new Joy Division biopic

Control Comes out somewhere between October 5 and 10, depending on whether you believe the site above or IMDB.

Definitely looking forward to this one, if only for the music, though with Anton Corbijn directing and all the good reviews, it should actually be a good movie as well.

I'm so glad whoever making it didn't go with Jude Law as Ian Curtis as was rumored a couple of years back - he's too old, too well known, and too pretty. I've never heard of the actor who is playing him but he seems a good choice based on the trailer.

Finally! A place to park the X-Wing

From hockeycat:

Your home is a Four-wheeling Coder's Retreat Your kitchen is manned by a team of Keebler Drow Elves. Your master bedroom is decorated to look like the treetop village of the Galadhrim. Your study has every language reference book ever written, including now-useless titles like Learn Javascript 2.0! and C++ Programming for Windows 95. (Why are you keeping those?) One of your garages is home to your ATVs, hangglider, snowmobiles, and jetskis. It also containts a truck the size of a boat, which pulls a boat the size of a bus. Your home also includes a roost for griffons. You've never actually seen a griffon, but you keep the roost ready anyway. Your guests enjoy your collection of Warren Miller films. MAN those guys are nuts. Outside is the moat that protects your home from goblin invaders and extended family. And, you have a pet -- a unicorn named "Shadowhooves". Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Find YOUR Dream Home!

All I've got to say is that that library better be dark wood paneled with a rolling ladder and some floor that's not shown must include the fencing salle.....

sport vs. martial art

Today I managed to fence smallsword without inadvertently mixing in my foil game!

This is possibly more surprising than it should be. After all, modern foil technique is descended from historic smallsword: the footwork and stance are extremely similar and the weapons are similar (though smallswords are 3-5" shorter). So there shouldn't be much mixing 'cos they're the same, right? Right?

The difference comes in the emphasis on defense and the importance (or not) of not getting hit. In modern foil, the target is limited to the torso and while parrying for right of way is descended from the very good idea of pushing your opponent's blade away from you, it's not as essential as it would be in a martial art - if your opponent hits your arm, an off-target touch is called and you start again.

The way I train for smallsword is to treat it like a real weapon, and if you're stabbed in the arm with a 30" ice pick it will stop you in your tracks :P As such, almost every attack uses some sort of opposition to not only get your opponent out of the way but to assure that they stay away, i.e., blades are always in contact, while in sport fencing they almost never are.

Comparing today's smallsword lesson to Thursday's foil lesson highlights the difference. One example: a counterattack (attack into opponent's attack without parrying) that causes a double touch can be a good idea in foil. It results in the ref calling a halt to figure out who had right of way - even if I'm hit I might still score a touch. Counterattacking in smallsword is stupid because unless I've taken action to get my opponent's point away from me, I'm still dead :P

It's these modern rules that sometimes sends historic fencers into a sword-snobbing tirade of "that's not real fencing", and it's the lack of emphasis on just who was exercising good technique that causes some modern fencers to think that historic fencers are bunch of untrained barbarians :P

Both sides are right - modern fencing is rather like playing tag with sticks, and it is possible to fence smallsword (and other historic weapons) and rely on dumb luck/sheer physical force rather than good practice. I often find myself defending each to the other side because I see the merits of both in terms of fitness and self-discipline.