cioran: Fair, but you have to admit you eat like a bird, though.
I know a little Jujitsu. My friends all are into Krav lately. Too violent for me. Never heard of Baguazhang. What's the emphasis? I'm assuming joint locks are involved if you can spar without crying with a Jujitsu guy.
Sielle: I "snack" like a bird. I eat meals like a farm hand. ^_^
Krav Maga has always seemed interesting, but the only places I've found around here that teach it seem far to commercialized.
As for Bagua it actually involves very little joint locking, unless you plan on breaking the joint right away. One of the biggest things about Bagua is that it focuses on multiple enemies and deception. If you lock one opponent it leaves you unable to move and vulnerable to opponent 2, 3, 4, etc. etc. As for the style itself, it is considered an "internal" style, but if you get right down to it, it can be quite brutal.
One of the reasons my friend likes to practice with me is because it's so different. He's usually going up against either a grappling style or strikers (Karate, TKD, etc.) and rarely has an opportunity to work with anything else. (How many Tai Chi Chuan practitioners tend to get involved in Mixed Martial Arts competitions?) In fact he still get surprised that a style would teach someone to move/flow in and around an opponent without transitioning into a grapple.
If you want to see what Bagua actually looks like you can do some google searches, or in the Jet Li movie "The One", good Jet Li actually uses Bagua.
Jet Li's mainly a wushu guy, so this is news to me. Is he using it for weapons or actually using this whole style? Huh. I'll have to watch the movie again now. I never finished it. Not a big fan of his American movies.
Most good Krav places are in neighborhoods with ethnic jews and Israelis. My neighborhood has lots of both.
Done poorly, it's a self-defense class with improvised weapons. Done right I think the style is disgustingly violent. It's mainly oriented around hurting people as much as possible with improvised weapons. Very little art to it. I suppose there's a time and a place for it, but I don't buy into that philosophy as viable for civilian life.
edit: I've seen Bagua before. I always get it confused with Wushu. Fast graceful movement, suffice it to say, is not a strong point of mine, so I tend to lump it all together.