Shaolin & Olympics

[Brad]

Well... I guess it was more like it was ballet that was a bit wushuish, but you get the picture

[shrub]

What Shaolin? How about the girls band!!

[Brad]

That rocked! Shortest skirts I've ever seen in an Olympic ceremony

[Shaolinlueb]

Originally posted by Brad
That rocked! Shortest skirts I've ever seen in an Olympic ceremony

that post is worthless without pics

[GeneChing]

I've seen some traditional Shaolin KF demos but the're only reserved for when they know they have a discerning audience that's familiar with the martial arts. And I do mean discerning - even martial arts tour groups won't get to traditional for the most part. Traditional just isn't that spectacular unless you know Shaolin KF. It lacks the eye-popping wow factor of wushu. You don't have to know anything to enjoy wushu. In fact, the only way you wouldn't enjoy wushu would be because you're fixated on traditional. Personally, I admire the athleticism of wushu, and appreciate it on the same level as rhythmic gymnastics (which I might at, is my favorite Olympic event to watch after fencing).

Actually, there are authentic cowboys still, but most of them are Mexican. Being a cowboy isn't really a lineage thing; it's a job and a dirty one at that..

[Meat Shake]

"Actually, there are authentic cowboys still, but most of them are Mexican. Being a cowboy isn't really a lineage thing; it's a job and a dirty one at that.."

Yes... and a little known fact that really seems to **** off the local rednecks who call themselves "cowboys"... The first cowboys were actually african american.

Wushu is cool to watch regardless, unless they are disillusioned about what they are doing.

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by Meat Shake
Yes... and a little known fact that really seems to **** off the local rednecks who call themselves "cowboys"... The first cowboys were actually african american.

What? Google that one up for me, because I'm pretty sure Mexicans were filling that role long before white and black boys strapped on spurs.

[shrub]

http://2004.sports.sohu.com/upload/h...912/index.html
http://sports.sohu.com/20040830/n221795951.shtml

[Shaolinlueb]

thanks, eh the girls in the skirts are okay lookin.

http://www.knight-online.com.cn/even...re/index.shtml

this seems like a much cooler link though

[Liokault]

Mexican, african american whatever, the cowboys who quickdraw and stage fight in wild west cowboy shows are no more cowboys than 'monks' from shaolin are monks.

Now at no point did i say that there are no longer any cowboys, nor did I say that there was no shaolin kung fu, just that whats going on at shaolin is the theme park business.

[Kaitain(UK)]

the chinese girl band were fabulous legs that went forever. My girlfriend had to push my mouth shut. At speed.

[blooming lotus]

how cool did they make those over grown uekelailies look....lol...It's like femme version of an accoustic set china style

welcome to the prequel

[wall]

Well the inside story...

The Beijing show at the closing was due to last 15min, and was cut to 8min a few days before due to organizers concerns with light etc. That meant that the choreographers had to cut something ... and wushu was amongst what got cut. The dance+wushu mix we saw was the lead up to individual 30sec forms by the current champs, CQ, NQ, cudgel, sword, bsword, spear. Unfortunately all the individual bits were cut, so all we got was the crappy ballet-like thing that was meant to be the soft intro to the hard high-impact stuff. Boooo. What a pityful show for wushu, really presented like lame ballet with no MA whatsoever.
If it's any consolation everyone in China didn't like the show either (just read the papers).

W

[No_Know]

I saw it as a performance-ish. I liked the fliidness between the ballet. I liked the conditioning of the spin that looked like ice skating before it went to standard ballet type spin. The Drunkad boxing was also a delight. I saw Chang chuan but the smoothe T'ai Chi Ch'uan and drunkard I really identified with.-ish.