Strike Diary - Ultimate Kenpo Alliance - April 15, 2005

April 15, 2005. Day 3. The trick is to get more physical activities into my day to get back to where I used to be. I read about tuna tossing. I am against tuna tossing and think that the people throwing contests can be hurtful (it is actually called something different, but I want to be politically correct). Bog or swamp snorkeling sounds horrible. I will never bog snorkel except by accident and that is assuming I have my snorkel on for some reason before being thrown in. I actually know a former champion cheese thrower, but simply I have no interest. I decide to stick to painting and my lighter activities for now, except for book lugging since I am a book dealer. The more books lugged, the better.


This is the third day of protesters being out on the streets. Since I have been making the climb back to somewhere since the accident. Mostly I have been running and doing some lighter exercises including small weights and getting more active now. I am actually against any full-contact that involves trucks and will fully protest against any such events without any need for reframing.


I do my morning check into the website. More posts about not posting and some posts disrespecting other members and the manager of the site, who is obviously away driving a truck. There is some talk seemingly for and against great bodies. (I am all for great bodies.) Sky, the assistant manager of the site is posting. She has the responsibility of maintaining and representing the site. Her Sensei is the manager of Ultimate Kenpo Alliance. Anyone who has ever had an instructor understands this situation and recognizes that she is doing a wonderful job. Besides, what is a strike without someone from "corporate" as spokes person? This is not a strike against the board or managers though, and the site has nothing in it that might bring people to apply the "corporate" word I mentioned as a negative term against them. It appears on the surface that it is about full-contact people and kenpo. Is it really?

It is actually a bit of a disappointment that some kenpo does not go up on the board as a positive show against the protest. Maybe the kenpo people feel they may be one of the first people to be part of the governments "Fitness Protection Program" should they break the strike. However, this is a peaceful protest of "Ghandish" proportions without the hunger strike and with the stated objective of people being free to post all the kenpo they want. (We can still eat what we want unless we are counting carbs, but just not post.) There is nothing on the boards to pull some martial art philosophy or motivations and happy friendship into my day. For some reason, those exchanges help me keep going on my martial arts training. I have been simply walking through kata and forms for a long time, performing them gently. Other martial arts "goings on" keep me interested.


As a long time student of spirituality, religion and philosophy, I have to ask myself... Is spiritual philosophy a point in Kenpo or in the modern martial arts in general? I am told that a lot of people do not receive any of the training or ideas that are not physical. My teachers certainly gave forth a lot of philosophy that is intended to help one survive and use martial arts in any situation. This includes the mind. They spoke of ways to navigate the world with gentleness, humor and the expressing oneself with thoughtfulness in order to avoid needless battle. If we happened to find ourselves doing a lot of "needless bar or other battling" we would be out of the school.

What is keno philosophy and how is it differentiated from other martial arts philosophies?

How does it help the student navigate through life's big bumps and truck of life?

This includes the ideals you carry even if you cannot jump and kick the way you normally do. I have to be careful not to complain though... despite my huge collection of books not one of them is specifically on kenpo philosophy.

Strike Diary - Ultimate Kempo Alliance - April 14, 2005

April 14, 2005 Day 2. I receive notification to my in-box that the World Cow Chip Throwing Contest will be held this week in Beaver, Oklahoma. Rob Brezsny mentions in his newsletter that it would be worth competing since, "...it would be far better to do it in a setting where such activity is sanctioned. I am not so keen, but I keep the information handy.

I look at the site to check for any postings or any signs of protest movement including opposition. Amazingly enough, there are still a lot more posts about not posting. Today there is a little surprise too. One person posts against not posting. "Sorry I don't Agree with this Post Off Protest," is the title of the post by the member called Kookie. His post information is thoughtful and worth repeating:




"Sorry to the members who are united in their protest. The best protest is a healthy discussion. Let's air out our differences maturely and then we can sort things out. I think the member who started this mess is probably surprised by the overwhelming out-pouring of protest. I think this "little" post was used as a scapegoat for previous problems. This was an excuse to rally. It's shocked me. This group was like dead. Now it broke every posting record there was. 81 posts in 24 hours! You guys are out there and have been following the boards that's for sure! You proved it! How about saying Let's wipe the slate clean, shake hands & start over."




There are a lot of good points in that writing. "Why complain?" I always ask when I see negative comments on any websites including the one I manage. Why not just post or respectfully request was is missing from the site? Why aren't more people taking action rather than just observing that the site has a lot less kenpo.

Sometimes speaking up when you do not know what action to take or need help is important, but simply complaining is not enough. Complaining is compelling to people. There are ways to ask that actually bring people to respond. We are taught that what we actually DO is important. Actions are called for. The bottom line for me is that people will always be complaining about something. Where do we learn that? Certainly not in the dojo. Mom and Dad never let me whine and I think a lot of parents are the same way. It is not enough to simply complain, but it is important to be involved working towards solutions.

Some people want more kenpo. It makes me feel like dancing my moves across the room and asking, "Is this kenpo?" after every motion. Other people want more full-contact up on the boards and to be respected. I must say that they not only want it, they put it on the boards. You have to give the kickboxers' credit for that. They are posting what they want and taking strong action. You can count on one thing here, and that is you can't make everyone happy. I know that since I would like more martial arts philosophy.

Strike Diary - Ultimate Kempo Alliance - April 13, 2005

April 13, 2005 Day 1. No posts on the morning check-in except for those joining the protest and agreeing not to post. There are a lot of posts about not posting. My Frederick's of Hollywood catalog arrives. I don't always keep it, but this time I decide to set it aside, "just in case." Things might get too quiet around here. I am wrong. One of the posts by Kenpojoe is about his supporting the "walk-out" with a Kenpo technique. I notice his writing actually delivers a blow. Is it a hidden strike?

"HEY WHAT HAPPENED TO KENPO THIS SITE IS TURNING INTO A JOKE," is the original post by the member "Express" that, in its perfect or perhaps unfortunate timing, has sparked the protest. Kenpojoe mentions that the way this is stated may be in bad taste, however, he does agree that this comment is worth considering. Kenpojoe is in no way against kickboxing which his post with his long list of accomplishments and activities makes clear:

"I was the co-host of the "Championship Kickboxing" Cable TV show out of Rhode Island before Massachusetts rescinded outlawing kickboxing. ... I also hosted the "USA VS SOUTH AFRICA" kickboxing card TV show which featured Peter Manfredo, Father of Pete Manfredo presently featured on "The Contender" TV show. I love watching kickboxing as well as UFC, PRIDE, KOTG, or any other MMA event as well."

Kenpojoe's point is that there is very little kenpo being posted on the board lately and in that respect he agrees with Express. He is happy to respond to any kenpo questions and topics, but they just aren't on the boards. He adds that if he wants detailed posts on kenpo he visits to Martialtalk, Kenpotalk or Kenponet. Here is Kempojoe's "punch" line:

PS: I will honor the "kickboxing walk out" and not post until the 20th...because it's real easy to do that.




As a long-time assistant manager and new manager of another website, I see a lot of posts about not posting in many formats. One of the things a manager or any staff and fans of a website wants is many posts from all their different members. Generally websites develop. People who have similar likes come together and they generally start the sparks on the board. There are discussions, debates and some word bashing. This is actually interesting in my opinion and the strike must be interesting to the members as well. This protest brings out an unusually high number of members to post on the site. That can be a "good thing."

Strike Diary - Ultimate Kenpo Alliance - April 12, 2005

The Ultimate Kenpo Alliance, a MSN website with many members from South Beach, Florida and other areas, is involved in a peaceful Website protest. It seems that some of the non-contact people have gone up against the full-contact and kickboxing members. The full-contact people want to be recognized for their contribution to the group. I do recognize them, the arts, and what this peaceful protest represents. I join the "post out." It is important to mention that this is actually a great group to belong to and the protest is in no way intended against the website or the leaders of the website itself. The Elder brothers, pro-kickboxers, go full charge ahead into the protest after site member Hernaldo suggests the idea of not posting for a week.

April 12, 2005 The day before the protest... The HKENPO protest has really gained incredible momemtum. I check in before retiring from the computer for the evening. Many people extend their support including Iron Tiger and Masa "Beat" Suzuki. This is huge. There are a ton of posts giving support to the protest. I read them all. I post my support too. After my post, I notice that the retired kickboxer Sherman Bergman also posts his support for the kickboxers.

My post:

It is not midnight yet here in Connecticut, so I have time to respond that I will support my friends here in the interest of unity for all of the martial arts people. This is also in recognition of contributions to the boards, and out respect for the arts and what others believe in. When all that shows, like it does with all these posts, that is a beautiful thing. I look forward to "seeing" all of you again on the 20th and I hope that will be the end of any "civil war."

I do want to say that I fully realize and remember that Sensei Bill did change the boards as some have requested. [The full-contact people had apparently requested to be on the general board with everyone else rather than separated out.] I was glad to "see" all of you again.

Just as a warning, I won't be surprised if after this is over someone may post something again to get everyone riled up on purpose. (I do not believe that Express [the original poster that may have sparked the protest] falls into this category, since he also has posted kenpo questions in the past too.) It is actually not uncommon for groups to be attacked this way. There is even a word for a person who does this sort of thing intentionally to destroy groups. They are called Trolls. So be careful after this is resolved that trolls do not start attacking in their own form of entertainment. Perhaps it will be a good thing to see exactly who would like only certain kinds of posts here. I have a feeling that it is a very small minority from the looks of things. I don't see any signs so far of the other side's pro-post-protest.

***

http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killfile/anti_troll_faq.htm Interesting information and story about Trolls.

Movie Review - I Heart Huckabees

Finally I see the movie... it is not what I expect but I must admit, after I figure out the film (at least partially) it is exceedingly clever! At first the movie strikes me as goofy with exaggerated characters doing half-crazy things all in the name of searching for answers and solutions. I suspect a lot of people will not like this movie. Some people will really like this flick too once they "get it." People who do not mind thinking a lot will probably be among the latter.

I was told that this film was about existentialism. I read a review in Tricycle that opens with a quote, "David O. Russell shows us just how funny Buddhism really is in his new film, I Heart Huckabees. ---Robert Coe." Existentialism and Buddhism I believe are two different concepts however. There may be something there that I do not comprehend that perhaps someone else can explain. The movie does present concepts that I tend to think of as Buddhist, such as, "Being in the Now."

This film has several people who are truly characters even to me... and I am someone who the guy at the local GNC describes as leading a Bugs Bunny lifestyle. (Is it my Mega Men supplement commercial?)

Here are our main players:

Albert Markovski is our environmental activist, poet, and local bleeding heart who looks for help with the coincidences in his life when there is so much more going on. They don't seem like such amazing coincidences to me, but they get him thinking deeply about life. He is a deep thinker... He is also going up against Brad Stand with all he has got. This is someone who seemingly ousts him from his own organization taking over the group.

Brad Stand is a hot shot executive doing the fast, "looking good" climb to the top of the Huckabees kingdom. He is all white teeth and good suits with the perfect life and will tell you he knows Shania Twain if given so much less than even half-a-chance. He is our classic smooth talker and people want to follow him.

Dawn Campbell is part of Brad's perfect life... She is also the lovely blonde, apple pie spokes model of the retail superstore Huckabees who suddenly takes to wearing bonnets and stops feeling the part of all her overtly sexy commercials.

Tommy Corn is a hard core warrior firefighter hero and much more too. Tommy is actually a bit too much for most people. He also has disturbing political issues with petroleum use that leave him pedaling his bicycle like mad to fires and estranging him from his wife and family. They don't seem to understand him at all.

The Jaffes, are what all these people end up having in common. They are a very romantic husband and wife team, together all the way as existential detectives looking for clues to solve these "cases." They use observation and concentration to dissemble people's egos in their many attempts to help them understand to the point of resolution. They will watch their charges in the bathroom, eating cereal and pay attention to what might seem like the most casual events that would otherwise simply go un-noticed. They keep a great blackboard with overlapping cubes mapping out their vision that Mr. Jaffe always leans against ending up with the images on his jacket. I hear he has a watch with no numbers or hands too.

Caterine Vauban is the red hot French radical and a tough opponent of the Jaffe team who also gets involved in the cases looking at the difficulties of life. She is sex, emotion, loss, confrontation, pain and suffering and has great legs. The manure of life that forces us to grow is what she is looking at so very closely that she is willing to put her face is right in it. She also finds seemingly small incidents and instructs how they can often be so much more than what they appear. Her students whack each other in the faces with balloons with a shocking slap and bonking sound shocking themselves into the "NOW."

Amazingly enough the view of the world presented by the Jaffes blanket of interconnectedness and Caterine's seeming opposing charges into chaos all come together. The ripples of the resolutions flow through each of these people like the cubes on the board map may indicate. This solution is including the detectives themselves, resulting in a great shift for everyone, although still in their own places. This is all about our really seeing our own faces as the face of others too even as we attempt to throttle them by their necks. Perhaps it is especially as we want to choke them. Can we see through the faces of others and find ourselves? This movie accomplishes this so very literally, it is actually hysterically funny... but only once you get it.

***

I found this review particularly interesting and different. It also is the best review I have read that really explains the idea in the movie well.

http://metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=367_0_2_0_M

Excerpt from review at link:

One problem with the word “shaman,” which traces its origins to the Siberian steppe, is that it is popularly employed by people more interested in fantasizing about some alternate reality than squaring their shoulders to bear the mundane burdens of this one. However, in cultures where such an office exists, the job of the shaman is primarily to foster the interrelation of two groups or positions that have hardened into such stubborn opposition that the survival of the society is at risk. For life to go on, the two camps must overcome their polemic, and the shaman acts by throwing himself into the fray—mentally, bodily, and emotionally, sometimes at personal risk. The result of his labors typically constitutes a paradigm shift rather than a compromise: the rules, though not necessarily undone, are re-contextualized and the system changes, including the position of the shaman himself.