Corpsey

bandz ahoy
if you post here and version doesnt like your post youve failed. you feel so hollow and despondant
I wasn't sure if version would like those pictures I just wanted to post them somewhere and this felt like a good venue
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
On munch break getting spammed by a colleague with Orange march vids, eg


The banners (reminiscent of trade unions), troop bands, drummers, clown clothes and colour schemes. Make up of sash sectors, sash lasses, drunk audience participants and ages. The spectacle and noise drumming up hate, utterly repellent, funny, tragic, likeable
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I've actually been doing some longsword fencing recently, because there's a group who train around the corner from me and I'm a massive nerd.
Is it fun? Or in fact, what's it like in general? Do you get hurt? Do you hurt people etc etc

I wouldn't mind trying fencing like they do in the Olympics... no idea where on earth to do it here though.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Is it fun? Or in fact, what's it like in general? Do you get hurt? Do you hurt people etc etc

I wouldn't mind trying fencing like they do in the Olympics... no idea where on earth to do it here though.

It's fun. It's reasonably safe, although you're basically practicing hitting each other with long bits of metal or hardened plastic, which has obvious risks. For sparring or full speed / unpredictable training people mitigate that by wearing a load of protective gear, whereas for drilling and stuff you tend to have less gear (basically a fencing mask and gloves for us) and just rely on your partner pulling their strikes a bit and not hitting you with any force in places that aren't protected. Obviously this stuff can go wrong (protective gear isn't perfect, training partners can get carried away), but I've not had anything worse than the odd bruise so far. And I haven't really sparred yet apart from playing around with foam sabres occasionally, which is fun.

Groups seem to vary a lot too, afaict - sometimes it's literally just a bunch of people trying to understand some obscure medieval Italian fencing treatise and translate the rather cryptic descriptions into actual techniques that have a chance of working, sometimes it's like a normal martial arts class where the instructor has worked out a system based on their interpretation of the sources and just tells people what to do. We're kind of in the middle in that the instructor has their interpretation worked out, but does tie it back quite closely to the original source as he teaches.

Sport fencing seems kind of fun too. Quite closely related to the more recent forms of historic fencing (ie smallsword and military sabre), AIUI, except that they've spent the last hundred years or so tweaking the rule set to make it a more interesting sport rather than trying to replicate an actual fight as closely as possible.
 

mvuent

Void Dweller
my favorite dancer, at any rate. the contrast between the amount of concentration visibly going in vs. the leaden, arhythmic flailing produced instills a strong sense of pathos in witnesses.
 
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