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Children of Men"
Truth in fiction? With articles about decreased sperm count in men living in industrialized countries, hormone-laden food affecting our kids' development, and now inadvertent cocktails of every drug ever administered forming from human bodily waste that filters into our water supply... One figures that whatever eventually happens in reality will defy and exceed even the extreme speculation in movies like this one.
Really, really good movie. Nihilistic as hell (until the 'morrow at the end), but very accurate depictions of human reactions under stress.
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[Currently listening to Kind of Peace (w/ Cat Power), by Faithless]
Lots of kneejerk reactions and counter-reactions flying around, with one or two intelligent responses:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/04/stage_weapons_b.html
…Including one, I believe, from our own Colsith.
Not much use worrying about it. If bans impinge on our ability to check fencing / fighting gear at the ticket counter, there’ll probably be petitions or letters to be signed and sent. And maybe one of us could intelligently martyr ourselves in a bid for PR regarding WMA. ;)
“In a comment today, Mr. WMA expressed his disappointment with the knuckleheads at Homeland Security: ‘This is exactly the sort of fing the bad guys want to happen — for us to run headlong into a fortress mentality wherein Orwell’s posited thoughtcrime becomes punishable by real law. The only defense against threats to our way of life is education, not an infinitude of reactionary commandments about what thou shalt not do. Learning, and learning to enjoy, everything about the world we live in is what it’s about. My fencing equipment and stage props may be banned today, but what will become of us all if cars are banned as potential tools of violence? Will the humble foot follow, since it can kick a man as easily as a soccer ball? We must teach awareness, skill, respect, and proper use of the tools and objects which merely exist.’”
It seems a little bit of maudlin overkill to work in Martin Niemoller’s poem “First They Came…”, but much less unlikely than when I first read it in 7th grade.
This probably sums up most of our feelings on historical accuracy in movies…
Beautiful.
(EAN 978-88-95191-00-3)
Ξ April 2nd, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Fitness / HEMA, General |
Amazing what joy a new pair of shoes can be.
About two months ago, my old boots began to suffer what I believe is a pretty genre-specific pseudo-milspeak term, CLG. In the time since, they pretty much disintegrated. I’d also been meaning to pick up some gel insoles, and took this opportunity to add some to my new boots.
It feels great to wear shoes that’re a good fit. I hadn’t realized how soft and saggy my old boots had gotten, until I got my new pair of Bates.
Now, I feel like I could stay on my feet all week!
The downside to all the support and cushioning is that my feet and ankles are a lot less sensitive or responsive to the surfaces they contact. I might not go so far as to say I can read the ground on which I walk, but I hadn’t realized how much I rely on feeling the terrain when I fence.
Before you know it, I’ll be a convert to William Wilson’s and Tommaso Leoni’s way of training barefoot.
Ξ April 1st, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Fitness / HEMA |
Parkour is the art of displacement — the skill of running an obstacle course by using the human body to its utmost abilities. (As usual, Wikipedia breaks it down more accurately than I was able to in several hours of web-browsing.)
I know Avery’s knees must be cringing at this, but for those of you who haven’t heard of District B-13, this is a pretty good reason to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/v/GAD8xffSBT0
As one comment put it: This is the only flick that deserves the title “Action movie”!
There’s a couple of pretty well-known parkour / freerunning videos online (with more physically impressive tricks), but I like this one for the editing and mixing (and I dig Aphex Twin):
http://www.youtube.com/v/I-L9ube8Nxs
The bit at 3:26 is just plain cool.
I’ve also found what I think are good examples of the spirit of capoeira — both Regional (I think?) and Angola:
http://www.youtube.com/v/vDYPoucj6E0
The two black dudes with dreadlocks or braids (one with what looks like neon green beads on his dreads) are pretty cool to watch in particular. I’m less keen on the macho guys who seem to think that swifter, more powerful kicks are all there is to capoeira. One of them gets a friendly comeuppance in the form of several headbutts and foot sweeps.
http://www.youtube.com/v/QZsUONKq53M
The first video has some good examples of malandragem, but the Angola video is just chock full of ‘em, as well as some neat bits of capoeira culture and tradition.
And just for fun, here’s a fun little bit on Awud Mied (try to look past the music and bad-assitude editing):
http://www.youtube.com/v/Zus_LFZABBQ
I have to believe that most of the techniques shown require considerable adaptation in order to be used for-real, and some are just plain implausible (notably the hand switches in mid-attack). I spotted easily a dozen times where the partner executing the technique would have been stabbed repeatedly, if his opponent hadn’t been so obligingly single-minded or immobile in the drill environment shown. For all that, there are some really neat ideas and angles going on in this clip. I think some would actually be useful, and if nothing else, the moves are really pretty to watch.
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