Anyone get the latest Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine? It's a special on Hung Gar. As a Hung Gar nut, I thank all you folks who put it together.
Just got my copy and loved the tribute to the Kiu Sau and Buck Sam Kong's 12 hands article. Nice perspective.
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Anyone get the latest Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine? It's a special on Hung Gar. As a Hung Gar nut, I thank all you folks who put it together.
Just got my copy and loved the tribute to the Kiu Sau and Buck Sam Kong's 12 hands article. Nice perspective.
Here's the cover and table of contents for our May June 2006, on stand now.
Gene
now that's a cool issue.
a nice balance of : History, Theory and Application.
Whats with the Wing Chun, thought it was a HG issue? (still a great article).
Think Chen can do a follow up article on the applications of the 5 element pole?
again, great issue, a template worth continuing
The Wing Chun article was in there because we have so many Wing Chun articles in the queue. Wing Chun is the most prolific community for article submission for our magazine at this time. Since we have so many, we almost always put a Wing Chun article in. I figured it was still a southern style and still in the ballpark. The kicking theory presented there was general enough to apply to Hung Ga kicks (or any style for that matter).
As for Sifu Tony Chen, we could do an applications article but it would be really hard to shoot. Long poles are just that - long. We had a tought time squeezing his image and the pole into shot. With two people and long poles, it gets really hard to see the details because we'd have to be so far away to shoot it. I have a few other Xingyi things up my sleeve with Sifu Tony, though. After all, he is my teacher now, and you don't know how rewarding it is for me to be able to write articles from the inside, as opposed to covering wushu or some other style I do not train in. The Xingyi long pole was somewhat related to the Xingyi Da Dao article I did in the previous issue (see the internal forum thread and the Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine forum thread - both short).
We can only do specials when they come together and they come together organically. It's sort of a push-pull because some specials are more successful on the newsstands than others. Hung Ga is pretty secular, so such a special might not appeal to those outside the system. But still, it was a fun issue to work on. We saw the opportunity to do a special and just went for it. I'm glad at least two of you appreciated it. :)
careful ~G all this talk of long poles will get our female posters into a tizzy! :p
We *especially* need more female posters in a tizzy.:D
I have only read this article but it was VERY GOOD. It is pretty amazing how flashy they get it to look on screen, but I still like watching the old men doing the froms slow and showing you every stance.
is there any way you can post this article, I might call myself jethro but james wong's version of this in once upon a time in china is my favorite song ever.
buy the magazine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Design Sifu
I can try can't I?:rolleyes:
Gene- I am nota hung gar person- but congrats on a great issue. I recommended it
to several friends- and they bought the issue. I did too.
joy chaudhuri
on a critical note though:eek:
Aren't you missing quite a few prominent Hung Gar Sifu's in the line up?
YC Wong, KW Lam, etc?
common what's the scoop, i think we prefer them over a
shaolin monk and a wushu kid;)
(on a side note, I bet that kid is really popular with the girls given what his dad can do with his "Little John"!!!
Wow, I just have to say Ilove the article. I haven't recieved my hard copy issue yet but I'm pretty excited if the other articles are that good. Keep up the good work.
We did the Bridge Hand comparison photo spread from archived photos. Unfortunately we could access photos of Y.C. Wong and Wing Lam. We probably have them somewhere, but frankly, we haven't done anything with either of them in a long, long time, so whatever photos we might have weren't easily accessible. I suppose that's a bit ironic given that Wing Lam is my old sifu, but there's more to that story as anyone who follows it knows. :o
The monk and the wushu kid was mostly to make the point about the possible evolution of kiu sau from baduanjin to nanquan. I'm rather disappointed that no one has commented on the baduanjin theory. It opens up a huge pandora's box if you examine that more closely.
Thanks for all the great support of this special issue everyone! It's very gratifying. Truth be told, this is the kind of issue that I prefer to do more than the general content issues, but typically newsstand sales don't support them as much because they are more secular. That doesn't stop us from doing them, obviously, but it does mean that we can't do them as often. Specials are a lot more work too. I don't think I could handle having to do them all the time.
BTW, I had several Hung Ga wannabe writers come up to me at UC Berkeley's tournament this weekend proposing Hung Ga articles. While we are always interested in submissions, to query an article on a subject we just covered in a special sort of day late and dollar short. Then again, it's worse to wait for the specials like many of the Shaolin guys do. Anyways, we'll see how it does on the newsstand. We won't get palpable results for several months and I'm already deep into the next issue.;)
Ive just bought it today :D :D
Here's hasafu again working this issue (and we *do* appreciate that very much) in a discussion of Dr. Johnny Jang's article.
I'm going to move this to our TC media forum because I think it'll get more traffic there.
Wing Chun's basis in body mechanics gives articles about Wing Chun the ability to enter into any magazine, even a Shaolin special. lmao. in a scientifically un defeatable manner. :D
i liked the HG special. who wouldn't like to hear about Wong Fei Hong. And i enjoy knowing the meaning behind the once upon a time lyrics. It reminds me that i should work harder at trying to be a good man.
i was a bit ocnfused about the no shadow kick article though. nothing too bad but it does differ from what we say last year in KFM. no matter.
i tend to be learning more norhten stuff but southern fists are cool. Liu Chang I visited our karate school in the nineties & showed us some stuff/ i bought one of his feeding crane videos & practised the first form. major angle pounding fist.
now, Lin sifu has some southern material in the curriculum too but that's a ways down the road for me. he's from Taiwan, a crossroads of martial arts.
but that was definitely an enjoyable issue. i want to say, there was a disparaging letter to the editor, but take that with a grain of salt. every periodical would have variation among issues because the material is different every time. Saying that KFM is fluff compared to how it was in the past is inaccurate imo if for no other reason than variation between issues. plus, didn't KFM used to be dojo & dojang mag? KFM made a huge step up imo lol. as far as content goes anyway.
plus the editorial staff seems to make no bones about the relation between Martial Arts Mart, Tiger Claw and KFM. most of the MA periodicals are heavily plugged with ads. or you could go pay 2 or 3x that for journal of asian martial arts... which i think is only a quarterly anyway, and which includes non-CMA.
Magazines are more supported by ads than by the circulation itself anyway aren't they? so what difference where the ads come from...
just some props to the balance out the haters lol. keep up the good work.
Thanks Banjos_dad!
I actually enjoy when some one takes the time to send us criticism. It shows they care and it would be foolish for me not to listen. Now, with the forum here, where people can speak to us directly and get reaction *like this* letters to the editor are more scarce. So we appreciate the criticism. If you can't take criticism, you can't train. You can't learn.
We did publish Dojo and Dojang but that was concurrent with our publication of Kung Fu Tai Chi. Each was quarterly and took turns alternating. Eventually, Dojo and Dojang was merged into World of Martial Arts and it became bimonthly, alternating with KFTC. We abandoned WoMA in 1999 and KFTC went monthly in 2000, but in 2001 we went back to bimonthly to spend more energy on the websites.
As for Wing Chun's general principles, I couldn't agree more. But I'd also agree that most styles could produce articles on general training and applications. Fighting is figthing, after all. Unfortunately most authors write from ego - they want to propound their style - so they stick the name of the style in the forefront. I can't really blame them for that. In fact, I think it's the tremendous diversity of styles that makes CMA so interesting. But in the case of WC, I already have several articles in the queue, and we only run one or two articles per style per issue (with the excapetion of specials). If someone was to submit a WC article now, I wouldn't be able to run it for at least six months. We'll probably have to do a WC special soon, just to clear the queue... :rolleyes:
Grats on the good reviews Gene.
Im gonna have to pick up one of those too...
ok ~g you asked for it.
The issue is good. I liked the approach in your editorial at the beginning in regards to taking myths and legends with a grain of salt. This kind of thinking promoted while being a small detriment to on paper credibility, gets us past the stuff that otherwise blocks thinking process in training and moves a person towards just do the training and worry about legends and myths when the time for idle chatter is come.
I like the napoleon dynamite analysis too, and give props for the recognition of the current state of martial arts in teh US as portrayed through that movie. While it is not an entire reflection of teh situation , it does pointv a finger at a moon of a problem in martial arts propogation. I.E no one "gets it" in 8 weeks and 1 week of training is tantamount to a mere vacation that will drift with time.
Interesting note on the kiu sao. It is described as a hand gesture secret symbol. It then states how many southern traditionalist disregard the wushu version (virtually identical) as incorrect. If it's a symbol akin to a peace sign or some other hand signal, how would it be incorrect?
Final comment is on the topic we've been discussing in another forum and alluding to here in another thread and that is the full page add which de facto promotes the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
In many versions of wu de that are held up as the philosophical principles of martial artists it is clear that one must not do unlawful acts, one must serve their country to the positive as well as other general rules about standing for what is good and what will grow and build a positive society. The Hells Angels and their Ilk is contradictory to this tone.
Where I am, the Hells represent nothing more than a criminal blight on our society with scores of murders to their name, distribution of hard drugs and controlling prostitution, extortion of legitimate businesses and in general the ruination of lives they touch. In my opinion, and likely in the opinions of many who have even a small understanding of the nature of such an organization, it is fairly innappropriate that they should be held up as something they are not. They are not a peaceful group of tai chi practicing individuals. They do not respect the laws of the land and they do not respect the social contract. they are in fact the living contrary to the true martial artist.
Now you could put the yin yang spin on it I suppose, but that still wont hold water. That would be an attempt at making a silk purse from a sows ear.
As a martial artist and on a personal note, as a person who has made positive strides in a negative life through kungfu practice, It is in the magazines best interest to not promote this gang and it's lifestyle.
Should we kick him out of our tai chi class?
lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
That has little to do with nationally and internationally creating an image of unity between the magazine, it's concept, precepts of kungfu practice and a known and notorious criminal organization.
I understand the dichotomy, believe me there, I really do.
But kick him out of your tai chi class? why? can't he leave the outside world outside when he practices?
Someone defended the ads by saying some kungfu masters are also into criminal activity.
The difference between that, and this ad however, is that when you cover a master, you cover the master, and not the triad. This ad was not about the person (the whole reason for the ad would be gone then), but for the HA.
I'm pretty sure you would get equal responces if you would advertise a master and the triad he belongs to in an equal way.
For some interesting info on HA, try look up the news over the past few years on them in the Netherlands. And yes, you'll also find info that leads back to other chapters including the USA then. And thats all I gonna add on this matter =)
Gene; this is traditional gongfu (as in fighting) related, but not Hung Ga related...
Why on earth have you not made an interview and/or article on the ShenWu academy in Los Angeles? Tim Cartmell is hell of a fighter, and is skilled in both Xingyi and Taiji (as well as a few Japanese and Brazilian arts.)
I think it'd make a great article for people who still train in Gongfu to maintain practical fighting skills, not just fancy acrobatic skills. (It was a bit disheartening to read that even at the WFH museum, the youth are more into Modern Wushu than learning some fighting skill.)
I don't have anything against Modern Wushu, the problem is that, many people here in the United States, are practicing this, and think that they're learning how to fight. Then they go and get their asses kicked in the street, and it gives a bad name to the ones who are real fighters. :mad:
are we saying that Gene's kung fu brother will be immune, for some reason to the dharmic teachings that come with training CMA and internal MA? and are we saying that on the basis of his gang membership?
martial arts lore features legends of parents at the end of their ropes, dropping off their unmanageable child at the monastery, only for him to emerge later as a pillar of his community, respected and emulated by his peers.
i have always been a little on the darker side, but i am not immune to the correcting nudges of the dharma either, and if nothing else, i at least find myself wishing i was a better person. that is the beginning of one path to improvement. years into training and i have come a little way, but slow progress is progress all the same. if we categorically bar people like John from even starting training, we deny them something they need as much as the rest of us, maybe even a little more.
an issue or ago in KFM, we had the issue come up of potential of abuse of MA training by domestic terrorists, spouse abusers, muggers etc. so we have gone through that thread already. so we all know about the need to examine the behavior of students you have not yet come to know closely.
i feel like ma serves as a kind of therapy completely apart from the rest of its benefits. If we deny people the ability to train we are also withholding a 'medicine' that could lead to the relief of what brigns them to trouble.
i will agree it is shades of gray, who should be trained and who should not. i guess i am trying to say that i believe training can bring people over onto the good side, whatever that means. you should know what i mean!
DJ:Can't he leave the outside world when he poses for Kung Fu Tai Chi?Quote:
can't he leave the outside world outside when he practices?
AM:Maybe. I'll have to try that.Quote:
get equal responces if you would advertise a master and the triad he belongs to in an equal way.
MT:I love Tim's work and would love to see something on him. Unfortunately, I've never crossed paths with him, strangely enough, so I don't really know him. But I'd absolutely welcome a submission from his camp.Quote:
the ShenWu academy in Los Angeles
BD:In all honesty, the HA shoot came out of something I saw in a bunny magazine. Seriously. And I don't mean playboy bunnies, I mean a magazine about rabbits as pets (I have a rescued lab rabbit as a pet). The shot was a hardcore biker cuddling a rabbit, and it sparked the idea of a hardcore biker doing tai chi. This was long ago. I knew John, but I didn't know he was an Angel. I think it was a Metallica concert where we crossed paths in our other guises. We were both flying our colors. The rest is history. The whole point of our 'find your peace in practice' image ad campaign is to shake up the image of what makes up a martial artist. Think of it as trying to get away from Rex Kwon Do.Quote:
a little on the darker side
Yes, I suppose he could...if he wasn't flying the colours of an international criminal gang in the picture.Quote:
Can't he leave the outside world when he poses for Kung Fu Tai Chi?
Here's a thought for you - do you know that we have a large readership that are criminals? By this I don't mean the Hells Angels, or any other group that you might accuse. I mean convicts. We receive more letters to Kung Fu Tai Chi from the incarcerated - people that have been found guilty by a court of law and placed in prison (as opposed to people who are still free). I'm always amazed at this because most prisons do not allow our magazine. In fact, it does no good for us to reply to such letters because they are often returned by the prisons. Why do you think all those prisoners write to us? Can you guess what they ask for?
Not all HA get caught Gene. As far as those criminals that do and are incarcerated and ask for KT mag, guess they will want it even more now that they think you are aligned with the HA. Also a lot of law enforcement and like individuals buy KT...wonder if they will continue now that you have associated KT with the HA.
BTW, I replied to your post on the other forum...you can see it there.
When folks are in prison, they have a lot of time to think. I'm not going to speculate on what is in the minds of prisoners of the state. And for the record, there are plenty of HA members who are doing time for crimes they commited while in the club.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
The bible has a large readership who are criminals too, and jesus reputredly consorted with them regularly...although, it is said he stipulated the whole sin no more thing.
But that's neither here nor there. The reputation precedes them no matter where they are or go.
~G Anyone from any walk of life can make any steps they want in their life. To conciously choose to join a known criminal gang is different from making a concious choice to join say the John Han**** society who aid prisoners who are released from prison in making a better life for themself.
Why connect the publication, but more importantly the studies it represents to such an organization. I'm not certain why you can't see the obvious inconsistency with the two things. I'm no choir boy, by a long shot, but a spade's a spade.
I've been to jail as a visitor. I have some friends that work in corrections, as well as some friends that went to jail. The penal system is actually one of the largest economies here in CA, so it's hard to be Californian and not be in touch with the issues.. I bring this up mostly because I'm curious how connected you are to the incarcerated. Do you do anything to help solve the problems or do you just disregard them? I'm not saying that the Angels are all goody-two-shoes by any stretch. At the same time, I'm not going to deny my personal association with my classmate. He's my friend and training brother.
But back to my question, which neither of you bit at, those prisoners are all asking for redemption. They beleive that redemption can be found in the martial arts. Oddly enough I completely agree. Should we deny them that possibility by excluding them from tai chi?
My profession is as a Probation Officer (you may know it as a Parole Officer which is almost identical to my profession)...so I deal with criminals 5 days a week. I make regular visits to the institutions to interview and make recommendations to the court on whether an inmate should be released and placed on Probation and what the conditions on the order should be. I also do institution placement reports, court reports and supervising of offenders placed on Probation to make sure they abide by the conditions of the order and breach them if they do not and send them back to court...Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
A lot ask for redemption...how many do you think really mean it? I can tell you...It takes a heck of a lot more than just some tai chi or kung fu to bring about a change in offender criminal thinking errors. My profession involves counselling and programming to bring about a positive change in thought which leads to non-criminal behaviour.
The issue was not denying them Tai Chi. The issue was a full page color advertisement of a member of the HA wearing colors and you saying he is a member of the HA, thus making a connection between the magazine and the HA.
I feel for Gene on this one man. Everyone deserves a second chance. Also, you gotta realize, many people get stuck in Jail because of bad circumstances; yes, they may have done some dumb ****, but when you live in a bad neighborhood and **** is going on all around you, it's hard not to have it rub off on you. My brother used to gangbang back in the day; several times he was arrested; he has a felony. But now, he lives in Salt Lake City, UT, and he's married, with 2 kids. He's learned to leave that life while he still had a chance. He's got a huge tattoo of the gang he repped on his back, and that will never go away, but I'm very proud of him now; he's been through a lot, and he learned to make himself a better man from it. I learned from his example and stayed away from gang life.
The point was always about the appearance of unity between the magazine and a known criminal organization.
It's not about redemption, the inner workings of the desperate criminal mind that seeks redemption.
It's not about choices made while growing up in a bad neighbourhood.
It's about how a particular page in the magazine is and will be received and perceived.
It gives a sense that the HA are OK. I'm just providing my opinion on the matter, which really doesn't actually matter because it is done. Anyone out there that now perceives that the HA are an ok group of people.
As individuals, evceryone has redeeming qualities. As an Organization, the HA have no redeeming qualities that aren't immediately cancelled out by their nefarious operations elsewhere.
It's a no win situation on the image of kfm imo.
But it's only my opinion. If I want to read about the HA I'll turn to the crime section of my newspaper.
GHD, KL, it occured to me over the weekend that my reaction to your criticisms were inappropriate. I *do* hear what you're saying and I certainly do not wish to stifle your comments. My rebuttals have come from a reactionary position because of my friend and Hell's Angels model John. Now, I'm fully aware of the reputation of the Angels. In fact, there was a huge bust of the SF chapter last weekend (I was secretly hoping one of you might find it and post it to liven up our debate). I encourage your criticism of our work and hope you keep it coming. It's one of our many check and balances.
Again, the connection between the Hells Angels and Kung Fu Tai Chi is me and me alone. I've worked in the music industry for just shy of two decades. I used to be on the payroll for the Grateful Dead (who invited the Angels as security for the notoriuos Altamont concert). Consequently, I worked with the Angels on many occassions and all of my interactions were positive. But then again, I'll fully acknowledge that this might just be a reflection of my bizarre life. A friend of mine says it's because I'm part of the jianghu. That makes me laugh - he means it to be flattering, but like many, he doesn't know what truth it really entails. I almost feel like Nicholson shouting "you can't handle the truth"
That all being said, what's done is done, such is the nature of print magazines. I doubt we'll have the opportunity to do anything with the Angels again, so no fear, it's over. This was only the second installment of our 'Find your peace in practice' image ad campaign which is very experimental. With any experiment, there is some failure. However, I will continue to take the magazine in an experimental direction. As long as it's my watch here, I promise you that I will do my best to push the edge of the envelope and keep KFTC as close to the cutting edge as possible. Sometimes it will mean that some readers will get offended. This is not the first time, and certainly not the last. Keep in mind that this very forum is an experiment - no magazine is doing anything of this calibre with the people behind the mag so available for comment.
That being said, I'm very happy for the criticisms of GHD & KL and grateful that they are taking th time to voice their opinions. I don't try to make the magazine 'controversial' but I do try to make it thought-provoking. So in my bizarre perspective, the Angel ad was very successful, even if it lost some readers in the process.
I loved this issue. Passed it on to my instructor, who has read it over with pleasure several times. Thanks from allof us for a full Hung Gar issue!