Whoa
March 4, 2016 10:02 PM   Subscribe

 
Always nice to see an action movie made by people who know how guns work.
posted by Punkey at 10:07 PM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]


He's shooting 3-Gun.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:17 PM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]


The shooting sports community has been very happy with this video. He's going legitimately fast and obeying the safety rules.
posted by Harald74 at 10:19 PM on March 4, 2016 [19 favorites]


I don't understand this stuff. What's going on here - is this Keanu practicing for a green screen, or is this actually some kind of tactical training thing that real gun-using folk do? Assuming he's not practicing for a mass shooting and those wooden things are meant to represent people with guns, he looks kind of vulnerable just standing there like that.
posted by cromagnon at 10:23 PM on March 4, 2016


As good as John Wick was, can't really get excited for Chapter Two. No. Keanu has, however, two other projects coming up that I'm really enthusiastic about: The Bad Batch (dir. Ana Lily Amirpour) and The Neon Demon (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn).
posted by sapagan at 10:25 PM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]


Mother of pearl.
posted by figurant at 10:34 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


3-Gun and the like started out as "tactical" diciplines, but has devolved a bit. Some of the reason is safety, and some of the reason is the "gamey" nature of the enterprise. As you observe he's right out in the open. Amount of exposure out of cover is a bit hard to judge in a competition.
posted by Harald74 at 10:34 PM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


The first picture has him holding his pistol sideways. Somehow or other that's become "cool", according to movie makers. (AFAIK that started in Hong Kong action movies and seems to have moved out from there.)

It's also stupid. An autoloader isn't designed to be used in that orientation, and it's much more likely to have an ejection failure leading to a stovepipe jam.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:36 PM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]


I knew, like I know that water is wet and angry cats are pointy, that there would be a comment about the sideways pistol.

This is the first thing I've watched in a while that made getting good at shooting look really fun, as little desire as I have to actually kill stuff with bullets. I sometimes wonder if I'd taken all that stupid plinking around with .22s I did as a teenager more seriously (or just had some better instruction than my tiny-animal-massacring cousin at the worst of his murderous-dipshit phase) whether I'd ever have discovered even the faintest hint of skill.

I am basically the worst shot in the world.
posted by brennen at 10:57 PM on March 4, 2016 [6 favorites]


It's also stupid. An autoloader isn't designed to be used in that orientation, and it's much more likely to have an ejection failure leading to a stovepipe jam.

Blame the Mauser C96, and in particular the full-auto domestic versions developed in China in the first half of the last century. Those legitimately worked better sideways, for some purposes, and people just sort of got in the habit of thinking that was "cool." Also, a partially angled grip can be more stable, since it leaves the wrist in a neutral position.
posted by fifthrider at 11:00 PM on March 4, 2016 [17 favorites]


An autoloader isn't designed to be used in that orientation, and it's much more likely to have an ejection failure leading

Sounds like a design problem.
posted by oceanjesse at 11:19 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


I want to be Keanu for a living. How do I sign up for movie star college?
posted by dgaicun at 11:49 PM on March 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


guns don't kill people, Keannu Reeves kills people

[who almost always deserve it, and anyway it's make believe]
posted by philip-random at 11:50 PM on March 4, 2016 [5 favorites]


guns don't kill people, Keanu Reeves kills people

With kindness!
posted by littlesq at 11:55 PM on March 4, 2016 [9 favorites]


and regret
posted by philip-random at 11:57 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


Keanu Reeves kills people

Understatement. Reeves has triumphed over death itself.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:01 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


Surprisingly a lot of 3-gun technique and kit filters back into the military. I was very impressed when the Keanu vid was posted to one of the gun sits I have in my RSS feeds. Keanu is genuinely *very* good (when he's firing the shotgun part of the course he gets a stoppage and clears it almost instantly). He's not using the Centre Axis Relock technique he used in John Wick and is quite orthodox otherwise. There's another video floating around with him teaching another 3-gunner but yeah, was nice to see he actually has some skills. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are also supposedly very good IRL.
posted by longbaugh at 12:32 AM on March 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


I don't understand this stuff. What's going on here - is this Keanu practicing for a green screen, or is this actually some kind of tactical training thing that real gun-using folk do?

Like anything else, learning to shoot a gun is easier if you gamify it. He's shooting 3 gun which is a pretty standardized sport people like to do. The woman shadowing him is timing and observing hits etc.

I used to have to pass a gun competency test for work and the instructors did all kinds of stuff like this to make people learn better. They would make moving targets, do speed drills etc and we all got better for sure. For safety and verisimilitude a lot of actors get fun training in sports like shooting and riding horses, and many take it up as a hobby. The guy from arrow is a pretty damn good archer.

As an aside, it is quite hard for most people who learned to shoot in a hunting tradition to shoot quickly like this because you are taught to be so careful!
posted by fshgrl at 12:51 AM on March 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


Gun = pleasure! Entertainment = death! Fun = killing! Murder = movie!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 12:54 AM on March 5, 2016 [11 favorites]


What's interesting in videos like this is how understated the whole affair looks compared to what you see in a movie. A big part of it is the sound I think, the sound of real gunfire has a lot less depth and reverb compared to movie gunfire. Another thing is how he's going for fast, controlled and economical moves, not the theatrical choreography that's meant to visually telegraph Action in a movie.
posted by Dr Dracator at 1:06 AM on March 5, 2016 [5 favorites]


There are only a couple of films that actually have decent gunfire audio - Heat and Miami Vice, both directed by Michael Mann. The sounds of the shootouts in these movies are incredible and one of the things that adds to the verisimilitude of the movies.

/crosses verisimilitude off of MeFi Bingo word list.
posted by longbaugh at 1:35 AM on March 5, 2016 [11 favorites]


I don't know about reliability, but amazing and very fast shooter Jerry Miculek says shooting sideways is accurate.
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:25 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ugh, I'd forgotten how much I don't like Iraqveteran8888. Hadn't watched that video in years.
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:34 AM on March 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


(when he's firing the shotgun part of the course he gets a stoppage and clears it almost instantly)

I don't think that's a stoppage. As far as I can tell, the bolt has locked open because the magazine's empty. He very quickly grabs a shell off the side-mounted carrier and throws it directly into the chamber through the ejection port and releases the bolt with his support hand. I don't 3-gun, but that shell carrier looks like it's made expressly for that purpose.
posted by strangecargo at 3:54 AM on March 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


Nice head of hair on that fellow though, huh?
posted by nevercalm at 3:55 AM on March 5, 2016


We're almost exactly the same age and its damn annoying that Reeves does seem to age while at the same time I'm turning into an old man.
posted by octothorpe at 4:42 AM on March 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


I don't know about reliability, but amazing and very fast shooter Jerry Miculek says shooting sideways is accurate.

Ha! I totally started writing a comment referencing that but I didn't want to get into an argument about firearm reliability! Miculek is amazing - his Barrett M107 speed shooting video is incredible. Since I've now broken my silence, I've seen stovepipes galore on 1911s (had one myself on a Kimber I shot). I had another one with a .45 M&P too but the Glocks and USP that I have shot were wonderfully reliable with nary a malfunction in hundreds of rounds. Modern firearm reliability is very much improved over older designs (hence the Navy SEALs/DEVGRU and CAG adopting Glocks over custom 1911s in recent years).

To be fair to Jerry though, he's still actually using the sights and the sideways "gangster" style is not really about using them. The Centre Axis Relock technique used in John Wick is an extreme CQC technique developed by a British Protection Command officer and is supposed to be used in sub 2m ranges. If you use the CAR method you'll transition from the sideways high hold to an extended weaver stance depending on engagement range. Everyone else shoots sideways nowadays. The firearms training community loves to do "shooting from shitty positions" training and you'll see all sorts of bizarre angles and stances nowadays on the youtubes.

Finally - one recommendation - even if you don't like gats - CarniK Con is the best gun related fun on the Youtubes.

I don't think that's a stoppage. As far as I can tell, the bolt has locked open because the magazine's empty. He very quickly grabs a shell off the side-mounted carrier and throws it directly into the chamber through the ejection port and releases the bolt with his support hand. I don't 3-gun, but that shell carrier looks like it's made expressly for that purpose.

To be honest, I didn't look that closely, I saw him hit the bolt release and just assumed - that's my bad and I'm a dumbass for not checking before posting. There are shotshell adaptors on most 3-gun shotguns, it's the hardest part of the competition just in terms of "topping up" and maintaining the best possible speed through the course. Seeing pro 3-gunners running extended-tube shotguns with 40+ shells parked around their bodies and stacked around the receiver is amazing but then so's that trick-shooting guy who tosses the shells directly into the open port, releases the bolt and fires.
posted by longbaugh at 4:44 AM on March 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


I know someone whose life was saved by the sideways pistol grip. He was undergoing an armed robbery at the time, in his store. The kid with the gun shot directly at him before they ran away, but because that kid had learned about guns from the media, he shot the gun sideways and hit the wall.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:04 AM on March 5, 2016 [11 favorites]


I love how, regardless of topic, there's always at least a couple of people here who know just an absurdly ridiculous amount about the subject at hand.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:19 AM on March 5, 2016 [41 favorites]


Nice to learn about this "3-gun" thing through Keanu being awesome and not in a heart-stopping cable news crawl.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:49 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


There are only a couple of films that actually have decent gunfire audio - Heat and Miami Vice, both directed by Michael Mann.

Yeah, that video definitely gave me a Heat downtown shootout vibe.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:56 AM on March 5, 2016


This video was just like John Wick only slightly shorter.
posted by beerperson at 6:25 AM on March 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


Nobody makes any unfortunate life choices regarding cars or dogs.
posted by Artw at 6:35 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


I mostly plink casually but around here the two things that seem to be getting popular are the 3-gun tactical stuff shown in the video, and the cowboy action shooting events. Both are ways for people to add in some elements of "realism" (very much in air quotes) along with fast-paced competition, and the barrier to entry is very low. I've been considering taking one of those tactical pistol courses just to learn the moves, though it isn't anything I actually need to know in real life. Watching videos of people who are highly skilled at it is interesting, though kind of like watching people make trick basketball shots -- that is a lot of hours of practice at something kind of esoteric.

Ha! I totally started writing a comment referencing that but I didn't want to get into an argument about firearm reliability! Miculek is amazing - his Barrett M107 speed shooting video is incredible. Since I've now broken my silence, I've seen stovepipes galore on 1911s (had one myself on a Kimber I shot). I had another one with a .45 M&P too but the Glocks and USP that I have shot were wonderfully reliable with nary a malfunction in hundreds of rounds. Modern firearm reliability is very much improved over older designs (hence the Navy SEALs/DEVGRU and CAG adopting Glocks over custom 1911s in recent years).

Again as a casual plinker, one of the things I appreciate about Glocks is being able to buy the absolute cheapest ammunition and having it always work every time with no fuss. (They also fit my hand perfectly, but that's more of an individual preference.) I don't see that with some of the older designs, fun as they are to shoot.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:55 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


Nobody makes any unfortunate life choices regarding cars or dogs.

Cardboard silhouette #8 didn't exactly look innocent in that regard. It's in the subtext.
posted by beerperson at 7:02 AM on March 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


Fight scenes in movies are usually best when they're choreographed and performed by actual martial artists, even if the fights don't like anything like real fights would look like.

It stands to reason that the same could be said for movie gun-play.
posted by VTX at 7:05 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


I guess it's more important to practice mowing down a band of marauders than that whole boring "acting" thing.
posted by fungible at 7:17 AM on March 5, 2016


Given the number of gunshots in John Wick compared to the number of words, I'd say that's prudent.
posted by VTX at 7:22 AM on March 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


This makes me want to play Counterstrike again.
posted by Damienmce at 8:04 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


There are only a couple of films that actually have decent gunfire audio - Heat and Miami Vice, both directed by Michael Mann.

I've often wondered - in those CCTV videos of people witnessing shootings - if that is why people are so incredibly slow to react. I'm not sure it is just shock (from those hearing but not necessarily hearing) but lack of comprehension. You see it in the eye witness quotes and interviews too, they describe hearing popping noises and being confused and not immediately realising it is gunfire, because movies make it sound so completely different. I have to wonder how differently people would react if they were hearing movie sounding gunfire.

I have a passing theory/wild ass thought that people hear the popping, half think it is gunfire but check it against their interpretation of gunfire (from movies) and dismiss it and keep wondering what it is. Delayed reaction comes as a result.
posted by Brockles at 8:11 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


The first picture has him holding his pistol sideways. Somehow or other that's become "cool", according to movie makers. (AFAIK that started in Hong Kong action movies and seems to have moved out from there.)

I see you haven't watched the movie. His character dynamically transitions between Weaver, isosceles, and Center Axis Relock stances depending on the range of his adversary. It's not a particularly good movie, but the fight choreography certainly had a crap-ton of tactical combat professionals advising it.
posted by Coda at 8:14 AM on March 5, 2016 [7 favorites]


I have a passing theory/wild ass thought that people hear the popping, half think it is gunfire but check it against their interpretation of gunfire (from movies) and dismiss it and keep wondering what it is. Delayed reaction comes as a result.
In my experience (I hate that I can say this now) the delayed reaction comes from how completely unexpected gunfire is in your everyday life. I had the slowest reaction out of any of the people around me, and I somewhat attribute that to the fact I didn't grow up in a neighborhood with frequent, proximal gun violence and didn't realize the neighborhood I was currently in was that bad.

Also the popping that results from someone shooting at you from 20-30m away with a bunch of acoustic obstacles and interference in the way is completely different from the popping you hear standing behind of beside someone in an open air gun range. I did not think about movies.
posted by midmarch snowman at 8:26 AM on March 5, 2016 [5 favorites]


I guess it's more important to practice mowing down a band of marauders than that whole boring "acting" thing.
More fun, anyway.
posted by Hatashran at 8:29 AM on March 5, 2016


While I can't really say he's an actor with much range, cast in the right kind of role he works perfectly.
posted by Artw at 8:32 AM on March 5, 2016 [4 favorites]


fungible: "I guess it's more important to practice mowing down a band of marauders than that whole boring "acting" thing."

If that's your bag, here is a photo of him sitting on a bench practicing an emotion.
posted by RobotHero at 9:03 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


See? Sad Keanu + shooting things = John Wick = GOLD
posted by Artw at 9:28 AM on March 5, 2016




Hooray for Keanu Reeves. He has mellowed well since his ho-dad days. I've enjoyed everything of his that I've seen. Also, I've seen videos of Steven Seagal shooting. He's seems to be a bona-fide expert with a handgun. Mrs mule and I enjoy watching westerns because we love horses, and really get a kick out of noticing who can ride and who's faking it. Kurt Russell comes to mind among a few others.

In a gun fight the noise seems to run on a different sound track. Trading kisses back and forth in a forest is my most reliable memory. Trees reflect the pops, cracks and whizzes all around you, so two or three earnest shooters sound like a whole army shooting from all directions. Amplitude is scrambled. Bangs and cracks seem disconnected from flashes and whines. If you don't see the shooter or his muzzle flashes, it's sometimes hard to tell where fire is coming from. Mostly you hear the sound of your own weapon, but through some sort of amplitude filter. During the gaps in firing your ears ring with a hypersonic squeal that you can't quite hear. Below that sound the universe hisses at you between the slamming of your pulse. You can sometimes see the rounds coming at you--little dark spots inside a heat bubble--but most times they pass you by before you have time to react...sometimes they leave a whine or a buzz in their wake. Tracers are weird because they seem to be moving slower than other bullets. This isn't true, though.

Ricochets are scary, because they are deformed, and spin off in unpredictable, invisible trajectories. You have no idea which way they are headed, but you always know when they are visiting your neighborhood. In the heat of an exchange it's amazing how many times you can miss a fucker before you get it right. Hooray for rock and roll, but it's best when you can sandbag your weapon and shoot single shots from a prepared position.

I trained with a rifle team for several years while I was in junior high and high school. Bulls eye targets, small bore rifles with outstanding sights. I could hit in the 190's consistently, but the guys who went to the state matches were the ones with the most pinwheels. I did well in basic training because of that experience. We shot at silhouettes, pretending they were Russian infantrymen. Our live fire & maneuver exercises with pop-ups were fun: two shots per target, the first one a bit low. I never was very good with a handgun; but after the army I owned a Hawkin .50 muzzle loader, and could hit a 10 inch target pretty much every time at 100 meters, a long way with that weapon. A couple of years ago I went target shooting with mrs mule's brother--he had a Hawkin. I took four or five tries to hit a goddam milk jug at about 100 feet. Shooting isn't quite like riding a bicycle--if you snooze you lose.
posted by mule98J at 9:51 AM on March 5, 2016 [12 favorites]


Robert Stack:
Skeet Shooter Extraordinaire.
posted by clavdivs at 9:56 AM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


It's not a particularly good movie

...but it is a very good *action* movie, if not quite at the levels of sublime perfection _Dredd_ hit. The action scenes are clear and comprehensible and not just random flash-cuts mushed together, the story is lean and spare, and what little "extra" is added to the lean and spare story is this glorious whipped topping of fantasyland with the gold coins and Assassin Hotel and whatnot. It's like the katana-holders on the plane in Kill Bill.

But I admit I have a soft spot for "They just fucked with the wrong Mexican" movies.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:58 AM on March 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


There are only a couple of films that actually have decent gunfire audio - Heat and Miami Vice, both directed by Michael Mann.

Movies always get the sound wrong, usually too much resonance but also way too quiet, especially indoors where people would have blood coming out of their ears in real life. (I liked Blackhawk Down in part because of the poor guy who ends up deaf because of the shooting next to his head.) But movies also have people flying backwards from a pistol shot, hitting moving targets with every shot, and never running out of bullets, so getting the sound wrong is just the smallest error in a long sequence of unreality.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:35 AM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


You see it in the eye witness quotes and interviews too, they describe hearing popping noises and being confused and not immediately realising it is gunfire, because movies make it sound so completely different. I have to wonder how differently people would react if they were hearing movie sounding gunfire.

I've heard gunfire a few times in my neighborhood, and most times I've been uncertain whether it's actually been gunfire or firecrackers or a motorcycle backfiring.

And yes, having been at a gun range, it sounds nothing like that when you're a block or two away.
posted by asterix at 10:42 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


He is very good. The clean double-tap is demonstrative of someone who has been practicing a lot. You'll notice that the spacing between the shots is very close to identical regardless of the gun he's shooting (excepting slightly for the shotgun's recoil).

When you first start learning it, it can be hard because you haven't developed it as an instinct yet, so you'll hesitate between the shots or fire off three instead of two. He's obviously gotten the knack of it and it shows.

I'm glad the sideways gun vs Center Axis Relock shooting has been well covered in the thread. I heard more than a few people talking about how unrealistic John Wick was because he was holding the gun all '90s gangster like and I wanted to explain that, while there were certainly a few things unrealistic in John Wick, Reeves movements and firearm handling weren't one of them.

When I was first learning to shoot, someone used the phrase "an economy of movement" and it has stuck with me ever since. Whenever you see someone who is really, really good at something (anything, not just shooting) you'll notice that there are no frivolous actions, no unneeded extra steps. Everything is done quickly and precisely because it is just easier that way. It also helps once you've developed it into muscle memory, because then your brain can be working on something else while your body is taking care of the operational part.

Watching a good chef or pit crew at a race is a great example of this in action.

Reeves switching between firearms is also exceptional, and that's another thing that people who don't shoot probably can't fully appreciate. The rifle gets hot and has edges that can catch on things and clearing it so you can transition to a sidearm and then switching back when you have the opportunity to reload looks easy here because he's making it look easy. It really isn't.

I do wish the hobby hadn't been turned toxic by horrific events and ridiculously polarized views on solving the problems, because guns really are a lot of fun to shoot, and there is something very satisfying about being able to do something that well. Sadly it comes with enough baggage that now I just build and fix them. The only time I shoot is to test the work I've done.
posted by quin at 10:43 AM on March 5, 2016 [9 favorites]


it sounds nothing like that when you're a block or two away.

I live just on the very edge of suburban moving into rural and I get this all the time. You'll hear three quick pops and wonder if the kids down the road are playing with cherry bombs or someone is firing a gun. It's also impossible to tell where the sound is coming from because it bounces off of every flat surface.

It's a weird thing to have gotten used to.
posted by quin at 10:46 AM on March 5, 2016


Pro(tection) tip -

DON'T REMOVE YOUR EARPHONES ON AN ENCLOSED INDOOR RANGE

Even more so don't do this when you're letting rip with a full-auto .45 ACP Thompson M1A1 because this is a real thing.
posted by longbaugh at 10:48 AM on March 5, 2016


I go so far as to suggest that new shooters use two pairs of hearing protection; ear canal ones and a pair of good ear-muffs over the top. There is no quicker way to turn someone off shooting than have them at a range when their ear protection not working very well.

It's brutal and uncomfortable. And it still sounds nothing like the movies so much as a brief wall of just blinding white noise.
posted by quin at 10:54 AM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


> Sad Keanu + shooting things = John Wick = GOLD

He does more than shoot things! John Wick kill count infographic
posted by needled at 11:03 AM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Robert Stack:
Skeet Shooter Extraordinaire.


That was fun, with the nice bonus of Arthur Ashe's genuine excitement after hitting the clay pigeon.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:05 AM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


...but it is a very good *action* movie, if not quite at the levels of sublime perfection _Dredd_ hit. The action scenes are clear and comprehensible and not just random flash-cuts mushed together, the story is lean and spare, and what little "extra" is added to the lean and spare story is this glorious whipped topping of fantasyland with the gold coins and Assassin Hotel and whatnot. It's like the katana-holders on the plane in Kill Bill.

As far as overall aesthetic and fight choreography goes, I thought it was stellar.

I mean, shit: just look at this.

But what makes an action movie great for me is emotional involvement, and at no point in time did I feel a sense of urgency or peril or anxiety. It was like a speedrun of an FPS — technically brilliant, visually gorgeous, but not engaging.
posted by Coda at 1:06 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


at no point in time did I feel a sense of urgency or peril or anxiety.

But... but... Dead puppy!
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:17 PM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


...at no point in time did I feel a sense of urgency or peril or anxiety.

Nor should you have. It was the story of a man having a calm, rational, and downright restrained reaction to the murder of his puppy.
posted by VTX at 2:39 PM on March 5, 2016 [8 favorites]


guns don't kill people, Keannu Reeves kills people

I thought it was Chuck Norris, but having seen this video, I think Keanu can make a strong case.
posted by theorique at 3:21 PM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


My name is John Wick. You killed my dog. Prepare to die.

Declared in the right tone of voice, this cracks me up every time. Sadly, the number of people who recognize the quote and have also seen Wick is vanishingly small. About the same number of people who are able to recognize that an actor who is recognizably Ted and also recognizably Neo is an actual actor. Not to mention kind of dumb but basically decent and really brave Jack in Speed. (my personal favorite) Fun to watch him shoot guns -- thanks for posting.
posted by kestralwing at 7:57 PM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


By some weird coincidence a few hours after mw reading this thread my husband suggested we watch John Wick (I hadn't mentioned the movie and he doesn't read mefi) . We were a short bit in and just as I'm ooohing over the cute puppy, my brain makes the connection to the comments in this thread and now I'm in another room. No way I'm watching or even hearing about that cute puppy being killed. Omg. Thanks for the inadvertent heads up metafilter!
posted by biggreenplant at 8:28 PM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Theon! Why'd you have to kill that dog, Theon!

(Is all I thought when I watched the movie).
posted by Dimes at 3:06 AM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


For anyone curious, there's an Old West version of this sport. The competitors dress up as gunfighters, sheriffs, saloon dancers, barkeeps, stagecoach guards, etc., and only use replica firearms that match the ones used in the late 19th century.
posted by Beholder at 9:25 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


For anyone curious, there's an Old West version of this sport. The competitors dress up as gunfighters, sheriffs, saloon dancers, barkeeps, stagecoach guards, etc., and only use replica firearms that match the ones used in the late 19th century.

Cowboy Action Shooting

posted by jammy at 5:32 AM on March 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


From that Wiki link on Cowboy Action Shooting: "Participants must select an alias out of the Old West or having an "old west flair". Aliases are registered with the sanctioning body so they are unique to the participant. Many find it necessary to be creative in selecting an alias (such as the banker who shoots under the alias "The Loan Arranger") as virtually all historical names such as Wyatt Earp and Butch Cassidy have long since been claimed."

The Loan Arranger. That.... is just brilliant.
posted by Brockles at 8:48 AM on March 7, 2016 [3 favorites]


Actually, "it's the name of one of those bad credit, no problem we'll get you a car loan" places in Ontario, so (for me) it doesn't rate to highly on the originality scale.
posted by sardonyx at 8:57 AM on March 7, 2016


I did end up seeing the rest of the movie. I loved the action and now super excited to see chapter two. Thanks Artw!
posted by biggreenplant at 9:11 AM on March 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


« Older Notes: please make this iconic.   |   RIP Pat Conroy Newer »


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