#《 not a fan of that as a tool btw it is incredibly limiting and we could all do without it. why not be more precise & why not start now

[softprincesso]

✨HOW TO BECOME A WEALTHY MIDDLE-AGED MAN✨

PT.2: Overview to understanding different saving/retirement methods, investments, and forms of income

2.1 Savings and Retirement

Welcome lovelies to (what I hope will be) a helpful series on gaining wealth and becoming financially literate and independent!

*disclaimer: while this advice can generally apply to many it will not apply to all. Everyone is in a different situation and should do their own research before they take what ANYONE says as fact or law. This is also coming from the perspective of a young, biracial, first generation female business student following a hypergamous lifestyle and who does sw so some advice may be specific to my like-minded ladies, but for the most part I just love money and want to help others find joy in their wallets as well. I am also operating in the US so things regarding accounts, stocks, and certain laws will vary by your country. Also, this is just a fun thing I wanted to do because talking about leveling up and learning and growing and money are my favorite past times. None of these pictures are mine, however I am using some links which may compensate me in some way, but I only used links which were mutually beneficial and would help you gain something as well, they are still just actual sources I use for myself.

✨THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND✨

Financial independence is different than financial confidence.

Financial Independence: “The most common sense of the term is that someone has enough wealth to live as they wish for the rest of their life without having to work.” -Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0611/declare-your-own-financial-independence-day.aspx

Financial Confidence: “We define financial confidence as having three aspects,” says Miler. “The first is awareness of how money can be a tool for helping you reach your goals and dreams. The second is financial literacy and understanding economic factors. The third is trust and knowing where to turn for financial advice.” -Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2018/06/16/women-money-8-steps-for-growing-your-financial-confidence/?sh=2175b65e2468

While the ultimate goal is financial independence, financial confidence should be the main focus. I’ll give an example why. Imagine there are two people: Rhonda and Jill. Both of them like nice things, love to shop, and participate in the occasional splurge. Rhonda works a regular 9-5 and has a decent salary. She doesn’t have much financial knowledge (translation: financial confidence), but she has a savings account at her local bank and puts a couple hundred into retirement each year and she thinks that's enough. Suddenly, Rhonda wins the lottery. Overnight she has become a millionaire, so she quits her job, moves to LA, and goes on to live life to the fullest. She would now be considered financially independent. However, Rhonda has no idea how to manage all that money. She puts a small amount into that bank savings account and takes the rest to do what she will. One day she tries her luck at a casino, in less than five hours she has lost all of her money and has to start back at square one with no job, only a few thousand to get her through, and no-good way to explain to employers that she just wasted the last 5 years spending money on handbags she now has to sell at a depreciated value. (BTW you would not last not working with only a million dollars in LA for that long)

Now, let’s look at Jill. Jill is an independent contractor and has a relatively steady income. She knows very little about finances, but she actively learns how to manage what she has and keeps up to date on the latest money news. The day that Rhonda won the lottery was just another Thursday for Jill, the only unique point for her was that she opened a savings accounts with a high APY (we’ll say 1%) and put in $5000.00. A little later she also opened a Roth IRA and puts in the maximum yearly allowance of $6000.00. Along the way she opened a brokerage account of her own and started trading in the stock market along with investing in real estate which has given her some extra income to play with each year. Unfortunately, another housing crash occurs, and all of the money Jill invested into real estate is gone. However, since Jill learned the skills behind her choices early on, she is knowledgeable and understands the ups and downs of the market and how to invest her money in other places in the meantime. And, that High yield savings account accrued around $50 more without her doing anything and she has that to fall back on, or worst case she can take out part of her principal Roth IRA contribution. 10 years from now Jill should start to see a steady increase in her Roth IRA that by retirement will be a little over 1 million and she should be comfortable and invested enough into stocks that she gains around $200-1000 extra each month.

I think you understand why you want to be Jill.

✨HAVING ADEQUATE SAVINGS = BEING YOUR OWN LIFEGUARD✨

As discussed in Pt.1 the first goal you should achieve is securing an emergency fund that could sustain you for a couple of months if things were to ever hit the fan, and starting a retirement fund should be in your top 5 goals to complete. The saying, “the rich get richer” is popular for a reason. Wealthy people know how to make their money work for them instead of them having to work for money. An easy way anyone can do the same is by opening the right accounts for your savings and retirement.

Savings: 

All of your savings should be in a high yield saving account or split between different high yield accounts. This is an account which will reward you some interest every period for having money in your account with them. This is incredibly easy to do. You can either research/ask your bank about their high yield accounts or do some googling to find some other bank. Then transfer your money and there you go! When looking at banks understand that the highest Annual Percent Yields (APY), or the interest they will reward you, are going to be from online banks because they have less operational costs than a brick and mortar, but they will also come with their own disadvantages, like less ATMs to access or the inability to use when outside of your country so make sure to look into that. IMPORTANT: Make sure that whatever bank you choose is FDIC-insured so if the bank were to ever collapse or lose your money you have insurance up to $250,000.This won't generate a lot of extra cash, but an extra $20 every year is better than $0.

Retirement:

These accounts usually go by your current situation and what you see for your future.

401K: Probably the most known (I believe it’s only in the States but there might be something close to it in other countries) and that’s just because this is what employers usually offer if they offer anything. It is a retirement fund that your employer will set up and you can predefine how much of your paycheck you want to automatically go into it every time. Sometimes, the employers will also have a match program, and if they do you better max out the money they will contribute because that is FREE money! Most advice that I have seen has said to really only focus on this fund if your employer has that match program, otherwise I would focus on one of the accounts below. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/08/401k-info.asp

IRA: An IRA stands for Individual Retirement Account. There are three kinds…

                         Traditional: This IRA lets you put in pre-tax money and lets it grow tax-free until you make a withdrawal. Once you make the withdrawal that money is taxed at the current rate of your income at the time. Your contributions are tax deductible so you can write them off of your taxable income of that year. There are limits to how much you can contribute depending on your income, status, and whether you have another retirement fund as well.

                      ��   Roth: With this IRA your contributions are taxed, but when you withdrawal money later on it is tax free. For those of you in a lower tax bracket than you believe you will be in the future, this IRA makes the most sense as you will pay less taxes now than you will when you are 59 ½ (The official age of retirement in the States). There are limits to how much you can contribute depending on your income, status, and whether you have another retirement fund as well.

                           SEP: Simplified Employee Pension. This is also an employer-based plan and may also work better for my self-employed gals out there. I don’t really know a lot on this one so I’ll just leave a link you can look into if it interests you: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/102714/how-does-simplified-employee-pension-sep-ira-work.asp

You can have both a traditional and Roth IRA as long as you are eligible for both. Anyone with earned income (with a job or can prove a steady income) can contribute to a Traditional IRA, however with a Roth IRA, as a single you can earn up to $139,000 and contribute. Personally, if you are just getting started with all of this just set up one IRA and as you learn more you can take steps to get another or switch accounts.

https://www.investopedia.com/retirement/roth-vs-traditional-ira-which-is-right-for-you/

There are a plethora of other accounts, but they are more specialized and the top four should get you started on the right path to saving for retirement. I’m guessing that the majority of the audience reading these are women between the ages of 20-30. Trust me when I say that I love to spend money as much as the next girl, but I also would like to be completely comfortable should anything happen in my older years that screws up my marriage or job, and no one is going to secure that for you.

Also, I’m sorry this is so US-based, but once again it is all I know. I believe IRAs are more widespread than a 401K, but all that takes to find out is a Google search on your part.

Either way, make sure you have a plan going into 2021 for your savings and retirement because this economic whirlwind is far from over and there is always a chance for another recession, depression, or disaster. (Wow O, way to keep the mood light)

This was getting way too long with the investments added so look out for Pt.2.2 on the overview for investments (where the actual fun begins and I can stop being such a stick in the mud)…

VOCAB TO KNOW/RESEARCH:

Financial independence

Financial Confidence

APY

Roth IRA

brokerage account

High yield savings account

principal

401K

Traditional IRA

Once again… if in these posts I ever give bad advice, F- something up, or am just generally ignorant PLEASE call me out! Remember that just like you I am a young woman figuring everything out and while I am confident when talking about money, I am by no means a genius (only in spurts) so any chance to learn I appreciate. I hope you all learned something new today and as always…

With Love,

O

[squirreltastic]

Slams fist down the Diamonds from SU

I can’t really do white diamond yet but here we go!

Blue Diamond:

First impression: BOSS ASS BITCH (Ironically at the time I joked about asking her to abduct me and then the Human Zoo was revealed PFFF) Of course a frightening experience because of the fact she wanted Garnet crushed, but it showed she was in charge and it was a loosing fight. Hence the rest of The Answer happened. Powerful and ready to destroy.  

Impression now: She needs a hug, this reveal about Pink will offer her so much closure and the person someone is in grief is sometimes unrecognizable of who they are not grieving. She has sins to answer for, no doubt but this is the beginning of the rest of her life. 

Favorite moment: 

Idea for a story: I think it would be adorable if she spent time meeting the people of Beach city. I know people tend to hate on the ‘filler’ episodes but for some reason I think she’d like Sadie. Greg and her of course would get along, bless Greg and his stability. She should also learn that Blue Pearl is a person, and I feel like she would love pumpkin dog!

Unpopular opinion: I do which she was a darker blue color like in the visuals that we saw for The Answer. I do get that it was artistic retelling and not a 1 for 1 representation of events.  I just got really into those first fan interpretations and humanizations. (maybe not unpopular as people do tend to hate on a lot of the designs for SU) 

Favorite relationship: Greg and Blue are gonna be BFFs if nothing else. He knows how to work through grief and how to be there for someone and yes good. 

Favorite headcanon: I don’t really have any for her before this but I’d imagine her emotional powers can also work with happiness and other positive emotions. 

Yellow Diamond:

First impression: She really let us the viewer know first hand what homeworld thinks. Sure we had stories and the war but to know even today that this hierarchy of worth is STILL in place? That nothing has changed of it’s volition all this time? Horrifying. She also is a hard ruler, unlike Blue demanding someone crush Garnet, she would have done it herself. 

Impression now: She requires such strict control as a way of ignoring her own feelings. Like I’m p sure her future is going to be about cracking through that harshness. 

Favorite moment:

Idea for a story: She becomes the lesbian farmer that Rush Limbaugh warned you about 

Unpopular opinion: Im not too sure what the youths are thinking out there ????

Favorite relationship: Yellow and Blue is like her…only relationship with any depth? yey?

Favorite headcanon:

Her hair is a helmet okay like 

Yall fucked up if you wanted that you should have made her hair into the shape of yellows hair, here it just looks like a helmet. I just cannot with this. Maybe this falls under unpopular opinion but even since Jungle Moon my jimmies have been rustled. 

Okay I’m going to split Pink into two.

Pink Diamond:

First impression: I was mostly angry with the fandom. We saw her on a bad day and then they were painting her as a brat. But anyway. My first impression was one of a frustration she’s supposed to be equal to Yellow and yet she was talked down to. If she didn’t have the skills then they should be taught, she is also man handled which is always demeaning. Supposedly a gem comes out of the ground with all the knowledge they should have to perform their function? Then why was there this discrepancy with Pink? Why is she so little? Is she a malformation? How does that play into a sapient beings esteem? She would have been raised to believe she had to be perfect and yet she was never given the tools to improve herself. She probably was both mocked for her imperfection and demanded she get better??? magically????  tl:dr She’s frustrated and belittled of course she’d lash out. 

Impression now: Complicated. She fundamentally, even as Rose, didn’t understand organic life and it’s complexities but fuck, at least she tried. Without her and the war Earth would be dead. She fucked up but as Pink, she tried. Tried and failed.  

Favorite moment:

I find this so cute, she gave zero fucks for the stairs. IMMA YEET MYSELF. 

Idea for a story: Human AU were Pink (Rose can be her twin sister btw) was afraid of being a Mom so she leaves Steven with Greg, then she comes back years later to learn who her son has become and debates if she should insert herself into his life after the way she left. 

Unpopular opinion: I like her design. With the way they made her so different than the other Diamonds it makes sense that her mural would look like that and since they probably didn’t want her known as the ‘wrong’ diamond they wouldn’t use too much of her actual visage. It was a great lesson for the fandom in learning to chill the fuck out with jumping to conclusions based on limited information.  

Favorite relationship: Pinks relationship with Rose. Okay so that sounds weird but I love that Pink’s liberation and idea of freedom is Rose, Rose is everything she wanted to be and I just think that’s neat. 

Favorite headcanon: She’s Polyamorous but sucks balls at communication 

Rose Quartz:

First impression: IM LOVE HER???? She’s this big, soft, feminine warrior that believed in the beauty of life in all it’s weird and varied ways, from the tiniest thing like a pretty bug to the largest of animals and trees. 

Impression now: She was a flawed alien rock, she genuinely did find life beautiful and fascinating but lacked the sense to know that she couldn’t treat Greg like she did, Greg helped her learn what humanity really means and how it works and the depth that she had for whatever reason, never learned until then. Perhaps her previous human lovers were okay with the casual nature of their relationship or like, she was just the party girl that would party hardy and leave while everyone is passed out or something. She would observe and casually join in but not really understand. Greg showed her humanity, taught her a equal relationship has standards. She is both everything I thought and so much more.

Isn’t it remarkable, Steven? This world is full of so many possibilities. Each living thing has an entirely unique experience. The sights they see, the sounds they hear. The lives they live are so complicated… and so simple. I can’t wait for you to join them.

When a Gem is made, it’s for a reason. They burst out of the ground already knowing what they’re supposed to be, and then… that’s what they are. Forever. But you, you’re supposed to change. You’re never the same even moment to moment – you’re allowed and expected to invent who you are. What an incredible power – the ability to “grow up.”

Now, now, that’s not true at all. Sure, all these places have been explored before, but they haven’t been recorded so intimately as they have been in this journal. It makes them new and special all over again for any reader to experience.

 Because you’re going to become something extraordinary. You’re going to be a human being. That’s my favorite part. A human being. A human is an action. I wonder who, how you’ll be, what you’ll think, what you’ll want. Oh, I’m so happy for everyone who’s going to know you. I’m rambling. If they look to you, trust yourself. Take care of them, Nora.

These are the words of someone in awe of the beauty of life and understands the value of individual experiences. I admire that, she loved life, and wanted to fight for that even if she didn’t always understand it.

Favorite moment: 

Oh man I have a few???

ROSE SMASH

Even tho it wasn’t really Rose I love the Charlie Brown moment in Storm in the Room

Her using her shield to save Garnet and Pearl 

Her getting knocked over in the kindergarden and saying welcome to earth to the Amethyst, and saying “hello my fellow quartz’s” 

Idea for a story:  A comedic story of Rose being shape shifted cat and getting into shenanigans around beach city, maybe its a cute bonding time with amethyst or something. Or maybe Gregs van breaks down and she doesn’t understand what Greg is talking about exactly and she thinks the vehicle is alive (Greg says stuff like ‘Oh no my van! she’s broke!’) 

Unpopular opinion: This kinda goes under headcanon but I don’t think she and Greg had sex (I think they as a species find it weird because they dont have sexual attraction because they are non-sexually reproducing species). I think she took his dna through a kiss and synthesized a baby in her womb

Favorite relationship: I think Rose and Amethyst had the cutest relationship

Favorite headcanon: She would be a meme lord she would find the easily shared humor amazing

[shorthaircutsmodels]

Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles and Haircuts - 15+ - https://shorthaircutsmodels.com/bebe-rexhas-short-hairstyles-and-haircuts/ - Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles and Haircuts, But the American singer songwriter is particularly. Known for her particular fashion sense and her lovable character. Rumours and rumours about the 31-year-old's haircut are always in the limelight of celebrity magazines and tabloids. Check out Bebe Rexha's old looks in the picture gallery here. See yourself with Bebe Rexha's hair. Bleaching your hair is such a bitch but saved my hair. Plus is not an ad btw just my love for this person. Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles and Haircuts Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles and Haircuts, I usually go with the theme of an album. We bring in different painters for album covers, so we had a Dutch artist whose work was full of fantasy for the girls album Panic, and my look came from that. In the early days I was more limited on budget than anything else. I once did an album cover where I cut a pillowcase and wrapped it with red gaffer tape. Bebe Rexha's Hairstyles and Haircuts Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles and Haircuts, He looked really great but the label turned him down. After admitting his lifelong fascination for Harry I'm going crazy gushed the blonde frontman tested everything from his iconic platinum hair to his punk performance to get Rexha kept his blonde sweater.following]. You've always been able to push boundaries whether your hair is with makeup clothes or music Rexha says. Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles Bebe Rexha's Short Hairstyles and Haircuts, It just inspires me to keep trying new things and never get stuck in a particular box. No one really understood my vibe when I started. I had black hair and put out a song called I'll show you crazy about mental health. It exploded with more than 50 million streams, but my label was like your look. It's very dark. Bebe Rexha had a great inspiration growing up. 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He also asked a question to find out which hairstyle was right for him. That video has reached more than 180k likes, and her followers have written many comments to answer her question. It's subtitled. my hair is growing. Do you like it longer or shorter. Bebe Rexha's Hair As well as having a rich set of pipes, Bebe Rexha is also notable for having one of the most powerful beauty games out there. I always know her fans can expect an incredible make-up and hair look from her when she makes an appearance on the red carpet or at a special event. The I am a Mess singer isn't afraid to try neon eyeliner edgy bobs or a bold lip, and she always pulls them off perfectly. It's clear that Rexha and beauty should be, so we've rounded up some of their best looks to give you an idea of how to change your routine. Bebe Rexha's Hairstyles & Hair Colors Even if you've never heard of Bebe Rexha, you've certainly heard of her work. It provides you with tips on how to style your hair by letting you know which facial shape matches your hair texture and hair density as well. These locks are left to fall over shoulders, showing soft waves dressed in medium length to tips for shape and softness. This low-fuss look is easy to recreate with the right tools and needs for the product to shine and hold. Regular improvements every 4-6 weeks will help prevent split ends. Bebe Rexha hairstyle Bebe Rexha looks beautiful here in a mid-length layered hair model full of texture and fullness. Bebe has a rounded face shape and she created the illusion of length by adding height along the head and crown of long layers along with a sleek side-swept eaves to balance this shape. She keeps her hair above the ears and cheeks and keeps minimal volume from the temples to underline her wide cheekbones. Bebe Rexha Bob | Wavy bob hairstyles To cut loose waves in The Shape of the face, also add movement to it and soften slightly. Ladies with rounded face shape follow bebe’s path with long layers of face frame that help narrow the side part and face shape. Bebe has natural brown hair and looks best in vibrant brunette and red shades but here she went for a more dramatic look. She is wearing a cool platinum blonde shade that contrasts with her olive skin tone and her dark eyes. This creates a stunning look that is fun and trendy. Bebe Rexha brown hair Makes her dark eyes pop even more. Bebe Rexha is an American singer multi-platinum songwriter and record producer. We understand that. the idea of cutting almost all your hair can be terrifying. But don't let Bob smell your fear because he's just here to help. You don't believe us. Every short hair has a few-OK 70-celeb-inspired examples to address your concern. Be prepared to find the perfect cut ahead. her signature hairstyle has become long videos of her platinum blonde whose blunt bob with black hair posted on her Instagram story. Should I go black? She asked her fans on her Instagram story - possibly referring to her natural hair color, which is dark brown. Best Bebe Rexha Hairstyle images in 2020 - 2021 She made it clear the look was a wig and even posted a video of her pulling it from her head. Look at Rexha's long black wig. Two-time Grammy-nominated Beautiful singer Bebe Rexha shared an in-no-Believe video of herself via her official Instagram account showing off her beautiful face. The singer songwriter, who has nearly 2.5 million Instagram followers, has written big hits for artists such as Eminem Rihanna and Selena Gomez. Bebe Rexha haircut And now he's coming up as a solo artist. Mo Mojo. Rexha, it's your fault. Pt 1 released their second EP earlier this year featuring radio favourites such as I Got you and Bad Bitch, as well as a subsequent iteration of their music moot. PT. 2 comes out this month. To celebrate its release, the singer came to the offices to chat about the inspiration behind her new record. What began as a conversation about her music, including a hint of a collab with Louis Tomlinson, quickly turned into a beauty course. Bebe Rexha Long Wavy Light Blonde Hairstyle When we asked Rexha about the products she kept with her on tour, Rexha explained the trio, who had saved their bleached blonde hair from the damage of normal dye jobs. I always keep some castor oil in my bag. On Amazon, an Instagram user called Klaudia liked the new hairstyle and commented that I love this hairstyle to you. Another user named Jesse Williams said if you shine. Hair Straightener combines owners. Time to get inspired because it is as hot as you can get in a short and stylish bob. Bebe Rexha natural hair color As of late 2020 there are always curls and a bit of straight hair, so take a hint of the ' 90s. take a look at our short straight hair list and see for yourself. It's his video.you can watch osunu below. Basically modern bob is free for haircuts all summer, so it's taking over your Insta feed right now. So to get the trend before I die to check out these 20 short bob haircut ideas I'll have to be texting to wait for the group chat I need to cut my hair. The Bohemian Rhapsody actress makes this mid-piece bob haircut look very cool. Bebe Rexha Best Beauty Looks Live texture is key here, so squeeze a wave spray from the dry strands to recreate its appearance. We had to take a few shots after seeing Bebe Rexha's last hair look. Singer-songwriter Selena Gomez's latest appearance is Jennifer Aniston's greatest pop culture hair moment of all time-a Rachel Green haircut from friends. During the rare singer's last appearance on the Kelly Clarkson Show Gomez debuted ‘shaggy new' with 27 hairdresser Marissa Marino saying she was inspired by Aniston's iconic undulating layers in the early 90s. The Central long boom was also inspired by Goldie Hawn's 1996 film The First Wives Club look. Selena @ kellyclarksonshow today. Bebe Rexha hair color It's a great interview, so make sure you watch it. hair inspo' Rachel ' was first Marino meets Goldie Hawn at the Wives Club where Bebe Rexha wrote There has been a variety of different hair in the past. He is widely known as a great singer and songwriter. So I finally found it because I wanted to. It's a journey. Yes, self-discovery and self-worth progress. You have to be smart when you're involved in art and Commerce. Bebe Rexha's new haircut 2020 - 2021 You have to be honest with yourself. But you also have to make others understand you, and sometimes that's a compromise. mix it with a little mint says. DIY type right. Rexha also chooses Sephora. Bumble and bumble crazy is a new mask oil. I got three from Sephora. It's the best thing I've ever used in my hair and I've tried everything. This is quite high praise from someone who regularly does her hair and make-up and clearly looks like a beauty buff. Another nugget of wisdom from Rexha for bleary blondes. Bebe Rexha hair colour Stay away from coconut oil. And try to minimize the amount of heat you put on your hair. Rexha says she learned this the hard way. Check out our full interview with her below to hear more beauty tips from Rexha. We had to take a few shots after seeing Bebe Rexha's last hair look. The singer-songwriter, whose signature. Bebe Rexha bob haircut Hairstyle has become platinum blonde blunt bob, posted videos on her instagram story of long black hair. Should I go black? She asked her fans on her Instagram story - possibly referring to her natural hair color, which is dark brown. She made it clear the look was a wig and even posted a video of her pulling it from her head. Bebe Rexha Look at Rexha's long black wig. The last hurrah singer returned Tuesday when she was just a little girl. Bebe took several photos from a trip he made to Albania as a child. Her hair was different from a few shades at the time, although her face was open.

[jira-chii]

Comparing Shoumetsu Toshi eps 5 and 6 to the game

Warning for *SPOILERS* and possible (probable) bias 

So I definitely think episodes 5 and 6 of the Shoumetsu Toshi anime are my favourite so far. There are just so many Easter eggs for fans of the game to find, the plot makes sense, and the pacing is actually not a complete wreck.

I’m going to note down some of the parts I really enjoyed, that referenced the game and involved changes that I actually agree with. I’m also going to mention the bits I didn’t quite like, why I think they made those decisions, and maybe what I would have done instead?

Tsubasa and Yoshiaki

I’m going to straight up start with the biggest Easter Egg I enjoyed. They referenced the Clock Tower!!

An anime original scene is Yuki and Yoshiaki bonding over having siblings. This is not only a sweet scene that gives us a break from all the (melo)drama, but also closely relates to a core theme of the anime (and the games to an extent). There are many instances in the game of Yuki referring to her relationship with Souma when she sees tragic family situations (Eri and Maya, for example), but the anime makes this even more explicit. I particular like the conclusion they reach: that there are things even siblings wouldn’t understand about each other.

Yoshiaki and Tsubasa have the same power instead of opposing ones. I talk about this more in my blog post about Tsubasa’s 9* Trance advent but this makes a lot of sense for the anime, and means an otherwise very convoluted plot becomes so much more succinct. That said, we miss out on a lot of really wonderful possibilities with the limited situation in the anime. For example, we barely see Tsubasa interact with the Kaitodan or Yoshiaki (both of which are super important to his character development). Also he straight up dies at the end. So rip character development entirely. However, considering the limited format of the anime, it would not have been possible to keep focusing on these characters for more than two episodes anyway, so I can see why they just decided to kill him off.

Yoshiaki and Tsubasa’s flashback is a direct reference to the game, where Tsubasa made a flower disappear to cheer up Yoshiaki who tripped. In the anime it’s a rock, which is just so much faster to explain visually. Even better, it is used as a plot point illustrating how their powers work, so it’s not just pure fan service. Win-win.

Another Tsubasa-Yoshiaki parallel to the game is that Tsubasa ran away in order to protect Yoshiaki. In the game it was because the organisation was chasing him. In the anime it’s because he wants to destroy all the AFs before Yoshiaki’s power awakens. I quite like the resolution too: how Yoshiaki uses the power he and Tsubasa share, to make the AF disappear, bringing an end to the fight, but also erasing Tsubasa in the process. 

On that note, I find it interesting that the anime decided to only make Tsubasa a tamashii. I mean, we definitely would not have the same level of tension if Yoshiaki, and all of the Kaitodan were tamashii too I guess.  

Kaitodan

Kana hacking Geeks’ computer is a really great way to introduce the nature of her character. Very cute too. Unfortunately she gets barely any screentime :(

Sumire uses a gun to puncture a tyre. They totally could have just made Rui do it with his knife but they didn’t. Why? I think it’s a deliberate reference to Sumire’s past.

Jack speaks English. Jack is great. But he didn’t speak enough English. Enough said. 

I think the most controversial thing (for me at least) were the changes they made to Kaitodan’s backstory. It’s not Tsubasa, Rui and Kouji helping each other out and finding a sense of belonging in the process. It’s purely Tsubasa leading a couple of delinquents (well, just Rui and Jack) to do “greater things”, and man it just feels like so much of the charm of the Kaitodan is missing just like that.

That’s not the only thing missing. Yayoi, Kouji and Saori straight up didn’t make it into the anime at all. This is not even controversial, it’s a straight up sin.

One final very small nitpick. Sumire’s chainsaw is like, not threatening at all. When she uses it to knock the AF out of Souma’s hand, she’s basically using it more like a blunt weapon…

AF

They gave artefacts (AF) a backstory. Honestly I wasn’t too keen on it at first because it seemed too simple and a little tacky. However I will admit it does make their inclusion in the anime seem a lot more natural and, to an extent, I guess I am glad they made an effort to explain the weird thing Souma has been holding. Which is not a canon AF btw.

They made up an AF. Hoshi’s Tears complement Tsuki’s Tears and Taiyou’s Necklace from the game (although none of those are actual AFs either). It’s also a pretty subtle way of including Hoshi in the anime (but does this mean he won’t appear at all then?). 

My problem then, is that the AF backstory they came up with doesn’t actually match the events in the anime…They don’t really explain why Souma/the organisation have their hands on both Hoshi’s Tears and Tsuki’s Tears. Additionally, even though there seems to be a lot of information about AFs on the Internet, we haven’t seen anybody except Souma use one. I just think they needed a more legit explanation regarding their use, and maybe should have fed us a little bit more information about them sooner, rather than giving us a whole information dump through a news report at the very start of ep 5.

Look, I’ve mentioned it before: making an anime adaptation of a game with a plot as complex as Shoumetsu Toshi’s is no easy feat, and I commend the anime for achieving what it has done so far. 

In my personal opinion, they handled Yoshiaki and Tsubasa very well, tying it in with main character Yuki’s conflict with Souma, and having it mean something important. Though some fans may not have liked the changes, personally I think it fits the narrative of the anime very well, and I would not change it at all unless I could change the whole plot of the anime (more on this later).

However I do not think they handled Kaitodan nearly as well. Throwing two incredibly beloved sets of characters into the same arc was a risky move. There was definitely favouritism for one set over the other, as Yoshiaki stole the show, leaving the Kaitodan dangling from the sidelines. The Kaitodan are risky enough by themselves, because there are so many distinct members. Even with the anime literally halving the group and depriving them of their leader, there was just not enough screen time for each of them to shine. 

How to do this though? I actually think Takuya’s flashback of him chasing Tsubasa could be a good place to start. The way it was done in the anime was just so random, creating a connection between Takuya, Tsubasa and Yoshiaki out of thin air. That’s too much for a newcomer to handle at once. 

Bring up this memory earlier. Use it as a tool, maybe to explain how Takuya and Yumiko used to work together. Then when Yoshiaki mentions Tsubasa in a later ep, the audience will actually know who he is.

Also, give the Kaitodan just a little bit more screentime. Particularly the chicks. Rui and Jack get quite a bit more screentime, including in their flashback, but Sumire is relegated to damsel in distress and poor Kana probably doesn’t even get more than ten seconds on-screen across both episodes. 

I think the whole stealing AF thing could have been used better. Show the Kaitodan doing the actual heist, utilising Kana’s hacking abilities (which are bullshit in the first place because nobody actually knows how hacking works). But yeah, get her to open security doors or some shit, and show her face on the computer. I actually think it is better to use more time leading the Kaitodan on a useless goose chase, because it shows how capable each member can be, even with their leader missing. Hell, have Takuya and Yuki chase them and try to beat them to the AF. This would serve to show how much good they actually are, especially given how they’ve been built up to be this really skilful group of thieves. It also gives us the chance to see some character interaction (like Rui hitting on Yuki, and Sumire actually using her chainsaw). The tone shift would keep the episode interesting, without tiring the audience by having too much drama.

Also, it’s more dramatic of a reveal if they spend all this time trying to steal the AF, only to realise at the very end they’ve been duped by Souma.

Finally, with the AF backstory…look, they did it to fit the story they’re going for with the anime. I may come back to this after I’ve seen the whole thing to decide what changes I would make. Definitely introduce it earlier, and not just as this strange weapon Souma uses to terrorise our MCs.

Sorry this ended up turning into a rant (and semi-fanfic??). I’ve actually got a whole list of things about the anime I would do differently, but I’ll see how the actual thing pans out first before I make a judgement on what changes I would make.

I know there are so many restrictions the creators have to work with, I just think they could have made some better compromises.

[reactingtosomething]

Reacting to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2

Part I: Can an Asshole Just Be an Asshole?

The Setup: We’re four writer friends living in two time zones, who text each other a lot about All of the Things. We decided we wanted to work on something together, so this is happening. First up, two of us watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We had a lot to say, so we’re splitting our Reaction into two installments. Comments after the fact are in italics.

SPOILERS BELOW.

KRIS: Wow that is just wild. I didn’t realize iMessage would export it so neatly.

MIRI: I know!

It’s SUPER convenient

Ok, ready to start?

KRIS: Yep

I feel pressure from myself to have a mission statement

Or a critical philosophy

MIRI: Well that’s your general state, so I’m not surprised

KRIS: Fair

MIRI: You’ve now seen Guardians Vol. 2 twice

Within how much time?

KRIS: Definitely under 48 hours?

MIRI: I loved it 

I just really loved it

KRIS: See I wonder if being with people who so clearly enjoyed it helped me revise my opinion upward

I liked but was also disappointed with it on my first viewing

MIRI: Interesting! It may have

And isn’t that somewhat the point of the communal viewing experience?

What disappointed you?

KRIS: I guess so

The BEST answer I have, from a kind of writerly-nerdy angle, is that the Guardians are a lot more reactive than just active-active this time around

A more Kris-specific gut feeling answer is that I often felt the shallowness of the writing overshadowed the sincerity of the emotions

MIRI: Aaah. I wonder if a certain amount of that was inevitable, because as there is more canon/past to react to there will always be more reactivity?

On the emotions front, I see what you’re saying.

But also I am a sucker and it got me right in the gut

Or wherever my feelings live

KRIS: I guess, but I wonder if it will be helpful here to compare and contrast throughout this chat with Age of Ultron

Since they’re both team sequels

MIRI: It will not be helpful, because I will just yell

KRIS: From auteur-y dudes who have some superficial similarities

Okay I’ll try to minimize comparisons then, but a key difference is that the main conflict of Ultron comes from a decision Tony makes

And this sets all the personality conflicts into motion

MIRI: Whereas in Guardians 2 it came from Papa Planet?

That’s fair

KRIS: Right, or at least I think you can say that’s the A-conflict

MIRI: btw I’m calling him that from now on

KRIS: If the B-conflict is set off by Rocket stealing batteries

I’m onboard with Papa Planet

MIRI: Excellent

KRIS: Because it’s not a worse name than Ego

Although Ego is on-the-nose in a good way

MIRI: Um it’s dramatically better

thank you very much

I actually didn’t hate Ego (as a name), but I quite like Papa Planet

(again, as a name)

((he can suck an egg as a being/father))

KRIS: But anyway yeah, if the A-story is Quill’s Father-Son Drama, it’s a thing that happens to the Guardians, not a thing that comes from their pre-existing desires (in Vol 1: Quill wants to get rich/Gamora wants to escape Thanos/Drax wants to kill the shit out of Ronan)

MIRI: You’re definitely right that there was a lot more reaction than pure action, but I think it worked for me better than it may have because I liked the reactions for the most part.

Also, I haven’t rewatched the first one in about a year

so no unfavorable comparisons

KRIS: Sure, it definitely felt like the characters reacted “authentically”

MIRI: I’ve seen Ultron more recently

KRIS: Those quote marks feel more aggressively scare quotey than I intended

MIRI: I will always be gotten by team-as-family dynamics. I’m an easy mark

hahahaha

I will not judge you for your quotation marks

KRIS: We’re definitely going to have to come back to the Fast and Furious parallels

MIRI: I have seen approximately 2 and 4 halves of those movies

So I won’t be able to speak intelligently about them, but I will speak passionately regardless

KRIS: Did Quill’s (I don’t know why I’ve landed on Quill as opposed to Star-Lord or Peter but am open to changing) story end up being for you as strong as the movie wants/needs it to be, or did you find one of the subplots more compelling?

MIRI: a) Quill is cooler and more distinctive than Peter, and Star-Lord is not a name to take seriously

2) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yes and no

The Yondu element of Quill’s Daddy Issues was effective to me

I enjoyed Quill triumphing over the evil stars in his eyes murder tool state

And the whole picture of David Hasselhoff thing worked pretty well to me

KRIS: Okay yeah, I’d agree with all of this

MIRI: The actual lived relationship with Yondu (unhealthy as it clearly must be CONSIDERING PETER GENUINELY THOUGHT YONDU WAS IN DANGER OF EATING HIM THE WHOLE DAMN TIME) was waaaaay more effective for me than the general concept of Daddy issues or anything Papa Planet put out there.

KRIS: I should say here that I rewatched Guardians 1 last night to see if that would help, and I’m pretty sure it did

MIRI: how so?

KRIS: I was not especially a fan of Yondu in Vol 1, and found him hard to invest in on my first viewing of Vol 2

And when he had a Sad Backstory (in 2) in the cell with Rocket, I was kind of like, did we need that?

Like they ALL have sad backstories, does Yondu need one too? Can an asshole just be an asshole?

MIRI: Well, he can when he’s a murdery planet

I did really like the detail of Papa Planet putting the tumor in Mama Quill’s head--it seemed incredibly in character to me. Loving her and wanting to spend time with her didn’t make him reconsider universe-wide genocide, it made him see her as a problem to be solved.

KRIS: Yeah that was a pretty effective reveal

MIRI: Re: Yondu’s backstory, I do recognize that they’re playing on the heartstrings pretty deliberately

KRIS: Right

MIRI: But I kind of feel like doing that successfully is its own form of quality?

KRIS: Like I probably would’ve been fine with the jail cell story if Yondu hadn’t also had a big I KNOW YOU BOY BECAUSE YOU’RE ME speech to Rocket later

MIRI: It might not be the best writing ever, but it’s doing what it sets out to do quite well

Yeah, that’s true

I didn’t super love Rocket’s whole arc

KRIS: That was also an issue for me the first time I saw it, but weirdly less so the second

MIRI: Since this one was very much about Quill’s Emotions with Gamora/KarenGillan* as the emotional b/c story, I think maybe saving Rocket’s Partial Redemption for Volume 3 might have been better

*Nebula

KRIS: To try to tie off some of the Yondu thread here, a reason it ended up working for me on a second viewing is that most of it does seem to be consciously set up in Vol 1

MIRI: Oh, that’s good

I did really really love the whole Ravagers code payoff and the funeral

KRIS: Another great payoff in the funeral scene: the little “dashboard” dolls he collects -- the gemstone one is from the broker on Xandar, and the Troll is what Quill gave him when he swapped out the Orb at the end

MIRI: OMG really???

I love that!!!!

Awwwwww

Miri is still Emotional about this 3 days later

Plus it’s nice that they managed to twist the whole android brothel walkout thing--I definitely thought the other Ravagers were the “badder guys” in that scenario

KRIS: Yeah, and Yondu’s reaction when he sees the Troll, instead of being pissed that the Guardians “stole” the orb back, is this genuine laugh

So I could buy a real affection for Quill

MIRI: When really they were the ones who don’t deal in children and Yondu was in the wrong, but once he realized how wrong he stopped

and they eventually forgive him 😢

Ohhh, I remember that laugh

KRIS: So for sure Yondu’s arc is probably objectively the most effective thing happening here

MIRI: He genuinely is proud that Quill has grown up so well, both as a thief and a man

KRIS: I guess I was annoyed that he’d suddenly become a major character

Because Gamora and Drax felt sidelined

MIRI: YES

I was ok with Drax, because while I love him, I fear his whole schtick will get very old if they try to center him too much

KRIS: I did appreciate Gamora being the pragmatic one, and being right pretty much every time

MIRI: But Gamora has a ton of range and even more parental drama

KRIS: Like she was right when she suggested Quill should take a chance with Papa Planet, and then she was also right when she realized something was off

MIRI: And right that they killed him

KRIS: And she had her own blindspot where Nebula was concerned

Which I think is an arc that works at least 80 percent because of Karen Gillan

As opposed to the writing

MIRI: I wish that we had gotten a bit more Nebula, as well

totally agree

She does so much with so little

KRIS: I mean the backstory element of it is there in Vol 1, that Thanos is The Worst Father Ever

MIRI: Right, but the emotions aren’t super well explored

KRIS: But that big emotional scene after Gamora drags her out of the wreck -- “All I wanted was a sister” -- needed another few beats, I thought

MIRI: Because Gamora is a Tough Chick

Yes! The writing definitely felt the most clunky in those sister moments

Which is in part because the relationship is always going to be fractious, but also is just a bit of a weakness

KRIS: Yeah Gamora is kind of a conundrum for me. Sometimes I really love her, and other times I just don’t quite buy what the story wants her to do/be, and I’m genuinely not sure if it’s more a writing issue or a performance issue

Most superficially (and definitely a writing issue): Is she strong enough to walk around with a giant starship cannon, or is she not strong enough to easily carry one human sized person around?

MIRI: Having seen Zoe Saldana in other things where she played a tough woman with limited emotions, I’m inclined to think writing

Maybe we need to React to Colombiana at some point; Kris hasn’t seen that. We may also need to bring in a Guest Reactor for a rewatch of The Losers...

Hahahahahhahaha such a good question

I think there’s the obvious desire for her to be the sexy hot chick, and then a partial desire for her to not just be that

So they’ve made her kind of flat so that she’s not the emotional lady character

KRIS: I feel like the story isn’t sure whether it wants Gamora to have this sort of formal edge to her where she uses words like “shall” instead of “will”, or whether it wants her to be a more “traditional” Bad Girl

MIRI: True. I would say that Rocket, Quill, and Drax all have more clearly defined voices and speech patterns.

And Groot, obvi

KRIS: And even Nebula, who has this Sullen Teenager vibe

MIRI: I just really love Nebula

I know I always love the angry girl who can kill people (which should probably concern me)

KRIS: Where I really missed Gamora and Drax having agency was honestly just the action element of the climax

MIRI: But I really love her.

KRIS: They spend the whole first half of the final battle standing and watching

And most of the second half being almost engulfed by Papa Planet’s Blue Tendrils of Doom

Although at least there was that great Nebula rescue beat (“get over it”)

And Drax having a moment where he chose self-sacrifice

MIRI: Both of those worked nicely for me

One last thing on Nebula: I think part of my interest is the fact that she’s allowed to have her own drive, rather than being tied to Quill’s emotional needs

She wants to kill Thanos, and she’s damn well going to

KRIS: Yeah, for sure

MIRI: And her tie to her sister will be a factor, but killing Thanos is always there

KRIS: I really hope they do right by her in Infinity War

MIRI: I don’t really trust that they will

KRIS: Me either

MIRI: But they have set her up as being a factor, so there’s hope

KRIS: I mean in general I trust Marcus/McFeely and the Russos, but just sooo many characters and I can’t see them not defaulting to giving Steve and/or Tony the ultimate victory

MIRI: Oh, yeah. I think the Guardians folks are going to be mostly comic relief and deus ex machina

KRIS: But yeah. That third act. Welcome to the Quill and Yondu show, mostly for better, but for Gamora and Drax superfans partly for worse

MIRI: Especially if it’s the end of anyone from the first stage’s tenure

Yeah, that’s very true. I guess I’m just kind of too jaded to expect the women to be centered in MCU action

KRIS: Did love the whole asking for tape gag, though

MIRI: and as stated I like Drax as secondary

The tape gag was fun!

They did a nice job of including funny moments in the trailers without giving away the best part of said moments

which is rare

So props to whoever edited the trailers!!!

KRIS: Drax is probably my favorite (part of this is shamelessly because Dave Bautista is a bald Filipino man) but on my first viewing I actually did feel like his shtick got old fast

MIRI: It’s important to be able to see yourself in media!

Find Part II of our Guardians Reaction here.

[gta-5-cheats]

Apple’s iMac Pro is a love letter to developers

New Post has been published on http://secondcovers.com/apples-imac-pro-is-a-love-letter-to-developers/

Apple’s iMac Pro is a love letter to developers

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T

he iMac Pro exists because it turns out that there is a lot of air underneath the aging Mac Pro and above the incredibly popular MacBook Pro. A single-digit percentage of Mac customers buy the Mac Pro and, in recent years, Apple had been seeing a major rise in “pro” customers of all shades purchasing iMacs because of their incredible screens, all-in-one form factor and overall ease of deployment.

Given that there was such an appetite for a beefier computer in this pocket of hardware, and given that it was already in motion to re-think the Mac Pro entirely, Apple decided to see exactly how ridiculous it could get with iMac performance inside what is essentially the exact same shell as the current machines — with a nice coat of color treatment and a few additional cosmetic differences.

Mac Pro Reset

You may recall that back in April of this year, Apple was abnormally candid about its failures with the Mac Pro. It had painted itself into a corner with that design, and needed to go back to one to re-think its approach. During that session, Apple executives told a roundtable that they were also rethinking what it meant to be a professional customer of Macs.

“First of all, when we talk about pro customers, it’s important to be clear that there isn’t one prototypical pro customer. Pro is such a broad term, and it covers many many categories of customers. And we care about all of these categories, and there’s a variety of different products those customers want,” says Schiller. 

“There’s music creators, there’s video editors, there’s graphic designers — a really great segment with the Mac. There’s scientists, engineers, architects, software programmers — increasingly growing, particularly our App development in the app store. So there are many many things and people called pros, Pro workflows, so we should be careful not to over simplify and say ‘Pros want this’ or ‘don’t want that’ — it’s much more complex than that.“

Apple iMac Pro

Schiller said that 15% of Mac customers use professional apps multiple times a week and 30% use them in some manner. And the large majority of those pros use MacBooks. However, the iMac was beginning to be disproportionately used by pros who either found the screens or form factor compelling or found the pace of updates of the Mac Pro stagnant.

“So many of our customers were moving to iMac that we saw a path to address many, many more of those that were finding themselves limited by Mac Pro through a next generation iMac,” said Apple’s Craig Federighi, “And [we] really put a lot of our energy behind that. [But,] while that [upgraded iMac] system is going to be fantastic for a huge number of customers — we want to do more.”

That more will be the upcoming Mac Pro. But the now is the iMac Pro — a machine that will hold an allure for pros looking for a beefy piece of hardware that can handle demanding tasks from rendering to medical imaging to VR — but that also holds some clues for the future of all of Apple’s Macs.

iMac Pro

I was able to see the iMac Pro and its new space grey accessories in New York yesterday, along with a series of demos from pros that Apple seeded with the machines for a few days to allow them to get a feel for what kinds of gains they would see from it.

The machine itself is physical a near match for the current iMac, aside from the dark grey finish.

The rear ports are definitely different, of course. You have 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, which run on two separate controllers, 2 ports each. So you should get blazing speeds on those whether they’re used for e-GPUs or storage or displays. There are 4 USB 3.0 A ports and SD slot and, for the first time ever, a 10 Gigabit ethernet port right on the back.

The 5k display is the same as the one that ships with current iMacs. You can order 1, 2 and 4 Terabyte SSD options with the new machine for storage.

Another change is the fact that you can now remove the stand from the iMac entirely and VESA mount it. Previously, you had to either use an after-market solution to mount an iMac or order it specially from the factory with the stand deleted, allowing for mounting.

Apple iMac Pro back

Configurations

Not every configuration of the iMac Pro will be available to order today online and in stores next week. You’ll be able to get the 8 and 10-core Intel Xeon W versions of the machine with any other memory, graphics or storage options you like, but the 14 and 18-core editions are just orderable now for delivery in January. Those new core configurations are previously unannounced options. Each has 1MB of L2 and 1.365MB of L3 cache.

To be clear: you can order any options the iMac offers today, except for the two higher-core processors. This, it turns out, is not that big of a limitation as the 10-core should really be the sweet spot anyway. The 10-core model offers the highest turbo speeds at 4.5GHz for single threaded performance and supports hyper threading, allowing 20 threads at a time to operate on tasks. This is enough to enable real-time playback on an 8k Red Weapon footage file in ProRes 4×4, for instance – or a 140 track Logic file.

The higher-core options are really best suited for applications that take full advantage of so many lower frequency cores. Machine learning or AI applications that use the multiple CPU cores to schedule jobs for the GPUs, for instance, or rendering pipelines for external GPUs now supported by iMac.

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Apple iMac Pro camera

If you’re not sure what to order, go 10-core. You’ll be able to jack the memory up to 128GB (non upgradeable by users, but upgradeable at a service center or store) and get the beefier Vega 64 graphics cards offered to end up with an incredibly impressive machine.

The Vega 56 and 64 options are absolutely the most powerful graphics cards that have ever been included in a Mac and I was able to see demanding VR applications, rendering tasks and real-time manipulation of 3D and video that would be completely impossible on any other iMac hardware — and would chug on the relatively beefy PC I use for VR currently.

These new processors support AVX-512 instructions as well, which will give developer users of multi-core iMac Pros a nice “free” performance bump if they’re using Apple libraries (or manually calling the instructions themselves).

The most interesting piece of hardware from an overall perspective, however, isn’t the more exotic graphics or processor options, but a system controller chip called the T2.

T2 and security

The T2 is an iteration of the T1 chips that are in current MacBooks, but it brings more functions of the machine into the fold. It controls the ISP that runs the 1080p camera, the audio controller including the 4 microphones and the louder speakers, the SSD controller and, importantly, the Secure Enclave that’s included in the iMac Pro.

The SE handles real-time automatic encryption for the SSD. This means hardware-based encryption with zero hit on the CPU, something that was always a compromise of FileVault. If your SSD is separated from the SE it cannot be read. If you want an additional layer of protection, you can also still use FileVault to inject your user key into the mix, preventing target disk access.

The T2 also validates the entire boot process (an option that can be disabled) from start to finish, preventing injection attacks at a physical access level.

The T2’s additional layers of security are absolutely coming to the rest of the Mac line. That’s a personal prediction, btw, Apple wouldn’t say. But duh. It struck me, though, that this beefier security which has built-in protections against sophisticated attackers, would be very popular in government or research applications. If I’m a buyer with security heightened needs, issa bulk buy, imo.

Which brings us to the real question.

Who is the customer?

The demos that Apple had lined up tell the tale of who they’re pitching this machine to. Four different VR applications, several render-heavy workflows that were upgraded from minutes or hours of waiting to real-time on the iMac Pr and a session with a bunch of simultaneous multi-device simulators running on top of browser tests running in emulators of Windows and OS X machines all while compiling Linux from source – and nary a fan was heard spinning up.

Survios showed off Electronauts, its music creation/rhythm game hybrid on a Vive, which added support via steam earlier this year. Using a full-fledged VR application from one of the best developers in the field on a Mac was a treat. I’ve run VR systems on my iMac and it has never been a pleasant experience. Sitting at my desk now I have an entire PC tower just to the right of my legs almost solely to support the multiple headsets I run. It will be great to be able to move back to a single machine for gaming and VR for me. But, more importantly, the iMac Pro is now suddenly a viable option for VR developers.

This becomes important in mixed-pipeline environments, pointed out Oluwaseyi Sosanya of 3D design tool Gravity Sketch. Because they’re super focused on supporting the automotive industry, they’re used to designers having to leave the Mac to jump to their modeling tools and then back to the Mac where they love to design. The iMac Pro plugs that gap and makes it easier for designers to adopt digital modeling tools that would normally have relied on a PC workflow being inserted into the process.

Some folks from Cinema 4D were on hand to talk about stacking external GPUs onto the Thunderbolt arrays, ramping up and down on the complexity of a scene, enabling them to work in real rendered viewports which took only a few seconds to get a usable frame and a few minutes to display at production quality — something that would normally require shipping off to a render farm and waiting.

Real-time or near-real-time rendering of architectural scenes, medical imaging and digital compositing also showed off the machine’s power.

OsiriX MD

The messaging was interesting to me. It was absolutely, clearly, a love letter to developers. Most of the Mac and iOS developers I know use iMacs or MacBook Pro machines – especially given the limited nature of the Mac Pro as it exists now. And given that Apple says the Mac Pro will focus on ‘modularity’, I think that the iMac Pro is going to be one of the most powerful integrated machines of its generation.

There’s nothing here that recommends waiting for a software developer. I really believe that the Mac Pro will fall much more on the industrialized spectrum than in previous generations. The pricing is comparable to build-your-own options, and you don’t get Apple’s all-in-one system tricks like the T2. And while the price tag is nothing to joke about — $4,999 to start — it’s a drop in the bucket for the medical and professional industries. A $700 seat of OsiriX and an iMac Pro to stack slices of a CAT scan into a real-time 3D model of a vascular system in distress is nothing to a surgeon looking for more precision.

And, of course, Apple’s own data supports that there was a chunk of open air underneath the Mac Pro, even at its newest.

All of the benchmarks and, hopefully, real-world stress tests, will follow to tell us exactly how well the iMac Pro pays off on its promises, but so far it’s looking like Apple has a powerful new machine to plug its leaky pro hole.