During my physical culture workshop at VISS last weekend, we looked at a few feats of strength. Some of these might be thought of as cheating, others are outright stage illusions. Victorian Classic Strength First up, classic feats from the Bartitsu Compendium I, in a section called "How to Pose as a Strongman". 1. Using…
I was inspired by CBC Ideas podcast “Eureka! Mapping the Creative Mind” to discuss creativity this week. If you have more technological interests, CBC Spark also discussed creativity this weekend. Mainly, I’m distilling the current research into creativity itself, and we’ll talk about applications to both theatrical combat and real fighting at the end. Creative…
Everyone is buzzing about the release of the third installment of the Hobbit movie trilogy, set to premiere here in Canada on December 17th. The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies is bound to be filled with all of the amazing special effects, big battles, and action that Peter Jackson is famous for. Even though Jackson's Hobbit…
Read More... from The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies--Martial Mistakes Movies Make
Throughout the history of cinematic fights, a variety of stunt coordinators have come to prominence, and with them their iconic styles. When a movie becomes popular and has fight scenes that are appreciated, the market is flooded with imitators. Sometimes their style is overgeneralized to apply to every weapon. These days, if you wield two…
For better or for worse, most of our students and membership come from those that first saw a demonstration of swordplay in a movie theatre, living room in front of the television or while out being cultural at the local playhouse. The ‘flash, action, and perception the of bravery and the romance’ of swordplay hook…