Review of Teri Tom's book...

[Ghost]

Thanks you guys for the well wishes. It was an awesome ceremony in a chapel overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A good time was had by all and my bride was beyond beautiful. For all my fellow Inosanto instructors in the UK, we'll see you (in Scotland) next summer ('10) for the honey-moon. Peace, J~

SAD, you came on on your wedding day.
gaylord.
glad you had a nice wedding mate, good stuff.

[Jujujason]

Thanks you guys for the well wishes. It was an awesome ceremony in a chapel overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A good time was had by all and my bride was beyond beautiful. For all my fellow Inosanto instructors in the UK, we'll see you (in Scotland) next summer ('10) for the honey-moon. Peace, J~

[Ghost]

Thanks Michael! I'm not done ripping her book, yet. More to come on this later, since I'm getting married today ;-)

congratulations mate, hope its a really good day as well
if i see you posting on here today i know you are either REALLY sad or you she did a runner

as for the book, havent read it but it sounds like the typical fanatical nonsense that seems to grip 90% of martial artists regardless of style. weirdos.

the idea of progressing and moving forward seems to be an idea some people fear.

ain't that the truth

[Kvntu]

Very interesting point Max. But then again the idea of progressing and moving forward seems to be an idea some people fear.

[Max22]

One of the large problems with Tom's praising of Nadi's fencing ideas, as well as the ideas of Driscoll and Dempsey is that she doesn't bother to any real analysis of why fencing and boxing began to change. There is no indication in her Tom's book that Fencing has indeed moved on. Which hurts her analysis because indeed it has. With new, modern scoring aparatus, the thrust tends to not score as much (prior to electronic scoring-which measures not only contact, but pressure to register score). IN earlier times it was a subjective call. The scoring with the thrust was actually light, barely making contact, but since it made contact it was scored. The new equipment registers pressure, so the blow must actually be substantial to count as a hit. As such, the ideas of Nadi are largely a matter of historical interest more than actual training wisdom.

Her analysis of boxing, (it is degenerate now, but was utterly refined back in days of yor) neglects evolution of footwork, and head movement etc, and as such seems just as flawed.

[Tant01]

Congrats!

Thanks Michael! I'm not done ripping her book, yet. More to come on this later, since I'm getting married today ;-)

Wish you many happy years and best regards!

Thanks Michael! I'm not done ripping her book, yet. More to come on this later, since I'm getting married today ;-)

Wow! Hey congratulations brother, all my very best wishes to you both!

I did...

ha ha, I thought you might have

[Jujujason]

Thanks Michael! I'm not done ripping her book, yet. More to come on this later, since I'm getting married today ;-)

[Tant01]

Actually...

You should have seen the post I originally typed!

I think Jason has picked things up and ran with them nicely.

I did...

Having a bad day Mr. W?

You should have seen the post I originally typed!

I think Jason has picked things up and ran with them nicely.

[Jujujason]

Evidence On Film (page 175 of her book)

In the opening scene of 'Enter', I see sijo Bruce using stop hits from fencing, but I also see him using kicks (savate, Chuck Norris, northern gung fu styles?), throws (judo, Hayward Nishioka, Wally Jay, Gene Lebell?) and finishing the fight with an armbar. Later in that same movie, we see Bruce use wing chun trapping, staff (gung fu, kali, kobudo/bojitsu?), double stick and nunchaku (kali, jojitsu/kobudo?) techniques, so yes, we do see Bruce flowing in and out of different styles depending on the range and circumstance of the particular encounter.

[Jujujason]

"The Fencing Connection" (pg 174 of her book)

Ms Tom quotes sijo Bruce as saying, "It is Western sword fencing-without the sword." Bruce Lee is the ackowledged founder of jkd. In his genius, he discovered that one's empty hand skill could be improved by studying weaponry. His acknowledged heir (Yes, acknowledged heir by the acknowledged founder, regardless of what any revisionist historians would say to the contrary, ie Linda/Shannon/Ted/Teri.), Dan Inosanto followed in sijo Bruce's footsteps by studying Filipino weaponry to improve his empty hand fighting ability. Actually, he was far ahead of Bruce Lee in this respect since he had begun studying weaponry long before he ever started studying under sijo Bruce. Who's cutting edge now?

[Jujujason]

As for testing the validity of a jkd instructor by whether or not he enforces the strong side forward stance (Page 172, last paragraph of Ms Tom's book)...This is such a stupid-ass 'acid test' that I almost don't want to grace it with a response. First of all, enforcing any type of rigid adherence to any particular stance is VERY ANTI-jkd. I thought that we weren't supposed to force students into any pre-set mold? Second, 'strong side forward' is argumentative. With a righty like me that studied boxing, first, before studying any other martial art, my left side is my strong side, NOT the hand that I write with.