hehehe 
i think some bak mei guys should go burn the temple down again, that would be totally sweet.
water dragon
I love the FORUM. Sorry about the magazine.
Geneâs listening, but heâll ignore you.
You see, there are more people willing to part with their $$$'s for fantasy than there are martial artists willing to part with their $$$'s for fact. The great capitalist machine moves on and more truths and realities are crushed under itâs iron wheels.
And as for the Shaolin monks thing, any one of you who thinks theyâre just performers should go and train with one. If you can keep up with even a fraction of their training and conditioning regimen then maybe youâve earned the right to cross hands with them. Then, and only then, come back and slag off something that actually know about instead of forming half-assed opinions from what youâve seen on the tv.
good observation - very true
âthere are more people willing to part with their $$$'s for fantasy than there are martial artists willing to part with their $$$'s for fact.â.
But fantasy can be so much more fun than fact, and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference
The is thread reminds me of the one story I heard some time ago.
Apperantly some guy in Tailand(methinks) decided to lenghten his equipment using a similar method to Iron crotch.
Maybe a starting weight of a few kgâs wasnât the way to go.
OUUCH!!
Maybe a ninja is sneaking up his butt. What was that noise behind me? OHH MY GâAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHHGGGGGG!!!
Hey, sorry Iâm late
My connection was having problems this morning so I hadnât got the chance to reply.
First off, I welcome any criticism - thatâs one thing we offer that most magazines, schools or what have you in MA donât. Recently I replied to another criticism and in retrospect, I didnât mean to come off as if I did not welcome comments. However, I reserve the right to make comments on the comments. After all, thatâs what this forum is all about.
Now on to my comments. We knew that having GM Tu on the cover would be controversial - Iron Crotch is very controversial - but weâve never backed away from that. In fact, as a publisher, we aim to be controversial, but not in a âstart a fight between stylesâ sort of way. We have always worked to present the more esoteric styles. Now thatâs not necessarily marketable, in fact, many reduce sales, but we will continue to push the edge on this. Itâs just our way.
Now Iâm not sure if it was the subject (iron crotch) or the expression that is drawing the initial comment. If itâs the subject, well, ok, crotches are not what a lot of people like to talk about and we accept that. If its the expression, bug-eyed expressions pervade the arts. That Iâm not sorry for. Iâm more curious who actually engaged the article and what they thought of it.
As for the tangent into Shaolin, weâve gone many rounds on this on the Shaolin forum and we are sure to go many more. Personally, I have a deep respect for any MA master, and I do admit to favoring the monks, but itâs part my lineage. So sue me for venerating my own masters. Does Shaolin make more bank than the other styles? Well, not a fraction as much as TKD. If youâre really after the cash, youâre in the wrong style. Within KF, our Shaolin special issues are one of our most popular specials, and I donât think thatâs because of fakery. Something amazing has been happening at Shaolin Temple for the last 2 decades, something that we have never seen before in martial arts history, somethingwe need to document.
Iâm curious for those who donât read us - what would you like to read? What would bring you into reading the magazine? Give me something constructive in your criticism and perhaps we can all progress.
Now Iâm not sure if it was the subject (iron crotch) or the expression that is drawing the initial comment. If itâs the subject, well, ok, crotches are not what a lot of people like to talk about and we accept that. If its the expression, bug-eyed expressions pervade the arts. That Iâm not sorry for. Iâm more curious who actually engaged the article and what they thought of it.
I for one find the idea of âiron crotchâ to be part of the problem with peopleâs perception of kung fu. Pulling a truck with your Jimmy is a parlor trick, just like no-touch knock-downs and the like. Iron body is one thing. You can condition skin and underlying tissue to be resistant to pain and damage, whatever⌠You cannot condition soft tissue like your genitals to be able to be undamaged by severe blows.
So, material like this just adds to the mystical mumbo-jumbo that leads people to disrespect kung fu as full of sh!t.
crotch training
There are many martial traditions that speak of retraction skills so you can take a blow, or maybe I should say âstrikeâ to the crotch. Iâve seen plenty of these demonstrations but Iâve never actually witnessed retraction first hand. Personally, I am open to this possibility, but skeptical of demonstrations.
As for truck pulling, I have witnessed this demo first hand by GM Tu. As Iâve said before, everything was revealed. I canât state that any more clearly. If itâs a trick, itâs a good one, one that I cannot figure out.
But Tu actually looks at this discipline more as a qigong - a vitality exercise with a few martial applications. In short, he doesnât do it for fighting necessarily. Keep in mind that our magazine is Kung Fu Qigong, so we occasionally cover non-martial qigong.
As long as there are guns, Kung Fu will not have the respect that it once commanded. But mysticism, as well as charlatanism are part of our martial tradition. If it offends you, take up another pastime. It will never leave us, because frankly, there are a few masters out there who can really do some magic. Not rabbit-out-of-your-hat magic, but kick-your-teeth-out-before-you-can-blink magic, and GM Tu can do that. Like I said in my cover story, once you get past his Iron Crotch, youâll find this guy is locked and loaded.
Originally posted by Fred Sanford
kungfu/qigong magazine is some of the best fiction/fantasy writing available. I wonât buy the magazine anymore. F@ck shaolin and their monks too. who gives a rats ass about guys who hang crap off their balls?
I have watched my sifu so iron shirt qigong, then proceed to take strikes to the gonads with no effect. He is starting to teach me the skills involved in doing this and I must say while it is daunting it does seem to work.
But it is nothing like pulling a truck with your wedding tackle :eek:
TzuChan?
whatâs your point?
But mysticism, as well as charlatanism are part of our martial tradition. If it offends you, take up another pastime.
This makes me sad. It seems like you are saying we should celebrate our charlatanism. No wonder so many people get disillusioned and leave the traditional arts. I guess all the people who are duped by the charlatans get what they deserve because they donât have the academic objectivity of people like us, eh, Gene?
I bought only one KFM, it was a cover of Russel Wong (I think) and I bought it coz of a big artical about GM Chang. I was really turned off by all comercial and alot that looked pretty crappy. Sorry. I flip through it once in a while but itâs always something that just look so redicilous that I always think âAre they serious?â
Russel Wong?:
I donât think russel Wong has ever been on the cover of KUNGFU-Qigong MagazineâŚ
Can you be more specific about the Mag?
You sure it wasnât Inside-Kungfu?
charlatanism:
I donât think gene was endorcing charlatanism [SIZE=1]me putting words in genes mouth here[/SIZE]. It read to me that the debate about what is & isnât legit is as old as the Martial Arts itself. So it seems like part of fully covering the Martial Arts would include covering the debate on charlatanism as well.
Charlatanism
DS is right and youâll note in the issue that we are discussing that there was an article specifically addressing the Physics of Breaking. The intention was to debunk. If you read the issue, youâll see that we attempted to cover this topic from multiple angles - Taoist, Buddhist, Military and Scientific. IMO, GM Tu is not a charlatan at all. Heâs very theatric, but he has genuine skills. In fact, that was a major point of the article, once you get beyond his theatrics, you find some really amazing stuff, real kung fu if you will.
Now, all magazines are commercial ventures, obviously. Of course we have ads. Of course we promote products. Magazine printing is costly. Who do you think shoulders these costs? I find it really odd when people say stuff like âthey just do it to sell magazines.â Of course, thatâs what we do. Do your criticise chefs by saying âthey just do it to sell banquetsâ? Operating a business is never without compromise, especially in the newsstand. When you look at the other magazines that are on the newsstand, stuff like Maxim, Playboy, Sport Illustrated, Time, Nat. Geo., Cosmo, et.c etc. you realize how difficult it is for anyone to keep an MA mag on the newsstands. We do what we can to support the martial community. Just like this forum. We pay the rent on it. This is a big forum - it costs us several $100 a month to run - and that doesnât include the salary of our webmaster. Think about that for a while before you criticise us, especially if you try to take the high moral ground. Now Iâve stated several times that I welcome constructive criticism. But if youâre just dissing the mag for sport on this forum, Iâd really question your wude. Do you support the martial arts world or not? If not, why are you here?
More to the point, if you compare us with the other magazines, youâll find we have the best ratio of ads to copy at the lowest price. And weâre true to CMA. If your point is that all martial arts magazines are bad because they are commercial, thatâs a funny point to debate and Iâll love to address this. If your point is that our magazine is bad because we are more commercial than the others, I think I just refuted that.
If itâs the subject, well, ok, crotches are not what a lot of people like to talk about and we accept that
Geez, you wouldnât know it some timesâŚ
Good posts Gene and DSâŚ
This argument has carried over many times, just usually with dojo/guan/kwoon/dojang instead of mag.
Itâs cool, Gene. We love you, your mag and your forum, no matter how hokey you might seem sometimes. 