Posts Tagged ‘Between’
The Difference Between Karate and Kung Fu
For many people, especially those who are not familiar with martial arts, the question often arises on what the difference between karate and kung fu is. Upon watching somebody doing various moves, the untrained eye will find it hard to tell which style that person is doing. Even those who are just beginners may sometimes be confused about the different styles until further exposure to them will reveal just how different they really are.
Historically, the people living in the islands of Okinawa just south of Japan got exposed to Chinese martial arts due to the close proximity to China. Over time, the Okinawans and Japanese developed their own styles now known as karate from the original influence of Chinese styles. Although both utilize many similar techniques, most kung fu styles will usually have more variety of techniques compared to karate systems. It’s almost like the Japanese streamlined the number of techniques from Chinese systems to develop karate. The Japanese also modified the way techniques are executed in karate as they became more linear. This is especially evident in the forms or katas (traditional sequence of set moves) where karate techniques are performed with crisp movements that have distinct stop and go motions.
In kung fu forms, movements involve the use of more circular techniques, particularly with the hands. These circular motions give these forms a more visually graceful look as techniques seem to flow from one to another. There is less stop and go with most Chinese styles. This is why some martial artists, especially in North America, often refer to kung fu as ‘soft’ styles while karate and tae kwon do are ‘hard’ styles. This is not to say that hard styles such as karate or tae kwon do are more powerful martial arts than soft styles. The term ‘soft’ is a bit misleading because the power from circular moves is often hidden. Circular moves can generate just as much power as linear ones found in hard styles. Most kung fu forms are also usually more complex and longer in duration than most karate forms. To most, a soft style form will look much more exotic while a karate form will look more straight forward in terms of techniques. Interestingly enough, there are karate styles such as goju which do have quite a lot of circular techniques. Kempo styles are considered a hybrid of Chinese and Okinawan techniques with both circular as well as linear techniques. There are also many more different styles of kung fu compared to karate.
Martial arts weaponry is found in both kung fu and karate styles but different sets of weapons are utilized in each system. Much like the empty hand forms, the kata with karate weapons are also more linear compared to those with kung fu weapons which have more circular movements. As expected, there is a lot more variety of different Chinese weapons than found in the Japanese karate styles.
Traditionally, practitioners of karate wear a white uniform called a gi which features the overlapping kimono-like top. Less traditional schools like those in North America will allow colored uniforms. A colored belt will be the finishing touch to the gi with of course the black belt for those at instructor level ranking. Most of the time and especially inside a dojo studio, karate stylists will not wear any shoes while training. Most kung fu stylists will wear very different looking uniforms consisting of tops with Chinese ‘frog-style’ buttons rather than overlapping fronts like the karate gi top. The uniforms can be black or a variety of colors with often lighter fabrics such as satin and shoes are commonly worn. The modern acrobatic Chinese martial arts of wushu can feature satin uniforms with many different bright colors. Many kung fu schools simply utilize t-shirts and baggy pants as uniforms. Satin colored sashes are often worn to signify rank of students but this is actually more of a North American style as most Chinese martial arts schools in Asia do not show rankings in uniforms.
Overall, there’s more variety of techniques, styles, weapons and uniforms found in the Chinese kung fu systems compared to karate. However, that is not to say that one system or style of martial art is superior to another. They are just different and to the observer, it could come down to personal preference. Some prefer kung fu and some prefer karate. Some ambitious martial artists who desire a full well rounded education practice both styles.
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Differences Between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
Having worked for an Adobe Authorized Training Center for the last 10 years I often get asked from students what the difference is between between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
Firstly, let me say that all three programs are in fact owned and developed by the same company, Adobe Systems, the World leader in Web development, graphic design and E-learning software. All three programs are also bundled together into Adobe’s Creative Suite, which is a great and affordable way to purchase this software.
I think part of the confusion, is that certain tasks can be done in more than one of these programs. For example you can find vector-drawing tools available inside Photoshop and InDesign, even though Illustrator is the predominant vector drawing program. The key to getting the most out of these three programs is to understand what their key functions are and how they can be used together.
Okay so lets look at each program separately. We’ll start with Adobe Photoshop, which is probably the best known out of the three. Photoshop is a professional image editing software primarily used for editing bitmap images and image manipulation. Bitmap images are images, which are defined by their pixel structure. In other words digital bitmaps can be broken down into millions of tiny pixels and each pixel has its own attributes. Bitmap images are sometimes also referred to as raster images.
The most common type of bitmap image is a photographic image. Whether shot on film and scanned into the computer or whether digitally shot, photos are made up of millions of tiny pixels. So simply put Photoshop is a tool used to edit photographic images. It also has the ability to do lots of other things but the core function of Photoshop is to edit Photographic images.
If you go down to your local newsagent and pick up any magazine, chances are very good that the images in that magazine would have been edited or altered using Photoshop. Sometimes the adjustments can be minor such as subtle lighting or sharpening adjustments, and other times they could be major like applying a filter or special effect. Photoshop is used for retouching – ever wonder why the models and movie stars never have any cellulite or a double chin – the answer is Photoshop. Often an image can comprise of a few different images with have been merged together to form a montage. This effect can also be created in Photoshop.
Adobe Illustrator on the other hand is a vector-drawing program. Vector images are the other main type of digital image. Unlike bitmaps, vectors are made up of a series of lines and shapes, which are defined as mathematical formulae. Vectors are very good for creating images, which contain large sections of the same color. So for example a navigation button on your web site, your company logo, or any non-photographic image would be better off created as a vector. Illustrator is the World’s premiere vector drawing tool, so if you were tasked with creating any kind of ‘flat’ art, such as a corporate profile, including logos, sign work, letterheads etc, chances are you would use Adobe Illustrator.
Adobe InDesign is the newest out of the three programs and is a page layout or publishing program. InDesign is used for putting together stuff like corporate brochures, documents, magazines, newsletters or advertisements. InDesign’s specialty is working with documents that contain a large amount of type or text.
Often designers will use all three programs on the same project. For example we recently created some new course outlines so we used Illustrator to create our logo and a few other vector graphics, we used Photoshop to apply a special shadow effect to some bitmap images, and finally we imported all those elements from Illustrator and Photoshop into InDesign where we added the copy and defined the layout.
Quality graphic design can make or break any company’s image. Adobe Creative Suite which includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign plus a little training can give you the vital edge to succeeding in a very competitive world.
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Pocahontas, Virginia – Between Two Hills
Journey back to the beginning of coal mining in the Appalachians and the beginning of a new culture of people. Through oral histories, the film profiles the history and culture of the people. It features historic landmarks, such as the 70 year old exhibition mine, the 1883 company store, the 125 year old cemetery, the 1895 Opera House and various churches and buildings throughout town. In addition to the interviews of area residents, there are interviews with college professors, a local congressman, and local leaders. “Our hope is that people come away from watching and feel like we did when we first visited Pocahontas. The buildings are incredible, the history is fantastic, but neither compare to the real hidden treasures of the area, the stories of the people.” Dan McCoig
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