Why
we reject some items.
We
originally established this site as an information
nexus for those interested in Kung Fu Wushu. Of course
we sometimes see items that, critically, we just don't
think come up to snuff. Here are the main reasons...
1. LOW QUALITY:
In this case
we mean the performance. Yes, we are aware that this person
may be your great grandmaster (in which case, our apologies)
but in the particular performance on the VCD, DVD or whatever
the effect is poor: lacking power, tentative, not representative
of the style, uninspired generally. We're convinced that sometimes
we are seeing amateurs, out of practice, to whom somebody
said, "You're the only one who does this still. See if you
uniform stills fits." Sorry, not good enough though we have
sympathy.
2.
MIXED MESSAGES:
Contrary to what some might think we don't
despise Contemporary WuShu. We just think everything should be
clearly distinguished and they are different enough to distinguish.
We're well aware of the sophisticated arguments for evolutionary
stages but in the case of the item we think the traditional
and the contemporary are unnecessarily confused. Don't feel
bad if this is a little unclear at first , even in China new
generation of students can barely tell the difference (even
though it's pretty much obvious in most cases to anyone trained).
3.
TECHNICAL QUALITY:
Nothing's worse than a great master performance
with poor sound, screwed up editing and digital breaks. You
may want this anyway for research and we'll gladly special
order it.
4.
NOTHING DISTINGUISHED:
Flavor is a big issue with us. You
CAN make Cha look like any other Northern Kung Fu style, and
its possible to do such an undistinguished Ba Gua you can't
even guess its style but why promote such things?
5.
PLAIN OLD BULL:
Sure, this guy says he studied with Brendal
Lai in the Mantis but we know he didn't, this is Wu Dang because
anything anyone wants to do is Taoist martial arts, this famous
BaGua practitioner in Taiwan is really a dancer. We know and
sometimes we can say it and sometimes we know enough to just
not carry the line. Some times we'll carry it just for educational
purposes. As Da Vinci said, to understand beauty, you have
to study ugliness. We get a lot of information from reputable
sources but we don't want the silly yelling matches that occur
on so many bulletin boards. We're not a court to condemn but
an arena to discuss.
6.
NOT MUCH INTEREST:
It's hard, on a site as crowded with information
as ours, to keep everything in stock even if we only sell
three a year. So the last reason is crass inventory control,
nothing more and is no comment on the item.
