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Kung Fu Tai Chi 25th Annivesary Festival - May 19-21 2017
#61
I'm going with option 2
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm

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#62
(05-22-2017, 06:00 AM)Greg Wrote: What do you mean survived?

Wait, does this mean lunch is off?  I'm (Tiger Claw) is buying.  

(05-22-2017, 07:31 AM)cranefly Wrote:
(05-21-2017, 05:39 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Thanks Greg & Gary! Mark you were sorely missed - hope you're on the mend.
Hey!  What happened to our monikers?  You know, to protect the innocent and otherwise.
Does this represent a deep and abiding appreciation of our contributions -- beyond the pale?
Or does it attest to the current state of Gene DM's state of mind?

It's a fair cop but society is to blame.

I just said 'survived'.  I make no claims about surviving in one piece.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#63
The tour was over, we'd survived
I couldn't wait till I got home
To pass the time in my room alone

Yes, lunch is on. Find some place hideously expensive to take me. I'm worth it. I'm going to eat my weight in caviar.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm

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#64
Sorry, didn't read that post until just now.  At least you got to drink your weight in iced tea.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#65
Thurs: got in before midnight but then wound up tapping the whiskey (roommate Chris and I brought 3 bottles). Not sure when we crashed exactly. 

Fri: texted around 4am but officially up at 6. Shower breakfast - on site at 7:30.

Sat: Dragon Crew after party ends around 2. Up at 6. Shower breakfast - on site at 7:30.

Sun: TCKFMC after party ends around 3. Up at 6:30. Shower breakfast - on site at 8:45. Headed home by 4.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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#66
You are made of pitted, but true, steel.
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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#67
First there was Friday.

I came back from my 5am walk to find all the lights on in the house and my mother up. My mother gets up at 9:30 at the earliest. I checked my phone and saw that my sister had called me 4 times.

Yeah. While I was out my father got up to go to the bathroom in the master bedroom. The only problem was that my mother had the same plan and had beat him to the seat. So, my father had to go to the bathroom off the hall.

Somewhere along the way, he fell. The ambulance was called and off he went to Kaiser. The paramedics had quite the time navigating my father through the obstacles in the hallway and down the stairs.

Fortunately, he was just bruised and was soon returned to the house. My sister got to spend the morning in the emergency room and had to take the day off from her job shaping young minds at Prospect High School.

At 11am, I headed over to the California Theater where the Grandmaster Live Show was to be held. I dumped my mountain of gear backstage and then parked my car over behind the South Hall tent where the rest of the weekend events were to be held.

DM gave me a tour of the theater and all the special areas for the Grandmasters. That was the only time I would see the special areas for the rest of the day.

Mr. Greg Chow volunteered to come by and help film the rehearsals. Originally, Greg was supposed to help me film the main show but do to some confusion, he thought it was the next Friday, he could only come during the afternoon.

Fortunately, Mr. Michael Schmitt took his place. Big Mike had recently relocated to the Bay Area from Los Angeles and although he was still recovering from shoulder surgery, he volunteered to hang out in the California Theater with me.

I passed the afternoon setting up cameras everywhere I could think of. I mounted one up in the balcony to shoot the main stage. I put a timelapse camera on the stage. I put another camera at the back of the stage. Mike was going to be out in the Orchestra section while I was going to be just off stage in the wings. One of the stage managers was nice enought to point out that if I stayed in my intended spot, I would probably be killed when the curtain descended. I opted for a different spot.

The person I was most excited to see was Master Tu. At the back of my mind is still the thought of finishing the Iron Crotch documentary. But I don’t think Master Tu is of an age where he does that kind of thing anymore. Two years ago he even had his son Jimmy do most of the work at a KFTC Magazine demo.

But their van rolled down the ramp into the backstage area and handshakes were exchanged all around. I congratulated Jenny who just graduated from Berkeley. Although, I mocked her when she told me her degree was in Chinese Studies. I mean, that seems to be low hanging fruit.

I asked Sandy what Master Tu was planning to do for the Grandmaster live performance and as is usual in our discussions, confusion soon followed. At first I thought she said he was going to do an Iron Crotch lift which then changed to no his students were going to do the lift. 

I was disappointed. In all the time I have no Master Tu, I have never seen him do a lift. He’s done his stunts, but never an Iron Crotch stunt. Some other life time.

But life with Master Tu is always dynamic. I was continuing to go through the gear to make sure everything was working and all the cameras had the right cards, when Jenny came up and asked if I wanted to see Master Tu lift. 

Did I want to see Master Tu lift? 

Yes?

Me and the Iron Crotch demonstrations are like dogs with silent whistles. I immediately perked up.

I followed Jenny to the stage where Master Tu was rehearsing. Now, Master Tu was in the zone and he wasn’t hearing me about holding on while I got my cameras set. I put up the big camera to catch everything and tried to set up a DSLR at this feet to get a dramatic shot.

I wasn’t sure I was going to get anything and Master Tu showed no signs of stopping. Meanwhile the lighting rehearsal is also going on so Master Tu is alternatively going from light to shadows.

So, yeah, I was losing my mind trying to get the shots. And while I turned to the lighting booth to see if they could just put a spot on Master Tu for a second, he did his lift. When I turned back Sandy asked me if I had gotten the shot. As I looked over, Master Tu was already untying and jumping down from the blocks. I reviewed what I had in the camera and it kind of looked like I shot something.

Once again, so close, but yet so far.

Naturally, Sandy hit me up for a copy of the footage for her own use.

Sigh. From the plates, it looked like he lifted about 500lbs while I was struggling to get the shots.

The rest of the evening went off with myriad hitches. The Time lapse camera decided stop about half way through the first act. The camera at the back of the stage became full towards the end of the second act. If Donnie Yen was in the house, I never saw him. But we got a lot of footage and I will see if I got anything super cool in the next few days.

The show ended about 10, well past my bedtime. It took me a while to corral all my gear and get it back into the proper cases. I had to hoof it about a block down the street to get my car parked at the back of the South Hall tent.

When I pulled my car back to the California Theater’s loading dock, all the doors were locked tight. I couldn’t seen anyone through the glass doors. I walked down the street to see if any of the other doors were open. Nope.

I texted DM with the good news that all my gear I needed for the next day appeared to be locked in the stage.  I walked around the block to the front side of the theater. All those doors were locked as well. I started ruminating about how I was going to get my gear back in time to shoot Saturday’s competition.

As I stood at the loading dock, I finally saw someone walk down the hallway. Frantic pounding on the glass door got their attention. It was one of the stage hands. They were all still in there only far from the doors on the stage. They let me in and I got my stuff. 

I made it to bed about midnight.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm

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#68
Dude, what happened to your font size? I can barely read your heartbreaking screed about your hellish weekend. I want to read about your suffering, but the print is so tiny! Presidential, even! Take pity on old eyes and make the font great again!

(05-24-2017, 11:44 PM)Dr. Ivor Yeti Wrote: Dude, what happened to your font size? I can barely read your heartbreaking screed about your hellish weekend. I want to read about your suffering, but the print is so tiny! Presidential, even! Take pity on old eyes and make the font great again!

Never mind, Grampa Yeti remembered how to zoom in. Good night now! Git off my lawn, you kids!
In the Tudor Period, Fencing Masters were classified in the Vagrancy Laws along with Actors, Gypsys, Vagabonds, Sturdy Rogues, and the owners of performing bears.
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