Listening:
"Voodoo People (Chemical Bros Remix)," Prodigy
"Is Chicago, is Not Chicago," Soul Coughing
"Where is Everybody?" Nine Inch Nails
"the beauty of being numb," NIN
"Take To The Sky," Tori Amos
"Keep on Calling Me (live at Woodstock)," NIN
"Bylar," Dead Can Dance
"Summoning of the Muse," DCD
"Dumb," Nirvana
"Bachelorette," Tori
"Only You," Portisehead
Aches and Complaints: My back is fuct, for some reason

I don't remember all of the names of moves in bullfighting, but they are something that catches my imagination.

Bulls (cattle) are color-blind. They don't get steamed at seeing a red cape, they get driven crazy by picadores who taunt/torture the bull by sticking it full of long pointy metal sticks. It teases the animal because it can't pull out the sticks and the sticks are in just under the hide.

They don't do a severe amount of damage to the animal, but the bull is in a sizable amount of pain. Subcutaneous fat or no, there's going to be blood. And fury.

The picadores race around the arena feinting and taunting the bull and when the bull totally crazed they leave the bull to himself.

At this point the bull will react to anything it sees moving.

This is when the toreador/matador steps in. He moves stiffly, at a stately gate that is very proud and is meant to give the idea that he is noble. It's also just slow enough that bull can easily miss him.

At his side, moving with him, is a red banner wrapped around a sword. When he reaches the center of the arena he unfurls the banner, calmly and with great grace.

This attracts the attention of the bull. The bull likely won't attact immediately, he will size up this new creature to determine if he is a threat to be removed forthwith.

Quick aside:
All animals have a sense of personal space. Larger, more agressive animals have a sense for a shitload of space. When they are angry that personal space is amplified considerably.

When the toreador begins waving the banner around and shouting at the bull he will try to anger the bull. In general this will work within a minute or two. Usually the audience will do what it can to incite the bull as well.

When the bull makes his pass at the toreador, the toreador has a few split seconds to decide how to position himself. Preferably he will be standing sidelong to the direction of the bull's pass so when the bull charges by he will pass directly in front of the toreador. The toreador ensures this by holding out the banner in front of him, with enough of it still wrapped about his sword that he only need one hand to support it.

Timing is critical. If the toreador moves falsely the bull may be able to determine human from banner and go for man flesh rather than fabric. Everything the toreador does is to make it clear to the bull that the banner is the appropriate target. (Remember the eyesight of the bull is more or less terrible.)

The easiest move is holding the banner directly in front of the body, standing stock still and shifting the banner to draw the attention of the bull. The arms must be high so as not to catch on the bull's horns, but not so high as to provide a smaller target.

I can't remember the name of this move.

After the bull has passed the toreador waves the banner about to reposition himself and to show the audience he is alright.

The bull will weild around when he runs out of room to run and look for the target that deprived him of vengeance. The target will be waving his banner about, calling for another go.

If the bull is charging in one direction the toreador can face his path in a perpendicular, as described above, or he can stand on a parallel, facing the opposite direction.

Again, degrees and timing is critical. By the time the bull has a lock on the toreador, the only thing that may move (if the toreador wishes to survive) is the banner. If he stands parallel the banner will be held either straight out to his side (his elbow may be bent, depending on the height of the bull). This will bring the horns of the bull *much* closer to his body, often by cenitmeters.

The move is called "verónica."

Again, it is important that part of the banner be wrapped about the sword since the toreador can only use one hand to hold it up.

The other option when standing parallel is to hold the banner with the arm crossed over the chest. For instance, assuming the toreador is left handed, he will hold the banner in his left hand over to his right. His right arm may either be tucked behind his back or hover over it at just the crucial moment.

This moves is extraordinarily dangerous and brings the bull within millimeters of human flesh. Toreadors have reported fighting with every inch of their being to remain standing. A bull weighs easily over a ton and when it charges the very earth will shake. Also, the armpits and sides of one's ribs are very delicate places in the body that can invite a strike that can vary in severity from crippling to instantaneous death.

This move is called the "bella verónica" because it is similar to the "verónica" but requires much more from a toreador in terms of patience, tenacity, steadiness and grace under fire.

There are other moves, and other styles of bullfighting, but these are the most traditional. These days a bullfighter might run around more, to be sure his footing is perfect. He might step out without his sword and hold his banner with both hands.

Either way, the goal is to taunt the bull so much that he grows too tired and stupid with fury to be a threat. Then he is put down with the coup de grâce.

When the toreador determines that the dance is over he drops his banner to expose his blade. He continues moving in a stately and purposeful way that only attains the attention of the bull when he wants it.

He picks out the stance that he believes will work with the bull and then taunts the bull until he charges.

Sometimes the bull gets too tired and ceases to care about the fight. This is when assistants are dispatched into the arena. They will taunt the bull at a much closer range sometimes getting within arms reach. If the bull starts to chase them they jump out of the arena as quickly as possible. When the bulls become enraged again they point him in the direction of the toreador.

It's a fight, to be sure. But it's a fight that has _one_ stroke and may be finished within the blink of an eye. A good toreador stands absolutely still until the last possible fraction of a second when he raises his sword and allows the bull to skewer himself upon it.

Directly below the chin of the bull is a path that is bristling full of might and muscle. It leads to the heart. If the strike is true the bull will stumble forward a few paces but quickly fall to his knees, bellowing in anguish. He will die soon thereafter and the toreador will be showered with red roses.

If a toreador fails in any way to find this path and be strong enough to stay with it (hint: it's cutting through raw meat, not warm butter) he will instead find himself gored by the bull who knows that this is his enemy No 1.

The toreador may realize he has been gored first when he looks up and realizes he is being flipped over the back of the bull and is headed to face plant within another second or so. Sometimes the toreador will ahve the misfortune of bouncing off the bull's rear end and likely be kicked by the bull's mighty hooves. The will remember where the toreador fell and return to make absolutely sure he's dead. This generally entails stomping the shit out of him, but a bull can crush a man's skull as easily as you or I can crush an aluminum can.

The assistants will jump out and try to drive the bull away from the fallen fighter, and generally succeed.

But there is a good chance that the toreador will not survive. Despite our advances in modern medicine most doctor's will have to resort to manhandling the fighter's organs to find holes as small as the tip of a sharpened pencil. If the goring is done in the intestines there can easily be dozens of holes to be found. Any of these can hemorrage, or even leak fluid unique to the organ and thus poison the entire body.

The bella verónica is not something to be fucked with.