Tempest in a Teapot
We note with grave concern that the legendary Shaolin Monks, the state-sponsored Chinese “wushu” outfit, have got their saffron-hued knickers in a knot over some incendiary remarks made by an anonymous...
View ArticleSticky Situation
Having spent the morning judging brown- and black-belt tests out at the Clifton, New Jersey branch of Yee’s Hung Ga, I’ve got martial arts on my mind today, and thought I’d offer those of you who have...
View ArticleWhipped
I was hoping to have some time for a meaty post tonight about that article by Steven Pinker, but I didn’t get home from work until eleven this evening, and I’m just too tired to spend a couple of hours...
View ArticleRatted Out
Sorry to have been off the air yesterday; a busy afternoon led to an evening at the theater (we saw a spellbinding production of Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music). By...
View ArticleMaster Class
We’ll carry on with our meditations on free will shortly, but for tonight — it’s been a very busy weekend, with no time for writing — we have, for those of you with an interest in such things, some...
View ArticleShow Of Power
Having posted some video clips of Kwong Sai Jook Lum Praying Mantis master Gin Foon Mark a couple of weeks ago, it seems only fair that I do the same for the system I’m involved with these days, Tang...
View ArticleGung Hey Fat Choy
So distracted have I been by a little melee (now ended) in another corner of these premises that I have neglected, I am sorry to say, to wish all of you a happy Lunar New Year. It is the Year of the...
View ArticleWhat Is ‘Chi’?
From our friend Jess Kaplan come links to two YouTube clips, both of which show two chi-gung practitioners — one a Tibetan giving a martial-arts demonstration, and the other a Javanese healer. What we...
View ArticleOx Tale
Today was the annual Yee’s Hung Ga Lunar New Year parade, in which our dragon and lion-dance teams make their way along a circuitous, miles-long path that covers just about every block of New York’s...
View ArticleIt’s A Wong Story
When I began learning southern Chinese kung fu toward the end of 1975, there were still very few Chinese masters who were willing to teach “roundeyes”; my sifu at the time, William Chung, and his sifu...
View ArticleWilliam Chung, 1935-2009
It is with the profoundest sorrow that I must mark the death of Grandmaster William J. Chung, who was my kung-fu master for many years. He had been suffering from cancer, and collapsed at his home in...
View ArticleFeets Of Fury
In case you’ve never seen it, here’s some of the best martial-arts choreography ever filmed: Jackie Chan and Ken Lo giving it hell in Drunken Master II.
View ArticleInto The Sunset
Here’s an item for those of you with an interest in martial arts: the last surviving master of the Sikh fighting system shastar vidya. It’s sad to see these cultural relics dying out. Good to see, at...
View ArticleIt Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Ging
I just ran across an old article by my sigung for many years, Master Yee Chi Wai (aka Frank Yee). It’s a discussion of the many varieties of ging, or internal power, that are cultivated by the advanced...
View ArticleBe Very Afraid
I haven’t posted anything about martial arts in quite a while, so I thought I’d share this clip of some truly remarkable practitioners. Hat tip: Matt Blazon.
View ArticleGoodnight Nurse!
I haven’t written much about martial arts lately, but tonight I do have a brief and instructive item. As I sat catching a bite at a local saloon last night, I saw what has to be one of the most...
View ArticleFists
In the days since the Zimmerman verdict, I’ve had a lot of conversations with liberal friends* in which they complain about the use of lethal force against the “unarmed” Trayvon Martin. Most of these...
View ArticleNot Too Shabby
I’ve been too busy to post much of anything at the moment, so for now, just a quick martial-arts link: a little Hung-Gar jam from a capable-looking practitioner. What this fellow is doing here is a...
View ArticleOoops!
My goodness, I’m getting sloppy lately. I gave the wrong link in the previous post (now fixed). Apologies to all. The link I meant to post is here. (Same bloody song.) P.S. See also the internal power...
View ArticleWho Knew?
I haven’t written about martial arts in a while, but coming across a silly little article in Popular Mechanics prompts me to do so today. The article begins with some fawning hyperbole: Forget all...
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