The word “zen” is Japanese, but the relevant school of Buddhism arose in China, and many “zen” works are Chinese. Per Wikipedia:
Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in China during the 6th century as Chán.
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Based on somewhat reputable sources I know, Lars is famous for using a 40-lb hunting bow and never using the 60 or 80-pound bows actually used in warfare. It’s why he can be so fast and accurate at short distances. It’s also not chainmail that he pierces at a short distance in the video, it’s a weaker armor that looks the same.
He barely puts an arrow into foam targets, meaning every shot is completely non-lethal. It’s still cool trick shots and his techniques are correct for mounted or nomadic warriors. The stationary Welsh longbowman is still one of the most effective uses of a bow though.
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I realise that, but the response was to @joeair61’s ‘one hand clapping’. Your “top-quality ignorance” quote would be better directed at them, not Bill. Mr Hicks remains ignorance-free on that topic.
Clearly you prefer slings to arrows. Can’t argue taste.
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O! Outrageous misfortune!
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BTW, here are the author’s bonafides on why he doesn’t link to sources - he’s got first hand knowledge. That ain’t good enough for Wikipedia, but that’s another kettle of wax.
I’m a USAA certified Level 3 archery coach. Over the last 14 years, I have taught over 13,000 people, age 2 to 90, how to use a bow, have worked on-set for TV shows and movies and have written a few articles on the subject.
No, I can’t do the leaping and running parts any better than Lars can, because I’m 56 years old and have a crushed foot from a motorcycle accident 20-odd years ago. I have, however, taught actors and stuntmen how to do those tricks and to look like they know how to use a bow, and their footage turned out pretty good.
Yes, truly, the skill he developed begs to be laughed at. But not a jealous nervous laughter. That would be gosh.
The post that proves my point.
And if it was CGI’d then I’m impressed someone went through the effort do fake it.
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Nope. Heres what you wrote:
Wow you just reply to everything don’t you.
Unless your post counts as “everything”… which it doesn’t.
…and LARPing was forever changed.
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True, I forgot about that. But he’s still attributing a Japanese Koan to Confucius. Maybe he’s very
I don’t know if Lars Andersen’s videos are faked, but I enjoy watching them and I don’t see anything happening in them that is outside the realm of possibility.
As for the “debunking”, well, when someone tells me that back quivers are both practical and historical I stop paying a lot of attention to them. They are extremely unpopular compared to belt quivers, because they suck. I might sling a quiver and bow over my shoulder to get to a battlefield, but I won’t go into combat with a quiver on my back (one time was enough).
Also, “Saracens” definitely could measure time accurately, using calibrated sand-glasses, marked candles, klepsydrae or the good ol’ “stick in the sun” method. I question the historical knowledge of anyone who doesn’t just know that right off the top of their head.
The best howler in the critique:
artists in the past were as likely to be just as inaccurate and ignorant of archery techniques as artists today. They generally painted scenes that they either witnessed without understanding, or made up out of their heads, often based on what previous artists had done and compounding the errors.
This guy not only can tell if a video is faked today, he can also tell that thousands of first-person observations of battle were faked in the distant past. (I presume he can tell from the pixels.) Truly an astounding ability!
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This is one internet video that actually floored me. I think it is so cool. The whole concept of firing from the right side of the bow and holding the other arrows in the same hand are such a head slap that I was more amazed that I had never seen it before. I mean, it’s just putting the arrow on the other side, that’s it. It’s plainly clear that it takes way less time and steps to load and shoot, and you don’t have to take your hand off the arrow to draw and fire. It’s a brilliant and obvious technique that has been completely blocked from our minds.
As far as faked, it’s not. All the shots are a single shot from drawing the arrow to hitting the target… with 3 arrows in the air before the first hits the target. Also, he’s just an average guy, not some gymnastic Legolas. If you were faking the arrows you could pay more attention to the jumping. He looks like he is more concentrating on the firing than the jumping. As for multiple takes… so what? He totally shows he tried many times, says that hitting the arrow out for the air took like 10 tries, and it wasn’t being fired very fast. That still is undeniably impressive.
He doesn’t disparage longbow archers, one record he broke was firing 10 arrows into the air before the first hit the ground, and with darn good accuracy. A subtle trick he did was firing one arrow on a high trajectory and immediately a straight shot, and the two hit the target simultaneously, that was cool.
Close range archery is basically unheard of, but shooting 2 guys across the table from you before they can pull swords is awesome.
As for the naysayers, just be patient, there will be hundreds of new videos of folks going bow crazy.
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I don’t think you’re suffering that much. Take your arms to the sea and see if that troubles you.
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Isn’t any sentence that starts with “Zen is…” itself attempting to define Zen?
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Did you like the way he pointed out that the sequence from Brave was directly based on high-speed footage of actual arrows in flight?
then youre not agreeing with me. i believ he does.
editing is sometimes just evidence of production, not just of fraud.
Correct. This fact is not lost on me, and something I brought up in an Eastern Religion class back in College. I don’t recall how the teacher explained it away, but I do recall being unsatisfied by the answer.
Zen is not this sentence.
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