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which_chick) wrote2007-10-28 09:22 pm
which_chick) wrote2007-10-28 09:22 pm
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HoHI update: Heel flaps and heel turning successfully completed. Knitting television is now (again) Hikaru no Go, which I find soothing. I have about three rounds knitted since I got the gusset stitches picked up. Progress is being made, albeit slowly.
I went to the last day of the PA Ren Faire today with cousin Heather, baby Tess, brother Joe, his wife, their kids. (Nobody was cooked or served. I'm just sayin'.)
We watched the tournament thing (the mid-day one, not the evening one) wherein we had three guys and a chick on assorted horses -- a really nice dark bay for the guy in gold-n-green, a gaited chestnut (Tenn. Walker?) for the guy in blue-n-white, and a pleasure-bred chestnut QH (or possibly breeding-stock Paint) for the guy in the other colors that I can't remember because they were not pivotal to the plot. The chick (probably related to my dentist, who is also a Delaney) rode a chunky, coarse, draft-ish black horse that didn't stand well and popped up a couple of times. (She did not seem alarmed by that, btw. I do not tolerate horses that are light on the front end, myself.) I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out where I'd previously seen the horses that the guys were riding -- they also did Equine Affaire in Harrisburg. I saw them there a year or two ago at that, same outfits and barding and everything.
The three guys were contesting to be, er, something. Perhaps chief knight? The chick was just there being filler. Anyway. So the first thing they do is run around skinning up rings on lances. Okay. That's kind of fun, really, and the dark bay takes the correct leads and steers well and the guy riding has a pretty good seat. The chick and the other two guys aren't bad, but they don't ride like the guy in green and gold on his dark bay. Their horses don't turn as well and aren't as good at this stuff, which makes it harder for the guys riding them. Then they poke things with lances. And they swing at things with swords. And they run at some poor bastard who is standing on a small platform and holding a shield to defend himself. They knock him on his ass a few times, which looked pretty real.
After that, we eliminate the chick (filler) and the guy riding the pleasure-bred QH with a halter so that we are left with (a) the guy who can ride on the nice dark bay and (b) the guy in blue and white on the chestnut Tenn. Walker. They are allegedly going to perform mounted combat. Okay. They're allowed to pick whatever weapons they want. Guy on the dark bay picks a broadsword. Guy on the chestnut Tenn. Walker picks a torch, drinks a toast to himself, and then blows fire all over the guy on the dark bay on the second pass of weaponry. (Adult audience members in our group saw this coming as soon as we were presented with both the torch and the toast. It was still nicely done.) At that point, the guy on the dark bay falls off his horse (not for real -- I mean, he really hits the ground, but it was a dive, not an actual fall, and the horse didn't do anything bad to merit the guy losing his seat.) and the contest of the day went to the guy on the chestnut Tenn. Walker. Most everybody booed at that.
So I'm watching this and I'm going "Wrong lead. Wrong lead. That horse is going to refuse the second jump. Wrong lead. Damn, is that thing trying to pace? No, it's a Tennessee Walker, is what it is. Damn, does it canter strung out behind or what? That's a cavalry bit. That rides in a halter -- what a nice horse." That, plus trying to determine what saddles and bits and assorted tack they were using was mostly what I was doing during the festivities. It's pretty standard horse-activity running commentary and it doesn't prevent me from enjoying anything, honest. It's more like how I enjoy the festivities. But when we got to the end with the blowing-of-fire, I slipped right out of horse mode and considered the following things that I now offer up to you for discussion.
(1) Did the guy in blue cheat?
(2) Did the guy in blue behave ethically?
(3) Did the guy in blue behave honorably?
(Yes, I understand that the guy in blue behaved according to the plot and that, by and large, this is not a reality-based function. I still submit, respectfully, that the guy in green-n-gold had the prettiest horse, rode the best, had the nicest runs through the assorted build-up sports, and generally outperformed the other three riders in ways that normal, non-horse people would not have noticed. I don't think that the losing people were TRYING to blow leads, to have less-secure seats, to lean/tilt, to oversteer, or to otherwise muff it. They just didn't ride as well as the guy on the dark bay.)
Other points of interest at the Faire... I really like the entertainers and their patter. I am pretty forgiving on accents that slip like an elderly clutch. What I don't like is patter that all sounds the same. We listened to a couple of different people and all of 'em employed the "throwing small babies" joke. Yes, you want crowd participation. Yes, you want people to clap and cheer and stuff. But guys, variety. You can't all use the same jokes or it sounds like your faire patter was written and handed out to all joculators during a powerpoint presentation on interacting with the straights.
That said, there was a lot of entertainment to be had of the no-special-effects variety and I liked that. Yay! I wish we'd had time to see the people on stilts and the acrobats, but we did watch a quite entertaining magic show and a puppet rendition of Little Red Riding Hood. (I like puppets. A lot. I'd have liked the puppets *better* if they came with a puppet stage, but they were still ok without. It's just my opinion that puppets work better when you can't see that someone has her hands up their arses.)
I didn't shop at all -- browsing is tough with kids -- but then I didn't have any need to be buying stuff anyway so this was not a major loss. I would have liked to look, though, and maybe someday I'll go and do a walkabout without kids. I'm told that they have pirates one weekend. (Yes, I know that they're pretend pirates. This does not stop me from liking them.)
I went to the last day of the PA Ren Faire today with cousin Heather, baby Tess, brother Joe, his wife, their kids. (Nobody was cooked or served. I'm just sayin'.)
We watched the tournament thing (the mid-day one, not the evening one) wherein we had three guys and a chick on assorted horses -- a really nice dark bay for the guy in gold-n-green, a gaited chestnut (Tenn. Walker?) for the guy in blue-n-white, and a pleasure-bred chestnut QH (or possibly breeding-stock Paint) for the guy in the other colors that I can't remember because they were not pivotal to the plot. The chick (probably related to my dentist, who is also a Delaney) rode a chunky, coarse, draft-ish black horse that didn't stand well and popped up a couple of times. (She did not seem alarmed by that, btw. I do not tolerate horses that are light on the front end, myself.) I spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out where I'd previously seen the horses that the guys were riding -- they also did Equine Affaire in Harrisburg. I saw them there a year or two ago at that, same outfits and barding and everything.
The three guys were contesting to be, er, something. Perhaps chief knight? The chick was just there being filler. Anyway. So the first thing they do is run around skinning up rings on lances. Okay. That's kind of fun, really, and the dark bay takes the correct leads and steers well and the guy riding has a pretty good seat. The chick and the other two guys aren't bad, but they don't ride like the guy in green and gold on his dark bay. Their horses don't turn as well and aren't as good at this stuff, which makes it harder for the guys riding them. Then they poke things with lances. And they swing at things with swords. And they run at some poor bastard who is standing on a small platform and holding a shield to defend himself. They knock him on his ass a few times, which looked pretty real.
After that, we eliminate the chick (filler) and the guy riding the pleasure-bred QH with a halter so that we are left with (a) the guy who can ride on the nice dark bay and (b) the guy in blue and white on the chestnut Tenn. Walker. They are allegedly going to perform mounted combat. Okay. They're allowed to pick whatever weapons they want. Guy on the dark bay picks a broadsword. Guy on the chestnut Tenn. Walker picks a torch, drinks a toast to himself, and then blows fire all over the guy on the dark bay on the second pass of weaponry. (Adult audience members in our group saw this coming as soon as we were presented with both the torch and the toast. It was still nicely done.) At that point, the guy on the dark bay falls off his horse (not for real -- I mean, he really hits the ground, but it was a dive, not an actual fall, and the horse didn't do anything bad to merit the guy losing his seat.) and the contest of the day went to the guy on the chestnut Tenn. Walker. Most everybody booed at that.
So I'm watching this and I'm going "Wrong lead. Wrong lead. That horse is going to refuse the second jump. Wrong lead. Damn, is that thing trying to pace? No, it's a Tennessee Walker, is what it is. Damn, does it canter strung out behind or what? That's a cavalry bit. That rides in a halter -- what a nice horse." That, plus trying to determine what saddles and bits and assorted tack they were using was mostly what I was doing during the festivities. It's pretty standard horse-activity running commentary and it doesn't prevent me from enjoying anything, honest. It's more like how I enjoy the festivities. But when we got to the end with the blowing-of-fire, I slipped right out of horse mode and considered the following things that I now offer up to you for discussion.
(1) Did the guy in blue cheat?
(2) Did the guy in blue behave ethically?
(3) Did the guy in blue behave honorably?
(Yes, I understand that the guy in blue behaved according to the plot and that, by and large, this is not a reality-based function. I still submit, respectfully, that the guy in green-n-gold had the prettiest horse, rode the best, had the nicest runs through the assorted build-up sports, and generally outperformed the other three riders in ways that normal, non-horse people would not have noticed. I don't think that the losing people were TRYING to blow leads, to have less-secure seats, to lean/tilt, to oversteer, or to otherwise muff it. They just didn't ride as well as the guy on the dark bay.)
Other points of interest at the Faire... I really like the entertainers and their patter. I am pretty forgiving on accents that slip like an elderly clutch. What I don't like is patter that all sounds the same. We listened to a couple of different people and all of 'em employed the "throwing small babies" joke. Yes, you want crowd participation. Yes, you want people to clap and cheer and stuff. But guys, variety. You can't all use the same jokes or it sounds like your faire patter was written and handed out to all joculators during a powerpoint presentation on interacting with the straights.
That said, there was a lot of entertainment to be had of the no-special-effects variety and I liked that. Yay! I wish we'd had time to see the people on stilts and the acrobats, but we did watch a quite entertaining magic show and a puppet rendition of Little Red Riding Hood. (I like puppets. A lot. I'd have liked the puppets *better* if they came with a puppet stage, but they were still ok without. It's just my opinion that puppets work better when you can't see that someone has her hands up their arses.)
I didn't shop at all -- browsing is tough with kids -- but then I didn't have any need to be buying stuff anyway so this was not a major loss. I would have liked to look, though, and maybe someday I'll go and do a walkabout without kids. I'm told that they have pirates one weekend. (Yes, I know that they're pretend pirates. This does not stop me from liking them.)
no subject
Plus, they liked the Spouse's hat (as Mr. Bells and Motley is of Polish descent, and spouse dresses like a Polish nobleman of the 16th century).
Wish we could have gone to that this year. It would have been more interesting to hear about how they were riding when watching the joust, though.
Wonder how good riders Squire Jim and Dar are...
no subject
no subject
Spouse has a matching costume, except that if he were being realistic there would be no pants (he got a nice dark gray pair of sweats for under it), and he'd have a mohawk, dyed red. And facial hair.
no subject
I submit for your consideration (admittedly firmly from the "this was non-reality-based" side of the fence) that the performer with the best control of his horse might well be selected to take the dramatic getting-unhorsed move.
no subject
I think that the reason our good-rider person got to take the fall was that it played better as "unfair" b/c he was totally winning up to the point where the other guy did the fire thing and "won". The fire breathing thing wouldn't have been as obviously and dramatically unfair if the green-and-gold guy hadn't been wiping the floor with the competition before his fall.
no subject