Conan, the Cimmerian barbarian, is as agile as a supple leopard despite the heavy muscles that wrap his frame like corded steel — and it is this frequent descriptor, that of the supple cat, which is starting to mildly annoy my wife. She’s enjoying the Conan stories — which is awesome — but this descriptor in almost every tale is distracting. And I get it. His “square cut mane” in every story got a little repetitive for me, but you never know when a new reader is going to meet an established character. And there are some other obvious marks of the culture of the author’s time that need to be considered and call for entire essays on their own. I’m looking at you, Lovecraft fans.

But back to Conan’s agility and his adept skill at moving through the physical world and its obstacles with ease. It’s a reminder for us to stay agile and move with the obstacles in the ways demanded of us — whether that is ducking a falling boulder or cleaving through the helmet of your enemy and down to his teeth.

Or, for most of us, solving tiny problems as they arise.

In a couple weeks, I’m gaffing a sizzle reel / proof of concept short project. My Key Grip had to drop out because he got hired on to key a movie. So I had to move and find a new key who would come work two days for free and who has enough experience to pull off the job on a very tightly scheduled day.

I called grip friends for who they would recommend.

At the same time, I’m chatting with the parents of some of my daughter’s friends and their middle-school youngsters are interested in making movies. So, I volunteered to take them to the lighting rental house and prop house on Monday so they can see some behind the scenes stuff and huge pieces of gear and prop alien tech and all sorts of fun stuff. I hadn’t finalized those plans with the rental house, but a quick text was all I needed to get their gracious approval.

The grips texted me back with a great recommendation and my crew for the freebie was locked in (again). But, I still wanted my new key to take a look at the stage to see what we’re working with.

But, I didn’t want to take a whole extra trip to the city for a half hour scout.

So I called the stage manager.

Could I bring a handful of junior-high students to the stage so they can see even more behind the scenes stuff? They can even watch how shots are planned and discussed before a shoot day. If they’re making a trip to the city, I could make it even more worth their time.

Stage manager was totally cool with it.

Now, I get my new key on a scout AND get to show these kids more than equipment! Plus, I get to do it all in one trip outside of rush hour on either end.

That, to me, is some supple leopard agility.

Happy Friday

PS — TWO WEEKS LEFT! Submit your sci-fi short stories to Panopticon2032 at protonmail dot com by July first.