Journal of Asian Martial Arts

[SPJ]

What is your favorite read in MA journal, books, or mags?

IKF is good info, even though there are a lot of self promotions. Technique workshop with photo with only a few words. I usually look thru the pictures very quickly. I do read the articles but not all of them.

Kung Fu Tai Chi the sponsor of this forum. It has very good authorative source of info. It demands a lot of respects in readerships.

JAMA. I like the format, review etc. I like the philosophy of the publisher. However, it is quarterly. I have to wait a long time for the next issue.

What is your favorite read?

[David Jamieson]

kungfu/qigong magazine is the only one dedicated pretty much entirely and exclusively to Kungfu and Traditional Chinese Martial arts.

IKF is becoming just another mma rag and trying to bridge betweenstuff, almost like they are trying to find some new market but won't let go of bits of the old. I barely skim it anymore at the rag stand. Used to like it.

JAMA is a place where guys who are going for their university degrees and who do aikido can write their thesis on a nice subject that they enjoy. lol The format is really nice, it is a quarterly because you can't get thesis type articles every couple of weeks or even every month. It does tend to dwell on JMA a tad much in my opinion, but it's good quality overall.

Others I read, have read or glance through on occasion-

Black Belt- strictly a marketing tool for Chuck Norris, Bob Wall and Wally Jay

The Ring- straight up tips, rants and stats on boxing, but a good rag.

Empty Vessel- Hippy nonsense mostly, but occaisionally a gem of info.

Tai Chi - similar to Empty Vessel, but focusing more on Tai Chi.

MMA - Maniacs with spittle and flaring nostrils on the cover, seemingly level headed in their interviews, stats from the latest ufc and fan boys love letters to their heroes. I have no idea why the fan base insists on making this otherwise worthy sport come across as such a sausage fest for pent up gay urgings. lol

In short, I like Kungfu taichi mag not only because of this coolio forum they gots, but also because of the focus on Traditional Chinese Martial arts, which of course kick ass.

And the fact that some of you tools here on the forum get your articles and pics planted in there now and then so i can get to see your crappy stances and outlandish non-working techniques.

[Ray Pina]

I don't subscribe to any and used to pick up this magazine and IKF magazine regularly but have slowed the past 2 to 3 years because, honestly, I realise that there's just not a lot of good content. It's always appears to be a bunch of guys promoting themselves but you look at the photos and think, "Well, this must be their best stuff if they're submitting it for publication" ..... and it doesn't look too good. It's always the student stands there while the sifu makes 5 moves type of stuff. Or guys saying they are Shaolin monks but posing ontop of their ancestors graves at Shaolin .... I mean, to me, that says phoney right there. That aint a real monk.

The lasy MA mag I picked up was the last Journal with the painting of the pretty Chinese girl on the cover with the sword .... that was just too nice to pass up.

I'd like to see some articles on the underground Southern Mantis in NYC, the gangster styles .... how they train. Has it changed with time or do they still train traditionally, etc. Stuff like that. I want to see masters in the book that look like masters, tough men. Not some hill billy in the mountains talking about stopping cars by pointing at them and awes it all to magnets. Rediculous.

[Reggie1]

I read IKF, KFM, and JAMA regularly. I need to subscribe to KFM, so I stop paying so much at the newsstand.

I like JAMA, it presents its information in a much different light. But KFM is still my favorite

[GeneChing]

I read just about every magazine out there. My job demands it. I don't read all the articles, in fact, I only read a few. However, I do have to keep my finger on the pulse of what is being published. I respect all the magazines today, mostly because I know how hard it is to keep a magazine on the newsstands nowadays. I find there direction choices very interesting, sometimes too translucent, but I imagine the same for our own magazine. Thanks for your support of us and if you do plan to subscribe, we now offer a 50% off deal on subscribtion rates.

[FngSaiYuk]

Thanks for your support of us and if you do plan to subscribe, we now offer a 50% off deal on subscribtion rates.

How long is this offer going to last?

[GeneChing]

I don't know how long it will last. There's some discussion of raising our newsstand price soon. Gigi and I are trying to keep the price as is, but the market is changing (paper costs recently skyrocketed) so we might not have a choice. I hope it will last a while but with the current rate of inflation...

You know, we've kept our US newsstand at $3.99 since March 98. It was actually $4.95 when we started ...

[FngSaiYuk]

I don't know how long it will last. There's some discussion of raising our newsstand price soon. Gigi and I are trying to keep the price as is, but the market is changing (paper costs recently skyrocketed) so we might not have a choice. I hope it will last a while but with the current rate of inflation...

You know, we've kept our US newsstand at $3.99 since March 98. It was actually $4.95 when we started ...

I ask only 'cuz I budget in advance and so need to decide if this would be an 'emergency (IT'S ON SALE FOR ONLY 3DAYS!)' purchase, or if I have the room to work it in as one of my future discretionary expenses.

Think you'll get a heads up a couple of days in advance of the sale ending and let us know?

[Brad]

I mostly read KFM since it's the only one entirely dedicated to CMA. JAMA I pick up from the library on occasion, but I usually don't find the content much more interesting than the cheaper mags... just wordier Once in awhile I find a cool different article (like the one on Southern Mantis cults they had awhile back). Sometimes I kind of like reading the stuff in KFM written by whackos if I'm in the right mood

[GeneChing]

I'm fascinated by the marketing behind JAMA. It touts itself as an academic journal but it really isn't. For one thing, academic journals are not sold on the newsstand. Academic journals are also not listed in Writer's Market. Can you think of a single academic journal that is available on the newsstand?

Now the big question - can you think of another magazine on the newsstand that touts to be an academic journal? Maybe something like Scientific American or Psychology Today, but those are more like pop digests for academic research.

This leads to the biggest question of all - why is it that martial arts can sustain a newsstand magazine that touts itself as an academic journal? You don't see something like Journal of Asian Cooking or Journal of Asian Movies. It's a rather unique occurence to the martial arts.

[ngokfei]

ray

did you check out the Southern Mantis HK Cult from JAMA a few years back.

While they don't have alot of Chinese MA articles, when they do they really blow the rest of the Kung Fu magazines to the side.

How about the rebirth of the Martial Hero. What did Chan Pui and John Leong purchase the rites to it. Overall good but they seem to stroke the same people in every issue.

I'll just keep to reading the HK Mags I have from the late 60's 70's and early 80's.

[GeneChing]

I'm trying verify this story. We've been discussing the IKF situation.

Reading the tea leaf of the closing of Inside Kung-Fu Magazine
Violet Li
* February 27th, 2011 5:59 pm ET

Most people suspect that the depressed economy is the culprit of IKF’s demise. It was reported that the other reputable Journal of Asian Martial Arts was forced to go online due to its distributor’s bankruptcy.

[Jimbo]

One of the better MA mags not yet mentioned is Classical Fighting Arts. Although the general emphasis leans towards Japanese/Okinawan arts, they have a good smattering of CMA articles that are very good. It is quarterly, and I don't always buy it, though. They recently had a good article on China's Central National Arts Academy (Zhongyang Guoshu Guan).

[ngokfei]

Gene wipe your mouth your drooling

[GeneChing]

My grandfather fought alongside the Gurhkas in WWII. He told me they would sneak out every night to cut up Nazis in their foxholes. The Germans would station two men in a foxhole. A Gurhka would kill one, slicing his throat from ear to ear, and then cut off one of the ears to take back as a trophy. Every night, they would come back with a few ears. They would leave the other soldier alive, for the psychological damage.

As a fellow print publisher of martial arts magazines, it's a lot like that. IKF and JAMA are my fellow soldiers, manning our foxhole. At some point in the night, I look over to see that they are cut dead, sliced ear to missing ear. As if I'm not psychologically damaged enough already.

Perhaps I shouldn't compare martial arts publishers to Nazis, but you get the idea. Today's newsstand is like a ninja Gurhka.

For the record, I have been unable to validate that JAMA's distributor has gone bankrupt so far. Still checking.