battousai16

and i think the main reason the lines between the different levels of contact on account of the fact that, i think for the most part, we generally agree that you need all levels of contact to be truly successful, because they all teach you different things.

i really dig your max payne drawing! one of my favorite games ever. i've probably played through it 3 times now; everything about it is wonderful if i ever get around to putting any of my sketches on the 'net, i'll be sure to post them so y'all can laugh at them and luckyboxer can feel better about his stick figures

i don't know for sure, but i seem to recall reading that kiais have a specific noise depending on the technique or the target or something like that. come to think of it, i very well may have heard it from jerry love, you may wanna' ask him. that said, mine's more or less just a loud "HA!".

i think WW hit the nail on the head with the "be respectful" point. my father used to work in a mental institution, and of all the times he was attacked by a patient, it always started from him being an * to them (he has some pretty good stories, actually ). i've found that if you're friendly and smiley, you can get yourself in or out of anything. a good tip for the single young men out there

well, yeah, that was my point. cuz i had a lot of crap pizza while i was in italy. italy's not free of pizza hut, y'know, just as the US isn't free of karate america.

well, isn't monkeygirl 5'2"? i understand she did quite well in TKD. you can have that guy take it up with her at any rate, i think speed is better that reach in TKD anyway. in my experience, once the short people get inside your leg range (and they always figure out how by the time they're mid-level ), you're pretty much their's. i hate sparring with short people...

oh, don't sweat it, i barely know anything about chinese sword styles. that's why i don't try to piece them together myself

he's an american sorry, i didn't mean to hijack anything, i just thought it would help clarify my point.

yeah, i get that. ex girl friend. i'm only 18 and i already have a "the one that got away" story, . i guess i didn't call her enough. whatever. at any rate, yeah, that feeling comes around whenever she does.

why are so many people unkind?

yeah, i'm with them. that said, i've been known to have bad days in the dojang every so often, usually when i'm distracted or i've been working to hard and i'm worn out. i usually just shake it off, it's generally ok again by the next day. don't sweat it, we were all beginners once.

blast! i thought the uber stud comment was directed at me! ah well...

wing chun kuen man- y'know, i gotta' say, after being in italy for a week and having pizza all day, every day, all different kinds, i'd have to say the best pizza i've ever had was still made right here in Madison, WI (long live Pizan's!), even if pizza is an italian food. i'm sure okinawa has its fair share of mcdojos. DM is always willing to point out the vast amount in china. i don't think it's fair to assume the okinawan black belt will be the better fighter every time. i've been reading this thread for awhile; good points guys.

actually, i've heard chinese sword styles to be quite effective indeed, but i've never really done any of them other than the chinese straight sword (jin?) yang style tai chi form. but yeah, bad habits.

had to look back to a speech i had to do a long time ago, but are you reffering to kuji-in? i think that does the hand signal thing, but i thought it was more meditative "this-will-bring-me-closer-to-the-elements" sort of thing. interestingly enough, in response to WenFox's post (welcome aboard) i have here this copy of Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith), which says more often than not they were disguised as a traveling actor, an itinerant priest, a mountain priest, a buddhist priest, a traveling entertainer, a farmer type, or a merchant. take everything i say with a grain of salt, though, i'm by no means a ninja expert and could very well be full of it. as far as ninja's go i'm fairly content just watching bad movies and videogames and such

well, just as there really isn't a best style, there really isn't a best sword style, either. it really depends on the person. though i think iaido is very pretty and neat. at any rate, the sword's not something you can just do, you really have to work at it, and you really need someone standing over you to tell you how much you suck (god knows i did) before you get any better. there are just so many little intricacies in everything that it's really not something you can do on line. at the very least, google some sword stances to see what your body postition should look like, but again, i strongly advise you just look really hard and find someone.

ach; if you try hard enough, you'll find something. my sword training has been mostly in hwarang do, which is more or less japanese swordsmanship with a korean name tag (remember, due to korean position, they were constantly being invaded by either the chinese or the japanese, and adapted a lot from the two of them). i also dabbled a bit in kenjutsu when i was younger.

my advice? don't teach yourself. eventually you'll find someone to teach you sword and it'll take forever to unlearn all the bad habits i assume you gave yourself. but sense no one ever listens to that, i'll just say be sure to twist your hands as you're swinging, like you're ringing out a wash cloth or something. it stops the blade and gives it a bit of a pop. when you draw the sword back, keep it over your head, blade pointing straight down your back (so you know where it is), and it's a pretty bad idea to let the tip of the sword below your waist. also, a lot of sword work is in the stance, because you have to keep a lot of veins and arteries guarded. yeah, just find someone. there's gotta' be SOMEone near by who knows what s/he's doing and can give you a few pointers and drills.

sorry. i'd love to help you out, but i really don't know who either of them are. i'd give Drunken Monkey a PM if i were you; he really knows his stuff.

lots o' good stuff said here. also keep in mind, no one said you had to become the unquestioned lord and master of the martial arts universe. if you try hard and only come out competent, that's fine, as long as you enjoy what you're doing. and i've yet to see a dedicated person come out after a year or so as just "acceptable".

"Someone even mentioned that the reason I don't pull my kicks when I kick the bag even though I practice light contact sparring is it's because I kick a bag. To that then, I say "Whatever works!" Because, even if it were true that light contact teaches you to pull kicks, evidently all I need to do is kick the bag and those bad habits go away. So again, where is the need for heavy contact? " well, yeah, that was my point. you worked out a gap in your training by kicking a bag. though, i'd say doing no heavy contact is a fairly large gap in its self, and i'd say the same for doing no light contact

the final boxing scene in snatch. that part where he was knocked into water was brilliant.

"If training with light contact causes me to developed muscle memory of pulling my kicks, why don't I find myself pulling my kicks when I kick the bag?" because you kick a bag. if you did nothing but pull you're kicks and punches in class i whole heartedly believe that's what you'll do in a confrontation. gotta' round your training off that said, i agree with lopez and warlock and them

oh, an killer clowns from outerspace

drunken monkey- babe? like... the pig movie? i gotta' say, that really dosen't fit in with the rest of your list. monkeygirl-you're the first person i've ever seen say they like princess diaries is better than the princess bride. i'm a little baffled... the first matrix, mystery science theater 3,000: the movie, snatch, almost any tom cruise movie, certain bond movies, the producers, and the nightmare before christmas