Martialskill's Lan Jie DVD

[mooyingmantis]

I just ordered Martialskill Crew's Lan Jie DVD. I will give a review of the 2 disc, 4 hour DVD when I receive it.

Richard A. Tolson

[gunglihchuan]

Very cool, Richard.

Their DVD looked very good. The 7* version of Lan Jie is quite different in flavor to CCK Tai Chi Mantis but it is excellent and they explain the applications to the form well.

Regards,

Steve

[Tainan Mantis]

Found this website.
http://martialskill.com/

But I noticed that they also sell their dvd on Amazon.
I didn't realize that anyone could just go and sell their stuff on Amazon like that.

[alextse4]

Found this website.
http://martialskill.com/

But I noticed that they also sell their dvd on Amazon.
I didn't realize that anyone could just go and sell their stuff on Amazon like that.

May I know their lineage please?

[Three Harmonies]

Like SO much Qi Xing out there it looks like he lacks ANY shen fa! All arms.

Let us know if it has some decent, realistic apps Richard!

Cheers
Jake

[alextse4]

So many little things missing in most of the posture. I don't think this is good reference.

[Tainan Mantis]

When I went to the website the first thing I saw was the video.
The 2nd thing I looked for was teacher.
Who did he learn from? I don't know, anybody know where they learned from?

[techmantis]

@Richard Thanks for the mention, and we appreciate your willingness to review the DVD and share your opinions here. The opinions of the mantis community are very important to myself and the rest of the production team, and we welcome and appreciate all feedback and criticism (but most especially the non-anonymous, non-political, constructive kind ;-)).

Our intention in creating these videos is to preserve our own particular corner of the mantis universe, and it is my genuine hope that many more teachers of all styles of TMAs do this in the future to avoid the death spiral that is occurring in many systems and lineages as older generations of masters leave us.

@Alex: To answer your question, I studied for 10 years under Wes Hardy. Sorry that info is not yet on the site, it will be soon.

@Jake: Sorry to hear you feel it lacks shen fa, since that is something (waist power, etc.) that my teacher heavily emphasizes. I think if you look at our overall body of work you will see a lot of emphasis on this concept. I respect your opinion as someone who has contributed a great deal to the mantis community here and on other mantis forums over the years. I will shoot you a PM as I would love to discuss with you further.

For anyone interested in other/existing reviews currently out there of what we've done to date, here are a few links:
Blogcritics.org (Bob Patterson)
Amazon.com

If we can be doing things better, let us know. We have thick skins and as I said, are genuinely dedicated to preserving not only our own corner of the mantis world, but helping other kung fu teachers do the same. In fact, that's something we're moving towards over the coming months -- an online kung fu university where all styles and teachers can offer content and preserve their lineages. Right now we're trying to build a model with the recording of our own content that others might follow, to our collective benefit.

Respectfully,

Sean Daily
MartialSkill.com

[Fei Yan]

Bong Bo Kuen (“Crushing Step” hand form) features Wes Hardy who is an 18-year Praying Mantis practitioner with experience in Chiu Chi Man and Wong Hun Fun lineages of Praying Mantis kung fu. Assisting Mr. Hardy is Sean Daily, a 10-year Praying Mantis practitioner and student of Mr. Hardy

In one of the reviews it claims that Wes Hardy has experience in the Chiu Chi Man and Wong Hun Fun lines and I am interested in who he claims as his teacher in these lines.

I know for a fact that Wes Hardy studied with Sifu Tim McFarland for only a few years and never made it past an intermediate level. Sifu Tim McFarland does not belong to either Chiu Chi Man or Wong Hun Fun's lines. His line comes through Wang Xing Han, to Wang Chuan Yi, Back to Fan Xu Tong.

Although Sifu McFarland does have close ties to Lee Kam Wing and Brendan Lai (RIP), Wes Hardy himself never studied with either of them for more than possibly a few hours at a seminar, and definitely could not be considered a student of theirs.

Of Wes Hardys supposed 18 years of experience, less than 5 of those years are with a legitimate teacher and he was never given permission to teach the system. Wes was in fact put on probation from the school for a lack of etiquette and didn't have the strength of character to come back at the end of the 6 months to continue his training.

What we have here is a beginning/intermediate student (wes), passing on his limited knowledge to Sean, who is now attempting to cash in by creating DVD's and websites.

Sincerely,
Josh Goessling
California Martial Arts Institute (Formerly North Bay Kung Fu and Karate)
www.calmartialarts.com

[Three Harmonies]

Play nicely children!

[sanjuro_ronin]

Since our NPM moderator is not present and since a grave accusation has been made, I will keep an eye on this thread.

[Three Harmonies]

I don't know about "grave"
Where is Oso??

[sanjuro_ronin]

I don't know about "grave"
Where is Oso??

Don't know and BeiTangLang is the Mod here.

[Three Harmonies]

Oops, I thought Oso was.

[mooyingmantis]

I received the DVDs today in the mail. So far I have only had about an hour to watch them (they are about four hours in length according to the description). When I have finished watching them, I will give my review.

Please keep in mind that I do not know any of those involved in the production of the video. Therefore, I have no asses to kiss or axes to grind. I will attempt a fair and impartial assessment of the DVDs.

I hope to give my review by the end of the weekend.

Richard A. Tolson