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Posts Tagged ‘Modern’

Thang Ta: A journey

(Through the history of Kangleipak)

from an ancient combat art to a popular modern sport  [3rd section]

-6th Part-

(a) The Sports aspect:

However, there is another equally important aspect of Thang Ta (the sport aspect), which was left unheeded or not so seriously considered. Though the expressive or the performing form of Thang Ta on stage looks very impressive & attractive, but some modern Thang Ta lovers & practitioners fear that it might eventually just remain as any other exhibitory item or a commodity product. As the time has changed much, with the scientific advancement, & the availability of many futuristic weapons of mass destruction, training in martial arts for warfare is not as useful as in olden days, even the chance of using it in self-defense has much reduced.

What remains to learn is the spirit, the inner knowledge, & essence of the art, which has taken thousands of years, blood & sweat of our fore-fathers to accumulate. The understanding of which not only fulfills one’s physical (including health & fitness), inner & spiritual necessity, but more importantly fosters the cultural identity & the nationalistic pride. But, the problem is to convey the message effectively to the youths in this fast, busy, highly competitive, result & career oriented, impatient present society. To be sincere, very few have the time, hard work, seriousness, sincerity & dedication- which too with no lucrative career option; becoming a warrior (that too of swords & spears etc., in this nuclear world) which generally is not the intended by many – as required in the teaching style of olden days.  Read more...

Being a professional magician or entertainer is very demanding in the modern world. With TV, Internet – especially You Tube and all the media available, modern people are so used to see quality entertainment, that if you cannot perform and do something very special and unique, your chances to become recognized in the media and among agents are becoming smaller all the time.

Establishing a new career doing magic, music or other performing arts anywhere in the world seems to have changed when Internet become a zillion dollar business some ten years ago. With immediate access to all the top artists by visiting their Myspace or You Tube media sites, who wants to go to a concert or to see a magician perform, when you have choice of the best performers and their greatest shows available by the click of a mouse?

Having said that, I feel the demand for live performances is growing again all the time. It is quite different to see something from TV or a computer screen, than to actually feel and be present at a live show. If we see a magic show on You Tube, we can easily think it’s a camera trick. Furthermore a TV cannot possibly convey the atmosphere of a great show, it can only give a partial experience, while at the actual venue, we can receive with our whole body.

I had the chance to become a professional magician over fifteen years ago, when we had only TV and videos, Internet was very little known at that time. I live in Europe Finland – a small country, with only 5.5 million people, but also not so much competition by other professional magicians.  Read more...

For those of you whom have stayed around long enough to figure out the differences, there still may be some of you who do not know what this title means. After many years of research, study and first hand experiences I have found a lot about the reasons for training and what styles to train under. Why are we taking any type of self defense course? Why do we train in this style of Kung Fu? Why not just join the armed forces? All of these questions and many others will be answered in this article.

Kung Fu or Wu Shu?

There have been many students that asked me “What is the difference between kung fu and wu shu?” Let us first go into the translation of these words from Chinese into English: “Kung Fu” = Time and Energy. Then “Wu Shu” = War like Technique. Neither of these two words separately can be translated onto a fighting style or some type of self defense. However, placed together they represent generalized Chinese martial arts.

Kung Fu: A term normally used in the Chinese language for anyone who gains a skill through time and effort. A carpenter would have good kung fu in laying carpets, a tailor would good kung fu in sewing clothes, a fighter would have good kung fu in defending himself.

The term “Kung Fu” got it’s connection with martial arts and Shaolin in the 1960’s when Bruce Lee and other movie actors used the phrase: “Your Kung Fu is good” which actually meant that there skill was good, not to say that kung fu was there style. From that point onward most average people thought kung fu meant a type of fighting style like karate or tae kwon do.
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Satire, as defined by the Britanica Concise Encyclopedia, is an artistic form in which human or individual vices, folly, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of irony, ridicule, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement. Literature and drama are its chief means of expression, but it is also found in other forms of media such as film, the visual arts, and political cartoons. Satires had been present in Greek Literature, with Aristophanes as well as in Roman Literature with Juvenal and Horace. Juvenal and Horace’s satires have since then developed according to their perspectives. To Horace, the satirist is a refined man who sees stupidity and insanity everywhere, but is moved to gentle laughter rather than to rage. To Juvenal, on the other hand, the satirist is a respectable man who is horrified and angered by corruption. Horace’s satires are friendlier in tone, thus containing no dangerous attacks against powerful individuals or serious vices. Juvenal’s satires, however, are bitter accusations of the vice and folly of his own times that include most men and all women.

The Elizabethan Period proved to be the Golden Age of Satire as satirists like Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe wrote works that were more direct and straightforward, leaving little room for subtle irony. In Voltaire’s Candide, he showed how having a ridiculously positive outlook on life will still lead to a life with numerable tragedies. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, exposed the cruelty of humanity, and Daniel Defoe’s Jure Divino, the writer made an elaborate and learned attack on theories of the ‘divine right’ of monarchs.  Read more...