Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[Ethan]

Who hasn't got out of a dark alley mugging by pulling off some sweet capoeira moves?

[Potato]

I respect break dancing and have been really impressed in some of the performances done.

But if that is a fucking sport, than so is Ballroom Dancing, or Line Dancing. It is meant as art and expression, not a sport. Sure, it has a physicality to it, but that doesn’t make it a sport.

I mean, breaking and hip-hop are ultimately artforms that sprung from the sociopolitical conditions of poor Black and Latino youth; it was, in effect, a way to escape the bullshit white people as a collective had thrust upon these groups. So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge, especially since the fact of the matter is- as we've just seen- white people absolutely have the hegemonic and social capital to make or break the way these cultural movements are perceived to the wider world with their participation, whether they consciously mean to or not.

I'm also half-and-half on broad appeal and social integration. I mean, I do capoeira; it is not an artform that is particularly highly valued by the West, but ironically that is both part of the allure and aids the practicality of the art itself. The community is more insular meaning that the cultural artifacts passed down are a lot less prone to whitewashing and commodification, and if need be (hopefully never) I can break out something that will put an adversary down that they're not going to expect at all because I'm not out here trying to be yet another half-baked Gracie lol.

Bitch, you ain't defeated moving out of yo step daddy's house yet. How you gonna defeat capitalism and white supremacy? 

[benji]

So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge

I'm also half-and-half on broad appeal and social integration. I mean, I do capoeira; it is not an artform that is particularly highly valued by the West, but ironically that is both part of the allure and aids the practicality of the art itself. The community is more insular meaning that the cultural artifacts passed down are a lot less prone to whitewashing and commodification

You were taught capoeira in Atlanta, involving at least two people not Indigenous to the land in a city only 150 years old, all of it funded by capitalism. (Apparently there's at least six schools of capoeira in Atlanta from a basic Google search. )

[railGUN]

Like fuck, if that's the case my basic rhythm and stepping, minimal level of popping and tutting, and handstand experience means I'm a fucking Olympic level breaker too and probably could've taken her.

Newsfeed, please.

[benji]

So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge

Notice that despite not being Afro-Brazilian, Nepenthe raises the level required to access capoeira to "Black" so as to morally obligate them to welcome her with open arms into their culture. (Ignore that they opened capitalist businesses indicating open arms to all participants.)

[benji]

Like fuck, if that's the case my basic rhythm and stepping, minimal level of popping and tutting, and handstand experience means I'm a fucking Olympic level breaker too and probably could've taken her.

Newsfeed, please.

It's funny if you imagine she's saying this about the Gold medal sex-disputed boxer.

[HaughtyFrank]

So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge

Notice that despite not being Afro-Brazilian, Nepenthe raises the level required to access capoeira to "Black" so as to morally obligate them to welcome her with open arms into their culture. (Ignore that they opened capitalist businesses indicating open arms to all participants.)

But it's not just how embarrassing it was; it is also her background as a middle class white lecturer in cultural studies who openly admitted that she knows she has an easier time participating in the culture than the type of people the culture was founded by because she, as a white woman, has the time, money, and social capital to enter almost any space she wants with much more ease than others who are more marginalized!

This so fucking rich coming from a middle class American who never acknowledged that privilege when talking about Brazil

[benji]

She's basically saying the culture is so lame any idiot can just wander in and succeed, so it needs racial gatekeeping.

[Propagandhim]

Still trying to figure out what "minimal levels of popping and tutting" means and how it relates to dispensing of ones adversaries without having to actually look up this garbage

[HaughtyFrank]

She's basically saying the culture is so lame any idiot can just wander in and succeed, so it needs racial gatekeeping.

It also just exposes again how strangely simplistic her idea of racial dynamics are. A white guy trying to join into POC culture Isn't going to have an easy time because he's white, he'll have in fact harder time because he's white. Someone like Eminem fought hard to get the respect of the rap OGs, something that would have never happened if he wasn't an exceptional talent. It's just pure common sense that if your identity is perceived as outsider you'll have a harder time to join a group. That's simply human nature

[Propagandhim]

My fucking dumbass looked it up and I am worse off for it.  Fuck you, Nepenthe.  I hope they put this shit in a Fortnite dance and some white man collects all the proceeds.

[benji]

Sorry, sorry, I have to go back to this again for another contradiction:

I mean, breaking and hip-hop are ultimately artforms that sprung from the sociopolitical conditions of poor Black and Latino youth; it was, in effect, a way to escape the bullshit white people as a collective had thrust upon these groups. So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge, especially since the fact of the matter is- as we've just seen- white people absolutely have the hegemonic and social capital to make or break the way these cultural movements are perceived to the wider world with their participation, whether they consciously mean to or not.

I'm also half-and-half on broad appeal and social integration. I mean, I do capoeira; it is not an artform that is particularly highly valued by the West, but ironically that is both part of the allure and aids the practicality of the art itself. The community is more insular meaning that the cultural artifacts passed down are a lot less prone to whitewashing and commodification

If we take what she's saying seriously then she agrees that breakdancing shouldn't have been in the Olympics at all. It shouldn't even be shown on TV. Putting it on YouTube is even sketchy.

But you can tell that's not what she's mad about, she wants it and "Black culture" to be displayed for the world and praised as inherently great. Her anger is at an "inauthentic" practitioner sullying that image. She's mad at the idea of it being mainstreamed and democratized. As long as it's "Black culture" she feels ownership of it, that it makes her cool, and so the offense is that an Other might take to it. You know, like all those kids who ruined your favorite band or video game and just didn't understand it like you do.

As mentioned above the Olympics is an international thing, an international stage, about international participants. Yet Nepenthe thinks purely in American racial terms, demanding some sort of inverse ghettoized breakdancing at the Olympics. But what if this Australian PhD was Aboriginal? What would be required then, gatekeeping or solidarity in the struggle against capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy?

[killamajig]

So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge

I'm also half-and-half on broad appeal and social integration. I mean, I do capoeira; it is not an artform that is particularly highly valued by the West, but ironically that is both part of the allure and aids the practicality of the art itself. The community is more insular meaning that the cultural artifacts passed down are a lot less prone to whitewashing and commodification

You were taught capoeira in Atlanta, involving at least two people not Indigenous to the land in a city only 150 years old, all of it funded by capitalism. (Apparently there's at least six schools of capoeira in Atlanta from a basic Google search. )

[Propagandhim]

the culture than the type of people the culture was founded by because she, as a white woman, has the time, money, and social capital to enter almost any space she wants with much more ease than others who are more marginalized!

I'd like for Nepenthe to delineate what spaces she can't enter, as a marginalized person, without "social capital", let alone the marginalized cultural spaces she's complaining that this white woman stole a spot from.

[Uncle]

I bet at least four of those schools opened due to someone watching bob's burgers

[ComeAgain]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/tom-cruise-hijacks-paris-olympics-closing-ceremony-steals-flag-escapes-to-la.950829/page-2#post-127083258

Tom Cruise sucks, fuck him and Scientology

Cruise is so interesting to me regarding the love these faggot ass faggots have towards him. 

He has gone on the record saying all mental issues are fixable via their methods, and meds are useless. ADHD, trannny -ism, etc.

But because he hasn't said it on Twitter, since he's not a fucking faggot retard, he is safe.

Love these faggot ass faggot retards

Unless there’s some uh, joke that I missed, what on Earth is this post 

[DavidCroquet]

“I’m a high level breaker and here’s why you guys are all retarded”

Neppie Gordo: “well I’m BLACK and can kill with a headstand, ergo you are defending white settler capitalist colonialism.”

[ComeAgain]

The insane amounts of jealousy in that break dancing thread    Learn how to step outside without hyperventilating because it’s too far from the couch before thinking you can hang with anyone at an Olympic event, Nep.

[benji]

(Apparently there's at least six schools of capoeira in Atlanta from a basic Google search. )

Sorry, my mistake. One of those was a dance school that offers it. There's only five martial arts schools, one of which has two locations:
https://capoeiratlanta.com/
https://www.capoeiratc.com/
https://capoeiraatl.com/
https://jogodaginga.com/
https://linktr.ee/qlcatlanta (This is presumably the one she goes to as it's near where she lives.)

[Orange Juice Box]

When will Nepenthe make her ruling on Kamala's race?  I'm going to get my voter form next month and I'm still unclear about which race Nepenthe has decalred.

[benji]

Somebody help, I can't find the thread that's about getting bad service or whatever and she talks about going with the capoeira teacher and his family after class to some Middle Eastern place and the dude is mean to her and she talks about how even the kid knows capoeira so they were ready to throw down and kill the guy for disrespect.

[benji]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/im-a-capoeirista-ask-me-anything.146874/

As of this Saturday I've earned the first belt, or rather cord, of my group, and thus consider myself "officially" inducted into the club of capoeira. I would've been at the congratulatory barbecue but my body crashed for three hours, so I figured I'd hang with you all instead.

As a primer: Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art developed by both native and African slaves in the 1500s. It mixes elements of traditional African dance with African and local martial arts into a kinetic, unpredictable style that favors dodges (esquivas) for blocking, puts the practitioner into position to dodge and strike simultaneously, and uses the constant momentum and rotations to fuel powerful strikes. You've no doubt seen it if you know Eddy Gordo of Tekken, Elena from Street Fighter, or even Hitmontop from Pokemon (its idle back and forth animation is the ginga, or "swing," the foundational movement of the art.)

The art is played in a ring of people called a roda ("ho-da") and set to live music led by the Mestre (master) or other high-ranking capoeirista. The music sets the speed and game type, allows the Mestre to control the actions of the players, and reinforces folkloric, religious, and historical traditions and emotional bonds through the use of songs, all of which are in a call-and-response style.

During the 1800s after abolition was achieved in Brazil, the art was prohibited due to its effective use in crime for newly freed slaves who were denied job and living prospects in favor of European immigrants, turning capoeiristas into outlaws. The development of the art during this era is a fever dream soup of countless branching styles and exaggerated, almost anime-esque acts of cunning and displays of skill, i.e., malandragem. It is common to hear of blades being used during this time, even within the instruments themselves.

It was not until Mestre Bimba forged the first school in capoeira and set strict standards for his Regional ("hey-jo-nal") style in the late 1930s that capoeira became to be seen not as a tool of black deviousness, but as a cultural art worth persevering and celebrating. Prohibition was lifted in 1940, and now the art is practiced worldwide, with some moves partially being incorporated into UFC.

I myself practice the contemporary style, which is a modern mix of Bimba's regional style and the competing Angola style, a slow-paced but deadly game that starts near the ground. We learn to play both low and high and are completely free to incorporate those famous acrobatics (floreios) into our game.

So that's capoeira in a nutshell. You're free to ask me specifically about moves, roda stories, training regimens and drills, the music, terms, and anything to do with the art. If you also practice capoeira or know of it, share your stories and knowledge too. General Brazilian input is also encouraged because my Portuguese is sorely lacking. Eu falo palavras pequenas. Memes and jokes are welcome. So let's have some fun in here!

https://www.resetera.com/threads/how-did-you-learn-to-dance.126380/#post-22341668

I can keep pace on a dance floor and do a few flashy things, and hold my own in casual dance circles, but I'm not a pro or anything. Regardless, dance is about having fun and letting the rhythm do the work, but if you want to at least learn how to not look like a total clown:

- Practice freestyling to your favorite songs at home. Try to keep the beat and get yourself loose and less self-conscious. If push comes to shove, just practicw a fad dance like the Electric Slide because these focus primarily on keeping time versus specific techniques. Once you can keep time, start trying to improvise with arm movements or adding in a step on a half-beat.

- Once you're comfortable, pick a specific style(s) you want to learn: b-boy, boogaloo, bonebreaking, industrial, etc. Look up YouTube tutorials for specific foundations and drill these to death. I hopped around indecisively and know a little bit of the styles above.

- Find and utilize opportunities to dance publicly. I usually do so at conventions because the dancing scene and nighttime raves are common there. Just get out there and show your stuff. Also, dancing with other people will allow you to bite stuff and take inspiration.

- Continue drilling and free styling in your spare time, any spare time you have. Every now and again I do a tutting combo or heel-toe combo at work during break or at friendly gatherings.

- I didn't do this specifically for dancing because money, but take classes if you're really invested. I do capoeira which has dance foundations and elements, but a school dedicated specifically to a style you want to pursue will always do you well.

Good luck, and happy dancing!

https://www.resetera.com/threads/started-doing-handstands-for-the-first-time-in-my-life.246496/#post-39475288

In capoeira handstands are a foundation move to learn, much to early my dismay/surprise. I got it down after a combination of using a wall, help from another student, and YouTube tutorials lol. I'm not where I want to be on them though- I want to get to a point where I can hold one for what looks like forever. But I can get into one on cue. My tips:

- Don't jump into one at the start. Instead, start by already having your arms on the ground and kicking up into it. (Learn to kick up with both legs; for some reason it's easier to do with with my left leg than right. Working on it!)

- When going into one, try to replace your feet with your hands. Wherever you are standing, place your hands at the same spot your feet were. It keeps your balance while inverting as steady as possible.

- Keep your core tight. The straighter you are, the easier it is to maintain balance.

- Turn your elbows inward so that the interior of the joints are facing each other. This seems to force you to straighten your shoulders which further helps.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/black-history-month-2020-the-bhm-era-challenge.168157/#post-28798161

Gather round kids as Nepenthe has a capoeira story to tell. We're gonna learn about Mestre Besouro of Bahia, probably the most famous capoeirista to ever live.

Born Manoel Henrique Pereira in 1895, he grew up in the years closely following abolition of slavery in Brazil. Naturally laws meant to target and disenfranchise Africans followed; capoeira became a forbidden expression, leaving many practitioners perpetually unemployed and destined for crime.

Despite these roadblocks Besouro learned capoeira in his youth anyway from freed slave and practitioner Tio Alípio. He became a scrappy fighter, hotheaded, confident...until he became outnumbered, at which point he'd flee with a speed and fury that made it look like he was flying, like the besouro (beetle) from which his nickname derived.

He became a notorious figure in the Salvador area in the 1920s. The police there cracked down hard on capoeira, busting up rodas and abusing/jailing anyone unlucky enough to be caught, to say nothing of maintaining the worker exploitation of freed slaves and their kin. Besouro thus turned his martial art towards protecting his town from police abuse and corruption. These altercations were numerous and- even at the time- were subject to folkloric feats.

One such story says Besouro not only laid out a whole swarm of cops without ever being touched, but disarmed them all and personally delivered the weapons to the police station as that extra middle finger. Another says that he was ambushed and actually shot, falling to the ground, but when cops approached the body he sprang up unharmed and hauled it out of there.

African customs and religions such as Yoruba and Candomblé imported through slavery managed to retain a greater foothold in Brazil than in America, and it is said that Besouro engaged in these customs as protection from bodily harm, such as in implanting fava beans under the skin to create a "closed body" impervious to harm.

Alas, Besouro met his end in a cruel ambush at around 24 years old, but his physical feats, bravery, and sense of justice in the face of overwhelming political subjugation has propelled him into the capoeira hall of fame, and he singularly stands as one of many symbols of anti-racism and opposition to white supremacy.

Today, if you ever get to practice capoeira or witness it, you may be lucky enough to hear one of the many songs about his life. Just as well, my group is named CDO- Cordão de Ouro (chain of gold)- which was named as such in honor of another one of Besouro's titles. Just as well there is a Brazilian mystical martial arts movie called Besouro (The Assailant in English) for your viewing pleasure that chronicles not only his life but is one of the few movies out there to include the orixa, Yoruba spirits of protection and nature. It's actually neat as hell.

Happy Black History Month!

[killamajig]

https://www.instagram.com/quilomboladeluzatl/

It looks like hotep capoeira

[Potato]

because I'm not out here trying to be yet another half-baked Gracie lol.

The Gracies did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu not capoeira.  What the hell is she talking about

I think that's her point. There's a whole bunch of numbnuts morons running around trying to take it to the ground in street fights and getting their faces kicked in.

She's not gonna be that person. She's gonna dance, THEN get her face kicked in.

[benji]

Nepenthe was right.

[Potato]

So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge

Notice that despite not being Afro-Brazilian, Nepenthe raises the level required to access capoeira to "Black" so as to morally obligate them to welcome her with open arms into their culture. (Ignore that they opened capitalist businesses indicating open arms to all participants.)

Do you think her Capoeira school turns yts away at the door?

Like, some sort of sign saying, "Secret black person business, come back when capitalism has been defeated" or something?

[benji]

https://www.instagram.com/quilomboladeluzatl/

It looks like hotep capoeira

I don't have an account but if anybody does Nepenthe will stick out like a sore thumb in any pictures since she's 4-11.

[killamajig]

Mestre Besouro of Bahia, probably the most famous capoeirista to ever live.

Capoeira wrote a legend of Besouro's death:

According to legend, an ambush was set up for him. It is said that he, himself (who could not read), carried the written message identifying him as the person to be killed, thinking that it was a message that would bring him work. Legend says he was killed with a special wooden dagger prepared during magic rituals in order to overcome his corpo fichado.

Just like the martial arts. The big hero of capoeira is a bullshit artist. His whole bio sounds so fucking made up.

[Potato]

Sorry, sorry, I have to go back to this again for another contradiction:

I mean, breaking and hip-hop are ultimately artforms that sprung from the sociopolitical conditions of poor Black and Latino youth; it was, in effect, a way to escape the bullshit white people as a collective had thrust upon these groups. So until white colonialism and capitalism are defeated, I'm never going to be of the argument that Black art forms are in any way morally obligated to welcome white participants with open arms and just have it all be water under the bridge, especially since the fact of the matter is- as we've just seen- white people absolutely have the hegemonic and social capital to make or break the way these cultural movements are perceived to the wider world with their participation, whether they consciously mean to or not.

I'm also half-and-half on broad appeal and social integration. I mean, I do capoeira; it is not an artform that is particularly highly valued by the West, but ironically that is both part of the allure and aids the practicality of the art itself. The community is more insular meaning that the cultural artifacts passed down are a lot less prone to whitewashing and commodification

If we take what she's saying seriously then she agrees that breakdancing shouldn't have been in the Olympics at all. It shouldn't even be shown on TV. Putting it on YouTube is even sketchy.

But you can tell that's not what she's mad about, she wants it and "Black culture" to be displayed for the world and praised as inherently great. Her anger is at an "inauthentic" practitioner sullying that image. She's mad at the idea of it being mainstreamed and democratized. As long as it's "Black culture" she feels ownership of it, that it makes her cool, and so the offense is that an Other might take to it. You know, like all those kids who ruined your favorite band or video game and just didn't understand it like you do.

As mentioned above the Olympics is an international thing, an international stage, about international participants. Yet Nepenthe thinks purely in American racial terms, demanding some sort of inverse ghettoized breakdancing at the Olympics. But what if this Australian PhD was Aboriginal? What would be required then, gatekeeping or solidarity in the struggle against capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy?

Not as unlikely as it sounds. There's a bit of an epidemic among Australian academics of discovering long lost indigenous family.

[killamajig]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/what-the-weirdest-side-effect-you%E2%80%99ve-had-from-talking-any-medication.951552/post-127104873

PlanetSmasher

I've been taking finasteride for a few weeks and I'm weirdly tired, like, every day. I looked it up and that's apparently a common side effect, which I don't really understand but I guess it's a hormone thing.

Finasteride, sold under the brand names Proscar and Propecia among others, is a medication used to treat pattern hair loss and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in men.