SHAOLIN KUNGFU special 2005.
good read.
for everyone wishing to see whats goingon with the temple, they have article on it.
and just about another dozen shaolin articles. didnt get to read too much of it yet.
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SHAOLIN KUNGFU special 2005.
good read.
for everyone wishing to see whats goingon with the temple, they have article on it.
and just about another dozen shaolin articles. didnt get to read too much of it yet.
there's so many good articles gene its hard to write a review about every one of them. about the new temple, the shaolin medicine, the shi suxi's bday celebration, foriengner in shaolin temple. i highly recommend it. to everyone.
What I liked...
1- Shaolin Dog Boxing article
2- Shaolin Dog Boxing article
3- Shaolin Dog Boxing article
I hope that you will feature articles and techniques from the Northern groundfighting styles.
What I missed...
The advertisment "Will Break Boards for Food"
mickey
Here's the Table of contents for the new issue.
mickey: I've already requested more from author Chen Pengcheng on Dog Boxing. Meanwhile, you'll find a lot from Chen on our ezine. And we replaced the 'break boards' ad with the one one page 29. ;)
page 111 and the back page are nice adds. :o :D :rolleyes: :eek: :D
You know, I just got the first complaint about the **** shirt just this week. He said we were promoting the rape of asian women with that ad....
tell him to take the plug out of his @$$. thats what i would do. :D you can quote me on that ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
I'm not sure what made me buy that shirt just now...the girl wearing it, what it says on the front, or just supporting Gene's shameless plugs. :)
If I don't get that FREE UNLEASHED poster I'm never buying anything from M.A.M again.
Unless there is another attractive female wearing warm-up pants that say "Entrance" with an up arrow on the right leg and "Exit" with a down arrow on the left leg. Of course only a female friend would be allowed to wear them. :D
We still have plenty of posters. If you don't get one, let me know and I'll go kick the packer's arses and send you one personally. :)
how about warm-up pants that say "B@D@SS"
Considering I'm a lifelong dallas cowboy's fan I would love for you to go kick the packer's arses. :) Especially that Bret Far vra.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
Tanks.
I'd probably stay away from any girlies that had a pair of them babies on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Design Sifu
Now if it said Fresh @SS then I would propose on the spot.
yeah stay away from the ones that say stinky @$$. or on on the front that says smells like dead tuna. :o :(Quote:
Originally Posted by ewallace
im still contemplating whether to buy the year of the **** tshirt. gene you ever find out if they have any year of the snake shirts left over?
Hum Sop Lao say, "just ripe for harvest". Ban lo sik l'ban li hai da. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneChing
so, um, where's the snake shirt?
KungFuMagazine.com has been doing a special annual zodiac shirt every year since 2001 - the year of the snake. We only do the shirt for that year. The **** shirt is this year. We did snake, horse, and monkey. We skipped ram for some reason - that was 2003 - we just couldn't think of a good concept. They've all been my conception, more or less. Snake was the weakest of the line. I'm not sure what I was thinking - green lantern or something. Oh well, I can't hit all of the time. The horse was fairly sucessful since we did a play on Fubu with Mabu (horse stance). Monkey didn't actualize well since we were experimenting with a silver metallic ink. Unfortunately a lot of the detail of the monkey's face makeup (based on the monkey king opera figure) was lost and the color didn't hold well. It's still available since we have some leftovers.
We carry a full line of traditional zodiac shirts and our TN office graphic designer usually does something that's more generic for Tiger Claw, our parent company, which wholesales to all styles of martial arts. We do a special line that has the KungFuMagazine.com logo on it, which is the green lantern snake, mabu, and monkey king versions that I mention above. The KFM **** has been the most successful of all our zodiac shirts so far.
I already have an idea for next year, year of the Dog... :cool:
A play on words usually makes for good shirts. For instance, a buddy of mine has a shirt that says "Green Piece", which has a picture of a green .45 on it. I've tried to steal it on a couple of occasions but he also has a steel piece that he shows me when I am about to get away with it. :)
Oh of course you have to skip the ram. Well maybe I can get one next time 'round....in 2015!!
I did enjoy the article on Monk Shi Sugang, very intersting read.
...I was beginning to give up hope. I mean when we go from Shaolin to ****s... :rolleyes:
I'm very fond of Shi Sugang. He's always been very generous with his knowledge with me. I remember one year, some one had given him this Metallica shirt, and for some unknown reason, he loved the design, even though he had no idea what it was. He wore it all the time. I have a pic of him somewhere, wearing it right in front of the temple. I'm sure slamming your head through a block of granite sounds just like a whole Metallica concert compressed into a single moment of impact. ;)
I bet Metallica would love to see him in a picture smashing granite blocks with his head while wearing one of their shirts. I bet they would want it on an album cover.
BTW: nice belt buckle you have there in the shot of you and Gigi Oh with Shi Yanfeng. Dont take that the wrong way, im not checkin' you out, I just notice details.
You know, I've always thought that exact same thing about Sugang and Metallica. Unfortunately he only wore the shirt casually. If he was goind to demo - and he didn't always demo - Sugang's iron head was only trucked out for the big demos because granite slabs are expensive - he wore his formal monk robes.
It's an odd thing to notice, but I've had that belt buckle for years - I think I got it at the flea market. I thought it matched Yanfeng's jacket nicely - a pleasant coincidence. The embroidery on his jacket was really fine - that photo doesn't do it justice.
Looking at that picture again I can see some of the detail on that emboidery, it has the air of a nice suit anyhow. I think the main reason I noticed your buckle was because you had your hands behind your back in that picture.
Is there any online documentation you know of about that Puyang archeological dig? It is just a very interesting topic I would enjoy reading about.
Gotta give you props on the Shaolin Trilogy cover Gene. And Thanks. You know with your position you have there you did alot for the promotion of Shaolin Kung Fu. I may not study at Shaolin but I do study a system Shaolin kung fu and if it were not for people like you, (and my Sifu of course), I would not have had the opportunity to enter into the world of Shaolin Kung Fu. So again Thanks for all the hard work and dedication you have put into delivering correct information on Shaolin to the world!
i mentioned this before, but i just hate the fact that i ALWAYS end up looking at the new issue in store before it comes to my apt 2 days later :mad:
anyway, is july/august the first 'summer' issue?
i also mentioned this before gene, but again, when i got my magazine yesterday, one side was opened, as if with a letter opener. my brother asked me if i was being watched for terrorist activity :o i know things get damaged in the mail, but for the magazine wrapping to always be opened on the side... :confused:
oasis,
its funny you mention that. this issue was the first one i had come in the mail that wasnt opened. all the other envelopes are opened like someone went through it and read it. but the magazine wasnt opened. the thing was jsut torn open./ idk. its probably some ****ed off postal worker who does karate.
No, if he did karate, then the envelope would have been fukcing wrecked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb
So far, this has to be my second or third favorite issue since I started reading.
Excellent work!
how come you guys are always doing shaolin issue's, and never wu dong issues, i mean much can you say about shaolin, i know there's alot going on but **** let's get some variety.
The opened envelopes are really weird. I have no idea why that's happening. Bush did name China as one of the nations that might require nukular attention, but that was way back in 2002 and I really doubt that would have an effect on our little mag.
As for Puyang - dang! - you know I have this mental picture of the cowrie-shell dragon and tiger and I don't think it's from a book - I think it's off the web. I just googled it for a while but couldn't turn up the pic. I'm sure it's out there. If anyone finds it, do post it here. You know, I got to thinking about Sugang some more after PangQuan's post - those people who always decry Shaolin as being just wushu should spend some time with Sugang. He's strictly traditional. I've never ever seen him do any wushu, ever. The only thing he demonstrates is hard qigong, usually his iron head, but he also walks on swords and such. But his real treasures are his traditional Shaolin forms and his qinna. I've been wanted to cover him for years for this reason.
And as for Wudang issues, we've done two. Our 'official' Wudang Special was our Sep Oct 2003. Our earlier unoffical special was Sep Oct 2002 - hmm, that's funny, I never noticed that both were Sep Oct issues. They were both well received and we are certainly open to doing another. The downside is that no good researchers have stepped forward yet. I do have several that have made me promises, but promises and a dollar might buy you a cup of coffee. I was in Wudang in '99. That was my only trip and I've pretty much published all the research I got out of that. Maybe it's a tai chi thing - comes from moving so slowly all the time... ;)
gene,
interesting that in your interview yong xin mentioned China's application for unesco recognition of ughur maqam . the music style of maqam is popular in most arabic and islamic countries, but it sounds like china wants special recognition for the style in xinjiang province. you would think if that were the case it wouldnt be making such efforts to change the status quo by sending han to 'dilute' the uighur population there ;)
okay, a little off/on topic (given my previous post :) ) but i just posted about the article i read in kfm, and then ironically two minutes later i go to bbc and read this :eek:
what a coincidence...
back on topic, i like the 2 year special renewal rate gene. this is my last issue, so i will be taking care of that tomorrow!
i read both those issue's and they were really good, i guess i just want more but if there know one writing the stuff i guess you can't publish it! thats cool i'll wait.
hi- when will this issue hit the newsstands? thanks
It's already out now; has been for a little bit.
Chapters was late phoning me about this issue; they know to call me when Kung Fu Tai Chi comes in but not when Shaolin Kung Fu Tai Chi does. Stupid stupid bookstore. :D
Anyway, it was an exemplary issue, even the letters to the editor were page turners. Gene, what is the score with the "controversial" sword dealer?
oasis: Good follow up - I had no idea. UNESCO's involvement with China is fascinating. It struck me as very unusual when Beijing was declared as the UNESCO Geopark office; China was applauded for her "outstanding contributions in geological heritage protection" (to quote my own article) - I thought that was a surprising opinion in lieu of the Three Gorges Dam project.
doug maverick: I think that Wudang and Emei, and possibly Shandong, are the next big frontiers awaiting anyone looking to do CMA research. They are all pretty wide open. I'm glad you enjoyed our Wudang issues. We also did an Emei issue in Sep 2000 and a Shandong issue in July August 2002. That pretty much depleted all of my research. I was only in Shandong once in '91 and Wudang once in '99. I've yet to go to Emei, but that's the style I currently study. I suspect we'll be able to put together another Wudang before we can do another Emei, but there are more and more Emei masters coming out, so you never know. As for Shandong, well, there are more Shandong masters coming out too, but that issue didn't do very well, so I doubt we'll invest in another for some time...
SimonM: That's funny about the special title confusing Chapters. At least that's a bookstore. As for the sword dealer letter, that's a big complicated answer, and I just got called by the Boss for a meeting ;) Let me get back to you on that later. :p
So, that "controversial" sword dealer is Wang Sheng Ji, a well respected antiques dealer in Taiwan. He just did an antiques weapon exhibit for the The First Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Exposition in Taiwan, which we covered in the Mar Apr 2005 issue after the Sword Special. Personally, I've never met the man nor handled his product. I only know what I've seen in photos and it's pretty interesting stuff - we have scads of unpublished photos of his collection. I would love to go to his shop someday. Is he doing 'chop' jobs like Phillip Tom accuses in his letter? I don't know. I do know that the tone of Tom's letter was rather condescending, as if he was looking down his nose at CMA. Now I respect Tom and his co-author Scott Rodell and personally asked them to participate in this issue because I know their expertise. I even bought an antique off Rodell many years ago. They are both very active on SwordForum.com - Rodell moderates there. But if you read his letter carefully, there's a persistent tone that sounds as if he's saying he's too good for our magazine. Personally, I don't know how to take that. Surely, we are not as scholarly as the Metropolitan Museum Journal - we're a newsstand magazine and would lose half our readership if we started throwing around too many $10 words. So I found his accusations a little questionable.
Now I've mentioned before that there is a martial myopia - a shortsightedness amongst our community that forgets that most people don't know the difference between karate and kung fu (much less wushu) and they don't really care. In the sword world, it's worse. As many of you know, I worked as a professional swordmaker for a half decade and by professional, I mean that I earn all my income just from making swords. I've only dabbled in antique dealing, but I feel I know enough to survive there. And I am all too familiar with sword myopia, which I think Phillip Tom is guilty of in this situation.
We openned this year with a grand experiment - a new special issue just focused on swords. I've never seen that done in the martial arts world before. And I'm pleased to report that this issue drew tremendous positive response. It find it a bit distressing that Tom felt he had to rain on our parade with that letter (and Bian is correct pinyin - check it for yourself), however, I felt he did have some worthy comments and still respect his research. I hope that if we do another sword special, he'll be able to participate, even if it is slumming for him to come down to the world of CMA.
As for Wang Sheng Ji, as you probably know, we've changed the format of our Featured Weapon article to showcase antiques. We've invited anyone who has a nice antique piece to participate. They just need to send us a pin-up quality shot and a short description. It's a major opportunity for any anituqes dealer, since we are essentially giving them a full-page color ad. So far, Wang has been the only one to accept our offer. I'm hoping we get more input soon, though, not so much out of skepticism of Wang, but more just for diversity's sake.
Thank you for the in-depth reply Gene. I really like what you have done with the featured weapons section; my brother was almost drooling over the antique Monk's Spade in the new Shaolin issue, he is very fond of polearms (probably to the same extent that I am of swords).
That sucker was heavy too. I really respect anyone who would compete with something like that. Check out chapter 5 of my Shaolin Trips column - you'll see a pic of Gigi (our publisher) trying to hold that monk spade up.
Thanks for your support of the featured weapons. I hope it catches on. There are plenty more where that came from, we just gotta find 'em... ;)
I am a new subscriber. Has the May/June issue been mailed yet. :confused: I recently subscribed for two years. The T-Shirt arrived, but so far no magazine. Thanks in advance for any info on this subsription and issue! :)
Sorry, you missed May June. It was mailed out a month ago. You'll have to pick it up on the newsstands, I'm afraid. :o
man, i jsut got my issue in the mail for my subscription. lol