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demifiendrsa · 1 year

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Star Wars: Visions volume 2 will stream on Disney+ on May 4, 2023.

Volume 2 shorts:

Title: “Sith”

Studio: El Guiri

Writer-director: Rodrigo Blaas

Rodrigo Blaas is an Emmy Award®-winning director who has spent more than 20 years in animation. After co-founding Stromboli Animation in 1997, Blaas joined Blue Sky Studios in 2000, working on the feature film Ice Age, before transitioning to Pixar Animation Studios. There, he worked on such projects as Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), and Wall-E (2008) and on the Oscar®-nominated short film La Luna (2011). More recently, Blaas partnered with Guillermo del Toro to develop the award-winning series Trollhunters, served as creative director for Mikros Animation Paris and, in 2021, created El Guiri Studios in Madrid with his partner, Cecile Hokes. He also wrote and directed 2009’s award-winning short film Alma.

Title: “Screecher’s Reach”

Studio: Cartoon Saloon

Director: Paul Young

Paul Young is a co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, an IFTA winner and Oscar®, Emmy® and BAFTA nominee. He produced the animated features My Father’s Dragon, WolfWalkers, The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner as well as award-winning TV series including Puffin Rock, Dorg Van Dango, and Viking Skool.

Title: “In the Stars”

Studio: Punkrobot

Writer-director: Gabriel Osorio

Gabriel Osorio majored in Fine Arts at Universidad de Chile, later specializing in 3D animation. After working in commercials, movies and television series, he founded Punkrobot Studio. Since 2008, he has directed projects for children’s television including Flipos, Muelin y Perlita, Soccer Girls, and television spots. In 2016, his short film Bear Story became the first Latin American project to win an Oscar® in the animated short category.

Title: “I Am Your Mother”

Studio: Aardman

Director: Magdalena Osinska

Magdalena Osinska is an award-winning director who has been with Aardman for eight years. She has directed stop-motion, CGI, 2D and live-action commercials including Wallace & Gromit’s “The Great Sofa Caper” and “Share the Orange.” Osinska directed development of the children’s series Joyets and has also directed films including Spirits of the Piano and Zbigniev’s Cupboard. A graduate of the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK, as well as the Polish Film School in Lodz and Art College in Warsaw, Osinska is currently developing the feature film Jasia, based on her grandmother’s memories of WWII Poland.

Title: “Journey to the Dark Head”

Studio: Studio Mir

Director: Hyeong Geun Park

Rising star Hyeong Geun Park had already made a name for himself when he entered the Korean animation industry in 2017, thanks to his strong drawing and animation sensibilities. He has directed animation for dozens of cinematic game trailers and has since expanded into animated series, working on projects including Dota: Dragon’s Blood: Book 3 (2022) and Lookism (2022). Journey to the Dark Head is the first title he has executive produced from start to finish.

Title: “The Spy Dancer”

Studio: Studio La Cachette

Writer-director: Julien Chheng

Julien Chheng is CEO of Studio La Cachette, an Emmy Award®-winning French animation studio he co-founded in 2014 with fellow Gobelins school’s alumni Oussama Bouacheria and Ulysse Malassagne. Chheng was trained in visual development at Disney and has worked as a character animator on acclaimed 2D animated features The Rabbi’s Cat, Mune, and the Academy Award®-nominated Ernest and Celestine. In 2021, he won an Emmy Award® as animation executive producer of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, for which he also served as animation supervisor. In 2022, Chheng directed with Jean-Christophe Roger the Cesar-nominated feature Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia.

Title: “The Bandits of Golak”

Studio: 88 Pictures

Director: Ishan Shukla

Ishan Shukla started his career as a CG artist in Singapore. For more than a decade, he spearheaded projects ranging from TV commercials to series and music videos. His 2016 animated short, "Schirkoa," was long listed for the Academy Awards® after receiving dozens of awards and playing at 120 international festivals, including SIGGRAPH Asia where it was named Best in Show. He then set up his own animation studio to work on adult-oriented animated feature films including a feature-length version of Schirkoa, set to hit festivals in summer 2023.

Title: “The Pit”

Studios: D’art Shtajio and Lucasfilm Ltd.

Writer-director-executive producer: LeAndre Thomas

Co-director: Justin Ridge

LeAndre Thomas is an award-winning writer and director from Oakland, Calif., whose most recent film won Best Director at the Pasadena International Film Festival. In addition to his independent films, Thomas is a part of the franchise studio team at Lucasfilm Ltd. where he has worked for more than 11 years being credited on recent titles such as Light & Magic, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, and many more.

Justin Ridge executive produced the Emmy®-nominated series Star Wars Resistance. His credits also include Star Wars Rebels, Storks, The Cleveland Show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Title: “Aau’s Song”

Studio: Triggerfish

Writer-directors: Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke

Nadia Darries is a director, animator and co-founder of Goon Valley Animation, with an avocation for songwriting. Born in the Cape Flats in South Africa, Darries has worked on high-end animated film and motion design as an animator, project manager, creative director and director since 2015. Her experience includes animating at Triggerfish Animation Studios on the award-winning BBC films Stick Man, Revolting Rhymes, and Highway Rat.

Daniel Clarke is a Cape Town-based director and artist working in animation, film and illustration. He started his career in animation in 2008 at Triggerfish Animation Studios, where he has served as production designer, art director and director on projects such as the feature film Khumba, BBC’s Stick Man, and The Snail and the Whale. In 2018, along with James Clarke and Daniel Snaddon, he completed the graphic novel Kariba.

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sunflowersareonfire · 7 months

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Dude. Ronnie Radke needs to stop beefing over Motionless in White’s homage to horror. It’s a bit rich to be accusing them of being unoriginal and stealing ideas when one of their new hit songs is a “reimagined” version of Last Resort by Papa Roach.

Sillier to me is that Escape the Fate (which Radke started before going to prison) listed Papa Roach as an inspiration, and both Papa Roach and now Falling in Reverse are basically the same rap core glam rock genres.

All music is inspired; all art is inspired.

But what really gets to me is the fact that Last Resort is based off of the same E minor blues scale that Dimebag Darrell used when he wrote Cowboys From Hell, that Voodoo Child from Jimi Hendrix, that Road Trippin’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers, that Nothing Else Matters by Metallica, that Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, Enter fucking Sandman by Metallica, I Was Made for Lovin’ You by KISS, Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Electric Eye by Judas Priest used when writing these songs!

Yeah, Cowboys From Hell at an octave lower and a different tempo is basically Last Resort. You can, with a near seamless transition on piano shift from Amazing Grace to the Mario Theme Song.

Without Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallic, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Stevie Wonder, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen, Merle Haggard, we wouldn’t have Pantera, who inspired Nightwish. Without those bands who were inspired, and built off of bands from the 20s through 70s, we wouldn’t have Papa Roach, or Falling In Reverse.

Not just that, but many bands influence each other. Black Sabbath is the band that got Dimebag interested in guitar, who then inspired Black Sabbath on more modern methods of rock music.

And that’s the cycle. That nonlinear development got us Papa Roach, who were then “reimagined” by Falling in Reverse.

So, Ronnie needs to stop throwing shade at a band that, by all measures, is doing the same thing they every other music artist has done since the age of music arrived.

JFC.

#music #rant #Ronnie Radke needs to stfu #falling in reverse #motionless in white #papa roach #pantera #blues scales #last resort

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jules-has-notes · 4 months

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Dayton, OH — VoicePlay live performances

After spending quite a bit of time in Ohio the previous autumn, VoicePlay returned in July 2015 for a night at the Fraze Pavilion. The show was almost cancelled for inclement weather, but luckily the rain held off and the outdoor venue stayed dry.

Their opening act was Eleventh Hour of Kettering Fairmount High School, the host group for the Kettering A Capella Festival that VoicePlay had participated in the year before. These talented kids had also opened for the Sing-Off tour a few months earlier at the Troy, OH show.

[NOTE: The videographer sings along a lot.]

Each performance of this blend of comedy skit and musical medley is always a little different. How much will the driver and passenger poke at each other's buttons? Where will the air freshener go? What song will Layne sing? Have a watch and find out.

Details:

title: Road Trip

original songs / performers: [0:50] "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim; [1:08] "Orinoco Flow" by Enya; [1:26] "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot; [2:35] "Big Shot" by Billy Joel; [2:48] "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister; [2:57] "Voices Carry" by ’Til Tuesday; [3:14] "Shout" by Tears For Fears; [3:30] "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War; [3:40] "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd; [4:24] "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago; [5:43] "We Just Disagree" by Dave Mason; [6:04] "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel as Elsa in Frozen (2013) ** see this dedicated post for original song links

written by: "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Al Dubin & Joe Burke; "Orinoco Flow" by Eithne "Enya" Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin & Roma Ryan; "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Noddy Holder & Jim Lea; "Big Shot" by Billy Joel; "I Wanna Rock" by Dee Snider; "Voices Carry" by Robert Holmes, Aimee Mann, Michael Hausman, & Joey Pesce; "Shout" by Roland Orzabal & Ian Stanley; "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by Papa Dee Allen, Harold Ray Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott, & Jerry Goldstein; "That Smell" by Allen Collins & Ronnie Van Zant; "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Peter Cetera & David Foster; "Let It Go" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

My favorite bits:

road raging Eli

Tony's flickering eye movements at the first iteration of "Cum On Feel the Noize"

♫ "We'll get WILD, wild, wild…" ♫

Layne jolting awake on the beat

Geoff's little twirl as he flees the vehicle

Earl using the pretend aerosol spray as deodorant rather than his usual hairspray motion

Hey, Layne, look up there. ☝

Eli almost laughing at the different interruption

Trivia:

VoicePlay had been performing and tweaking this medley/skit since at least 2010.

They made a professional recording in front of a live audience during the 2014 Sing-Off tour.

Layne usually sings "Royals" by Lorde as his interrupting solo, but sometimes changes it like he does here in an attempt to make the other guys break character.

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As much fun as this medley is to listen to, it's even more entertaining to watch the boys perform it live, bopping around the stage and playing together.

Details:

title: The King Has Returned (Lion King medley)

original songs: "Circle of Life"; [1:51] "I Just Can’t Wait to Be King"; [2:29] "Hakuna Matata"; [3:16] "Be Prepared"; [4:39] "Circle of Life" (reprise)

written by: Elton John & Tim Rice

arranged by: VoicePlay

My favorite bits:

the rhythm section step-touching their way through the "Circle of Life" chorus

Tony and Eli gesture-bickering over which of them "mine" refers to during "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"

Earl's little Elvis groove at the beginning of "Hakuna Matata"

Eli and Earl bouncing across the stage in time with Geoff's little downward riff

Tony and Geoff's alternating Twist moves

the crunchy transition into "Be Prepared", and their emphatic stomping

Layne making a butt-smacking motion toward Geoff to go with the whipcrack in his percussion line

the two beats of silence after "Pay attention!"

Trivia:

This medley originally appeared on VoicePlay's 2012 album "Once Upon an Ever After"

"Hakuna Matata" was also included in the "aca-Disney" mashup they created for the 20th anniversary of Disney On Broadway, as well as in their "Aca Top 10 — Disney Sidekicks" countdown.

"Be Prepared" later appeared in their "Aca Top 10 — Disney Villains" countdown.

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[NOTE: The videographer sings along a lot.]

VoicePlay isn't exactly a boy band, but they certainly sound good singing these hit pop songs from across the decades. And they've got a few moves to go with those talented voices.

Details:

title: Boy Bands medley

original songs / performers: "ABC" by The Jackson 5; [0:36] "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles; [1:19] "My Girl" by The Temptations; [2:08] "Sherry" by The Four Seasons; [3:04] "YMCA" by The Village People; [3:37] "(You Got It) The Right Stuff" by New Kids on the Block; [4:00] "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys; [4:40] "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC

written by: "ABC" by Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, & Deke Richards; "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by John Lennon & Paul McCartney; "My Girl" by Smokey Robinson & Ronald White; "Sherry" by Bob Gaudio; "YMCA" by Jacques Morali & Victor Willis; "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" by Maurice Starr; "I Want It That Way" by Andreas Carlsson & Max Martin; "Bye Bye Bye" by Kristian Lundin, Jake Schulze, & Andreas Carlsson

arranged by: VoicePlay

My favorite bits:

Geoff's slow realization that his mic is dying

the other four carrying on through "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" just fine, but knowing that the next transition could be borked

return of the bass right on time, but a third too low (Good recovery, dudes.)

Eli's little head tilt in the back during the chorus of "YMCA"

the crunchy transition from "Right Stuff" to "That Way"

Tony's fabulous pop timbre on the lead for the last two songs

"Everybody watch him drink that water." VoicePlay, modelling healthy hydration habits.

Trivia:

VoicePlay revised this medley and finally recorded a video for it in 2019 as the result of a Patreon poll.

This piece usually ended with "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction, but The Fraze didn't have a screen to project the visual gag that goes along with it, so the guys omited that part entirely for this performance.

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[NOTE: The videographer and her daughter sing along and yell a LOT.]

This video contains three separate numbers — Layne's drum solo, the "A Crimpella" medley of phonations, and an encore of "Don't Stop Believin'".

Details:

title: Layne's drum solo

written & arranged by: Layne Stein

Look at him go!!! 🥁

title: A Crimpella

original songs / performers: [2:12] "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was); [2:25] "Witch Doctor" by Alvin & the Chipmunks; [2:32] "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; [2:37] "We Go Together" from Grease!; [2:44] "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men; [2:53] "Imma Be" by the Black Eyed Peas; [3:01] "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard; [3:03] "Shoop" by Salt N Pepa; [3:10] "Jock-A-Mo" (aka "Iko Iko") by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford; [3:18] "Mahna Mahna" from The Muppet Show; [3:30] "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin" by Journey; [3:51] "Goofy Goober Rock" from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie; [3:55] "MMMBop" by Hanson; [4:08] "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede; [4:10] "Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock; [4:16] "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka; [4:25] "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen; [4:42] "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga; [4:46] "Can't Get You Outta My Head" by Kylie Minogue; [4:52] "Limbo La La" by James Lloyd; [4:56] "All Night Long" by Lionel Richie; [5:13] "Wanna Be Starting Something" by Michael Jackson; [5:20] "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam ** see this dedicated post for original song links

arranged by: VoicePlay

My favorite bits:

the stomp sending Eli flying

everyone "watching" the UFO flyby and waving to it

the big wind-up before the others join Tony in rocking out

Earl's little chugging motions during Geoff's "ooga chaka" solo, that Layne then picks up for the next section

using the ♫ "goo-ood-byyye" ♫ as an actual exit line

Trivia:

This medley was part of their setlist for several years, including during the 2014 Sing-Off tour.

title: Don't Stop Believin'

original songs / performers: [8:00] "Don't Stop Believin'"; [10:38] "Open Arms"; and [10:47] "Any Way You Want It" by Journey; [10:31] "Oh Sherrie" by Steve Perry

written by: all songs written by Steve Perry in collaboration – "Don't Stop Believin'" with Jonathan Cain & Neal Schon; "Oh Sherrie" with Randy Goodrum, Craig Krampf, & Bill Cuomo; "Open Arms" with Jonathan Cain; "Any Way You Want It" with Neal Schon

arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci

My favorite bits:

the rare pairing up of Geoff and Tony & Eli and Layne during the first set of harmonies

Earl giving the camera a pointed look

Geoff's growl note as everyone but Earl drops out

the stacking of the polyphony section

Trivia:

Contrary to the cameraperson's assertion, Earl did not "mess up" the melody. That's how VoicePlay's arrangement goes. It's intentionally different from the original Journey version that she was probably expecting.

VoicePlay had been performing this arrangement since at least 2009, when they were still going by 4:2:Five.

In 2016, they were the featured guests at Camp A Cappella, and recorded a video for this song with the campers.

They later recorded a full version of "Any Way You Want It" during the second round of their PartWork series.

For a couple years, Eli also sang with a Journey cover band called Raised On Radio in between VoicePlay gigs.

#VoicePlay #live performance #a cappella #music #video #long post

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jazzpostsrandomthings · 4 months

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Journey Retold: The First Dungeons and Trials

<< Previous Entry

Sorry for cutting the last entry a bit short, I ran out of time and space and then got busy with the next exam. But I have time now so let's pick up from where we left off!

After Pi took flight, the scene transitioned to a different airship flying through the air and landing in a fortress on a... space rock of some kindAt first I was very confused and thought for a second that it was the same ship my character had boarded… But it still was a nice transition.

From the airship came four figures dressed in metal garb, looking quite alien to the rest of the people we've seen so far. They also looked very "Star Wars" in addition to their own theme music, which is probably why I thought we were on a completely different planet now.

And who is that guy, Gaius van Baelsar? He sounds quite fami--

OH YOU--

I didn't check his voice immediately after hearing it for the first time (I did do it near the end of ARR), I had my doubts about it since I am known for confusing voice actors a lot, but man, I did manage to hear the guy's voice right and he still sounds incredible after so many years since Rockman X7 came out. But if someone didn't know, he is also the Japanese voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss. I am just more familiar with his role as Red.

Anyways, we have an evil Empire trying to conquer Eorzea and who are quite ruthless to others. Most definitely they are our antagonists, at least for this expansion. Note taken.

After that scene, Pi finally arrives to one of the city-states Admiral Merlwyb had sent him to, the liveliest and the largest settlement of The Black Shroud -- Gridania. It's the least confusing city to traverse through by far which is a plus, but I wasn't too interested in it because it was looking like a normal fantasy forest village, but I still don't think it's bad, don't get me wrong, I just think Limsa and the next city we'll visit after that were more memorable.

Here we meet up with the Elder Seedseer, the local governor of sorts -- Kan-E-Senna, who I, for a moment, thought was a weird kind of Au Ra lady because of the horns, but it's actually a really rare subrace of hyurs that only lives here which I found interesting. She signed some documents after reminising about the days prior ot Calamity and what happened after (mostly latter) and Pi moved on to the other city-state on the list, the richest city of Thanalan -- Ul'dah.

Now, I really liked the whole look of Ul'dah. Its West Asian aesthetic and the way it's structured like a big palace with rich-looking buildings and bazaars around it was just so memorable and unique to me, and I absolutely loved looking around Ul'dah for the first time… even though it was the worst city for me so far in terms of actually exploring it because of the amount of layers it had. I was getting lost even more than I did in Limsa...... ;w;

We go talk to the guy here who isn't the ruler of the city-state but instead is the leader of the local Grand Company called "Immortal Flames" -- Raubahn Aldynn. He didn't talk to me much because everything has already been explained to Pi by Kan-E, so he quickly signed the papers and let me go.

OK, what did I do next, I genuenly don't remember, let me look at the fold--

Oh. I went to unlock a few dances instead of MSQ. That's hilarious.

But after that, I unlocked the first dungeon! I made sure to tell my friends about it because they wanted to take me through it so I wouldn't be afraid to do the next ones. I had to wait for one of them to come back from a raid they happened to be doing at the time though.

It was... fun! Although the fact that my friend was a level 90 tank who knew how to pull enemies quickly made me sweat because I was falling behind and doing shit damage due to my equipment being very low-level in comparison. But I was told to ask others to slow down in the next dungeons if I happened to have troubles catching up. However, I wasn't afraid anymore. I wasn't playing as Tank or Healer so I didn't need to take note of everything at the same time, I just needed to maximize my damage output and stay alive -- simple enough.

Next day, I did a few sidequests before proceeding to the next dungeon, this time in The Black Shroud... and I actually couldn't find the entrance to it for a while because I somehow missed the fact it was under the ground.

I also asked my friend how to do a character portrait (and by extension the Adventure Plate) and it took me nearly an hour to make, if not more, but this was the result:

The variation of this portrait is still on my Adventure Plate to this day actually. I think it just shows the character of Pi quite nicely (at least when he isn't out exploring the world).

After I came back from university (and I remember that because I actually wrote to my friend about finishing the portrait as I was going outside to catch a bus), I actually went to the second dungeon. And then to the third one. None of them gave me troubles fortunately.

At this point, according to the screenshots at least, I seemed to have drifted off into Arcanist questline for some reason. Either because I wanted to unlock Scholar and Summoner (and hitting a brick wall because of Sylth-management quest) or because its story was just more interesting than MSQ itself to me at the moment, or maybe even both. So yeah, I ended up picking the MSQ back only a few days after, on September 7th.

And also have a funny excerpt from a conversation we had in Discord before that point:

Me: Probably we won't be able to play together until Saturday, my University classes are held until 8PM for four days straight. The player of the self-proclaimed Emo Catboy: Das fine... miss 20 hours in THREE DAYS.

Me: You two are so fun to play with though... but do you have a problem with my progress?

The player of the self-proclaimed Emo Catboy: YOU ARE ALREADY LIKE A SIXTH OF THE WAY THROUGH THE FREE TRIAL. At the pace you are going, you'll outrun me when we hit StormBlood. Me: :D Skill issue.

(You are allowed to give me shit for this, Emo Catboy :) )

But I did have a problem of playing too much Final Fantasy XIV in a span of three days at that time, I won't deny that. I too had (and still have) a bit of a skill issue in this regard if you can say so.

OK, let's continue. So, some thugs attacked a defenseless woman because they thought she was stealing food, my little baby defeated them, and then Y'shtola showed up again and told Pi that it must be fate that they have been bumping into each other so often and that he does actually have a gift that her good friend also has. This gift is called "Echo" and it's the reason why we can look into other people's memories, along with a few other powers we will learn of later. The miqo'te woman also invited us to visit her organisation's headquarters in Waking Sands at the Vesper Bay. But before I actually visited the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (that's what the group was called), I made sure to unlock Glamour, which also allowed me to obtain a beret, which I dyed blue and proudly put on Pi's head. Now he could finally have his most recognizable design feature and stop wearing ugly wizard hats and mismatched robes. After that, his appearance remained largely unchanged until the start of the next expansion.

But let's go back to the story.

This is the receptionist at the Waking Sands. And I think I was more buffled with her unironically singing "Trololo" than her standing on a chair because she was too short to reach the table. But yeah, her name is Tataru. She lets my lalafell boy in after finding his name on the list and here we are finally introduced to the full cast of main protagonists.

(Sorry I actually never made a screenshot with them all in one frame...)

Their leader, a young woman by the name of Minfilia (voiced by Milla Maxwell of all people lmao) who also had Echo, told us that they have been working on protecting the peace on Eorzea after the Seventh Umbral Calamity (hence "Scions of the Seventh Dawn") and how they are searching for people that too have the gift of Echo because it helps with resisting the tempering of the primals, gods summoned by the beast tribes, which can brainwash people without such gift into serving them for the rest of their lives so there could be even more bloodshed. Minfilia politely asks if the lalafell boy of mine even wants to join the team, but of course he wants to save the world and be as cool as them so he answers with a nod. Now Pi too is a scion!

At this point, I had already formed a group of friends to get to the first trial as quickly as possible. And then something absolutely hilarious happened, which I unfortunately did not capture in a screenshot. So I was in a cutscene and all, and when I finished it, I saw a giant fucking level 50 lizard thing that my friends were fighting. I panicked, tried to run away while I heard one of my friends scream, and then this thing killed me in one hit, scoring me my first death in the game. Even though I was swearing and typing in caps in the part chat at that moment (couldn't use the mic), I was actually laughing my ass off. I don't think I could have had a moment like that in any single player game, or even if I was playing FFXIV alone because I think my friends accidentally got the monster too close to me, so it was another moment that made this game worth it for me.

But just a few cutscenes after that, Pi got taken into some cave with other people by the lizard beastfolk tribe, Amalj'aa, that wanted to summon their god -- Ifrit. This was the first trial, the first actual boss fight, and--

The player of the stern-looking Auri man: Jazz? Where are you? The player of the self-proclaimed Emo Catboy: ...Actually, yeah, where ARE you?

I opened the map, saw that the location was called "???" and that there was no way out of it, and then I was told that you can actually start duties through a menu -- no need to approach the entry points to dungeons or trials once you unlock them. That was a relief because I was afraid my party leader won't be able to register for this duty and I would have to do it with a bunch of randoms.

I am sorry, I didn't screenshot Ifrit either. But the cutscene that showed how summons happen, with the whole demon-ass flame monster emerging while this musical theme of approaching disaster played, it all was quite great! As for Ifrit himself, though... he didn't stay alive for long, all because of my friend's equipment again, I am pretty sure.

We stopped the primal, sending the lizard folk running, and, oh! Ifrit left a crystal behind! Great, now its ours and we are 2/6th of the way to... whatever would actually happen once we collect all 6 crystals.

Damn, I do write quite a lot here, don't I? And I didn't even mention all the things that happened along the way, I had to skip a few (such as Golden Saucer and Aesthetician guy) since the post was too big already and I was diverding attention from MSQ a bit too much. But I assure you, once we get over the middle part of ARR, my writing will end up being more focused on MSQ itself, just bear with me here :'D

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #ff14 #lalafell #ffxiv wol #ffxiv journal

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womented · 9 months

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"transitioning helps alleviate suicidality and improve quality of life" DEBOONKED

Source: Zucker, K.J., Lawrence, A.A., Kreukels, B.P. (2016). Gender Dysphoria in Adults. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. [Link]

More sources:

An Australian paper stating that most available evidence indicating positive outcomes for gender reassignment is of poor quality. (D’Angelo, R. (2018). Psychiatry’s ethical involvement in gender-affirming care. Australasian Psychiatry 26 (5): 460-463. [Link])

A prominent study claiming that medical transition alleviated suicidality had to be corrected, to clarify that it proved “no advantage of surgery” in this regard. (American Journal of Psychiatry (2020). Correction to Bränström and Pachankis. Published online: 1 August 2020. [Link])

A long-term study in the European Journal of Endocrinology demonstrating that suicide rates among transgender "male-to-females" were 51% higher than the general population. (Asscheman, H., Giltay, E. J., Megens, J. A. J., de Ronde, W., van Trotsenburg, M. A. A. & Gooren, L. J. G. (2011). [Link])

British review conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) graded certainty of evidence for puberty blocker use as “very low” in every category, including impact on gender dysphoria, mental health, body image, global functioning, psychosocial functioning, cognitive functioning, bone density and adverse effects. (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2021). Evidence review: Gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); NHS England; NHS Improvement. [Link])

A German study “found insufficient evidence to determine the efficacy or safety of hormonal treatment approaches for transgender women in transition”, adding that “[t]his lack of studies shows a gap between current clinical practice and clinical research.” (Haupt, C., Henke, M., Kutschmar, A., Hauser, B., Baldinger, S., Saenz, S.R. & Schreiber, G. (2020). Antiandrogen or estradiol treatment or both during hormone therapy in transitioning transgender women. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 11. [Link])

When it comes to gender dysphoric children, there is little evidence that medical transition decreases suicide rates. There is little evidence to assert that puberty blockers are necessary to prevent suicide. (Biggs, M. (2020). Puberty Blockers and Suicidality in Adolescents Suffering from Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior (49): 2227–2229. [Link])

#now imagine how many more studies we would have if #research like this wasnt suppressed or shunned #radfem safe #radfems please interact #terfs do touch #terfs do interact #radical feminism #radfem sources

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compneuropapers · 9 months

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Interesting Papers for Week 33, 2023

Parametric control of flexible timing through low-dimensional neural manifolds. Beiran, M., Meirhaeghe, N., Sohn, H., Jazayeri, M., & Ostojic, S. (2023). Neuron, 111(5), 739-753.e8.

Dissociation in neuronal encoding of object versus surface motion in the primate brain. Bigelow, A., Kim, T., Namima, T., Bair, W., & Pasupathy, A. (2023). Current Biology, 33(4), 711-719.e5.

The presence of irrelevant alternatives paradoxically increases confidence in perceptual decisions. Comay, N. A., Della Bella, G., Lamberti, P., Sigman, M., Solovey, G., & Barttfeld, P. (2023). Cognition, 234, 105377.

A novel computational approach to pain perception modelling within a Bayesian framework using quantitative sensory testing. Drusko, A., Baumeister, D., McPhee Christensen, M., Kold, S., Fisher, V. L., Treede, R.-D., … Tesarz, J. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 3196.

Cerebellar control of a unitary head direction sense. Fallahnezhad, M., Le Mero, J., Zenelaj, X., Vincent, J., Rochefort, C., & Rondi-Reig, L. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(9), e2214539120.

Temporal derivative computation in the dorsal raphe network revealed by an experimentally driven augmented integrate-and-fire modeling framework. Harkin, E. F., Lynn, M. B., Payeur, A., Boucher, J.-F., Caya-Bissonnette, L., Cyr, D., … Béïque, J.-C. (2023). eLife, 12, e72951.

Illusory perception of visual patterns in pure noise is associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. Hartmann, M., & Müller, P. (2023). i-Perception, 14(1), 204166952211447.

Interplay between biochemical processes and network properties generates neuronal up and down states at the tripartite synapse. Joshi, S. N., Joshi, A. N., & Joshi, N. D. (2023). Physical Review E, 107(2), 024415.

Inversion of pop-out for a distracting feature dimension in monkey visual cortex. Klink, P. C., Teeuwen, R. R. M., Lorteije, J. A. M., & Roelfsema, P. R. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(9), e2210839120.

Intraparietal stimulation disrupts negative distractor effects in human multi-alternative decision-making. Kohl, C., Wong, M. X., Wong, J. J., Rushworth, M. F., & Chau, B. K. (2023).eLife, 12, e75007.

Bayesian inference in ring attractor networks. Kutschireiter, A., Basnak, M. A., Wilson, R. I., & Drugowitsch, J. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(9), e2210622120.

Energy-efficiency computing of up and down transitions in a neural network. Liu, X., Lu, L., Zhu, Y., & Yi, M. (2023). Journal of Neurophysiology, 129(3), 581–590.

Recurrent networks endowed with structural priors explain suboptimal animal behavior. Molano-Mazón, M., Shao, Y., Duque, D., Yang, G. R., Ostojic, S., & de la Rocha, J. (2023). Current Biology, 33(4), 622-638.e7.

Brainstem serotonin neurons selectively gate retinal information flow to thalamus. Reggiani, J. D. S., Jiang, Q., Barbini, M., Lutas, A., Liang, L., Fernando, J., … Andermann, M. L. (2023). Neuron, 111(5), 711-726.e11.

Brain State-Dependent Modulation of Thalamic Visual Processing by Cortico-Thalamic Feedback. Reinhold, K., Resulaj, A., & Scanziani, M. (2023). Journal of Neuroscience, 43(9), 1540–1554.

Mountains of memory in a sea of uncertainty: Sampling the external world despite useful information in visual working memory. Sahakian, A., Gayet, S., Paffen, C. L. E., & Van der Stigchel, S. (2023). Cognition, 234, 105381.

Inhibitory top-down projections from zona incerta mediate neocortical memory. Schroeder, A., Pardi, M. B., Keijser, J., Dalmay, T., Groisman, A. I., Schuman, E. M., … Letzkus, J. J. (2023). Neuron, 111(5), 727-738.e8.

Motor recalibration of visual and saccadic maps. Tyralla, S., Pomè, A., & Zimmermann, E. (2023). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290(1994).

Serial dependencies between locomotion and visual space. Wiesing, M., & Zimmermann, E. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 3302.

Subcortical encoding of summary statistics in humans. Zhao, Y., Zeng, T., Wang, T., Fang, F., Pan, Y., & Jia, J. (2023). Cognition, 234, 105384.

#neuroscience #science #research #brain science #scientific publications #cognitive science #neurobiology #cognition #psychophysics #neurons #neural computation #neural networks

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bmwbestusa · 2 years

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2024 Ford Transit EV Cargo Van Interior, Colors, Release Date

2024 Ford Transit EV Cargo Van Interior, Colors, Release Date – Ford’s 2024 E-Transit full-size van may seem like its gas-powered sibling, but it has an electric drivetrain and a range of 126 miles. The E-Transit will first be available as a cargo van, but a passenger version is expected to hit the market in the not-too-distant future. The van will be available in Cutaway and Chassis Cab body…

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#2024 ford e-transit #2024 ford e-transit awd cargo van #2024 ford e-transit camper #2024 ford e-transit cargo #2024 ford e-transit cargo van #2024 ford e-transit dimensions #2024 ford e-transit engine #2024 ford transit #2024 ford transit connect #e-transit battery #e-transit canada #e-transit cargo van #e-transit dimensions #e-transit electric van #e-transit price #e-transit range #e-transit specs #e-transit van #e-transit wagon

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en-wheelz-me · 1 year

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#ford #ford transit #transit #e-transit #courier #new car #new van #commercial car #electric #electric vehicule #ev #car #cars #new cars #cars 2024

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max--phillips · 10 months

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Alright, kids, my unhinged data gathering about EVs has culminated in a google sheet that is now, to the best of my knowledge, complete. I have looked at every active car manufacturer in the US, their EVs (if they have any), their plug-in hybrids (if they have any) (also, referred to as PHEVs), their base price, their max price (meaning, I went in to their build function and added all the shit to it I possibly could), their minimum range, maximum available range, and the type of vehicle. For PHEVs, this included electric-only range, total range, and MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent).

You can visit the Google sheet where this information lives here.

First of all: Why the hell did I do this?

Great question. I got passed on the road about a month ago by a pack of Lucid Air test drive vehicles. It was a rare instance of me not recognizing a vehicle--I literally work with them every day to make a living, and I consider myself to be pretty acquainted with the available auto manufacturers in the US. So, I looked them up, and it's a new EV brand, which might be a good thing vis a vis bringing more players to the market and all that jazz... but their base MSRP is fucking $87,000. I got so mad about the fact that manufacturers just keep bringing luxury EVs to the market and not like, consumer-level, reasonably priced EVs that I decided to compile this list of information to... well. To be fair I don't know what I was hoping to accomplish with this. At most, prove a point, I guess?

With that out of the way... what did we learn from this?

No more electric SUV options. Society has progressed past the need for more electric SUV options.

I compiled information on a grand total of 40 current EV models, 43 future EV models, 35 current PHEV models, and uh... 2 future PHEV models. Of those, 34 current EVs, 26 future EVs, 23 current PHEVs, and 1 of the future PHEVs were SUVs. That's 70%. Meanwhile, we have (in all four categories) 1 lone cargo van/work vehicle, 10 coupes, 8 pickup trucks, 1 hatchback, 1 minivan, 29 sedans, 3 wagons, and 1 microbus (VW ID. Buzz my beloved). And listen, don't get me wrong: SUVs are great. They're versatile (the U in SUV is for 'utility' after all!) and they're filling the niche that minivans once did, but damn, 70% of the market? Come ON guys. We're more interesting than that, I hope.

Are you not rich? Want an EV? Too bad.

The average base MSRP for an EV in the US right now is $65,556. Are you kidding me? The average base MSRP for the future EVs I found information on is $86,377. The PHEVs include some performance/ultra-luxury brands because of the fact electric motors provide a lot of torque and are desirable in some performance vehicles, so even taking those out, the average base MSRP of a PHEV is $63,442.

The superlatives

Current EVs

First, the good superlatives:

Lowest base MSRP & max price both go to the Chevy Bolt EV, ranging from $26,500 to $34,000. (sedan, range around 259 miles)

Highest range (unfortunately) goes to the Lucid Air, the vehicle that started me on this whole thing. The minimum range is 410 miles, which is the highest minimum range available. The maximum range is 516 miles, blowing the Tesla Model S extended range out of the water by 111 miles. (sedan, price ranges from $87,400 to $249,000).

Now, the bad superlatives

Highest base MSRP goes to the Audi RS e-tron GT, at a whopping $143,900. This beats our highest maximum price model's base MSRP by $2,700. (sedan, range around 232)

Highest maximum price goes to the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo and Cross Turismo at $304,000. Fun fact: $30,000 of that maximum price is for custom paint. (wagon, range from 222-235 miles)

Lowest range goes to the Mazda MX-30 with a measly 100 miles of range. The next lowest range, the Ford E-Transit, a cargo van, gets 108! This vehicle is currently only available in California. (SUV, price ranges from $34,110 to $43,000)

Current PHEVs

Good superlatives

Highest electric only range goes to Land Rover, both the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport, with 51 miles. (SUV, MPGe for both is 42, total range for both is 480, price for the Range Rover Sport ranges from $118,200 to $159,000, and price for the Range Rover Sport ranges from $142,575 tp $170,000).

Highest total range, best MPGe, AND lowest base MSRP goes to the Toyota Prius Prime, with 640 miles of total range and a whopping 133 MPGe. Its base MSRP is $32,350. (sedan, electric only range is 44 miles, maximum price is $50,000)

Lowest maximum price goes to the Kia Niro, which will only let you spend $44,000 on it. (SUV, base MSRP $33,840, electric only range 33 miles, total range 560, MPGe 108)

Bad superlatives (a lot of ties for this one, folks)

Worst total range: a tie between the BMW XM and the MINI Countryman, both at 300 miles. (BMW XM: SUV, 30 miles electric only range, 46 MPGe, costs between $159,00 and $186,000. MINI Countryman: Sedan, 17 miles electric only range, 73 MPGe, costs around $41,000)

Worst electric only range is a tie between the Ferrari 296 and Ferrari SF90, both at 15 miles. I have thoughts (derogatory) about these models, but I'll save them. (both coupes; both 330 miles total range; 296 gets 47 MPGe, SF90 gets 51 MPGe. Base MSRP for the 296 is $237,500. I'll get to the SF90 in a moment,)

Worst MPGe goes to the McLaren Artura at 39 MPGe. (Coupe, 330 total range, 19 miles electric only range, base MSRP $237,500)

The highest listed maximum price goes to the Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid, at $295,815. (Sedan, 19 miles electric-only range, 480 miles total range, 52 MPGe, base MSRP is $109,000.)

The highest base MSRP goes, once again, to the Ferrari SF90 at $524,815. Just reading that number hurts me.

Finally, a five-way tie for the most likely to have the highest actual maximum price, because they're cowards and don't put their pricing on their websites. These are the Ferrari SF90, the Ferrari 296, the Bentley Flying Spur, the Bentley Bentayga, and the McLaren Artura. (Bentley Flying Spur: Sedan, 26 miles electric-only range, 500 miles total range, 46 MPGe, base MSRP $217,525. Bentayga: SUV, 29 miles electric only range, 448 total range, 45 MPGe, base MSRP $200,025).

I'm not going to do any superlatives for future vehicles because I don't want to jump the gun on any judgements. Plus, with some of them the MSRPs are just like... educated guesses. Anyway, I have the whole google sheet here if you wanna poke around.

What conclusions can we draw from this?

I appreciate that the US wants to regulate new car sales sooner rather than later to encourage new EV sales in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly. However, until the average price for a new EV comes down significantly, more and more people are going to be in the used car market whether they want to be or not. Beyond that, we simply do not have the infrastructure for this. There are gas stations on damn near every corner, but the closest charging station to me is 2 miles away, and even that's a Tesla Supercharger, so it's only useful if you have a Tesla. The closest non-Tesla charger is 4 miles away. Sure, you can plug it in at home, but in order for that to be done at more than a snail's pace, you need to have it specially installed which is an additional cost that people may not be able to afford.

Additionally, it's interesting to me that being environmentally friendly is still such a huge privilege that's seemingly marketed towards wealthy people, yet huge corporations and the ultrawealthy people actually polluting our planet continue to offload the blame onto poor people for using single use plastics. It's a bizarre paradox.

In conclusion, car manufacturers need to get their shit together so more people can buy EVs at a price that isn't insane. Thank you goodbye

#tori says things #max says things #I have opinions about cars #advice

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