Bonzuko

Stellar blog Boing-Boing has two posts today that have everything to do with the things I teach, and even conversations I’ve had with classes lately.

This link: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/31/cool-scene-from-danc.html is about Pilobolus’ recent dance piece. Pilobolus is one of the most astonishing (and venerable) dance companies that specialize in unusual movement “poems” and poetic acrobatics. They’ve been around long before Cirque.

This link: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/31/the-pleasure-of-read.html has directly to do with a conversation about this link: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/author/carnegie.html that I had recently with my Children’s Literature classes.

Whew! Lots of fun reading and viewing for you, lovely lurkers. ~Jenn

Our latest shenanigans. The Club meets Tuesdays 11:30-12:30 and Fridays 1-2:30. ~Jenn

Stage Combat Club Fun For September

~JAS

Aimee Heckel, who glorified NinjaFit in an article earlier, has done a story on LARP-ing, or Live-Action-Role-Playing. I have written a few live role-playing adventures and have acted at the local Renaissance Festival. Stage Combat for venues like this is very different, and actually even hugely different between a stunt show, which is what I’d call the Ren Faire,

Jenn and Geoff at the CRF, 1996

and what a “fight” is in LARPing. Also, we use foam swords at the BQC and that’s even quite a different monster. What I dig here is the middle ground for geeks: I played lots of D&D as a kid, which is all sitting around a table just speaking, and I’ve also acted and practiced martial arts, which is all a physical manifestation of what’s happening mentally. What a LARP sitch could conceivably be to some is a balance of these things: as a Fantasy geek, you don’t have to have a lifelong, very physically challenging commitment to join, and yet you can’t stay sedentary–it’s like a geek happy medium.

Enjoy Aimee’s article about it: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_13215918

~Jenn

A great article about the evolution of the fight scene in film:

The evolution of the fight scene, from the Duke to the Dark Knight.

Thanks to The Slate.

In the Bonzuko hombu, this game is called the “ninja game.” Why? Because it’s excellent training for paying detailed attention to one’s surroundings, and anything that may be off or awry in a crowd. I also think this game would be a good training tool for security guards or bodyguards.

The game consists of many Miis (the little characters you make in your Wii game) set up in different crowd situations (a grandstand, a street, a dark room, an escalator) and the object is to point out various configurations as asked by the game. For example, in one level you may be asked to find two identical Miis in a large swimming pool, and in the very next you’ll be asked to find the fastest Mii in a crowd of runners, or the two Miis that are moving in the opposite direction from all the others in a stadium-like crowd. All this happens as a timer counts down–how many levels can you clear in the time frame allotted?

What’s surprising about this game is how difficult it can get. What’s engaging about this game is noting why certain Miis fly under your radar and why others stand out. It reminds me of an attention exercise in one of Stephen Hayes’ Ninja book series–I belive it’s in #1, wherein he exhorts ninja-in-training to look at a crowd in detail, noting who’s invisible, who stands out, etc. Find Mii makes you do this in a fun, fast-paced environment. It’s also fun to play it with a friend: “Oh, man! How did you see that one so fast?” etc.

Highly recommended game (found on Wii Play) for our lovely lurkers with the Wii system. ~Jenn

…from my Black Belt test on the 23rd. Then I’ll shut up about it, I promise! ~Jenn

Tomorrow, Friday the 28th, is the last Friday of the month. That means the BQC has their monthly belt test and potluck! This test night will have the largest black belt judging panel yet at the BQC! Little bitty kids test at 5pm, youth and adults test at 6pm. Snax after.

Jeff B. and Zipporah testing at the BQC

A couple days ago, I reported some of the fun goings-on at the second BQC black-belt test. That was about the first part of the day–the Go-Gyo seminar and free response for us testers.

The second half of the proceedings consisted of a four-directional, elemental, wish-fulfilling ritual and demonstrations by all the black belts present, over at beautiful Flatirons Park. The highlight video of said demos is right here: Black Belt Demos 8/23/09. The funny thing to remember when viewing this is: the grass was so wet, our footsteps squished. This is why I went barefoot (which is the way I tested for my first black belt, interestingly enough). There was even a strange floating section of grass, which was so strange and funny to step on, it was a brief distraction.

After we changed into our shiny (er, dusty) new black belts, we all congregated in the park’s shelter for Mexican food and congratulations. Oh, why dusty, you ask? Once a To Shin Do practitioner joins the Black Belt Club, they buy your black belt and hang it on a rack up on the wall. So it absorbs energy, sweat, and collects dust until they take it down finally to give it to you.

Then, the kids went over to the playground and played “Groundies” while the adults hobnobbed. Thanks for the lollipop, Kim!

After, a few of us went out to have a celebratory drink. When I got home, a ceremonial gift of good cold sake, a new sake box, and lucky bamboo were waiting for me, to cap the celebration and honoring of a new phase in my training.

Thanks to everyone who came, saw, photographed, and celebrated with us. It was an event to remember. ~Jenn