I hated Knives Out as I mentioned in my two-part review. In part because it didn’t have enough bladed weapons, even though admittedly it was a tiny part of the reason. This is just a clever way for me to say that I love weapons. A lot. This is not news to anyone who knows me, but the depth of my passion might be. Except to my taiji teacher. She is well-used to me gushing about some weapon or the other. I appreciate her patience because she is not a weapons person herself. She doesn’t dislike them, I don’t think, but she’s at best neutral about them.
One consequence of my training is that I have become a ‘well, actually’ person when it comes to weaponry that I know. I mean, it’s not unusual. I hate movies with psychologists in them because they break SO MANY LAWS. Similarly, taiji in most movies is just people waving their hands in the air. I watched Truly, Madly, Deeply with Alan Rickman in it, and there’s a scene in which he is playing the cello. I love Alan Rickman immensely, and he did a decent job of mimicking a cellist, but it was obvious he didn’t really play.
So, yeah, it’s not unusual that I wince when I see weapons-play in movies or TV. I remember when Game of Thrones was a thing. There was a scene between Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth that had everyone online raving about it. Especially ‘girl power’ and that kind of thing. I finally watched the clip, and I was underwhelmed. The two actors did the best with what they were giving, but the whole thing was ludicrous. Let’s start with the constant clashing of swords. Look. If you have a pointy-stabby thing in your hand, you’re not looking to clash it against another pointy-stabby thing. You’re looking to point and stab it into a soft bit. This is not rocket science. In addition, the wild swinging and slashing is both wasted energy expended and leaving yourself open to an attack.
Yes, I know it’s for entertainment and it’s way more interesting to watch swords clashing than to simply stab and poke someone. And, yes, in this case, they weren’t actually trying to kill each other. I don’t watch the show so I don’t know what the story was behind the clash, but it was hard to watch. In the same way, I saw a tweet thread about racism in which the OP said something about being the sword wielder meant having a tight grip on the hilt. No! You don’t want a tight grip because it makes it easier to have your sword knocked out of your hand. It was hard for me to take the rest of the thread seriously because the premise was faulty.
I still look back to when I begrudgingly started to practice taiji every day in amusement. I was so grumpy about it that I had to talk myself into doing five minutes a day, and I went through my routine as quickly as possible. It grew from there, and now it’s at least half an hour to forty-five minutes a day. At some point, I went from having to talk myself into doing it to it becoming a routine. It’s not something I need to think about except I am thinking about it because I recently added three things to the weapons section. Two double sabre drills (with escrima sticks) and bagua walking the circle with deer-horn knives. It’s about five more minutes, but I’m just marveling at how much I’m doing these days. I have a private weapons lesson every other week, and I want more. I want to learn all the weapons RIGHT NOW.
My teacher has mentioned starting the spear soon (I may have added ‘soon’, but it felt like she was implying that to me. It might just be me, though, because I would love to learn another weapon), and I’m stoked. I need to get a practice one plus practice double saber set plus a new weapons bag wouldn’t go amiss though I probably won’t be transferring them anywhere any time soon.
Oh, and just to note. The deer-horn knives are practice ones, which means they’re not sharp, but they’re not NOT sharp, either. In other words, they sting if the pointy ends stick into me. And, when I practice with the double escrima sticks in a narrow corridor (to ensure one is straight ahead and one is straight behind), I have hit myself on the legs with it. It’s one reason to practice with practice weapons. My teacher has a story of a classmate who insisted on practicing with a real sword while he was learning it. It did not end well for him.
I’m at the point with the Sword Form where I could at least think about using a sharpened weapon, but I probably won’t for some time.
As much as I love my weapons (and I love them a lot), the chance of me having to use one in real life is slim to none. Correction. The chance of me using a sword in real life is almost nil. A karamit? A much better choice as it’s small, fast, and can fit into my purse. As long as it’s not double-side bladed (illegal in the US). It’s one reason I want to learn the fan–that’s also a weapon I can carry with me. And the cane! Would love to have a sword in a cane.
It’s been a rough month. Well, it’s been a rough year or so mentally, but the last month has me really struggling. Anything that can make me smile is a good thing, which weapons do in a big way. I’ve been studying taiji for over a decade, and it’s still a chore for me to do the Solo Form. I wish it weren’t true because the Solo Form is the basis for everything we do, but there you have it. Whereas with the weapons, I am eager to practice them. I wish I could do all the weapons form I know every day, but I don’t have the energy for that. I’m pushing myself already, and I know it would put me over the edge if I were to do more.
I think as a treat to myself, I’m going to peruse double sabers and practice spears/staffs later on. It’ll be a nice pick-me-up.