Drunken Monkey

... so which is it? kenshukai? renzokenkai? taikyou-ken? shotokan? shotokai?

so um, if you only punch a bag to release anger, what do you do when there is no bag?

...i know... it just kinda bugs me. been freezing my knackers off here. had to scrape my windscreen the other day. snowed yesterday too. hot my fat behind....

y'know, i wouldn't actually half mind if the money from fines actually went into transport for uk but it doesn't. like i said, many of the accidents (the main reason cited for the use of speed cameras) are because of road conditions, road layout, signage etc, things that can be easily 'fixed'. instead, they choose to fine drivers and ignore the reason for the accidents. it isn't really the speed that causes accidents. it's the stupidity and carelessness of the people involved. if you take a drive around london towns and some of the surronding areas (eltham, upminster, barking, romford) you will see little bunches of flowers, placed by the road to mark , in respect, for the victims of accidents at those immediate locations. the majority of these are on dual carriageways where there is no obvious crossing spot and in some cases, there is no reason for any pedestrian to be there. is it entirely the drivers fault for these accidents?

i'd love to post some vids. BUT well, since i'm a wing chun guy and wing chun being both a traditional and chinese martial art, all of my videos are of me getting beat... besides. too busy putting together a 1:200 site model of a large chunk of berlin.

did he just say it's too hot here?

fair enough. i guess i'm kinda looking at it at from the viewpoint of two wing chun guys, forcing pressure and leaking pressure when the arms are about to be pinned somehow... can't really explain in words. byt yeah, i can see where there are bound to be differences, especially seeing as the stand up stuff needs a firm stance/structure to work. but still, i'm pretty sure the underlying principles are similar. and i wasn't actually taking boxing to be the fixed definite, rather taking the common view of what boxing is.

isn't there already a thread on this?

well, i would say that you want to harness that flinch reaction and train it so that instead of flinching away from the hit, you learn to do something else (probably step off and receive with a hand technique of some sort) and yeah, what i completely forgot to say was, practice. get a partner to throw a punch at you, slowly at first and let you work around it, adding speed and power when you are comfortable. don't overdo things. i mentioned taking a little step to one side because you don't need to run a mile to avoid that punch. take a small step, add a little turn in stance and you will have at least 12 inches of space between you and the hit.

hmm, last time i hit something as hard as i could was last week at the kickboxing class. last time i hit someone as hard as i could, well, i was training with a friend on monday and was testing his structre so i punched through as hard as i could (but was aiming at his structure).

but then not all striking arts are like boxing in that punching/covering is all you do. before we take the hit, we first aim to control the opponent's movement by cutting off lines, tieing up his arms, control his balance etc etc. in truth it's not far from what grapplers do on the floor (with the exception that you control via holds that last longer than the little trapping hands we use). add to the fact that most striking styles actually have a world of joint locks and arm locks within the system and what you actually have are two types of systems (grappling and striking) that are more similar than you think.

it's also cos they don't work. more traffic speed cameras do not decrease traffic accidents. there's a town somewhere that only has ONE speed camera AND the lowest traffic accident record. they say cameras are to be placed in accident hotspots. it is just plain senseless. if it were a plane accident scenario, they would spend money to find out what went wrong and then try to PREVENT it from happening again. so why the felch are motorists being punished flat out for accidents? has it occured to them that traffic accident hotspots could because of the layout of the road? the condition of the road? putting the blame on speed is utter rubbish. waht makes it worse is taht the current speed limits are based on a car made in the 1970s (or there abouts). yes it's a fair argument that cars have gotten faster since then but then so has the quality of brakes. it is easier to go fast and to go faster but it is also much, much easier to slow down, and to slow down safely. if an accident does happen, cars are also much safer for passengers (IF you are wearing a seatbelt and have seat positioned properly). if there is an accident hotspot, it cannot be because everyone is going too fast. to cap it all, the use of speed cameras is an insult to our intelligence. it is saying that we do not to slow down outside a school when there are kids about nor do we know to be careful when it is raining heavily. tell me what harm there is in me going 100 mph on a motorway (freeway) at 3am when there are no other cars about? our motorways are probably the safest of our roads so why are there more cameras being place on them than normal A and B roads? whose fault is it if a kid runs out into the road? whose fault is it if a cyclist cycles across lanes without any indication? well, according to current uk road laws, it is AUTOMATICALLY the driver's fault.

well, most of the insistance on keeping the game standing is probably because whilst the principles work stand up and on the ground, wing chun has very limited moves/techniques to actually deal with things on the floor... you win. ding! ding!

have faith in your guard hands... hmm, you say shaolin, what do you mean? proper full on shaolin? as in lohon quan, tan tui etc etc? or a particular shaolin form/system like pheonix eye, or something? general thing i tell wing chun newbies, get used to doing the little steps to left and right. it's super quick and IS enough room to get your head out of the way, especially as you have a hand to intercept as you take the step and pivot. also, don't worry about the fists. instead look more to the forearms, or elbows or even the shoulder, depending on how confident you are in shutting and closing. don't think about 'stopping' the incoming weapon. instead concerntrate on crossing arms first. after you are used to the intercept, you can begin to close the various circles.

it should be you that girls like, not the martial art. if it is the martial art that is the reason for them liking you then that isn't far off from a girl liking you cos you happen to drive a 288.

ahhhhh (putting on my philospeak hat) but what do you consider purist? a wing chun guy who only plays standing up? or a wing chun guy who follows the principles?

y'know, i never thought of trapping, pinning, and shutting off lines to be grappling. guess that's cos i'm too used to just knowing it as 'trapping'. hmm, that's probably why i'm convinved you can apply wing chun principles on the ground because it is more of less the same kinda thing that you are dealing with: feel pressure coming from somewhere, ease pressure...

not really an official holiday. it's officially called shrove tuesday. some kinda thing, somthing to do with lent. the main thing is that they used to fill the pancakes (made with old flour and eggs etc etc) with all of their old food. so the day is supposed to be the day in which you finish all of your old food.

oooh, my grandma in yuen long once made a soup with blue eggs... she and my eldest aunt were sitting in the living room cracking them shells. my god the stench...

well, but then, from what you have said, your knowledge of wing chun is very much limited. tell me what closing the gap, bridging, trapping and triangulating is if not movement/mobility and angles?

or perhaps it gives a magical horoscope reading whilst you're pounding on him...

why am i responding to this??? anyway, let's see, when you swing your legs up, you have to lift your hips off the ground so that when you kick up you have space for your legs to get underneath your body. when i've seen people and fail, it is most often because they don't anywhere for their legs to go underneath them. as for problems in front of an audience... well, it's quite obvious that you're a kid so i can forgive you on that... anyway, i used to insert it into fight scene demos but i try to work it into a half back flip straight onto back then spring back. flows better this way and gives me room to have a little 'dramatic pause'. don't try to push with hands. they're there mainly for keeping your back stable so you don't 'pitch'. slippery surface has no effect if you are moving the right way.

let's see, my main sifu is in hk, my local wing chun club is about 10 miles away, my kickboxing is 15 minutes walk. found an 'open' jujuitsu club about 3 miles away... tempted but need to organise my finances and time a bit.

hmm, wonder what the chances of them showing the fight on 'now is the time...'?

well, i would argue that it works for you because you train them so hard. most of the time, the argument is that you don't need to kick to the head. if you can kick to head and can do it effectively and efficiently and quickly then excellent. that's one more weapon available to you. if you can't then there isn't a need for you to go and train to do so (although it wouldn't hurt...)