I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE. Or; "I'm an Arch-goth now. Arch-goths are cool."

Alright, alright, I know, I havn't updated in...well. Fucking -forever.- Shaddup, I had too much work going on. You work overnight swinging a sledgehammer and tell me you feel like blogging the next morning nearly every day for nine months. =|

Well, that's all over. A lot of things have happened. I quit my job. I've moved to Melbourne now. It's great. I live with the notorious Kitty Lovett of Anonymous Gothcat infamy, along with a bunch of awesome Indian folk.

So I'm back. My swords are as yet not-back. They're in the mail. My maille wil also be in the mail soon, I hope.

But me? I'm back. And I'm as angry as ever.

Fuckyear Xrrrryyyy for being unofficial My Blag Illustrator.

Why this time?

Goths.

To be more specific, people who think they're goths when reeaaallly they're just kind of an asshole.
As you can probably guess by looking at my girlfriend and the few friendly people that follow(ed?) my blog, I don't have anything against goths, or subculture folk in general as long as they're, y'know, decent people. Which they tend to be. However, we watched a video recently (We being myself, the nefarious cat and The Green Fairy, who if you aren't following can be found over here) detailing something that was called quite amusingly 'The Vladimir Incident,' over at Sebastian Columbine's youtube account. Her blagoblag can be found over here.

Now, I'm sure you'll find the video if you find yourself interested in miss Columbine, but to detail, she encountered a fellow who was almost cartoonishly goth. He was every bad 90s stereotype of goth. And of course because of this he was THE GOTHIEST GOTH THAT EVER WORE GUYLINER.

According to this guy, there are certain rules to being goth. Rules seem to be as follows;
-You can't be a goth unless you were born on Hallowe'en (lolwut) or ordained as a goth by an Arch-Goth (lolwuttttt)
-Keep to your Tribe (Wtf is this, Survivor Subculture?) and have no positive interaction with non-goth subcultures
-If an Arch-Goth, set an example of Super Mega Gothdom to your Tribe.

No word yet on how to become an Arch-Goth. Maybe you just have to be the richest and able to afford the most trashy 'goth' gear. Maybe you just need to have the most spikes on your eyeliner pattern. I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS WORKS I'M NOT GOTH ENOUGH. Though it should be mentioned my level of goth basically stops at liking waistcoats and listening to Voltaire. Cause Voltaire is best.

Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to try and extremise your culture or subculture. Annoying, but a regular phenomenon. If you want to go and live in a little commune away from the Normals and rule your Tribe with an iron-clad but delicately manicured fist, fine. That's fine. Go off and do it. However, do not declare someone as less than you, or as being a lesser form of the culture than you. You are not the TWOOEST GOFF or insertappropriatesubculture/culture/religion/politicalideologyhere because you've made all these special rules for yourself.

Now, I say this as an outsider looking in, but I say it as an outsider looking in from a pretty damn close window. I've encountered a lot of people from various subcultures and other minorities in my life. I stayed two weeks in America with one of my oldest, dearest friends, who happens to be a gay furry pagan vampire with goth tendencies. I stayed with him and his Christian boyfriend in a redneck state, where they're known and popular for being damn cool people. I grew up bullied for hanging out with the Aboriginal kids (most of whom I was at least partially related to) as a child.

And what I say as an outsider looking in is this; these things are about self-identification over outside classification. Whether it's a subculture, an exoculture (is that a word? It is now) a sexual/gender identification, it's what you feel about yourself that matters. To continue using the goth example; I've known goths that dress in blue t-shirts and have a tan a nudist would call dangerous. They identified as goth because the majority of music they liked was from goth genres and they enjoyed much of the rest of the subculture, they just didn't feel comfortable in the aesthetic. I've known the reverse. I've met people who were into both, but denied being goth. I've been labled as a goth a few times. I'm not a goth. A few of my gothy folk like to joke that I'm Closet-Goth or similar because I like Voltaire and I'd wear some steampunkish stuff if I could justify dropping hundreds of dollars on clothes for myself instead of for my ladyfriend. I enjoy that, to a degree. I've also been labled as a furry for liking some anthro-art and old cartoons and movies and stories involving animals. And while I've sat fairly deeply into the Furry Subculture at times, I'm not a furry. I'm just me. We're all just us. You're just you, you're just your 'me.' If your 'me' happens to be a goth, steampunk, skinhead, furry, oldschool gamer or anything else and you feel the need or desire to show that in whatever way externally, great. Wear four hundred dollars worth of frilly material, plaster gears to everything, shave your head, wear a tail, wear a shirt with the NiGHTS Into Dreams original gamecover on it, listen to the music that's related to it if you like it, whether it's fourteen different string instruments and a harmonica over lyrics about zombies or if it's a classical overture version of the original Zelda theme. Or hate the music and say FUCK IT LETS ALL LISTEN TO LADY GAGA. Or dress like a bum with a huge set of headphones blasting your music. Or do none of that at all, and still be just as much of a whatever-the-hell you are, even if people can't guess it by looking at you in your casual clothes or by listening to the first few songs on whatever-the-hell music device you people are using nowdays. Call yourself whatever the fuck you like, and never let anybody tell you that you're not whatever the fuck you are just because they, too, are a whatever-the-fuck, and you don't follow their own self-imposed ideas and rules on HOW TO BE A WHATEVER-THE-FUCK.

But don't try to make those rules up for anybody else either. Because whatever-the-fuck is your whatever-the-fuck you are, taking away someones self-identification or self-expression? That makes you an Asshole.

So in short, fuck that guy, fuck assholes, fuck people that tell you that you aren't whatever you feel you are. And fuck exorbitant prices on makeup, clothes and swords because goddamn that's shitting me off and that'll probably be my next post.

I'm back, goddammit.

New stuff! Yay!

Most importantly, a new camera! My old one was broken, and the really old one we had wasn't reading the SD card. So that was sad. Just a miniature, show-offy post here for now. First thing to show off; my vest and tie! They are for a Moist von Lipwig cosplay. Be warned, I am terribly unphotogenic. Especially when they're the first, experimental photos with a new camera, and I'm self-taking them, at night, being blinded by necessary flash D:

As said, these are for a Moist von Lipwig cosplay. Alternatively, they're part of an outfit for hypothetical formal occasions.

Quick, run from the blurriness! I'll buy you some time!

 Nevermind, killed it.

As you can see, I attend only the most awesome of hypothetical formal situations. Also hypothetical semi-formal situations.

 

You can tell it is less formal by the smaller sword and lack of tie.

Also unbuttoned vest.

This is how Growlithes work.

Anyway, that's enough of my mug for now. Ta-tah, folks!

Getting back to blogger.

'lo again! It's been a while. ...By which I mean about three and a bit weeks? Er...Blame the man in the moon.

Actually, blame a variety of things. However, most of it's been totally worth it. For instance; the marvelous miss Kitty Lovett came to visit me for a weekend, the cause of my original absence! She is wonderful, and also volunteered to model my blade collection for me. Warning; hawtness below.

My Rose Jian, at 1010 grams, was 'too heavy for one hand.'

Also too heavy for one hand.

To be fair, it's a pretty big guard. And she is but only a tiny cat.

Totally not holding this one up using an extension on the guard.

Again, to be fair...this is the heaviest piece in my current collection.

I WILL BE IN MY BUNK.

The thrusting possibilities are endless!

Shameful post. This was an early, early-teens grab. It's also the most goth thing I own.

But wait, there's more!

Yeahh...Any real weapon-lovers out here just decided they hated 13-year-old me.

 

Note the katana in the background. She refused to model with it, because she's decided that they're lame.
Note also the 60-inch pearl necklace. Early birthday present :P

We went to Maroochydore, and had a lot of fun, and went to an -awesome- pub for lunch. We also saw the last Harry Potter movie (BAWWWWWW TwT) and an Australian film inspired by true events called Red Dog. (EVEN MORE BAAAWWWW TwT. I actually cried a little.) If you've got a chance, and you're an animal lover, go see it. It's amazing.

We took the above photos just before we had to leave and send her away (BAWWWWW TwT) but then they wouldn't email to me from her phone, so...my compulsiveness wouldn't let me go and make a -different- blogpost til I got them, because then I'd feel all out-of-order and such. So...that's why I've been away. Plenty to come, though! Two new swords arrived for me in the mail today, and I'll get those on Friday when I get home. So expect photos of that, a couple outfit posts (...Maybe), complaining about work, and a review on the game Bulletstorm.

Speaking of work, as I mentioned, I work on the railway. We did a weekend shift this weekend; twelve hour days. We pulled 850-870 sleepers on the saturday. My right arm and shoulder are -not happy- =| And we worked in the rain all sunday. But that's okay because extra pay. Muahaha, money.

Ohmanthanks

Just need to make a minipost to thank Xara Alice and Kitty Lovett for my new header. Xary does a brilliant miniseries about surviving a zombie apocalypse just for gits and shiggles, and she included me in that one because I asked nicely and she is nice! I am defending them whilst they camp out. Kittens are feeding on zombieflesh. Then Kitty went and added my blogtitle to it because Xary said I could use it as a header because she is nice :3 Aren't they nice? I don't know how to link to them, but I'm sure they will put their bloglinks in the comments here for future people who don't follow them yet!

Hair, in which the Author describes the Tendency of the Rabble to React to his.

And also in which the Author Figures Out to use the Compose section and Thusly is able of posting Pictures.

I have long hair.

Some of you (I.E, anybody that's looked at the [awful] picture to the right) know this.

I'm also a guy. A cisgendered guy. I have a beard. A goatee, in fact. It's sexy and wonderful because it helps to hide the fact I look vaguely like a potato.

Some facial hair only accentuates

a potatolike appearance.

Now, as you may know, I also live in Australia. I've lived most of my life in rural Queensland, and also lived in Semi-rural-almost-ish New South Wales, and for a short time, in Melbourne, the capitol of Victoria.

When I lived in Melbourne, my hair was about yea-long:

This was my first properish sword.

It now lives with a friend who can't afford to mail it to me.

During my stay in New South Wales, it was -generall- about this long: 

Hatteriffic.

Now, my hair's a little longer than that. I don't have any recent pictures on this laptop or uploaded anywhere that actually show it, though.

Reaction to my hair has been...varied. Mostly, however, negative. Especially when combined with the goatee. It's not what a real man should have, it's stupid, it's ugly, it makes you  look like a stoner (this part is true. My semi-insmnia for several years and heavy-liddedness completes the look. However, I'm pretty much teetotal.)

I've rarely had physical threats over it, but I have had a lot of teasing, insults, general derision etc. And a lot of "What would you do if I cut it off while you were sleeping?" The answer to which is generally along the lines of "Burn down your house while you're out, then slice your achilles tendons in the homeless shelter."

If you can't tell, I'm attached to my hair. It needs a trim at the moment, however, as it's gotten -really- long (halfway down my back, which I never actually realise) and it's kinda tatty at the bottom because of my work. I work on the railway for Queensland Rail as a trackworker, by the way. It's manual labour. It's a Real Job, which I was told I'd never get because I look like a girlie hippie. It's also a damn bitch on my arms and back, but there you go. My hair gets tied into a ponytail with another tie at the bottom and slipped through the back of my helmet for work. It doesn't get in the way, but it goes get frayed a bit as I fiddle with it and my helmet and sometimes it catches a little on the zipper on my jacket.

I may have to do a post about work at some point, because it can be really frustrating.

My point is, I don't get the 'problem' with long hair. I don't see why it's 'not proper' for a man. Fact; the manliest people in history, -all had long hair,- not to mention the best characters from pop-fiction and myths. Hairgrowth is partially determined by testosterone, even.

Vikings? MANLY.

Celts, Picts and Gauls? MANLY.

If this were accurate, he'd have

long, flowing locks. Probably braided.

Spartans? MANLY. However, also fond of little boys, so we'll shy away from that one for a little bit.

Wizards? MANLY.

Conan the Barbarian? MANLY.

Dwarves? MANLY.

Elves? MANLY. Wait. Damn. Well, can't beat'em all.

 This is the smile that says "I spend more time washing my hair than anybody you know,

have a bigger penis than you, and am comfortable with my sexuality."

I really just...do not understand. Everybody that's a little different gets picked on, but the reasons never, ever make sense.  Most of my female friends love it though. I'm occasionally bombarded with requests to braid or straighten or plait it, and many of them just start playing with it randomly. It feels nice n.n

On a less grumpy note...I have eight followers! However, I know that most of you have migrated over from the Anonymous Cat's blog. Jack...Jack I don't know, I havn't seen him around. Hi Jack! How are you? In any case, I'm wondering how many will even read or are just here cause it was suggested :P. To get me a rough guide of that, and also help me decide what to post next, message on this post! Give me suggestions on what to post about. Ask me questions. Ask about weapons, if you're interested in the suchlike. Ask me about martial arts. Ask me about food. Tell me about what you like! I'll go studying up on it and maybe even make a blogpost dedicated to you!

Yaaaay

I'm remembering and committed to posting

yaaaaaay

this is me postiiiiiing

*cough* Anywho...I have five followers already! Three of them are some of the most awesome friends EVER, but two are completely new! I believe you have followed over from the blog of the Anonymous Cat. That is a very long travel! Pull up, have a cake. Cake for all.
I wanted to put a picture of cake here but I fail at blogger and it kept coming up as -MASSIVE- even though I clicked 'small' ;w;. I had a previous blog where I put photos and little centralised captions and all that fun stuff that made me look witty, but now I can't do it anymore! D:

Don't be disappointed when you get bored of me!

Now, I mentioned in my last/first (the second post is the best post because you can say that, and twist brains!) that my main knowledge base is iiinnn...Weapons! Non-gunpowder weapons of the past, focussing on melee, with a more specific focus on bladed weapons. That's not to say I don't know much about nonbladed weaponry, however. So today, I thought I'd talk, first, about my collection and about weapons-collecting in general.

Currently in my collection, I have:
From Esford, Deepeeka's Australian import company;
1 Baskethilted broadsword (blunt)
1 Rapier (blunt)
1 Warhammer (obviously blunt. Currently has a broken shaft)
1 pattern-welded Seax (sharp, unfortunate second bevel)
1 pattern-welded Churra (sharp, unfortunate second bevel)
1 Khukri (sharp, came blunt, sharpened with no secondary bevel)

From Medieval Fightclub, I have one singlehanded sword, designed for reenactment combat, and one Main Gauche, deadly sharp.

From Hanwei, I have one River Witham singlehanded sword, sharp, unfortunate second bevel.

From Konron Forge (which no longer sells to the west, apparently) one second hand Katana, sharp, no secondary bevel. Monosteel, through-hardened (these terms will be explained in a later post, or less likely, later in -this- post)

and, my pride and joy, Piao Ci, a custom made sword from Fable Blades. Sharp, hollowground. It's my pride and joy. There's only one in the world (so far) and it was made to my order, though based on someone else's design. Brenno's great to work with, and though getting a custom sword is expensive, when it's made to this quality it's damn worth it. Here's some pictures of that: Make sure to check out his other stuff too, if you're into such things.

Now, here's the thing about weapons-collecting. You need -knowledge-. Ofttimes (such as in my case,) you'll end up with money before knowledge. Luckily, I had a little knowledge, but not enough to temper my desire. I have far too many items from Deepeeka, a lowish-end company. Visually, they're very nice. They even use decent steel. Not great, but decent. However, their items are way too thick and heavy, sold blunt, their quality control apparently isn't great and there's been issues with their hilt-and-tang construction, plus a lot of places sell their stuff as 'battle-ready' despite Deepeeka asking them not to.
However, they do have good points as well (though the price isn't one of them, getting them from an import company =| ). One, their short blades are actually pretty good, especially the pattern-welded. I -love- my Churra, a slender middle-eastern dagger with an increasing, ridged spine that can break maille, and let in air and infections to a wound. My rapier is actually quite nice, and though I havn't deconstructed it to get a good look at the tang, the heat-treat on it's pretty good. It's not whippy, it's not stiff and it returns to true from a pretty deep bend.

But the best thing about Deepeeka is that they are -learning.- They're slowly starting to improve, and I hope they hurry up with it.

Now, as for collecting in general. It's actually pretty damn easy. If you're in Victoria, you may have a little more trouble, but getting a police exemption is pretty easy and not too expensive. Oh, also, in Australia you can now no longer import throwing-weapons, or 'daggers.' You can still buy them made here, but not import them. Because knife-crime's committed using historically-accurate daggers that cost over a hundred bucks, not kitchen-knives and thirty dollar 'combat-knives' from army surplus stores, right?

Now, (dealing mostly with western items and terms, Japanese stuff I'll get to another time) the things you're looking for in a good, usable sword when it comes to collecting are the following:

Tang/hilt construction: You'll want what we call 'full tang.' The tang is the part of the blade that extends through the grip. If it's insufficient in size, it's going to break, and you're going to have a looong piece of metal flying through the air at high speeds. This, this is bad. It's a Bad Thing.
So we want full tang, or in some cases what we call 'tactical construction,' where the grip is just two slabs pinned through the tang, as in Piao Ci up there. Full tangs may be peened (the tightest form of construction, and very permanent)wherein the tang is hammered down over the pommel (the metal bit below your hand on the grip on a western sword) or may end in a thread that can be tightened or loosened with an alan key. This form of construction may come a little loose during use, but can be easily adjusted and tightened. This also has the advantage of you being able to quickly and easily disassemble the sword and check things out, maintain your tang, etc.

Steel!: Steel is probably the -most- important thing when it comes to a sword. Bad hilt? Make a new one. Bad tang? Cut the blade down, customise it. Bad sharpening job? Learn to sharpen. This all assumes a level of skill that many people don't have, but it's still doable. Bad steel? Fuck it right off. Anything listed as stainless steel is what we call a wallhanger, because it's purely decorative and you don't swing it at all. It'll break. Badly. Anybody that lists a blade as 'battle ready! stainless steel!' isn't to be trusted and quite possibly drives a van around primary schools. We're looking for medium-high to high-carbon steels and spring-steels. 1045 at absolute least, assuming a good heat-treatment. 1060, 1090, 9260 (a spring steel) are all good. Many won't list their actual steel type, but if it says 'high carbon' and everything else seems right, you're probably good to go. Shoot a few emails to the maker (not necessarily the retailer) if you're worried. Many will also not list the hardness rating of their heat-treatment (53's about right for most through-hardened swords) but again, if everything else seems right, you're probably okay.

Weight and balance: Swords based on traditional stylings - hell, any sword designed to be functional - should be usable. It shouldn't be so heavy that you get exhausted swinging it. It shouldn't have its point of balance too far out, or it'll feel heavier than it is. This has advantages in some weapons, and disadvantages in others. Basically, a heavy-on weapon (with its PoB further out) hits hard. Both because of where the weight is projected, and because you'll have to rear up and swing like a mother'sjumper to get it to go anywhere. A weapon with it's PoB further back will feel lighter, nimbler, livelier. Get it really far back and you might not be able to put much force into the strike, and but you'll have a really fast weapon that'll make lots of light cuts or nice thrusting stabs. You want the right kind of balance for the weapon.

Respectable dealers and makers: There's a lot of people you don't want to buy from. There's a lot of people that make -damn good swords for the price- that you might -risk- buying from due to their quality control, such as Huawei or Sinoswords. These people produce semi-custom blades (Of Japanese styling) for quite a low cost. The fittings and such are pretty low-end, but the blades can be quite good. However, quality-control isn't great. I've seen two people buy near-identical blades from one of these companies, and one was doing tameshigiri (Japanese test-cutting) and cutting bamboo no problems, the other got a massive chip and crack in his blade on medium targets. But for a little over 100 bucks, it's not too bad a dice-roll.

Companies like Hanwei are good. Hanwei is -very- good for the medium pricerange. At various dealers (Kult of Athena is amazing, pricewise) you'll get around the 300 or even sub-300 mark (respected in the sword community as generally being around the 'good' point for quality-to-price ratio)on many of their items. Their western items are good. Their eastern items are better, but also generally more expensive. The Hanwei-Tinker line of western stuff is -very- good, especially for the price.
Cold Steel makes some very durable stuff, but their marketing is bogus and some of their items can be heavy-on. Not necessarily too bad, and I feel they're starting to improve, but they're more a "Zombie Apocalypse/Superdurable beater" producer than a "Traditional/Budget Traditional blades" producer.
Darksword Armoury is also very good, I've heard (with some products of course being better than others, but consistent) and very durable, though some might be a little heavy-on for some peoples tastes. Also expensiveish, but good dealers can get you good prices, specials, etc.

There are upper-range blades that are -amazing,- but also cost quite a bit of money. These are your Valiant Armoury blades, your upper-range Hanwei katanas, etc. You can always expect good things from them, if you want to go out of your pocket.

Of course, you can also get custom blades from makers like Fableblades. It takes a while due to being put on a list, and some are better than others both in make and to deal with, but generally you can pick a good one from a bad one. Just look at their stuff. Does it look good? Does it -actually- look good, when you shake your head free from the overenthusiasm of having wanted a sword since you were a little kid reading The Hobbit and watching cartoons like He-Man and She-Ra and Conan the Adventurer, now that you've got this info? Do they have information up about what steel they use and such? (this is where custom-makers shine. They take pride in showing that their stuff is high quality, in every detail.)

Your desires: These. Are. Important. Buy what you -want.- Don't settle, or you'll have spent 300 dollars and be not entirely satisfied. That's a bad feeling. Even if you just want a 50 dollar fantasy sword made of stainless steel to hang on your wall, that's -fine!-. Some people like that. Just don't expect to be able to swing it around and such. Hell, there's even some high-end wall-hanger makers, like Kit Rae, who make -wonderful,- wonderful decorations in the shape of blades. They don't pretend to be weapon-smiths. They're for decoration, and some of them are absolutely beautiful, and Kit Rae is what got me into collecting in the first place. It's why I've got a thousand dollar sword that looks like a giant, weaponised rose. The difference is, I branched into functional weapons whilst still keeping the love of fantasy and decoration.

And finally: Look for reviews and information on makers and even individual blades. Check sword forums and such, ask questions, or search for answers. Ask the dealer, ask the maker, ask around for people who've used them and owned other similar and know historical versions and such. Get information. Get it -right.- Ask lots of people, but try and ask lots of people that actually know their stuff. Don't ask Yahoo Answers or Youtube. You'll get a lot of BUY A KATANA IT CAN CUT THROUGH A TANK kind of stuff.

And then I'll be angry at you, and you will have no cake. You'll notice I rag on these a lot. I've no problem with katana. I own one. It's a wonderful weapon. A well-made katana is a wonderful sword. But there's a lot of bullshit surrounding them, and it's not the blade I make fun of, it's the fanboys.



...Wow, looking back, that is one huge-ass post. I hope there was enough cake to sustain you. I hope you don't think I'm some giant windbag, just...blowing wind.

That would be bad.

Growlithes are a firetype, silly.

Introductions!

Well. Let's see here.
I'm...Anuan, to most. Growlithe to some (though I can't quite recall how that started, it's stuck.) This is my first attempt at an actual personal blog (I've got another one that was my travel-blog when I went to America. Woo.).

Herein you'll find little tidbits of this, and that. Geekspeakery on the subject of games, some rage (...Okay, a lot of rage. Originally I was going to make a blog called 'Tornadoes with knives' which would've been purely venting.) and...swords. Lots of swords. Swords are my thing, y'see. There'll be a lot of posts about swords, and also spears, axes, lances, daggers, armour, throwing-weapons, and various forms of martial arts. A lot of these will of course be accompanied by a healthy dose of history, but mostly it'll be facts, explanations, historical usage... etc. There's a lot of misinformation and misconceptions out there. Expect early posts about "Blood grooves," and "Katanas are the best swords in the world!" and why saying either of these things to me will get a very grumpy look.

I'll also take suggestions, and maybe even throw in the odd Science! post.
I might make an actual post tomorrow, if I get to bed early enough and get a decent sleep. I think I'll make it about weapons collecting, and my current collection. Until then, Ciao for now!

Edit: Yes, I know everything's boring and ugly looking right now. It's getting worked on, I promise!