[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:47:16 GMT ]
Jatkukoon hyvinvointi
Olkoon mieli ja ruumis ravitut
Hallitkoon hallitsijat oikeudenmukaisesti
Vallitkoon kaikkialla maailmassa
rakkaus ja lempeys
tieto ja viisaus
onnellisuus ja hyvyys
Tulkoot vuodenajat ajallaan
Antakoon maa hyvän sadon
Varttukoon seuraavat sukupolvet
Karkottakoon oikeus ja vapaus pelon
Loppukoon köyhyys
Eläköön jokainen ihminen
sata tervettä vuotta
(Vanhaa intialaista rukousta mukaillen.)
Let us be well
Let my body and soul be nourished
Let those who rule do it justly
Let there be in all the world
Love and kindness
Knowledge and wisdom
Happiness and virtue
Let the seasons come and go on time
Let the harvests be bountiful
Let new generations be born and grow
Let justice and freedom end fear
Let poverty vanish
Let every human being
live a hundred healthy years.
(Freely translated from a Finnish translation of a traditional Indian prayer.)
Posted in Plain English, Sama suomeksi | 1 comment
[ Posted by Janka
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:03:45 GMT ]
Note that this figure also shows the ending of the counter on Plate 18, even though we arrive to it more directly.
This figure shows the strike in quarta with the crossing of the left leg behind [that was discussed just previously].
Basic sequence: C closes in on the outside. D disengages to thrust C in the face. C turns to quarta, passes his left leg behind his right, off the line, and strikes D in the face (shown).
Counter: Had D been an experienced fencer, she would have disengaged first to gain his sword on the inside(1), and then passed immediately forward with her left leg and given C a thrust in his chest.
Variation: Alternatively, she could disengage and beat his sword and then attack with a riverso to his face. Retreating in terza, she would be very safe.
(1) The scanzo of the basic sequence can work against a proper disengage to gain the sword before attack, but it makes the timing much trickier. The pass with the strike makes it even more so.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | no comments
[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:29:39 GMT ]
The Guy today at a private lesson: "Think of it as going so slow that you can AAR in the middle of combat". No, he does not play EVE with me. He reads my blog. It sort of helped, though the idea is bizarre.
To be honest I thought we did this plate already but I am too lazy to go back to see what the difference was. I should really go through CF and tabulate all the sequences according to lines, steps, and timings used to see what the pattern is there. I assume there must be one, and he is not just putting together sequences as they occur to him. Call me naive. But for now, it is enough that I practice "seeing" sequences in my head as I read them, I think.
This picture shows a thrust to the throat with a pass of the left foot.
Basic sequence: C closes in on the outside. B disengages to thrust C in the face. During B's disengage, C turns to quarta and strikes her in the face or the throat with a pass.
Counter: Had B been an experienced fencer, she would have disengaged to a feint, her body held back a bit. When C comes confidently forward with his strike, B passes her left leg behind her right, turning 90 degrees off the line, and strikes him in the chest.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | no comments
[ Posted by Janka
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:46:37 GMT ]
Bored now.
Fancy talk about how training makes me feel would go here, if not being allowed to train had not made me (uncharacteristically) feel all "LESS TALK MORE FENCING" instead.
Now experimenting with "close" for stringere. I did not promise that the language will stay consistent. If I ever do a rewrite of all this stuff with actually reading the original and all that jazz, I will settle on one translation, but for now, I am just toying around.
This picture shows a strike near the ear with a step off the line with the right foot(1).
Basic sequence: C closes in on the outside. B disengages to strike in quarta. C steps off the line as shown, and strikes B in the head, near his ear.
Counter: had B been a sharper person, he would have disengaged with a feint, holding his body back for a bit. When C comes confidently forward with her strike, B would meet her sword on the outside, lower his point to seconda and pass with the left leg, all in the same time, striking her in the side and controlling her blade with his left hand(2).
(1) No kidding? We have eyes, Mr CF.
(2) See scannatura, Plate 13.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | no comments
[ Posted by Janka
Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:32:29 GMT ]
Joo, nyt se sitten on alkanut.
Tässä paras kuulemani vihje (käsien pesemisen ja sairaana kotiinjäämisen kaltaisten toivottavasti tässä vaiheessa itsestäänselvyyksien lisäksi) possuflunssan seurausten vähentämiseksi jokaisen omalla kohdalla:
Mitä tahansa aikataulutattekin just nyt, laatikaa suunnitelmat sillä oletuksella, että seuraavan parin kuukauden aikana jokainen asiaan millään lailla liittyvä ihminen on ilman ennakkoilmoitusta poissa kuvioista kaksi viikkoa.
Tekemättä jäävien töiden aiheuttama stressi ei liene epidemian kansanterveydellisistä vaikutuksista pienimpiä.
Posted in Sama suomeksi | Tags sikainfluenssa, terveys, unsolicited advice | 1 comment
[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:49:09 GMT ]
Note that we had a similar plate on an attack on the outside before. Here the counter has a beat, not a feint and a change of line, but both in fact work on both sides, though I do feel that a beat is easier in a quarta and a counterattack in seconda. Seconda might be just me being a mutant, but I think the beat being easier in quarta is some body mechanics stuff I cannot at this point explicate very well. (I need more basic body movement work. Crap. I hate that stuff.)
This and the next pictures demonstrate things you can do on the inside line. We always start with a stringere on the outside by one party, and a disengage to strike by the other.
Basic sequence: C stringeres on the outside. D disengages to strike. C turns to quarta and thrusts. Depending on the distance, the thrust can be with a fixed or advancing foot.
Counter: Had D been a sharper person, he would have disengaged with a beat, attacked, and withdrawn in terza.
Variation: Instead of a thrust, after the beat, D can also attack with a riverso cut.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | no comments
[ Posted by Janka
Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:18:59 GMT ]
"Stringere" or "gaining the sword" is one of the most difficult concepts to explain in swordsmanship, yet they are the very basic thing that the whole idea of defending yourself is based on.
In my never-ending search for a good word for "stringere" I have more or less arrived to "constrain" (for now). After all, by gaining his sword, you constrain his movements, and thus gain advantage. It also allows me to translate "stretta" in the sense of "closed" as "constrained", which is nice.
CF uses here and in a couple of other places "to stringere and gain" in a way that suggest he does not think of them as the same thing. I do think there seems to be a subtle difference for me too, stringere referring more to the intent of constraining his movements in order to limit the possibilities of play, and gaining his sword to the intent of gaining blade contact advantage in order to be able to know and to some extent control him while I am say preparing to attack. These are not separate concepts, but not quite the same either..
I will next explain the two-step way of gaining the enemy's sword, because I know from experience it is very useful and I don't want to proceed without explaining it(1).
If you wish to constrain his sword, be it on the inside or the outside, you must begin by constraining it at its debole, about a palm's length from the point. If you are on his inside, you must point your sword to his right shoulder. If you are on his outside, you must point it to his left shoulder.(2)
Having first done this, you can advance, keeping control of his sword.(3)
Should he disengage, you will immediately counter-disengage and regain your advantage. Alternatively, you can counter-disengage and thrust, but if you do, the attack must come at the time of his disengage.
If the adversary comes to constrain your sword, and it is on the straight line and your arm extended, you must immediately disengage, find his sword, and step forward.(4)
If you have to disengage in order to gain his sword on the inside, carry your right foot forward, hold your left hand close to your right, and bend your body slightly to the right while you do it. Then pass with your left foot and strike him in the chest with a quarta.
And similarly, if you have to disengage in order to gain his sword on the outside, carry your right foot forward and bend your body to the left, and you can pass with your left foot and strike him in the chest in seconda.(5)
When you look at the following figures, they demonstrate a constraining of the sword on the outside in terza. However, bear in mind that this is not really where the play starts: the control must first be gained as described above.
(1) Nevermind that he got this far without doing so, regardless of past 10 plates or so beginning with the action.
(2) This constrains his movements, because you have now closed the line from his point to your body: he cannot strike you without going around your sword somehow. Should you not point the sword towards "his" side, the line is not closed, and so he is not constrained in his choices.
(3) Translation says "walk towards his sword" which does not sound right at all. I don't have the original. This is pure guesswork from what makes sense to me.
(4) There's two steps to constraining: one where the deboles cross, and the other when you step closer and gain full control. The point here seems to be: if he does the first, you can immediately do the second, if you are in the position to do so. The extended arm confuses me, though.
(5) One of these days I will go through all this and see in which situations he says to pass rather than lunge. I have a hunch there is a connection there, but what exactly I cannot yet say.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | no comments
[ Posted by Janka
Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:18:26 GMT ]
I am experimenting here with using "he" and "she" for the two participants, to make it clearer who is doing what. This option was not available for CF due to cultural reasons, but it should not stop me. Apologies for the anatomical incorrectness of the pictures that follows.
This figure shows a strike to the right flank with a pass while the adversary disengages to strike. This sort of attack is called "scannatura", butchering.
Basic sequence: C gains D's sword on the outside. D disengages to thrust C in the face. C lowers his point to seconda, and meets D's sword on the outside, stepping forward and placing his hand on her hilt, and thrusting her in the flank (shown).
This picture shows a counter-attack without any sort of parry component, only with a lowering of the body below the enemy's sword.
Basic sequence: D gains C's sword on the inside. C disengages to strike D in the face. D steps forward and lowers her body as shown, and strikes C in "contra tempo", that is, at the time of his attack. (Shown.)
Variation: D could also first parry in terza, and then lower the point to seconda, and pass to strike C in the chest, using her left hand to control his sword.
Counters: Had C been a sharper person, he could have withdrawn his right foot when D comes forward to strike. He could then meet her on the outside, to strike with a scannatura. He could also, while withdrawing, parry with his left hand, coming from above to downwards. Line is then open for an attack with a high seconda.
Posted in Plain English | Tags paraphrasing Capo Ferro | no comments
[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:35:09 GMT ]
Ok, back in business. I hope my non-fencer readers are not totally bored to death quite yet, though the material is getting quite technical (and will get more so before it ends). For the record, we are a bit past one fourth of the plates now.
This figure shows a thrust to the throat that is supported by a parry with both hands. It is done when the adversary disengages.
Basic sequence: D gains C's sword on the inside, in a low guard. C disengages to thrust D in the chest. D passes the left leg forward, brings his left hand to support his parry, and thrusts C in the throat (shown).
Had C been a clever person, he would have disengaged holding back. When D comes forward, C could then drop the point of his sword, turn his hand to seconda, avoid with his body to the left of the adversary, and disengage over C's sword, cutting him with a riverso in the face(1), and then retire in terza.
Alternatively, if C disengages holding back, he can parry D, and passing with his left leg to inside and turning his body to the right, he can in turn place two hands on the sword and strike D.(2)
(1) This sentence is very difficult to put in a way that it is clear what things must happen at the same time of what other things, and seems to me that CF has failed as badly as I have. Basically it seems to me that you need to move the body on the first tempo of the cut (when the disengage over and turn of the hand happen), and the cut lands at the end of that avoidance.
(2) Translators say this bit is a bit unclear, and boy don't I agree that it is, but I am fairly confident in my interpretation. I think by "passing with his left leg and turning the body to the right" he means that not only do you pass forward but you actually change your body orientation (ie, now left shoulder leads instead of the rights). The parry against the supported strike sounds tricky, but if you are prepared to parry and really go for the debole, early enough, I think it should be possible to pull off. Unlike the translator in the footnote, I think that if this movement requires "freeing his sword from under D's", it comes way too late, and so I have rendered the unclear "who is parrying whom" as it being D seeking to regain blade dominance.
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[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:37:20 GMT ]
I had the most interesting rapier private class this morning. I mentioned to The Guy that I lately find it difficult to remember drills in class, and that this seems to be specific to rapier - I have no memory trouble elsewhere. I can remember fencing sequences if I can remember the logic of my part ("he does something and then I do the thing that makes sense and has a disengage in it"), but I cannot recite an exercise that was just given or even one that I just did and if my partner does something unexpected (for example, when parrying opens the line so far that the change of line I am supposed to do does not make sense anymore) I just completely lose track. I have not had this problem before. I actually consider myself fairly good at remembering choreography.
The Guy says that this is because so far, I have managed to "fake" remembering fencing by remembering it as choreography, but what you need to remember for fencing is not so much a sequence but a decision tree, or a particular path down one. In tech talk (which he did not use that exactly, though he said the same thing) I can execute each node of the tree if it is presented to me, and I can bias my natural reactions to something the instructor wants from each node, but I am memoryless as to previous or upcoming states.
Apparently to fence well you do not need the memory, as such. You just need to have a good tree, and to execute the nodes very well. Unfortunately, to really get better at fencing freeplay, you need the ability to analyze a fight after it happens, and to figure out where exactly your tree and/or a specific node is screwed up, and fix that by training. (Or have a coach do that for you. Which in this context is not the complete solution. And would be more boring anyway.)
The funny thing, especially coming after the previous entry about parallels of adrenaline between EVE and fencing, is that in the computer game, I have also spent the past couple of years as a great promoter of "AARs", after action reports, as in, people explicating after losses to themselves and to others 1) what did they do, 2) what did the opponent do, 3) what lead to the loss, and 4) how could that be changed.
It is not an easy thing to analyze afterwards what happened in an adrenaline filled 90 seconds or so. One of my least favourite parts of the game probably is digging into the adrenaline-covered mush of half-recollections of a humiliating loss to figure out what exactly was I doing right before that Taranis appeared from apparently nothing to 5 km from my position and proceeded to transform my pretty ship into pretty splinters. But since interceptors generally do not appear from nothing to next to jammers at range, whatever I was doing was what kept my attention away from the overview that would have showed me the interceptor closing in. And so, to fix the problem, I need to remember that.
Luckily, one of my most favorite things is when something happens where I can immediately afterwards "see" the fight as it happened, see what lead to what, see how I was tricked, and see how to fix that next time. Traps and tactics are beautiful, and it does not really matter which party executes them. When that happens, AARs are actually fun to do: "I tried this, it sucked because of that. Note to self: in a jammer ship in a non-critical situation, align before engaging." And I love reading other people's notes like that - it's quite useful not to have to do every mistake yourself.
With practice, I have found that the proportion of AARs that seem clear sequences of actions to me instead of a muddle of confusion has gone vastly up. By trying to describe the undescribable you build awareness, understanding, and, slowly, a "vocabulary" with which to really describe actions and counteractions. When you start to have "Your Own Battleplan" in your head with some clarity, remembering which nodes in it actually activated in this or that fight becomes much easier.
Let that be a comfort to me when I struggle to change my answer to "What did he do that made you come forward and attack?" from "The... uh... the blade contact... you know how it changes?" to "His step forward gave me his debole and the time to take it."
In other fencing news, past week I have found myself actually eager to freeplay, instead of slightly dreading the inevitable day of getting back to it. I'm holding myself back a bit still, but not for long.
Posted in Plain English | Tags EVE online, training | 1 comment
