EL REY

[Drunk Monk]

Lady Cranefly's question: Who gets the weapons?  (She'll take them if no else wants them)

Cranefly observation:  My guess is that your brief talk about 36 Chambers was lifted from the intro you did for the movie, which you did separately and in a different room, if I recall correctly.  You weren't shown, it was just your voice, to footage from the movie, and the acoustics were different.  Am I right?

El Rey gets the weapons. We think that means they go to Robert & Rebel.

I recorded the 36 chambers bit in my car on my iPhone. It was a pick-up bit, different than my hosting schpeal. 

I've upgraded my Sling to include the Comedy Extra and keep El Rey. Another $5, but it was pretty darn easy via the website. Now I also have Spike & MTV. oh yay.

[cranefly]

Just to mix DOOM metaphors and also introduce episode 2...

[Greg]

the Queen walked by and wondered what the hell was that on my screen. I had to explain Crystal to her.

I'm giving eps 2 and 3 a pass until my man crush, DM, reappears on my TV.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Why deny yourself The Crystal?

[cranefly]

Got an hourglass on screen just as ep 2 was slated to start.  Eventually my Roku 3 rebooted.  Missed the first 10 minutes, but was able to replay that portion after the episode had aired.

Crystal is an odd duck.  Very relaxed and engaging on screen (no doubt from all her stuntwork and stunt doubling), but her weapons training seems virtually nonexistent.  She is noted as a dual bullwhip master under the instruction of Noby Arden-Kreish of the Wallenda circus family.  But in all the footage I've seen of her with one or two bullwhips, she just does this very basic cross-body swing side to side like the first thing you'd learn with nunchukas.  Also, she seemed rather naive in the first episode about the concept of forms in martial arts.

As for the flexible Indian sword they seemed to have intended for her to test (because she's an expert with flexible weapons), she ends up stepping aside and letting an Indian adept demonstrate it.

She and the others do try out this three-bladed weapon, but on fruit.  Shades of Monty Python.  I suspect that Marko's injury in the first episode spooked the producers into being more conservative.  Hacking away at fruit seemed a bit silly.  Then again, this series is more about entertainment than in-depth testing of weapons.

Maybe in later episodes Crystal will show more of her mettle.  I know she's had martial training.

Oh, and that Asian guy.  There's rumors he'll be back in a bit.

[Drunk Monk]

Feckin Inn by the Sea wifi keeps teasing my Sling. It gives me a few seconds then back to the spinning wheel of death. Feckin La Jolla and their feckity feck feck yoga pants and wonderful food. Steal my daughter away Feckin UCSD. Haven't even made it to the war room scene yet. Feck.

[lady_cranefly]

Feckin Inn by the Sea wifi keeps teasing my Sling. It gives me a few seconds then back to the spinning wheel of death. Feckin La Jolla and their feckity feck feck yoga pants and wonderful food. Steal my daughter away Feckin UCSD. Haven't even made it to the war room scene yet. Feck.

That archer.  My god.  His *hair*. I am verklempt.  Even better than the conceited blacksmith's.  You guys.  I feel bad for you.  All you've got is Crystal.

[Drunk Monk]

Chris was super cool. I keep meaning to follow up with him as he's has connects into Asian archery circles, obviously, and that's a topic too overlooked in the martial arts mags. Check out his Instagram and you'll get weekly shots of arrow shots. What is it with you and long hair?

The mongol ep was shot last so we were all really tired. I'm eager to see how that ep played out because we broke the ballista in the end. Did they show that? It wasn't very dramatic. Still stuck in poor wifi Sling land. We chance hotels tonight but I might hit the local cafe.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm about halfway through the ep. The Sling app keeps crashing. I can still play Facebook/YouTube vids. Who knew the Sling app would be so cumbersome? This hotel wifi seems dicey, so that's clearly part of the problem. I got a good run for about 10 mins, but usually I get about a minute of play then it crashes for a minite or so. 

As it is, I'm just killing time until Tara wakes up. She's sleeping in. Stacy has been reading some of Tara's YA books, so she's found somewhere quieter than the lobby. I've spent a lot of time in hotel lobbies - often wind up hanging there when on biz trips.

[cranefly]

Nope, they didn't show the ballista biting the dust, just those three shots.  It seemed like minimalist testing to me.  I figured you'd just keep shooting away to entirely destroy that hunk of car.  Knowing that it broke explains a lot.

I was wondering about the ballista's range.  This one must've been top of the line, but it didn't seem to shoot very far.  So what was the military use of this weapon?  It seemed labor intensive to build, but seemingly very short range.  Did it poke holes through walls?  If so, was it more effective than a battering ram?  So many unanswered questions.

Did anyone else try shooting the bow?  Just wondering about the pull.  Not certain anything was said about its power.  I know Attila talked about needing three months for glue to cure, as well as other time-consuming steps.  I figure shortcuts were taken for the show and the bow was rushed into use.

[lady_cranefly]

Now, now, Gene. Can you explain the origins of all your kinks? I thought not.

I wouldn't have thought any place in La Jolla woud be allowed to have bad wi-fi.

What are you doing down there already?

[Drunk Monk]

i concede on both points LCF. Maybe it's just a Sling thing.

La Jolla = active wear, yoga pants, bmws, spas, gyms, coiffed dogs, galleries, and great expensive eats. Stacy said we should visit Tara often just to graze here.

[Drunk Monk]

Finally got through ep 4 last night. I'm glad my 'prudent' line got in. I had another line when we first fired the ballista and it only went like 20 ft about having to 'ratchet it up' more, but that part was all cut. At least they kept a lot ornate shots of me grinning because that was ridiculously fun shootings up that car with that.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm luvin the KaiJULY Roarth marathon. Never saw mechagodzilla 2 and it's a delight.

[Greg]

Kudos to DM for working in Legbone into tonight's episode!