Black Belt Magazine?

[tufrthanu]

I am looking at my current copy of BB...where exactly are these ads for breast enhancement? The reason I read BB is that it covers alot of different arts...as well as little known arts. I've noticed one or two of you bashing BB while espousing a magazine that your instructor writes for...to me this is a conflict of interest. I have noticed articles in black belt that propose an art to be better than another or about a really great instructor but when I read the byline its usually by a student of said art or instructor. I take it with a grain of salt and edify myself at the same time. Some of the reality stuff in BB is annoying especially by people like Jim Wagner and Tony Blauer. But I enjoy their traditional articles alot. I also read TKD Times. Mostly because I practice a korean style. I don't particular like the pro korean pro brotherhood style of writing some of their articles feature but once again its edifying when taken with a grain of salt.

[monkeygirl]

I am looking at my current copy of BB...where exactly are these ads for breast enhancement? The reason I read BB is that it covers alot of different arts...as well as little known arts. I've noticed one or two of you bashing BB while espousing a magazine that your instructor writes for...to me this is a conflict of interest. I have noticed articles in black belt that propose an art to be better than another or about a really great instructor but when I read the byline its usually by a student of said art or instructor. I take it with a grain of salt and edify myself at the same time. Some of the reality stuff in BB is annoying especially by people like Jim Wagner and Tony Blauer. But I enjoy their traditional articles alot. I also read TKD Times. Mostly because I practice a korean style. I don't particular like the pro korean pro brotherhood style of writing some of their articles feature but once again its edifying when taken with a grain of salt.

Well, I saw those ads about a year or two ago, so maybe they stopped advertising the product. I think the company may have gone bankrupt or something.

[GhostlySykanRyu]

Visited the site for MAI...

 

Looks like a great magazine, but shipping to the US is a bit more than I'm willing to pay for a magazine subscription right now. I'm sure 70 Euros is about the same (or even more by now...not sure) in US dollars.

[tufrthanu]

Yeah wow 70 euros is like 90 USD. I have heard good things about Journal of Asian Martial Arts. Downside is its only asian MA, its quarterly, and from what I have seen by reading the contents of some of the issues online 1 issue can contain alot of articles on the same art. Awhile back for instance they had an issue with articles mostly on Aikido. But the quality is high.

[aefibird]

I've noticed one or two of you bashing BB while espousing a magazine that your instructor writes for...to me this is a conflict of interest.

 

It was me that was "espousing" a magazine that my instructor writes for. Firstly, let me say that I am entitled to have an opinion about BB magazine. I don't particularly like it - but other people do. That's fine with me. I'm not saying that everyone should stop reading BB and buy MAI instead. However, I was listing titles of other MA magazines which I read - one of which just happens to be a mag that my Sifu occasionally contributes to. I would read it anyway, with or without Sifu's writing being present in it.

 

Secondly, how is recommending a magazine that my Sifu sometimes writes articles for a conflict of interest?

 

I'm sorry if my comments about MAI upset you - I wasn't promoting the magazine because my instructor happens to write for it - I was suggesting it as an alternative to the (many) people who have said on KF that they think that BB magazine is of very poor quality.

[GhostlySykanRyu]

Just a quick question for anyone who reads "Inside(r?) Kung Fu Magazine"...how is it, and does it cover more than just Chinese martial arts (was thinking about prescribing from a friend selling magazine subscriptions, description says "great source for general martial arts)? Thanks for any input.

[CloudDragon]

I think BB really "jumped the shark" when they had the last third of their mag devoted to MMA. It just seemed that the focus turned onto MMA and left many other things behind.

[Skeptic 2004]

I've soiled my hands with the magazine twice: the first time when I didn't know any better about 7 years ago and was first starting out in MA; the second when I was in a bookstore last month and morbidly curious...I got a good laugh but felt dirty all at the same time. In both instances I read cover to cover; even as a beginner I wasn't particularly impressed 7 years ago...I'm still not today.

[tufrthanu]

I thought I was fairly clear in my first post about conflicts of interest...if someone you know writes articles for a magazine you are going to say you like it and cease to be an objective observer. As to whether I was upset or not I wasn't. Frankly I've never seen the magazine on store shelves so it could be the greatest periodical out there for all I know.

 

To JeetKuneDo, I've read several issues of Inside Kung Fu. I don't know if they are 100 percent geared towards kung fu but I think that is their bread and butter. Also I believe Inside Kung Fu is published by the same company that does Black Belt. I could be wrong about that though.

 

To CloudDragon, the reason the last 3rd of the magazine is now MMA is due to a failed attempt at a sister publication. Steven Qadros used to write a column for black belt called Fight Sport. I believe. There was so much MMA stuff going on that they decided to start up a new magazine called Fight Sport. Unfortunately the sales were not high, which led to them consolidating back into Black Belt. From what I have noticed the last 3rd hasn't been turned into MMA. BB used to be like 120 pages or so. Now its like 162. So they haven't removed any content to add the MMA stuff.

[GhostlySykanRyu]

I'm not that interested in MMA events overall, but I still enjoy reading the "Fight Sport Times" at the end of the BB mags. Better than nothing I suppose.

 

I'll have to go on Inside Kung Fu's website.