As a child I have always loved books and moves involving adventure and martial arts. I loved the swordsmanship of Conan the Barbarian books and the sage lessons of the Kung Fu TV series. Some of the best martial arts flicks are timeless such as Seven Samurai but the theme of all of these wonderful books and movies show how the fighter overcomes overwhelming adversity by focusing his Ki (Qi, Chi).

Well I was asked to read Chambers and I agreed as I’d not read a martial arts book in a while. Let me just say once I started reading this book – I could not put it down easily. I usually take months to read a book (at a few pages a night before dropping off to sleep) but Chambers is a real page turner. I was a bit apprehensive as this looked to be a teen adventure but I was pleasantly surprised that I related well to the characters and the book grabbed my interest from the first couple of pages.

In this post I will review the book (soon to be a movie) and interview the author, Sarah Gerdes.

Here is a video about Chambers.

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The story starts out with a bang. Cage and Mia – siblings are waiting for their father in a cave. They see their dad whisked away and follow with the help of an orb – right into the Ming Dynasty!  The teens have to first survive being captured (as spies) and figure out what they are doing there – and ultimately find they are part of an epic battle that has gone on for a thousand years.

Cage has to pull all of his marital arts experience from his modern master to make sense of their predicament and with the help of his sister, Mia – they have to navigate these treacherous times to save their father and fulfill their destiny!

Cage had to depend on the powers of the orb for time travel and some magical feats. Mostly he (Cage) had to use his extensive martial arts prowess to defeat ancient warriors with extensive weaponry including crossbows, shurikens (throwing stars in modern lingo), along with various swords and daggers.

Often times martial arts books and movies make extensive use of magic in the fighting scenes but in Chambers I was riveted while reading how Cage defeated mass attackers with weapons. I could see how many of these sequences could really work if a fighter did not make too many mistakes. This was very refreshing after watching Mortal Kombat and Dragon Ball movie characters using magic to win their fights.

Mia is a headstrong, beautiful girl that has to learn to serve the Empress along with the many customs of the times. Luckily Cage does not have to worry too much about her while they both try to prove their innocence and save the Emperor.

While I won’t say too much more other than the author, Sarah Gerdes managed to intertwine Ming Dynasty history and customs in an interesting way while telling the story. I was able to keep up with what was happening while reading this fast paced historical adventure. While I thought at first this was a teen book before starting the read - I found it kept my interest all the way through – and I am a middle-aged man.

Chambers should have broad appeal since is a historical fiction set in a really interesting point in history (the struggle for power in the Ming Dynasty) that also has martial arts in it.

Chambers is the first book in the series and I understand the books have been optioned as a film series. Here is a recent video of the New Northwest Day show about Chambers.

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I rate this book 5 Kicks Up!

Flickr: photos/tucia

When I got the book I fully intended to do a book review but after reading it – I found I really liked it. I asked the author Sarah Gerdes to do an interview and she agreed.

INTERVIEW

[John W. Zimmer] I liked that Chambers integrated martial arts into the historical fiction. Can you tell use a little bit about your martial arts background?

[Sarah Gerdes] I’ve always been fascinated by martial arts, and watched my oldest brother get involved in MA when I was a teenager. Seeing the time and dedication it required, I waited until a co-worker revealed she was a blackbelt. At her invitation, I attended a self-defense class, and two weeks later, signed up for a black belt program.

[John W. Zimmer] I was totally intrigued by the setting in the Ming Dynasty. How much research did you have to do?

[Sarah Gerdes] A lot (smile). It started with general research of China, searching for a period that had real teenagers in roles of authority. 6 months and lots of time at the library later, I found the 2nd Ming Emperor was ruled from age 12-14. Once I had the time period locked, it took 2 years of research to cover every aspect of life: clothing, buildings, food, decorum etc.

 [John W. Zimmer] How did you come up with the idea of book?

[Sarah Gerdes] When my son was 12, we were climbing the rocks outside a volcano in northern California. I was always telling him stories, and as a reluctant reader himself, he suggested I write a book he could read. This was the start of the time-travel adventure concept. An earlier version I wrote was geared for his age group, but when the studio got involved, the producer asked if I could re-write the book based on a more mature audience 18-25) to deal with the themes. That opened up a new world in terms of plot lines, themes, fighting and romance. The initial idea evolved to be Chambers.

[John W. Zimmer] Tell us a bit about the fight sequences and weaponry.

[Sarah Gerdes] A part of my training includes Weapons. In my program, we are given the weapons based on our belt level, so I only have so much experience. Since I’m one belt below a black belt, I pulled most of the scenes from actual practice sessions I’ve had to endure. The scenes with one against multiple are, sadly, from observation and what I’d do (in theory) versus what I’ve thus far been allowed to do in practice. For the weapons, I couldn’t use what I’ve been taught. I had to adapt the weapons for the period. This took an extensive amount of research from weapons sites and masters from around the world (thank heaven for the Internet!). The design, styles, uses and details of the weapons I found were so amazing, I wrote an additional 50 pages or more that got cut by the editor. Apparently, I’d gone a little overboard in my zeal for the weapons.

[John W. Zimmer] I grew up watching the TV show Kung Fu as a teen and have always thought martial arts concepts were a way of life (or should be). How did you manage to capture the mystical part of the martial arts so well in the book?

[Sarah Gerdes] Thank you for the compliment. It’s very humbling that you say that. During my very first lesson, I was struck by the symbols and words on the walls of the practice room. They were very spiritually oriented, yet when I commented on this to the instructor, he wouldn’t answer the question until I was a fourth section (2 away from a black belt). In effect, he told me that the right to tap in to the spiritual side (the spirit/soul etc) had to be earned. Those that didn’t make it through the toughening, weeding-out process of rudimentary practice were not worthy to have the enlightenment that comes with training in the pure forms. Some of the practice techniques, like Bagwa Chung, are designed to tap in to this very element that is all around us. I tried to work that into the book in a way that was both believable but tangible for readers who have no idea what true martial arts is all about. Now that I’m in the second book, the challenge is quite different. It involves native Americans, who believe in being one with nature. Whereas they called mysticism, another culture calls spirituality, but it’s very similar. Another level exists within all of us. It’s there if we choose to tap in to it, and live our lives in such a way where we can be sensitive.

[John W. Zimmer] Tell us about the main characters Cage and Mia. They work very well together – how much of you are in them?

[Sarah Gerdes] Dare I reveal this much! Well, the fighting with Cage is certainly me, along with anger at a relatively absent father, who was working all the time but did his best. At the same time, I have injected a little of myself in Mia, but the first book doesn’t express it so much. When she hits her fantastic, teenage rebellion streak (in book 2, after learning her father has been lying to herself and Cage), that certainly has a bit more of me. That said, I never played soccer—one of her gifts. All those moves actually came from my middle brother (I have 3 bros) who was/is a soccer whiz. Though this brother wasn’t the one who got in to martial arts, I adored him, we were only 16 mo apart, and we were best friends growing up, doing everything together. (that happens when you live on a tree farm with no one around for miles). We weren’t twins, but it certainly felt like we could read each other’s minds. That influenced the interaction between the two, as did the challenges of starting with similar viewpoints on life, then facing the struggle, disappointment and other emotions that arise when a sibling takes a different course in life.

[John W. Zimmer] About the upcoming movie – are you going help with that process too?

[Sarah Gerdes] I’m going to stick with what I know, and continued writing. A screenplay is its own art, and I’ve got a lot of work to do on my existing art (writing) before I take on another. That said, I’ve been invited to provide opinions on a number of elements (roles etc), but I think my biggest gift to the producer is to stay out of their way so they can do a great job.

[John W. Zimmer] Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

[Sarah Gerdes] The producer Lucas Foster has produced some big hits like Mr & Mrs Smith, Law Abiding Citizen etc. When I got a bit depressed at the time it takes to make a movie, he said something that resonated. “Making movies is like training for a marathon. Some days it seems like progress has only moved an inch. In a few weeks, that’s become a foot. Then a mile. It takes a while, but its eventually completing a marathon.” Writing is like that. One can become a writer starting with a single sentence a day. That sentence becomes a paragraph, then a page, a chapter, and ultimately a book.

This is where practicing martial arts is a definite asset. It’s a combination of determination, patience and ‘pushing through’ to the other side. During my early belts, we held positions for many minutes, to the point where my muscles felt like acid, burning off my bones. The instructors counseled us to ‘set your mind.’ Once that was in place, the body could handle any physical challenge. At the time, I thought I was going to collapse, and sometimes I did, but ultimately, I came to believe (and experience) that I truly could push through anything when I set my mind.

Writing is similar. An aspiring writer (replace writer with any objective) sets his or her mind to becoming, then doing that task, over and over with diligence, the outcome is not in question. One will become a writer, technically and creatively. To invoke a conventional saying, it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient at any task, be it making a free throw, jazz musician or writer. In approximately 10 yrs, I’ve written 7 books and 2 screenplays. I tallied my numbers for writing, and I’m only about 3,500 hours. I’ve got a long way to go to qualify for true proficiency, but I’ve made a lot of necessary progress. In a sense, I’m still training for my marathon.

About the author: Sarah Gerdes is writer living outside Washington with her family. In addition to Chambers, she has two other books and 3 screenplays in production. For more information on Chambers, check out the Chambers Series facebook page or the Chambers youtube channel. For more on Sarah, her official author site is http://www.sarahgerdes.com/, and her random musings on all things life is www.sassality.blogspot.com.

The books are available on Amazon.com and BarnsandNoble.com.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sarah Gerdes for the great story and interview!

As you all know by know – I try to cover the hard hitting issues in martial arts. One such area affecting our national security is how robots, androids, and super computers might be used in future conflicts. I mean are the dogs of war going to be unleashed without using real dogs?

One such movie that explores this idea somewhat is Iron Man! Yes as a boy I used to read about Tony Starks adventures when he put on the suit effectively making him a robot!

In this post I am going to explore robots in popular music, movies, TV and as a replacement for troublesome mates! To start out this humorous litany take a look at this almost top hit song!

Ha ha but I don’t really think Sir Killalot’s androids would really be all that effective but what about a real robot suit or android? Well if one could build a suit of armor that had some space age technology it might just be the ticket.

I watched the first Iron Man movie and was impressed. They did a good job capturing some of the excitement from the comic book – bringing the look and feel to the silver screen!

The world over, average folk dream about an equalizer that would let them even things up. Robotic assisted devices will someday help people in there everyday lives and perhaps even keep them safe. Take a look at the Iron Man 2 trailer and some tongue and cheek commentary.

Cool – Tony Stark has finally done what humanity and beauty queens have tried to achieve for years! – World Peace!

Ok kidding aside, wouldn’t it be neat if robots could keep us save such as in Isaac Asimov’s robot series? It went something like this… robots could not harm a human or through inaction allow harm to come to a human. There were three or four of these robot laws. Unfortunately as I am also a computer geek – I don’t have a lot of faith in technology… look at Toyota… but I digress.

Iron Man 2 looks to have some cool fight scenes as it seems to explore the motif of money and power! But really I am going to go see the movie because I have always thought robots are cool. I used to dream about being a robot – living forever and panhandling to tourists (did you like this transition?) – watch this video.

Ok! You see I was finally able to work in some robot fighting into this post.

But when I was a kid I also used to watch some TV shows about implanted men/women/androids in the Six Million Man and the Bionic Woman. It was fun to see how they were rebuilt to be better than before (and for the good of humanity!). Here is a clip of the Bionic Woman going undercover as a female wrestler.

Having some bionic parts can sure come in handy. We are already seeing some of that in real life now but 30 years ago that was just a dream. Back when this show was on it was riveting.

One more movie with a strange plot was the Stepford Wives. Now admittedly there was not much fighting in this one but I included it because of how strange it would be if people were replaced by android robots in real life!

For the record, officially I am against androids replacing women!

I hope you have enjoyed yet another tenuous link to fighting, Robot Fighters. I think with so much bad stuff happening in the world, it is important to take a break and look at some humor now and then. I’ll close with the real Iron Man song if you care to hear a high quality version. Please join me in watching Iron Man 2 in the theaters next month.

As often happens in my search for exciting topics to write about, I was channel surfing and I came across (by accident) this girl, Dallas Jessup, speaking about a free DVD that teaches girls to stay safe and fight back! I got the web address and checked out the movie here. 

Now I am a big proponent of women’s self-defense and I think any effort to pull together all of the facets in a successful defense are good. The problem with women’s self-defense normally are many girls and women think and feel like they are powerless against a bigger, stronger, and meaner male attacker!

In this post I’ll speak about the fallacy of this view that girls and women are powerless and examine this movie, Just Yell Fire, for you perusal. Here is a quick video trailer of the move. I encourage all to visit the website (http://www.JustYellFire.com) if you have any women in your family (most families have some) that might benefit.

Girls have an advantage over men in the sense that the immediate reason for the attack is not generally murder. That might come later but think about this – sexual predators are interested in molesting a girl (or boy) as their primary motive!

Having said that you might be wondering what advantage I am talking about? The pervert does not want to overly damage the goods (girl)! That means the girl is not looked at as an worthy adversary but as a piece of meat. The animal (the pervert) will not try and kill the girl with overwhelming strikes at first but rather try and get the girl to a place where he can control her.

This is the advantage girls and women have over men! Some time to react due to the man’s motive! The man is just not intimated by a girl and makes mistakes that puts him at a slight disadvantage.

A woman would not normally challenge a man to arm wrestle or get into a boxing match but that does not preclude a girl from defending herself if she is able to fight back with effective moves (in her surprise (to the man) counterattack)!

What I really like about this website is the DVD/video takes on a phased approach to teaching about how they CAN fight back.

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The beginning of the video is an interview with a policeman speaking about the (hopefully) obvious ways to avoid trouble. The reason I say hopefully is I know most girls have heard this advice and routinely ignore it. My step-daughter still runs with her iPod (ignoring her mother’s warnings from her high school years).

Do I fault girls and boys for not listening to common sense methods to stay safe? No (they are young and invincible), but sadly as friends, family and strangers in their schools are attacked, hopefully girls start to take some of the common sense solutions (the officer in this video speaks about) to heart.

What I view as the second phase of this video is about real life scenarios. What not to do and then how to do it right is demonstraited. After each section an instructor talks about how to do the moves.

I really think this part of the video is effective because as they say, there is nothing like seeing! Ten easy to do techniques are taught in this video and explained. Actually I counted more but this is probably due to variations.

The third phase I noticed is in between the real life scenarios the girls would speak about their rights and expectations in dealing with boys and people. This was powerful I believe because girls in our society are taught to be subservient to adults, teachers, police, anyone in power to the point that many times they don’t know how to say NO!

Please watch this video or click the link to the Just Yell Fire website if you want to see this powerful movie (takes about 15 seconds to start).

Now for my thoughts – I like the simplicity of this three phased approach to teaching self-defense to girls!

First common sense is reinforced of how to stay safe. This is not the first time girl’s have heard this message but not coming from their parents is powerful. Every little bit helps the message to eventually seep in.

The self techniques (including just yelling fire) are very simple to learn and effective for girls and women to execute. Many times martial arts self-defense techniques are overly complex for a girl just trying to learn quick, simple ways to defend herself. I suggest martial arts for girls and women committed to a longer range plan.

I saw some novel striking attacks such as the groin and ear slaps and such. These moves are both very effective and simple. One might argue their application in pugilistic contests but as a simple – effective self-defense tool for girls – these are great!

The girls talking to the audience about their rights is very powerful because I want girls to know they have rights, they are important and they have the right to decided how they are treated!!!!

Did you happen to notice this is a non profit organization 501(c)(3)? If you are looking for a good charity to contribute to and support self defense techniques as a way to keep our children safer – please consider this charity.

As long time readers of this website know, I support awareness, avoidance, non-lethal weapons, self-defense, and lethal weapons in a layered defense strategy. The good thing about learning actual self-defense techniques is that you will always have them with you. One cannot always be ready if you are depending on any other strategy (although I endorse them all).

I hope you have enjoyed a look at the move and website. I was happy to find this today as I think it supports one of my main goals – teaching folks how to defend themselves! Have a happy and safe new year. 

I had a treat a few weeks ago, as I heard a new movie was coming out called New Moon, by watching the first movie called Twilight. The reason it took so long for me to watch Twilight was because I heard it was a kids movie… you know a love story written around a little action.

Well to my surprise the love story was not too bad and the vampires in Twilight were fun to watch! I also heard the werewolf in New Moon (played the native American in Twilight) was a kid karate champion so I decided to review parts of this saga and the actor Taylor Lautner. Here is a preview of New Moon.

I must confess as a kid I was a Dark Shadows fan. Every day I would rush home from school to see Barnabas Collins as the vampire. I also used to watch Count Dracula in that movies many iterations and Creature Features every Friday night.

The thing I liked as a teenager was in some of the newer vampire movies, guys that knew karate did well against vampires. As I was learning karate, I figured if I ever ran up against the undead – I would have a fighting chance!

After seeing the story line in Twilight I realized that this was not just another sucky love story with a few vampires in it to sell the move but rather the young love was really powerful and unpredictable. The vampires would be your friend for one moment and the next be trying to suck your blood if you, like in this trailer, had a paper cut.

In the first move Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) was friend of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). In that movie you got an inkling there was more to the story when Black was describing the relationship of the Edward Cullen’s (Robert Pattinson) family and the Blacks. The relationship would soon become known in the New Moon movie.

Reportabley Taylor was in danger of not playing Jacob Black in the New Moon movie because he just did not fit the bill of a muscular native American werewolf! Interestingly to me was the fact that Taylor Lautner was a childhood XMA Martial Artist champion! Here is a clip.

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Wow, Taylor Lautner was the real deal! It is refreshing to see a kid that excels in the martial arts, do well as an adult. I’ve always thought with the amount of mental clarity and physical dexterity involved in the martial arts, that one could do just about anything!

What about getting the part for the second move? Taylor did it the old fashion way, he ate and lifted weights to gain enough muscle to get his new physique.

So have you watched New Moon yet? I have not but am planning on doing it over the my upcoming vacation. As much as I love vampires, I always root for the werewolves.

New Moon is kind of a play on word in this series signifying both the new movie and werewolf’s were being featured. Another cool movie with werewolf’s was An American Werewolf in London. Here is that transformation scene (the state of the art at the time) set to CCR’s Bad Moon Rising (yes a tenious link I know).

I hope you get a chance to see this new flick. I don’t think it is just for the teen-aged because the motif is timeless.

I rented the movie from Netflix after I saw it was one of the martial arts movie choices.

Thats all for now – just wanted to do a quick follow up on the movie I mentioned in the Halloween post.

I was flipping channels the other day and came across an old grainy black and white film on IFC where a martial artist was backed against a wharf and taking on his antagonists! The movie is called Sanshiro Sugata (the Judo Saga) and was filmed in 1943. What caught my eye was how he was dispatching his opponents – by throwing them over the side.

This was reminiscent of when I found the Seven Samurai movie on IFC. As the story unfolded it was apparently about the early days of Judo and its players being challenged by Jiu Jitsu combatants! In this post I will review the movie and speak about Judo’s beginnings as well as my views of Judo as an effective martial art. Here is a clip from the movie as the head of a Jiu Jitsu school faces one of the main Judo players (subtitled in French I think).

The movie was interesting to me as Judo was not accepted at first as the Samurai had always used Jiu Jitsu in Japan’s history. Dr. Kano then developed Judo as a sport. Here is an excerpt from my thesis on Judo:

 

Judo also evolved from Jiu Jitsu. Judo was created as the need for fighting diminished (Corcoran 26). Although many of the techniques are the same, Judo is more of a sport, with rules making it ideal for competition. Professor Jigoro Kano developed Judo in 1882 with mostly holds and throws using an opponents weight against him (Lewis 62). According to Corcoran, “The two principles upon which Kano based his new art were seryoko zenyo (maximum efficiency with minimum effort) and juta kyoei (mutual welfare and benefit)” (26).

The first principal can be demonstrated when a person is attacked by a stronger opponent. The Judo practitioner pulls his assailant in the direction of his attack, thereby pulling him off balance and making him vulnerable to a counter throw. The second overlying principal is permeated throughout judo, that is, to perfect one’s mental and physical nature to the mutual benefit of both contestants (Corcoran 26). To achieve rank in Judo, one has to defeat another in competition.

The movie is about a young Judo player that wants to perfect his art. He breaks many rules but is a good fighter. He eventually learns humility and proves Judo is a valid marital art (sound familiar) through a series of matches with the Jiu Jitsu schools. In the video clip above – Judo is pitted against Jiu-Jitsu so the police can decide what martial art or instructors to use for their training.

The movie of course has a love story and competition among suitors of sorts. After viewing this movie I was struck by how even Judo had to struggle as an accepted martial art in its early days.

Another martial art that like Judo, was developed as a sport is modern MMA. While one can argue that MMA is not a style (yet), there are schools that teach MMA exclusively. These schools take on the look and feel of their instructor’s likes. For instance many of these schools like combinations of BJJ, Muay Thai or kick boxing (an evolution itself), wrestling & boxing.

 
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I think MMA qualifies as a martial art of sorts because many of these fighters that fight in the UFC look similar and look nothing like their component martial arts. When our kids are old – MMA will probably be old-school and a newer fighting method involving mind control will be the rage. :) 

Judo borrowed heavily from Jiu Jitsu but focused more on the transitions to the ground with some ground work.  Judo’s point system awards points for successful throws and control whereas Jiu Jitsu seems to focus more on controlling the ground game. BJJ is especially good at ground fighting.

My feeling is the martial art I would most like to learn now (for fun) is Judo because I can already strike well. By learning how to throw my opponent I would also learn how to avoid being thrown in a wrestling tussle. I was a wrestler in grade school and am only confident in my sprawl if someone shoots in at my legs. I’m not all that sure I’d avoid a throw or arm-bar. I can see that learning some form of JJ would also be beneficial.

I hope you have enjoyed my review of Sanshiro Sugata. If you do get a chance, this is a movie any martial artist would enjoy!

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