Yakky Potter

[Guest]

[MakTheYak]

Well just to tickle your fancies, here's a quick drawing I did a few years ago. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... Yakky Potter!

[samwise16]

Mark   this is amazing, i really hope we get a HP or LOTR realted toon  

you are in insperation to us all *cires* lol  

This is a tatse of what we are to expect though yea?  

[savage727]

Not bad Mark!!  I will bet your drawing skills are much improved now over when you did this drawing several years ago.  Look out folks we may be seeing a rising tide of Yakness which will compel our beloved Mark to meet our demands for both a LOTR's & HP toon!!  

Don't let me put any pressure on you my friend!  

[ferdinand_the_yak]

What about a hobbit yak? Or better still... a Legolas yak
 

[savage727]

I want to see an Aragorn Yak!!  

[ferdinand_the_yak]

What about a fellowship of yaks?

But an Arwen yak would be interesting... the ethereal beauty of the Evenstar as applied to a four-legged hairy animal with horns  

There's a challenge for you Mak!

FTY

[MakTheYak]

I you can't appreciate the beauty of the Yak, then I am very sad for you.  

[savage727]

Ahoy mates!!  

Mark "Ard Enough" Stickley and his faithful companion Roz "Second in Command"  have just completed an intensive Rollerblading instructional course over this past weekend with the world famous skater Eddy Matzger and both survived the onslaught to their bodies!!  

Mark - all of your fans out here in vaporware - wish you and Roz accident free adventures for heaven forbid you should fall and damage or worse yet break your drawing hand!!    You would be in pain   and we would be in another type of pain   - Toon withdrawl and then where would our wishes and desires for LOTR's and HP Yaks be taken care of!  

As Aragorn says in the ROTK "What Say You"!  

[ferdinand_the_yak]

Not sure roz would like to be known as the 'faithful companion'
 
Congrats on the blading success!

[savage727]

Hi FTY:

Now I did not mean it in the sense of say a faithful dog - What say you Roz!!  

[Roz]

I say LOL on the faithful companion thing

 

Here's a pic of the Yank skater who's DVD that he gave me shows him racing a cable car up a hill (he won) and racing some camels in the desert (he lost!).

He's a really great guy, so much fun and very kind to everyone. He's opened my eyes a lot - he speaks tonnes of different languages Dutch, and French CERTAINLY and no doubt others. He's polite and fun with everyone - always laughing and ALWAYS on skates.

To give you an idea of how eccentric this guy is (he's so eccentric his English blood cannot be far diluted) - he arrives in the UK with his holdall and skates and goes and sits along side Tower Bridge (I believe Americans call it London Bridge)

http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=487&mode=next

(to see a better picture of the bridge look here:
http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=487&mode=previous )

When we get the DVD of the weekend we shall have pics of us skating ourselves for you to laugh at  

We were in Hyde Park - the Serpentine road in the mornings and in the afternoons just by the Albert memorial - by the Royal Albert Hall where the Howard Shore Symphony will be taking place on Bilbo+Frodo's birthday this year

 

[savage727]

Hi Roz:

That Eddy is sure a character!!    I looked at all of the photos posted to his site.  He looks to be enjoying life the way we all should be.    I will bet he was a great instructor and that both you and Mark picked up some valuable lessons.

But the big question everyone wants to know - is he a fan of the LOTR's and Harry Potter?  

[Roz]

Hmmm, that is a tricky one - and one I cannot answer. Eddy gave me a run for my money and I was too tired/out of breath to ask

But I might be going to Hyde Park the weekend after next and I know he's doing another workshop (there were too many applicants to do all in one weekend) so I might pop by, mimic some of his exercises say hi and tell him I'll see him next year - and pop the question - are you a LOTR fan? If not you lose our respect Actually he did mention one thing that sounded a little Hobbity during the proceedings. I can't remember what it was now but I am sure he's "on our side"

[savage727]

Great - I await your answer.  How long were the skating classes you and Mark attended each day?  

[samwise16]

and how many bruises did you get and how many muscles did you pull  

[Roz]

Phew we started at 8 am in Hyde Park (close to Buckingham Palace for the purpose of orientating our foreign friends), and did "dry land" exercises (off skates), until about 9.30 - then it was brief stretching and Yoga and finally at 10ish we got on skates.

Then two hours of "drills" (which is where you break down parts of strokes into exercises and practice them until your muscles learn them).

And then LUNCH (for two hours) - which you needed !!

Then we began again at 2 - this time outside the Royal Albert memorial (which is just opposite the royal albert hall where the net Howard shore concert will be in London) and did another 4 hours of skating drills, and on the Saturday we were videoed. At about 6.30 everyone headed to "the Vic" a skater friendly pub where they serve lemonade by the pint and great high calorie food (which you needed) and dinner was followed by 2 hours of looking at all the drills we did that day on video and having our skating analysed by Eddy. (my knee bend angle whislt skating is 93 degrees - the lowest of all the girls there - and about the same as the second lowest guys knee bend angle. The lowest guy's was 87 degrees which is phenomenal - but he's one of Britain's best amateur speed skaters so I can't complain!

The whole thing finished at about 11 in the evening - where we crashed at a friend's place (who lived outside London) - so we got around 4-5 hours sleep a night!

So tell me it's worse in the Marines

[savage727]

Roz that was an excellent workout plan Eddy put together and certainly worth the pain and effort you both put in!  

We Marines' have a certain ethic and ethos that have worked for us time and time again.  We have a saying that breaks down to train as you will fight.  Being in top physical form is the norm with Marines' as commanders have long ago learned not to lose anyone because they did not have the strength and stamina to keep up.

Training for the expected and unexpected is also stressed as well as leadership right down to the lowest rank as history has taught us that leaders will get wounded and killed.  There are countless examples in our history of enlised Marines' taking command when the Officer's and Non-Comms were taken out and these men carried the day.  These are mostly 18 - 21 year olds.  Quite impressive by anyone's standards.

Then there is the sleep deprivation training where you are up for over 54 hours straight and are expected to move through a series of exercises culminating in a simulated attack.  During this time frame people are rotated into various leadership positions and evaluated on how well they perform.  It would take too long here to describe the rest but you get the idea.  We truely are a "Band of Brothers".  

[ferdinand_the_yak]

Wow... intense Ed, I am highly impressed.

Can you tell me if the training portrayed in GI Jane (if you have seen it) would be probable training? I know it is for SEALs so the creme de la creme of soldiers, but some of it seemed a little OTT and I wondered whether they exaggerated it for Hollywood?

[Roz]

Not a single bruise

Thanks to a combination of wrist and knee pads and a helmet,

http://www.snapsite.com/guests/sk8ctrl/public/custom/workshops/london.04/47.html

I won't answer the question about pulled muscles - I can't count that high - I still can't do sit ups as my stomach muscles are totally DOMed out!

[savage727]

Good Morning FTY:

If anything the training in GI Jane is understated as compared to the real thing.  You have to remember that the initial training for Navy Seals is basically a weeding out process to eliminate those who cannot take the physical and psychological stress placed upon them.  

Those that that pass are then trained to a very high standard in many areas as they operate in small teams and need to be proficient to take care of themselves and their teammates in any conditions all over the world.  It is an awsome responsibility and when fully trained they are some of the world's finest soldiers'.  

Some of the training you saw in GI Jane is used by the Marine Corps in our Basic Training.  We too have a Speicial Forces capability called Force Recon.  The training is very similar to the Seals and they have now been integrated into the Special Operations Command with the Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and Air Force Combat Controllers.  The Commander in theater requests support from Special Operations Command who sends out the highly specialized teams to conduct various types of missions from Direct Action, recon &  intelligence gathering, raids, Hostage & POW rescue, and many others.  

Bye the way did you know that Viggo played a Navy Seal in GI Jane?  That was the first time I saw him in a movie.