Timewaster's Guide Archive

Stage Combat Swordplay is hard to do.  Especialy when you are dealing with the kind of "showey" style of a Lightsaber (For something that cuts anything and has no weight  they shure hack hard)
It would be easier if they were fencing,  (set your safe distance and your strikes and it should look good w/o too much concentration)
But with this stuff you really must be mindfull as you need to be closer to get those high-angle strikes and you are therefore at more risk of hitting your opponent.  

for 1 stage combat fight (Katanas) what we did to practice is just spar with bamboo for a few afternoons until we were able to anticipate each other, then spent a couple weeks on the actual choreagraphed strikes, Then we finaly moved to 1/2 speed steel and did the actual scene with steel at 3/4 speed.  
It had the benifit of looking more real, we knew what the other was doing and could watch eachothers shoulders like rather than blades, but DANM it was alot of work invested for 45 seconds of preformance.  

Then again,  they are probably using plastic poles for Lightsabers, so they dont have to be as safe as they would if they were going to do a scene in steel, But I am guessing they didnt have the time to invest Weeks upon weeks into each duel.  

As the eternal Optomist,  The name Star Wars alone is enough to get me to the theater on opening night.  
$8 is a small price to pay to be there at a cinematic event.  
If it sucks, so be it,  You were there when the suck hit the fan
If it rocks, you were there to share in film history

Actualy, either way, it's film history, so I will be there.  

I was irritated by Jar-Jar in ep1.  
And the Fireplace Scene in Ep2 suffered from Really poor delivery (IMAO this was do to poor direction)

Watching that Trailer and rewatching EP1 made something click for me.  

Lucas HAD to start Light and Bright in Ep1... Each film gets Darker and Darker, until Empire,  Then it lightenes up some for ROTJ
So EP1 is a trivial matter, the mains, dont realise the import of the events to what is going to happen.  
Ep2 is more serious but its still focused on maintaining the Status Quo,
Ep3 CRUSHES the Status Quo and the import of it all needs to Slam down like a Blast door on our mains
EP4 is the strugle for survival in this new reality
EP5 is finding a path that might lead out (Luke's Training)
EP6 is the breaking of the darkness set upon the Galaxy in 3

Looking back, it seems to me that, from a story and style prespective, Lucas knew what he was doing.  
Starting trivial with foreshaddowing and then lowering the Boom in 3.  

Like many of life's problems,  This can best be explained by fish

By allowing this guest to stay, pay little rent and crash on the couch.... You are giving him a fish

Forcing him to get a job and his own place (Get back on his feet) You will be teaching him to fish


And House guests are like fish... after a few days, they start to stink

Who else is gonna mow your lawn so you can relax on Sunday afternoon?

Yep!  Spanish would be more valid in this day and age and in the America to come.  

I predict we will be making closer ties with Latin America, now that most of Western Euorope has demonstrated that they have little in common with us anymore.  

As to Russia, It is a shame that Putin has taken the country so many steps backwards as of late.  But i still have hope that the Russian Republic will REALLY be a republic one day.  A Repubic of that Size and potential, with Eastern Europian values... WOuld be a value to us.  

Aquinas is still valued, sepecialy his thoughts on "Just War" therory.  

On another board I frequent, we had filtered "teh" to "Micha learn to F*ing type"

Fear not!  I was made for JUST such an invasion!!