Here you go folks — as promised, a clip from Weekend Warlords:

Ultra-high quality Quicktime version (34 MB) (get this one if you can handle it!)

MPEG version (18.7 MB)

Low Quality Quicktime version (4 MB)

Just click the link and it should open up if your browser is set up correctly. You could also save it to your computer and run it from there by right-clicking on the link and choosing "Save As…"  

A few words about what you are going to see:

Unlike some medieval enthusiast societies (like SCA), Dagorhir is mostly interested in physical battles. They gear up with armor and heavily padded weapons to face off across the field and hit each other in close combat. It’s a sport, not a roleplaying event — although some groups encorporate some elements of roleplay into it, to make it fun.

In this clip, you’ll get a taste of one of the very few "scenario" battles that were held that weekend. Most of the fighting that weekend was held in other events – the Rock-Throwing Tournament, the "Press Play" warm-up exercises, archery battles, man-on-man close combat, and large-scale combat pitting multiple teams against each other. It looked like so much fun, all of us on the crew wanted to participate.

I guess there’s a natural human inclination to beat each other with blunt objects.

The editing is coming along really well, and I’m looking forward to next weekend, when it will all be done and availalbe on DVD. We’re going to bring a huge stack of signed, Limited Edition DVDs to the upcoming Gates of Summer IV on the weekend of March 31 – April 2. Not that our signature is worth much, but it’s a little something special we can do for the group that so graciously allowed us to peer into their event and their lives. Dakota and I are looking forward to seeing everyone again — without cameras rolling.

I’ll post a few more preview clips up next week, along with ordering information!

It’s been a crazy week for me. I spent last week down in New Orleans, helping with hurricane cleanup. What can I say — it’s just terrible down there. So much work to be done that what WE did felt like a drop in the bucket. One guy I talked to said that if they had another bad hurricane season this summer, everyone might just give up. Right now, there’s lot of hope as progress on cleanup slowly moves along.

I was with a student group – total of about 26 people altogether. We split into teams of 9 and mucked out houses, stripping them down to the studs. Some of these houses have been sitting in water since Katrina six months ago. We were fully decked out with repirators, goggles, hazmat suits, boots, gloves, the works. I’ve smelled smells I’ve never smelled before. Hurricane and flood damage is so much different from tornado damage. With a tornado, stuff gets ripped apart and thrown around. But just add water, and you get everything in the house completely ruined, including the house that is still standing. Mold city.

It was fulfilling nonetheless. I’ll try to post some pics in a few days, as the dust settles from the week. I have a few important items to finish for class, but I’m hitting Weekend Warlords hard this week, as Gates of Summer 3 is coming up soon. I’ll have more on that in a bit, including another video clip for ya by the end of the week. Stay tuned!

I don’t get excited about the Academy Awards like I used to. This year was especially bad, because (believe it or not) I have not seen ANY of the movies that were nominated in any of the most important categories. Seriously. I hesitate to admit this publicly, but we’re all about sharing here, and the most recent film I saw was RENT.

So, even though I cannot speak intelligently about the Oscar winners this year, I’m hoping you folkds can fill in the gaps. Let’s have a look, then, at a few of the winners I care about:

Picture: Crash

Director: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)

Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain (Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana)

Original Screenplay: Crash (Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco)

Animated Film: Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Wererabbit

Foreign-language film: Tsotsi (South Africa) 

Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)

Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

Okay, I’ve actually seen the Wallace and Gromit film. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world. And I actually had the Crash DVD in my hand in line at the local Movie Gallery a month ago, before settling on something else at the last minute. And, unlike many men out there, I will admit that I would’ve seen Brokeback Mountain if I could’ve found anyone to go with me. Ang Lee is one of my all-time favorite directors. I met him once, saw his student film. I’ll have to tell you about that sometime. Paul Haggis is a longtime TV writer who also wrote Million Dollar Baby.

So, what do you think? Should Crash have gotten it? Who was snubbed? Am I a total poser? Click on the link below to let me have it – intelligent discussion is a few keystrokes away.