gamedweeb

Ah, well it's probably not going to be just one movie... The title "Awaken the Dragon" seems to scream "There will be sequels!" What would be wrong with Samuel Jackson playing Bruce Lee? He could run around with a bald head yelling "I'm Samuel Jackson!" With his lips slightly off sync with the audio as he side kicks a guy through the wall. Come on! It would be fun! Then he could pull out a lightsabre and go to town Mace Windu style, but no before he beats down Chuck Norris. Okay, that's probably enough... Hahah, maybe we should have a bunch of people get together and make an MA film Epic Movie style?

I've been interested in the Kung Fu episode they're supposed to be doing. I was hoping they'd do Kenpo but it's probably too much like a mix of Karate and Kung Fu.

Tekken 5: Jin, Law, and Lee. Feng makes life interesting as well, although some of his basic attacks throw me for a loop (pun intended). Super Street Fighter 2 (SNES!): Turbo: Ken/Ryu, Guile, and Chun Li.

As a cop put it to me: "We can play the game too."

That sounds like simple and great advice. I've also heard from people that you could specifically state that "I just wanted him(or her) to stop."

Very good point about being able to articulate what happened Bushido. There was another article I read on using the term "headlock" vs. "choke hold." If you tell an arriving officer that the assailant that he had you in a "headlock" and you beat the crap out of him to get away, chances are you'll end up in handcuffs. Whereas if you were to tell the officer that he put you into a "choke hold" then it implies impending loss of consciousness and possibly death. I also like that "I was attempting to control the knife wielding hand of the attacker, and in the process of the struggle, he injured his hand."

There's a local instructor I know of that tells his students: "If you're contronted by someone knife and have to disarm them, break the finger, not the hand." This instructor ended up having to pay damages to the attacker because he broke the guys hand. How messed up is that? He could've been stabbed to death and yet only broke the guys hand. Then there's the possiblity of being attacked by someone that's "a different race." You defend yourself, and then are put on trial for a hate crime. Or you could be a little old lady that keeps a gun in your night stand. You wake up and hear someone in your in your house. You get up with your gun and flashlight and go see what's going on. There's someone snooping around that should be there, you feel threatened so you shoot them. Then you find yourself put on trial being asked "How do you know he intended to hurt you?" (yes this was a real case, I believe it was in Florida) Or the cynical joke: "If you end up killing someone in your house while defending yourself and they fall through a window and end up on the lawn. Bring them back in the house, then call the cops." I'm sure those are rarities. But in some of the reading I've done lawyers have pointed out that it's not difficult for a would be assailant turned test dummy to turn the situation around so that they're the victim. In retrospect Bushido my comment was probably pretty sweeping and over exagerated... But in our world of Twinkie Defenses you never know.

I guess it comes down to what the difference is between fighting and defending yourself. If you're concerned with defending yourself, you'll leave at the earliest possible point. Where as a fight is more ego based, you stay until the other guy is beaten into submission. Yet I can't help but wonder why the law seems to be on the side of the attacker that fails. He took a chance and attacked the wrong person.

You know Montana that is an awesome (quite literally) way to do it. I think it would encourage students to focus more on becoming good than "when I am I going to promote?"

Here's an article I found with a quick search of "Tam Tui": http://www.chin-woo.com/whatis.html

I spar with women all the time at my school. 3 out of the 7 black belts right now are women. One in particular always raises her lead arm, exposing the side of her chest, then complains about it when I punch her in the "boob". I just tell her not to leave herself open. If she can kick me in the groin, I can punch her in chest.

Kane and Zanshin, what do you guys study?

Congrats man!

Hehe, that was my post. We're encouraged to have friends and family come and show their support. I have heard of a number of schools where Black Belt testing and promotions are strictly closed door, which makes sense in a lot of ways.

gzk, I've been training for about 3 and 1/2 years.

As promised, pictures of the belt promotion last night! http://www.geocities.com/geek89turbo/just_tied_on.JPG Just tied on my Black Belt for the first time. http://www.geocities.com/geek89turbo/me_with_certificate.JPG Yep, there's the certificate to go with it! http://www.geocities.com/geek89turbo/new_logan_black_belts.JPG The three of us from Logan that were promoting, along with our instructor. So my mom and I left for the promotion at 4:00, the drive to Provo should've only taken about 2 1/2 hours. But traffic was at a crawl the whole way down, to top it off just north of Ogden we got bumped by the guy behind us. It didn't do any damage to our car or his, I have no idea how... He hit us doing probably 10 or 15 miles an hour. Then we weren't sure if we could leave or not. So we ended up calling 911 and asking (seems stupid I know, but didn't know the number for the local dispatch), since there wasn't any damage my mom and the guy exchanged information and we got back on the road. It added another 30 minutes to the already long drive. I ended up being 45 minutes late. Luckily I'd called and left a message with one of my classmates that was testing. She let everybody know. My instructor came over and told me that they were going to have me demonstrate a form, but I guess the board changed their minds. Actually I think it was that they were running short on time. That and three people on the board knew me and told me I was ready beforehand. I just jumped in and started doing self-defense. Then we went do doing show-time kicks. I didn't have time to warm up for the kicks, but I think I did fine (my hips were screaming at me later though! So hell yeah! My goal is to be back there in a year promoting to 2nd degree! Thanks for all the support everybody!

Congrats! That's sweet!!!!

My two cents on it: Some of the Aikido I've seen, I can't help but think "wait a minute..." It looks fake at some points. Interestingly enough I've started reading "In Search of the Warrior Spirit" by: Richard Strozzi-Heckler. I'm not very far into it yet, but the way he describes what happens during an Aikido defense. It's very though provoking, he describes it as embracing almost loving the attack. Reading about his critiques of the Green Berets he's teaching this stuff to is very interesting. He talks about blending with the attack, and not countering force with force. In my short time in the Martial Arts, I've found very similar principles. A simple parry or a slap block for example. You can blend with what is incoming and guide it to where you want it to go with almost zero energy. It does look as if the students are being a bit compliant, but then again one of the interesting things about Aikido techniques is that the opponent actually ends up throwing themselves because of their intention to not let their attack be countered. I imagine it to be something like practicing throws. If you are the one being thrown, you can resist and you'll probably end up being hurt in the process or you can relax and flow with the technique. As far as the "gang" demonstration goes, there's a drill we do in the studio where I train. A group of people (usually two or three), try to surround a defender. The object is for the defender keep one attacker in front of the other. Thus only having to deal with one at a time. What they were doing looked very similar to me. All in all I'd have to try it before I bought into it 100% But with what I've read, seen, and know from personal experience I'm more inclined to believe it than not believe it.

My two cents: This is my understanding of the system as it stands now (Master Lawrence is constantly working to make the curriculum more effective). 1st Degree: You can perform all forms with proficiency, and execute all self-defense patterns with energy, and a degree of precision. As well as perform all of your basics with power, focus, and precision. 2nd Degree: Perform everything from 1st degree with even more precision and have a much better grasp on the details that make the techniques effective. As well as learned a new form (3rd Exam), and about a dozen new self-defense patterns and many extensions to previous patterns. It takes at least 1 years time to promote from 1st to 2nd 3rd Degree: Same requirements as 2nd, but you must demonstrate that you understand the "why" things are done the way they are done in the defense patterns. As well as learned new forms (Long 2 and Kanku Sho), and learned all of the new defense patterns and extensions. It takes at least 2 years to promote from 2nd to 3rd. 4th Degree: Same requirements as 3rd, but you must also have learned the Judo curriculum and be able to perform the techniques with proficiency. As well as learned new forms (short 3, finger set, possibly: Long 3, Long 4, and probably a Shotokan form), you also have to know to self-defense patterns contained in the short 3 form. It takes at least 3 years to go from 3rd to 4th. After that I'm not sure what there is, from what I've read in Master Lawrence's books, 4th degree is where counter-patterns are learned (patterns to defend against the patterns that have already been learned). I'm not sure if teaching is mandatory at some point during the process. In order to become an instructor there's a separate program for certification. It takes about 3 years to complete, but you go through it in parallel with the regular program. I think Master Lawrence as plans to incorporate energy work, accupuncture/accupressure into the curriculum at some point as well.

Alright, good to know, thanks for the reply! Congrats again on your promotion!

From the sounds of it, you should be a shoe in (from my limited experience) for your 3rd Dan. Congrats man! As far as the blocking goes, yeah... I've seen a lot of bouts where neither person puts their hands up... It completely mystifies me as to why you wouldn't have your hands up. Not to mention it would help with getting your hand strikes in more quickly as well. Now that I think about it, I was wondering if hand strikes are used in TKD sparring? All the bouts I've ever seen, the participants only seem to use their feet, is that a correct assumption?

It's amazing how nervousness makes you think too much isn't it? I've noticed, once I know a form, the only time I mess up is when I lose focus and start thinking. Thanks again for the support everyone! I'll post pictures of the promotion after it's all said and done Friday!

I PASSED! The regional was last Saturday (Sept. 22nd). There were only two people on the panel. My instructor Mr. Adam Smith (3rd Degree) and Master Lawrence's Right Hand Man Mr. Ken Ruano (5th Degree). I was so stressed during the whole thing... We had 10 people testing, 3 of us for 1st Degree, and the rest were testing for Han Ban Bu. The whole test went very well, and very quickly. I think it only took about two hours to run through everything, that was with half an hour of sparring as well. I messed up on one of my Forms, Long 1. I got lost for a second, but managed to figure out where I was and picked up from there with minimal stopage (anyone else ever have that problem?). We ran through every form, one right after the other (my last test we skipped a few, probably because there were about 20 people testing). Then moved into Self-Defense. Ran through all the standing techniques, and the ground techniques. Remarkably we didn't have to re-do anything during the test. All my instructors grilling and drilling paid off! Sparring was fun, it wasn't to see who won or lost. It was more to make sure we knew how to spar. When the test was all said an done Mr. Ruano came over and talked to me. He told me I should be more sure of myself, because I'm good. So I think that took care of any lingering doubt that I'm ready to be a Black Belt. I should've felt ready when my instructor told me I was ready, but you know... So now comes the fun wait until October 5th, so all those that passed their regionals can go before Master Lawrence and be recognized as a Black Belt or an advancing Black Belt. Basically I'll show up strut my stuff and be awarded my belt and certificate. Thanks for the support guys!

Wow, that's sweet guys! Congrats to both of you.

The essay can be on pretty much anything as long as it relates back to Martial Arts/Personal Development in some way. I've written my first draft, I'm calling it: "Forging a Black Belt Spirit" (not sure if that title's going to stay yet) The uniform check is just a check to make sure you've got a school patch, it's in the right place, your uniform is pressed and clean, and make sure you're wearing the right one... We've got a few different uniforms to make people feel spiffy about being in different programs on top of the basic curriculum (basic weapons, bladed weapons, and instructor training). Until you reach 3rd degree you have to wear a white uniform to promotions, after that you can wear a black uniform. I think it's more of an attitude check than anything. If you're not wearing the right uniform... YOU FLAT OUT FAIL! Thanks for the support guys, and believe me I'll plaster it all over this thread that I passed!