Helloa, I am from tj I live in tj. This place is amazing, glad that we have such a bad, and deserved, rap. Keeps the prices down. But we have a king and his name is Hank. jorge Hank. It id amazing to have been able to walk into his open zoo. He has a vegan son too who hosts reggae and raves at our soccer stadium. Have never been to a bull fight though. But I enjoyed one of his strip clubs today. Hurray!!!

how is it as a place to live? better than the image, or the same as the image?

I'm in this weird place where I am honestly impressed with the skill, athleticism, and pure fucking balls it takes to be a bullfighter, and the knowledge that bullfighting is torturing an animal to death for public amusement. "You're really good at being a monster!"

Bullfighting was invented in Spain, when they were part of the Roman empire. Basically, between wars, the soldiers would get bored as hell, and need something to do. It had danger, adrenaline rush and the thrill of looking a living beast in the eyes while they snuffed it out.

Nowadays people just jump off of bridges wearing wing suits to get that.

Personally - when it comes to skill, athleticism, and pure fucking balls, I am most impressed with jockeys. Those guys are crazy x 10 and top it off they strap themselves to a thousand pound beast with razor sharp hooves running at 40 mph, wearing nothing but a silk uniform.

Absolutely on point. Truth to tell, the only thing keeping them on the horses' backs is their own strength and balance. Those stirrups sit way up high, and all the jockey can do is grip that racing saddle with the last few inches of calf to the ankle.

About 4 years ago I took a series of bullfighting classes and then faced young cows in the ring. No, I did not kill the animal.

So let's start with that.

Research shows that when the picadors do their work, and then the banderillas, that the bull experiences pain and anger and the fear drops off. One way to measure that is to watch the bull in the field with its herd. It's docile, and you can walk among them.

But separate the bull from its herd, and it gets scared. Humans knew that from 500 years ago or so, when would-be toreros would sneak into a grazing pasture on a moonlit night and isolate a bull in order to cape it a few times. Bulls and cows do the same thing, which is charge at something that moves when it's isolated and scared.

So you get a herd near the gates of the pen and, using long sticks with prods, push on a bull in order to get it to run down a long narrow passageway that's dark and smells of fear and piss and shit and then all of a sudden it's out in a large arena and the crowd's making noise and way off on the other side of the arena it sees a grey cape move from behind a barrier--bulls are color-blind--and so it takes off at high speed to butt that movement away. Its psychology is to charge and butt at the movement with its head until the movement is gone and then it's happy.

But once that cape is gone it turns around because it saw something else flicker in its vision, probably across the arena, and it runs towards THAT grey cape. Do that a few times and the bull quickly gets tired out, because they are bred for speed and power and not endurance.

Really good matadors (also called toreros) can spot all sorts of things on a bull, like a tendency it has when it turns, or dips its horns, or how it responds to movement.

The torero first uses a capote, the large magenta on one side and yellow on the other cape, which actually looks like a cape with a collar. He'll make some passes with the bull, moving one side pf the cape towards the bull to get him to charge that side, and then slowing drawing the cape away from the bull so the bull chases the cape.

The matador ALWAYS stands still. ALways. As soon as the bull is past the matador dances in front of the bull and back, out of the area where he feels the bull will charge from, which is called the bull's jurisdiction. Then he inches forward, flicks the cape again, and stands still as he draws the cape to his side so that the bull follows the cape.

The capote is heavy--about ten pounds--and must be used with both hands. That's why the matadors are in great shape--they are very strong.

Eventually the torero angles the bull towards the picador seated on a horse, where it's incited to charge the horse. At the same time its sensitive horns hit the impenetrable kevlar, the bull is jabbed between its very very strong shoulders. That feeling of pain angers the bull and takes away the fear. It pushes against the horse, and against the spear. The purpose is also to weaken the bull a little bit, make it harder to lift its head, so that during the dance to follow it's a little easier to control.

The torero will finally call off the picador and take his muleta out. That's the red cape. It has a small stick onto which the cape is held. One end of that cape flaps free, the end away from the matador's hand. The sword is always held in the right hand, so it, too, props up the cape in the right hand.

The matador slowly walks into the jusridctios of the bull, holds the cape a but away from hs body, and with an overhand flick of the wrist gets the end of the cape away from to flutter towards the bull.

The bull charges, and again the matador stands still. Muletas weight about 7 or 8 pounds, but they bottom of that cape rests on the ground so it "weighs" less.

Beautiful passes can be made, and the true reason for the play between bull and human now comes into focus. It's a dance. The human tries to get the bull as close as possible without getting hooked.

But what's also going on is that the matador is training the bull to watch movement and charge at movement. It's sort of like playing with a cat and a piece of string Get too far away and the cat loses interest. Get too close and the cat grabs the string, only in this case the bull can hook you.

This is the magical part. I was very scared the first time I was in a ring, just me and a cow hurtling itself at me as I jerked the end of the cape towards her. I stood still and as the cow ran past me and could not believe the cow went for the cape. As I drew the cape past me and concentrated on the cow following the cape, there were times the cow stepped on my foot, or rubbed its back end covered in manure, on my shirt. That was exhilarating. Over and over the cow went for the cape, and there's a feeling of power and wonder in that.

And there are films on youtube where you'll see a matador with the cape behind him, swinging the cape, and bull, exhausted, standing 5 feet away, focused only on the moving cape, his head swinging for side to side in time with the cape.

The kill, as the article infers, can be messy. It's one opinion that an animal is tortured in front of a lot of people, but change your culture glasses and it's a dance, where it's just another way to get your meat to market, because the slaughterhouse kills are gruesome, as well.

I've seen bulls take a long time to die, yes. They've needed pokes at the neck. And I've seen a lot of good kills--the sword erect out between the shoulders, the bull makes a turn and takes a step and then collapses in death.

I feel much safer alone in a ring with a bull and a piece of cloth than I do on the streets of Pamplona with a bunch of other people in a narrow street.

I love bullfighting.

well I hope they'll still have their world-renowned donkey shows!