Create Your Own "Kung Fu Night"

Introduction

The first, most obvious, question your are probably asking yourself is, "What is Kung Fu Night?". I'm not certain exactly where the name came from (We just started calling it that), but I hope your find this article interesting and go on to create your very own Kung Fu Night! Quite simply Kung Fu Night is when a bunch of people get together to watch Kung Fu movies. This article is meant to provide a brief history of how our Kung Fu Night started and give you some guidelines as well as inspiration to create your own!

History

My first exposure to Kung Fu was the TV series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. It wasn't the greatest series in the world (okay, it stunk) but it sparked my interest in Shaolin, and more importantly the fighting art called Kung Fu. Fast forward a few years to when I am moving into a new house and the local cable company gives us some movie channels for free. They started to show a bunch of martial arts films, such as "The Young Master", "Fist Of Legend", "Tai Chi Master, AKA Twin Warriors", "Fong Sai Yuk, AKA The Legend". Needless to say I was once hooked again. A friend of mine at work also expressed interest in martial arts movies. One day we said we should get together and watch some Kung Fu movies, and we did, trading and borrowing what few movies we had collected at that point. After a couple of nights we decided to let others in on our Kung Fu movie night. We bought some more Kung Fu movies, okay, we bought A LOT more Kung Fu movies (Last count I was at 400+ movies). Kung Fu Night was born…

Structure

We realized early on that we needed some structure. We tried to meet on regular nights (usually Thursdays) when we could, and have a regular email describing what would be in store that week at Kung Fu Night. The email is very important, it tells people when and where to meet, gives them a sneak preview of what movies may be shown, and allows me to figure out who will be attending (sometimes). Our tradition seems to be to watch something other than the movie that was mentioned in the email, but heck its all good because it Kung Fu.

Members

There is an informal membership structure to Kung Fu Night, and a ranking system of sorts. The creators and co-founders of Kung Fu Night go by the title "SiFu" (Cantonese for "Teacher Father" or "Master"). Senior members must qualify by regularly attending Kung Fu Night, having viewed all movies in the Top Ten List, and have a collection of Kung Fu Movies of their own. Once a regular member becomes a senior member we have a special Kung Fu Night and they are presented with a gift (well, Kung Fu movies of course!). There are currently two SiFu's, Sifu Asadoorian, and SiFu Larkin, and one senior member. Yes, we are geeks, and yes this is www.kungfugeeks.com, and no we aren't kidding :-)

Memorable Experiences (Fun Things To Try)

Here are some things that we have done to make Kung Fu Night Fun:

- Have a Halloween Kung Fu Night where people can dress up as their favorite Kung Fu characters
- Vary the food, such as pizza, have someone make lasagna, etc…
- Most of our participates take Kung Fu classes, so sometimes we begin with a quick practice session
- Have a general Kung Fu night and invite more friends and family, then screen something for all audiences such as "Shaolin Soccer", "Hero", or "Twins Effect". They seem to be liked by most.

Conclusion

While it may sound silly to most, we do have a lot of fun with Kung Fu night. It has provided us with a great way to get together, drink some beer, and hang out. We've watched quite a selection of movies, from classic kung fu, comedy kung fu, horror kung fu, and even some good Asian drama and action. Everything from "Chinese Super Ninja 2", to "House Of Flying Daggers", to John Woo classics such as "The Killer", and of course, our collective all-time favorite "Kung Pow: Enter The Fist". I encourage you to get together with your friends and create your own flavor of Kung Fu Night.

Look HERE for pictures from one of our Kung Fu Nights!

Author: Paul Asadoorian
Email: paul_AT_kungfugeeks.com
Date: January 18, 2005