Hey guys, it's me Jean, the fat guy from the Slum Fu Stompers down in New Orleans. Hakon and I really enjoyed running into y'all at the fest a couple of weeks back, we saw some good fights. Sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner I've been a bit swamped, if you'll forgive the term.

I'm going to try to come up this weekend if I can get my act together and maybe bring a sharp and some pumpkins to chop in half. I find that kind of thing very theraputic. I may bring a few friends and some sparring gear and go a few rounds with you guys. Again, it kind of depends on a variety of factors. I'll make it up there again sooner or later though.

In the meantime, here are some of our videos on Youtube. Most of the sparring stuff is kind of old, all from before Katrina anyway so you guys may have seen some of it already, though there might be some newer footage you haven't seen yet mixed in. You can also see some test-cutting vids. It's more fun than it looks:)

Meanwhile keep up the good work, and keep having fun!

Some vids:


Sparring (long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6Iw7iqzM0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAUXRxHORGw

Sparring (short)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loorVFe2cRo

Test cutting (short)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgWhGpH3YM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biKEjMlMW_I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpn1dSdlvg

Big Dummy

cool. hope to see you soon.

Thanks Dallas... I'm still trying to organize a trip up there before this season is over. We may make it up this weekend, we are having a practice saturday morning and I'm going to try to get some of the lads to take the little road trip with me afterword.

here is a clip of some test-cutting we did this weekend with my Albion Constable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ZzsPlopRg

When do you start test cutting corpses?

I hear that's how they used to rate katanas back in the day.

"And this one here is a 6 and a half corpser! Tough to come by a blade that can cut through six and a half corpses. Why, I remember back in the day you were considered miiiiiighty lucky to cut through three corpses with even the best of blades!"

Makes you wonder who cleaned things up after a smith finished making a batch of new katanas...

I think that the guy that cut through the least amount of corpses had to clean up the whole mess ;D

...or maybe the guy that cut through the most, got to pick which of his buddies would clean up! :P

Tell you what, if your next match goes south and you accidentally brain somebody in the audience, bring the corpse down here, I'll be glad to cut it....


Semi seriously though, I know you guys like rataan, I notice they are selling it fairly cheap here (around $10):

http://www.swordsofhonor.com/winsteel.html

Big Dummy

Thought you guys might enjoy seeing this LARP group from French Canada, a bit more theatrical / choereographed looking than what y'all do but I thought it looked pretty cool, especially for LARP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKp0-vwwH4o

The fighters being release from the cages was pretty cool visualy.
-D

I have to say, that was moderately impressive!
It is not really knights in shining armour, but it hits the gladiator aspect on the head!
I do think that the crowd would dig it, but the area (surrounding the pit) would need to lend itself to that atmosphere as well, otherwise it would look cheap.
The costumes looked good together, at least for my first time watching it. I did not recognize any immediate non-period articles of clothing either.
For the cages to work, you may need to have some sort of pit-backdrop, so it kinda appears that the fighters cannot escape from each other. (Might be hard for 3 judges to be in there, but who knows?)
The guys were moving very quickly too, I liked that! Perhaps they use foam under there clothes? No helmets either?! We could do that with advanced fighters and make sure that head-shots are never allowed. I may go for that!

Obviously a couple of those guys were extraordinary athletes, probably trained in gymnastics. IIRC Cirque du Soliel comes form Quebec too :) One of the reasons they weren't using helmets and are so quick is that they are using LARP weapons which are considerably lighter than the weapons you use (LARP weapons are ridiculously light IMO) I also think at least some of that was partly choreographed.

Also being LARP, re: period costumes, I think at least two of the combattants were dressed as goblins or monsters of some kind (the really agile guy with the two daggers looks like he has a green mask)

They definately did put on a good show though and I agree some of the ideas could definately lend itself to your event. I like the drumming going on in the bakcground, don't know if that was just the sound track or what but it lent to increased drama and tension, the fire too. I wonder if you could dig a pit on your site and make a little wall around it...? You guys are up on a hill aren't you?

The guy who posted the video on youtube emailed me so if you like I could put you in touch with him if you had any questions.


BTW. you guys should post some of your vids on Youtube it's a good way to get attention and support, it has brought a lot of to our group.

J