> There was a show on the Discovery Channel recently called "Xtreme > Martial Arts", > > http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/xma/xma.html I could only stomach watching about the first 20 minutes of that. > And watching some of the many and varied styles, both with weapons and > unarmed, my impression is that the Chinese martial arts have a > tendency towards being much more swirly and flashy, with a lot more > motions that might be meant to distract the opponent (such as the > drunken style). > > The Japanese styles, from what I could see, are usually more > direct and choppy, in contrast. I think this is generically true, although things like Aikido violate this generality. > The Chinese styles are, I think, more visually interesting (which > might be why there a lot more movies about Chinese fighting styles). It is obvious that any movie on martial arts isn't going to be how it is really practiced. 3 moves, fight over, just doesn't make for interesting cinema. :) -Jot -- Jot Powers <books at bofh.com> http://www.bofh.com/books/ "I'm upping my standards, so up yours!" -Pat Paulsen (1927-1997), Presidential Campaign Slogan