The Browncoat Martial Arts Forum
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Saturday, April 22, 2006 05:09
VIEWED: 16091
PAGE 8 of 10
Quote:Mine is The Zorro film with Basil Rathbone handling the choreography.
Originally posted by Duelist:
My favorite fencing sequence on celluloid is in the film "Rob Roy."
Also like Die Another Day for it's swordplay.
Ouch! Chrisisall
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By the Civil War era code duello, the challenged party chose the weapons. You're probably right, Wing probably wouldn't have let Mal use a dao - although Wing himself was wielding a sidesword, more of a cut-and-thrust than a rapier. Mal's weapon was solidly in the rapier camp.
Longswords, especially single-edged ones like katanas and up, demand a fair amount of practice before they can be used both swiftly AND effectively. It's all about precise and reflexive gauging of distance, the angle at which the edge can bite and the blade's point of percussion (sweet spot.)
I thought Mal might have done better with a dao because he's a close-in fighter, and it's way easier to hack with a short blade than to thrust or tip-cut with a long blade once you've closed.
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Been thinking about what I would try to teach someone like Mal about rapier fighting if I had, like, five minutes to teach. I think, rather than bother with the standard thrusting and parrying Inara demonstrates, and which Mal just ignores anyway, I'd show the good ol' boy how to half-sword. That's where your dominant hand grips the handle while your off-hand grips the blade about halfway up from the quillons - rapiers are usually only seriously sharp towards the tip, a good pair of deerskin gloves would prevent an accidental cut on the palm. Fiori de Liberi and Joachim Meyer both taught this technique extensively in the sixteenth century. It ain't pretty, but it works if you're aggressive enough to fully commit to the press attack. The sword is used a lot like a (nice & sharp) pool cue in a barfight, something Mal would appreciate. I'd tell him to wait for Wing to attack first so he can find Wing's blade, then step inside and press up with his hilt (thereby fouling Wing's blade and gaining leverage) while pivoting to bring his point down into Wing's face. If Ath sidesteps out to try and clear his blade, Mal reverses and drives the forward quillon into that meticulously coifed skull, or pommel strokes Wing's nose if Mal misses with the quillons. If Wing backpedals, Mal just keeps coming and steers him into a tree or log or something. After all, Mal wanted a brawl in the first place, so why should he fight the way Wing wants?
Basil Rathbone could handle a sword, as could Errol Flynn. Christopher Lee still can, he's a serious epee fencer. The only good thing about the Star Wars prequels is that Lee was allowed to use a lightsabre the only way a weightless, edgeless energy "blade" with no inertia could be used - as a thrusting and deflection-parrying weapon. Cool as they are, lightsabres would probably be totally useless as slashing and beat-parrying weapons because a slashing blade has to have enough fast-moving mass to carry it through whatever matter it's cleaving asunder. Even if you assume it vaporizes all in its path, a lightsabre's blade cross-section has to be at least half an inch out at the tip. Take a lovely, light 1/2" birch dowel rod to the beach and try to slash the end eight inches of it through the water hard and fast. You'll see what I mean.
Good Lord, did I really just write all this? OK, I'm a sword geek, I'm sorry.
PS - Back to Shindig, a thrown knife/sword/ broken blade/ax tumbles no matter how you throw one, they simply cannot be thrown like darts. Spears and arrows fly straight because they have those lovely long shafts to stabilize the heavy sharp tip. The thrown sword flying straight and true into the baddie's gizzard, I hate that particular old Hollywood standby more than any other.
Sorry again. I'll stop now....
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Hey, shouldn't that be
Chunisall?
Heh
"Do not go gentle into that good night....
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. . ."
--Dylan Thomas
Though my soul may set in darkness
It will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly
To be fearful of the night.
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Quote:The fool chatters, whilst the wise man listens.
Originally posted by BelowZero:
Hey, shouldn't that be
Chunisall?
Heh
I have listened.
Chunisall
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I hear, O Wise Master of Sinanju!
LOL
"Do not go gentle into that good night....
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. . ."
--Dylan Thomas
Though my soul may set in darkness
It will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly
To be fearful of the night.
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Quote:
Originally posted by DesktopHippie:
I've watched every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. A lot.
And I once beat my little brother at Tekken 2. I think I was playing as Yoshimitsu (sp?). He did this really cool sword thing.
Okay, I have ~no~ martial arts training. None. Whatsoever. The reason I posted is because I'd like to know what type of martial arts would suit a beginner, and what (if anything) I should try before I even think of starting a martial arts class - given that I'm not incredibly fit and have a complete and total lack of hand eye coordination.
I've heard of a self defense style derived from Martial Arts that I ~think~ was called Krav Maga, which is supposed to be very intuitive and good for beginners. Has anyone heard of it? Any advice? I'd really like to give something like this a go. It was one of my new year's resolutions this year :)
Simple stuff is fine. Not looking to become a kick boxing champ or break bricks with my hands or anything. Just looking for an interesting way to get fit, and get some defense skills too!
if your just looking to get fit some sort of cardio kickboxing class might be the best thing. if you're looking for something you can actually use to help yourself out in a fight i'd look at something like brazilian jiu jitsu. statistics somewhere show that most streetfights go to the ground and end up in a wrestling match. brazilian jiu jitsu is a grappling discipline and has been proven to be extremely effective when dealing with people that arent likewise trained in a grappling type art. the early UFCs showed traditional martial arts like taekwondo, karate, kung fu, and so on werent very effective in real world combat situations (which is not to say they're not fine beneficial disciplines). the key seemed to be that brazilian jiu jitsu emphasized training against active resistance. these days all professional fighters cross train a combination: brazilian jiu jitsu, wrestling, boxing, and kickboxing. krav maga is an israeli system that i think they teach to their special forces. i havent heard much about it. the arts i listed above have been proven.
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If you're looking for something free, find a local high school that needs volunteer wrestling or boxing coaching assistants. I've never understood why more people don't do this; plain old catch-as-catch-can wrestling is an extremely effective self-defense system, especially if you quietly study up on the competition-illegal locks and trips (illegal because they can do serious or fatal damage.) Combat effectiveness has more to do with the frequency with which you practice than the particular system you practice. During season, high school and college wrestlers practice 5-7 days a week. Fiori's system of teaching swordsmanship begins with comprehensive instruction in wrestling locks and throws - some of the scariest I've ever seen, BTW.
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Quote:
Originally posted by DesktopHippie:
I've heard of a self defense style derived from Martial Arts that I ~think~ was called Krav Maga, which is supposed to be very intuitive and good for beginners. Has anyone heard of it? Any advice? I'd really like to give something like this a go. It was one of my new year's resolutions this year :)
I started Krav Maga at the beginning of the year and it is by far the best practical fighting system I have seen. I think the website would do a far better job explaining it then me.
http://www.kravmaga.com
I love it. It is a great workout but also actually teaches you how to fight and defend yourself. They have some videos on the website people should check out.
As for being good for beginners I will say it is very easy to learn. Instead of teaching techniques that will work only with a lot of practice their moves follow the natural instinct and just extend it into a great attack. It is meant to be simple so when you get in a fight and the adrenaline dump starts and you forget your name you can still fight back effectively.
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Quote:My stepson was on the H.S. Wrestling team, and he was good. We were sparring one day, when he saw an opportunity as I punched to parry it, push me so that my back was facing him for a split second, and drop down to scoop my legs from behind to slam me on my face to the ground (we played a little rough, but there was a carpet...). Thing is, as I was going down, I folded into a tuck and roll, and was on my feet in a blink. No thought went into is; I simply flowed with the force (HA! Unintentional Jedi reference!).
Originally posted by Duelist:
plain old catch-as-catch-can wrestling is an extremely effective self-defense system, especially if you quietly study up on the competition-illegal locks and trips (illegal because they can do serious or fatal damage.)
Attitude has a lot to do with combat. My attitude is; the 'Verse is made of circles.
And Jackie Chan is my man.
Oh, and Shinanju is the Sun
.Chunisall
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