i realized today or yesterday by the time you see this that this is an anniversary because
on the 11th of february 2020 i put up my first fight analysis video about the force awakens
and thus began my journey to becoming the sword lady two years 44 million video views and 341 000
subscribers later i can tell you it's been a wild ride my friends happy kind of second anniversary
anyway i wanted to impart a piece of advice or maybe two so let's go i know a lot more than i
did when i started these videos two years ago including a bunch of quite rudimentary things
about longsword which i will tell you about later but if i hadn't just started and accepted that i
was going to get some things right and some things wrong i wouldn't be here sometimes you just have
to start and try and know stuff and not know stuff and learn as you go because if it's interesting
enough even only knowing some stuff can lead to your life being profoundly changed and suddenly
you're a full-time content creator and you have a silver play button and a sword collection
or whatever have to say... results not typical the keys i think to making entertaining videos about
things you don't know loads about are 1. do know something about it and 2. don't set yourself up
as an expert tell people who you are and why you like the thing and why you know anything
about it at all but while experts are great you don't need to be an expert to make entertaining
videos never be afraid to be an enthusiastic amateur i mean never, never be afraid to be an
enthusiastic amateur in my first fight analysis video [thunk] oh no i'm gonna need to zoom out
i would normally hold it a little higher than this but my knees are very bent and i'm still
hitting the ceiling so there we go in my very first fight analysis video i said that i didn't
think that this was a longsword stance because i looked up longsword stances on the internet and
i couldn't find this one i also said it didn't seem very useful largely because i didn't really
understand the mechanics of longswords and that also if this were a lightsaber wouldn't it sort of
blind you to have it right next to your face in a dark forest i mean from a practical perspective i
stand by the blinding point even though obviously from a cinematic perspective it's so you can have
that dramatic lighting but the other things were totally wrong as various people politely pointed
out it's also a kendo stance which various other people politely pointed out slight digression (as
if this entire video isn't a digression) it can be quite a lot of work to cultivate an audience which
consists of mostly genuinely decent people but i swear to you it can be done and it's very worth
it too not everyone on the internet is an eejit. my subscriber count has grown from 23,000 when
i put up this first video to 364,000 and with the possible exception of some of the videos that have
gone a bit viral the comment section is genuinely a nice place to hang out so good work team anyway
i had never to that point taken a long sword class either for stage combat or HEMA but when i rocked
up to my first 14th century Lichtenaeur style longsword class several months ago this this was
the first thing we learned it's called Vom Tag and most of the basic long sword moves that you learn
in the Lichtenaeur system start from there because it's a nicely non-telegraphy way of standing there
are other stances in the Lichtenaeur system but this one is fairly foundational as it turns out
so whoops and when you know how longswords are actually supposed to be moved it's reasonably
efficient which i didn't know in 2020 because i'd only ever used one-handed swords so i watched my
force awakens video and may have slightly cringed a bit at all the things that i got wrong but on
the other hand i did notice a large number of things which i got i think correct so partial win
so here's another piece of advice then if you are a creator and you look back on a past piece of
work and you go argh that's a good sign it may in fact mean you are improving and conversely if you
look back on an older piece of work and you go 'oh that's not bad actually' that's also a good sign
albeit for a different reason so on this the two year anniversary of changing channel direction
which has legitimately changed my life in some fairly profound ways let me offer you
this piece of advice again: never be afraid to be an enthusiastic amateur. enthusiasm is a joyful
and infectious thing and the world could really use more joy and it might even change your life
although i have to say have to say results not typical. hope you enjoy the rest of flirty
fight February which consists of one more full length video and a short and maybe something
else on the 28th yes we are going to cover the spear fight from episode 7 of the wheel of time
i have half a script written thank you for being here and also not being a total eejit i hope you
enjoy whatever video youtube has decided to suggest for you next and i'll see you soon