Budo Rant #3 - Give Credit & Improve on the Previous

I was compelled to defend my honor as the first person to ever post a tutorial video on the internet on the subject of Triple String Nunchaku. My original video has been viewed more than 30,000 times and has found permanent places on several search engines and martial arts forums world wide.

It's my firm belief, as martial artists, that when we borrow ideas or base our work on the accomplishments of others before us, we must give credit where credit is due. I've done so in the past, and I will always cite the research and findings of others whenever I produce training and educational material to be posted on the internet.

rctrue, never contacted me to inform me he was going to reproduce my tutorial virtually shot for shot and step for step.

Mcjoebuilder, on the otherhand, used my tutorial as a basis but went about his tutorial the way he saw fit. And as an added bonus, he makes his own nunchaku. Kudos Joe! [prior to posting this entry, Mcjoebuilder emailed me and informed me he was linking my tutorial to his. I did the same likewise.]


This is a comment placed by a DTG spy who was "expelled" by Greg Park so that he could freely roam YouTube and try to gain the confidence of the unsuspecting. I didn't buy his story for a minute. SACREDFIREDOJOSHOW is still an active member of Nintaijutsu.


In this screenshot, we can see the date of publication as well as number of views as of today. Notice, how many more views my video has over rctrue's. This number can only be achieved over a long period of time. Thus, my tutorial came first.


In this next image, MOUNTAINOUS gives praise...only because he is another member of Nintaijutsu - Choson Ninja, under Greg Park. The following two individuals are more critical. cava002 directly asks rctrue if he knows who I am. No response. The third person had an even more practical comment. Look back at my tutorial. I specifically chose to use my white oak nunchaku with green parachute cord because of the contrast in color! Easier for viewers to see what's happening.

Lastly, here's the champion of the day: Mcjoebuilder and his excellent interpretation of my original lesson.



Always remember this courtesy: Give credit where credit is due and improve on the previous.

Thanks goes to YouTubers: HouzanSuzuki, scottbaioisdead, zeong77, and Mcjoebuilder

Enter the Chickenchaku

This guy is actually an awesome guitarist. I'd love to check out his live show. He's quite the performance artist.





I'm glad I found this. It's time to start laughing again.

Here's a taste of his guitar work...

Go Pei Sho

Grand Master Robert Trias founded his own style of karate called Shuri Ryu in the late 1950's and early 1960's. He's on record as opening the first Japanese-style dojo in the United States in Arizona.

GM Trias also founded the USKA (United States Karate Association). Around 1971, my former Master (now deceased), was for a short time a member of the USKA. In order to help unify the organization some Shuri Ryu kata were modified to allow for other styles to learn them and compete in open tournament fairly.

Go Pei Sho was created by GM Trias, based on his learnings from the Hopei school of Hsing-I. This kata was one that underwent modification. Some time during the mid-1970's, all Shuri Ryu kata in the USKA were restored to their original forms.

To my knowledge, the modified forms have long been out of practice and probably only exist as file footage on 8mm/16mm films, quadruplex video tape, and hand written notes.

The version of Go Pei Sho that I first learned as a 13 year old from my teachers has remained in tact. I haven't changed anything that was taught to me. If there are others out there that know this or similar version, I'd really like to hear from you.

Hamabe Gasshuku and a Walk in the Woods

Every year, for the past eleven years, I've helped raise college scholarship funding for "at-risk" youth. A bunch of us karateka here in Northern California meet at a beach and donate money and buy T-shirts. The non-profit organization also raises funds from other sources. Over the years, we have supported several people up to Bachelor Degrees and technical degrees.

Budo Rant #2

I don't get pissed off easily. I give most people a lot of wiggle room and forgiveness before I cast them off.

One problem with open forums on the internet is the vulnerablity to hate speech or unjustified negative comments. I've created a new rule for my YouTube account. I will delete negative comments made by people posting from "fake" channels. Fake channels on YouTube are created by people to be used to shield their identities from the public. These people are often referred to as "haters." I'm perfectly willing to accept negative/constructive criticism on my YouTube channel so long as I can respond back in the public forum to "real" accounts. I define a real account on YouTube as a channel that depicts the true identity of the member with a facial record, their real first name (at least), and original video content.

Here's an incident I recorded that I hope I'll never have to repeat:

Hakkakukei Nunchaku Episode 6 - Bonus

Here's the bonus footage promised:

Hakkakukei Nunchaku Episode 5

This episode brings my first "How to Make Nunchaku" series to a close. But, it's not completely over. I've promised my YouTube viewers a demonstration of nunchaku techniques using the nunchaku I built from scratch.

I Punched a Cop - Parody

I'm just a silly magnet. Here, I sing a parody of Katy Perry's song I Kissed a Girl.



I needed a break from working on nunchaku videos.

Hakkakukei Nunchaku Episode 4

Here's the fourth installment of my "How to Make Nunchaku" series. [Almost done!]

I Hope I Don't Become Too Fame-Ass

My YouTube following(?) is growing steady, and my tutorial video library is too.

Hakkakukei Nunchaku Episode 3

Here's the third installment of my "How to Make Nunchaku" series.

Ernie Opens His Prize From GirlTalkMD!

A few weeks ago, I entered a YouTube Contest conducted by GirlTalkMD, a Mother/Daughter team from Canada. They wanted to know: What's in our purses? They revealed what they had in theirs and invited the YouTube community to video reply with the contents of their purses. Well...I don't carry a purse, but I revealed what I carry in my fannypack. Technically, it's a gun holster that looks like a fannypack. Don't worry. I don't carry a gun. I like it because it's got lots of cargo compartments.


[One more thing to carry...yeah, I know!

Hakkakukei Nunchaku - Episode 2

Here's the second part in my how-to make nunchaku series on YouTube:

Hakkakukei Nunchaku Episode 1

This is the first installment of what will be a multi-part DIY kobudo series.

New Nunchaku Videos in Production!

Tim Tam Slam-a-thon

Sorry for not posting for awhile. I've been doing some heavy research and video editing for an upcoming project.

On another note, my "Triple String Nunchaku" video tutorial on YouTube has surpassed 5,000 views. It also has been featured on AOL Video, Truveo, Freestyle Nunchaku Forum, and I've received several emails from nunchaku enthusiasts around the world.

To celebrate this achievement, it is customary on YouTube to "glut-o-nize" yourself on some kind of food. I've seen people eat big buckets of chicken wings, an extra large pizza, tubs of this-n-that.

I'm going to binge on Tim Tams from Australia. But, I'm going to "slam" each Tim Tam. "How do you slam a Tim Tam?" you ask. Easy. Bite the ends off, get a cup of your favorite hot beverage, and sip said beverage with the Tim Tam as if t were a straw. When it's filled, it'll start to melt. So, you have to quickly pop it into your mouth where it will EXPLODE with orgasmic deliciousness.

I now present to you, my Tim Tam Slam-a-thon (with musical accompaniment by the B-52's performing "Rocklobster."

Wiggle Your Big Toe...

I'm not going to try and gloss this over with humor and whimsy. This is one of those mid-life crises we all dread:

What am I going to do with the second half of my life?

Job satisfaction diminishes exponentially. Where are all the women I'm supposed to be compatible with? And 29 years of martial arts training (and all the injuries that comes with it) doesn't exactly have me jumping out of bed in the morning all sprite and ginger.

I chose a lifestyle (or did it chose me?), to follow a humble path of the minstrel-warrior, and have found that I live paycheck to paycheck; I'm up to my neck in debt; My creative juices have become bitter-sweet because the American work ethic demands I work myself dead-tired before I attempt anything I really enjoy; If I ever have children, I'll be too old to play ball with them; And, I'll consider my self lucky if there's anyone present at my funeral (which should take place approximately another 40-50 years from now).

My birthday is a couple of weeks away. I'm like a Klingon from Star Trek, when it comes to birthdays. I don't like parties, or cakes, or gifts. I like quiet meditation (or if I were a Klingon, I'd gloat and wonder why I didn't die a glorious death in combat), and watch some DVD's or catch up on some books I've been meaning to read. Many years ago, my good buddy and his wife took me out to dinner a few days before my actual birthday. They're sneaky like that. At the time, I was in my survivalist-mountainman yamabushi phase. So, they bought me a watch with all the gismo MacGuyver features on it. I put it to good use until it finally ticked its last tock. Sentimentalist I am, I still have it. And that's as far as I'll allow my birthdays to go.

California (SF Bay Area) is becoming increasingly more difficult for single people to stay. I check Craigslist almost everyday for used audio, video, and photographic gear. Artists and engineers are leaving California everyday, dumping their old gear before they go. I've picked up some really good bargains, in the hopes of building a side business in order to raise enough funds to move out of state as well with some savings as a buffer. California is too expensive, overcrowded, drought-prone, under-educated, air polluted, too many bond-measured, and lately - over rated.

As a trained audio recording engineer, people here in the Bay Area have said "Go work for Lucas." Yeah right. There's a group of former Skywalker Sound people that started their own recording studio because of the constant state of fear under Lucas. These guys named their studio: Banned From the Ranch. I tried getting in with these guys and found shut doors there too. [Curiosly, I work with a guy who is cousins with a BFTR guy. He mentioned me to his cousin and forwarded my complaint that "Banned" is just as closed door and arrogant as "Skywalker." His cousin's answer was: Yeah. That's about right.]

Sheesh!

Thank goodness for Blogger and YouTube. Great places to vent and be creative. Thank goodness for friends and family. AND...Thank goodness my one and only student chose me to be his teacher.

Like the character Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill Vol. 1 said after coming out of a coma and struggling to get back on her feet, "Wiggle your big toe." All I have to do is get past the hard part...Everything else gets easier.

We hope!

Martial Arts Photos of the SF Sakura Matsuri 2008

I got my act together and opened a Flickr account. I'll still use Photobucket to maintain older posts, but I really like Flickr's variety and my future albums will be hosted there.



Slide Show

Some video:

Algorithm March! with Ninjas

Imagine your students getting into this craze:

More Mango...

Hopefully this vid will gain me more subscribers which in turn direct them here to my main blog.



Plus, I had lots of fun making this video and replying to all the responders.