[Bloodybirds]

Kisu, this is Bloodybirds, you know me better as Texas Mike, Joel's kung fu brother, Jeff Bolt's, Ricky Anderson's, and Sigung Shum's senior and a good friend of yours in Houston. Frankly, my dear friend, the person you are talking about is a sidei of mine and a student of Jeff's for 5 years who came from a rich part of Houston and I had recommended strongly, when he asked before he moved to California to study screenwriting, to give him some names of masters I respected so he could continue his training. He also trained under Madame Wong for awhile. I am embarrassed and humbly offer my apologies for his insulting you and your class as you know I hold you in the highest esteem and respect! I am insulted that he took that attitude with your class and he had told me that you were in China filming! I had also offered to help him get into screenwriting and recommended strongly that he hook up with you after you returned as you could also help him with that aspect as I told him about your Avatar on Nick, your stuntman and acting background, and who your senior student was in Last Samurai.

I hope you know me well enought to understand I would never have sent him to your students had I known he would have acted this arrogantly and believe me I will see him again when he is in Houston visiting. I had also told him about John Cheng, who I have known since he was 12 and training with Grandmaster Raymond Fogg in Texas. John also came and trained with us when I trained with my Shaolin master in Dallas. Believe me, Jeff would not have been happy with this either. The irony is that Wushu is not a great fighter at all and his forms are decent but he floats too much. In any event, someone with 5 years of experience under a legitimate teacher should not make any judgement about the relative skills of a true master and his students in another context.

Kisu, and to all here, I offer my humble apologies and meant no insult to my good friend who is a remarkable martial artist, a former Marine, a good partner not only to me but to Joel Rodriguez, my oldest and dearest kung fu brother in Atlanta. Kisu, please pm me privately on this but I chose this public forum to mention this about my sidei from Jeff's school.

Bamboo, and to all on this site, Kisu is a great kung fu master, a great Hollywood stuntperson and choreographer, and I have known him to be a man of stern honor and integrity since meeting him at Tai Ji Legacy in Dallas in 2002. He, Joel, and I took time out between competition and judging to work with each other by the pool in Dallas Ft Worth at the Windham there and we had a great time. Subsequently, Kisu has visited both Joel and my Ying Jow sifu in New York on several occasions.

Thank you to all for allowing me to respond to Kisu's note above. This student will get a response from me at some point.

[lokhopkuen]

Thank you all for your support and friendship.

[Bloodybirds]

Brother, just got off the phone with Joel and told him I had heard from you on this forum and what was going on. Do not feel bad...my sidei did not even thank me for giving him John Cheng's name or to look him up. He is 19 so I guess it is some of the youth today. Welcome back from China my brother. I knew you would not blame me but since he was a student of Jeff's and a sidei of mine (who I revealed some Shaolin secrets to and took him to a seminar that my Shaolin master did in Austin) I felt by tradition obligated to comment since he insulted someone I hold in high esteem and respect. In any event, to all on this forum, believe me you will enjoy lokhopkuen's future comments!

[Bloodybirds]

By the way, Ricky is now moved back to Las Vegas most of the time, Jeff will be leaving to go to Singapore in the spring, and Sigung Shum should be at Nick Scrima's tourney in Orlando next year. Kisu, and all others, next year in Orlando Nick is going to have a separate tourney set up for Ying Jow practitioners of the Ng Wei/Leung Shum branch of Lau Fat Mon and many great people will be there to judge and compete. As far as finding a kung fu school, Kisu's post and my reply point out a long standing policy: When visiting a martial arts school of any type, be humble, be open, and do not make assumptions...most schools are like an iceberg, what you see is only the surface ice moving...the heavenly glory is underneath the sea!! Besides, as I have learned the hard way, traditional teachers spend many years testing to see who is worthy of the true art....being arrogant, as I once was and have the butt kickings to prove it (LOL), looking for a kung fu school that teaches true traditional is very hard to find. Although Wushu comes from a great teacher and a great class, Sifu Bolt is decidedly untraditional in many aspects, though his master Dr. Yang Jwing Ming is to a great extent. He is certainly much less traditional than my Shaolin or Ying jow master. Since Wushu is now training at John's organization, I hope he has an opportunity to train directly with John Cheng, as he is very good and very humble. Maybe he will see the advantages of learning the traditions directly.

[WushuPadawan001]

My apologies if any offense was taken - none was intended. I simply call it as I see it.

[samurai6string]

Welcome to the forum, Lok. It's great to talk to one of the truly amazingly talented people that BloodyBirds is always going on about.

[Bloodybirds]

Wushu, maybe instead of calling it like you see it, you should revise how you see it!! Sidei, you are not in West U. anymore! One of the reasons you went to California was to absorb new experiences and meet people very different, including in the martial arts. In California and NY, martial arts is on a whole different level and taken very seriously!

[Bloodybirds]

By the way you should have stopped after the first sentence.

[Gazelle]

I was just about to write something, but, on second thoughts, i think it'd be best if i passed, i don't want to cause any wrong impressions or controversies. I think i'll stay out of it, this time

However, i would still like to say to Bloodybirds, about his statement 'most schools are like an iceberg, what you see is only the surface ice moving...the heavenly glory is underneath the sea!!' Very nicely put, i think.

[Bloodybirds]

Thanks Gazelle....I have said enough to my younger kung fu brother as well. I hope it is now lesson learned. Wushu has great potential, both academically, martial arts wise, etc. I wish him to become the best at what he does, and have a less bumpy road along the way. That is why I suggested who I did for him to train with and he is now training with a great mantis master and orthopaedic surgeon who is a native Texan with three school locations and his medical practice in California. And, a great guy too!!! I hope he takes full advantage, especially learning this teacher's great skills while having great humility. John Cheng is a great guy who I have know since he was 12 and I was 22 in Texas!! I suggested Kisu because of his great skills in kung fu and his Hollywood connections, both of which Wushu could take advantage of as he pursues screenwriting and his martial arts. It is up to my younger brother to choose his path, but choose wisely my young Padewon!!