Thursday and Friday's Exciting Events

Thursday the 30th is the last day of the summer lightsaber class (sob). We'll be filming all our fights, though, so stay tuned and you can see the results of our 8-week session up here soon afterwards.

Friday the 31st is Test Night at the Boulder Quest Center. Highlights will include Jenn and Boaz's lightsaber fight, Kim & Jenn showing the groud flow, and of course much fun belt testing as usual. This will be the last test for Kim & Jenn before their Black Belt. Spiffy!

INFO:

7/30: lightsaber class finale; 12"30-2pm; PE 103 on Auraria Campus

7/31: BQC Test Night; adults & youth testing + demos begin at 6pm

Images are Jenn and Kim in April's BQC test, and Jenn and Boaz creating their lightsaber fight, in class in June.

The Parente Experience

Last night, the Summer Advanced Class (Lightsabers) was the subject of a liveshot on Channel 2 News. Anchor/Reporter Chris Parente came by and helped us show the world what we do. We watch Mr. Parente on his various Deuce and Channel 31 endeavors all the time in the Bonzuko home office, and so it was delightful to see how the whole thing worked on the other side of the TV screen. The class, which normally meets at 12:30, met at 5pm instead just for the occasion (special thanks to Joe Morales in Auraria's PE building for giving us lots of attention to make sure the space was ready for prime time).

Highlights of the event included:

• I always wondered whether it was odd to not be able to hear the anchors back in the studio, to only hear one end of the banter. It was.
• How exciting was it to see that big antenna outside just for us! The guys were delighted, and passersby were curious.
• Facebook is a weird thing: Chris and I felt like we had already met. Though the hair is even more fantastically shellacked in person, Chris!
• Learning about what goes into the structuring of a spot like this: how many teasers of what kind, what kind of timing and balance is necessary, and having lucid improv skills to be clear and quick!
• Noticing how much attention Chris pays to his surroundings, and how he builds the things he discovers into his bits. I'm willing to give him some honorary ninja points for this.
• It reminded me of an audition: you prepare for a long time, have a lot happening, and when it's over, you're like: um, what just happened? I think it was good. I should have...
• The three bits were so short that about half the things I wanted to plug or do or say didn't get in. But what was in was super fun. Thanks for the book plug!
• Good job, students, for keeping up the energy since 5 (some of you since 1!)pm. Good hair acting, Nate and Scott M.
• Images from the evening's fun, Jenn's phone version.

Thanks again to Chris Parente and the Deuce team for celebrating the geeky goodness that is lightsaber class. ~Jenn

Bonzuko in the News

Any lovely lurkers who are in Colorado, tune in to Channel 2 News ("the Deuce") at 7pm tomorrow. You'll see the one and only Chris Parente doing a live story on the lightsaber class! Don't miss it! In fact, record it for Jenn!

Blog-to-Blog

What a rhizomic world of writing the blogosphere is. Here is a link to a Stephen Hayes blog post that was actually mostly written (translated) by Kevin. We're all writing about ninjas, all the time... :)

~Jenn

Image is Jenn and Mr. Hayes at his most recent seminar at the BQC.

"Only a Ninja..."

Muppet IDs

Check this out. If you remember "that one Muppet" and you don't remember its name, just look at this interactive article from National Post and remember!

Mini-Essay Contest Winner

This summer I am teaching Freshman Comp (Research Writing) at MSCD. Earlier in the semester, I gave my students extra incentive on one of their assignments: the best "mini-essay" would be published here on the Bonzuko blog. Congratulations to Katherine Pivoda, this summer's mini-essay contest winner! Her mini-essay (edited for blogging purposes) is below. Good job, Katherine! Image is from this site.~Jenn


The Twilight of Teenage Literature --Katherine Pivoda
Twilight, a young adult novel rife with vampires and fog, has recently been converted into a shockingly popular movie, and a sequel to the book just announced a first printing of one million: not bad, when one considers the sheer banality of the books and their subject matter. Twilight is a formidable foray into the world of bad literature, and its popularity is only a reflection of the lowered aesthetic standards American teenagers have today.

Conceptually, Twilight just plain fails. Although the plot is fairly straightforward, Stephanie Meyer’s vampires are designed to be fun, fairly innocent creatures. While they do crave blood, they drink animal blood as opposed to human blood. They glitter in the sunlight. Their skin is always cold. They run incredibly quickly and have super-human abilities, such as ESP. Perhaps only an old fashioned fuddy-duddy could let this clash with more traditional, romantic, Anne Rice-esque vampires, but this new conception of sparkly, friendly vampires is disconcerting, to say the least. As Lisa Schillinger asks in the New York Times, “What subversive creature could dream up a universe in which vampires…put marriage ahead of carnage on their to-do list?” Only those in Stephanie Meyer’s world: a world that cruelly robs traditionally seductive creatures of everything that makes them the ultimate monster. In Twilight, there is no overt sexuality, or any of the trademark vampiric traits that make vampire novels worth reading in the first place.

Character development is another crucial thing Twilight lacks. The premise of the story is simple: an adolescent girl (Bella), feeling emotionally abandoned by her mother, moves to a small town in Washington to live with her father. It is there she meets and falls in love with a teenage vampire (Edward). Throughout the novel it is inexplicably difficult to like either Bella or Edward. As the narrator of the novel, Bella is a depressed teenager with a major martyr complex, which is as far as her emotional depth goes. Edward makes no sense as a character: his train of thought is choppy and illogical, and no matter how much love he professes to he is still cold and aloof. While Meyer tries to play off his emotional distance as a vampiric symptom, as the book progresses it is obvious this is just a bad author trying to hide her sub-par writing skills by making excuses for her poorly-thought-out characters.

Twilight’s final flaw is one many young adult novels fall into: a shocking lack of realism. Most book lovers are more than willing to suspend their disbelief for young adult lit. Harry Potter, after all, is loved the world over. However, each character in Twilight is a caricature: over-exaggerated and under-developed. Even the weather in the novel is too typical and telling, an obvious foreshadow that only makes the reader wince. Twilight’s lack of subtlety is astounding, given that so much of the book rests on the simple idea of a girl falling in love and discovering love is flawed. The heavy hand, lack of depth, and sheer banality of much of the book detracts from this valid and archetypal story arch.

Ultimately, Twilight is an exploration of what a good young adult novel shouldn’t be: unsatisfying, poorly thought out, and not at all deserving of the hype. Unfortunately, Twilight (and with it the tacky teenage fans in black T-shirts) seems to be here to stay. And the unfortunate reflection on American youth that inevitably accompanies it? One can only wince.

WORK CITED:
Schillinger, Lisa. “Children’s Books/Young Adult.” The New York Times 12 August 2007. 7 June 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/books/review/Schillinger7-t.html?_r=1.

Trickster Power

I came across this link from good friend Ricky on facebook. This illustrates the very real power of the clown, even in today's society. And think about this--those clowns could have actually gotten hurt. Racist neo-Nazis aren't messing around with their hatred. Anyone know if there's a video of this event out there somewhere? I'd dearly love to see these clowns in action.


Check it out here. ~Jenn

Tonight's Exciting Event

Tonight is the last Friday of June, and so the BQC is holding the best party in town--Testing Night (with potluck after)! Come cheer on all levels of To Shin Do-ers as they attain new belts, uke for others, or as in Kim and Jenn's case, move ever closer to Black Belt status. It's a good time. Adults and youth begin their test at 6pm. To get you lovely lurkers excited, here's the highlight reel from last month's test (Jenn's bus demo not included):

Stunt Hero

When looking around online for the list of stunt drivers for the old cop show CHiPS, I came across this amazing bio and filmography. She is my newest hero: Debbie Evans. The link is to her imdb page. What a serious badass. Here's her homepage, it looks like it hasn't been updated in a while, but careful of your jaw dropping too hard when you read about her life of accomplishments in the stunt world. http://www.debbieevans.com/bio.htm

~Jenn

Level Up!

Once again, Jenn has leveled up her ninja guy and has now achieved Brown-Black Belt in To-Shin Do. This means she's this close to a To Shin Do Black Belt. This close.

Highlights of the evening included:

• A priest who's also learning to be a ninja. I know! Does there need to be a movie, or what?
  
• Young Keegan levels his ninja guy up as well


• Jenn's demo takes place within the confined space of an RTD bus. Kim is extra-creepy as a weird fellow passenger, and we find that headphones are a pretty good kusari fundo


• Jenn and Kim are both injured, and yet kick ass nontheless. Think Yoda in Star Wars Episode 2. Hobble in, fight like a badass, hobble out. That's how ninjas roll.

Congratulations everyone, and thanks to our fans and ukes! And Marcus for manning Jenn's Blackberry! Images are from Jenn's demo. Don't it look like a bus?

Friday's Exciting Event

It's going to be the last Friday of the month again, and that means it's Test Night at the BQC!

Bonzuko's own Jenn will of course be there, this time doing her test demo which takes place on a bus! Come see! Potluck after!

When: Friday May 29, 2009 at 6pm

Where: The Boulder Quest Center

Image is from last month's test: Jenn and Kim doing a back-to-back joint free response. Good times.

Farewell to Mr. Falls

Jeff has been one of my favorite folks to beat up at the Boulder Quest Center, and now he's off to do missionary work. So close to your TSD black belt, man! And we had what would have been the funniest demo ever performed there all set up. Darn, we should have filmed it that evening, huh? Ah well. :) We'll miss Jeff and his lovely fiancee Victoria very much. Here's to you guys. God bless. ~Jenn

Image is Jeff and Jenn in their interactive version of the Sentoshi Sword Series, Part One. See this link for full video.

Farewell again to Chris

Like a famous opera diva, Chris D. left last semester to work for the Order of the Mouse, but then returned for a farewell tour as Stage Combat Club member and camera operator extraordinaire. Now he's retiring again (okay, so it was just to finish his last semester of school and go back, but this is more colorful), so we all say bye-bye to Chris. We hope that you end up in some awesome stunt show, or doing cool tech for one, and making piles of money. Good wishes. ~Jenn

Image is Chris and Jenn enjoying the brand spanking new MSCD swords. Ignore his thumb--there's so much wrong with that...

Black Belt Questions: Addendum

Mary Casey had some questions about the Black Belt answers I illustrated earlier here in the Bonzuko blog. She and Kevin asked respectfully that I reiterate and expand on certain aspects of my previous post, and I am happy to oblige, both for their and my illumination.

Question One came across to the Caseys very differently than my intention. Here is the essence of my previous answer: My knowledge of technique detail is quite good. That's it. I didn't mean that I had nothing left to learn. Martial arts is a lifelong study, and it's only after a lifetime that one should ever claim mastery (which I certainly do not). My knowledge of the little details of ninpo technique has added to my continuous learning anew through To Shin Do. The biggest difference I can relate as far as my first day at the BQC compared to my previous training boils down to zanshin. I look at the video of my shodan test in ninpo taijutsu and any number of test videos in TSD and the difference is enormous. I don't have samples for you lovely lurkers other than the two images here (and those hopefully should say something towards this paragraph). I have a lot more firm warrior spirit, I stay "in character" and I have much more confidence now than I did then. My knowledge of detail has just been a helpful step in the right direction, and a way to train from square three or four instead of one. As far as physically, I am more fit and my kamae is consistently stronger now than it was then.

2. I have re-posted two pictures: one from my shodan test in 2003, and one from the recent SKH seminar at the BQC, here in this post so you can see the difference.

3. In my earlier post, I postulated that I disagreed "with the 'no grinning' clause" in the Black Belt Quality handout. I didn't go on to averr that I assumed the handout referred to goofy laughter and not the sort of joy I wrote about. I think we all agree that goofiness with a lack of focus isn't warriorship. Real joy is. Suppressing laughter is just as detrimental to good training as is a distracting joker. Hopefully all you lovely lurkers assumed that also, but it's nice to say it outright and be sure.

4. Lastly, Kevin-san asked that I respond a little about the difference between my ninpo training and my To Shin Do training. Particularly getting a TSD black belt as compared to my ninpo taijutsu black belt. This is a pretty involved answer, and I'm not sure I may not want to post a whole new post just about this. Certainly I touched on what a TSD black belt means to me in my essay for those testing me. As far as the difference in training... One of the differences I've noticed most has been in the level of detailed correct technique (ninpo) and a general capacity for strength and quality (TSD). I would not say either way is better, but that my experience with both has added to my improvement and excellence in both. Ninpo was steeped in kata (what we called kihon) rigorous practice and especially lots and lots of ukemi (what we called taihenjutsu) practice. If I had one wish about TSD it's that it had more emphasis on all taihenjutsu from day one. In ninpo, we did all break falls and all rolls every class as a warmup, and I sincerely think that's some of the most valuable training anyone can have. If I had one wish about ninpo, it would be more free response, or what ninpo folks call randori, as soon as an intermediate level or further was reached. Though free response in the dojo is still a relatively staged experience, it still gets one in a different emotional space than kata practice, and I have discovered it's likewise invaluable.

5. Now that I'm practicing in the upper levels of colored-belt TSD, I get a taste of the best of both worlds. I'm starting to be asked for more detail in my practice along with the demands of free response at the drop of a hat. All ukemi (taihenjutsu) have been taught at this point in my TSD practice so I can have more experience with all of them.

6. In conclusion, I am proud and happy with my TSD experience, and look forward to my next test and especially the test after that. I also appreciate the warm and supportive network the Quest Centers offer to all their practitioners. In addition, I bow to the Genki Kai for the amazing new world of martial arts they introduced to me and others through the ten years I was with them.

Please, comment here if you'd like to discuss this and/or related topics further. The martial arts (especially IMO the ninja arts) are a constantly relevant, organic practice. I welcome your comments, and I hope if you want to hear more about any of this that you'll speak up and ask. ~Jenn

Saturday's Exciting Event

The Stage Movement students (THE 3220) at MSCD have been working hard all semester on various forms of movement for stage and how to create characters using physicality. Their class will culminate in a final exam performance of Dr. Seuss stories this Saturday the 16th on campus. Bonzuko's own Jenn was the professor this semester, and had a great time! Hard to believe the semester is over already.

What: Stage Movement Final Exam (Dr. Seuss Emsemble performance)

When: 10 am Saturday May 16th

Where: ARTS building room 271, Auraria campus, downtown Denver

The students will be graded on what you see. This is one of the funnest finals you're likely to experience.

To Shin Do Black Belt Question

As I compile thoughts and inspiring quotes for elaborating on the last question on the To Shin Do Shodan written test, I realize much of what I'm writing would be of benefit to you lovely lurkers who come here to read about the movement arts and how they shape our world.

Why do you think that you should receive a To Shin Do Shodan black belt?

The center of my answer is that I've earned it. How so? To elaborate, I went to the "Black Belt Quality" section of the Special Testing Procedures handout to see if I could positively, honestly live up to the elements of black belt quality detailed there. I've condensed and answered them below. The image is from my Shodan test in ninpo taijutsu, August 2003.

• I understand the purpose of the technique / can demonstrate knowledge of technique details. ~I can say with confidence that my understanding has been there from day one (probably because of ninpo training), and my knowledge of details is vast. Any details I have missed, I make a point to focus on and refine in training. It helps that I'm not starting from square one.
• I rely on unified body movement / retain control of my balance. ~In the past, when I've observed myself in photos and videos of myself moving, I notice that I tend to get cut off at the waist. The cause of my lack of focus on my lower body is no doubt due to my bad knees. I have seen this improve more and more, until the most recent footage I've seen of my movement has shown centered balance, bent knees, and aligned spine for optimal power.
• I demonstrate mental focus /concentrated fighting spirit. ~Look at the picture in the Nexus post below: that's focus. I practice zanshin consistently. However, I must respectfully disagree with the "no grinning" clause I see on this handout. On the contrary, the joy and laughter I foster when teaching or practicing is an essential facet of warriorship. It's one of my best attributes, and is central to being a ninja. Shoto Tanemura said that the heart of a ninja should be "as peaceful, joyful, and lovely as that of a flower" (Ninpo Secrets). Stephen Hayes said it plainly in the recent Nexus interview: "it's fun; there's a lot of laughter." I'm all about laughter as power.
• I am ever carefully observant of safe and controlled technique practice. ~As a Stage Combat instructor, safety is key. So is doing techniques correctly as far as execution/effect. The balance of these two things makes for a good partner either onstage or on the mats.

To close, here's a verse from an old handout from Shoto Tanemura:

If one holds a sword,

one's spirit should be like a sword,

If one holds a staff,

one's spirit should be like a staff,

If one holds nothing but air then

one's spirit must be as air.

Podcasts

Look what happens when you do a Google Video search for "Stage Combat Colorado." Who do you think shows up top of the list? Yup, that's right, the MSCD Stage Combat Club podcast. And you only have to scroll down a little way to see the D&D Day one. Nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxLL_Dv1rlM

We're on J!nx again!

Another one of our cute Stage Combat poses has been posted by the folks at J!nx.com to celebrate their deliciously geeky products. Check it here. If you want to buy any of their wonderful stuff, use the small, tasteful banner in the upper left corner of this blog. It'll send a message to them saying "bonzuko sent me" and we'll all get rewarded with good things. ~Jenn

Alice in Wonderland

This YouTube clip surfaced once in Children's Lit---during the Student Presentation, one student was taken by this and shared it with the class. This week was Alice in Wonderland week again in Children's Lit, as well as rehearsal week for the cast of Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast. I guess this amazing piece of literature is weighing on my mind, this creative music video in particular. Enjoy, lovely lurkers. ~Jenn

Event info: Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast
What: a theatrical piece based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by last semester's Theatre Ensemble class
When: Sat., May 2, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Where: ARTS 271 on the Auraria Campus
$: none. Canned food donation requested.

Image is Arthur Rackham's interpretation of the Caucus Race. Jenn pirated it from somewhere or other.

Highlights From Friday

How to begin, how to choose from so many great pictures? Friday's belt test at the Boulder Quest Center was 1) enormous, and 2) exciting as all get-out. Remember recently when I wrote about what must have been the biggest test ever? Yeah, no. This one was huge! Highlights from the evening included:

• a million billion White/Yellow students getting promoted. Earth Power!
• So nice to see Ian and the Santa Fe (wait, is that where they live?) crew back again. Those guys are so good to work with, and we're all glad Ian will be local soon!
• Kim's demo went very well, with Bonzuko's own Jenn as uke. Ukemi extraordinaire!
• Back-to-back free response! This was Jenn's favorite part!

Images from the event: Jenn kneeling on a guy's kidney (Ian, we think) and Kim facilitating Jenn's air break fall. A fun time was had by all.