Bonzuko

Brian as Antonio enjoys his swordsmanship prowess

I’ve been working with the MSCD cast of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the fights last week. The play isn’t one of Shakespeare’s more fight-heavy ones, but the fights that are there are loads of fun because of the comedic potential. It’s been a blast working with these talented students–and some of them have fallen in love with the swords (rightly so). Any of you local lovely lurkers shoudl definitely catch this show.   ~Jenn

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Today the main movement happening is the biggest football game of America. We at Bonzuko don’t follow football normally, but it’s on in the house today (as we practice our sword cuts). That’s how we roll.

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Thanks to stellar blog i09 for alerting us to this trailer for upcoming action flick District 13: Ultimatum. Confusing name. Sounds like at least a handful of other recent action flicks, don’t it? This is yet more proof that my summer stage combat class needs to incorporate freerunning (Parkour–some wise lurker, tell me the difference between the two, please) with the advanced unarmed. Yes? Here’s a rundown:

• Ridiculous, sometimes not even possible Parkour? Win.
• Paintings vs. unarmed? Win.
• Jiggly camera? Lose.
• Sexy tattooed villainess slurping noodles? Win.
• Too many freaking edits? Lose and lose.

Will I see the movie? Nah. Maybe Netflix.   ~Jenn

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Thanks to stellar blog Boing-Boing for posting about and linking to this article about the

Maestro Dale Girard back in the day

 neuroscience of the Hollywood Western quickdraw. My conclusion? It’s a question of speed vs. accuracy. The second to draw may have a chance to make a more accurate shot than the first, quickest, shot. Other variables include: gun quality, age, and type; duellists’ skill and state of being…there are probably more.   ~Jenn

Many of you lovely lurkers who have been reading this blog for a while will have observed my mythological fondness for thieves. I don’t mean that I like thieves, I just mean that…well, two of my favorite game characters and several of my favorite literary characters fall into this Trickster-ish category. Something about the Reynards and the Garretts of the edutainment world is extremely satisfying and delightful. Even the erstwhile reality show It Takes A Thief  had some of that same charm, albeit with a dash of admonitory security learnin’.

Real stories of actual thieves, however? Maybe it’s just because the dumb ones are the ones that get caught–is that it? Maybe the era of Dillingers and Robin Hoods is gone. This article (mentioned by stellar blog mental_floss: thanks!) is one example of this sad fact.   ~Jenn

IRONY ALERT: I hope you lovely lurkers realize that I’m not really mourning the demise of the excellent (often violent) thief in our world. That wasn’t serious. The world is a better place without criminals like Dillinger. You know I know that. C’mon.   ~Jenn

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Montage from fellow stage combat blog Them’s Fightin’ Words (still love that name) from the ISMAC workshop from back in September. I continue to be inspired by knife fighting–we’ve got to do some knife stuff this summer, don’t you agree, lovely lurkers?   ~Jenn

Two grammar-related jokes that made me laugh aloud recently. One is here, the other is the image.  Thanks, Boing-boing!   ~Jenn

Happy Birthday to my brother Jesse.   ~Jenn

Jenny & Jesse

Was inspired by this post from stellar blog Dangerous Minds. Easy Reader has always been my name, and Morgan Freeman is *the* man in this early episode–look me in the eye and tell me that song isn’t “heavy,” my lovely lurkers!   ~Jenn

Easy Reader, That’s My Name: uh, uh, uh

Oh and Morgan Freeman equally brilliant as Dracula. Have you added The Electric Company to your Netflix queue yet? And when will they get 3-2-1 Contact on Netflix already?

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Here’s another picture that didn’t make it into the Stage Combat book. Post your LOLcat caption here in the comments and we’ll pick the best one.   ~Jenn