Gatekeepers

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I envisioned making a small film about Tongzigong, the virgin Kung Fu. DM has a great article about it on his website. And I have a bunch of footage of the demonstration. It involves a lot of improbable positions that fascinate me because I can't see myself doing them at any age no matter how many of my tendons you cut.

I reached out to the local Shaolin Temple Cultural Center through a gatekeeper because the STCC has a very good Tongzigong Practitioner that I had filmed before. Now, the only thing I knew about this gatekeeper was that she was the gatekeeper. She had reached out to me and DM in the past about actually going to Chine with the STCC group. DM gave it less salt than myself.

I'm sure this whole process would be easier if I spoke more Chinese than 'Hello' and some numbers.

The GK said she would ask but she also wanted to talk me about other film projects. Fine. Sure. Let's just get the Tongzigong thing done first and then we can talk about any other projects.

Naturally, I picked one of the busiest times to start this project. Everyone in the Chinese Martial Arts community is out performing for the Chinese Lunar New Year. GK told me I would have to wait until after the New Year before I could start. At this point, I'm thinking all I need is a go date and they were all on-board. As a gesture and to show my mug, I went out to one their performances at the Huntington Library, filmed it and put it up on YouTube. I even talked to the Tongzigong practitioner. He seemed to like the idea of the project.

After New Year, I asked again about availability and GK said they were busy until the end of February.

Since February ended over the weekend, I sent out another FB message which is when things got change. I get the feeling my gate keeper is having problems is having trouble with the head of STCC. She refers to him as being egotistical and my opinion is he can be whatever he wants as long as lets me film the Tongzigong guy. She was kind of dismissive about his cover appearance, intimating there wasn't much to it.

then the GK wanted to check with her Hollywood connections about the viability of the documentary.

At this point, I'm thinking it would be best if maybe I talked to the STCC head myself and asked for his email. I probably should have just done this in the first place, but I was of the opinion he didn't speak or read English that fluently. Then the GK pointed out that if I was just going to put in on youtube, the STCC would probably just do it themselves.

Sigh. How hard can it be to say no, you don't want to do something? But then I could just be getting the GK's view of things and not being getting the real scoop.

[Drunk Monk]

You have no idea - NO IDEA - how amusing your struggles as a filmmaker are to me. It's like Lucy somehow managing to train Charlie Brown to pull his own football away.

You make my day with this stuff, Greg. But it's not schadenfreude. It's more like commiserating. Keep in mind that the Yanxu cover was a leak. Just for the record, is this GK's name similar to mine?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I wrote this with you in mind.

Very similar. I would just like to say she can never be wright, because she is always . . .

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I would like to point out that my Hard Training video is about to hit a thousand views after just a week. Probably due to prominent placement on the KFM website, but still.

[Drunk Monk]

...although, we just bumped it off the top with a mediocre ad. I have a story about filming that ad, which I might post later, probably in the Vancouver thread, but maybe in a Miike or Chan Park Woo thread...

So here's my guess - JW was part of the cover leak, or at least caught heat for it. She's still stinging from the reprisal (take it from me, Shaolin spanking suck) and then perky Charlie Brown trots in the door with the Tongzigong pitch. which she reflexively bats out to left field, where Lucy is napping.

Or something like that.

Then again, she may just not like you because you're not in the Wulin.

Out of curiosity, have you ever hit them with a resume? I imagine by now you could name drop enough films and stars to make their chicom heads spin like emei piercers (okay, that was a Wulin pun and if anyone of you were part of the Wulin, you'd be thinking dayum, that DM, he rocks with the wulin analogies...)

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Cheese and rice, how many vids do I have to post to KFM before I get Wulin certified?

I was hitting up JW long before the cover leak thing occurred. Although since they probably identify me as an adjunct to KFM, the proposal might be getting twirled up in that.

Or there is something weird going on between JW and YX. She seemed very dismissive and angry with him. It caught me off guard the way she talked about him.

I think she has projects she wants to get done in the film world, too and she is getting thwarted there as well. It just got very weird quickly.

As a resume, I could show them that great Iron Crotch documentary I did. Oh, wait . . .

[Drunk Monk]

...it's more than just filming us and more than hanging weights off your junk (although the junk hanging is a pretty novel start).

Hmm, JW may be having a break with her master. That would be too bad because I liked her spirit. Such breaks happen in America, especially with the Shaolin community. The monks don't live up to Kwai Chang Caine or San Te, so students get disillusioned, which is really ironic for a Chan tradition. What's more, YX has disrobed officially, but he's not being very public about that (I was tempted to go there with the cover story, but didn't as he had other things to say and the piece was already complex enough without that). Things are probably tense out there as YX is trying to coordinate the Shaolin fest for Oct. Abbot just gave him a big chunk of seed money, and now he's got to bust some butt to make it happen. It's a lot of pressure for his students. We already got a panicky call from Philip.

Note that I'm not trying to make excuses for them to you - to be honest, I don't have a flying fuck of an idea what is going on within STCC LA, nor do I really want to know. I don't really know what's going on in the school where I train. I try to keep out of that as I have enough martial politrix to deal with at work. It's just conjecture, just for conversation's sake here on DOOM.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Chasing my tail. Chasing my tail. Chasing my tail.

The adventure continues. Today, I'm having to explain the particulars of why I want to talk to YX.

[Drunk Monk]

...it's still funny.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

As in "Why does he want to do this?" that is the current sticking point.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

So, I sent the direct email. I was told to come by anytime.

[Drunk Monk]

can we retitle this thread 'DM's morning chuckle'?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Always best to confirm appointments before attending them. Think of this as your pre-lunch chuckle

[Drunk Monk]