappear in defense and counter attack. What this means is that when confronted with an adversary, the Dragon will calmly wait for the attack and once launched, will move out of the way with confusing footwork patterns and counter attacks. One second the Dragon is there, the next he is gone as he ‘rides the wind’. In contrast to the Tiger and Leopard, the Dragon prefers not to use hard blocking, but rather avoids and redirects the attack of the enemy. The Dragon Set is an internal set that develops and uses internal strength, as opposed to the primarily external physical strength of the Tiger and Leopard Sets. The Dragon Set is performed at a slower speed than the Tiger, Leopard and Crane Sets, without much emphasis on physical strength, but rather on focusing and emitting internal power directed by the mind and spirit (intent). However, since one cannot have internal strength without outer physical development and chi development, one has the preceding four sets. Internally, the Dragon Set takes the chi and jing developed from the other animal sets and adds a coiling and spiraling movement to it, to imitate how a Dragon is imagined to move. The effect of this spiraling, is to reach a high level of internal power which supercharges the outward expression of jing – Fa Jing (exploding/penetrating power). The Dragon Set uses as its main arsenal, the Dragon Claw to trap, grab, twist and dislocate the limbs of the enemy and the Dragon Palm to deliver devastating internal power strikes to the adversary’s vital points. The Dragon practitioner also uses his finger tips for pin point accuracy strikes to vital areas such as the eyes, throat and acupuncture points. The Dragon Set develops coiling and twisting energy of an internal nature which flows to the external where it manifests as a powerful Fa Jing energy. Spiritually, the Dragon Set is a composite of the spiritual qualities of the preceding four animals resulting in a synergism where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This quality is very hard to describe, but can be compared to the enlightenment sought by the traditional Chan Buddhist Monks of the Shaolin Temple.

I don’t know why I find this article so funny. But it’s really sad. We seem to forget that many of the Masters are just regular people with regular (and not-so-regular) struggles.

I didn’t know that GM Ting had worked on Five Venoms and The Chinatown Kid:

‘Five Venoms’ action director jailed

News | by Mark Pollard