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sanstropfremir · 4 years ago

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I’d love your thoughts on BTS and their current image and music if you have them and aren’t afraid of the mindless internet hoards.

Personally, I liked a lot of their older stuff, but haven’t liked anything since I think the Fake Love promotions 3+ years ago. They’d started losing their personality and soul before that album cycle, but it feels like the sanitization of their image and artistry really kicked into hyperdrive after that. Now most of what they do seems like a sterile money grab driven by the Hybe hive mind which is a shame.

ok alrighty (cracks knuckles) let's get into it.

now that i've fully given myself a headache watching the majority of the bts videography, here are three points i'm going to cover:

performative character and the lack thereof

interesting aesthetics and the lack thereof, and

the inevitable cracking of perfection

ready, set, let's begin.

idol music is very clearly definited by spectacle based aesthetics. and it's had that structure for its entire existence. so i gotta hand it to hybe for this one, because they managed to revolutionize being utterly fucking average. the triumph of bts is that they're just some guys and they look like just some guys. hybe found a niche in the system and then gamed that system to the tune of one of the largest musical acts in the world. they're not marketing bts as a romantic parasocial relationship, they're marketing them as your friends. and that is just as insidious to lonely kids as a run of the mill romantic fantasy. but that's not what i'm here to talk about today.

there's a pattern i find very interesting with bts mvs and that is that i don't remember anything about them. specifically, i don't remember the stuff that's happening IN the video; not the styling, not the setpieces, if i didn't know the members i doubt i would remember them either. what i DO remember, is how expensive the production is, and specific shots. i couldn't tell you what a single member was wearing, but i sure as hell remember that first upward angle shot of jungkook and the rusted park ride in spring day. or every single time they do that birdseye shot of jin in like every video. honestly as far as i'm aware jin has only ever worn a loose fitting beige longsleeve shirt.

it took bts a long time to establish any kind of consistent visual character. and the character they did establish.... i don't know if you can call a family-friendly-style clean aesthetic 'character'. they debuted as a hip hop group to little (comparative) success, and then made a switch to doing an early version of where they're currently at right now. if you've seen any of the mvs, you know that this is a pretty significant visual change. i don't think it is inherently a bad change, since the visual branding for hiphop based groups always tips over into iffy terrritory, but it is dramatic enough and early enough that it doesn't strike me as a natural evolution. concept switch ups are common, but they usually work because the members have established a bit of character for themselves, used their performance abilities and presence to fit into a niche in the group. the idol mould is perfect for showcasing the performers; that's its function. the groups that are the most fun to watch are the ones with stage presence, the ones who know how to perform, who can act all the parts they need to play. and bts? 4/7 actual performers on a good day. in my personal opinion it's 2/7.

i'm gonna expand on what i said about jimin here (this is technically the first part of this series), because it does apply to the rest of the group on the whole:

and i think here is where we see the main crux of the difference between taemin and jimin as performers: taemin has both an artistic and an idol persona. we know and understand him to do solo work that has a separate artistic meaning to just him being an idol. even though this performance was pre-move, i would still say this applies, because he's hot off press your number, where he's acting in a story based mv. jimin on the other hand just has his idol persona. he's not known for creating the same kind of storytelling that taemin is.

bts has been very insistent on the image of the group as a single unit. despite having the size of fanbase and the revenue that would make any official solo debut a massive success, none of them have done any substantial solo work. this isn't artistically a problem, and i think it's very admirable of them to be so dedicated to the image and the legacy of the group, when that can be an uncommon trait in the industry. i do however, think it starts to become an issue when we want to discuss what the artistic visions and images of groups are. shinee taemin and solo taemin have two distinct artistic representations, and taemin himself will attest to that. it's the same with all the shinee members that have solo careers, and the same with other groups. jackson, bambam, yugyeom, and jaebeom's solo work is all very different from got7. yixing's solo work is very different from exo's. even the subunits within exo all have their own character (cbx and sc). kpop groups all ostensibly are trained under the same system, so why the disparity with bts? mostly, it's their brand of "authenticity." it's impossible to perform authentically, by the nature of performance as a medium it is unnatural, and tragically, not everyone is naturally interesting, or suited to performing: that's why the performing arts even exist in the first place. it required painstaking training to be good at performing; it is a complex set of skills and those skills are not learnt by "being authentic." being an idol is not just the singing, dancing, rapping; that's only half the work. you need to be able to act to be a compelling performer. pulling your true self and emotions out on stage every night is a fast track to burnout and psychological issues, there's plenty of evidence. the only member of bts of whom i can say for some certainty has a persona and a stage presence is jhope/hoseok, a) because he's kept up a very specific brand in the solo work that he has done, and b) he has actual dance training, not just kpop dance training. the rest of them may have the kpop dance and the kpop vocal training, but what they do not have is the ability to market themselves as compelling performers on stage. taehyung is the only other member i would hesitantly give a semblance of persona and ability to, but i think he stumbled onto that mostly by accident. and if all the pieces don't each have a distinctive colour, how can the whole machine be visually interesting?

bts may never have been able to establish an aesthetic brand, but what they did establish is an intellectual one. if you talk to a fan, the schtick they give is that "it's about the lyrics." as noble as having an intellectual or cerebral message is, what does that look like? how do you portray intellectual on stage, on film? what about intellectual is interesting to watch? cerebral, by it's literal nature as a descriptor, is very difficult to communicate in visual language because it is internal. to successfully communicate cerebrality and intellect in a short form medium like music videos requires a deft hand with metaphor that can elude even an experienced designer. and honestly? i don't know whether to applaud hybe's visual team for being the most successful subtle contemporary designers i've every seen, or to decry them as worst kpop designers i've ever seen. maybe both. regardless, i don't think they're able to cross the gap.

there are exactly four mvs where i actually remember the content of the mv and not the frame it sits in, and those are dna, idol, the singularity comeback trailer with taehyung, and war of hormone. and of an eight year career......that's not very many. these four mvs have at least an inkling of interesting spectacle and character, but even then, it's still a stretch. there is absolutely nothing to write home about in the styling for dna, other than it's well colour matched. I don't even know if I should include singularity because it involves none of the other members. idol is probably their most interesting mv because it actually has alternative styling and varies (at least a little bit) from the standard hybe boom crane shot-that-shows-off-how-we-can-afford-big-studio-spaces-and-locations. the company and the group would be loathe to admit it, but war of hormone is a well designed and interesting mv for the time it was made, with a well crafted gimmick and some actual showing of character from the members. it was the start of a potential that they squashed quite quickly because it wasn't picking up in the hiphop-group-saturated market of 2014. but the rest of their mvs? remarkably uninspired styling. like it's truly impressive how boring the styling is. and like i've said, that is the triumph in their aesthetics: they all look like normal dudes (if you had professional skin + makeup techs looking after them for the last 8 years).

all of this is a carefully crafted image that's tailored to hooking an audience, especially an international one. the mvs are boring in the relative scale of kpop, but they're just different enough from a western pop mv to catch attention. and once you do sink a hook, there's a direct clickfunnel of content that bills itself on these men being "authentic" and "self-producing," which is a huge draw to international fans, because people are racist and believe that the kpop industry is a factory that produces idols like clones, where none of them know how to do anything other than sing and dance and all the music is just handed to them by companies. and they have SO much content that there's no way a new fan can get to it all in a timely manner, so they'll never have to engage with any other kpop artists' work if they don't actively seek it out. but that's another essay for another time.

that brings us to current day, in which at least the last five bts releases have been in the same aesthetic vein of positive, sanitized, and pristine. i said it in one of my txt responses and i will say it again here: money scrubs the humanity from the aesthetic of living. minimalism is for rich white people. hybe and bts may have pivoted their style and brand directly into the lane of mass appeal, but when you pair that with the amount of money funding them, there's a cognitive dissonance between the message and the aesthetics in which it's portrayed. some people do like the clean cut looks, and i won't say that they don't work, but as you've likely gleaned from this response, it isn't my style and if you've been around and reading my writing for longer you'll know that my tastes runs much closer to the messy and the weird, so very little about any of bts' visuals have appeal to me. i do find the contradiction of applying the appeal of radical relatability with the aesthetics of expansive (and expensive) minimalism interesting; it's an extremely fine line that hybe is walking and eventually they are going to tip over, the porcelain mask will not hold forever. maintaining the all ages aesthetic is going to be difficult now that all of them are grown ass men. with other groups of this member age and generation there's very obviously been a shift to a more adult tone, and not necessarily explicitly. got7, mx, nu'est, btob, shinee, 2pm, and groups that have older members like a.c.e and sf9 have all made slow shifts in tone that are undeniably aimed at a maturing audience: they know their core fanbases are aging with them and they (the fans) are not as interested in the 'boy' in boy group. and most of them have telltale visual styles, enough so that i can distinguish a specific group's mv. the last year and change of mx mvs have a very distinctive character; got7 too, since easily as far back as if you do. i can always tell an a.c.e mv by its impeccable fashion and formic styling, and although shinee has always had a more experimental aesthetic edge, their sound and voices are unmistakable.

honestly, i can't predict what bts is going to do in the future, but i personally don't believe they can keep up their clean aesthetic indefinitely without some fallout. part of the fun of following bands is watching them grow musically, and the last couple of years of bts haven't felt like growth. there are fans that have already started realizing it, and there's likely to be more soon.

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the third part is here, which is a short followup about some of bts' industry influence.

#this is long one dear readers #a very long one #strap in #i've sat on this for probably a week now in the hopes my brain can make some interesting connections but honestly?#not a lot about bts is interesting in comparision to the rest of the kpop industry #personally i am of the opinion that lyrics do not matter in idol music and i am not interested in them in the slightest #and bts videos ARE extremely bland visually #unless you like looking at expensive production. whatever floats your boat i guess #they make a lot of sense as an entry kpop group but once you get actually into the industry there is SO much happening #which i talk about in the third part a little bit #this is way too long i am so sorry anon and everyone else who has been asking about this topic #im not entirely sure it's coherent at this point but whatever. its out there now #i wanted this to be under 1k and that emphatically did not happen #it is double that. why am i like this #875 #kpop questions #kpop analysis #group analysis #text #answers

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chalkrevelations · 4 years ago

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Street Dance of China S3, Ep 3. It sounds like maybe I should step up my pace on these, as they’ve announced the captains for S4 now? (Yibo back, Lay Zhang back, plus a couple of new guys I don’t actually recognize yet.) When is this going to air because it is just LAUGHABLE that I can keep up with 3+ hours of this a week. Particularly if I’m going to keep obsessively re-watching Word of Honor AND try to finally finish Killer & Healer in the miniscule free time I actually have for teevee. There’s certainly no way I can watch and dither on about 3+ hours/week worth of dance show in realtime before January, at least.

ANYWAY, this ep, we get a recap of everyone falling out after the captains’ cypher, and we learn who got the final extra towels and passed through to the next round: Lu Jiao Ni, who we barely see, on Team Jackson Wang; Yuan Ye (as promised) and A Li (who we barely see) on Team Lay Zhang (ETA: Wait, we find out later that A Li isn’t even on Lay’s team, she’s on Yibo’s - he wouldn’t move her on, and she gets one of Lay’s towels instead); Bullet (as promised) on Team Wang Yibo; and Xiao Ming (as promised? maybe? as we’ve barely seen this guy?) on Team Wallace Chung.

This week: Out of 400 people, we’re down to 105. Not all of these faces are familiar, and I suspect I don’t really need to learn 90 percent of the unfamiliar faces. I … am going to go out on a limb and make a guess that one of the dancers whose name has been bolded in one of the past two episode recaps is going to be the ultimate winner, because I have umpty SYTYCD episode reactions on my LJ, and I suspect I know how this works. I wouldn’t even put money on any of those five bolded names in the previous paragraph, quite honestly. Anyway, now it’s time to start culling down to 60. We bring out the team captains, and my first reaction is “MY EYES” because wth are some of you wearing? Wow. Yibo’s shoelaces are all over his jacket. Wallace looks like he rolled a flasher on the street for his trenchcoat. Lay Zhang is wearing a baggy pink jumpsuit, and I guess, OK, it’s easier to maneuver bathroom breaks in one of those when you have a dick, but that’s definitely a fashion trend that should have stayed back in the ‘80s. I guess questionable fashion is an international phenomenon.

There’s also an empty chair for the promised Mystery Guest, and there’s a game with clues, and a lot of guesses from our captains about who the Mystery Guest will be, and Jackson does A Bit through the whole thing. I don’t know whether to be entertained or annoyed by him. He’s the only one without some egregiously questionable fashion choices (so far) this episode, so maybe he gets a pass. Anyway, I don’t have the pop cultural context to understand the guesses, and I also don’t have either the pop cultural context or the knowledge of this area of dance to grok the Mystery Guest’s identity, but he’s Huang Bo, and apparently he had more than 1000 dance performances in the 1990s, so he must be at least as old as me and Wallace, if not older. Yibo takes the opportunity to make the – very NON-politic – remark that maybe HE wasn’t even born yet at the time? That … is not the way to win friends and influence people, Infant. Also, the Mystery Guest is NOT the person Jackson kept doing A Bit about. The reveal is all very dramatic, and he does a lil’ bit of choreography from of each of the four Extant Captains’ videos before he takes off his mask, and they act appropriately impressed, and there are some girls with short shorts among his backup dancers, so that all happened. The show obviously wants me to be very impressed by him. Show also tells us he’ll have a special skill that will be very important and at least leads us to believe that he’s going to be the “life-saver,” so the audience immediately curries favor, or at least plays at it.

Next up: Rules. Eliminations this week involve contestants self-selecting into groups of anywhere from one to five people and performing for a panel of all the captains. Teams pull a number out of a hat for performance order. Thumbs up from all four captains, you go to the next round. Abstentions from all captains, you go home. Thumbs up from some and abstentions from others, you face the possibility of a call-out from other contestants, whereupon you have to dance for your life battle to find out which of you stays and which of you goes. Oh, and we’re only going to keep going until the 60 available seats are filled, and then we’re done. If you’re number 35, you’d better be prepared to battle someone earlier and kick their ass, or you’re fucked, you don’t even get to dance. I’ve said it before: Audentes Fortuna adiuvat. Only wait, ETA: There will be some last minute BS rules fuckery, in a way that is clearly intended to save someone in particular, which I feel some kind of way about - and it is not really the way that almost everyone on the show seems to feel - but I guess we’ll get to that later.

And cue ridiculously long nattering, so we’re going to cut here.

First group is Lin Meng (Team Wallace), Teng Zai (Team Lay), Bing - of the infamous motorbike flirtation - and Dian Men (both Team Yibo), along with a dude we haven’t actually seen yet, Tang Qian (also Team Yibo). Your lack of even B-roll so far is concerning re: your chances in this competition, Tang Qian. I’m just sayin’. Anyway, this is a powerhouse group, and at least Lin Meng and Teng Zai are familiar with each other because they’re from the same crew, and Xiao Bao remarks from the audience of contestants that these guys are going to go through, no matter what. They’re going to do a totally popping routine. My sound drops out at the beginning which … yeah, makes them look even more like a boyband at the beginning, in their matching baseball uniform shirts. So, here’s the thing, they’re a little muddled, they don’t move smoothly around each other on stage - their dance moves are coordinated, but they’re not moving in space like a group that understands each other. (Somewhere in here, my sound comes back, and Yibo already can’t hold still to the music.) The other thing is, though - all of these guys are very good at what they do, they finally hit their stride a minute or so in, and when they do, they hit it hard. I’m frankly surprised they don’t get passed right through to the next round, but Jackson abstains on the vote, and when called upon to explain himself, it turns out he just wants to see them battle. I can understand the impulse, Jackson, but this is already super stressful on all the dancers, and it doesn’t escape my notice that you’re the only one of the four captains without a dog in this particular fight, so a little bit you look like you’re doing this just because you can. Remember this, because it will set a bad example for an 11th -hour vote. Anyway, there’s the chance for a callout, which no one takes because the entire audience is convinced this group is too good to beat. Five of 60 seats taken.

Group two is Shen Kai Xiang – the Jack Ma lookin’ dude. He’s flying solo. He gets to stand around uncomfortably for a while onstage while Special Guest Huang Bo does A Bit making fun of all of the captains’ speech patterns and accents and pronunciation, except Yibo’s, because Yibo apparently never talks. Ha ha. (I’m also wondering if there’s some socio-cultural stuff underlying some of this that I’m not cued in enough to fully understand.) Huang Bo then tells the contestant that Jackson has probably fucked him over by praising him too effusively (he came from Jackson’s team, and Jackson already is displaying a tendency to rhapsodize about how everything is “ART”), so all the captains now will have inflated expectations that Shen Kai Xiang is surely only going to fail to meet. I’m beginning to suspect that Huang Bo’s Special Guest Superpower is not “lifesaver” but “kind of annoying asshole.” Maybe it’s to take that particular spotlight off of Chick. ANYWAY, Shen Kai Xiang FINALLY gets to perform, and he gets a little bit of a slow start, but he packs in a lot of elements and gets a LOT of good air in his moves once he gets wound up. He’s lyrical and super emo about it. I’m kind of “eh” on him – technically, he’s good, but I’m not particularly connecting with him, which I’m willing to admit could be a me thing, as everyone else seems super-impressed. Three captains pass him through. Yibo does not and explains this decision as personal preference – he likes more “underground” styles, more battle styles. Huang Bo brings back the issue of too-high expectations to help explain why Shen Kai Xiang isn’t being passed directly to the next round, even though Yibo just explained his decision and that is literally not the reason he explicitly gave. Anyway, Shen Kai Xiang gets no call outs, which seems to surprise Yibo, and we’re at six of 60 seats taken.

In quick succession, we move through Liang Hua Jie – we don’t see much of him, but we learn that while Wallace likes his musicality, Yibo doesn’t like his face (OK, doesn’t like his facial expressions, which, what can I say? I get this. If I’d had the power to unilaterally send home Lacey Schwimmer on her season of SYTYCD, I’d have done it, that’s how fucking annoying I found the way she’d mug for the camera the entire time she danced. Like I couldn’t even watch her dancing, because I was too distracted by what she was doing with her FACE the whole time.); Jian De Chao (wait, is this Chao from the first episode?) & Chen Zui – who, from what we get to see of them have some good flow and move pretty well together, but can get a little bit mushy in their moves, and Yibo likes their skills, but Lay thinks they don’t feel like a group, which what? Incorrect; and a group that’s dubbed themselves Purple Storm Show, which includes Alex from Jackson’s team and four other people who I can’t even catch – we barely see their performance, and Lay likes them, but Jackson thinks they’re flat. I can’t tell if any or all of these guys were sent through to the next round or sent home, but if they didn’t make it, then :( because I liked Alex, and he got hit in the eye for this, he deserves better than to get sent home because his team can’t get it together. We still have no group that’s been passed through by all four captains.

And then, next up is another powerhouse team: Gongsu Wu Ming and Hei Zai (Team Lay), George and Xiao Ming (Team Wallace), and (Xiao) Bai (Team Jackson). Yibo is skeptical about an all B-boy group, and don’t make me fight you, Yibo, because an all B-boy group is like my dream come true (sorry, poppers; sorry, lockers; my heart truly belongs to the B-boys, they are my favorite). We learn they added a flip at the last minute – an assisted flip, with a couple of them flinging George into the air over the other two of them. Wu Ming thinks that George is the only one of all the competitors who could do it, but George – who has a little more skin in the game than anyone else, as the guy who could potentially land on his head wrong - is a bit concerned about whether they’re going to pull it off. They start, and they’re all good, a little bit muddled before they hit their stride, but the slo-mo cartwheel is great, and from there, they’re off and running. This is why I like the B-boys – I know it takes a lot out of you to do this, but there is nothing – nothing – like the magnetic energy they can generate when they’re in their performance headspace and everything is flowing. This is a performance, and Wu Ming has talked a little bit about wanting to step up breaking, and if this is the sort of thing he wants to do, I’m all for it – give him the platform now. I’m going to take just a minute to single out Bai and say that he’s better when he’s not doing A Bit like he did in his initial performance for Lay Zhang – he’s much more electric here, and someone else’s choreography may make the difference. Jackson, Yibo, Lay – they’re all out of their seats, none of them can hold still in the face of this. We get to the end, and unfortunately, everyone else is kind of cluttered and mushy moving into position for the flip – that is not a way to go out guys, DO NOT DO THAT at the last minute – but then George f’kn NAILS the flip, so that’s thankfully the last impression they leave. The captain’s faces are a picture. (Except Wallace, who’s suddenly too cool to give us anything, apparently.) FIRST ALL-PASS. George’s assessment: “Not bad.” :facepalm: OK, Mr. Cool Guy. They also cut in a post-interview bit with Bai about the performance, and he notes that they all know each other, they’ve been battling each other for like, a decade, now. Dance together more, guys.

Moving on, we fortunately have another very strong group to follow them: Gai Gai, Wang Tao and Huang Xiao, all from Jackson’s team, and you can tell he badly, badly wants to start in on the ART! bit but he (loudly) keeps his mouth shut about this group until after the performance. The only one of these three we’ve seen so far this season has been Gai Gai, but they all dance in the same group together, and they seem to be well-known by a lot of the other competitors, particularly Huang Xiao, both as a dancer and a choreographer. They say they’re doing jazz, although I’d be more likely to call this contemporary, if I was going to put them in a box. They are gorgeous – lyrical, fantastic dance vocabulary, amazing choreography, beautiful musicality, and the way they move together as a unit is … :chef’s kiss: I think Huang Xiao may be the best of the three, technically, but there’s something ineffably charismatic about Gai Gai that’s pulling focus a bit – just a bit – more than the other two in this performance. If there’s a weak link, it’s Wang Tao, and really, that’s only by comparison with the other two, which is a really high bar. We get some shots of the audience of competitors worrying about Yibo’s reaction, given his preference for the old-school battle dancers and an apparent “strictness” with urban dancers and related genres, but these three also get an All-Pass to the next round, and Yibo talks to them a little bit about the choreography and his (complimentary) reactions to the performance before they leave the stage.

And then. Oh, dear. Then we get a group of three – Da Mao, A Li and Tall(? Maybe? It looked like he was going to get out of this anonymously – probably lucky for him – but then the subtitles threw up this name on him at the last minute) – who are the only krumpers who’ve made it this far. Lay Zhang is really promoting them, because he really wants to see a bigger krump presence, and he’s really nervous about their performance, and he really, really should not have pinned his hopes on these three, because I hate to say it but they are a hot fk’n mess. They are … not good. I can’t believe any of the three made it this far, and in fact, we learn after their performance, while everyone is sitting in a kind of stunned horror (and y’all, I am not exaggerating for effect there), that Yibo did not pass A Li on from his team, that she got one of Lay Zhang’s final extra battle towels. I mean, there’s an obvious gap in the quality of this performance compared to everyone else we’ve seen. There’s also a lot of pacing around and standing around instead of dancing. They’re trying for the attitude, but they’re not managing it. They do manage to get an embarrassed reaction from Chick, which says something all on its own, as I wasn’t aware that he had any shame. Other competitors also are doing the embarrassment-squick cringe in the audience. Lay Zhang is literally hiding behind his clipboard. This is the first All-Out we get, where they’re directly eliminated – not even Lay can bring himself to vote “yes” on them. Now, all the krumpers are gone, and Lay is visibly sad and frustrated, but as we appear to move to a little bit of a break, Yibo displays the most emotional intelligence of anyone there and asks Lay to teach him how to krump, to distract him and get him actually doing the dancing he enjoys for a little bit. It’s also a chance for Yibo to learn a new thing, and he talks about his chance to improve in a little interview bit from later on that’s cut in here. I mean, yes, that actually was kind of a sad attempt at krump during the cypher, my dude, so this can only help you, but you also are being an extremely good guy, giving your fellow captain some emotional support right now. Thumbs up.

Next up, we have AK Dong (Team Wallace), also flying solo, and they give us a little heart-tugging B-roll about how he doesn’t have a team with him there, so he’s going it alone. He’s fantastic right out of the gate - good musicality, clean and precise, and he’s got a nice texture to his performance, it feels … full even though it doesn’t feel as big and expansive as some of the other dancers. Unfortunately, Lay doesn’t agree with me (incorrect), says he wants a performance that’s more elegant and “balanced,” and is the single holdout vote, which opens my dude up to a call-out challenge. This is the guy who looks like comedian Hank Chen, which has overshadowed his dancing twice now, because he had to listen to it from Haung Bo when he came out to dance, and he CANNOT catch a break, because now he gets challenged by three teams, including Bouboo’s team, which also includes Klash, Bullet and Colin (all Team Yibo), plus Boris (Team Lay), who we’ve only seen B-roll of so far although he speaks good Chinese, despite being from … I’m not sure where, but not China? AK Dong complains about how Boris looks at him with innocent eyes and tells him that they have no option other than to challenge, which is true (ETA: insofar as we know at this point), because they’re #36, and the 60 slots would almost certainly fill up before they even get a chance to dance. This team wins the bottle spin against the other two challengers, and I mean. :hands: This is a slaughter. They’re five-on-one, and they’re all really good at what they do, they make it look effortless, and AK Dong’s face is going to kill me. Wallace actually does vote for him, but the other three vote for the team, and that’s five more seats filled, and AK Dong eliminated, and I’m annoyed (although not as much as I’m gonna be) because I liked him, and I would have liked for him to get a chance to dance without having to listen to the Hank Chen nonsense at least once.

Next, we have Li Yue & Sha Sha, who appear to dance together on the regular. They have a kind of sultry number put together as the Green Snake and the White Snake that is … hm. I don’t know if we’re classifying this as urban or jazz for the purposes of the show, but it’s another piece that fits more into my contemporary box, if we were classifying them for most of the Western dance spaces I’ve seen. They’re good, as befits this stage of the competition, but a little inconsistent, technically. Also, I don’t find them particularly exciting to watch – I feel like something’s missing, although I can’t quite put my finger on what. I’m not sure their flow is consistent, and they’re probably not helped by following Gai Gai, Huang Xiao and Wang Tao. They get three yes votes from Lay, Yibo and Jackson, although they are … enough to maybe make Yibo a slight bit uncomfortable, being the shy and fragile homosocial forest creature that he may be, or that he may be getting edited as, who knows. Huang Bo pokes at Lay Zhang about his reaction to and vote for them. He also basically says that Wallace didn’t vote for them because Wallace wasn’t turned on by them, because Wallace is still doing his imperturbable cool-as-a-cucumber routine. Wallace’s hold-out vote opens them up to a call-out, and several groups come down to challenge, including – bad luck for Li Yue and Sha Sha – TI, who win the bottle spin. This group includes choreographer Zheng Jian Peng, as well as Su Lianya, who I didn’t realize was a TI member, both Team Wallace, along with … oh my god, Wei Ming, who’s the “Sir, what are you doing?” guy from Episode 2 when Wallace was giving out towels to poppers like candy, and I’m kind of pleased he’s made it this far, just based on that moment, alone, never mind any dancing skills. Rounding out the group are Long Long and Wei Lin, both from Team Yibo, and I think we got B-roll of Wei Lin at some point during Yibo’s eliminations in the first couple of eps. I know nothing about Long Long at this point. At any rate, everybody in this group is so good, I can finally see how they got their rep – fantastic musicality, and a great job of working as a unit. They feel like a team, even when they don’t manage to be quiiiiite synchronized. I’m not really feeling their costumes. Su Lianya continues to be a standout, even in a group that sets the bar this high. Wallace’s composure finally breaks when the other team captains evince interest in poaching her, and oh my god, he still has the hair elastic that he held for her at her initial performance, that they said would be a token of their vow to go all the way in the competition together. OK, I give Wallace a lot of shit, but this is actually kind of adorable. He literally pulls it out of his pocket to tell the other captains they can’t have her and to plead with her to remember their promise to each other. TI gets three votes and moves on. (Lay, still apparently captivated by the snake ladies although not enough to bald-facedly vote for them in the wake of TI’s performance, abstains.)

Next up are Tao and CiCi, and OK. I’m going to be honest here. I think they’re leveraging the “couple” schtick for all it’s worth, and good for them, it looks like they can pull it off, because I think some of the amazed reaction we get from the captains and from the audience is influenced a lot by their coupleness, but at the same time, I think some of the amazed reaction we get from the captains and from the audience is actually influenced by their coupleness rather than their dancing. I mean, Su Lianya and Wei Lin are in the audience of competitors clutching each other’s hands and crying, and it seems to be just as much about Tao telling CiCi out loud that he loves her just before the music starts and the fact that they kiss as part of the piece, if not more than it’s about their actual dancing. The show is also really pushing me on this, because whereas, with everyone else, it tosses up closed captions that tell me what moves are happening (in addition to dialogue subs), now I’m getting things like “heaven-made match.” They’re good, but I think they actually also suffer a bit from following the Gai Gai/Huang Xiao/Wang Tao powerhouse, because I think we’re unlikely to get anything on the lyrical side of things that’s going to match up to that for the rest of the day. Tao and CiCi are better than Li Yue and Sha Sha were, and it is pretty badass the way she manages to make herself so small and compact she literally disappears behind him for that last little bit, and if they’d won the bottle spin on the last callout, they would have won the challenge, I have no doubt. But. :hands: I think the show has actually done that thing Huang Bo accused Jackson of earlier and set my expectations too high. I’m’a sound like Yibo – or like Yibo normally would, because he also seems to get suckered into the overwhelmed reaction for this – and say that I think Tao was better in the less lyrical style when he danced with Yibo and Bing in the Ep 2 towel battle. They get an All-Pass from the captains and talk about their inspiration for the piece, which apparently is a couple who confessed their love to each other the day before the girl had to go into COVID quarantine, and well, now I guess I feel like just a little bit of an asshole for not appreciating the COVID love story properly? Anyway, the captains then keep asking them intrusive questions about their relationship, and Huang Bo mocks Lay for apparently never being in love so he won’t understand what it’s like, and I’m cringing in my seat a little before Jackson gets us back on track and Tao and CiCi finally go sit down.

Then Huang Bo takes the chance to go over to the contestants who haven’t performed yet and stress them out about how few of the 60 available seats are left. I mean, I guess it’s part of competition, but come on, dude.

ANYWAY, next up, we have a group calling themselves Team Wake Up – it’s the waackers, and this group includes Xiao Bao and San Jin from Team Lay, along with a guy we haven’t seen yet, Tu Zi; Meng Di from Team Yibo; and Gao Shi Yu, who we also haven’t seen, from Team Wallace. They start working it, and I’m like, oh wait … and then they hit the Cat Walk, and I’m like, oh shit, and a light bulb finally goes off, because I’ve been super-fk’n slow, but now they’ve shown me what this genre is about, and I’m interested to see what they do here, because a lot of this performance could be straight off the floors of the ball scene. The entire group is pretty good, although I do think Gao Shi Yu is the weak link, she’s not quiiiiite up to the standard of the rest of them. They move well as a group, though, good coordination, sharp and clean, fantastic musicality, high energy all the way through, with EXCELLENT attitude, which is half the battle, because if you’re not confident for this kind of thing – or if you can’t at least fake it flawlessly – you might as well not even be out there. They all do lose a little bit of focus when they’re in the background as they break out for their individual moves, and they fall apart a tiny bit near the end. Also, Meng Di’s belt is off-center, and I know that sounds super picky, but it kept distracting me, so I wish that hadn’t been the case. Xiao Bao is definitely still the standout here – he takes the lead from the minute they come out, with the mic, and never really relinquishes it. We finally get to see San Jin perform, and his extension could be better. Tu Zi must be lacking in the charisma department to not have shown up before this, because he’s better than I expected. Before they started, the group that Xiao Jie and Yang Kai are in together – who still haven’t performed – were debating if they should challenge this group, but Xiao Jie advised waiting to see how good they were, and then after the performance is all, “nooo, we should not challenge,” and props to you for not just writing off the waackers, my man, because they get an All-Pass, and there’s not even a chance for a callout. Before we move on, Wallace clams he’s learned some waacking during the show, and the other captains (led by Jackson, who calls him gege) make him demonstrate, and the contestants, who know what side their bread is buttered on, applaud.

Available seat check. Yibo participates in further stressing out the contestants by saying “Like, a dozen?” All y’all need to be challenging whatever chance you get. Now I bet you’re sorry you didn’t challenge Shen Kai Xiang back at the beginning, aren’t you?

Next up is our group of X-Crew representatives, hop-hop, and Yibo is excited. I almost expect him to do a little dance in his seat. Yang Kai helpfully lets me know that this group is from the top hip-hop crew in China. Oh, hey, that’s Qin Yu, from Team Wallace, the guy who Gongsu Wu Ming immediately recognized as the weak link in one of the towel battles and got up on; the guy who subsequently got taken out by Teng Zai, My Beloved. Qin Yu, the guy we hadn’t even had B-roll on, and still don’t. I wonder if I’m reading too much into that. He’s joined by Flea (which I’m assuming is a direct translation, as it doesn’t sound like “flea” when he says his name?) and Ding, also from Team Wallace - neither of whom we’ve seen before, I think - along with Ting and Lei Xiao Yang from Team Jackson. This is also the first time we’ve seen Lei Xiao Yang. I … feel weirdly unconfident about the famed X-Crew, given we haven’t seen more of them before this. Then again, we’d only seen Gai Gai from her group, so maybe this is a BigSurprise!edit … Ting comes out hard and heavy, and I actually think this is the best performance we’ve seen from her so far. She spends a lot of time out in front on this one, and I don’t think I got from her initial appearance or from her towel battle performances just how good she actually is. Overall though … I am … not that impressed with this group. They start out strong, but then they get sloppy. They have trouble working as a unit, which is surprising from people who supposedly have experience dancing together. They’re all very good, but they’re not synchronized. A lot of their solo showcase bits lack complexity, and that is an understatement. Qin Yu still has some of that nice fluidity along with his pretty face, but he’s not balanced, and he absolutely does not have the finesse he needs to pull this off. They all do move into the end strong, together again, hard, power behind their moves - almost everything from the slo-mo move is good - but … it’s a little late, y’all. That took way too long to get back together. And then, they inexplicably descend into … it’s not even sloppiness, it’s an utter hot mess during, like, the last 15 seconds of the performance, which is absolutely not the final impression you want to leave. And … wow. Shit. There are captains who actually agree with me on this. Sometimes you see the expected top dancers allowed to slide some in these early rounds of competition shows, but not this time – Wallace and Yibo both vote yes, but Jackson and Lay both abstain, and Jackson … wow. Wow. Is disappointed in them and expected more. Despite the fact that he’s like, 12, and that he’s done this to past groups just because he wanted to see them battle, a little bit this actually has a vague feeling of your dad telling you how much you’ve let him down. The audience is shocked, but I’m glad to hear someone say it. It was a good - if spotty - performance but certainly not the best we’ve seen.

So, we have a callout, and the group with Xiao Jie and Yang Kai, which also includes some guys named Shen Zi Hao, Xiao Zhi Bin and Oscar, pounces. And that is a very deliberate word choice, because these guys are on X-Crew like a lion on the trailing gazelle. They’re in their Men In Black suits (ETA: Wait, no, I think maybe they’re Agent Smith suits), and the audience of other competitors is losing it. Xiao Bao is very excited about Xiao Jie. Both Yibo and Jackson look like they’re in actual physical pain, to be forced to make the choice that’s coming up. Ting looks like she’s getting ready to throw up – she’s accepting this with less equanimity than she did the possible results of her initial performance, at least on the surface. I … am dreading losing her, actually, because I suspect that’s what’s getting ready to happen, and I am so so sorry, baby, that you worked so hard to carry your crew like that and they couldn’t keep their shit together. On the one hand, I’m impressed they’re pitting this level of competition against each other so early. On the other, I feel Jackson’s and Yibo’s pain. God. God. The Xiao Jie-Yang Kai group is here to f’kn battle. This is shaping up to be a slaughter. They are fast, clean, precise, great musicality, complex moves, super performance. They’re synchronized, high energy, fantastic animation – which could be a little cheesy, but they’re confident and fearless enough to pull it off - fun and interesting. They are maybe a little bit too gimmicky to be perfect for my taste, but I’m not the one voting them through, and what they’ve come up with is perfect for the audience that matters – the captains, the majority of which are 20-something-year-old boys – and knowing your audience, and performing for them, is a skill, too. BIGGEST (and frankly, only) ISSUE: Somebody fucked up a move, right at the beginning … I think maybe Yang Kai? (ETA: Yah, it was Yang Kai, ugh, what a time for that to happen.) If you’re going to fuck up, best to do it at the very beginning, I guess, and then give this performance afterward, to mitigate it as much as possible, but that one misstep gives the captains enough excuse put off a decision they really don’t want to make, like it’s not just going to make it worse to kick the can down the road a few minutes. Split vote, 2-2 (I thiiink, Yibo and Jackson for X-Crew, Lay and Wallace for the challengers?), which throws it to a further battle. Ting and Xiao Jie, one-on-one, and both of them are feeling the pressure of competing for their entire team instead of just themselves. Two rounds, hiphop and locking. So, each of them is better in their specialty. Ting’s got some fantastic, precise moves for the hiphop round. Xiao Jie is not as good in this round; I do notice he’s got a more directly confrontational style when he’s battling. I feel like she’s doing more waacking than locking in the locking round. Overall, she’s cleaner, more precise, he’s got a little bit more energy. I wouldn’t want to make this decision, frankly. I think Ting was better technically, but Xiao Jie might be the better performer – better at all that other stuff that adds up to stage presence. I do wonder how much of the captains’ decision is influenced by the groups, and who the captains are or aren’t willing to lose, even though it’s supposed to be based on this 1x1 battle. Just looking at who the show has put emphasis on already, we’ve got Ting vs. Xiao Jie AND Yang Kai, and I don’t know that they’re going to want to let that one-two punch go. Wallace votes Ting and X-Crew. Yibo and Lay vote Xiao Jie and the challengers. Jackson, the coward, abstains. Looks like Ting and X-Crew are going home, and this is the first cut that I’m genuinely upset about seeing. Ting feels bad for letting her crew down, but they let you down first, baby, or you wouldn’t even have been in that position.

Available seat check: 12. Dancers left: 27. Well.

We’re coming up on two hours now, and there’s clearly some kind of drama we want to get to, because we whip through the next few performances – few names, limited time spent on them. The ones who do make it through are likely cannon fodder in the next couple of rounds. There’s a group of four in khakis that gets sent through to the next round; Yibo liked their moves. Guy named Zhan Ke in a suit goes through to the next round. We’ve turned into a clip show now, and the screen literally says “ … ” at one point as each group of competitors gets 3 seconds of airtime. Cut to three seats left out of the 60. There’s about seven people left, and … that includes Chick. I have a sinking feeling this guy is going to be the real focus, at this point. He’s paired up with some dude named Long, and they have lost the bottle spin on callout after callout after callout, so they’ve never had a chance to challenge, and now, look at these morose motherfuckers, still sitting in the bleachers. I almost feel bad for them.

So, three seats left, and the next group is three people: Yang Qi aka “Apple” from Team Jackson, Lin from Team Lay and Bobo from Team Wallace. Urban dancers. I lose sound on them right at the beginning, but they’ve got some nice sharp moves, good choreography, they work well as a unit. Solid performance, if not the best we’ve seen. Apple’s got the best technique, I think. Audience likes them a lot. We get a cut to Chick and the other competitors who haven’t danced yet as we count down for the vote, and they are all dying. Three votes yes. Yibo abstains. Huang Bo is so prepared for this group to be sent right through that he starts clapping and congratulating them, and Yibo has to be all, “Wait, no. Not yet.” The captains give their reasoning: Jackson says that he felt their power, emotion, speed all deserved full marks. Yibo agrees.

Yibo agrees.

…

...

…

Their faces in response, y’all. Their little WTF faces as he explains that he really just wants to see the other dancers, too. Oh my god, Yibo. You can’t just say that out loud. Are you serious with this, you can’t even make up a thing to fake critique them on? Cut to a later interview with Bobo, who’s been the least able to school his face journey in response to this: “Wang Yibo, I won’t forget.” Also, Bobo says, you’re not even hot. (lol) Joking aside, the group goes on to make all the correct noises about sure, it’s a competition, you face competitors, it’s what happens, because what are you gonna say? Meanwhile, to be completely honest, I’m probably the person who’s been least able to school their face journey in response to this, because come on, Yibo. It’d be one thing if you were making some kind of statement about the way they set this up from the beginning, with all competitors unable to participate, but I’m pretty sure you’re actually doing this to give Chick another chance, because you have been inexplicably all up on his jock since he showed up, what is it about this guy? I don’t get it. At all.

So, we get a callout, and everyone left challenges, of course, because this is probably the last chance. The audience is rooting for Chick. I still don’t get it. Bottle spin ends up on … Zhao Hai Jie, from Team Wallace, who we’ve never yet seen perform. Here’s the thing: If he can win this battle, then he only takes one seat, leaving another two seats available. However, he is NOT going to win this battle, not without ripping off any figleaf of fair competition that the show may have, because he’s just not that great. If he wins, there’s no way around the fact, right in your face, that it’s a strategic vote. He does not win. Four votes for Apple, Lin and Bobo. Sixty seats filled.

HOWEVER, just in case you were worried there may be any integrity here, director Lu Wei comes ambling out to say, hey, you know those rules we have in place? Well, fuck ‘em. Who cares. Let everybody left battle, and whoever wins that battle can have a seat along with the 60 other people. I’m going to translate this one, because despite the limitations of my Level 1 Duolingo Mandarin, I have umpty SYTYCD episode reactions on my LJ and I feel like I’m pretty fluent in Dance Show BS: “We really want to keep somebody who’s left, so there’s going to be some chicanery on our part.” They really do not want Chick to go home, y’all. I know it’s him. It’s super extra obvious they’re desperately trying to save him, at this point. And I am here to tell you that if Chick ends up on this show and Ting goes home, there will be nothing on this earth that could possibly resurrect Chick from the Pit of My Dislike.

Anyway, we get Dai Dai from Team Lay, who describes herself as a fusion dancer and is pretty good for the first 40 seconds or so of her music and then completely loses the thread and kind of falls apart. The captains do not seem impressed. Possibly they also know we’re just killing time until we get to Chick. Up next is Su, who is Very Dramatic. He doesn’t say what team he’s from, but given Wallace’s reactions, I suspect he’s from Team Wallace. I suspect Yibo’s not going to like his face. His performance goes increasingly off the rails as he goes on. He’s got a lot of goodwill from the audience of competitors, but no. This is not a winning performance. And then we get Chick & Long, literally the last to perform. Chick spends the entire time doing A Bit. Long, who anyone barely remembers is even there, does 2/3+ of the dancing. Everyone – everyone – is apparently vastly entertained by Chick, and I just … :hands: Fine. He’s a character, but I have yet to see anything in three episodes, across, like, 7 hours, that lets me see whether he can really dance or not. Yibo literally tells Jackson, “He doesn’t have many tricks, but he’s got a ton of ideas” and later says he’s a B-boy without a power move. Anyway, one vote for Su (Wallace), three votes for Chick and Long. We’re at 62 dancers, and I cannot believe I’m going to be subjected to Chick’s continued clownery when Ting has to go home.

Thank GOD we’re activating the Special Guest Host Powers, the first of which is “REVIVE,” i.e., bring someone back who was eliminated. Yibo is immediately like, omg, the hip-hop group. Then we do Yet Another Bit where the captains cater to Huang Bo so that he’ll take their advice on who to revive, and it goes on too long when we are, my god, two hours and fourteen minutes into this. Meanwhile, Yibo reiterates, the hip-hop group. Yeah, Yibo, this I approve of - if I gotta watch you fall all over yourself over Chick, you need to get Ting back for me. So, we’re finally getting the captains’ actual recommendations: Jackson says the hip-hop group, possibly feeling bad about the fact that he’s the one who spiked their chance the first time around? Yibo is all, me too! Yes! That one! It’s kind of adorable. Also, yes, Yibo, you need to get Ting back for me. Lay says Li Yue and Sha Sha, the white and green snakes. Wallace recommends a popping group that I don’t even know if we saw perform? At any point in the past 7+ hours of three episodes? Wallace, are you high? Anyway, THANK GOD, Huang Bo brings back the X-Crew group. We’re at 67 dancers.

Second Special Guest Host Power is … “battle?” So, we’re setting up Qiang Qi Da Zhan, aka Seven to Smoke, which they’ve apparently done in past seasons? Each captain picks two people – eight total – to participate. Twenty minutes total. Increments of 30 seconds each to battle. And I guess you have to accumulate seven points in various battles. We don’t get to hear the captains’ picks, but I can see that AK Dong is called back for this one. Also, I spot one of the krumpers. (:eyeroll: Really, Lay? Because I know that was you.) We see some clips of this. We see AK Dong get to six points. He … maybe gets his seventh point? Anyway, he says in the last interview clip that he’s here. I guess we officially find out the Seven to Smoke results next ep?

Also next episode: Divided into two groups and battling by genre for the next elimination. Five rounds. Also looks like captains might get a chance to poach from other teams. Also some wacky fuckery with the dancers’ heads that looks like it’s going to be stomping all over my embarrassment squick, argh.

Finally, we get a peek at hotpot, and it sounds like they ended up with 70 dancers, so three people managed to get seven points in Seven to Smoke? And somebody’s mom is apparently coming to hotpot, but I’d have to watch the actual hotpot show to find out whose mom, and we’re out.

#wang yibo #jackson wang #lay zhang #zhang yixing #wallace chung #street dance of china #sdoc episode reax

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silvokrent · 5 years ago

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So since Tyrian's arrest screen didn't list everything he was wanted for, what else do you think he did? My brother thinks arson, I think more along the lines of torture.

It’d probably be easier to ask, “What crimes didn’t he commit?”

I think you’re both right. Arson and torture seem like equally valid possibilities, but they’d have to be the result of context and circumstance. On one hand, Tyrian always struck me as someone that’s adaptive, flexible, and capable of improvisation, which is why I doubt he’d be averse to either. On the other hand, Tyrian appears to have a modus operandi—speed and stealth. Like most Faunus, seeing in the dark (presumably with tapeta lucida, the eyeshine a lot of nocturnal and crepuscular animals have) affords him an advantage many of his victims lack. That, coupled with his stinger, sets him up by default for a very specific tactic: hit-and-run assassinations. Catch your target off-guard, deliver the killing blow, then melt back into the shadows before anyone’s the wiser. Fire lacks discretion, and torture involves prolonged interaction with the victim (which increases the odds of him getting caught, as time/duration would be proportionate to the risk of being discovered).

If a situation called for it (like setting a car on fire in order to distract pursuers), or he was contracted to complete a specific job (like torturing someone for information), then I could definitely see him committing arson and torture. But if he’s recreationally killing, then I think it’s more likely that he’d indulge in his preferred repertoire, envenomation and stabbing.

The nice thing about his criminal record being truncated (with a “see attachment for more details” appended to the file) with multiple redacted sections is that it leaves a lot of room for speculation. Bear in mind that much of this is either conjectural with little supporting evidence, or my personal headcanons.

One of the things that I found interesting about Tyrian’s character was his reverence of Salem. “Goddess” isn’t just an affectionate title or a term of endearment—he literally apotheosizes her. Compare that to how his teammates interact with her. While they treat her with respect, none of them use the same venerating language as Tyrian (“Your Grace,” “my lady,” “our divine savior,” “our goddess”). This tells us that his worship of her isn’t the norm amongst her followers, which also means that he has a reason for doing it.

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of labelling people who commit heinous crimes as crazy or insane—not only because it implicates nonviolent mentally ill and neurodivergent people, and scapegoats them for the actions of others—but because in this instance, it robs Tyrian of the complexity that comes with rationalizing one’s choices. Tyrian’s decision to deify Salem shouldn’t stem from some sort of psychopathology, but rather a logical, personal, or historical precedent.

Let’s reverse-engineer this thought process:

Tyrian worships Salem.

Salem (in Tyrian’s eyes) is the extreme embodiment, manifestation, or expression of cathartic violence.

Tyrian worships this form of violence.

And what else in RWBY’s universe embodies those traits?

The Creatures of Grimm.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about all the illegal things Tyrian’s done over the course of his life, and more specifically, why.

Archotherolatry: This is a term I coined for my RWBY worldbuilding blog. If you break down the etymology, archotherian (Greek - ruling beast, the scientific term for Grimm) + -latry (Late Latin - worship of), it translates to “the worship of Grimm.” The practice was outlawed by the King of Vale (King Ozark) after the Great War. While the decision was rooted in common sense—like, you really don’t want people to see the Grimm as gods for fairly obvious reasons—Ozark had ulterior motives for outlawing it. You see, Ozark was one of Ozma’s incarnations, and the immediate predecessor of Ozpin. While archotherolatry had been falling out of favor over the last few centuries, it was still a religion with a presence in certain corners of Remnant. Salem used to recruit these cultists directly into her ranks. By making the practice illegal, Ozma was hoping to cut off a potential source of followers.

Prior to meeting Salem, Tyrian was one of the surviving few practitioners of the faith. Not only that, but he had a particular mania about it. Grimm worship in Remnant changed depending on where in the world you went, but one of the recurring practices involved human sacrifice. Now, while Tyrian didn’t subscribe to any specific holy doctrine and wasn’t a member of any secret groups, he did adhere to certain rites and ceremonies. He savored the taking of lives, but even more than that, he enjoyed offering up his victims to the Grimm. During the months that Pickerel spent hunting him down, his trails would often lead him to secluded areas outside cities or towns. There he’d often find a large ornately-detailed circle on the ground painted with blood, with the tattered corpse of the victim lying in the center. The surrounding trees and rocks would sport eye-like patterns drawn in blood, similar to the patterns seen on the bony white protrusions on a Grimm’s body.

When selecting potential victims, Tyrian didn’t discriminate. Gender, age, nationality, race, economic background—they all bleed red, so it didn’t matter. Not technically, anyway. That wasn’t to say he didn’t enjoy abducting business owners that were prejudiced against Faunus, or that he didn’t find ironic humor in sacrificing Huntsmen to the Grimm. He just wasn’t particularly choosy about who he sacrificed.

In a similar vein, I think this is how Salem first learned about Tyrian’s existence. Whenever her scouts or sentries returned to Evernight and reported in, they’d inform her about a man that would drag people into the woods and invite the Grimm to feast upon them. This possibility excited Salem for several reasons: not only was he predisposed to loyalty to her, but the fact that he’d clearly been doing these sacrifices for some time meant he was talented. It took a lot of skill to kill so many people without being caught by the authorities. She needed an assassin, and he would do perfectly.

When Tyrian wasn’t feeding people to the Grimm, he probably murdered for sport. He thrilled in the hunt, in the dizzying slick of blood beneath his fingers, the intoxicating coppery smell, the beautiful song of his victims as they cried, begged, and screamed. Acts of violence honor the Grimm, but in addition to that, he simply relished in the joy of killing. And he was good at it.

Of course, sacrificial manslaughter doesn’t pay the bills, so Tyrian had a day job. Well, I say “day job,” but it was more along the lines of contract killer/thief/kidnapper/smuggler. Tyrian operated largely out of Mistral’s criminal underworld, particularly in the capital (though depending on the work he was doing, he’d travel to Wind Path or Kuchinashi). Potential clients sought him out and hired him for any number of jobs: collect the debt that this person owes me and kill them if they refuse to pay; abduct the member of this rival syndicate and bring them to these coordinates; assassinate someone for me, and bring back proof that they’re dead; transport this contraband (weapons, drugs, Dust) and ensure the shipment arrives safely; kill these people and destroy the evidence; capture this person and extract information from them by whatever means necessary; follow this person without being detected, and collect information about their routine. Although Tyrian preferred jobs that involved bloodshed, he’d still accept contracts for more mundane work (even if he found it somewhat boring). Tyrian didn’t have a ton of dealbreakers in terms of jobs, though he refused to do anything that involved sexual assault. (Even serial killers have standards.)

Destruction of public and private property was likely an unintended or indirect consequence of his work. As much as Tyrian enjoyed wanton carnage, he prided himself on being stealthy and thus had to exercise some level of restraint, so as to not leave behind damning evidence in the form of collateral damage. Breaking a window or kicking in a door is a liability. Accidentally setting off a Dust explosion is a good way for the authorities to track you. That being said, there were a few memorable occasions where Tyrian absolutely wrecked shit up. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was the day that he was finally captured by Atlesian and Mistrali law enforcement. On the day of his arrest, Tyrian caused nearly 50,000 lien’s worth of property damage, including the destruction of three Paladins.

Tyrian’s name, while spoken among the criminal element, was unknown to the public. Even so, he garnered a reputation as Anima’s most infamous serial killer. People often referred to him by his title: The Ghost in the Mist. (Years later, a documentary by the same name was released. It was an hour-long production that detailed his activity in Mistral, all of his victims, an analysis of his signature, and other relevant or interesting trivia. It even featured an interview with Pickerel, prior to his death. Tyrian absolutely loves this documentary and has re-watched it several times.)

I’m sure there’s more that he’s done that I can’t think of presently, but hopefully this gives you a general idea of all the criminal activity I think he’s committed.

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361degreeminds · 4 years ago

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Do not assume that Business Analyst and Data Analyst are the same. You will be surprised to know the differences.

Business analytics focuses on the larger business implications of information and also the actions that ought to result from them, like whether or not a corporation ought to develop a brand new business line or grade one project over another. The term business analytics refers to a mix of skills, tools, and applications that enables businesses to live and improve the effectiveness of core business functions like promoting, client service, sales, or IT.

Graduates who are interested to become business analysts can pursue a post graduate program in business analytics to upskill themselves and qualify for the role.

Data analytics involves deep diving through huge datasets to reveal patterns and trends, draw conclusions regarding hypotheses, and support business selections with experimental insights. Data analysts try to answer queries like, “What is that the influence of location or seasonal factors on client preferences?”.

Individuals who hold a post graduate certificate in data science qualify for the role of data analyst and are more preferred by corporates during recruitment.

The responsibilities of a business analyst vary counting on the trade, however at their core need analyzing information and working on that knowledge to tell necessary strategic selections that improve the revenue or potency of a business.

To get a stronger understanding of what else a business analyst will do, we can look at the responsibilities of a business analyst as below:

Analyze giant amounts of complicated information to enhance the business with fact-based insights

Make recommendations on method enhancements that address business wants or resolve impediments

Influence, gather, define, and document complicated business necessities and processes

Work with internal groups and third parties to step up and resolve any problems detected in revenue streams

Perform analysis to gauge broader trends inside an organization’s revenue streams

Determine problematic areas with the info and analysis to work out the most amicable course of action to correct the info.

Like any other job, the responsibilities of a data analyst vary based on the business, however the core responsibilities are about interpreting and deciphering data.

Few important responsibilities of a data analyst are listed below

Conduct customer information exploration and analysis

Work with client-centric algorithmic rule models and personalize them to every customer as needed

Extract applicative insights from massive databases

Perform cyclical and impromptu measurement to support regular deciding

Support transcripts and analytics, like KPIs, accounting reports, making and optimizing dashboards

Facilitate and translate information into goals, metrics and visualizations

Create SQL queries to extract information from the info warehouse

Although data analysts and business analysts have a lot of in common, there are four main key differences between their roles.

1. Overall responsibilities.

Business analysts give the practical specifications that inform IT system style. Data analysts extract knowledge from the information produced and collected by those systems. Data scientists will typically automatize the business analyst’s activities and will be able to give a number of the business insights additionally.

2. Salary.

Data analysts earn a mean remuneration of INR 11.5 Lakhs, as per the information on Indeed.com. Skilled candidates with post graduate certificate in data science from reputed institute always have the higher edge in compensation. Business analysts earn a rather higher average annual remuneration of INR 13.2 Lakhs. High standard post graduate program in business analytics clearly increases the salary of business analysts. Business analysts tend to create additional, however professionals in both they can undergo the transition to the role of a “data scientist” and earn an average data science salary of INR 18-20 Lakhs.

3. Skillsets.

Business analysts need data science information additionally as skills associated with communication, analytical thinking, negotiation, and management. Data analysts need similar skills with an additional in-depth specialization in technical knowledge manipulation.

4. User interaction.

As project facilitators and managers, business analysts typically have additional direct interaction with systems users, clients, system developers, etc. than data analysts do. That’s as a result of business analysts could oftentimes interview folks to find out additional regarding the ways in which technology may be improved to assist business processes. They work collaboratively with others throughout the length of one project. Though data analysts could consult internal subject matter consultants at the beginning to determine necessary datasets, the majority of their work is finished individualistic.

#data analyst #business analytics

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biconicfinn · 5 years ago

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id like to know, what are your takes on politician!Alec? if you want to talk about that

THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK!!!!! POLITICIAN ALEC IS MY FUCKING JAM DJKABVHJKDBVKADVBFAV okay anon strap in because this will get crazy

holy shit this is long so i’m putting it under a read more!!

okay so first of all: alec is someone who has been trained from a young age to be a politician, he would have been educated in diplomacy and politics, his parents were expecting him to become head of the new york institute and they have no qualms about living vicariously through their children and forcing their burdens on them as we have seen in the show.

he was probably taught clave law and the accords, a whole bunch of languages (polyglot power couple malec ftw) because i assume the NYI uses english as their lingua franca because of their location but since institutes also have to deal with local downworld and mundane populations it’s safe to assume that in other countries where english isn’t the main language, they go with the local languages and alec would need to communicate with these other institute heads, etiquette, some formal ballroom dances like the waltz, the art of negotiation, administrative stuff like resource allocation, budgeting, public speaking, the nitty gritty details of the clave workings, in addition to the knowledge of the different races of the shadow world, hand to hand combat, combat with a variety of weapons (he masters archery to utter perfection but he definitely is also incredibly proficient in close range combat as well).

sorry i just love alec and he is definitely more competent than most of the Alec StansTM (yall know what im saying) make him out to be

okay so!!!!! it’s pretty much canon that alec has spent a considerable amount of time as acting head of the NYI; what with maryse and robert always fucking off to idris to lick the boots of the clave and so he probably has a good relationship with the people under his command. he’s probably put protocols in place to reduce casualties and injuries, form patrol teams that are well-balanced so that they are versatile enough to take just about any threat that comes their way, etc.

of course, thanks to a little thing called the nephilim’s deep-rooted homophobia, a lot of the work alec put in probably got negated when he came out. it took a lot of courage for him to come out and to be openly gay. raj was an absolute asshole to alec for no reason and often questioned his leadership decisions post coming out, and even if not all the shadowhunters reacted like that, they did show some resistance(?) to alec’s leadership when he was appointed head and questioned him. it probably took a lot out of him because it’s one thing to have your people doubt you as a leader because of your actions or words; your decisions as a leader, it’s another thing for them to mistrust you entirely because of a fundamental part of your identity that you can’t change. you can build trust by publicly admitting and apologising for mistakes and putting in honest work to be better, but it’s impossible to build trust when the other person doesn’t even see you as human to begin with.

this is turning into a hoti!alec ramble but i promise i will bring this back to politician!alec okay i promise i just need to establish the headcanons i’m building on first sorry

okay back to business!!!! i feel like alec is so very genuine and honest outside of the political sphere alec “casual wedding vows” lightwood anyone? so when he does show his ability to be a complete fucking shark in the political arena a lot of people are blindsided because they expected him to be very honest and direct but he knows that as much as he’d like to be genuine, he needs that shrewdness to navigate the political minefield of idris. he prefers directness, but if you take the manipulative, indirect, route and underestimate him, he will not hesitate to turn your own methods against you.

he is also the type of leader who constantly tries to make an effort. his intentions were genuine with the downworld cabinet and i think that if it wasn’t set up in the middle of the shitstorm which was valentine’s re-emergence and the circle’s rise, it would have been more successful. he has a lot to learn and unlearn, and he (an utter perfectionist) will do as much as he can to help the downworld. i like to think that in a post s3 world, but before the time skip, he helps to re-establish the ties between the shadow world factions in new york and focuses on being the nephilim voice of the downworld to the clave, constantly trying to push for new accords and reformed policies, and he makes an effort to not speak over the downworlders, but instead be their representative and ally to the clave because the clave are racist bastards who wouldn’t listen to them but they have to listen to alec lightwood (”it’s lightwood-bane, actually”), one of the heroes who stepped up to defend alicante when the rift to edom opened. (and also because if they did try to slander or belittle him, they risk angering magnus, who has enough clout to embargo most warlocks from providing magical assistance to any local institutes, if he feels that the downworld is being ignored despite the fact that a warlock is the sole reason why alicante was’t razed to the ground, or that he and his husband are being targeted by the clave. because they are That Couple.) in conclusion alec is a good ally okay?

but as much as he tries/tried to do right by the clave, he sometimes also doesn’t give a fuck about them. he’ll be in meetings at idris, and maybe they’re discussing asinine, irrelevant, minor issues that are really just stupid excuses to showboat and compare family clout and whatnot and he’ll be pissed as fuck because instead of discussing actual relevant issues like irregularities/strange patterns in demon attacks, hunting down remaining circle sleeper cells, reparations for the downworld (like for the heavenly fire project), rewriting the accords, rebuilding idris, helping get the attacked institutes back up and running, you know, actual important issues that need attention but no, we’re discussing some petty family squabble that turned into a political feud that involves everyone and their fucking uncle. and he gets so damn angry he just blows up and rants at them and tears them a new one. he finishes his impressively long spiel with “you know what? fuck this. when you guys are done fighting like children and taking up precious time that we should be using to talk about real, pressing issues that affect the entire shadow world instead of five people at this table, let me know and i’ll be there but until then don’t bother. if you’ll excuse me, i’m going back to my husband. thank you. and for the last damn time, my name is alec lightwood-bane. i already changed my damn name legally so fucking use it.” and he just leaves to go back to new york because fuck the clave.

he goes back home to the loft and it’s like the stress and anger just melts away because he walks in on magnus dancing around the kitchen as he cooks dinner, singing dancing queen at the top of his lungs, laughing when magnus twirls to see him leaning against the doorway of the kitchen with his heart eyes and blushes at being caught doing somethin so silly

he becomes a successful inquisitor by sheer force of will and determination. it’s not at all intentional, but it just happens. with the success of the cabinet and the measures he puts in place, he shares it with other institute heads and slowly more and more institutes are collaborating with the local downworld and most of the time, the statistics pay off in the long run. there are starting troubles as with any new initiatives, but soon enough there is a sizeable number of institutes following them successfully and it’s hard for the clave to ignore. alec gets invited to alicante to discuss the possibility of him becoming inquisitor just when the downworld deputy program is taking off in new york. (it all starts with simon asking “so are you guys nephilim or shadowhunters? what’s the difference? or is it interchangeable?” and then they realise that while nephilim is a term to describe half-angel half-human beings, shadowhunter is a term more commonly used by active duty demon hunters and drops out of use as a self-descriptor when the nephilim in question leaves combat. “so that means technically anyone in the shadow world whose job it is to fight demons is a shadowhunter? right?” and the lightbulbs light up in alec’s head immediately) oops time to get back to it the point.

okay so!!!! the clave offer alec the position of inquisitor and it’s part recognition for his efforts and acknowledgement of his skills, part them wanting to keep him under their control. how does that work? well it’s simple. if alec is inquisitor and the clave makes it as hard as possible for him to do any effective work, bogging him down with bureaucracy and and votes on motions that are just shy of the majority needed to pass laws etc etc. basically throw every road block they can at him and wear him down; forcing him to step down and thus silencing him, and by extension, the downworlders who rely on him for a voice in the clave.

malec side note: so they first say that magnus can come to alicante and make an exception for him, and the general plan is to make it look like they’re actually doing something good when it’s to lull them into a false sense of security. (but alec and magnus choose to live in brooklyn first because despite everything, it is still dangerous for magnus to be the only warlock in a city full of nephilim) but then alicante opens up to the rest of the shadow world, magnus becomes the high warlock of alicante, and the clave are dealing with the force of nature that is known power couple and ultimate badasses magnus and alec lightwood-bane. oops.

but they underestimate the power of alec’s Lightwood(-Bane) DeterminationTM and his sheer stubbornness. so their plan backfires spectacularly when within the first few years, he’s implemented laws to open alicante up to downworlders, expunge criminal records of downworlders who were previously wrongfully charged with crimes, rehabilitation of wrongfully imprisoned downworlders, mandatory downworld cabinet and downworld deputy initiatives worldwide, as well as be part of the core group that rewrote the accords to be more fair.

alec probably retires after like five years of being inquisitor and then magnus steps down as high warlock and they just travel the world together and be in love and happy, occasionally consulting on political issues here and there but for the most part they just run off into the sunset to be immortal husbands together because they’ve sacrificed enough for the good of the shadow world to last several lifetimes.

#skyrambles #skygetsasks #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #thank you for the ask anon!!! (although im like 99% sure i know who you are skbskbshfbsfh)#Anonymous

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hansrusellagero · 4 years ago

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Artistic Swimming - Full Team Event from Rio 2016

The pool must be at least 20m wide x 30m long, and at least 2.5m deep. One area, 12x12m or larger, must be at least 3m deep and the slope between the change in depths has to be completed over a distance of 8m or less. The pool's water must be clear enough so that the bottom of the pool is visible from above and at least 27°C (80.6°F,) plus or minus one degree. The amount of light underwater is also very important, since goggles aren't worn in competition, so there is a required minimum brightness of 1500 lux.

Synchronized swimming is played in a specially designed pool. The water in the pool must be clean and the temperature of the water must be around 25 degree Celsius. The size of the pool must be a minimum of 20m by 30m, and within that a 12m-by-12m area must be at least 3 m deep. Let us now discuss the equipment used in synchronized swimming. In synchronized swimming, the athletes have to perform a lot of underwater movements. There are chances of water entering into the nose of the players. In order to avoid that, the athletes use a small clip of hard plastic or wire. It also has a thin rubber coating. Athletes can use goggles only for trainings. This is only used for figure test. Like goggles, athletes also cannot use the bathing caps during routine competitions. During figure test, only a white or black bathing cap is worn by athletes. The most important equipment for synchronized swimming is the underwater speakers. Swimmers cannot perform under water if the music is not audible. Music plays an important role in synchronized swimming because it is a rhythmic sport. We know that impedance of water is 3600 times more than that of air. There is also a 62 dB (decibel) offset between the sound that travels in air and that in water. To overcome this problem, the underwater speakers used in synchronized swimming depend on Piezoelectric Technology. One of the most important aspects of the swimsuit is that it must be comfortable for the athletes and it must be non-transparent. During the figure test, a black swimsuit is recommended for the athletes and during routine competition, a routine suit for each athlete that suits the music is recommended. It may also happen that athletes perform in two events like duet and team event. In such a situation, the athletes will be provided with two different swimsuits.

The basic skills you will need in synchronized swimming is sculling and treading water with a kick called the "eggbeater". There are also many positions that you can learn to combine into a routine. Additionally, there is an element known as “lifts” in synchronized swimming, where swimmers create a structure of sorts with their bodies and lift themselves from the water in the same formation, they created underwater. Sculls are hand movements used to propel the body and are essential to synchronized swimming. Some commonly used sculls are support, standard, torpedo, split-arm, barrel and paddle scull. The support scull is most often used and is made up of two repeated movements. You need to hold your upper arms against your body and your forearms at 90-degree angles. Then, you move your forearms back and forth to create enough water pressure to hold your legs above the water. This move is much like how a manual eggbeater works, with one leg rotating in a clockwise manner and rotating the other leg in an anti-clockwise manner. Synchronized swimmers use this kick because it leaves their hands free to perform strokes. Due to the opposite motion of the kick, it is a stable and efficient way for swimmers to attain the necessary height to perform moves above the water. Crane Position - Hold your body in a vertical position with one leg held vertically above the water surface, while the other leg is held parallel under the surface in a 90-degree angle or "L" shape. Ballet Leg Double Position is lying flat on the water surface, draw your knees towards your chest with shins parallel to the water surface. Straighten your legs above the water surface to assume a Surface Ballet Leg Double position. Side Fishtail Position is a position similar to the crane. One leg remains vertical, while the other is extended to the side parallel to the water, creating a side "Y" position. Knight Position is when the body is held vertically with your head in line with the hips and pointed to the bottom of the pool. One leg is lowered to create a vertical line perpendicular to the surface. Flamingo Position is similar to the ballet leg position where the bottom leg is pulled into the chest so that the shin of the bottom leg is touching the knee of the vertical leg. Split Position is when the body is vertical, one leg is stretched forward along the surface and the other leg is extended back along the surface.

Synchronized swimming demands advanced water skills, requires great strength, endurance, flexibility, grace, artistry and precise timing, as well as exceptional breath control when upside down underwater. Competitors show off their strength, flexibility, and aerobic endurance required to perform difficult routines. Swimmers perform two routines for judges, one technical and one free, as well as age group routines and figures. Synchronized swimming is both an individual and team sport. Swimmers compete individually during figures, and then as a team during the routine. Figures are made up of a combination of skills and positions that often require control, strength, and flexibility. Swimmers are ranked individually for this part of the competition. The routine involves teamwork and synchronization. It is choreographed to music and often has a theme. Depending on the competition level, swimmers will perform a "technical" routine with predetermined elements that must be performed in a specific order. The technical routine acts as a replacement for the figure event. In addition to the technical routine, the swimmers will perform a longer "free" routine, which has no requirements and is a chance for the swimmers to get creative and innovative with their choreography. The type of routine and competition level determines the length of routines. Routines typically last two to four minutes, the shortest being the technical solo, with length added as the number of swimmers is increased (duets, teams, combos and highlight). Age and skill level are other important factors in determining the required routine length.

While there are a range of rules and penalties for specific routines, the basic rules of artistic swimming are; No Touching the Bottom; One of the things which makes the lifts all the more impressive is that artistic swimmers are not allowed to touch the bottom of the pool at any point during their routines. No Bling; presentation is a unique and important part of artistic swimming but there are certain restrictions on what swimmers can wear. For example, artistic swimmers are not permitted jewelry, theatrical make-up, or inappropriate costumes. No Goggles; another restriction during artistic swimming routines is goggles. However, swimmers in figures competitions are permitted to wear them. Team Means Team; teams normally contain eight swimmers, but the minimum number for a team is four. Teams lose marks for every swimmer they have under the full complement because it is easier to synchronize the fewer people there are in a routine. Stick to The Schedule; routines can be anything from two and a half minutes to five minutes long, depending on whether they are performed alone or as part of a team. However, swimmers are penalized if they take 15 seconds fewer or longer than the specified time.

Team Egypt had a lot of movements from flips to turns and did a great job in doing formations. Team Australia had an artistic start starting off with graceful flips with a lot of coordinated successions and flips. Team Italy had a wonderful theme of seasons and then successfully interpreted a lovely rendition of it with slick pattern changes. Team Brazil had a great energy with their formations, pattern changes and a lot of successions with each and every single one on the team that is very appealing to the audience eyes. Team Ukraine with the phenomenal formations and their movement’s originality with tricks that seem risky and thrilling, making the routine magical as their theme intended. Team China started off the routine with a powerful flip synchronized moving formations and ending their routine with turns and formations of pure spectacle. Team Japan had artistic formations and fabulous flips with beautiful lineups of synchronization. Team Russia started the routine with an incredibly high flip and with near perfect synchronization with great athleticism and energy to carry on the routine winning them the Gold Medal.

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datascienceknowledge-blog · 4 years ago

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Data Scientist Knowledge and Tips

The recent boom in the data industry has driven the demand for data science professionals at enterprise-level, across all industry verticals. There are job openings for data scientists, data engineers, and data analysts. And there seems to be a lot of confusion and varying opinions among people regarding the roles and skillsets driving this field. Although all these job titles sound similar and are related to data the devil is in the details.

What Distinguishes a Data Scientist from a Data Analyst?

Unfortunately, there are no defined skill-sets that can distinguish between the role of a ‘Data Scientist and Data Analyst. In fact, different companies have different definitions for both these roles, and there is a lot of grey area in between the two job titles.

Broadly analyzing, a Data Scientist is a professional who combines data handling and data visualization with sound business understanding to make smart business decisions. A data scientist is expected to deliver business impact and take insights from the raw, chaotic data thereby uncovering answers to the problems we did not know existed. Data science as a job profile demands skills such as data structuring, data mining, data visualization, analytical skills, programming skills, machine learning skills, and customer insights

The role of a data analyst, on the other hand, is to summarize data and provide futuristic inputs by identifying consistent patterns from the past and the current data. The primary role of a data analyst is to collect, curate, process, and arrange data from different sources. They are responsible for presenting data in the form of charts, graphs, and tables and use this structured data to build relational databases for companies.

The difference between skill-set, scope, and goals of data science and data analytics can be well understood from the image below –

Data Science and Data Analysis – Two Wheels of the Same Barrel

Although there is a difference in the job responsibility of a data scientist and a data analyst, these two fields are exceptionally interconnected. They often work in close coordination to achieve the same goals i.e. of growth and development. For someone who aspires to become a data analyst, it is essential to understand the nuances of data science.

Advice from a Data Scientist for Data Analysts

Learn the Art of ‘Data Storytelling’

Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.” –Stephen Few

Too often data storytelling is understood as effectively presenting data with visually-appealing data charts. However, data storytelling is much more than that. It is the art of weaving a rational story with clear logic that can strike the right chord with the stakeholders and give them enough insights to drive a decision.

More than the data presented, it depends on how the data is presented to a non-technical audience. Data storytelling follows a structured approach that involves a combination of 3 crucial elements, which are data, visuals, and narration.

As a data analysts, it is important that you learn the art of storytelling. The key skills required in a great storyteller are:

Knowing the audience and weaving the story to their understanding

Clearly understanding the business problem and the solution derived

Getting the right data at hand

Strong presentation skills

Analyzing probable questions and preparing answers for them

Don’t Shy Away from Coding

Most top-notch data scientists code a lot and are comfortable handling a variety of programming tasks. To be a really successful data science expert, your programming skills should be a combination of computational and statistical abilities. You should be able to handle a large volume of real-time data and apply statistical models like clustering, optimization, regression, etc. to it.

Currently, the preferred language among data scientist is Python with the use of other languages such as R, Scala, Clojure, Java, and Octave.

Try to do a dummy project that highlights your strengths. Code wildly and to the point, you lose your sleep. As a data scientist, this will help you grow, learn something new, and most importantly hone your coding skills. Remember, the more toy problems you solve, the better equipped you will be to handle the real ones.

Make ‘Mathematics’ Your Friend

Data is all about numbers. To become a successful data scientist, the first thing you need to do is to get rid of your ‘fear’ for number, i.e. mathematics. You can never succeed in your career as a data professional unless you are proficient at mathematics. Period.

As a data scientist, you will be working with a global organization to develop sophisticated financial models. For these models to be statistically and operationally relevant, large volumes of data will be needed. You will need to use your deep expertise in mathematics to develop these models that can shift key business strategies.

Don’t think of mathematics as your enemy or get scared quickly by the complexity of the task at hand. Try to develop an intuition for mathematics as you learn about the different techniques and how these techniques can help you solve difficult problems. You can start with a basic course on statistics and mathematics with an enhanced focus on probability, algebra, set theory, functions, and graphs. Once your basic concept is strong, you can use technology tools to design complex financial models.

Having Domain Expertise is Important

Domain expertise is something that makes a Data Scientist an expert! Having domain knowledge is not enough. As a data scientist, it is crucial to stay in front of the curve and understand which technology to apply and when. Unwavering focus on the domain helps us to understand the real problem which empowers us to create solutions that are useful on the ground, and not just “useless innovation”.

A data scientist should always work closely with the business to measure and prove the effectiveness of the project on the ground. In addition to having an in-depth understanding of the problem, being aware of the latency, bandwidth, interpretability and other system boundary conditions, will help you understand what technology to apply.

Be Creative in Solving Problem

A good data scientist is the one having traits of a good problem solver. Sometimes problem-solving needs assumption as you may not be able to test the solution on ‘real data’. To make such an assumption, you will need to bring critical thinking to the forefront and look at the problem from many perspectives. These perspectives give the data science experts a view of what they are supposed to be doing before pulling all the tools so that they can work to completely solve the problem.

Be creative and accepting of “out of the box” solutions because there are way more examples of success than failure using this method.

Your current skills are relevant while learning new ones

Many people entering the field of data science have this pre-conceived notion that data science is all about mathematics and statistics and they hone their ability to think that way. While learning new skills are essential, it is also vital that you work on sustaining your current skills as well.

In current times, the use of data science has found a broader horizon. And a broader horizon needs a wider knowledge in its ability to execute, and that is why the more things you know, the better it is for you. Remember your experience and contribution as an individual is what will help you climb up the corporate ladder.

Prepare for the Role

One of the best approach to have a full-fledged career in Data Science is to pursue a certificate program/course that provides you a 360-degree knowledge, resources of portfolio preparation (capstone projects) and curriculum that covers the A-Z of Data Science. For example, courses like Jigsaw Academy’s Data Science course covers all those useful resources with its in-depth curriculum and practical learning methodology and helps you build a solid portfolio required for a career in Data Science. From beginner’s data science courses to PG diploma in data science, Big Data, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, etc., the choices are many. These courses can be done remotely and in addition to any degree, you are pursuing currently.

Also, once you’ve pursued an awesome course like the one listed above, what next? It’s essential for you to stay connected with Data Science resources – whether it be Popular Blogs, Podcasts, Useful Textbooks, Tutorials, or Video Channels.

Remember: Books are classic, but when it comes to fields like Data Science, AI/ML and Coding, it is the practical approach training that helps you uplift your skills!

Conclusion

A great data scientist is someone with the intelligence to handle data processing and an intuitive understanding of the business problem. While people with good maths skill can easily do the first part, the difficult part is to delve deeper into what you are doing. Someone with a deeper understanding and intuition of the model they are working on is likely to have a successful career in this field.”

And that’s a wrap! Hope this blog post proves to be insightful for you! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section! Also, If you seek to upskill your Data Science skills, feel free to check out our Data Science Courses here.

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codylabs · 5 years ago

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Rant below

So I’m planning out the Forest of Daggers Original-Character rewrite, and I’m currently gummed up on TWO major worldbuilding issues. Both are probably gonna sound equally silly and incomprehensible but bear with me.

FIRSTLY

What PLANET is this? Obviously it’s Earth, right? But to have all this happen on Earth breaks the immersion in a big way, maybe not for anyone else, but for ME. Because if an alien ship large enough to carry a dedicated science lab and colonies full of people crashed in the American Northwest, folks would have found it by now. By which to say, the minining corporations who are (in the modern day, this isn’t scifi) literally able to scan a tract of land by helicopter, would have found it. And the American government, who spends billions upon billions to know everything and keeps a wary eye out for threats on its own soil, (and has for more than half a century,) would have found it. And the American people, who can hop on Google Maps and see their own car in their driveway, would positively be able to see a bluish metal forest spilling rust into a creek. The Forest of Daggers would be found. Gravity Falls, for all its merits, is not hard scifi, and does not hold up under the standard of scrutiny I set for myself. Our teenage heroes would either never have discovered the Forest of Daggers for themselves, our else they would need to hail from a pre-modern era which would distance them from both the readers, and from any of the technical skill need to advance or even comprehend their own plot.

And I don’t want to change the setting and the feel of the story, because I love the wilderness, and love the idea of wilderness, but our modern generation has come either a hundred years late or three hundred early to live out such a love in full, because really, there isn’t a lot of ‘true’ wilderness left on Earth.

And really, think about it. There’s trillions of planets in the universe. Actual, literal trillions. A trillion is a million million. A million is a thousand thousand. A thousand is a HUNDRED tens. Ten is more fingers than half the people in Gravity Falls have access to. Trillions of planets is a lot of planets for an exploratory vessel to land on. What’s more likely, that a ship would land on Earth, the human homeworld, of all palces, or that humans would find it, as they set out through the stars looking for new homes? I think the latter. And the latter would mesh much more neatly with some of the other stories I have planned for this universe, most of which involve humanity’s far-flung colonies, most of which assume men have no knowledge of extraterrestrial life, and none of which would agree nicely with an alien ship having been found by the broad public way back in the 21st/22nd century.

But I can’t just swap out the planet without consequence, can I? A planet has a number of characteristics: length of day, length of year, distance from star/overall temperature, agricultural growing seasons, number of suns, number of moons, climate and weather patterns, gravity, oxygen content, and ALL of these effect the story intimately. They determine everything from how far can characters jump and fall, to how long and when they get breaks from school, to the age of consent, to the names their parents give them, to the prevalence of internet connection and whether or not they need to wear big bulky hard plastic space suits for literally the entirety of the story.

Never mind, just venting about this convinced me to go with the other-planet-option. It seems more fun to worldbuild. Screw you Earth, I’ve got a new best friend now and it’s called Vinland.

I like the idea of keeping the planet and its history ambiguous and irrelevant for as long as possible through the course of the story, just to see how long I can mess with people by making them assume it’s just modern Oregon or Alaska or something stupid. Meteor storms and off-scale calendars and centuries-old technology cults and bizarro politics and The War are sequel material.

SECONDLY

How do Gravity Engines work?

Now before you laugh at ‘that nerd over there’ and shove me in a locker, allow me to explain. Sure there’s no way we’re able to directly manipulate the gravitational field with modern technology, but if we assume that- wait hey no hey let GO OF ME LET GO I’m telling the teacher if you don’t WAIT NO NOT THE LOCKER I-

Open rp

#Gravity falls #The Forest Of Daggers

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learnmusiconlin-blog · 5 years ago

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8 Things You Should Do If You Want To Learn Music As An Adult

Learning track has a extensive variety of advantages that may extrade your lifestyles. Apart from being a a laugh stress-reliever, track now no longer simplest improves your health, however additionally complements your cognitive function. While it is probably real that kids have an simpler time getting to know track, you're by no means too antique discover ways to track.

In this article, we’ll come up with a few suggestions to get you began out with getting to know track as an grownup. Music teacher We base those suggestions at the benefits and demanding situations you face as an grownup getting to know track.

Advantages and Challenges of Learning Music as an Adult

Learning track as an grownup has its perks over getting to know track whilst you’re younger. We must make complete use of those benefits for powerful getting to know.

Advantage 1: Deeper know-how of track

As you mature into an grownup, you've got got a deeper know-how of track each analytically and emotionally.

Adults have a tendency to have an simpler time know-how track principle than kids. Chord progressions and not unusualplace motifs might also additionally sound surprising to kids however adults who've spent their lives paying attention to a lot of track will locate them simpler to apprehend. In addition, adults locate it simpler to narrate to the emotions that underlie track compositions.

Adults have the essential adulthood and applicable lifestyles stories to empathise with the mind and messages that songwriters need to convey. While kids may have equipped technical ability, they won't recognize the deep ardour and longing that underlies songs like George Michael’s Careless Whisper.

In a comparable vein, the feelings in classical track are extra reachable to adults. For instance, a number of Chopin’s paintings like Prelude in E minor conveys deep despair that is probably misplaced on more youthful learners.

Advantage 2. Greater power to study track

It is typically stated that ten thousand hours of exercise is wanted to grasp any craft.

Likewise, getting to know track calls for patience, discipline, and sustained interest. As an grownup who (maximum in all likelihood) can pay on your very own track education, you're maximum in all likelihood getting to know track due to the fact you need to, and now no longer due to the fact your mother and father are forcing you. With your motivation, you may locate it simpler to live devoted to track exercise and expand mastery. Children are much less in all likelihood to have this discipline.

It’s now no longer all roses though. Learning track as an grownup comes with precise demanding situations that kids do now no longer typically face. We must paintings round those demanding situations.

Challenge 1. Commitments

We are all busy. We have our jobs and careers to build, growing old mother and father and developing youngsters to take care of, pals to preserve in contact with, and chores to do...the listing is going on and on. While we'd have the incentive to exercise, our obligations could make it difficult to locate the time to exercise or decide to ordinary lessons

Challenge 2. High expectancies

Sometimes, we've unrealistically excessive expectancies for ourselves. We wish to play in addition to our favorite musicians or gifted pals inside a quick time. However, those musicians have placed in lots of years of exercise to get that suitable at their units. To keep away from sadness and frustration, we want to apprehend that it takes time to acquire mastery of our units and set viable goals.

Challenge 3. Physical restrictions

While a number of us is probably capable of installed hours of exercise every day, we'd finally revel in pain, specifically whilst we first begin getting to know track. Stiff necks and shoulders in addition to terrible hips can prevent us from installing the quantity of exercise we preference and grow to be impediments to getting to know track.

eight Things Adult Music Learners Should Do

Keeping in thoughts the benefits and demanding situations we’ve mentioned above, those suggestions will assist you get the maximum out of getting to know track.

1. Identify what types of track you want

It is simplest herbal that we might need to play track that we already revel in paying attention to. As adults, we maximum in all likelihood have advanced clean track choices. We are extra emotionally engaged via way of means of a few sorts of track than others. This isn’t typically the case for younger kids as their track choices are nevertheless being shaped.

Learning track that we adore maintains us inspired to hold practicing. Go thru your track library and perceive the sorts of track which you like. You may locate it beneficial to begin from a selected artist, composer, or genre. Next, discover what you want to play that style. One suitable manner to do that is to search for tune covers on Youtube.

Sometimes, you may even locate hyperlinks to sheet track withinside the video descriptions.

You must additionally perceive what precisely you want approximately the track. If you want Guns and Roses, do you want Axl Rose’s melodic singing? Or are you enamoured with Slash’s guitar solos? Perhaps you want the rhythm supplied via way of means of the drums and bass?

2. Choose your tool carefully

If you locate which you have unique choices for precise genres of tune, you ought to select the proper tool for that kind of tune.

Some contraptions are greater appropriate for a few patterns than others. If you’re partial to rock and metallic, you would possibly opt to analyze the electrical guitar or the drums. If you want classical tune, the piano or violin is probably greater interesting. While it's far viable to do covers of classical tune on the electrical guitar and renditions of metallic headbangers at the piano, you'll locate it greater attractive to analyze an tool that suits your selected style of tune.

You ought to choose an tool that fits your life-style too. Do you've got got the gap to have a piano in your property? If you're continuously at the move, selecting a greater transportable tool just like the clarinet is probably preferable. If you've got got skinny partitions and cranky neighbours, a virtual piano with adjustable extent is probably maximum appropriate.

3. Be open minded

While you've got got a desired fashion of tune, it’s essential to preserve an open thoughts to new styles of tune.

For instance, despite the fact that you is probably inquisitive about pop piano, mastering and paying attention to Baroque tune can’t hurt. You would possibly get new thoughts or even develop to revel in it. You’ll be amazed to discover that there are famous jazz renditions and metallic covers of Bach’s tune which you would possibly appreciate.

Furthermore, gaining knowledge of Baroque portions can enhance your skills. For example, practising Bach’s three-component Sinfonias can teach your ear to become aware of melody strains and enhance the dexterity of your arms as you play a couple of melodies at once.

4. Clear distractions

Practice time ought to be sacred. There ought to now no longer be any distractions even as practising. You ought to now no longer be cooking soup, discussing initiatives on Facebook Messenger, or supporting your kids with their homework as you exercise. When you exercise tune, you ought to be totally centered on honing your musicianship.

This calls for a few diploma of self-discipline. Consider setting a timer in the front of you as you exercise. Make positive you preserve practising till the favored time has elapsed. Another component you could do is to create a conducive exercise environment. Have a tune nook or room in your property with out whatever to distract you. There ought to be no computers, cellular phones, or crying infants on your sacred location for tune exercise.

The excellent information is which you ought to be capable of actively take steps to minimise distractions. As you're mastering tune due to the fact you need to, you've got got the dedication to get the maximum from your exercise periods. Children will want greater supervision with this.

5. Set a time table however be bendy on the identical time

If you propose to “exercise as and whilst it’s handy,” you’ll in all likelihood become getting little or no exercise.

You ought to set a exercise time table that will help you preserve up together along with your mastering. Practice periods ought to be normal and timed such that distractions are minimised. Getting assist out of your companion or partner to minimise distractions for you is going an extended way, specially whilst youngsters are involved.

Practice periods do now no longer want to be too long. Around half-hour on every occasion is sufficient. If even half-hour is simply too long, you could search for a couple of loose durations on your day wherein you could exercise from 10 to twelve minutes, which corresponds properly with our common person interest span. You also can plan for a couple of “tune breaks” withinside the day, to destress earlier than gearing up to your subsequent assignment of the day.

While you ought to time table normal exercise, you ought to stay bendy as well. Sometimes, you would possibly have greater essential activities than practising tune. It will be a clinical appointment, your child’s live performance recital, or a friend’s birthday celebration. You ought to be bendy sufficient to have a “Plan B” when you have to overlook your exercise consultation. Have opportunity preparations in thoughts. You can exercise at a greater handy time, or have an extended consultation the subsequent time.

As you intend your exercise time table, have a few concept of what you need to obtain in every consultation. To grasp any piece of tune, you want a selected plan with measurable outcomes. If you’re proceeding to grasp an extended sonata, it allows to interrupt the piece into smaller bits, and grasp the piece bit with the aid of using bit. You would possibly locate our manual on making plans exercise periods useful.

6. Be sensible and patient

You can’t turn out to be Jimi Hendrix overnight. Neither are you able to get to a stage of skillability to jam together along with your pal who has been gambling in bands given that they had been twelve. It takes years of practice (and lots of setbacks) to get as exact as your favored musicians. But with normal practice, you may get to a first rate stage of competency with a view to provoke now no longer most effective yourselves, however additionally your pals and family.

If a bit is manner past your stage of skillability, recollect searching out less difficult variations of the piece. There are many simplified variations of well-known portions to be had on-line and in books. Check out our unfastened sheet song for novices here. Beginner piano books generally tend to characteristic abridged variations of classics like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu.

7. Make getting your posture proper your priority

Practicing song can contain moving into uncomfortable, worrying positions. Beginner violinists generally tend to revel in jaw and neck pain as they twist their neck to preserve their units in place, at the same time as drummers are liable to returned accidents in the event that they have negative sitting posture.

It is essential to undertake the proper posture to live freed from accidents. Getting your posture proper on the early ranges of gaining knowledge of song will now no longer most effective maintain you injury-unfastened, however additionally assist you research and carry out better. Be positive to discover what the proper posture for gambling your device is. Check out our posture publications for piano gamers and guitar gamers.

8. Embrace technology

As an adult, you've got got the economic independence to shop for smartphones and tablets, and their accompanying applications. There are many apps nowadays which can decorate your gaining knowledge of of song. Instead of purchasing a bodily metronome, why now no longer simply down load an app for unfastened? Check out our favorite apps for piano, guitar, and drums.

Lastly, why now no longer research song on-line? Committing to normal classes with a instructor is probably tough, given your nerve-racking and unpredictable schedule. With on-line classes, you may take your gaining knowledge of with you at the go, and research at any time, any place. Learning song on-line has a tendency to be extra financial too!

#Music teacher #music tutor #learn music online

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spayingtools-blog · 5 years ago

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Airbrushes - The Technical Terms Explained

What is an airbrush?

Airbrushes are tools which operate using compressed air in order to spray a number of substances predominantly paint. If you're new to the world of airbrushes, then whatever the reason you wish to use one for, it is best to familiarize yourself with the options available, as there are a number of technical terms that may not be self explanatory to those starting out in the world of airbrushing. https://sprayingtools.com/best-airbrush-kit/

Dual or Single Action Airbrush

The general view within the airbrush community is that single action airbrushes are better for those who are just getting started in the airbrush world in terms of model painting. Single action airbrushes simply involve holding down a single button and paint being released https://www.wikihow.com/Airbrush-Nails

Dual Action Airbrushes involve pushing a button and also pulling of a trigger in order to control the flow of the paint.

Comparatively, single action airbrushes are best for beginners as they are less expensive, have less complex parts and as such are easier to clean. They also provide a good overall covering of paint. On the other hand dual action airbrushes can provide a more detailed finish but they are harder to get to grips with.

Type of Feed:

There are a number of different types of feed when it comes to Airbrushes - this is the way in which the paint enters the airbrush. They are:

- Gravity Feed - airbrushes that have a cup on the top so hat less air pressure is required to draw the fluid.

- Siphon/Side Feed - these have the cup or bottle containing the fluid at the side of the airbrush, which can be rotated, meaning the user has more freedom of movement. This option is ideal for when a number of colours are required, or different levels of painting need to be undertaken.

- Suction/Bottom Feed - these are best used when large quantities of paint are required. They need more air pressure however, as the paint is dawn upward and doesn't have the assistance of gravity.

Internal Mix or External Mix?

This is where the paint and air are mixed. Internal mix airbrushes mix the air and fluid at the tip inside the airbrush, which means that air passes all around the fluid allowing for a smaller more concentrates area of spray resulting in more detailed finishes.

External mix airbrushes mix air and fluid outside the airbrush, this means the paint is less atomised and produces a larger dot pattern, meaning that these airbrushes are less suited to detailed airbrushing.

Nozzles and Needles

These are the parts of the airbrush that concentrate the fluid and push it forward onto the surface that you wish to paint. The needle is responsible for releasing the fluid onto the surface and the nozzle connects the airbrush to the needle. This can be manipulated, in order to chose the amount of fluid released.

Air Sources:

This is what provides the pressurised air that propels the paint. The air source can be one of a number of things. Commonly compressors are used however if you don't do a large amount of airbrushing, then it may be more cost effective to use canned CO2

Spay booth

If you are going to be doing a lot of spraying using an airbrush, then a spray booth should be seen as essential. This will remove any dangerous flammable by-products from the paint and keep you and your family safe from the harmful effects of inhaling paint fumes. One point to consider is although it may seem cost effective, it is never a good idea to build one yourself as these can lead to dangerous consequences!

Choosing The Right Airbrush For You

Overall there a lot of options when it comes to airbrushes and different people will use them for different things. One thing to consider however, is that even the cheapest airbrush in the most skilled hands can produce brilliant results, whereas the most expensive airbrush will not guarantee you get the best results.

Often airbrush starter kits are available, which include all that you will need to get to grips with using an airbrush. The hobby is a lot more popular than people realize, it is worth looking up some online forums and getting some tips from people who spend a lot of time experimenting with airbrushes!

#sprayingtools #airbrushkit

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vicsep7250 · 6 years ago

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And so, at the end of the base game of KH3, on Critical Mode, I have died and "lost my game" a total of -

104 times.

If you would like to see what caused the number to grow so big, check it out here.

If you would like to take a look at my thoughts of the game, as a game to play and as a story to experience, I'll put this under a "read more" when I'm on PC bc I'm probably gonna write a lot.

KH3 and Critical Mode as a game to play.

First things first, I want to mention and make clear I have not touched a console KH game in about 8~10 years - the last game I ever played without 100% completion or on Critical/Proud Mode being the original Kingdom Hearts 2. Obviously from what I'd played long ago pales in comparison towards 3 and the mechanics.

The floaty combat and system felt comfortable and right when I played the game, and in times where I died it never felt like it was bc Critical Mode was kicking my ass bc of the other games jank difficulty spikes. All of my failures and deaths were all bc of me making mistakes and not understanding the mechanics at those times, which is different from the other games in series (or so I've been told and made to understand). In comparison to how other games had arbitrary and ill-attempted "ultimate" difficulty settings, KH3 did it right with it being a test to the series veterans with muscle memory from prior games, and allowing new players (technically me in this scenario) a fair chance at a hard difficulty to start and test themselves if they so choose to.

I know I'm probably not stating anything new from other reviews and analysis of the game and Critical Mode, but I wanted to reiterate this point anyhow.

Kingdom Hearts 3 is a fun game that balances it's difficulty with the player's skills and understandings of its mechanics. It's a fun game to play if solely to just play a game, and that's great to me - it can allow players to just pick it up with no care to the story if the don't care about it and just invest themselves into the gameplay.

KH3 as a story to the audience.

The Kingdom Hearts series is well know for its outlandish and incredulous story of "hearts and light and darkness", one that has been nit-picked and over-analyzed to all of its faults, mainly the writing and ret-conning of the plot and characters and everything. That is still relevant here even in the finale, in the ending where everything about the story and characters and plots are meant to have properly developed and brought closure to the audience with everything in the series and/or franchise. Bc we can't have proper development and closure to KH now can we coughseasaltriocoughKairicoughXehanortsmotivationcough?

3 follows the lore and story telling method that Dream Drop Distance has with focusing on this games story and plot points, and having a Glossary and Spark Notes tab for the points that reference or are directly involved with the previous installments. This is still a good way to allow player new and old to pick up the game and play it when they either have little to no experience with the series, or if they have experience with the series (either recent to KH2.8 or in my case from the OG KH2).

While the characters were given the obvious tropes that they blatantly forced fed us with most cutscenes (Trinity Trio dissing on Sora [pls dont do this the boy could suffer serious damage and mental breakdowns in reality], Kairi and Lea being cool chums, etc [IcouldbemakingthisupIdunnoitfeltlikeit]) it also had potential for more Actual character development between the characters we followed and grew up with.

It also ruined any potential for Xehanort to have some redeeming qualities as a villain but naw, just the usual cliche "The world sucks and Im gonna fixit by killing it" motive.

Naw das cool, totally wasn't this loafty goal of finding the truth about the series Namesake that we all thought he was going for, or for shits and giggles and experimenting with what ifs and whatnot back in BBS. Nope. Just an old man yelling at clouds... honestly kinda ruined the mood for me.

All in all KH3 followed the same story telling pattern that DDD has, and how if it was the first game of the series you played you didn't really need to play the others like with 1 and 2. Still have some questions about the series but eh, ces la vi.

My Thoughts

Honestly as a whole, I loved the game. Sure there were moments where I needed to stop and keep my cool, but playing on Critical Mode made my week playing it. It was a challenging and fun experience to play through.

The whole retconning of Xemnas and the Seeker of Darkness still left me disappointed despite the new and little character development they had (making me believe SoD and Xemnas are weird homunculus of Terra and Xehanort as different people) and the Plot Device for the final fight just sucked as was bad, no sugar coating there, but I'll still keep this game and everything within close to my heart.

Growing up and living my life alongside this series, I'm glad I was able to experience it all the way through from start to finish.

I may not have played all of them (BBS and DDD) but I still learned and experienced the story and characters in however way I can, either with other playthroughs or through Everglow's videos and such, but my love for this series will never die. I hope everyone gets to have these same feelings and experiences with whatever games they play, to reach some level of closure and finality, and to have fun and enjoy their stories with all the good and bad.

If any of you were keeping tabs on me and my run, I'll be going on a New Game + Lvl 1 run so you can expect that in the future. If I can, I'll find a way to stream it, but if I cant then I'll just be doing live posts like my original run through.

Here's to the future and what it may hold, for Square, the franchise, and to all of us who waited so long for this story.

May our hearts be our guiding key, got it memorized?

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #trash talks #my trash #critical mode #xehanort #kairi #sora

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icedanceupstarts · 6 years ago

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2019 4CC Recap

In which nothing went as expected and your exhausted mods got a jolt of energy. The tech panel giveth and the tech panel taketh away.

Before we get into the dramas of the top teams, we'd like to give a couple shout outs to some of the teams that wound up in the bottom half. China's dance program is really picking up, with not only fan favorites Wang/Liu, but also their teammates Chen/Sun and Ning/Wang making huge strides over just this season. You can see the inexperience of both, but Chen/Sun scored extremely well, and Ning/Wang show a lot of potential as well, with her in particular giving good face.

We also want to tip our hats to Andrew Dodds and his ridiculous schedule, competing all four days of 4CC and setting all new personal bests in both singles and dance. Kerry/Dodds have progressed a lot in what is just their second season together, and we hope they continue to work hard in the future. You can see the newness in the transitions in and out of lifts, or how they don't yet have an automatic feel for where the other is on the ice, but you can see the potential. As ice dance lovers first and foremost, selfishly we sort of hope Andrew decides to focus on dance, but regardless he should feel very proud of what he accomplished here, and of course Chantelle should as well.

Komatsubara/Koleto are doing well for themselves as Japan's top dance team, with lovely chemistry and a strong sense of partnering. They'll want to improve on their tech to achieve new personal bests at their worlds debut at home but they’ve shown great progress this season. Their free dance in particular, taking us from sighing over Love Story’s warhorse status in skating to oh but a beautiful program!

In the battle of US #3 and Canadian #3, Hawayek/Baker came out on top, but it was close, and the Canadanes will have the opportunity for a rematch at worlds.

Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen had a good international(and 4CC of course!) debut as Canadians, particularly in the rhythm dance where we thought they could have stood to place fifth by a hair. This program is such a good match for them and their skating, sleek and elegant and showing off their great chemistry. They have a fantastic lift entry to the twizzles and still end up so close together it would be frightening if they weren't so in control. They had some bobbles in their flamenco free dance, and honestly we think we preferred the original incarnation, but it was still a good performance. They have fantastic detail and maturity in their skating, great expression, and skirt action galore. She slipped on the otherwise excellent choreographic slide, and in general it wasn't perfect, but they should feel very good about their reception by the judges.

Reigning 4CC champions Hawayek/Baker had little hope of even medaling, much less defending their title, but they had two strong performances and personal best scores. They'll really want to strengthen their technical performance for worlds, particularly in the rhythm dance. They have great projection and emotion in their skating which contributes to their high PCS, but it's going to be a tight fight for the top ten at worlds and they can't afford to give up points if they want to continue to make their mark. Since moving to Gadbois they've noticeably improved their twizzles, and they have more power to their skating, which enhances the maturity they had already spent the last quad in the senior ranks cultivating. It's clear from the scoring here that the judges like them and their programs, and if they can hit their levels in the final competition of the season, they can go a long way.

Gilles/Poirier beat Weaver/Poje in the free dance for the second competition in a row, but the rhythm dance had them behind(also for the second competition in a row) even if they hadn't received that lift deduction in the free. They're getting closer though, and they should be especially happy with their 2nd place PCS in the FD. They had their best tango performance of the season here while maintaining their usual distinctive flair. Even when they're being fairly normal, everything they do feels unique. They have such beautiful shaping and interesting, complex transitions in their programs, and they really tell a story. Never more true than in their Vincent FD, drawing on all their strengths as a team and building on so many daring and innovative programs in their repertoire.

Weaver/Poje's rhythm dance might be slightly too soft for our personal tastes, but it's undeniable that it's perfect for them. They have a mature, romantic connection, and one of the best integrated patterns of the field. They might have even beaten Chock/Bates in that segment had it not been for a bobble on the twizzles. Their twizzles have long been a bit of an issue for them, easily their weakest element, and lag behind the rest of the field. Even so, they're difficult and well placed to the music in both programs. They'll want to earn a little more GOE in the elements of their emotional free dance, as Gilles/Poirier beat them in TES while having a lower base value. But this is one of their best free dances, drawing out every bit of emotion and ending on three strong choreo elements, so it will be interesting to see how things stack up next month at Worlds.

Chock/Bates continued their comeback trail with first a fantastic rhythm dance with both great tech(highest of the event!) and performance. We really enjoy this tango on them, and they absolutely nail this style. With tons of expression and detailed choreography, they keep your attention all the way through their ending, eye catching rotational lift. We'll admit to some, ah, slight skepticism when it was announced in the fall that they would be skating an Elvis free dance, but they just keeping getting better with each performance. Their performance was engaging and confident, and this is just a really nice program. The choreography is full of great moments, including little details like Evan booping her nose, and who can forget those lifts? Even as remarkably well-trained as they are for missing ten months, there's still room to grow in the weeks before worlds. They could use a little more speed in the final minute, and to smooth out the transitions of their stunning choreographic lift. If they can tighten up those details while continuing to deliver compelling performances like the ones they had this weekend, they have every chance of earning their third world medal in Saitama.

Chock/Bates’ serpentine lift was initially mistakenly entered into the system as just a curve lift, causing your mods some mini heart attacks as their TES hovered at a dangerously low 63 before jumping up seven points. The release of that dramatic tension turned out to be foreshadowing as the exact opposite thing happened to their rivals Hubbell/Donohue. When watching live we vaguely noticed that their now infamous stationary lift needed a passport, but we were worn out after a long week of competition and assumed that it was fine. Turns out it was very much Not Fine! Even the lift aside, they seemed tight and had some bobbles, and their free dance in general is just not suited to them. Their quality of skating is as high as it's always been, but the program is not constructed in a way that best shows off their power, flow, or edges, and it may be a matter of personal taste, but Kissing You kind of drags on into an eternal saccharine dirge. We were genuinely surprised when we checked the timestamps and discovered that Kissing You really only lasts half the program, where we would have guessed closer to three quarters. It's kind of a sad, deflating balloon of a second half and just doesn't go anywhere. Their rhythm dance is better for them, but they had more struggles on the levels of their step sequences there than they did in the free dance.

We've seen some conspiracy theories regarding Hubbell/Donohue's calls here(a number of them involving Jonathan Guerreiro's mother for reasons that have not been adequately explained to us?) but not only were their calls fair, if anything they were kind. We've gone over that first lift, and the tech panel would have been within their rights to call it as a combination Stationary B + Rotational B lift, which would have murdered their score dead. And they received a rare level 4 on the midline step sequence for the first time this season, and while that was understandably overshadowed by the uh, rest of the protocol, that's a great achievement and one they should feel proud of. A bigger concern for us is their spin levels. They got a level 2 call at GPF, and have at competitions in the past, such as Nationals last season. It looks to us like they tend to rush their positions and are a little sloppy getting in and out of them, so they're falling just short of the needed rotations. Zach's camel position in particular looks a little iffy to us, and his lack of stability there could be what's costing them. Even if they had gotten their lift levels, that spin would have had them in second place, so it's not a mistake they can afford to make again at Worlds, where the scores will be tight through a good portion of the top ten. As unpleasant as this no doubt was for them, they have every opportunity to fix these errors, skate lights out at Worlds, and earn their second world medal. While our personal opinions of their programs are lukewarm at best, and we don't think are showing off their skills to the best effect, they still are fantastic skaters who will have a fire lit under them after this disappointing result.

#ice dance #recap #2019 4cc #season: 2018 2019

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marioclash · 6 years ago

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im really sorry but this is something ive been wanting to get off my chest for a few years now

kinda emotionally charged post under the cut

Hey, Vsauce. Michael here. Where are your fingers? Seriously. It's a pretty easy question. You should be able to answer it. But how do you know? How does anyone know anything?

You might say, well, I know where my fingers are. I'm looking right at them. Or, I can touch them, I can feel them, they're right here and that's good. Your senses are a great way to learn things. In fact, we have way more than the usual five senses we talk about. For instance, your kinesthetic sense, proprioception. This is what the police evaluate during a field sobriety test. It allows you to tell where your fingers and arms and head and legs in your body is all in relation to each other without having to look or touch other things. We have way more than five senses, we have at least twice as many and then some. But they're not perfect.

There are optical illusions, audio illusions, temperature sensation illusions, even tactile illusions. Can you turn your tongue upside down? If so, perfect. Try this. Run your finger along the outer edge of the tip of your upside down tongue. Your tongue will be able to feel your finger, but in the wrong place. Our brains never needed to develop an understanding of upside down tongue touch. So, when you touch the right side of your tongue when it's flipped over to your left side you perceive a sensation on the opposite side, where your tongue usually is but isn't when it's upside down. It's pretty freaky and cool and a little humbling, because it shows the limits of the accuracy of our senses, the only tools we have to get what's out there in here.

The philosophy of knowledge, the study of knowing, is called epistemology. Plato famously said that the things we know are things that are true, that we believe and that we have justification for believing. those justifications might be irrational or they might be rational, they might be based on proof, but don't get too confident because proven is not a synonym for true. Luckily, there are things that we can know without needing proof, without needing to even leave the house, things that we can know as true by reason alone. These are things that we know a priori. An example would be the statement "all bachelors are unmarried." I don't have to go survey every bachelor on earth to know that that is true. All bachelors are unmarried because that's how we define the word bachelor. Of course, you have to know what the words bachelor and unmarried mean in the first place. Oh, you do? Okay. Perfect. That's great. But how do you know?

This time I mean functionally, how do you know? Where is knowledge biologically in the brain? What are memories made out of? We are a long way from being able to answer that question completely but research has shown that memories don't exist in the brain in single locations. Instead, what we call a memory is likely made up of many different complex relationships all over the brain between lots of brain cells, neurons. A major cellular mechanism thought to underlie the formation of memories is long-term potentiation or LTP. When one neuron stimulates another neuron repeatedly that signal can be enhanced overtime LTP, wiring them more strongly together and that connection can last a long time, even an entire lifetime. A collection of different brain cells, neurons that fire together in a particular order over and over again frequently and repeatedly can achieve long-term potentiation, becoming more sensitive to each other and more ready to fire in the exact same way later on in the future. They're a physical thing in your brain, firing together more easily because you strengthen that pattern of firing. You memorized. This branching forest of firing friends looks messy, but look closer. It could be the memory of your first kiss. A living souvenir of the event. If I were to go into your brain and cut out those cells, could I make you forget your first kiss or could I make you forget where your fingers are? Only if I cut out a lot of your brain. Because memories aren't just stored in one relationship, they're stored all over the brain. The events leading up to your first kiss are stored in one network, the way it felt to the way it smelled in different networks, all added up together making what you call the memory of your first kiss.

How many memories can you fit inside your head? What is the storage capacity of the human brain? The best we can do is a rough estimate, but given the number of neurons in the brain involved with memory and the number of different connections a single neuron can make Paul Reber at Northwestern University estimated that we can store the digital equivalent of about 2.5 petabytes of information. That's the equivalent of recording a TV channel continuously for 300 years. That's a lot of information. That is a lot of information about skills you can do and facts and people you've met, things in the real world. The world is real, right? How do you know?

It's a difficult question, but it's not rocket science. Instead, it is asking whether or not rocket scientists even exist in the first place. The theory that the Sun moved around the earth worked great. It predicted that the Sun would rise every morning and it did. It wasn't until later that we realized what we thought was true might not be. So, do we or will we ever know true reality or are we stuck in a world where the best we can do is be approximately true? Discovering more and more useful theories every day but never actually reaching true objective actual reality. Can science or reason ever prove convincingly that your friends and YouTube videos and your fingers actually exist beyond your mind? That you don't just live in the matrix?

No. Your mind is all that you have, even if you use instruments, like a telescope or particle accelerators. The final stop for all of that information is ultimately you. You are alone in your own brain, which technically makes it impossible to prove that anything else exists. It's called the egocentric predicament. Everything you know about the world out there depends on and is created inside your brain. This mattered so much to Charles Sanders Peirce that he drew a line between reality, the way the universe truly is, and what he called the phaneron, the world as filtered through our senses and bodies, the only information we can get. If you want to speak with certainty you live in, that is you react to and remember and experience your phaneron, not reality. The belief that only you exist and everything else, food, the universe, your friends are all figments of your mind is called solipsism. There is no way to convince a solipsist that the outside world is real. And there is no way to convince someone who doubts that the universe wasn't created just three seconds ago along with all of our memories. It's a frightening realization that we don't always know how to deal with. There's even The Matrix defense.

In 2002 Tonda Lynn Ansley shot and killed her landlady. She argued that she believed she was in the matrix, that her crimes weren't real. By using the matrix defense, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity, because the opposite view is just way healthier and common. It's called realism. Realism is the belief that the outside world exists independently of your own phaneron. Rocks and stars and Thora Birch would continue to exist even if you weren't around to experience them. But you cannot know realism is true. All you can do is believe.

Martin Gardner, a great source for math magic tricks, explained that he is not a solipsist because realism is just way more convenient and healthy and it works. As to whether it bothered him that he could never know realism was true, he wrote, "If you ask me to tell you anything about the nature of what lies beyond the phaneron, my answer is how should I know? I'm not dismayed by ultimate mysteries, I can no more grasp what is behind such questions as my cat can understand what is behind the clatter I make while I type this paragraph." Humble stuff. What strikes me is the cat.

Cats do not understand keyboards, but they know the keyboards are a fun place to be. It's a great way to get the attention of a human, they're warm and exciting, surrounded by noises and flashing lights plus cats love to get their scent on whatever they can, a mark of their existence. We aren't that much different, except instead of keyboards we have the mysteries of the universe. We will never be able to understand all of them.

We won't be able to ever answer every single question, but walking around in those questions, exploring them, is fun. It feels good. And as always, thanks for watching. Do you want more unanswered questions? Well, you're in luck. Today, nine other amazing channels on YouTube have made videos about questions we still haven't fully answered. Alltime10s has organized them and to watch them all click the annotation at the end of this video or the link at the top of the description. Enjoy.

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