Parkour

Image via wallpaperswide.com

être et durer. to be and to last.

Parkour isn't the only thing the motto fits. My goal is to "be" a writer and to have my publications "last" on the shelf.  You?

But back to parkour - aka PK - my inspiration for battle technique study this week. If you watch the clip below, you'll see a lot of graceful moves which mere mortals such as myself can only dream of doing. However, it's what Ryan Doyle says that caught my attention.

"I have to replay the situation over and over in my head until I get familiar with it," says he.

I says: Hmm. That's kind of what I need to do when I finally write a scene down. Visualization is a requirement in my art too. How many times do you replay a scene before it's right? Do you move around in the space? Experiment with perspective? That's something I learned to do as a gardener, but conveniently applies to writing.

Ryan also mentions that, with efficient thinking, he can do parkour for the rest of his life. I believe he means in his head. Which is good, because it's the only place where I can do it. :)

Anyone know why a pigeon would do a backflip? The pigeons in this clip are doing the backflip. My guess is they were drinking some of Ryan's Red Bull, but he seems to think they do it all the time. ?

Ryan Doyle in Mardin:


Other places I've seen and admired PK:

• Video games like Assassin's Creed, which you know is an obsession of mine
• Movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, Casino Royale, and Prince of Persia, Sands of Time, which is based on the 1989 video game (which I also love)
• Manga

Apparently, Taylor Lautner is going to try some Matt Damon-style PK in his new movie Abuduction, out in theaters this month.

Here's the trailer, with a few seconds of PK featured at the end. I'm hoping the movie has more.

Battle Techniques

Battle scenes are not something that come to me naturally, so I read. I watch. I learn.

Last week, a new trailer was released for Assassin's Creed Revelations. It reminded me to include something besides sword swinging in my writing: movement.

I do have movement, of course, but it's not as fluid as I'd like it to be. My biggest challenge is probably keeping everyone focused on the character I'm describing at each specific moment. Not confusing who did what, if you will. I find that includes at lot of naming names, which I don't love.

Does anyone have any tips for this problem?

Anyhoo, here is the awesome trailer. Lots of stuff going on in this one. Plenty of Ottoman? Istanbul. Or perhaps the last days of Constantinople? I'm not entirely sure.

What I do see is a perfect midway point between the tales of Al Tair and Ezio Auditore, the Bosporos Strait, circa 1453.

One of these days I'll have to make a post about Al Tair. Did you know Al Tair is also the brighest star in the Aquila constellation. Aquila being the eagle.