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Thread: Celebrities studying qigong

  1. #1
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    Celebrities studying qigong

    I'm hoping this thread will grow like our Celebrities-studying-martial-arts thread. I admit it's off to a weak start, but you must plant the seed first. This subforum - it needs luv...

    Alison Bechdel on Her Genius Grant and Family Secrets
    The graphic novelist talks about getting the MacArthur grant, the Bechdel test and the 'lighter' memoir she's working on now


    Greg Ruffing/Redux
    Alison Bechdel photographed in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

    By Mark Yarm | December 5, 2014

    The most buzzed-about winner of this year's MacArthur Fellowships — those $625,000, no-strings-attached "genius grants" — was Alison Bechdel, a 54-year-old lesbian artist from Bolton, Vermont. Bechdel isn't just the second cartoonist to receive the prestigious fellowship in the organization's 33-year history (the first was Ben Katchor, in 2000); she's the only one of this year's winners with a pop-culture metric named after her.



    That would be the Bechdel Test, an idea inspired by a friend of hers and immortalized nearly 30 years ago in the writer's late, long running alt-weekly comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For. To pass, a movie TV show or book has to have at least two female characters in it talking to each other about something other than a man. (Hollywood tends to perform rather poorly by this benchmark.) Bechdel says she's happy that the gender-bias test has gained cultural currency in recent years, citing in particular a FiveThirtyEight statistical analysis debunking the prevailing wisdom that films featuring "meaningful interactions between women" tend to fare worse at the box office. However, "I don't feel particularly evangelical about [the test]," the illustrator — and avowed Sex and the City fan — says.



    Photo: Alison Bechdel

    Bechdel first came to mainstream acclaim in 2006, with the publication of her bestselling graphic novel Fun Home. A dual memoir of sorts, the book focuses on her fraught relationship with her father, a closeted gay man who died when he was hit by a truck — Bechdel deems it a suicide —at age 44. "In a way, it was my relationship with my father and my father's history that lay behind my comic strip," she says. "Because of him, I was determined to be very out and open about my queerness. My whole career has kind of spun out of that dynamic." (The Fun Home musical adaptation that played at New York's Public Theater in 2013, and which Bechdel had minimal involvement in, will open on Broadway this spring.)

    The cartoonist then turned her attention to her other parent for 2012's psychoanalytic Are You My Mother?, but given the emotional drain those books caused the author and her family — which includes brother John Bechdel, keyboardist for Ministry — she's now working on a lighter graphic memoir called The Secret to Superhuman Strength. "It's about my own exercise history, because I've always followed all the trends," says Bechdel, who's currently learning the ancient Chinese healing practice of qigong. "So in that sense it's also a cultural history of all the weird phases [America has] gone through as over the past 50 years." Eventually, she'll return to the subject of her family: "I still have more secrets to air."



    As for the MacArthur grant, Bechdel says she'll use it for "really boring" purposes, like getting out of debt and saving for retirement. On a more profound level, the honor is forcing her to reevaluate her self-perception. "Since I got the call, I've had to think about myself differently, which is kind of a challenge," she says. "I'm always whining about something — I'm an insecure sort of person in general. But now I can't sit around whining. It's, ‘Okay, you have achieved something, you are successful, so shut up and get on with your work.' I have to man up and act like an adult."
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  2. #2
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    Hahaha! Love the closing line on that one... Whoops.

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    This thread might be slow to grow...

    ...but we do what we can with what we got. Billionaires totally count as celebs

    TECH 1/19/2015 @ 4:44PM 7,866 views
    Palantir CEO Alex Karp To Become A Billionaire As Data-Mining Company Raises Millions


    Palantir CEO Alex Karp is set to become a billionaire as his company looks to close a round of funding at a $15 billion valuation. (Photo: Eric Millette for Forbes)

    In the past, Alexander Karp, the CEO of data analytics firm Palantir, has called wealth “culturally corrosive.” A former money manager for high-net-worth individuals, the cofounder of the CIA-backed data analytics firm has maintained that personal riches were of little importance to him, despite associating with some of the world’s wealthiest to raise funds for his company.

    Now, Karp will be one of them.

    Palantir is currently raising a round that could total $400 million at a valuation of around $15 billion. At that valuation, which was first reported by Barron’s, Karp, who owns at least 8% of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company will be worth more than $1.2 billion when the round closes. According to sources close to the company, Palantir began raising money in November and is currently in the fundraising process. One person familiar with the company’s plans said that the company already had plenty of cash, but was raising more to protect itself from any future economic downturn.

    Palantir’s activity comes at a time where private technology company’s are raising at record valuations and turning their cofounders into billionaires. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which raised at a $45 billion valuation in December, turned creator Lei Jun, into one of the world’s richest people, while Uber Technologies CEO Travis Kalanick also joined the ten-figure club when his car-hailing service received an $18.2 billion valuation from investors last June. Uber is now worth about $40 billion based on a financing round that was announced in early December.

    Now 11 years old, Palantir has gone from a secretive data-mining startup that received early funding from CIA investment arm In-Q-Tel to a Silicon Valley giant that does contract work for the world’s largest government agencies, banks and corporations. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Palantir has received more than $215 million in U.S. government contract work since 2009, while FORBES estimates that the company took in about $450 million in revenue in 2013.

    Much of Palantir’s transformation and business succsess has come down to the work of Karp, a social theory Ph.D. who cofounded the company with Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, Nathan Gettings and his former Stanford Law School classmate Peter Thiel. Though he lacks a technical background, Karp is known within Palantir as the company’s “conscience” who is responsible for hard decisions like which organizations it should work with.

    “The only time I’m not thinking about Palantir,” Karp said for a 2013 FORBES cover story on Palantir, “is when I’m swimming, practicing Qigong or during sexual activity.”

    While Karp will likely not be a fan of the new status surrounding his net worth, it’s just the latest indicator of the investor confidence in Palantir. It raised more than $450 million at a $9 billion valuation last year, and total investment in the company has exceeded $1 billion. That money has been raised from a host of well-connected investors including billionaires Kenneth Langone and Stanley Druckenmiller; CIA venture arm In-Q-Tel; Tiger Global Management; and Thiel’s venture firm, Founders Fund. Thiel, Palantir’s chairman, is also its largest shareholder.

    Karp is the company’s second largest individual shareholder and will join his former classmate in the 10-figure fortune club when Palantir closes its latest investment. Previously, Karp has said that it would make sense for most businesses of Palantir’s size to go public, though he was not personally fond of the idea.

    “[An initial public offering] would make running a company like ours very difficult,” he said in Aug. 2013.

    Follow me on Twitter at @RMac18 or email me at rmac@forbes.com.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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    Kate Beckinsale

    Finally! A good ttt for this thread (that is if you don't note the subject of this article).

    Stars with a filthy secret: They make money promoting healthy living. But just look at the pictures they DON'T put on social media!
    By CLAUDIA CONNELL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
    PUBLISHED: 21:01 EST, 15 March 2016 | UPDATED: 10:59 EST, 16 March 2016

    Ask any glamorous, slim celebrity how she keeps so trim and her answers will be predictable: a healthy diet, lots of water and plenty of sleep.
    When it comes to exercise, they are demons. Addicted to hot yoga and spinning, they sport six packs that give any man a run for his money. What few admit to is the other slimming aid they depend on: the cigarette.
    A vast number of celebrities who’ve built up images and empires on being fit, healthy and wholesome have secretly indulged in the unhealthiest habit of them all.
    Smoking to kill the appetite is not new — Hollywood starlets in years gone by were told to smoke so they wouldn’t gain weight.
    Worryingly, it’s not just famous women doing it — figures from the Office For National Statistics last month showed the number of young women smoking has risen for the first time in a decade, with 22 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds and 21 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds taking up the habit.
    Little wonder, when they see svelte-figured idols sparking up.

    ...

    KATE BECKINSALE
    The Hollywood actress, 42, practises qigong — a discipline involving breathing and moving that’s similar to tai chi. Kate — daughter of Porridge star Richard, who died of a heart attack aged 31 — is also such a devotee of yoga that she gave a class live on U.S. television. Oddly enough, there was no mention of the effect that smoking can have on your breathing.


    Kate Beckinsale, 42, practises qigong — a discipline involving breathing and moving that’s similar to tai chi. The Hollywood actress is also such a devotee of yoga that she gave a class live on U.S. television


    Oddly enough, there was no mention in the TV class of the effect that smoking can have on your breathing
    I only posted Kate because of her qigong. The other celeb hotties listed in the article are amusing too.
    Gene Ching
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  5. #5
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    Well ~G

    maybe you could give some sweet qigong lessons to celebs in your off time for the $$$.

    A little Yi Jin Jing, some healing breaths, jade egg for the ladies, weight stretch for the lads, boom, you get a Bugatti and props down hollywood way. Special classes in golden bell for high rollers only! A list!

    Kung Fu is good for you.

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    Kate Beckinsdale's doing both qigong and smoking is nothing unusual. In fact, it's probably 'traditional'. I'm pretty sure a lot of qigong practitioners, including 'masters', smoke like chimneys. I saw it myself in Taiwan; teachers and senior students of qigong, as well as Taiji and other Kung Fu systems, who smoked, often even during practice or while teaching. Yet they would espouse the health and fitness benefits of KF/qigong practice.

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    Iggy Pop

    Iggy Pop Talks Drug Scares, Aging, Why Keith Richards Is His Hero
    Punk icon also discusses why he swears by qigong, how 'Jack and the Beanstalk' shaped his worldview and more

    Iggy Pop shares hard-earned life lessons in a new Last Word interview.
    By Andy Greene
    1 day ago

    Iggy Pop is ready for a break. The punk pioneer spent most of 2016 on the road in support of Post Pop Depression, a solo album he recorded with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. He also found time to promote Jim Jarmusch's Stooges documentary Gimme Danger, record with Danger Mouse and pose nude for New York art students. Next year he plans on taking on far fewer gigs, including a stint opening for Metallica in Mexico. He got on the phone with Rolling Stone to share the wisdom he's learned over the years, and to reveal what he hopes to accomplish with the rest of his life.

    "I felt the group deserved to be the subject of a film by somebody who actually made films," frontman says of collaboration with indie director

    What's the most important rule you live by?

    Don't lose yourself. If you take enough dope, you lose your body, your mind or your life. Conversely, if you do everything everybody else tells you to do, you'll be miserable and lose your self-identity. At some point you gotta figure out the balance. "Am I the guy who's gonna relive the life of King Farouk, or am I more like a steelworker who got lucky?"

    Who are your heroes?

    Keith Richards and Bo Diddley. The primary thing is how they play. Each of them keeps it straight and plain, and they don't gild the lily. It feels like the real thing to me.

    You and Keith have been called indestructible.

    He's way more indestructible than me! I can't keep up with that guy anymore. I definitely can't smoke cigarettes anymore.

    What's your favorite city in the world?

    Miami, where I live now. That's for the water, but also a lot of the people are really sweet. It's not a pushy town.

    You lived in New York for a long time. Do you miss it?

    No. But I had a good 20 years. In Miami, I found a place near the water and it was much cheaper, in beauty, space and convenience, than what I could have gotten in New York, where I had a bedroom view of a dog**** window-well on Avenue B. Of course, that place is now worth many millions of dollars. Go figure.

    Tell me about your fitness regimen.

    The root of it is a series of exercises called qigong, which form the basis of tai chi. I learned it from a Korean tai chi master named Don Ahn, who had a place in Soho. You don't need a funny suit. You don't need to go to a gym. You don't build no muscle. It just gives you a good energy, good flexibility and good circulation.

    What advice do you wish you could tell your younger self?

    Don't grow up. Really, don't do that. At certain points in my life I said, "You know what? I need to grow up and do X or be Y or whatever." Most of the time, it was a mistake, though fortunately not all the time.

    What's the most indulgent purchase you ever made?

    In the 1990s, I bought a small but sporty car for a poor and beautiful immigrant who I barely knew. It was mostly because she was moaning about how she didn't have a car to get to work. The relationship didn't go anywhere.

    Until the Stooges re-formed in 2003 and started headlining festivals, you never made much money. What's it like to become rich late in life?

    I became barely solvent in the late 1980s and owned my first place, in the East Village. I didn't have much in the 1990s. I remember spending the winter of 1990 freezing because there wasn't much heat. But everything changed in the 21st century. It's a nice story arc.

    What was your favorite book as a child, and what does it say about you?

    Jack and the Beanstalk. It says I wanted to go for it, because Jack was going for it. It had everything: threats of violence, drama and ambition.
    You did lots of drugs back in the day. Are there any you miss?

    Oh, God, no. No no no no no. I've had a wonderful relationship with my body late in life. Even the thought of smoking weed gives me the creeps. Going back, I had a binge on MDMA in the 1970s. And at a festival called Goose Lake in Michigan, I was snorting something they said was coke but I learned later was ketamine. I couldn't remember who I was for about 12 hours. I remember smoking crack before it was called crack. It was frightening.

    "I remember smoking crack before it was called crack. It was frightening."
    Do you think drugs should be legal?

    I'm not well-informed enough to answer that question, but I am curious about the idea that use and abuse might decline if they were legal. Some Scottish comedian was talking about Brexit and he said, "Asking a celebrity about Brexit is like asking Iggy Pop about a particle accelerator." I'm not your guy.

    You turn 70 in April. How do you feel about that?

    I'm excited. I hope I make it.

    How are you going to celebrate?

    I'll probably have dinner with my wife somewhere with low lighting where we can sit close to each other. And if I'm lucky, I'll go to the beach that day. That's my idea of a wild time.

    What do you hope to accomplish in your seventies?

    I don't expect to use the album form anytime soon, but I hope I can do some singing or talking or writing that appeals to me. I just want to continue working and reacting to the world around me and enjoying bearing witness to this beautiful Earth. I like the outdoors very much. And I hope to be of use to the people that depend on me.

    Do you fear extreme old age and death?

    That's the creepiest question of this whole interview! But yes, I fear extreme old age. There is the possibility of being overreliant on others. Also, the worst would be the inability to enjoy life. I don't mind a little **** in my day, but I need some sugar on that.

    How old is too old to be shirtless in public?

    There's no age, and the public can kiss my sweet ass, bare.
    Bless Iggy. He's a survivor.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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    Prince Charles

    This is a dated article but I can't resist that headline. Luv that Daily Mail dry wit.

    Prince Charles tries chi - but drops his energy balls
    By Rebecca English for the Daily Mail
    UPDATED: 03:10 EST, 11 February 2010

    It was supposed to bring calmness to his head and restore energy to his body.

    But Prince Charles didn't look entirely at peace as he contorted himself into the awkward shapes demanded by the ancient Chinese exercise of chi kung.

    At one stage yesterday he struggled as he cupped his hands and raised two imaginary 'energy balls' above his head.

    Careful now: Charles raises his imaginary energy balls into the air while attempting chi kung

    Believers say the movement corrects the flow of the body's natural vitality - or 'chi' - but it brought only a grimace to the face of the 61-year-old prince.
    He told a fellow participant: 'I broke my arm in two places years ago which makes movement difficult.'

    And instructor Guy Ho said: 'He dropped his energy balls twice. His energy was good and he was very focused but he needs a little work on his technique.'

    Charles was visiting The Warrior Programme in Fulham, West London, a therapeutic course which helps soldiers recover from the psychological scars of war.
    Thousands have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, which can cause mental breakdown and an inability to cope with civilian life.

    The Warrior Programme was established in 2007 runs courses all around Britain, and also abroad, where ex-personnel are given expert psychological and physical therapy using both eastern and western techniques.


    Hands up for chi kung: The Prince looks reluctant


    Charles makes a face as he attempts the 'difficult' movement

    Prince Charles said: 'We owe a huge debt of gratitude to these remarkable people who have been courageous enough to join the army.

    'It is a great joy....to see how many people have benefited from this programme which uses complimentary medicine and harnesses the best of both ancient and modern.'

    Among those introduced to the Prince was Peter, who was approaching the end of a 24-year career in the army when his life was turned upside down by the shocking murder of three young children in Croatia in 1995.

    The Warrior Programme is a three-day therapeutic course, which tackles emotional and mental trauma, at the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation


    Lean back: The Warrior Programme is a three-day therapeutic course, which tackles emotional and mental trauma

    A former warrant officer with the Royal Logistic Corps, the highest non-commissioned rank in the British army, he was on patrol in a village when he spotted the youngsters, aged 11, nine and seven.

    As a father of four himself, he stopped to chat with them - mindful of the army's policy of winning over 'hearts and minds' - and even gave the children some chocolate he had in his pocket.

    Later he was walking back through the village when he stumbled on their bodies.

    The young friends were lying by the roadside in pools of their own blood after having their throats cut - punishment for talking to 'the enemy'.

    'Those children were innocent,' he said. 'I could not get the memory of them out of my mind.....I could not get it out of my head that I was responsible and that if it were not for me, they would still be alive today.'

    Peter was eventually discharged from the army in 1999, his marriage also having broken down due to the stresses of his job.

    He was diagnosed with PTSD after an incident the following year when his son was tragically killed in a car crash two weeks before his 21st birthday.

    He began to suffer nightmares about the Croat children.'I would wake up in the night screaming and sweating. My heart was pounding so much I though I was having a heart attack,' he said.

    'I honestly believed that the death of my son was payment for what happened to those poor children in Croatia.'

    Unable to work and finding himself homeless, he says his life was saved by the decision to transfer him to a sheltered housing complex for ex-servicemen where he was introduced to The Warrior Programme.

    He believes it saved his sanity through a combination of cognitive therapy, meditation and the ancient Eastern exercises of tai chi and Chi Kung.

    Peter, who still suffers from physical disabilities as a result of his time in the army, says he is 'finally at peace with himself' and has even found a job.

    'The trouble is that the army still isn't very good at spotting those who are suffering from PTSD and those that do have it don't want to admit their problem out of embarrassment and the very real fear that their career will be sidelined,' he said.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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    Ng Man Tat & the brocade

    Celebrity
    Ng Man Tat practices qigong for health

    From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo Newsroom
    Heidi Hsia
    17 June 2019



    17 Jun – Veteran actor Ng Man Tat recently made a rare appearance at a movie premiere, looking much healthier than he was in previous year.

    As reported on Mingpao, the actor, who was all smiles as he spoke to the media about his health situation, revealed that he has been practicing Baduanjin - the most common form of Chinese qigong exercises - to improve his health.

    "I have also quit smoking and drinking because of my heart disease and high blood pressure," he added.

    Ng also admitted that ever since the previous struggle with heart infection in 2015, he made sure not to push himself too much when it comes to work, choosing easier projects than tough ones.

    "It's also hot nowadays, so I am better off just doing commercials. Those are more convenient," he said.

    Aside from that, the actor revealed that he will be making a guest appearance on Lee Lik Chi's upcoming period film.

    "Since it was a favour asked by a good pal, I would feel bad if I say no," he added.
    THREADS
    Celebrities studying qigong
    Baduanjin (8-section brocade)
    Gene Ching
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    The return of Iggy

    More on Iggy.


    Iggy Pop Still Wants to Be Somebody

    GQ
    Chris Heath
    October 21, 2019

    Welcome to GQ's New Masculinity issue, an exploration of the ways that traditional notions of masculinity are being challenged, overturned, and evolved. Read more about the issue from GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch here and hear Pharrell's take on the matter here.

    When life throws changes at us, however unexpected, we all need to learn how to adjust. Iggy Pop is doing his best. “I’ve always been the chronically angry paranoid person,” he reflects. “As my circumstances have improved in life, I forget about that often…. I know something good is happening. People are treating me well in life. People are nice to me.”

    That is why Iggy Pop now finds it much easier to be a man who can enthuse about how he treasures swimming in the sea and good food and a fine glass of wine and his daily qigong exercises and the ability, when need be, to think carefully and deeply about things, as well as the ability, when need not, to not think too much about anything.


    Jacket, $2,430, and pants, $995, by Alexander McQueen / Necklace, $225, by David Yurman

    But all that having been said, he wouldn’t like to mislead you. “And then there are other times,” he says, “when you’re, ‘**** all this ****!’ and ‘**** that guy!’ and ‘**** that chick!’ and ‘**** those people!’ and ‘**** this!’…”

    So that’s all still in there?

    “Yes, that’s still in there.”

    Where does it come from?

    “It’s justified! It comes from reality! It’s the correct and justified emotional response to reality. To the more irritating parts of reality, when I’m forced to come into contact with them.”


    Jacket (price upon request) by Givenchy / Sunglasses, $895, by Jacques Marie Mage / Necklace, $225, by David Yurman

    On the cover of his new album, Free, Iggy Pop is pictured naked, walking away into the ocean in the half-light of a Miami Beach dawn. This turn of events can’t be considered entirely surprising, given that Pop has spent a lifetime—he is 72, at least in human years—finding various ways to be less dressed than most of us, just one part of the ongoing Iggy Pop master class in doing things your own way.

    Told through the soft gauze of nostalgia, Iggy Pop’s story is one of the great ones: In the late 1960s, James Osterberg, a small Michigan youth with big ideas, takes a new name and forms a group, the Stooges, in which he lays down one of the no-nonsense propulsive templates for punk rock, years ahead of time, and recklessly extends the possibilities of how one’s body might be used and abused on a stage—for just one aspect of this, he is often now credited as the inventor of the stage dive. Then, in the 1970s, with acolyte David Bowie alongside him, he makes two remarkable classic-packed solo albums, The Idiot and Lust for Life…and on it has gone ever since. As others around him have withered and fallen, he has persevered and triumphed.

    That’s the way pop-culture history is generally written, where you know that every oddball and pioneer and long shot at the beginning of the story is always going to be acclaimed and get their due before the story’s end. It ignores the fact that once the outcasts have been cast out, most of them never find their way back in, and that long shots are long shots because most of them will never see their number come up. In truth, Iggy Pop’s story was messy and uncertain for a long time, and it ending well was no sure thing.

    These days he rebuffs the inevitable invitations to write his autobiography, but a scrappy memoir with his name on it, I Need More, did come out in 1982, long before the ground beneath his feet stabilized. It has a brief foreword by Andy Warhol, including the lines: “I don’t know why he hasn’t made it really big. He is so good,” and a text that offers plenty of clues to clear up the mystery for Warhol.

    The first two sentences we get from Pop in the book, setting up an anecdote about how he was once mistakenly arrested under suspicion of being a murderer, are these: Yeah, so when I was in the Stooges a lot of dumb things used to happen to me. I remember one night I was sitting up, just sitting up all night with our road manager, John Adams, shooting coke with a hypodermic needle. And it continues like that. It’s not so much the excesses that strike a modern-day reader but the sense of a chaotic life without a center or a moral compass or viable path forward.

    It’s been a long way from there to here, and there were plenty more difficult years along the way, but now he is thriving in all kinds of ways: touring regularly to big crowds, making new records, selling old records (“all the studio albums are in print and they all sell, all the live albums sell—I have 79 or 84 or 102 or whatever they are—reconfigured, repackaged albums; licensing and the Stooges’ licensing is through the roof…”), acting (most recently as a zombie who still hankers for coffee in Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die), making endorsements (most recently his own signature brew of, er, Stumptown coffee), doing voice-overs (recently narrating both the surreal art movie In Praise of Nothing and the art-world documentary The Man Who Stole Banksy), and for several years now, hosting his own weekly radio show, Iggy Confidential, for BBC6 in the U.K. (he records it in Miami, where he has lived for nearly a quarter of a century), displaying a thoughtful and esoteric taste in music. And along the way, Pop has become aware that he has achieved, or attained, something that somehow stretches beyond all of this.


    Coat, $3,150, by Berluti / Shirt, $250, and pants, $325, by Rag & Bone / Necklace, $225, by David Yurman


    Shirt, $4,900, by Gucci / Pants, $340, by Homme Plissé Issey Miyake / Necklace, $19,600, and bracelet, $7,900, by Eli Halili

    “In the process,” he tells me, “I became something vague-to-articulate but very, very solid to people in general—way, way, way from anything to do with music. Cops like me. Customs officers like me. All sorts of everyday people, they like something about me that has something to do with stick-to-ativity.” By which I think he means something to do with endurance that also relates to a peculiar kind of obstinate dignity. “I’m not sure how that all works,” he muses. “I haven’t gone into it too much, but I realize it’s important.”

    For over a decade now, conversations with Iggy Pop have generally included a moment in which he explains how he has no more in him, and how he thinks he should probably shut up and go away. But retiring has turned out to be one thing at which Iggy Pop has proved spectacularly poor.

    “Just lately I kind of gave up on that,” he concedes. “I just sort of realized I’m so used to being somebody. I might be nobody if I retired, you know. I was going to be more a nobody in comfort—probably not a good dynamic for me.”

    What would happen?

    “Alcoholism. Sloth. Depression, probably. All those things. I don’t have any problems like that right now.”
    ****, those are some pricey threads...
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  11. #11
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    Marie Davidson

    Interview: Marie Davidson on Anglo-French songwriting, qigong + returning to live shows
    'French is more poetic. English is more direct. Having the chance to work with both gives me more possibilities.'
    Vicky Greer
    15:45 13th May 2021


    It’s no longer unusual for bands to have albums that they haven’t had a chance to tour yet. With only a few limited opportunities to perform since last March, there’s already a lot of pressure for bands to put on the best show of their life this summer. But to hit the festivals for the first time as a band? That’s something Marie Davidson knows about.

    Marie Davidson & L'Œil Nu’s set at All Points East this August represents a lot of firsts for the band. Chatting to Gigwise over Zoom from Montreal, Canada, band leader Marie tells us just how excited she is to play the festival at Victoria Park for the first time. “It’s my first time playing this festival and I’m not going to be playing alone, I’ll be playing with my band…it’s a lot of new things and it’s very exciting for us”.
    It sounds like enough pressure for any artist, but then you factor in Davidson’s recent musical reinvention too... Prior to her first album with L'Œil Nu, she was releasing music as a solo artist, focusing primarily on dance music and electronica. Now, we hear a different sound which blends rock, pop and jazz with hints of her previous adventures in electronica. “It’s changing everything, it makes it much more exciting,” she says. “Now we have this hybrid version of our band. We decided to go as much electronic as real instruments. We’re having guitars and synthesisers on stage but we’re keeping electronic drums and music generated by computers and samples”. Now sharing the stage with three other people, she’s pulling out all the stops to make sure that they show off exactly who they are as artists.

    What other musicians might see as a mammoth task of planning every intricate detail of a setlist, Davidson describes as “the fun part”, explaining in elaborate detail how she manages to create intimacy in a festival environment. “For me it’s a case of sound, playfulness, you have to use your intuition to try to think about what would be a good pacing? Which songs should go into the other? Where do we want the music to break down and where do we want the music to come back louder, stronger, more energetic?” But beyond all of the technical details, it all boils down to one thing: a new band who just want to get out on the road. “We’re really excited to just go on stage and play this live, showcase what we have in mind, what kind of live gig we are. For sure it’s going to be fun”, she says with confidence.



    However, she won’t give away too much about what we can expect from their live shows, opting instead to hold on to the air of mystery to introducing themselves to the world. “We’ve prepared a special set with little candies here and there. I’m not going to tell you because it’s not the time. I’d rather just let people discover by themselves”.

    The break in live music is the longest that Davidson has gone between live shows. Throughout Canada’s consistently strict lockdown restrictions, she has sought out routine in her life, starting with a half-hour daily practice of qigong. An ancient offshoot of martial arts practices, she describes it as “a soft, slow sport and the principle of it is to have a good energy flow and to have a good energy circulate in your body”. Practicing it every day, qigong has become a moment of prevention and repair to combat the anxiety and stress that we’ve all been experiencing this year.

    But the year wasn’t completely absent from performance. In March, Marie Davidson & L'Œil Nu filmed a concert at Montréal’s Studio Notre-Dame with filmmaker Denis Côté, which was met with rave reviews. “For us it was a real mind****”, Davidson admits. “We worked so hard on this project and then by the time our record was out nothing was possible. We couldn’t even celebrate, really…it became everything to us, that filmed show because it was the only thing we were allowed to do”. In the end, despite the pressure, they were happy with what they had done: “It was a bit intimidating, but the result was amazing and we’re very proud of that…We’ll see how it goes with an actual crowd, probably much more fun”.

    The show saw them unveil themselves as a live act, albeit in a different way to most musicians starting a new project. But the half-French, half-English blend of genres became almost supernatural in its grandeur and established Marie Davidson and L'Œil Nu as performers to watch.

    French is Davidson’s first language, the one she grew up speaking in Montréal and she later picked up English as a teenager. She still speaks with a strong French accent, taking pride in both her native tongue and the global tool of being able to write music in English.

    “Popular culture is very influenced by English language. For me it’s normal, it’s not a statement or anything it’s just that I have the chance to speak two languages and one is definitely stronger than the other which is French”. Similar to contemporary bilingual artists like Christine and the Queens, each language represents something different in her songwriting process, she explains "Some emotions and concepts really translate better in French. But there are other statements or vibes or energies that really translate better in English”. Detailing exactly how she uses these tools, she adds “French is more poetic and reflective or evasive sometimes. There’s a lot of images. English is more direct and having the chance to work with both gives me more possibilities. Why say no to that?”

    It's a weird time to start performing with a new project. Especially when you consider the pressure-cooker festival season of lost time and anticipation that we’ve got ahead of us this summer. But Marie Davidson & L'Œil Nu coming together for the first time is a must see at All Points East this year.

    Marie Davidson & L'Œil Nu play All Points East on Saturday 28 August. Bag a ticket here.
    I've always thought qigong was ideal for musicians, especially singers and those who play wind instruments.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  12. #12
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    Jan 1970
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    Julianne Hough

    Julianne Hough Has Total Princess Vibes In A Bright Blue Dress At Disney World

    Sarah Felbin
    Tue, December 21, 2021, 9:53 AM·2 min read
    In this article:
    Julianne Hough
    American actress



    Julianne Hough, 33, just showed off her toned legs in a brand new Instagram post.

    The former Dancing With the Stars pro looked so sculpted in a bright blue, ruffled dress.

    Julianne says dance-inspired workouts and green smoothies help her stay in shape.

    From Dancing With the Stars to America's Got Talent to Disney World—is there anything Julianne Hough can't do? The 33-year-old just embraced her inner princess in brand new photos on Instagram, and her legs look beyond strong.

    Julianne wears a bright blue, ruffled dress that's only missing a tiara, TBH, and fans in the comments agreed. "Beauty in blue!!🔥🔥💙💙💙," one user wrote, while someone else added, "@disney absolutely needs u for their new princess."

    "Dreams and Balloons have the same concept. Together we will touch the sky…Let’s get carried away! 💙," Julianne captioned the snaps, which show her posing (totally in her pro dancer element) with a huge handful of balloons:

    Wondering how Jules stays in such amazing shape? One of her favorite ways to break a sweat is in a SoulCycle class. "I love being around people and community," she said, per Women's Health.

    Now that her DWTS and AGT days are behind her, Julianne is focusing on KINRGY, her very own fitness platform. Julianne creates a mix of 45-minute "high sensory activated dance method" workouts. Each class contains elements of strength training, cardio, tai chi, qigong, and energy work (I'm tired just thinking about it).

    On her own, Jules says she works out around five days a week. Her other go-tos in the gym include CorePower Yoga and strength training.

    Food-wise, Julianne is a big fan of green juices. "If I eat something before I work out that's more of substance, it doesn't work for me," she shared with WH. Post-workout, a protein shake helps her refuel.

    For lunch and dinner, Julianne's only rule is to stay away from foods that can cause inflammation. As for other dishes, "I'll try anything," she says. "I love tacos and guacamole," Julianne explains. "I love food!"

    I couldn't agree more. Pass the chips?
    She had me at guacamole.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  13. #13
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    KINRGY & Julianne Hough

    Julianne Hough's Booty Is Ultra-Toned In A Thong Swimsuit In A New IG Vid
    Women's Health
    EMILY J. SHIFFER
    September 8, 2023 at 10:59 AM

    Julianne Hough Is Toned All Over Surfing In IG VidMEGA - Getty Images

    "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

    Julianne Hough just dropped an Instagram video of her surfing at Kelly Slater Wave Co. Surf Ranch, and her legs and butt are mega-toned.

    The actress seems to love staying active outdoors on vacation, and tries to incorporate movement even in her busiest travel days.

    She also enjoys soups for lunch and an Indian dish called mung daal for dinner, plus, she's a fan of Mexican food.

    Summer isn't over until Julianne Hough says so. And according to her, it's still in full swing. Why? Because she's totally living her Blue Crush dream.

    The Footloose actress, 35, and her bestie, Nina Dobrev, hit up Kelly Slater Wave Co. Surf Ranch in California, and she dropped an epic video of her adventures on Instagram.

    Jules showed off her strength and balance in a slew of swimsuits and thong one-piece swimsuits while riding some waves. Her legs and booty are seriously sculpted, and it's clear that she's strong all over.

    "Guess I’m a surfer girl now 😎," she captioned the video. "What a surreal experience! From only attempting to surf once or twice before and starting on a soft top to switching to a hard top and carving up and down on the wave and barrelling… in just 2 days! Ahh, it was insane, and such a good feeling to accomplish and try something new ☀️💛."

    It's no surprise that Julianne crushed those waves after just two days. After all, she usually stays active outdoors with others while on vacation—which is probably why she's so strong and toned.

    Exhibit A: She recently shared pics and videos from a women's retreat where she spent time kayaking, hiking, and doing outdoor yoga.

    "I love being around people and community," Julianne previously told Women's Health of her fitness habits.

    Even with her busy travel sched, Julianne still makes exercise a priority. She also shared some of her go-to moves when she travels on Instagram.

    "Even when I’m on the go, I always find time to move my body 💪🏻," she wrote.


    The workout circuit—which Julianne does with ankle weights—includes:

    10 donkey kicks (each leg)

    10 fire hydrants with angled kickback (each leg)

    10 angled kickback pulses (each leg)

    20 hip thrusts

    10 single leg hip thrusts per side

    10 bicycle crunches

    10 scissor kicks

    10 straight leg bicycle crunches per side.

    Jules also loves to do aerial yoga:

    Plus, the Safe Haven actress started her own fitness platform, KINRGY, which include 45-minute "high sensory activated dance method" workouts that are a mix of tai chi, cardio, strength training, qigong, and energy work.

    "It gives permission to be fully expressed for your own unique version of who you are, that there is no right or wrong way to do anything. There is no perfection, it's about expression," Julianne shared with Women's Health.
    Celebrities-studying-Tai-Chi
    Celebrities-studying-qigong
    New-Hybrids
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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