OMIGOD

[bubbabgone]

I mentioned before how I continue to be impressed by the breadth of knowledge and experience of many of the folks here.

I just read the exchange between Sevenhooks and Kwok Choi. That's a good example.

I'd like to ask, if any of you wouldn't mind, to share with the rest of us how you came to be, and continue to be, as knowledgeable as you clearly are.

You know ... background, vocation, avocation, how long you've had the bug, etc.

If you don't want to I understand it may be too personal, but I know I'm interested and perhaps others are too.

Cheers.

[sevenhooks]

Sounds like a fun topic.
(and a possible sticky?)
Have everyone explain what got them into the flicks in the first place.
As obvious as that sounds, I don't recall ever seeing this brought up before.

It's gonna take a minute to tell my story though.
.....I'll be back!

[Chinatown Kid]

Watching Black Belt Theatre as a youth in the early 80's is what first got me into these movies. I had a Beta video recorder and taped them every Saturday night when they would come on. I learned a little more over the years about the stars and studios by reading martial arts related magazines but it wasn't until I got my PC and found this site and others that I learned so much more about the genre. I started watching these movies when I was 12 and I'm 34 now. The movies inspired me to practice martial arts over the years and I've studied a little Wing Chun, Judo, Japanese Jiu Jitsu, and Kickboxing. I currently train in Taekwondo in which I hold a 2nd degree Black Belt. The movies in this genre have also kept me inspired in my training. And it's cool to talk about these movies with other fans on this site who you have something in common with and can relate to.

[monwobobbo]

many years of watching films reading etc. i was around in the 70s to see alot of these films when they were new. in the 80s i rented every kung fu film i could find (back in the early 80s buying films was very expensive) i watched kung fu theater etc when cable hit here as well. talking to others always helped as well. now woith the internet there is tons of knowledge to be had (and even more misinformation unfortunately).

[tino]

I started watching kung fu movies when I was 10 years old in 1985 on usa channel. It showed on sundays at 1pm. As a child my mother would make me go to church and I didnt want to go because my preacher was long winded ( a baptist) and would many times preach until 1pm or longer and he started at 11pm. When I got home from church I would rush in the house and turn the tv on and would'nt move until the movie was over. At school I would sit in class in 5th grade and daydream about it and draw pictures of kung fu guys with eagle claw, snake, and other styles. I didnt play with my gi joes like you are suppose to I used them to play out kung fu shows and I would use fake blood on them lol. Thats how bad I had it for these movies. I didnt start watching kung fu again after they went off tv until 2001 when I ran across the xenon tapes at the mall. Bought a computer the next year and now have hundreds of tapes and dvd's. I don't know as much as most people on here but I'm learning something almost everyday on this site.

[rindge]

While I am not as informed as some others my history with these films goes back to the late 70's - I think. My father used to go to watch the films in Boston's chinatown and as a kid he became tired of my whining and started to take me. Eventually - I'm not sure how long - he got tired of the unreal acts in some of the movies - I think we were watching heavenly sword and dragon sabre and they showed one of the actors jumping up the side of the mountain. That was it for him, but only the beginning for me.

I think around the same time you had the whole martial arts craze and my brother, his best friend, and my soon to be brother in-law all practiced martial arts. I soon followed in their steps - Wing Chun.

That was the perfect mix to create a kung fu movie junkie. As I got a little bit older (I'm 39) I kept going to chinatown in Boston to watch the films. During my freshman or sophomore year in high school I would actually skip school every other week to see the new movies that were being played at the Publix - anybody from Boston remember that place? They used to play 3 films (all dubbed to my dismay) . I would spend my entire Tuesday there watching flicks. I kept going to chinatown when I started college but by freshman year 1986 or 87 all the theaters in Boston had pretty much shut down except for maybe the pagoda.

At about this time I came across films on vhs and started to dub. Even during college I would find places in Boston that rented these films - that was the start of my collection. From 1989?-1991 my interest / ability to get /see these films diminished. In 1993 I moved to NJ and came across an article in Vibe magazine that referenced alt.soc.asian.films (does anybody remember this newsgroup). I had just hooked up to the internet around that time and came across a bunch of other people who loved these films. Alt.asian.films turned me onto 43rd chamber, karate video, the open air mart in harlem and Troys shop (i forget the name of the shop) in Harlem right next door to the Apollo Theater. At this point my interest turned into an addiction.

I spent lots of money at these shops - especially with Woods at 43rd chamber. In 1995 I was back to Boston for graduate school, but kept feeding my fix whenever I returned to NJ. My addiction started to reach crazy heights as I hosted a kung fu movie marathon at school - martial club, prodigal son, and 8 diagram pole fighter were the films we showed. During my second year of graduate school I zoned out in class one day and developed the idea for the Trader's Forum - the 1st web site ever to facilitate the trading of asian films. I got the site started in 1997 and that is when my addiction reached dizzying heights. My collection grew exponentially with all of the trading.

By 1999, my addiction stopped cold turkey as the realities of a new job set in. From 1999 until 2002 I had no time to collect films.

My interest was somewhat reignited when Celestial came on the scene. at that time I gave up the boots and was happy to get remastered subbed films of the classics. At this point I am a modest fan at best and really enjoy this board to keep me up as to what is going on in the world.

That is my story - somewhat long, but you asked :-)

Rindge

[Tosh]

My story is pretty much the same as Chinatown kid, give and take some of the martial arts we've learned, but I think it really goes back to the Godzilla movies that got me into Asian cinema is the first place, I also saw some Kurosawa when I was younger, so I love the Samurai movies just the same, I never knew peoples names (a few maybe, Bruce of course), or the different studios at the time, I still get a movie and realize I've seen it before when I was younger half way through.

I fell out of it in the late 80's early 90's cause every movie I could find was really bad, so I lost interest for a while (sadly, with martial arts to). It was around 1999 my roomate had an old copy of Master Killer, we watched it (like 5 times) and a few other movies he had then CTHD came out, and here was the internet, I found this forum through Kung Fu Cinema, where I already started trying to learn who was who.

I like all of it, Kung Fu, Wuxia Pien, Samurai, bashers. But Shaw Brother movies are my favorite with the exception of some truly great Samurai movies.

[morgoth]

I remember seeing many b martial arts movies as a kid and started loving all action movies. A couple times real late at night I saw kung fu movies. You could tell that it was something different and because I like it so much and it seemed so rare I figured there wasn't many of these. Then one Saturday night I had a tape ready hoping that there would be a movie on like there was the last 2 Saturday's and there it came. Ninja Hunter. I still have that video tape. It was the greatest movie ever. Then I knew what to look for at the video store and started renting ever Chinese movie there was. It ranged from everything to the original 'Iron Monkey' to 'The Seventh Curse'. I like to watch Asian cinema the most but remain an action fan through and through. I just love movies in general actually.

[venom10463]

I started watching kung fu movies in the early 90's. After my uncle passed away, my dad kept some of his belonging. One day, I was going thru a box of vhs tapes(my dad got from my Uncle's house) I came across a tape with no label and decided to check what was on it. What I'd discovered was Ninja in the Deadly Trap and Heroes Two. I became hooked in an instinct. After I finished watching both Ninja and Heroes Two. I found Master Killer, Crippled Avengers, Death Duel of kung fu and another title I can't seem to remember. I manage to find alot more titles over the years, it wasn't until around 95 or 96. I met a kung fu fanatic, who worked at a kung fu store on Fordham Road. I bought acouple of movies and came back a week later to chill and talk. We became good friends and everyday after school I would come over and hang out.

[lickinblood]

hmm,i guess my uncle got me in movie collecting,when i was 5 years old in 1984 i watched shogun assassin,new one armed swordsman,streetfighter 2 etc over and over again ,when i got a little older me and my friends watched all the martial art movies that came on tv and build exotic weapons and started fights in the garden,don´t ask what happened after watching avenging eagle....haha.when i got 15 i started collecting everything,from trash to splatter to martial arts,yeah,hmm,thats it.got older,got more videos ,more knowledge,and then came celestial ;)