1. Mike Fehlauer is indeed most-excellent!
2. Right before i started at PA, an idea I had was to start a company that just planned ultra-crazy bachelor parties. Who knows, i guess it's still a possibility.
3. And yes, only... 3 more eps left? I think?
1. Mike Fehlauer is indeed most-excellent!
2. Right before i started at PA, an idea I had was to start a company that just planned ultra-crazy bachelor parties. Who knows, i guess it's still a possibility.
3. And yes, only... 3 more eps left? I think?
ROBERT DITCH PENNY ARCADE
JUST THROW AWESOME BACHELOR PARTIES ALL THE TIME
ALSO WHERE IS THE ROBERT KHOO EPISODE YOU PROMISED
I never promised a robert khoo episode! You must be confusing me with a 5'6" hipster looking guy with glasses that works for a production company i know of.
Gabe gets to go to a real cool medieval fair, Other Mike's getting married, Khoo's throwing a kickass bachelor party, and Kurtz makes an excellent cameo.
Every episode, it's like a blender mix of all the things about Penny Arcade that makes it awesome. I love it.
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
Hey Khoo, could you do me a huge favor and ask Mike what sort of place he learned to fence like that, what with the off-hand dagger and everything? Let us say that my interest has been piqued.
Man, I wish my university fencing club had taught rapier-and-dagger. But since it's not a style used in modern competitions I can see why it wasn't a priority.
Ok, between the mention of The Hangover before, and the tone of the series so far, there is something I know would never exist because it blurs the line between reality and fantasy too much, but I would pay a billion dollars to see.
The entire PA: The Series group in a "The Hagover" scenario. Maybe switch the setting to some place geeky instead of Vegas, but the principle is the same. This will never exist because they are not fictional characters, this is real life. But I'm still getting my mind blown thinking what everyone would say or do in that scenario.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
Ok, between the mention of The Hangover before, and the tone of the series so far, there is something I know would never exist because it blurs the line between reality and fantasy too much, but I would pay a billion dollars to see.
The entire PA: The Series group in a "The Hagover" scenario. Maybe switch the setting to some place geeky instead of Vegas, but the principle is the same. This will never exist because they are not fictional characters, this is real life. But I'm still getting my mind blown thinking what everyone would say or do in that scenario.
Oh man. Khoo just looking around his office searching in vain for some personal item that would humanize him to the camera crew.
Haha, I thought for a second he was going to say something about his huge countdown clock, but then he just looked back at the camera like "errrrr... moving on..."
They need to record the Bachelor Party and post it so that those of us with upcoming Weddings can watch it and pretend it was OUR awesome Bachelor Party. Don't worry, you have until October of next year to do it.
Hey Khoo, could you do me a huge favor and ask Mike what sort of place he learned to fence like that, what with the off-hand dagger and everything? Let us say that my interest has been piqued.
tldr: Playing D&D, watching movies, and fighting--a lot--with dagger and sword.
I'm only half joking. It started with D&D--by the time of the photo of me in the orange shirt fighting my older brother with plastic swords, I'd already had one D&D character die and had progressed to 3rd level (the level cap at the time) with another character. Imagining those D&D fights (in child-like 1s person POV, of course) was the start.
Then movies. Princess Bride I mentioned, but before that there was Star Wars and Conan. I'd act out the fight choreography. If flipcams and Youtube had been around in the mid 80's, there's a high percentage chance that I'd have been Star Wars Kid.
Middle school coincided with the release of the Drizzt books, and also my descent into fanboyism. My brother (in college at the time) rescued me by describing formulaic genre fiction: "It's a story about a young male who is ostracized by a corrupt society, who has special powers revealed by a mysterious and soon-dead father figure, and who goes on to kill all his enemies and escape to a better world. You're a nerdy 8th grader. Of *course* you like these books." The damage was already done, though, and this is when I first started fighting with two weapons. By larping. In highschool, somewhere on the BBS network (the pre-Internet of the time) I dialed in to a board that contained instructions on how to build swords out of PVC, pipe insulation, and duct tape. I got a bunch of buddies together, made a bunch of weapons, and fought. A lot. Over time I got in touch with other groups in other neighborhoods. One day I loaded up the car (a totally sweet Crown Vic station wagon with fake wood paneling) and drove all over SE Michigan to all the weekend battles, and beat every fighter in each town. Typing that up, it feels silly to say, but at the time I thought it was pretty cool.
During college I again found some fellow nerds and the duct-tape weapons soon swung again. But this time my boffer pals were martial arts instructors. I taught them how to swordfight, they taught me karate (building on some casual aikido I'd learned in high school). With the addition of actual body mechanics, footwork, and form, my homebrew technique started to settle into something akin to an actual fighting style. We took the show on the road during a study abroad semester in London , the highlight of which was a 4-day camping event/war on a hill in Nottingham ([URL="(http://www.curiouspastimes.co.uk/)"]http://www.curiouspastimes.co.uk/[/URL]).
The event itself was crazy cool. Sculpted latex weapons that looked real, amazing costumes, mass combat, and of course killer accents. I still recall the fear of walking through the drow encampment with three pals, on the way to the tavern. For whatever reason all the drow were French; they wore black makeup, white wigs, and spoke a foreign language. As we walked through, they all whispered together and pointed. The only sound was the creaking of their Ballista emplacement as it tracked us from one end of their encampment to the other.
At the end of the event, after much politicking, adventuring, and skirmishing, there was a huge war where all five factions--comprised of over 1,000 people total--duked it out in a mass battle. That's when I experienced the incomparable thrill of fighting side-by-side with your best friend--and 500 other allies. This? I've done that. I've experienced that. And there's nothing like it.
After living through that quality of LARP--the weapons, the costumes, the planning/management/execution--I just couldn't tolerate American-style LARP. I couldn't deal with "Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!" All this time I'd been aware of and casually interested in the SCA. So when I graduated and moved to Seattle, I looked them up.
There's a scene in the PATV episode that takes place under a bridge. That's the local SCA fighter practice. I looked it up online, showed up, and started talking to people. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, and answered my questions. The next week I showed up again, talked to the same people, and eventually found my way into some loaner gear, fighting at 1/4 speed. As I detail in the spoiler block, I wasn't new to swordfighting, so after seeing that I was safe at 1/4 speed, the next week I was able to show up and actually fight.
In the SCA there are two types of fighting: heavy (plate armor, wood swords) and light (no armor, steel swords). My body type, and personal style, best fits with light fighting. Plus, you get to fight with a sweet-looking rapier, and after a tournament you're not completely drenched in sweat and reeking of leather and armor oil. I was single at the time, so that last bit was key--the romanticized image of the dashing swordsman is real, and effective.
Anyway: among heavy fighters there exists a knight-squire relationship, where knights are experienced and accomplished fighters who have been raised to knighthood by invitation by the other knights. Knights are encouraged to take on squires, and pass on what they've learned (both in terms of fighting, and grace/manners/culture). Squires are selected from among the most promising new fighters.
Among lights, the relationship is don-cadet. Different name, same process. At my fourth practice two dons asked to take me on as a cadet, and I joined up with a guy named John. He was a master swordsman, black belt judoka, and a clever/funny/smart dude. His two other cadets influenced my decision. One was a huge star wars fan, and the other was a smoking hot brunette.
John's style was heavily influenced by Miyamoto Musashi, both in terms of actual technique (Miyamoto emphasized two-sword combat) as well as philosophy on and off the field. We'd train two or three times a week, 3-4 hours per session. This went on for a few years, and we had some very good times as fighters and as friends. One highlight was a kingdom championship tournament where John and I both progressed through the brackets, and made it all the way to the final four. I was worried we'd have to fight each other, but we both lost our semifinal bouts and thus tied for third. Later that day all the dons got together and, as is customary, selected one fighter for the chivalry prize--which the queen, at the evening court, presented to me. It was a good day.
Eventually John had progressed as far as he thought rapier could go, and dropped out of the SCA. He's now a kendo instructor and champion. The two other cadets likewise dropped out. I kept on fighting for a few years, won a tournament or two, and then took a five-year break starting about two years after partnering up with Mike, Jerry, and Robert. So, I'm just now getting back into it. I gotta say, it's really good to be fighting again.
Anyway, to directly answer the implied question: if you'd like to learn to fight with a sword and dagger, go to http://www.sca.org/, find your local kingdom, download their book of combat, read the rules for rapier fighting, and show up to the local fighter practice. Introduce yourself, be friendly and inquisitive and respectful, show up consistently, and express interest. You'll be fighting, sword (and dagger) in hand, soon enough. There are other, non-SCA sources of instruction and practice--"Western Martial Arts" are a growing trend--but you'd miss out on the fun subculture and camaraderie of the SCA. And, seeing as how sword-and-dagger is not really practical for modern self-defense, fun is what it's all about.
Man, I wish my university fencing club had taught rapier-and-dagger. But since it's not a style used in modern competitions I can see why it wasn't a priority.
You probably want to find someone who teaches 'historical fencing'.
The scoring rules tend to be different from modern fencing. From the video, based on equipment and stuff in the background -- looks like Mike is learning fencing in the SCA.
If he's not into SCA, he's probably a regular with another sort of re-enactment group that .
edit: dangit mike, you beat me to it before i even had a chance.
(are you going to the an-tir / west event by any chance?)
whether your thing is making clothes and artwork (or furniture, or wrought iron stuff... anything as it was done back then), general medeival history interest, or putting on armor and hitting other dudes with stick (or in Mike's case, looking a lot cooler by fighting light list with a rapier)
SCA meetings are boring... and yeah, that's probably why it was the middle-age ladies, they are often the ones who keep things organized and running.
Fighter Practices on the other hand... well, it's a bunch of guys smacking each other with weapons, improving their technique, and generally having a good time.
I think the second of the two is much more interesting :P
Posts
2. Right before i started at PA, an idea I had was to start a company that just planned ultra-crazy bachelor parties. Who knows, i guess it's still a possibility.
3. And yes, only... 3 more eps left? I think?
ROBERT DITCH PENNY ARCADE
JUST THROW AWESOME BACHELOR PARTIES ALL THE TIME
ALSO WHERE IS THE ROBERT KHOO EPISODE YOU PROMISED
stories from previous bachelor parties? Hmm.
well..
no that wouldn't be right.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
8.5 straight minutes of Robert Khoo
typing on his laptop
on the phone, talking quietly
underlining key learnings
counting piles of money
stroking his beard
Gabe gets to go to a real cool medieval fair, Other Mike's getting married, Khoo's throwing a kickass bachelor party, and Kurtz makes an excellent cameo.
Every episode, it's like a blender mix of all the things about Penny Arcade that makes it awesome. I love it.
Holding strokey-beard meetings.
"We've sold but two cans of Mr. Dog dog food!"
:^: gonna go watch that tonight
It really is neat to see how PA works and plays, beyond Mike and Jerry.
Also, +1 requesting of Khoo-planned bachelor party stories.
Not that there aren't crazy people, but it isn't FULL of crazy people.
The entire PA: The Series group in a "The Hagover" scenario. Maybe switch the setting to some place geeky instead of Vegas, but the principle is the same. This will never exist because they are not fictional characters, this is real life. But I'm still getting my mind blown thinking what everyone would say or do in that scenario.
Yeah, I'd love to see a PA CREW: Roadtrip special
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Is that still happening?
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
Haha, I thought for a second he was going to say something about his huge countdown clock, but then he just looked back at the camera like "errrrr... moving on..."
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
Also a Black Mage.
your = belonging to you
their = belonging to them
there = not here
they're = they are
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=121051
umm...
Go look at corn?
come to Orlando
we got wizards
Looks like he has a fair few FFIX things up there, not just the Vivi. Also a charlie brown something is there too.
tldr: Playing D&D, watching movies, and fighting--a lot--with dagger and sword.
Then movies. Princess Bride I mentioned, but before that there was Star Wars and Conan. I'd act out the fight choreography. If flipcams and Youtube had been around in the mid 80's, there's a high percentage chance that I'd have been Star Wars Kid.
Middle school coincided with the release of the Drizzt books, and also my descent into fanboyism. My brother (in college at the time) rescued me by describing formulaic genre fiction: "It's a story about a young male who is ostracized by a corrupt society, who has special powers revealed by a mysterious and soon-dead father figure, and who goes on to kill all his enemies and escape to a better world. You're a nerdy 8th grader. Of *course* you like these books." The damage was already done, though, and this is when I first started fighting with two weapons. By larping. In highschool, somewhere on the BBS network (the pre-Internet of the time) I dialed in to a board that contained instructions on how to build swords out of PVC, pipe insulation, and duct tape. I got a bunch of buddies together, made a bunch of weapons, and fought. A lot. Over time I got in touch with other groups in other neighborhoods. One day I loaded up the car (a totally sweet Crown Vic station wagon with fake wood paneling) and drove all over SE Michigan to all the weekend battles, and beat every fighter in each town. Typing that up, it feels silly to say, but at the time I thought it was pretty cool.
During college I again found some fellow nerds and the duct-tape weapons soon swung again. But this time my boffer pals were martial arts instructors. I taught them how to swordfight, they taught me karate (building on some casual aikido I'd learned in high school). With the addition of actual body mechanics, footwork, and form, my homebrew technique started to settle into something akin to an actual fighting style. We took the show on the road during a study abroad semester in London , the highlight of which was a 4-day camping event/war on a hill in Nottingham ([URL="(http://www.curiouspastimes.co.uk/)"]http://www.curiouspastimes.co.uk/[/URL]).
The event itself was crazy cool. Sculpted latex weapons that looked real, amazing costumes, mass combat, and of course killer accents. I still recall the fear of walking through the drow encampment with three pals, on the way to the tavern. For whatever reason all the drow were French; they wore black makeup, white wigs, and spoke a foreign language. As we walked through, they all whispered together and pointed. The only sound was the creaking of their Ballista emplacement as it tracked us from one end of their encampment to the other.
At the end of the event, after much politicking, adventuring, and skirmishing, there was a huge war where all five factions--comprised of over 1,000 people total--duked it out in a mass battle. That's when I experienced the incomparable thrill of fighting side-by-side with your best friend--and 500 other allies. This? I've done that. I've experienced that. And there's nothing like it.
After living through that quality of LARP--the weapons, the costumes, the planning/management/execution--I just couldn't tolerate American-style LARP. I couldn't deal with "Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!" All this time I'd been aware of and casually interested in the SCA. So when I graduated and moved to Seattle, I looked them up.
There's a scene in the PATV episode that takes place under a bridge. That's the local SCA fighter practice. I looked it up online, showed up, and started talking to people. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, and answered my questions. The next week I showed up again, talked to the same people, and eventually found my way into some loaner gear, fighting at 1/4 speed. As I detail in the spoiler block, I wasn't new to swordfighting, so after seeing that I was safe at 1/4 speed, the next week I was able to show up and actually fight.
In the SCA there are two types of fighting: heavy (plate armor, wood swords) and light (no armor, steel swords). My body type, and personal style, best fits with light fighting. Plus, you get to fight with a sweet-looking rapier, and after a tournament you're not completely drenched in sweat and reeking of leather and armor oil. I was single at the time, so that last bit was key--the romanticized image of the dashing swordsman is real, and effective.
Anyway: among heavy fighters there exists a knight-squire relationship, where knights are experienced and accomplished fighters who have been raised to knighthood by invitation by the other knights. Knights are encouraged to take on squires, and pass on what they've learned (both in terms of fighting, and grace/manners/culture). Squires are selected from among the most promising new fighters.
Among lights, the relationship is don-cadet. Different name, same process. At my fourth practice two dons asked to take me on as a cadet, and I joined up with a guy named John. He was a master swordsman, black belt judoka, and a clever/funny/smart dude. His two other cadets influenced my decision. One was a huge star wars fan, and the other was a smoking hot brunette.
John's style was heavily influenced by Miyamoto Musashi, both in terms of actual technique (Miyamoto emphasized two-sword combat) as well as philosophy on and off the field. We'd train two or three times a week, 3-4 hours per session. This went on for a few years, and we had some very good times as fighters and as friends. One highlight was a kingdom championship tournament where John and I both progressed through the brackets, and made it all the way to the final four. I was worried we'd have to fight each other, but we both lost our semifinal bouts and thus tied for third. Later that day all the dons got together and, as is customary, selected one fighter for the chivalry prize--which the queen, at the evening court, presented to me. It was a good day.
Eventually John had progressed as far as he thought rapier could go, and dropped out of the SCA. He's now a kendo instructor and champion. The two other cadets likewise dropped out. I kept on fighting for a few years, won a tournament or two, and then took a five-year break starting about two years after partnering up with Mike, Jerry, and Robert. So, I'm just now getting back into it. I gotta say, it's really good to be fighting again.
Anyway, to directly answer the implied question: if you'd like to learn to fight with a sword and dagger, go to http://www.sca.org/, find your local kingdom, download their book of combat, read the rules for rapier fighting, and show up to the local fighter practice. Introduce yourself, be friendly and inquisitive and respectful, show up consistently, and express interest. You'll be fighting, sword (and dagger) in hand, soon enough. There are other, non-SCA sources of instruction and practice--"Western Martial Arts" are a growing trend--but you'd miss out on the fun subculture and camaraderie of the SCA. And, seeing as how sword-and-dagger is not really practical for modern self-defense, fun is what it's all about.
Why are we relevant?
You probably want to find someone who teaches 'historical fencing'.
The scoring rules tend to be different from modern fencing. From the video, based on equipment and stuff in the background -- looks like Mike is learning fencing in the SCA.
If he's not into SCA, he's probably a regular with another sort of re-enactment group that .
edit: dangit mike, you beat me to it before i even had a chance.
(are you going to the an-tir / west event by any chance?)
the SCA can be a lot of fun
Also I could not even imagine swordfighting in Florida weather.
Used to do the home-made foam sword stuff with my friends back in the day, though.
Fighter Practices on the other hand... well, it's a bunch of guys smacking each other with weapons, improving their technique, and generally having a good time.
I think the second of the two is much more interesting :P
Back in 2003, you had an... interesting experience while staying with a family for the holidays.
But... just whose family were they? The newspost doesn't specify.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar