book notes: Even If It Kills Me by Donivan Blair
When offered for review Even If It Kills Me, a non-fiction book about a 40ish rock and roll bass player who decides to pursue a martial arts black belt, the only correct response is...
Category: Martial Arts
Tai chi, qigong, Soo Bahk Do, others
REVIEW: Simple Qigong for Health: Enhanced Edition with video
As a developer of enhanced eBooks, I notice it is easy to use too much media (an overabundance of non-germane videos, audio or pictures), or to not put it in the right places. The...
Review of The Kensei by Jon F. Merz on SFSignal
My review of The Kensei, the 5th Lawson vampire novel by Jon F. Merz, has been posted on SFSignal.com. An excerpt: When you mention vampire and sword in the same sentence, most people will...
Qi, focus and injuries
In advance of World Tai Chi and Qigong Day (April 24th this year, and, no, Hallmark did not create this as a holiday to sell cards), I pose this question: what are you doing...
Sword Fundamental Training – DVD by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming
This basic sword training DVD reviews the fundamentals about the weapon, taking common techniques and drills that should be applicable to all sword training. As always, Dr. Yang’s teaching style is excellent; his Engineering...
Chocolate (the martial arts movie, not the candy)
The same director and martial arts choreographer who did Tony Jaa’s Ong-Bak and Tom-Yum-Goong worked on this 2008 Thai film, which, like Ong-Bak has a sometimes difficult to follow plot, great fighting stunts and...
Quiet Teacher by Arthur Rosenfeld
In the 2nd Xenon Pearl martial arts thriller from Mr. Rosenfeld, Xenon is presented not as the master martial artist of movie and legend, calm and reflecting inner quiet, but as a troubled human,...
Ong Bak 2 with Tony Jaa
A good martial arts movie doesn’t need subtitles or bad English dubbing to be enjoyed! Martial arts movies can be campy or classy, too much wire or too much blood, short on story and...
Simplified Tai Chi Chuan – DVD by Master Liang, Shou-Yu
Almost all martial artists will say that you need a good instructor. But having a video or DVD at home that can help you remember or get through the rough spots is very helpful....
Baguazhang: Theory and Applications by Master Liang, Shou-Yu and Dr.Yang, Jwing-Ming
There are four well known styles of so-called “internal” Chinese martial arts: Taichiquan, Xingyiquan, Baguazhang and Lin He Ba Fa. While I have only practiced Taichiquan from this group, this book on Baguazhang gives...