Moar picspam! Mini!Jack & sword demo stuff.
First off, since it's an incredibly self-indulgent reference to my own fanfic, a shot I just had to take of mini!Jack (who arrived in the mail yesterday):
"Next time the Doc shows up, I'm totally ready for him!"
Jack approves of the Mac's screensaver:
That's my Skience Mug, and LSR's "monitor lizard" mascot, FWIW. And yes, folks, this is where the fic and posts come from . . .
Anyway, been getting ready for SpoCon; we *were* going to be doing our "Medieval Gallagher" routine (whacking fruits and veggies with functional-grade historical weapons to show how effective our ancestors' killing technology really was, in a way the audience can relate to), but the club ended up subsidizing a lot of peoples' memberships and housing, cutting (no pun intended) into our budget. Fresh produce is expensive, so . . . we decided to test alternatives for the demo.
A popular target for Western Martial Arts "test cutting" (edged weapons practice) is a 2 liter bottle filled with water. The plastic of the bottle cuts easily, and the water gives enough weight for proper resistance without impeding the blade. It also makes a nicely impressive "sploosh." :D
Anyway, at the event we're going to be suspending items to be cut from a string on the end of a very long pole held by a second person (primitive, but it works). Since a 2L bottle full of water is unwieldy at the end of an 8-foot pole, I thought we could try "mini bottles" -- the 20 oz. pop bottle size. Seemed that would have enough weight to cut nicely while not being too freaking heavy, using less water in the bargain. Also, we can save the bottle remnants and recycle them, which is a nice bonus. Reduce, reuse, and all that good stuff. So, I collected a few bottles over a few days' pop drinking, and we gave the idea a shot.
Here's me whacking a bottle with an unterhau (rising cut) from a schrankhut guard. Not my best form (I should be recovering to a nice vom Tag guard or something, but I was watching the bottle, so my blade is just sort of out there at a random angle . . . bad Ruth). The water spray is impressive, at least (the actual bottle bits aren't visible in this shot, though).
Jeez. I gotta do something about those damn love handles . . . Anyway, proving that I hit it, the pieces of the victim:
Yessir, if I'm ever attacked in a dark alleyway by a bottle full of water when I happen to be carrying my good cutting sword, I'm ready . . . ! XD
Hope the audience won't feel too cheated if they get a few of these cuts in place of the usual melons and such. I'm figuring we'll also cut up a few heads of cabbage and some zucchini. If the budget allows, a mace and a watermelon make for a very crowd pleasing (if messy) finale . . .
Why yes, people *have* told me I'm odd. Your point being?
"Next time the Doc shows up, I'm totally ready for him!"
Jack approves of the Mac's screensaver:
That's my Skience Mug, and LSR's "monitor lizard" mascot, FWIW. And yes, folks, this is where the fic and posts come from . . .
Anyway, been getting ready for SpoCon; we *were* going to be doing our "Medieval Gallagher" routine (whacking fruits and veggies with functional-grade historical weapons to show how effective our ancestors' killing technology really was, in a way the audience can relate to), but the club ended up subsidizing a lot of peoples' memberships and housing, cutting (no pun intended) into our budget. Fresh produce is expensive, so . . . we decided to test alternatives for the demo.
A popular target for Western Martial Arts "test cutting" (edged weapons practice) is a 2 liter bottle filled with water. The plastic of the bottle cuts easily, and the water gives enough weight for proper resistance without impeding the blade. It also makes a nicely impressive "sploosh." :D
Anyway, at the event we're going to be suspending items to be cut from a string on the end of a very long pole held by a second person (primitive, but it works). Since a 2L bottle full of water is unwieldy at the end of an 8-foot pole, I thought we could try "mini bottles" -- the 20 oz. pop bottle size. Seemed that would have enough weight to cut nicely while not being too freaking heavy, using less water in the bargain. Also, we can save the bottle remnants and recycle them, which is a nice bonus. Reduce, reuse, and all that good stuff. So, I collected a few bottles over a few days' pop drinking, and we gave the idea a shot.
Here's me whacking a bottle with an unterhau (rising cut) from a schrankhut guard. Not my best form (I should be recovering to a nice vom Tag guard or something, but I was watching the bottle, so my blade is just sort of out there at a random angle . . . bad Ruth). The water spray is impressive, at least (the actual bottle bits aren't visible in this shot, though).
Jeez. I gotta do something about those damn love handles . . . Anyway, proving that I hit it, the pieces of the victim:
Yessir, if I'm ever attacked in a dark alleyway by a bottle full of water when I happen to be carrying my good cutting sword, I'm ready . . . ! XD
Hope the audience won't feel too cheated if they get a few of these cuts in place of the usual melons and such. I'm figuring we'll also cut up a few heads of cabbage and some zucchini. If the budget allows, a mace and a watermelon make for a very crowd pleasing (if messy) finale . . .
Why yes, people *have* told me I'm odd. Your point being?