Kaze Uta Budo Kai Forum Archive

It's been quite a while in the works, but I am proud that we have launched our video project!

Over the past few months, the nature of the project has changed significantly. I've been frustrated about how things were not moving at all. And now, in just a few days, we have over 60 videos published here. There are probably another 200 or so in the queue to be uploaded right now. We're working on creating a monster repository of information the likes of which has never been done before in this arena.

So, kudos to everyone involved!

To Nick, the visionary with the plan
To Dave Rose, Glenn Billings & Damon Kornele -- The Mac Guys. I must admit, some things are easier on a Mac
To Cristian Lamson, my co-admin for input & feedback on layout, as well as video formats

Now, there's going to be a lot of actors on the screen in a bit. My big thanks to these people, for without skilled uke's we wouldn't really have much of a project to put out.


As a logical block of information is uploaded to YouTube, I will create posts here in the appropriate forum and organize things in their correct sequence. Techniques will then be locked and posted as a sticky in order to preserve the order. In addition, the first series of dharma talks should be published this weekend (with a little quality assurance from Louise!). So, hang on folks... it's going to be a great ride!

Kyle Sloan wrote:It's been quite a while in the works, but I am proud that we have launched our video project!

So, hang on folks... it's going to be a great ride!

Launched is not the word for it... Eric coins it appropriately as "YouTube Sensei"

And the presence is definitely noticed...

I for one would like you guys to know how appreciated it is, as well as how nice the work is perceived..

Thanks Jeff!

It's been quite a bit of work over several months researching the best way to deliver content. Our ideas have changed several times. I'm really please with how well things have turned out thus far.

The long-term goal is to have the entire technical syllabus for Aikido, Judo & Jyodo available online for everyone. This is obviously a gigantic project and will take some time to achieve. But, I'm very pleased with how well it's going so far. The obvious upside to the forum is that kata will be arranged in order, in one place, making it very easy for folks to find things versus digging through hundreds (it will be thousands before we're finished) videos on YouTube.

Please share these with your fellow instructors, students and friends!

I was wondering if YouTube let you group or organize you videos into any kind of categories (I've never used it to upload and manage my own videos). Kinda sucks if it doesn't. Ah well, that's the beauty of the forum, eh?

Thus far, we have not been able to find a way to organize clips on YouTube.

But, that's why we have the forum 😄

Just had to share some of the feedback-- Aside from the public comments on Youtube and Facebook --I have also been recieving these emails on our project-- heres a selection from a few noteable folks :

"Awesome!"
-Matt W. -OKC

"i just watched the #1 release versions.... its like being at windsong any day of the week i choose..... genius!!!"
James B. -Arlington Tx

"Nick,
This is too cool! It almost felt like I was back in class. I can see hours of video entertainment in my future. And the tape on the floor is an excellent idea. I can't really put in to words how awesome this is! Just one quick question: Whats with the black belt?Just to let you know, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the WindSong and smile (sometimes with a tear in my eye)."
Gary B. - Minnesota

"think this is a great idea. We are just learning how to use the Internet and the most successful have used the strategy of giving away what cannot be controlled and charged for. It is marketing for what can.
I watched Dave Rose’s excellent presentation of soft-touch Jyodo... The Midaredome clip is missing – it repeats Seigan."
Jack B.-Denton

"Thanks, Nick. Great stuff. Well done. Hope all is OK with you. Take care."
Mark K. - Columbus, Ohio

"Just wanted to put in writing what I told you earlier. Your training videos are better in technique and presentation wise than anything I have ever seen, and I have seen some of those who consider themselves the best. You are a great credit to Tomiki Aikido and you represent us all extremely well. Thanks"
JW B. -Lawton OK

"Hey Nick-sama,
Again great videos. They are just the resource I have been hoping for. And now that I started watching the release videos, I say I like the longer videos better. I vote for dumping out the knowledge. Get on that soapbox!"
Eric P. -Austin TX

"Nick, I found your version of the Randori No Kata interesting. I have never seen it practiced that way before...I find it very interesting how we are all climbing the mountain is slightly different ways....
Shaun H. , -Essex, England

"Thank you."
Julie C., Dallas TX

"Hey Nick its D. in Mississippi at Coastal Winds . I love the youtube site it actually makes me feel far less isolated. it helps to see faces I recognize. I want to thank you for the write up about the belt situation . It stung alot of us to see so many people we were used to seeing with a percieved demotion . After reading it I realized you were right ghetto is a good way to explain it its like nikes or gold teeth . The heart of it ,the essence its all there . You, Jason, Chuck, Jimmy nothing changed its all still there with a little less ballroom and alot more Aikido thanks for that .Sorry didnt meen to vent on you I have huge dead spots when I view the downloads ,it scrolls then dissapears could I buy a disc of this I dont have computer access at the school yet so it would be a great help . Please let me know Thank You"
Dallas L. , Mississippi

"That is great! Thanks, Nick"
Carla M. , Houston TX

This is too cool!! It's great to see these up and that people are enjoying and benefiting from them.

I have some expectations for what will happen with the launch of these videos, mainly that Jennifer Love Hewitt will see, get in contact with, and marry me. But I digress. (Love you Jenny Love! XOXO)

The other most exciting expectation I have (other than to see Nick and friends become insanely wealthy--though they don't seem to care about money even an iota as much as I do, I still wish it on them) is to hear from and communicate with other Aikido, Judo and Jyodo practitioners around the WORLD.

And it appears that is already happening, I see a message above from Essex, England.

Personally, I have family living in Korea that play Taekwondo who have watched some of the videos and shared them with their friends and fellow martial artists in that country and they have given me positive feedback.

I see Kaze Uta Budo Kai has subscribers on YouTube from the Netherlands, Canada, United Kingdom and all over the country here in the US, and all this in only the first week! Amazing!!

Congratulations to everyone at Windsong Dojo and friends and affiliates of Kaze Uta Budo Kai for getting a wonderful resource like this available to you anytime, anywhere and at your convenience. USE IT and SHARE IT!!

Kyle, did I read what you wrote correctly? Are you softening a little bit on Mac's? A little birdie told me something similar the other day. If that's true, these videos have truly changed the world. 🙂

Finally, a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Nick, Kyle and everyone else involved with this! You deserve all the wonderful things coming your way. (As do I with my future marriage to Jenny Love)

Damon Kornele wrote:Kyle, did I read what you wrote correctly? Are you softening a little bit on Mac's? A little birdie told me something similar the other day. If that's true, these videos have truly changed the world. 🙂

I will say that once you pass the learning curve (like looking for HOME, END, figure out copy/paste shortcuts, etc.) that the Mac upstairs is a multi-tasking machine. I was uploading videos, exporting video, posting in the forum about the new Dharma talks under the Innerspace tab, and seems like something else... all at the same time with no herky-jerky behavior. That, in and of itself, is impressive.

It was nice to be able to start a terminal session (command line). And since Mac OS-X is based on UNIX, I just amped a process off into the background and kept working. For the non-UNIX among my gentle readers, amping a process off (such as "copy /Volumes/MyDisc/* . &") -- the "&" tells the shell to run the job in the background. You have the command line sitting there waiting for what to do next. Things like "jobs", "fg" and a couple of others allow you to move jobs from being a background process to a foreground process. One of the things I love most about UNIX.

Next I'll probably add a ".netrc" file to automate FTP just a little bit. Heck, I might even brush off my UNIX shell programming skills and fully automate the next MP3 uploads.

There are over 200 lessons available as of this morning. Not bad for a week 😛

Yeah, these videos are a god-send. Since I'm not able to make to evening or weekend classes (maybe a play day here and there) much, these videos are a wonderful help and supplement. I've learned so much from what I've watched so far, and I've barely scratched the surface!

Thank you, thank you to Nick, Kyle, Damon, anybody and everybody who had anything whatsoever to do with it!

With Damon & Cameron as great uke's, Derek & I managed to get 33 more lessons filmed today.

A fair amount of stuff on the turtle, and some advanced throwing & grappling stuff as well. Look for it sometime next week.

Good Times Brother. Good Luck with the BBQ 😀

Oh, man, more judo stuff! Can't wait! 😄

I would pay money for DVD with all this stuff indexed...

Damon, just hope J.Love doesn't see your avatar! 😂

Jack Bieler wrote:Damon, just hope J.Love doesn't see your avatar!

Hey don't knock my guy! I traveled to the future, took a picture of myself and brought it back with me to use as my avatar. I'm a pimp when I'm 45!

Tonight we hit a milestone -- 500 video clips uploaded to YouTube (and organized here) in only 3 months. Wowza!

The last two filming sessions were pretty grueling, adding over 50 videos each time. I certainly don't envy Nick having to deal with the editing & uploading, and we're still improving how we do things with editing. Thanks to Damon Kornele and Cameron Siemens for all their hard work as uke.We're also experimenting with different camera angles for grappling stuff, so expect some variation.

I have a list of stuff for Judo. I'm going to we working on the osae-komi, escapes and shime-waza (including a couple more standing chokes Pat!). Once we get the grappling covered, we'll be adding throwing techniques. Derek Hall will be continuing his work on techniques from the guard. This is, of course, subject to change, without notice 😉

I'm really proud of the what we've accomplished thus far. Kudos guys!

i'm proud of all ya'll -- you guys are amazing!

It couldn't be done without great leadership. So, kudos to you sir.

this morning we hit over 40,000 views!-- amazing!

I just wish those wankers who give us poor ratings would give some feedback to why they rated that way.