Last weekend, I took a break from fake violence, to go see some sporting violence. (And women in daring outfits doing daring things on roller skates.) My girl and I were off to see the double header exhibition games as the Rat City Roller Girls from Seattle, The Sockit Wenches, faced off against the Brooklyn Bombshells and the Queens of Pain. If you've never gone to the roller derby or haven't seen one since you were a kid, you are as deficient in your lady type bad-assedry as I was.
Having immersed myself in staged violence now for some time, I'm always happy at a sporting event with genuine unchoreographed chaos involved. I watch a little football, a little hockey and the occasional bench clearing brawl on the diamond always is an interesting diversion at the ball park. However I started to notice something weird at the roller derby. Once I got past the tight uniforms, and fishnets on a lot of these women (what can I do - I'm a guy. I notice that stuff.) I noticed that despite the absolute brutal focus and application of physical force to each other, these women were able to fiercely compete without getting aggressive in the same way that men seem to.
There was a lady on the Sockit Wenches who was nigh-unstoppable. This woman is quite possibly the closest thing to an actual Valkyrie I'm ever likely to see. With her blonde braids trailing behind her, "Anya Heels" who rolled primarily as a blocker, prevented just about every attempt to pass by maneuvering her body in ways that would make a rhino blush. She was no waif, sure - in fact if Peterbilt Trucks was going to try and design a woman, it might look a little like "Anya Heels" - but that's not to suggest she wasn't one of the fastest, nimblest most brutally beautiful things I've ever seen. A hip check from her could knock a guy like me into next week, and she wasn't shy about using her strength. She was a major reason the Sockit Wenches defeated both Brooklyn Bombshells and Queens of Pain.
As a guy, I know that in a competitive arena, I'd be nothing but ultra testosterone-y about that. But these women who were grimly facing down each other during the match and getting slammed around were also so... I don't know... girly? When the game was over, there didn't seem to be any lingering bad vibes. They were having fun. It was a game. A tough game, full of bruises, breaks, and rough hits, but none of these women radiated the strange aura of male over-aggression that I see when men play violent sports. To be clear, I'm not surprised in the least that women are tough. I've known that since the earliest days of my childhood - I had good parenting. Women are tough, strong and can be every bit as powerful as men if not more so.
What surprised me was that women seem to be more capable of playing a violent game and then letting go of the violence. It's as if they were simply donning an aspect or displaying a single facet of themselves - one of intense violence - and then putting it down when it no longer was necessary or called for.
I think there's a powerful lesson there, so go check out the roller derby.
I also think I'm in love with the Queens of Pain.
If you don't care about any of the above and just want to see hot chicks on wheels, look no further.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Hit or miss. Mostly miss.
Last evening, I took a jaunt out to North Bergen NJ with Bri-guy for a pistol clinic over at the NJ Firearms Academy. There were a few familiar faces and a goodly amount of new (to me and Bri-guy) faces who as it turns out are the more regular competition shooters. We got out on the firing line, and started out with a couple boxes of 9mm, splitting time on the Glock 17.
As mentioned earlier, I'm not a huge fan of the Glock, and about 30 feet, here's my first target...
Clearly I'm doing something mostly right - those circles are about 3 inches in diameter. Except for that one guy who sort of wandered off into the lower left. Well, that little guy turned out to be my undoing. I spent the next 30 rounds of 9mm or so trying to correct that, overcorrecting, and let's just say that as soon as I started to think about it too hard, I began the downward spiral of milking the trigger, pulling off the target, anticipating the shot, and in general, not following through.
I'm not posting scans of those targets. They're embarrassing. They got better again, thanks to wise words of coaching from Trevor Dickerson. Then Bri-guy and I moved up to the Sig Sauer .40 cal pistol - an intense departure from the composite 9mm Glock. With the Sig's all steel frame and much more responsive trigger, I tended to do much better...
... again a 3 inch diameter circle at about 30 feet. With a more solid weapon despite the recoil I did some decent shooting. It wasn't long before my bad habits came up again, but I controlled them far better. Less side to side wavering and more of an up-down issue.
I did have a tendency to shoot a bit low though...
The total diameter of this target is about 8 inches.
Those two shots up top are from Trevor, who was helping me get a better read on why I was pulling low. In fact, the order of placement starts low and tends to get much closer to the center of the target.
All in all, clearly I've my work cut out for me before I can consider myself even a mediocre shooter as compared to men and women (yes, Virgina there are ladies who can bullseye a target at 50 feet one handed with a .45) who are on the NJFA competition team.
Then again - I don't feel too bad about this outing. For my second legitmate pistol experience, I think I did pretty well all in all. And frankly, had these been zombies, they'd all be dead. I mean dead-dead, not undead.
But for the record, Bri-guy's final magazine of the .40 caliber resulted in what I'd definitely call a tight grouping... he put six rounds through about a 1 inch pattern. We could tell it was legit by taking a spent casing and matching it up around the edges. It was, quite a sight to see, I assure you.
As mentioned earlier, I'm not a huge fan of the Glock, and about 30 feet, here's my first target...
Clearly I'm doing something mostly right - those circles are about 3 inches in diameter. Except for that one guy who sort of wandered off into the lower left. Well, that little guy turned out to be my undoing. I spent the next 30 rounds of 9mm or so trying to correct that, overcorrecting, and let's just say that as soon as I started to think about it too hard, I began the downward spiral of milking the trigger, pulling off the target, anticipating the shot, and in general, not following through.
I'm not posting scans of those targets. They're embarrassing. They got better again, thanks to wise words of coaching from Trevor Dickerson. Then Bri-guy and I moved up to the Sig Sauer .40 cal pistol - an intense departure from the composite 9mm Glock. With the Sig's all steel frame and much more responsive trigger, I tended to do much better...
... again a 3 inch diameter circle at about 30 feet. With a more solid weapon despite the recoil I did some decent shooting. It wasn't long before my bad habits came up again, but I controlled them far better. Less side to side wavering and more of an up-down issue.
I did have a tendency to shoot a bit low though...
The total diameter of this target is about 8 inches.
Those two shots up top are from Trevor, who was helping me get a better read on why I was pulling low. In fact, the order of placement starts low and tends to get much closer to the center of the target.
All in all, clearly I've my work cut out for me before I can consider myself even a mediocre shooter as compared to men and women (yes, Virgina there are ladies who can bullseye a target at 50 feet one handed with a .45) who are on the NJFA competition team.
Then again - I don't feel too bad about this outing. For my second legitmate pistol experience, I think I did pretty well all in all. And frankly, had these been zombies, they'd all be dead. I mean dead-dead, not undead.
But for the record, Bri-guy's final magazine of the .40 caliber resulted in what I'd definitely call a tight grouping... he put six rounds through about a 1 inch pattern. We could tell it was legit by taking a spent casing and matching it up around the edges. It was, quite a sight to see, I assure you.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Head smashing goodness...
This past weekend was the second Saturday Night Saloon down at the Vampire Cowboy's Battle Ranch - Episode 2 of Hack.
Perhaps needless to say, the event was a success despite every effort by the New York MTA to suspend service on multiple subway lines. At one point in the evening, I performed a very simple "stunt" during Hack. My character, Cal aka "Gunslinger", reaches a level of frustration with his compatriots at Carson Capital - the fictional hedge fund where the former hacker characters are employed as IT security. I was directed by John "Dirty" Hurley to display this frustration in an overtly physical way, and so... I did. I decided to have Cal smash his head into an upstage facing door. A little stage magic, and - POW! a loud ringing thud, the door rattles in its frame and I spin around to angrily stomp back to my scene partners with nary a wobble in my step. I didn't think much of it at the time, but apparently, some of the audience was rather stunned. How'd I do that?
There was a time when in my youth, I may have considered simply actually head banging the door, but let's face facts. That's dopey. Bad-ass maybe, but dopey certainly. So in order to make this little trick work all it takes is a little practice, timing, and oddly enough, some basics of magic and illusion.
Every magician or illusionist relies on fooling not just the human eye, but the human mind. I bring this up on my stage combat blog because the underlying principles that make stage combat both safe and effective are very similar to those that the "Frantic Amaz-o" uses to saw someone in half. In short, it's misdirection. Look over here, while I do something else over there, and presto.
In brief, Cal approaches that door three times, the third time, head butting it. The audience is given a pattern to view, in the first two approaches. By the third time they see me go to the door, they know I'm not going through it. No one thinks anything of me turning that knob so the door can open and close freely. They know I'm not going through. I rear my head back drawing audience focus and setting up the expectation that I'm about to slam it forward. When I do quickly bring it forward, I've already simultaneously opened the door about a half inch - misdirection! My head comes nowhere near the door, as I quickly slam it shut with the hand on the door knob. There's a loud BANG! and I let the door rattle a bit in it's frame, like it's been hit. With my face.
As any magician will tell you, the follow through is crucial. The rapid spin around to face the audience gives them a chance to see my face as I stoically react to having just smashed my forehead into a solid door. Blink a couple of times and stomp back to the front of the stage and do my best to look like 6'4" of tough guy in a skinny 5'8" bag.
Granted, it's not combat and more of a stunt but the principles are the same. The audience has a mental shorthand for what they believe they are seeing, and don't focus on the minutiae of movements made by the performer provided they don't "contrast" with the mental picture of expectations they already have in their minds. Since I already set up the expectation that I'd have my hand the doorknob each time, there was nothing unusual about me actually using it. And the movement was so subtle and quick that it appeared that my head had actually knocked the door partially open for a split second, adding visual merit to the already resounding sound effect I had created.
About hand to hand combat though - a common misconception in stage combat is that every punch has to have a "nap." The sound of an impact, usually done by a performer slapping a hand on a part of the body not easily visible to the audience. If it's done well, it sounds like Indiana Jones punching out four Nazis at once. However, I don't know that I've ever seen someone take a punch in the head that sounds like a slap. It's usually a very quiet thud. Not something that'd be audible beyond a few feet.
I don't know why I brought that up, but it seems like we're focusing so much on incredible sound effects with our combat that we've made our stage combat exactly that - beyond credible. Bring some "magic" into play though, and through misdirection and sleight of hand/fist/head we get something much more real.
But enough pontificating... I'm going to be late for my pistol class if I hang around here much longer!
Perhaps needless to say, the event was a success despite every effort by the New York MTA to suspend service on multiple subway lines. At one point in the evening, I performed a very simple "stunt" during Hack. My character, Cal aka "Gunslinger", reaches a level of frustration with his compatriots at Carson Capital - the fictional hedge fund where the former hacker characters are employed as IT security. I was directed by John "Dirty" Hurley to display this frustration in an overtly physical way, and so... I did. I decided to have Cal smash his head into an upstage facing door. A little stage magic, and - POW! a loud ringing thud, the door rattles in its frame and I spin around to angrily stomp back to my scene partners with nary a wobble in my step. I didn't think much of it at the time, but apparently, some of the audience was rather stunned. How'd I do that?
There was a time when in my youth, I may have considered simply actually head banging the door, but let's face facts. That's dopey. Bad-ass maybe, but dopey certainly. So in order to make this little trick work all it takes is a little practice, timing, and oddly enough, some basics of magic and illusion.
Every magician or illusionist relies on fooling not just the human eye, but the human mind. I bring this up on my stage combat blog because the underlying principles that make stage combat both safe and effective are very similar to those that the "Frantic Amaz-o" uses to saw someone in half. In short, it's misdirection. Look over here, while I do something else over there, and presto.
In brief, Cal approaches that door three times, the third time, head butting it. The audience is given a pattern to view, in the first two approaches. By the third time they see me go to the door, they know I'm not going through it. No one thinks anything of me turning that knob so the door can open and close freely. They know I'm not going through. I rear my head back drawing audience focus and setting up the expectation that I'm about to slam it forward. When I do quickly bring it forward, I've already simultaneously opened the door about a half inch - misdirection! My head comes nowhere near the door, as I quickly slam it shut with the hand on the door knob. There's a loud BANG! and I let the door rattle a bit in it's frame, like it's been hit. With my face.
As any magician will tell you, the follow through is crucial. The rapid spin around to face the audience gives them a chance to see my face as I stoically react to having just smashed my forehead into a solid door. Blink a couple of times and stomp back to the front of the stage and do my best to look like 6'4" of tough guy in a skinny 5'8" bag.
Granted, it's not combat and more of a stunt but the principles are the same. The audience has a mental shorthand for what they believe they are seeing, and don't focus on the minutiae of movements made by the performer provided they don't "contrast" with the mental picture of expectations they already have in their minds. Since I already set up the expectation that I'd have my hand the doorknob each time, there was nothing unusual about me actually using it. And the movement was so subtle and quick that it appeared that my head had actually knocked the door partially open for a split second, adding visual merit to the already resounding sound effect I had created.
About hand to hand combat though - a common misconception in stage combat is that every punch has to have a "nap." The sound of an impact, usually done by a performer slapping a hand on a part of the body not easily visible to the audience. If it's done well, it sounds like Indiana Jones punching out four Nazis at once. However, I don't know that I've ever seen someone take a punch in the head that sounds like a slap. It's usually a very quiet thud. Not something that'd be audible beyond a few feet.
I don't know why I brought that up, but it seems like we're focusing so much on incredible sound effects with our combat that we've made our stage combat exactly that - beyond credible. Bring some "magic" into play though, and through misdirection and sleight of hand/fist/head we get something much more real.
But enough pontificating... I'm going to be late for my pistol class if I hang around here much longer!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
October is up and running
I'm headed back to the NJFA next week for a pistol clinic - and let's be frank, I need the help. If the goal is a three inch grouping at 25 yards, I've got some shootin' to do. After all, that kind of standard is being applied to today's top target shooters and law enforcement, and if I'm aiming for ultra realism on stage, I'd better get handier with a pistol. I mean, it can't hurt, anyway.
In other news, it turns out Neimah Djourabchi - musician, artist, longtime pal and co-actor in this weekend's upcoming Vampire Cowboys Saloon Series has got some wicked fun stuntwork under his belt. That's got to be a good gig - and a great way to learn more about the current state of fight choreography in film and TV. I'm hoping that if we can bring him into some classes on knife combat he'll help a guy like me slide into the world of fake bad-assedry. I don't know if bad-assedry is a real word, but I'm running with it.
Kind of funny how things can work out, isn't it?
More next week on how the latest episode of Crystal Skillman's "Hack" played out, and maybe a few pics showing the results of a few more hours under Cheif Dickerson's instruction.
In other news, it turns out Neimah Djourabchi - musician, artist, longtime pal and co-actor in this weekend's upcoming Vampire Cowboys Saloon Series has got some wicked fun stuntwork under his belt. That's got to be a good gig - and a great way to learn more about the current state of fight choreography in film and TV. I'm hoping that if we can bring him into some classes on knife combat he'll help a guy like me slide into the world of fake bad-assedry. I don't know if bad-assedry is a real word, but I'm running with it.
Kind of funny how things can work out, isn't it?
More next week on how the latest episode of Crystal Skillman's "Hack" played out, and maybe a few pics showing the results of a few more hours under Cheif Dickerson's instruction.
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