Drunken Monkey

ok first things first no one uses "chinese" as a general name for far eastern origins. it refers to people of that country. a thai person would not call himself chinese and a chinese person would not call himself thai (would a canadian call himself american?) his name says that he has a chinese accent. if english is your proper first (not mother) tongue and you use english in everyday life more than you do thai (which you don't know anyway), you will not have any accent. an accent occurs when you are used to speaking in a certain way (because different languages uses the mouth/tongue differently and so you are not used to some forms in the mouth). back to the martial arts thing. the only example of grasshopper i have seen is as shown as part of the shaolin "wheel of life" (as well as some of their other displays). if we are talking about the same style then i should tell you that it is a supplementary style, taught after the basic shaolin style is learnt. no one would be teaching it as stand alone because it is not a school (unlike mantis or eagle claw). and if you have signed a contract, it is very hard to get out of. i would like to know what your lawyer could've done against a guy who has a contract with your signature on it. every way i look at it, it's all suspect. well, that's my opinion (based on way too much education that cost way too much). think what you like.

and that is such an immature response.

and now you're just making daft comments regarding what common sense is. my point is that common sense is about sensibilty. like not walking into an angry mob or walking around in your gi and proclaiming that you are a fifth degree black belt etc etc. you can say that common sense isn't always sensible but at least give credible reasons.

because his whole identity here is suspect...

...which he does. but then it's just a pic of a move from a training/performance (doesn't matter which) form.

well, like i said, be careful to differentiate the art from te game. it's like saying that kata is an indication of how effective karate is and we all know where that argument gets us.

nah, it was printed during the period when everyone and their dog were making special editions of every other issue... there is a silvered version that was available to dealers but that wasn't anything special either. it was a very busy/prosperous time for comic books but it was also at the height of it's commercialist methods (gen 13 issue 1 had god knows how many different covers). but that was a long time ago. i have no idea what's been happening during the last ten odd years... probably still the same.

and i was brought up speaking both cantonese and english and i don't have any accent in either... i'd understand if you have an accent on your english but this is just silly.

why no?

and then then there's the obvious things you can see, how many wimpy capoeirista have you seen? i mean, have you ever seen one with an even slightly out of shape body?

whooaaaa, the one where superman dies (issue 75 in case you were interested) isn't rare... they printed a whole load of them. anyway back to the question at hand. i think super speed Flash stylee would be good. what else would you need to be a super martial artist? three years worth of training in two months, how much can you achieve with that kind of ability? besides, with that speed, you really will be master of the art of fighting without fighting!

but isn't training with someone who is only copying what he sees in the video a bit silly? after all, if both of you do not know the style, then neither of you will be doing the right thing. i take the example of wing chun's bong sau again, unless you have trained in wing chun, you will not know what a bong sau feels like. if you watch a video and do what you see, you will only get the shape right. the thing i really have a problem with, and please forgive me if i'm repeating myself, is that i know of people who watch these videos, copy what they see, then say they know kung fu. it bugs me even more when the kung fu they say they know is wing chun because the moment our hands meet, they are useless. this is why a lot of people think wing chun (or any other style for that matter) is not effective. a lot of guys watch videos and then say they know, wing chun, shotokan, mantis, jiujitsu etc etc) i have always believed videos to be useful tools for the martial artist who has reasonable experience and someone with knowledge to pose questions to. but i'm just not convinced you can learn purely from them.

no, common sense tells us to find out things for ourselves and not listen to people whose experience in the matter might be questionable. it isn't common sense that tells you "they aren't full of it", it's your own stupidity. going back to your original example of water on oil. how much water do you need to quell an oil pan on fire?

the first rule of...

and why would being half asian make you have an accent?

read some of the history capoeria as used by the gang members in brazil after the signing of the golden law was very effective. what you have to realise is that capoeira developes very strong, agile, fast and coordinated fighters. a lot of people see the game of capoeira and don't see the abilities of the people doing the moves.

y'know we have the signature... in chinese...

not quite a finishing move but is fun. short sweep to ankles with a little shove to the chest. little effort and movement but they end up on the floor quickly

i think it would be a better question if you had to pick ONE super-power. that way, you can't pick cosmic superman and be a god...

i think if you do go, it will be quite obvious which are the mcdojos. the other thing is, the chinese wushu is very popular there and most of the schools teach it as their art. if you are after a traditional fighting school, you would have to be patient and look around and ask.

yeah in the quentin tarantino stylee it WILL be cool...

be more specific? as you know, yip man taught each student differently. then there's the point that a lot of the teaching was done by his senior students who also teach differently. just interested in what variations there exisit in the yip man branch. on another note. i know a lot of us have probably done a lot of research to see what the other wing chun styles are like. was kinda hoping that there might be a yuen kay san wing chun dude here to talk hands with.

wing chun takes a long time to master even the basics and it has some very idiosyncratic traits. i would suggest you concerntrate on just one style and get proficient in it before deciding on taking another.

well, says a lot then doesn't it...

just wondering, what differences is there between american kickboxing and other kickboxing? as for your main point, i have no idea... if i was being suspicious, i would say that it might be that they don't have confidence in the style thay are teaching. if i was being trusting, i would say that they are preparing you for the fight before showing you how to use techniques from your forms.