Anyone that's seen my martial arts biography knows I've had exposure to TKD, Kenpo, Jujitsu and Judo, and that at the bottom of my "bio" it says "I usually am secretly practicing/learning a couple of other arts". Well, I had black belts in 3 out of 4 of the arts everyone knows I was exposed too, and now, as of this past weekend, its all 4 out of 4!

Dallas has been, and likely always will be, primarily a TKD town. I truly feel that's 80-90% of the schools here, and it wouldn't be that huge a percentage, if the market here didn't primarily want it that way (supply vs demand). So from a standpoint of starting a school, I've always felt you have to offer TKD. However, I never wanted to be just a TKD school. If I was, how would I be different than the other 80-90 TKD schools in Dallas? Furthermore, since starting the reviews almost 9 yrs ago, I've always wanted to teach the stuff I've seen on tape and really like!

So in a nutshell, my criteria for running a school would be to teach "my way", and that would have to include: TKD, a little mixed Kenpo-Jujitsu, and alot of the cool stuff I've seen on tape that I like. Well, it has all finally come together, as of this past weekend! With "the circle complete" regarding where I started in my training (TKD), and with my new Dan rank in TKD, along with approval from that TKD association to teach the other stuff I like, I hereby announce that "Mann's Martial Arts" (MMA...with dual meaning) will be opening in Dallas very soon!

It will offer traditional TKD (ITF type), along with the ability to earn rank in that through NTFA, along with my own ecletic mix of Kenpo-Jujitsu, and all the good hard-core stuff on tape I've liked and feel is street-realistic! I see it as the best of all worlds, traditional martial arts (TKD) combined with other stuff I like!

So for those that have been asking for years, we're just a few weeks away from opening! My preference is to start out small (only 30 students maximum allowed), and for $50/month you get 2 nights/week of training! If interested, click on the banner below, and get your PayPal ready to reserve your spot!

Also, I want to send a huge "Thank You" out to Mr. Yancy, for the box of 37 VHS tapes he sent us. He recently mentioned he would, saying "You have no idea how much I've appreciated your reviews over the years, and as a way of thanking you, here's a donation of some tapes I no longer watch for you guys to review". Thanks again Mr. Yancy!

Also, I received something similar from Mr. O'Brien, and if you're reading this, you also deserve a big "Thank You"!

If anyone else has some tapes laying around the aren't watching anymore, and feel that us having them could help us post more reviews, "please send them".

Did anyone notice "DC's" review of the 10 video set 1-2-3 HIT of David James? It was his first time to see any David James material, and he said he liked it so much, he watched it 3 times, and could picture himself watching it again-and-again! He also said "I liked it so much, I don't want to give the tapes back to EM". Like myself and other reviewers said in the past "James' can probably randomly pick out any person, any age, and teach them quicker than anyone else, how to destroy the fiercest of opponents". If you've never checked out his stuff, you ARE truly missing out!

Speaking of James, I just revised my "Top 10" video instructor list, and he's # 1 again. It had been a few years since I revised that, and now I feel better about the ranking on it.

Don't forget, your donations, however small, and whether it be videos or even $1, are much appreciated!

GOLDSTAR GRANDMASTER GIVEAWAY
=============================

For a limited time, when you purchase our GRANDMASTER PACK of rentals, Goldstar Video will give you a FREE FIVE-PACK OF VIDEOS TO KEEP!

These videos would cost over $200 if you were to buy them anywhere else, but we will give them to you at no charge when you purchase our GRANDMASTER PACK of 50 rentals. This is the best deal we have ever offered!

Why are we giving away videos? We need to make room for additional inventory. The free five-packs are all originals and are not complete sets, so you’ll get a variety of styles. Most videos are unique and hard to find. Some are even from my private collection!

This offer is for existing Goldstar customers only, and is not listed on our website. We only have about 30 of these five-packs available, so don't wait!

To order your GRANDMASTER PACK and get your FREE FIVE-PACK simply email me at grandmastergiveaway@goldstarvideo.com and be sure to include both your home phone and cell phone number.

NEW RELEASES
============

In addition to our new SEARCH feature we've added a NEW RELEASE button. Now you can locate our newest additions with just one click!

http://goldstarvideo.com/catalog/default.asp?show=new

Our new reviewer simply wants to be known in the reviews as "DC". I will say this, so you don't question his judgment. I have seen many black belts in my life. In the style he's from, he's one of the Top 2 practitioneers I've ever seen! We are talking some serious skill that I'd classify as "extremely rare and hard to attain". We are blessed to have his keen eye here and to help us do some reviews. He's quite busy, so don't be surprised if you only see a review from him once a week, or once every 2 weeks.

Why do I make announcements like this? I get tons of daily emails, often about 50 or so. I can't answer 50 emails a day, and have any kind of life. Who could, and find time to have a fulltime job, do their own training, along with watching tapes and writing reviews? I do quickly scan or read most all of them. I typically read the short ones and scan the "novels" I sometimes receive. Hint - shorter means I'll likely read yours! I often get asked questions by some readers about new things we do here. Versus answering those, which often ends up being the same question over-and-over, but from different people, I decided to create this "News" page, with the hope it would cut down on some of those types of emails. Now, anytime I do something here, I typically try to guess what people will likely ask, and prempt those questions by making announcements here in the "News".

Years ago, I had an "Anonymous" reviewer on our staff, who didn't want anyone to know his identity. I got numerous emails after each of his reviews, asking me "Who is he, please tell me, I won't tell anyone?" I never did, nor would I have done so! Before that starts happening again, our new reviewer simply wants to be known here as "DC". If he later wants more to be known about himself, that's up to him, but I'm not going to do anything without his OK, that directly or indirectly points to who he is. So please, don't send me emails saying things like "Please tell me who he is". I've known him for years, consider him a friend, and he doesn't want his identity known! Would any of you betray your friends?

Dr. Gallego has a 10th Dan in Gojo-Ryu through Goju-Ryu Maestro Peter Urban and a 7th Dan Judo/Jujitsu rank through O'Sensei Phil Porter (Father of American Judo and Founder of the USJA).

Mr. Becerra and myself have found Dr. Gallego to offer quality instruction. Dr. Gallego's own talent and ability are not the only testimony to that. We've found the quality students he creates, and inspires to be the best they can be, also confirm this. You can see many of Dr. Gallego's students in-action and find out more about Dr. Gallego by visiting his website.

I've received a bunch of tapes over the past couple of months, and more keep showing up faster than I'm able to do them, or even probably 2 of us. I've got enough tapes/dvds to keep 3-4 reviewers constantly busy, along with "blank checks" from several of the largest tape companies, that say they'll send whatever I want. The faster and more reviews I do, the more tapes/dvds that show up! Therefore I'm putting the word out that I need more reviewers! I could easily keep (3) more buried in tapes for quite some time! Lots of perks come with being a reviewer, but we want the right type of individuals.

Ideal Qualifications:

1. 15+ yrs martial arts training
2. At least 30 yrs old
3. Preferably black belt or expert/advanced practitioneer
4. Experience and exposure in numerous styles
5. Open-Minded to "whatever works" and not style biased
6. Time to do 1-2 reviews a week
7. Average-or-better writing skills
8. Wants to give-back to the martial arts community via The Reviews
9. Has their own collection of tapes/dvds, and has experienced disappointing purchases
10. Trustworthy, Consistent, and Responsible - doing reviews, along with shipping tapes back and forth

If interested, email me your qualifications and we'll take it from there.

What's next on my plate to review? Hint: they wear all black.

Is there a quick-fix for our self-defense needs? In my opinion, it depends on what type of opponents you want to be trained-and-prepared for? A drunk who hasn't had any sort of training, someone who has, or something inbetween? We gave our "thumbs up" on a few video instructors, who we felt provided somewhat of a quick-fix. Some of those names that come to mind include: David James, Paul Vunak, Scott Rogers, Abel Villareal, and there are others! Those who we felt didn't rate as well included: Jerry Peterson, John LaTourette, Bill Shaw, Mike Kanarek, Michael Pace, Chris Clugston, and a few others.

I'd like everyone to keep an eye out for these "I can make you better than a Black Belt" sort of guys. Help me formulate a list of them, let us know about them, and if you feel brave - why not email them saying "I'm not going to buy your stuff until MAVR reviews it. Why haven't you sent them your stuff for review"? Years ago we asked you guys to do that, and it resulted in a LARGE quantity of materials being sent to us, that tape companies/instructors had been refusing too!

One guy, me, begging-and-pleading to them doesn't at times appear to be enough! But hundreds or thousands of you a month, letting these guys know "If you're not reviewed, I won't buy", got their attention before, as I'm sure it would again!! I get emails all the time asking about certain titles, and 95% of the time I already contacted them asking to provide review copies, and they either ignored that request, or outright refused too! So how can I get my hands on stuff you guys want me to review? Here's how I rank the hierarchy of that: the actual tape company sends it, getting enough donations so I can buy it, Billy over at Goldstar hooks-me-up, or some of you guys loaning it to me. You guys can help me get that stuff, by either loaning it, putting pressure on the tape companies to send it to us, or by making sizable donations so I can purchase it. I'm here to help everyone, by providing unbiased information via these reviews, so you can make a more informed purchasing decision. However, I need you guys help at times, so I can get my hands on the stuff you want me to review!

1. "You might just be trying to rip-us-off for some tapes!" - LOL, yeah right! We've been around now for 8 yrs, done 340+ reviews, we get 10,000 visitors a month, search engine stats show we're the most visited martial arts video training review site on the net, we've done 58 NEW reviews over the past 90 days, and boy have we created a long list of people we've "ripped off"...LOL.

2. "We only send stuff to publications" - That's a good one, and could be considered well-thought-out, by someone not wanting to be reviewed by an unbiased source. Simply put, none of the martial arts publications are unbiased, and NONE have ever done a bad tape review on someone to prove they aren't! Doing so would directly conflict with their revenue sources (tape advertising dollars), and their busines model (them selling tapes with their own name, or in some instances, with the name of their own sister company)

3. We might be someone who "only occasionally puts out reviews" - Over 340 online and nearly 60 NEW TAPES watched-and-reviewed over the past 90 days! I'd say that's "very active" and a little more than "occasionally doing reviews"!

4. "no way of determining....(if we might be someone wanting to rip-you-off, or won't do a review after receiving your material)" - Yes, there is a way of determining, in under 5 minutes. Call Century/Panther, TRS, Paladin, ESPY-TV, the list goes on-and-on, and ask if we've "ripped them off"?

5. "purchase the videos, review them, and return them for a full refund after you're done " - This guys complete series is $500, and I think there's a 99% chance he knows we won't do that. I think this is just his way of making it very difficult for us to get his stuff, so that maybe we'll "pass on reviewing it", and it not risk him possibly getting a bad review! I think these tape instructors know, we're a free site, and we have no source of income that supports buying expensive tape series! Next, why would I purchase anyones stuff, when EVERY major tape company is constantly sending stuff to me for FREE, some begging for us to review it? Only reason I contacted this company, is because SEVERAL people have emailed me lately asking "please review his stuff". Well, I can't review it if he won't send it, and looks like he won't send it, unless I write him a $500 check, which I won't!

I feel like he provided as many objections as he could think of to deter us, and after I answered them all, there now exists no "real reason" for him not to send tapes, other than self-serving ones that benefit him!

Next, if this guy crawled out from under the rock he's been living under, and spent a few minutes checking our website, then he would've easily answered most of his own stated concerns, and thus wouldn't have had any basis for making them in the first place!

Bottomline, he ignorned 1-2 previous "nice" requests we made, and didn't even have the courtesy or professionalism to respond! It was only after a 3rd, and a very direct "I'm tired or people asking me too review your stuff before they buy it, so let's cut-out the BS and get that done" type approach that he responded! Then he fired back!

It's easy to see he made multiple excuses, looking for everyway possible to justify not helping our project here. In fact, I copied to him what I thought were the REAL REASONS for him not helping us (versus endless excuses). Here it is from our recent "Mike Kanarek - FIGHT" review:

"....there's often a good reason why certain instructors don't send us their tapes for review, and I think it's because instructors don't want to risk a bad review hurting their cash flow! Often seems this industry is so money focused, that once an instructor has invested in producing tapes, invested thousands in advertising, and finally creates a succesful marketing strategy that has the money rolling-in, they'd rather lay-low, be careful, and not risk a possible luke-warm or bad review effecting their cash flow or initial investment! It's easy to see that some in the tape industry are still focused more on money-money-money than proving their training is good through an unbiased source like ours!

Just so everyone knows, my initial 1-2 approaches to video instructors and tape companies are what I would call very nice and professional. Then, after I start receiving the same emails each month from fans of this site saying "Why haven't you reviewed XYZ yet, and are you going too?" My 3rd and subsequent attempts become a little different, often using the same shocking and aggressive marketing they use, to get your attention. I even say "Hey, people are emailing me, saying they won't buy your stuff until we review it (which is true). We asked you 1-2 times before if you'd please hook-us-up with some goodies and never heard back". Percentage those last ditch efforts work? I'd say about 20% on the ones who ignore our first 1-2 normal attempts! Percentage that ignore us when we keep doing the same "nice approach"? I'd say 99%! Just as these video-marketing-guros (notice guros and not gurus?) experiment with "what works", regarding their own ads and websites getting your attention, so do we in getting them to work with us. Out of thousands of communications with them, and comparing what works, we feel we have a good understanding of what does-and-doesn't!

The variety of responses after that range from hostile, to tons of excuses why they won't, to them continuing to ignore us! Bottomline, them grabbing a few .20 cent "silver" dvds, and burning copies from their own more expensive retail copies, on their own home PC, doesn't cost them that much! And we've even told video instructors that, and said clearly "We'll give you .20 cents per burned DVD and pay the postage"! This individual would rather us spend $500 to outright buy his stuff, which he seems shrewd enough to know there's a 99% chance we won't, which keeps him "safe from being reviewed"

So I say this, when someone like Damian Ross, a VERY aggressive marketer of his own materials, who creates attention-getting-ads akin to the old TRS/Peterson/LaTourette/Shaw type, won't take us up on our paying for his raw materials/postage offer, what are his REAL reasons for not wanting to do so? He can continue to sugar-coat his materials, by concocting dozens of self-serving testimonials at his site, all claiming how great he is, but I say this "no independent entity has yet to offer an unbiased review of his materials"! All one sees are self-serving testimonials about "how great his stuff is" at his own website. But of course what are we too expect, bad testimonials at his website?...LOL! It's interesting to see so many "smaller companies", imitating and following the proven-marketing-techniques of others who have come before them! No reason to reinvent the marketing wheel, just copy someone elses!

Check out his website and claims at: The TRUTH about Self-Defense!

Heck, email Damian and ask him "If MAVR offers to pay your postage, and will pay for your cost to home-burn a few "silvers" on your PC for review puposes, why won't you send them your stuff to review? Is your stuff good enough to withstand their review or not? And why did you make 5 excuses and ignore 1-2 of their previous emails?"

It's video instructors like this that I feel either lack confidence in their materials, and/or don't want to risk the effects a luke-warm or bad review might have on the thousands they're making each month!" It's ALL ABOUT MONEY, and creating and maintaining a successful marketing-machine that gets your money! There are no other logical reasons for them to avoid working with us, especially if we pay for their raw materials/postage costs, and the instructor is confident enough in his own materials, that it would receive a great review! From a publicity standpoint, a positive review practically guarantees more sales to that instructor! So what could be their only REAL obvious concern? Has to be their own fear of our 10,000 readers a month possible seeing a negative review of their stuff, and how that might effect their monthly cash flow! That is the business justification for doing it vs not!

To the fans of this site - You have no idea how hard I've had to fight, to bring you these reviews, and get instructors/companies to work with us! It has been an uphill battle of mammoth proportions over the past 8 yrs. Struggles and avoidance exist more with the "smaller guys" than the larger companies. Just about EVERY major company supports this project. I wonder why Damian Ross won't?

FYI - 2005 Revised Scoring (for 2005+ Reviews)

0-20% = Poor = 0-1 Star
20-40% = Fair = 1-2 Star
40-60% = Good = 2-3 Star
60-80% = Very Good = 3-4 Star
80-100% = Excellent = 4-5 Star

HALF STARS are assigned to the 10 Point (half way) increment that is between the 20 Point incremental categories shown above!

Adding to the confusion - If you look at the 2005 scores, and specifically the "verbal" designation of poor-excellent that is assigned, it can still be considered a little "off", compared to the percentage score and stars. My suggestion, rely more on the percentage and stars for 2005+ reviews, and give less significance to the verbal poor-excellent on the 2005+ reviews. Why did I leave the verbal designation on the 2005+ reviews? Because it exists on the pre-2005 reviews.

Ending the confusion:

Pre-2005 Reviews: focus on the verbal score (poor-excellent)
2005+ Reviews: focus on the percentage and star scores (not the verbal)

Well, it's time to find out what this guy is all about, and whether or not his tapes are as good as he self-proclaims them to be in his multi-page magazine ads each month! Stay posted, because one of our "good friends/supporters" just told me today "his tapes are on their way to you".

Give you 3 guesses who the video instructor is and whose sending his tapes to us? ;-)

"They" (video instructors) can keep trying to ignore and avoid us, and postpone the inevitable (us reviewing them), just like the IKCA/Karate Connection folks did, Wally Jay's people, Carlson Gracie Jr, and Michael Pace, but eventually we will get our hands on their stuff, and when we do, look out!

http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/ikca7.htm

This appears to be the VERY FIRST video series offering that! I know I've personally seen it in magazines for about 15 yrs! I strongly suspect this series could be one of the Top 10 selling video series of all time, if not in the Top 5! Meaning, most copies sold! It has certainly been one we haven't been able to get our hands-on to review here for nearly 8 yrs, but wanted too, and you'll understand why in the "comments" section of the review!

If any of you out there have similar video series, that claim to make you a black belt by video, and they are just sitting-on-your-shelf, PLEASE loan them to us. We would like to review similar type series. We promise to RETURN them to you within 2 weeks! Please email us and we'll instruct you on how and where to send them!

Should anyone think I've been "slowing down", regarding the number of tapes I've been reviewing, just look at how many sets I've done. This one was a 7 tape set, I truly did watch all 7, they were about 1 hour and 20 minutes per tape, and it takes longer than one day to watch-and-review that much material! Plus, I do have a life outside of the reviews! ;-)

My suggestion, be wary of those who don’t respond to requests about having their videos reviewed. If they TRULY feel confident about their product, that it is of high value, and they have nothing to hide, then why not respond to our request? Regarding these types of individuals/companies, we’ve often found and shown through our reviews, after later getting our hands on their material, that we didn't feel what they offered was that great! Think very carefully about buying something from someone who doesn’t want to be reviewed, graded or scrutinized, and why they would have a problem with that (fewer sales?)! We have seen a strange ongoing pattern, that I've personally found to be true about 90% of the time, regarding those who don't want to be reviewed, later are the ones ending up with a bad review. They weren't singled out either, cause about 10% of them we ended up saying were great! Yet it's the 90%, who often seem astute enough to know their material isn't that great, and that they shouldn't send it in, for fear of getting a bad review and that leading to fewer sales! Just think, if their product was really great, and got a great review, 10,000 people a month here will see that, and that almost always leads to a significant amount of increased sales. And sending us a dvd is alot cheaper than placing some ad that costs thousands a month to place in a magazine! Economically, and from a business standpoint, it makes sense for them to send us a dvd for the free publicity our reviews provide, if what they sell is great! On the flip-side, it economically DOESN'T make sense for them to send it in for review, if they suspect or know it isn't great, because they are practically guaranteed less sales, due to our readers avoiding it after it's reviewed here. As I've always said "it's most of the time about getting your money vs offering you quality material". And should you wish to purchase something from those kind of companies who are avoiding us, ignore their self-serving testimonials and DEMAND a money back guarantee from them before buying, and get that promise in writing (maybe in an email)!

Also, should you be unhappy with your purchase from any of those listed below, be sure to let us know!

Here’s the current status of those 24 I emailed as of May 18, 2005:

Those avoiding us! ;-) (ignored or refused requests to participate)
Bram Frank - www.cssdsc.com
Rick Tucci - www.pamausa.com
John Pellegrini - www.ichf.com
Rick Fowler – www.rfkenpo.com
Cestari & Ross - www.close-combat-video.com
Tom Patire – www.cdt-training.com
Jim Wagner - www.jimwagnertraining.com
IKCA - (received from Goldstar Video, not IKCA!)
Review is now online: http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/ikca7.htm

Hank Hayes - www.nolieblades.com
Stephen Hayes - www.skhquest.com (ninja stuff)
David German - www.davidgermankenpoman.com
Lysak & Ryan - www.icatwarrior.com (more-or-less refused!)
Mike Kanarek - www.fight2survive.com (received from Goldstar Video, not Kanarek!)
Review is now online: http://home.att.net/~erik.mann/kanarek.htm

Frank Sanchez – San Jitsu (request made via email)

Responded (tapes either already received, promised, or dialog est.)
Tim Larkin – www.targetfocustraining.com (received)
Moni Aizik - www.combatsurvival.com (received)
Vladimir Vasiliev - www.russianmartialart.com (received)
John Cozatt - www.shintairyu.com (received)
Fred Villari - www.villari.com (received)
Robert Moran - www.bushidoproductions.com (received)
Richard Dimitri - www.senshido.com (received)
Richard Von Donk - www.ninjutsu.com (received)
www.budointernational.com (400 titles) (ongoing dialog, likely will participate)

July 2005 Black Belt Magazine - Video Ads (request sent, awaiting responses)

Pg 4&5 ($20K 2 pg ad?) see www.victorioushands.com and the www.globalrevival.com "bookstore"! Looks like the same guy to me! Whether it's self-defense, or eternal salvation, Mr. Harfouche seems to have the answers for both via dvd! ;-) I guess his multiple enterprises have kept him so busy, he HASN'T found time yet to respond to our request about reviewing his $600/10 DVD martial art set! ;-)

pg 153/ www.kenpodvd.com
pg 154/ www.darkdragonkenpo.com
pg 155/ www.sammyfranco.com
pg 160/ www.jkd-garydill.com
pg 158/ www.flowingcombat.com (received)

Next, there's the actual companies and individuals selling tapes. A large tape company told me they sell 10,000 tapes a month! So lets say they are large enough to do 50% of the entire tape market volume. Who knows, maybe their doing more, maybe less. If they by themselves are doing 10,000 a month, let's say all the other 50+ companies are combined doing 10,000 too. So let's say there's an industry total of 20,000 tapes being sold each month. If we take an average tape price of lets say $30 ($10-$70) times 20,000 tapes/month, that equals $600,000 a month in tape sales amongst all tape companies/individuals. Multiply that times 12 months and we're talking about a 7M/yr martial arts instructional tape industry!

So take the 7M/yr in tape sales, add in the 3M/yr in tape ads, and we've got a tape/magazine industry relationship that's conservatively worth 10M/yr in revenues! Could it be worth more? Sure, the whole industry could be worth anywhere from $10M/yr-$100M/yr!

Due to the internet the dynamics of this industry have changed, regarding advertising and sales outlets. Prior to the early 90's, the tape companies needed the magazines to get the word out about their tapes. In many respects, that was the only way for a video instructor to advertise their tapes. I consider the magazines to be the birth place for tape ads, and the ultimate authority/responsible party for managing the ad/tape content offered to the public through their publication! If a corporate entity is 90% responsible for unleashing a plethora of unmoderated tape ads on us, often offering outlandish promises and garbage content, then I believe they shoulder the responsiblity for cleaning that up!

Many black belt instructors I know won't buy these publications, due to these garbage ads and the often paid-for-by-the-instructor articles saying how great they are! I've heard it said if you call some of these magazines up and say "I'd like you guys to do an article on me", they then say "Here's how much that will cost you (check or ad placement)". I'm sure many think ALL of those articles are done for free! I guess anyone who can write a 5 figure check, can get an article in some of these magazines, making themselves through a paid-by-themself-article, appear to be some kind of martial arts god we should all revere! Why would someone pay for that? Because it helps them make lots of MONEY! The PR it gets them helps them sell more of their own seminars, tapes, gets more students at their school, etc! Real black belt instructors know this game, often avoid anything to do with these sort of magazines (considering them a joke).

So who often buys these magazines? 13-24 yr old colored belt students who often don't know better and aren't black belts yet. They've often recently signed up for lessons somewhere, walk into their local grocery store, thumb through a magazine wondering who's who, thus becoming in "awe" of the people in these magazines, and end up buying the magazine and any possible low quality product advertised in it! That's how the game works!!! Is everyone and everything in these magazines garbage? No. They are often-and-sparingly "flavored" with a certain amount of REAL or famous martial artists, and quality products, to make our perceptions of unknowns unquestionable. In reality, those who are authentic/famous martial artists typically don't pay for PR (they don't have too), while lesser known video instructors often do, either through an article-for-so-many-ads arrangement, or just their ads. Why are some garbage type video instructors allowed to be mixed in with well known REAL martial artists? To mess with your mind (making you perceive them as real), get your money, and perpetuate a media based cash cow! Those producing horrible video content often get placed right next to someone who is real/authentic, thus making readers perceive the horrible ones as unquestionable, credible, and REAL too! This of course elevates the horrible ones notoriety, helping them sell more garbage content via seminars, tapes, etc! This type of PR machine created by paid-for-articles (or ads) leads to "perceived credibility" vs real-and-verified credibility. That in turn leads to more tape sales for any low quality video instructor, perpetuates a never ending cash cow for the magazines, and as video instructors sell more product they're able to continue placing bigger, better and more expensive ads every month! A pretty shrewd business model if you think about it!

So if I'm "Joe Nobody", got my black belt at some commercial school a yr ago, and I decide one day I'd like to sit-at-home and get "mailbox money", instead of having a real job, here's all I have to do. I could dupe-the-public with some ultimate secret fighting system I dream up called Take-Your-Dough. I then quickly do an unedited home-shot 60 minute video of my secret fighting system via my camcorder. Then I call one of these magazines and max-out my new $20,000 line credit card to them, allowing them to place a $20,000 charge for the $10K it takes for them to do an article on me, along with the $10K charge to do a a separate ad about my new tape I shot-at-home. I wait, and then next month before the minimum payment on my $20,000 credit card charge comes due, checks and money orders for my $70 tape are filling my mailbox daily. And if it takes a little longer for the money to roll in, get (2) $20K credit cards, having one pay off the other each month, until the money does roll in. And if it doesn't, well, let's just declare bankruptcy on both cards and do something else! That my friends is how easy it is to get started as a supposedly "respected" video instructor!

Thank God for the internet, which I'm sure in many ways the magazines hate! I often see tape companies advertising on the internet via search engines, their own website, eBay, Amazon, links, tape specific online distributors, and with martial arts supply companies, instead of the magazines. So in terms of magazine ad revenue from tape companies, I'm sure the magazines wish there wasn't an internet. Realistically, why would a video instructor consistently spend $10,000 a month for a full page magazine ad, when they can market themselves on the internet for free, or alot less? The internet has caused the tables to turn, and the magazines can't financially afford to be as cocky, regarding their pricing for ads. The economics of it all has probably forced the magazines to lower their ad prices, and thus changes the dynamics of it all, to where the magazines feel they need the tapes companies more than the tape companies feel they need the magazines!

All a tape company has to say to a magazine is "$10,000!, you're crazy, no thanks I'll advertise free via the 'net". Then here comes the magazine ad sales rep the next day with a counter offer from his "manager" (via car sales 101) "OK, I've been authorized to do it for $5,000, if you sign today". Or they might call that prospective advertiser the day before they send the layout for that next issue to their printer saying: "Tomorrow is the last day for advertising before the next issue goes-to-press, we have one full page slot left, and I can let you have it for $2,500, but you got to do this right now!". The games corporate America plays! If I was a video instructor, and I wanted to place a magazine video ad, I'd wait til the last day or two before they closed the layouts of an issue, and tell them everytime they called before that "I'm still thinking about it", and either wait for them to call you the day before that, or you call them the day before! Why not make them sweat a little and see what happens? Plus, I'm sure the magazines have "term contracts", for special rates if you guarantee them 3, 6, or 12 months in-a-row of advertising! If I was a shrewd video instructor, I'd realize it's all a game on their end, and play them for a few months, til their deal kept getting sweeter-and-sweeter. Also, I'd probably tell them "Well, ABC magazine will do ads for ____ which is alot less than you, and I'm thinking about trying them instead". Next, be careful what the magazines ad salesman tells you and NEVER take it as the gospel. I've heard some of them have quite a reputation for saying all sorts of things to make you think "your special to us and we want to help you". In fact, I'd call some of the other BIG companies that advertise in their magazine and ask what they pay for their ad space. Some might be getting it for alot less than the supposed deal you think you're getting! And if that company says "I signed an NDA (non-disclosure) and can't tell you", know this, the only reason for an NDA is to screw other advertisers, and offer different rates to different people, and you not being able to figure out what that is! I've heard quite a bit about these magazines and the games they play with their advertisers! If I were a video instructor, I'd advertise only on the 'net and forget the magazines.

Alas, with the 'net vs magazines, dvd vs vhs, many good things have happened to us as consumers over the past decade! With the 'net, $20/month webspace, eBay, Amazon, and free website submission to major search engines, video instructors can do it ALL on their own and don't need the magazines!!! Personally, I think the internet has helped serve "economic justice" to martial arts magazines on many levels!

And without the internet, how could there be a source such as this, for martial arts consumers to easily-and-freely get unbiased reviews of tapes? Oh I'm sure the magazines have thought about doing reviews, probably even had a few "meetings" about it. But in reality they can't because they've backed themselves into a corner. See, the magazines have always been about ad money, and doing a review conflicts with that on many levels! A couple of the magazines seem to have noticed the revenues tape sales generate, and gone in cahoots with tape production companies to create their own magazine branded (or owned) tapes. And guess whose "refused" many requests to send us tapes to review? Just pick up a couple of magazines and you'll see what tapes I'm referring too! Knowing all this, how could the magazines start reviewing tapes without reviewing their own? Also, many of the tapes they'd either have to review, or avoid due to bias, would be the ones done by the company making their own tapes. Ah, what a twisted web they've weaved for themselves! Just think of the economic fallout from attempting to do such a thing! I have no doubt some editor/writer for one of them said "Hey, why don't we start doing tape reviews", but then some bean-counter-with-foresight, or VP of Ad Sales, said "We can't do reviews, it would financially destroy us!"

I can't help but grin when our readers email me saying things like "you carry-a-big-stick" and our reviews have effected tape sales/ads! Is it true one guy and his reviews site can effect a 10M/yr industry? Who knows. It's often been pointed out to me with fan emails that certain video instructors and tape companies have come-and-gone since we started our reviews. Some have held on, often smaller than previously it seems! A few have practically disapppeared with no trace, and a couple in particular I'm glad to see gone, due to either their lies, threats, and/or quality of their tapes!

I've seen behind the "closed doors" and learned alot more than the magazines and tape companies think I know, or probably want me too, regarding their business practices, and it truly sickens me! They would all be surprised what video instructors have told me, along with their competitors about them! I've been told the percentage instructors make for each tape sold, about magazine ad/company secrets, etc! I've in many instances been told actual "numbers" (revenues, costs, units sold, etc), insider secrets that include reciprocity/marketing collusion (magazine articles exchanged for ad dollars) and more. I'm sure the top people at alot of these companies of course know this stuff too, but probably don't want the public to know! Funny, for the first couple of years I did this it was kind of like an endless maze, trying to sort it all out, see through the BS, and understand the "whys" of it all. A few years ago I kind of began seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! Bottomline, it's all comprised of a process, focused entirely on money instead of quality training, that I still believe the magazines started, are at fault for allowing to get out of control, and hold ultimate responsibility for cleaning up! Thus, it's kind of nice to see the money hungry magazines on-their-backs, and the internet on top of them in the "mount" position!

As I eluded too before, if you knew the things I knew, you'd understand the industry is tightly intertwined on many levels, all the way up to the top magazines and top tape companies. Due to that, and the intertwined financial dynamics of it all, the magazines will NEVER come clean regarding their responsibility to their readers of policing the tape ads, or reviewing tapes. What do I mean by that? I've always felt it was the magazines obligation (not mine), pointing martial arts consumers in the right direction, regarding the enormous number of tapes, and doing reviews on ALL of them that are out there! But can they? No way, not as long as they take ad money from the tape companies, and/or sell tapes with their own name on them made by some of those tape companies! As said previously, if the magazines were to start doing honest unbiased reviews, they would be financially cutting their own throats, based on their current business model, practices, partnerships, relationships, and self-branded tape products.

I have no doubt the martial arts magazines and tape companies consider me to be a thorn-in-their-side and here's why! If I do a bad review of a video instructors tape, often you guys read it and avoid buying it. Let's follow the domino effect of that. If that instructor doesn't sell a certain number of tapes, he can't afford next month to place a magazine ad that costs thousands of dollars. Some big shot V.P. at the magazine next month asks his ad salesman "Hey, why didn't XYZ place a tape ad for the next issue?" Guess what it all points too? See what I mean? And if XYZ doesn't place his ad, tape buyers will soon forget he exists, and thus his tape sales go from low to nothing! That my friends is the domino effect! What will it do? Maybe force many instructors to look at the 'net for advertising/marketing instead of the magazines! But don't worry, we'll continue having our readers help us scour the 'net for them, so we don't miss any. The tape shysters and hucksters may run, but with the 'net they can't really hide!

Someone once emailed me and asked if I thought I might ever be nominated, or recognized by the martial arts magazines, for some sort of deserving Lifetime Achivement award due to my reviews? Now that you see through the previous closed doors, into the business dynamics of the industry, and how some of the tape companies and magazines are intertwined at the highest executive and financial levels, and their likely feelings towards me as it relates to their business, I won't be preparing any acceptance speeches...lol.

Personally, I don't care about awards. Many of them are BS anyway (and paid for by the person receiving the award)! Especially some hall-of-fame martial arts awards (which I've been offered to join and declined)! Yes, more corruption exists than the average student knows! Life and the martial arts is often about MONEY! As I've always said, the reviews are for martial arts students/consumers! I don't really care what video instructors who produce and sell garbage think of me! If I'm really doing my thing here, why should I care what they think about me, especially if they're ripping you off? So why do I do this? I hate the idea of people getting rich by deceptively taking advantage of others! Meaning, selling you garbage without any sort of money back guarantee! On the flip side, there are several side benefits, for me personally, by doing these reviews. I get tons of tapes for free which helps me expand my own knowledge and ability. Who wouldn't love that? And although many of you might think "Cool, free tapes", think twice! The price for each tape is often me spending 2-4 hours watching and writing a review. Would you consider your time worth $10-$20 an hour? I'm 42 yrs old and my professional time is worth more than that per hour! Typically, tape companies understand my time is worth something, each review takes several hours to do, thus they have no problem paying for my time by sending a tape! Don't forget, it really does cost me $120 a month in webspace cost and climate-controlled-storage to keep over 1000 VHS tapes and do this. $11K over 8 yrs is what it's cost me! Are you willing to plunk down $11K to do this sort of thing? I remember 8 yrs ago many said "he'll be gone in less than a year"! Financially, I should've been, but does a real martial artist ever QUIT ?

Next side benefit, when a video instructor really is good, I often get to talk with them by phone, or we seek each other out, either when they come to Dallas, or when I travel somewhere close to them. I consider myself to have made many great friends over the past 8 yrs, regarding quality martial arts instructors, and who wouldn't like having quite a few of those type of friends all over the world?

Who probably will never be my "friend" and wishes I'd go away? Probably all the martial arts magazines (since my site effects their ad revenue)! And a long list of tape companies/instructors who were offering you garbage, and we pointed out here! Can I live with that? Why not? Someone's got to be the garbage man...lol.

What kind of bad things have happened along the way! The worst have been anonymous death threats via email (seriously)! If something ever happens to me (lol), I hope my fans here will at least point the authorities to those tape companies/individuals whose products we reviewed poorly (lol)! Next, there have been a few all-out fight challenges extended to me by a few video instructors (no kidding)! Seems some video instructors we rated poorly want to prove to me face-to-face their techniques really work! My typical turn-the-tables response has been suggesting to that low quality instructor they seek out a highly quality video instructor we like, extend to them a challenge, and let us know later about the outcome. Guess what? I've never heard back from any of them after I did that! Why that response to them? I've never proclaimed myself to be the best at fighting, self-defense, etc. Why not? I don't believe in that kind of egotistical-macho-bravado! Next, no matter how great anyone thinks they are, there will always be someone right around the corner whose better! Look at the history of most great boxers and NHB fighters and you'll see what I mean! As they get older (I'm 42), eventually their reign comes to an end. How many professional athletes do you see in their 40s, 50s, and up? At some point, as you get older, someone will come along younger, faster, stronger and more skilled than you! All instructors reach a point, somewhere between 50-100 yrs old, in which they physically won't be able to SPAR-and-WIN against ALL younger and highly skilled/trained fighters in this world! And if you're crazy enough to say "I'm the best in the world and always will be til the day I die", in terms of REAL fighting, you better be willing to live a lifestyle that constantly has you looking over your shoulder for every nutcase out there that might want to challenge you til the day you die! I don't know about you, but I don't want to live like that, especially in this litigous world of never ending lawsuits, people getting setup and put in jail for "excessive and unnecessary force", or "aggravated assault" charges that costs them $20,000 in attorney fees to get out of, nor put my family through that. I'd rather swallow my pride and let some bully spit on me, call me names, embarrass me, etc, than allow that bully to reach in my pocket and pull out $20,000 for some attorney! Thus, you will never hear me say "I'm the greatest"! Quite the contrary, lets just clear the air right now and say I'm not! ;-)

Throughout the years various companies and video instructors have extended offers for me to either go away, partner with them, or buy my website. The list of purported opportunities ranges from tape companies, various commercial martial arts supply companies, other martial arts websites, etc. I've heard everything from: give me a dollar amount to buy you out, produce videos for us with your seal of approval, how about us starting a business renting the videos you have, let's start a video trading service, lets buy/sell used videos starting with your inventory, me becoming a video distributor, the list goes on-and-on. Why haven't I taken the money and headed for the hills? First off, too much time and effort, along with my own money, are invested in this to see it go down in flames! Second, what is the dollar value of me going away? I'm still waiting for at least a six figure offer (just kidding)!

I guess alot of these people think I might jump on any offer they throw at me. Many of these offers are skewed towards compromising this whole project in either the short-term or long-term! Do they really think I'm stupid enough that I can't see that? I figure that with 2-4 hrs spent per tape reviewed, times 330 reviews (over 1000 hrs x lets say $30/hr), and all the hours spent answering thousands of emails over the years, doing research, talking with tape companies/instructors, etc, and about $11,000 in site related expenses over 8 yrs, my time and expenses have equated too at least $40,000. Then there's the impact this site's had on the industry. From a dollar standpoint, I suspect it's much greater than $40,000. There's the 10,000 visitors a month we get which most any martial arts website would want. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if the good reviews we've done here haven't generated 7 figures in revenue at some point. Also, lets not forget the $10,000 full page ads I'm sure some of the reviews here helped stop, and I'm sure the magazines would like to see me go away so they could get some of that back, or not lose more of them in the future! Add to this alot of knowledge, expertise, experience, and I'm still waiting on at least a six figure offer...lol! Surely some magazine or tape company in a 10M/yr industry could write that check! ;-) I doubt you'll ever see this site go away, but should it, know that either one of those garbage video instructors sought me out and got the better of me, or I'm on an island somewhere sitting on a 7 figure pile of money smiling from ear-to-ear! ;-)

I recently subscribed to Black Belt Magazine again, mainly so I can keep an eye out on those who put out ads saying "my video is the only one you'll ever need". Got a good deal on it, otherwise I might've passed on it. I searched via Google, looking for the best deal, and found $17 for a 1 yr subscription. I had somewhat of a hard time deciding whether or not to get it, because I disagree with many of that magazines "business practices".

I was surprised to see many who placed full page ads in it throughout the 90's weren't anywhere to be found! I didn't see Jerry Peterson, John LaTourette, Bill Shaw, Gary Dill, or numerous others we had fun with in the past. Although there was a company out of Phoenix with a full page ad, and something about their ad got me wondering if it might be someone we've reviewed here in the past! Also, there was one about some 16 yr who became some sort of champion. Anyone up for doing a little "intel" for us?

That's pretty much it for now. Don't forget to keep your eyes out for those claiming to be "Gods gift to Street Fighting" or Self-Defense, and let us know about them!

Mr. Moody sent us the Gracie Self-Defense set we reviewed this weekend, which I had wanted to get my hands on for years! His company Goldstar has over 1000 titles you can rent, with prices as low as $2.99 per rental. Heck, that's cheaper than walking into some video stores! Since Mr. Moody is supporting our site, why not click on his banner, which will transport you to his website, and see if he might have a few titles you're interested in checking out. And if you end up using his service, please don't forget to tell him we said "hello" and help us thank him for supporting our website:

A couple of weeks ago I said I would be trying to get away from lengthy "Comments" in each review. As you can see, I haven't been able too! I'll keep trying, as I think thats the key to getting more reviews done! The "comments" section is still slowing me down incredibly, versus the weekly number of review I'd like to get done.

Please keep in mind that it's just me, and I do have my own teaching and training several nights a week, along with "a life" besides The Reviews. There never seems to be enough time to get as many reviews per week done as I'd like. Any multi-millionaires out there that would like to help me make this a full-time job? ;-) If so, I could probably easily kick out 2 reviews per day, every workday! I'd still like to know how Movie Critics get paid to do their gig!

Also, I may at times review a set all-in-one-shot, meaning one review covers the entire set, versus individual reviews of each tape in that set. Or, you may see them done one-at-a-time. That part is still a toss up! Alot of that will depend on my mood, how much time I've got, am I enjoying the material, is each tape the same or different, a variety of things. At this point there may not be any rhyme-or-reason to which way I go regarding that! So don't complain, just check back frequently, enjoy, and know that no matter what I do, it's near impossible to do this and make everyone happy!

Word of thanks goes out to the person who helped go through the old reviews, and provided me a list of the really bad ones! I know that took time and it certainly helped. My goal is to go back through those, possibly re-grade the bad ones, and add "trash cans" to them. I went ahead and did a couple of them, and hope to get to the rest soon. That's on my list of things-to-do!

Next, I have a list of things I need help with:

1. Black Belt Magazine - I'd like to have all back issues since 2000! If you have them sitting around and don't need them, send them to me, as it would be a great help! This is a great source for me to see all the "Self Defense Kings" who have been selling videos, and all other video ads. I want to make sure I haven't missed anyone. Once I know of them, I can work towards getting their stuff to review! FYI - Since they are magazines, and a year or more can be quite heavy from a mailing standpoint, you can ship them via "USPS - Media Mail". You have to say "Media Mail", they typically don't like to suggest it, because it's a much cheaper service than "First Class".

2. Graphic Designer - there are several things I'd like to do to spice up the pages. I would like to find someone who would devote some of their time to creating some gifs, animated gifs, and jpgs. I've got a "trash can" animated gif I'd like to see someone create. Also, I need someone to re-do my "Stars" for grading, as I don't have .25 stars, only wholes and halfs. There are some other things too. Some things might require someone who is really a bit more on the freehand drawer/artist side of things.

3. Internet Researcher/Hunter - in addition to the BB Magazine stuff, I'd like someone to scour the 'net via search engines, keywords, eBay, Amazon, Martial Arts distributors, etc, and let me know of self-defense content we need to review.

4. Site Promoter - someone that will help get is listed and linked on search engines and other martial arts websites, along with, promoting us on newsgroups, forums, etc.

5. Fund Raiser - someone that will check on affiliate programs, pay-per-clicks, sponsors, and other ideas, to help offset the sites monthly expenses, and if they can get that covered, help generate additional funds that will help us acquire content we need to buy for review purposes, and if they're really good, help me make this a fulltime gig ;-)

FYI - I'm thinking about letting this be a scrolling news page

Be sure and tell all your martial arts friends we're back!

Over the past 2 weeks I've gotten 2 donations. One for $50 the other for $10. It really does cost me about $120 a month to keep this project going! Any corporate sponsors out there??? At one time this site was getting 6,000 visitors a month (seriously)! If I could get just a few dozen of you to contribute a buck or two, it would really help! I have tons of tapes, and there's no way any person could keep as many as I have in their house, without making their house ugly! So I keep them in a climate controlled storage facility close by, and that thing costs $100 a month! Also, I pay $20 a month to AT&T for my webspace! It really does cost $120 a month, or $1,440 a year, to do the reviews! And I've been paying that every month now, for about 7 yrs! Do the math! That's over $10K I've spent to store tapes and host this website over the last 7 yrs! My wife was the one who pointed that out to me (the $10K) and said "We could've had that 10K in a 401K instead of in a storage facility". How do you argue that? If you can click on my PayPal Donation button at the bottom of this page, and help with a dollar or two, I think it will quiet her down!

Last, we're creating some new alliances, to help us find ways to acquire content companies have still been unwilling to send us for the past 7 yrs. This will allow us to get and review some tapes certain companies and individuals haven't wanted us too! I expect that will create alot of excitement and stir things up a bit! I hope to make a formal announcement about that soon. Don't be surprised if due to that alliance you see a few more trash cans showing up!

In closing, good luck in your training, and til next time remember "The more you sweat the less you bleed"!

The time I have available to do the reviews has become a problem. I have an fulltime 8-5 job that has me traveling alot (I haven't figured a way yet to do reviews full-time), I workout/train each day where ever I'm at, I have family stuff when I'm in town to make up for while away, constant personal errands, etc. It's as if some people think the only thing I do with my life is reviews. Don't people know this is just kind of a side thing (hobby) for me? Now if there's some multi-millionaire (or company - Panther, Black Belt Magazine, etc) out there, that wants to pay me each day to do this fulltime (so I can make a living at it) I'm all ears!!! Of course they'd have to let me call-em-like-I-see-em, without interference! For some reason no one in 8 yrs has made me that kind-of-offer ! ;-)

Back to this not being fulltime, and my time issues! As I've gotten older (43 this year), the professional and personal demands on my time have increased. And unfortunatey, the time demands appear to increase each year! This increase has made finding 3-4 hours to sit down and watch a tape, constantly pausing it while watching (to take notes), creating an outline of the notes-and-techiques afterwards, writing a review "rough draft", re-reading and re-editing the rough draft several times, and assigning a grade, almost impossible from a time standpoint. Having the FREE 3-4 hours each day it takes to complete all that, just doesn't exist anymore!

So where's this explanation leading?

The only way I can see doing new Reviews is by decreasing the amount of time it takes to do each one! The biggest time consumer of each review is the "comments" section! I'm not even sure people really read all of it anyway! I estimate that the actual "comments part of each review, if done thoroughly and in detail, takes 3-4 hours. Remember, I take notes, create an outline, write the rough draft, and then typically re-read and re-edit the rough draft several times, until I feel "ok" enough about it, before you guys read it! The "comments" section of each review has typically been somewhat of a tortorous process for me. I personally feel that I get somewhat "hung-up" on the "comments" section, and knowing that, and the time requirement to do that part in a way I've felt is presentable, is one of the MAIN REASONS you haven't seen new reviews lately!

Bottomline, if I'm to continue The Reviews, I'm going to have too re-do the grading system!!! I will likely have to either eliminate or drastically minimize the "comments" portion of each review. I now there may be some of you that say "Don't cut out the comments", but hey, I just don't have the time to do that part to the degree I have in the past! BTW, wouldn't you rather have some-sort-of-review, than no-review-at-all!

Like I said, the old style of doing reviews literally took hours-per-review! At one point in my life, when I started the reviews, I had 3-4 hours each evening for this. Now, I'm lucky if I have an hour each evening. And I'm completely against trying to spend an hour-a-day on a tape, til it's done, so that after 4 days I've completed my review of it. I actually tried that a couple of times in the past, and found that I was actually spending more than 3-4 hours if I tried doing it that way! Why did that way take longer? Because my thoughts weren't fresh about that tape, into the 3rd and 4th day, and I would do twice as many re-edits of the "comments" section!

Simply put, my lifestyle, and it's time demands, have made the old way of doing reviews impossible from a time standpoint.

To all the fans of this website, and to the generous tape companies/instructors, I feel guilty for not having done any reviews. I have an ungodly backlog of tapes (hundreds) that need to be reviewed! And for the past few years I've kept telling myself "Well maybe next month things will slow down for me so I can know a couple out". Guess what? I've had an endless string of "next months", and "next month never slows down".

So it's come down to this. Either I stop doing reviews altogether, because I don't have time to do them the old way, or come up with a new way that focuses more on the actual grade and criteria, with maybe an occassional short sentence or two under "comments".

If everyone can live with that, then we'll see what happens.

Also, you may see me add a PayPal Donation link. There are considerable costs in maintaining The Reviews. I currently have about 1200 tapes, and I keep them in a climate controlled storage facility, which costs about $100 a month. That is my BIGGEST expense, and one I've paid for out-of-my-own-pocket for about 7 yrs now (yes, $10K over that time)! Then there's the $20/month for the AT&T webspace! I'd also like to start a "Tape Buying Fund", that allows me to buy tapes certain companies won't send for free, so I can review them for you. If the reviews have benefited you in any way, and you can financially help out, I'd really appreciate it!

UPDATE: I have revised the grading system. Over the years I've become somewhat uncomfortable with the PERCENTAGE score, and how it was arrived it. It made things too complicated. I've added "Stars" to make it more universal, compared to how other sites grade things. To understand it better go to: See bottom of the page - Here!!!

New Review - Click Here!!!