Fist Things First
One of my favourite Aussie shows, Double The Fist, needed extras for a huge battle scene that's going to be the finale to series 2, and because being awesome is my new calling in life, I showed up ready to kick ass and forget names.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, the Double the Fist leader Steve Foxx is about to be vanquished by an army of his enemies: medieval re-enactors. You know, the Renaissance fair, acting-like-it's-the-16th-century type of geeks? Well, they're packing weapons (and we're talking big-assed swords, shields and full knight outfits), and then at the last moment the Fist army (torn jeans, black T-shirts, flannel shirts + pool cues and tyre irons for weapons) show up and IT'S ON. There's also some Jedi Knights and stormtroopers in the mix as well. I'm sure when it hits TV next year, it's going to look totally insane.
And that's because it essentially was - the Fist army took the time to learn safety issues, choreographed fight routines and the essential moves for safe stage/screen fights. The Medieval people (who ARE actual medieval re-enactors) didn't bother with fight training, they assumed they knew it all already because they actually fought with their buddies on weekend, when they both were wearing armour and carrying swords. And because medieval re-enactors are insane, they spent a considerable amount of the time actually trying to fight people who were pretending to strike at them with makeshift weapons. I took my own wooden baseball bat from home as my #1 (it's the 'security system' that lives behind my front door - unannounced callers beware) and, well, it certainly looks more authentic as a weapon now as a result of hours of being used to parry sword strikes. In the end I found a medievalist with enough sense to set up a good-looking-but-non-lethal fight routine that looped, and we fought endlessly throughout the rest of the day. It was quite therapeudic, pretending to beat people senseless with psychopathic rage. Scarily so. I've locked my bat away for a while until I return to feeling normal again.
In other news, guess what I'm cooking right now? The packet says KANGA BANGAS which means, yes, kangaroo sausages! The supermarket now sells kangaroo sausages, steaks and everything else. It's a unique privilege to live in a country where you can eat your animal mascots. Take notes, America.
In other, other news, I've started a new accounting course (my 2nd last one, which is great), bought a PSP (which is great), the videogame-music opera house thing was great (which is great), and work's now insisting on an insane 90+% work efficiency rate given we couldn't meet the previous efficiency rate of a difficult 70% (which is great .... heh, no. This one isn't great, but they can't all be winners). It's going to make work pretty stressful for a while, but don't worry about me. I recently discovered a therapeudic way to unwind...
Without spoiling too much of the plot, the Double the Fist leader Steve Foxx is about to be vanquished by an army of his enemies: medieval re-enactors. You know, the Renaissance fair, acting-like-it's-the-16th-century type of geeks? Well, they're packing weapons (and we're talking big-assed swords, shields and full knight outfits), and then at the last moment the Fist army (torn jeans, black T-shirts, flannel shirts + pool cues and tyre irons for weapons) show up and IT'S ON. There's also some Jedi Knights and stormtroopers in the mix as well. I'm sure when it hits TV next year, it's going to look totally insane.
And that's because it essentially was - the Fist army took the time to learn safety issues, choreographed fight routines and the essential moves for safe stage/screen fights. The Medieval people (who ARE actual medieval re-enactors) didn't bother with fight training, they assumed they knew it all already because they actually fought with their buddies on weekend, when they both were wearing armour and carrying swords. And because medieval re-enactors are insane, they spent a considerable amount of the time actually trying to fight people who were pretending to strike at them with makeshift weapons. I took my own wooden baseball bat from home as my #1 (it's the 'security system' that lives behind my front door - unannounced callers beware) and, well, it certainly looks more authentic as a weapon now as a result of hours of being used to parry sword strikes. In the end I found a medievalist with enough sense to set up a good-looking-but-non-lethal fight routine that looped, and we fought endlessly throughout the rest of the day. It was quite therapeudic, pretending to beat people senseless with psychopathic rage. Scarily so. I've locked my bat away for a while until I return to feeling normal again.
In other news, guess what I'm cooking right now? The packet says KANGA BANGAS which means, yes, kangaroo sausages! The supermarket now sells kangaroo sausages, steaks and everything else. It's a unique privilege to live in a country where you can eat your animal mascots. Take notes, America.
In other, other news, I've started a new accounting course (my 2nd last one, which is great), bought a PSP (which is great), the videogame-music opera house thing was great (which is great), and work's now insisting on an insane 90+% work efficiency rate given we couldn't meet the previous efficiency rate of a difficult 70% (which is great .... heh, no. This one isn't great, but they can't all be winners). It's going to make work pretty stressful for a while, but don't worry about me. I recently discovered a therapeudic way to unwind...