Good TKD magazine

[FearlessFreep]

I was in "Borders" yesterday and was looking at some MA magazines. I almost picked up "TKD Times" but I seemed to remember from previous comments that it wasn't really well regarded (so I picked up "Black Belt" instead).

Which had me wondering...what are some good MA (particularly TKD) magazines?

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I have an issue or two still floating around. Good for seeing whats going on in the world of taekwondo. Kind of reminds me more of a trade publication (like the equivalent of something HVAC technicians might subscribe to), rather than a regular magazine like Blackbelt. Mind you, thats neither good nor bad; just a different style. I guess that it kind of depends on what you're looking for in a magazine.

Daniel

 

[ArmorOfGod]

Actually, I prefer TKD Times over Black Belt mag. I am not a tkd guy, but TKD Times has more of an "open forum" feel, kind of like this website. Since the current editor of Black Belt took over, it has turned more into a forum of his opinion, rather than an open board.
Keep in mind that TKD Times is a bi-monthly thing, but I kind of like it. It is more like light reading, but it satisfies me when I need something light.

AoG

 

[YoungMan]

Unfortunately, none of them. Black Belt seldom mentions Taekwondo anymore, and when they do, they often showcase the most godawful representatives.
Tae Kwon Do Times is good for a laugh, or light reading (very light). See above. I always glance through it to see if there is something interesting or enlightening, and I always come away disappointed.
Asian Journal of Martial Arts is a little too scholarly for my tastes, and emphasizes too much of the Japanese and Chinese systems for me.

 

[StuartA]

www.taekwondomag.co.uk

It has free PDF version for TKD as it merged with Combat mag earlier this year.

 

[Baby_Huey]

I like the TKD Times Magazine publication, but I do have a bias because my school's grandmaster is Woo Jin Jung, a publisher for the mag and they've used some of my stuff from time to time. As a journalist, I receive publications all the time for different magazine companies trying to get us to endorse them. The best I've seen is black belt and TKD times

 

[chrispillertkd]

Neither Taekwon-Do Times nor Black Belt are anything to write home about. I will say, however, that TKDTimes isn't as bad as BB. The latter has only Dave Lowry's column to keep it interesting. Otherwise, not so much. As for TKDTimes the news/events sections are of interest and occasionally they will have a good main interview. Back in 2000 they did a 16 page interview with Gen. Choi, but nothing even remotely approaching that in recent times.

I hve yet to see a good Martial Arts magazine, and that includes publications such as TKD & Korean Martial Arts, the now-defunct TKD/DoJang, Inside TKD, etc. Even the Journal of Asian Martial Arts is only OK. It's more of an academic journal but it covers pretty much every type of MA so it can be hit or miss, particularly in the "interest" department. The real problem is that all MA mags seem to rely on their own readers for about 99% of the material they publish and 99% of them are not trained writers.

Pax,

Chris

 

[YoungMan]

A BIG problem with Tae Kwon Do Times: The people who submit articles, especially the ones who appear on the cover, are the ones who pay big money for the "privilege", if you want to call it that.
Therefore, the ones you see in the magazine and on the cover are not necessarily the ones who best represent the art, they are the ones who tend to be interested in self promotion (look at how big my organization is, how many students I have etc.). This really brings down the quality (not that the quality was that great to begin with), because truly interesting articles take a back seat to self promoting divas.
Why does some guy you've never heard of (or the same guys over and over again) make the cover? Because he paid for the privilege, not because he has anything particularly interesting to say.

 

[exile]

A BIG problem with Tae Kwon Do Times: The people who submit articles, especially the ones who appear on the cover, are the ones who pay big money for the "privilege", if you want to call it that.
Therefore, the ones you see in the magazine and on the cover are not necessarily the ones who best represent the art, they are the ones who tend to be interested in self promotion (look at how big my organization is, how many students I have etc.). This really brings down the quality (not that the quality was that great to begin with), because truly interesting articles take a back seat to self promoting divas.
Why does some guy you've never heard of (or the same guys over and over again) make the cover? Because he paid for the privilege, not because he has anything particularly interesting to say.

This is true, and another problem with TKDT is the amount of space taken up by truly empty, brain-dead puff-columns. Half the magazine consists of exhortations to be virtuous (like, who can argue with the idea that it's better to be brave and loyal than cowardly and treacherous??), cheerleading feel-good pieces about how You Can Do It—Don't Let Anyone Tell You You're Not Good Enough!!!, and so on and on... there are remarkably few detailed, dispassionate articles on technical aspects of the art. Where are the discussions about when to go inside and when to go outside in the face of this or that real-world-dangerous attacking move? Analyses of hyungs to show the latent self-defense content? So much of the mag is icing, and so little of it is cake... sigh...

Classical Fighting Arts, from Dragon Press, is an outstanding magazine which, for some unaccountable reason, excludes the KMAs from the scope of its discussion; it's JMAs and CMAs exclusively. What we need is a mag like that—real-world combat oriented, relative light on advertisement, heavy on content, and not a single warm/fuzzy column (or Matt Furey tough-guy-huckster full page ad) in sight—devoted to the Korean MAs. People subscribe to TKDT, I suspect, more out of desperation than genuine enjoyment of its increasingly empty content.

 

[StuartA]

Analyses of hyungs to show the latent self-defense content?

Funny you should say that as when I released the book I sent both TKDT and BB mags a copy + some other stuff and offered some free articles etc. and neither even bothered to reply to me!

TKDT did a small slot in their "Things For Christmas" section and I dont even know if BB magazine ever even mentioned it! I thought it would interest them as IMO it was treading new territory for TKD, but obviously not!

Stuart

 

[exile]

Funny you should say that as when I released the book I sent both TKDT and BB mags a copy + some other stuff and offered some free articles etc. and neither even bothered to reply to me!

Why am I not surprised? This is typical of their whole approach, IMO. So far as I can see, BB's business strategy is to flog trends in the MAs for all they're worth, and TKDT's is to honk the horn of every MA cliché in existence till our ears fall off. Both are primarily vehicles for advertising, in exactly the same sense that a cigarette is—first and foremost—a vehicle for nicotine delivery.

TKDT did a small slot in their "Things For Christmas" section and I dont even know if BB magazine ever even mentioned it! I thought it would interest them as IMO it was treading new territory for TKD, but obviously not!

Stuart

Now, you see, if you'd written a book filled with sententious platitudes and goody-two-shoes high-mindedness, they'd not only have given your book center stage, they'd have asked you be one of their TKD columnists...

... oops, I forgot—they already have a guy who does that for them...

 

[IcemanSK]

The kind of detail that Stuart would (sadly) bore the average reader of these magazines. It would be great for the audience of the Journal of Asian MA, however.

Heck, I'm surprised that there aren't articles in TKDT about how to a 540 kick, either. For awhile I thought they just weren't interested in detailed technique. Now I think it's just into any depth of discussion, unless it's Doug Cook's viewpoint.

 

[dancingalone]

Yup, sadly books are where it's at for reasonably deep TKD writing. I recommend Mr. Anslow's book as well as the various tomes written by Marc Tedeshi. His WTF forms book is as good of a hyung manual as I've seen.

I wish someone would write a book on TKD history. I've placed an order for Dr. Kimm's book on hapkido history as I understand it is fairly good.

 

[StuartA]

Yup, sadly books are where it's at for reasonably deep TKD writing. I recommend Mr. Anslow's book as well as the various tomes written by Marc Tedeshi. His WTF forms book is as good of a hyung manual as I've seen.

Thanks

I wish someone would write a book on TKD history. I've placed an order for Dr. Kimm's book on hapkido history as I understand it is fairly good.

Dr Kimm is in fact (AFAIA) doing one on TKD as well, I also know of another in the works that revolves more around the ITF history.

Stuart

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Personally, I like TKDT. Yes, it is an advertising vehicle; I have read few magazines that aren't, but I have seen worse. Muslemags are much, much worse; twice as thick with half the content.

Anyway, I treat TKDT as a trade publication. It keeps me informed into some of what goes on in the world of taekwondo. For greater detail, I'm with Dancingalone; books are a better bet.

Daniel