PaulH
04-02-2003, 01:51 PM
Just a disclaimer, I do not know Gary Lam Sifu well at all except I attended one of his seminars. When I heard about this VCD, my curiosity got the better hold of me. I thought I might see the skills of WSL in action, and so I bought it last Sunday. Here is my own opiniated feedback posted on the WSL board last Tuesday. Just thought I should pass on the info to all WC fans. I believe Gary's website is garylamwingchun.com if you are interested in this $20 buck item. And no, I do not get paid or asked by Gary to do this:
Watching Gary Lam in this VCD, I was struck with a Chinese military text passage that I once read:
“All things between heaven and earth follow these rules: When something has reached its extreme, it starts to develop in the opposite direction…Something prevails only to be prevailed over. This is exemplified by the way the five elements interact…Capacity and incapacity coexist…Advantages and disadvantages exist side by side. That is in the nature of all situations. Therefore, all things and situations with form can be named and recognized. All that is named and recognizable can be prevailed over. Thus the sages know how to use the characteristics of things to overpower them, and there are inexhaustible ways of overpowering things and controlling situations. War is a contest between dispositions seeking to prevail over one another. All distinguishable dispositions can be prevailed over. The question is whether you always know the right method to use to overpower a particular disposition. The changes in the mutual checks among things in the world are as everlasting as heaven and earth and truly inexhaustible…Therefore, he who is adept at war can infer from the enemy’s advantages his disadvantages. He can also tell where the enemy’s strength lies from his weaknesses…He knows how to win as he knows to quench fire with water.”
It seems to me that is perhaps what Gary Lam is trying to cover in this VCD. He categorizes the bulk of Wing Chun techniques into five systems which he correlates to the 5 elements interaction theory of warfare to provide his viewer a full spectrum of tools and to expose them to the endless realm of possibilities and dynamic changes in combat. Take the Po Pi clip for example, I am surprised that he would go to great details to distinguish ten? different Po Pi and their interesting usages from different positions. The end result is always the same, one will fly into the cushioning mattresses at his training gym with shattering impacts. And then there are those surprised pulling techniques. I am still mulling over on the deadly efficiency of ending a fight quickly by slamming the unlucky chap’s head against those walls or tables nearby. Oh, about those anticipating chess-like moves of the cover (fook) hands, you set the guy up and beat his punches before he even knows what is going on. What can I say more? Go, get the VCD while they are still available.
Watching Gary Lam in this VCD, I was struck with a Chinese military text passage that I once read:
“All things between heaven and earth follow these rules: When something has reached its extreme, it starts to develop in the opposite direction…Something prevails only to be prevailed over. This is exemplified by the way the five elements interact…Capacity and incapacity coexist…Advantages and disadvantages exist side by side. That is in the nature of all situations. Therefore, all things and situations with form can be named and recognized. All that is named and recognizable can be prevailed over. Thus the sages know how to use the characteristics of things to overpower them, and there are inexhaustible ways of overpowering things and controlling situations. War is a contest between dispositions seeking to prevail over one another. All distinguishable dispositions can be prevailed over. The question is whether you always know the right method to use to overpower a particular disposition. The changes in the mutual checks among things in the world are as everlasting as heaven and earth and truly inexhaustible…Therefore, he who is adept at war can infer from the enemy’s advantages his disadvantages. He can also tell where the enemy’s strength lies from his weaknesses…He knows how to win as he knows to quench fire with water.”
It seems to me that is perhaps what Gary Lam is trying to cover in this VCD. He categorizes the bulk of Wing Chun techniques into five systems which he correlates to the 5 elements interaction theory of warfare to provide his viewer a full spectrum of tools and to expose them to the endless realm of possibilities and dynamic changes in combat. Take the Po Pi clip for example, I am surprised that he would go to great details to distinguish ten? different Po Pi and their interesting usages from different positions. The end result is always the same, one will fly into the cushioning mattresses at his training gym with shattering impacts. And then there are those surprised pulling techniques. I am still mulling over on the deadly efficiency of ending a fight quickly by slamming the unlucky chap’s head against those walls or tables nearby. Oh, about those anticipating chess-like moves of the cover (fook) hands, you set the guy up and beat his punches before he even knows what is going on. What can I say more? Go, get the VCD while they are still available.