battousai16

not only does it give me better control, but quite frankly, it's just fun. i like being able to jump in the air and do a 540, or kick off one person into another, even if i know i'll never, ever, ever use it. sometimes it's just fun to practice the useless stuff for a little while. and there's a certain sense of satisfaction to just picking up your leg and kicking someone in the head.... i don't know what it is... at any rate, yeah, control, fun.

i didn't like nadesico either, but then again, i really don't like robot anime. maybe i just don't watch the right ones?

"....and sometimes, all the acrobatic flash really detracts from the fight scene. for a start it almost always requires a change in shot which really breaks up the sequence and timing/pacing/flow. generally it kinda stops the action in order to accommodate it. " that's true. using jackie chan as an example (still the man!), his prettiest stuff is often the most simple, just well timed. same with jet li. and hold just a second there, DM. you said yourself there are two teams, and if you look at there website (you kind of got me hooked), you'll note that the LA team is a bit more focused on a career. still... i have a long way to go to work my way up to that level of geek status.

i don't even think they're slow as much as you're just put off balance. i generally don't kick higher than the stomach, which i know is a bit odd for a korean stylist, but i just have trouble commiting. as SS alluded to, i like my groin, i don't want to do it harm. and if i see quick movements with a chamber that high, i tend to drop a bit... less to protect the groin and more to keep balance. but maybe that's a flexibility thing. i might go for a quick kick to the head for an easy point in point sparring, but only once per round, twice, and only if it's set up for an easy 2 points.

oh, and DM, what the hell is that in your avatar?

yeah, i saw the lack of deviation, i've seen the movie... the will smith one? i'm all over it i think i'm just getting confused with the conversation i had with my older sister afterwards, she was saying it would have to be more ... i forget. anywho, i just remembered it as 7. smack me if you wish. but yeah, i hear ya on that one. weirds me out how close i might be to, say, sano

well then, i stand corrected. although the point it was trying to get to, and i guess i just didn't cement it enough, is that indeed, it's experience and "camera angles, pans, perspectives, movements, framing" often times make more of a difference than the backround in fighting you have. of the little amateur fight scene videos me and my buddies have, more often than not all it takes is a little creativity to make the little fights look like everyone's on an even playing field, even if someone is years ahead of someone else. not to say they don't come out like crap, but... definitely zerogravity, i'm hooked now. nothing but admiration for 'em. check 'em out, though most of those guys seems to have a heavy backround in capeira.

ach, my least favorite jackie chan movie ever.

i think wushu would be your best bet, but, y'know, chow yun fat (crouching tiger) isn't a martial artist... niether is keanu reeves... uma thurman... tom cruise... the list goes on. movies don't really need martial artists any more; we have computers and wires for that. a damn shame, really. still, jet li is a wushu guy, and jackie chan has done wushu-esque stuff, so i'd say go there. the trouble is the self defense angle. me thinks you might have to take two styles... or just settle for one.

"and fortunate not to have killed himself." well... y'know, that's true of all of us living folk... but i'm just being nit picky, now

yes, i've done off the mat stuff. the key is, again, to commit and to fall on places where you don't have bones sticking out. y'know, the meaty places. i've been taught that you generally don't want to use your hands anyway, as that puts an awfully big strain on your wrists, often times in awkward, fragile postitions, especially if you make a mistake. falling to save a broken hip only does so much good when you walk away with a broken wrist, eh?

"You have to be extremely flexible and throw yourself off-balance. Off-balance enough to FALL HARD." falling hard dosen't take much. all you really have to do is throw a leg out or jump a bit.... or be thrown or swept. my falling training (Nak Bop, for you Koreans out there ) isn't especially extensive, and i'm not half as flexible as i should be, but i can still fall pretty damn well. the key to falling is really just to commit. still, falling is a great thing to learn, even if not specifically for the martial arts. i mean, how often do you get in a self defense situation compared to how often do you slip on the ice or trip over a shoe or something? just good things to know

hence my avatar, actually. had to fight back a tear during that ending... you should certainly watch them kamiya, they're fantastic. hey, how'd that get on there...?

well, as someone alluded too (i'm to lazy to go look at who), that's because he takes rediculously good care of himself. it's not that he just knows, he really knows his body and his limitations, and then he seems to push those. and i hear he self insures his team cuz no companies in the world will i mean, if you look at his injuries list... or about how close he came to dying in one of his movies... i wanna' say operation condor 2, might have been the first one, and a part of me wants ot say project A 2... i think it's OC2, though... the man's just amazing.

i always thought it was 7 ways, myself. still, not bad. not bad at all, cousin monkey

oh, don't go through to much trouble for l'il ol' me. good to hear the post is running quick, though. just imported some new music from the lot of you. still waiting on it... patience... all in good time...

well, as i understand it, WTF TKD was never meant to be an effective MA. i've never taken ITF, but as i understand it, it's supposed to be quite effective indeed, if you have the right instructor. depends on where you go, i guess. though, i must say, second nature or not, to not have the self control to stop yourself from grabbing the leg and twisting it around into a take down... and then a kick to the face....

not to say, of course, that he isn't incredible at what he does.

oh, most definitely. unless of course you include the OVA in the series, in which case i'm gonna' have to throw down trust and betrayal as the best. IMHO.

ninjas are japanese, iron monkey is hong kong. just cuz he was in black and jumped around a bit dosen't make him a ninja that said, you're gonna' be really hard pressed to find a good ninja movie... short of the ninja turtles... and even that's more nastalgia than anything.

hmmmmm... this is true. i think i'll go see it in the theater one more time before i make my decision. god i love that movie; it's so great! someone told me i should check out the office if i dug that, so i'm looking around for it. don't want to actually buy the series, and it's on at weird, erratic times on BBC. any good?

just relaying what i've read. i don't see why he wouldn't, y'know? and i think you're right on all counts there. learns them for performance purposes, but could certainly defend himself if he needed. i've said it before, the man could certainly beat the crap out of me, and then be kind enough to pay for my hospital bills i'm sure

i'm sure it's covered in those, then.

he trained with leung ting at some point or other... not exactly sure when... i'm sure you can find that around. he's said he calls himself a stunt man over a martial artist several times, i really don't keep tabs on interviews. you can probably find that, too, he says it a lot.

yeah, there's one in town, but i've never been there. my dad always had a personal war with them, so we never went. i'll give them a look see, thanks for the tip i really got into orphen too; a friend of mine lent me the tapes. but i only got to the first 2 or 3 before she sold them (@%#&!), and i never finished the series. and i got the whole kenshin series on VCD for free... though the raijuta disc wont play. just as well though, that was kind of a crappy part of the series, and i have that tape anyway, as well as a few others