Jump to content
Guidelines

Dowlphin

User
 View Profile  See their content

  • Posts

    684

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Dowlphin

  3. Dowlphin
    Trading card games, like the one in Steam, are social training and highly symbolic on a spiritual and philosophical level.
     
    A trading card game is like a metaphor for life:

    Due to statistical chance, it is highly unlikely that any of us is given a full set of cards.
    We have cards of many sets.
    Fulfillment comes from succeeding at achieving the goal of the game.
    So in order to succeed, we need to complete at least some of our sets.
    Completing a set is impossible without other people's cards.

    The world is full of people who are too much in the grip of an irrational fear that they could lose something (even if they're not aware of this root cause for their decisions) and thus do not contribute to the success of the playerbase as a whole. This, at best, causes success to merely be redistributed, but more likely for the afraid to not succeed either.
     
    This leads to less cards in the game, lower chances of finding cards to complete sets. Everybody loses. ... Even those who try to steal cards from others, since they will eventually, after they cannot fool themselves anymore, experience the profound feeling of emptiness that comes from confusing means and ends of the game. And those who encounter enough of this type might themselves eventually become what they resent, and generalize so much that they become deaf to the solution knocking on the door.
     
     
    Along these lines, my recent experiences with the Steam trading card game as well as many earlier experiences with people in general made me formulate this:
     
     
    You do not use friendship to play a game.
    You play a game to live friendship.
  5. Dowlphin

    Leap of Faith

    By Dowlphin,

    Someone pointed out a snippet of Pinkie Apple Pie to me, and I realize it's worth commenting:
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=chJYQz8xZco
     
    In case you were wondering, this is about the "leap of faith" theme.
     
    And it's often used in a popculture-like way, claiming that if you overcome your fear of the leap, you will not fall; fear preventing you from succeeding.
     
    But here's the thing: It also prevents you from failing.
     
    Encouraging people like that can actually (if not succeed by pure chance) backfire. For success to ensue, optimism needs to be paired with skillfulness. And even skillfulness can be of little use if luck is bad.
     
    To me, based on my life experiences and observations of other people's walks of life, the more reality-based version of leap-of-faith is that in order to not be afraid of making that leap, one has to be ready to fail (and continue nevertheless). Only then can one continue to try and fail until success is achieved. And if there's even the slightest remnant of expectation that following exactly that philosophy will yield success, you better grab a cushion. Also, success doesn't have to last/repeat, so you better have no expectations at all, which is probably easiest when doing what you love.
     
    Don't think "If I overcome the fear, I will succeed!", because then you might make a very painful experience.
    Be ready to fail and continue. If it's the right thing to do for you, then sooner or later you have to do it anyway. Doing what you love makes this easiest, but it still might not feel easy at all.
     
     
     
     
    That being said ... If there's time for a parachute to open,...
     
    ...it really IS deep!
  6. Dowlphin

    Weird analogy...

    By Dowlphin,

    Weird analogy that came to my mind in connection to MLP:
     
    Angels have wings and devils have horns.
     
    Hmmmmm...
     
     
    Nah, I'm sure it's coincidental, but an interesting coincidence nonetheless.
     
     
    Let's continue this line of thought just for FUN:
     
    heavenly: loyalty, pushing personal limits, trying to be your best, inspiring people | loving kindness, compassion
    earthly: hard work, honesty, family | having a joyful time, cheering people up, faith
    evil: magic, rational thought, science | worship of fancy stuff, fame and superficiality
  7. Dowlphin

    S04E13 brief thoughts

    By Dowlphin,

    Just some thoughts I had about the episode.
     
     
    When Rarity and AJ were at the peak of their heated competition, I was delighted: It's the old Rarity+Applejack polarity tension again! I remember it fondly from "Look Before You Sleep". Very entertaining. (And not the only other case of that clean-vs-dirty issue ... remember Sisterhooves Social?)
    There are so many polar pairings just among the mane 6. Smart of Lauren Faust. Makes for a huge amount of character-driven story telling.
     
     
    Too bad Spike's crush on Rarity made him unable to stand up to her, otherwise he would have been the perfect role model to show Rarity how to deal with it, how to get over the fact that the crush isn't mutual.
    Their whole interaction is probably a mix of Rarity exploiting his crush and allowing him the pleasure, to keep it on a low flame, by helping her out and being around her.
     
     
    Really impressive and playful approach in this episode: A voice actor with no 'Southern' accent emulating someone with a Southern accent who's trying to sound like someone without that accent.
     
     
    When I first heard Trenderhoof, the voice reminded me a lot of Will Smith's German voice actor. Now you know how Will Smith sounds in German movies.
  8. Dowlphin
    Alright, enough military talk. ^^
     
     
    Some brief thoughts on various scenes from episode 11. I'd love to make these things into full Youtube commentary videos, but that's not really feasible at the moment. :-/
     
    So let's get right to it...
     
     
    When Twiley talked about the Starswirl exhibition and Dashie expressed how lame she thought that is, I found that a bit rude. After all, nopony asked her to attend, so why the complaining?
     
    When Cadance left the train and was teasing Twiley with being overly formal and then said it's not necessary, I was almost expecting Twiley to start the "sunshine sunshine" dance. Maybe Cadance then would probably have told her it's not formal enough, haha. Especially as long as the guards were still standing there.
     
    The part where Discord sings is amazing! Apart from all the stuff contained in the many brief scenes, the whole musical-thingie with the focus on that tiny glass of water reminded me of something. That whole style. I don't know what, but it feels like this was inspired by a certain piece.
     
    And yeah, the scenes. There was a crystal-clear Harry Potter scene in it, there was the always-fun messing with the pony models (picking Twiley's horn and making a flower bouquet out of it and the totally hilarious mane-swap that just has to earn Discord so much sympathy), there was a reference to Swiss herbal cough drops, there was a possible break with canon by showing an airport security scene (where a pony with a dental brace was hesitant to walk through the metal detector), a skiing goat, a squeaky-squeezy Twilight Sparkle doll, an awesome picture with the princesses and Discord holding the tiny glass that looks like inspired by a Star Wars poster or a heavy metal album cover, AND THEN ... it would really surprise me if that awesome and beautiful golden pony harp didn't become twicane's best friend, haha. We even know her mane ... I mean name, because Discord sang "a singing harp that's named Louise". So we have that twicane-like character, a name and we know she can sing, so she can talk. Yep, this is definitely becoming twicane 2.0. ^^
     
    After that musical number follows something that if you think about it, is a semi-roleplaying adventure. (Discord playing the role and the others having an exciting adventure.)
     
    Near the end, when Discord seems kinda dissatisfied and grumpy... I'm not sure whether this isn't just part of his act. I'm suspecting he, just like Pinkie Pie sometimes, just enjoys playing a role, like life is a theater play.
     
    When he's sick again, it is difficult to tell whether it's real this time, but when he enjoys asking for a glass of water again and is generally using the exact same words he used on Twiley and Cadance, I'm very sure he has no intention to pull the same number again. No, Fluttershy is back and he enjoys making the exact same request again, but this time with Fluttershy showing what a good friend is like, and rubbing that contrast into their faces.
     
    When Twiley concluded that with a good friend, even a day full of chaos can become a pleasant experience, I'm wondering whether she included Discord in that definition, hehe.
     
    Oh and I should roll my eyes, shake my head and sigh at this point, followed with a giggle, because they again snuck a Wilhelm scream into this episode. This time it was somewhat conceiled within a sound, but if you pay attention to the moment where the 'flower snake' retreated into the hole, you can hear it clearly at the end of the sound it made there.
  9. Dowlphin
    2013 was the year of the water snake, and as far as I understand, that symbolizes Heaven (yin water) trying to control Earth (yin fire).
     
     
    You know what 2014's Earth energy is? ... yang fire ... HORSE!!!
     
    And Heaven is ... yang wood! AWWWWW YEAH!
     
    Pony conflagration!
  10. Dowlphin
    I watched that episode a second time now and my mind was quite active, so this is roughly what the title says: I'll write down the thoughts I had while watching the episode. Times mentioned are estimates/rounded. Enjoy/discuss!
     
     
    3:00:
    Ms. Harshwhinnie reprimands Rainbow Dash and asks her to show more professionalism. ... And I thought: Professionalism, hm? Like reprimanding Rainbow Dash and threatening to take away her coach role right in front of the whole school class?
     
     
    5:30:
    The CMC are trying to think of what's special about Ponyville. Eventually Scootaloo says: "It's a place where different kinds of ponies live together as friends."
    Soooo... does that mean that other places like Manehattan or Canterlot are racist and/or practice segregation? Is it a taboo to be friends with a different type of pony elsewhere? :okiedokielokie:
     
     
    Musical number:
    I had to laugh at the fact that their walking is totally not in sync with the rhythm. So apparently this is not reserved for fan-made PMVs. Wouldn't have expected that.
     
     
    When the Terrible Two did their psychological warfare, mocking the CMC for not having cutie marks, I looked at theirs and thought: Man! This would be such a great job for reformed Discord! What an awesome episode that would make!
     
     
    10 minutes:
    We see/hear, as a first in the show, audible thoughts - from Rainbow Dash. But Ms. Harshwhinnie's urge to be professional is 'still warm'. It's not like people with Alzheimer are watching. I remember wishing for this feature in other situations, in earlier episodes, where it would have made things feel a lot more natural, and then the first time they use it, it's not necessary at all in order for the scene to work properly. -_-
     
     
    19 minutes:
    When Rainbow Dash tells Scootaloo that she doesn't have to fly during the flag carrying segment of the Equestria Games if she can't, that this is what makes Ponyville so special, I couldn't help but think: Errrr... like ... special...olympics?
  11. Dowlphin
    Someone on Cheezburger used 'messy' language regarding a certain tv.com poll, favoring Adventure Time because Lauren is not running MLP anymore, and someone urged him to use the Queen's language. The solution flowed from my mind instantly.
     
     
    An A to the D
    V-E-N-T-U-R-E
    Adventure Time's the best show you can see on TV.
    It's adventurelicious!
  12. Dowlphin
    WINP = work in no progress. Hah!
     
     
     
    ♫ Sweetie Bell, Sweetie Bell, Sweetie's all the neigh! ♫
     
    ♫ Oh what pun it is to ride in a one-mare open sleigh! ♫
     
     
     
    Inspired by a vector graphic here:
    http://www.reddit.com/r/MLPLounge/comments/1shppc/sweetie_bell_haha_nice_pagefooter/
  13. Dowlphin

    We cane do this!

    By Dowlphin,

    R34c - If it exists, there is a cane of it. No exceptions. You cane't stop it.
     
     
    What inspired me to come to this conclusion?
     
    http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/omegasigma/tumblr_mwt35ttFQa1qf9djko1_500_zpsdf85f7ff.png
     
     
     
    P.S.: In case "R34c" is already used, it wil have to make way for this one.
  14. Dowlphin
    "Hate to break it to you, Pinkie, but you're just a fictional character from a TV series. I hope you're not too shocked. You're still awesome."
     
    - Well, yes and no.
     
    "Y... wait, what?! Huh?!?"
     
    - Yeah, we kiiinda made you believe that to ease the process of realizing you are just a figment of our imagination. It's a crazy new idea some writers had and introduced to the canon. ... I had a hoof in that, too.
     
    "It's awesome that you're handling it so well that you still feel like joking. ... I mean, you're obviously trying to mess with my head here."
     
    - Suit yourself. But you started it. ... You're made up.
     
    "Nice try, but your world is just a TV series in our world, and our world is nowhere to be found in your world."
     
    - Oh silly! That's just the TV show! Not the real Equestia! Of course it has to make sense in your world or it wouldn't work at all. And I really must say that I'm at an unfair advantage here because stuff doesn't always have to make sense to me.
     
    "Uh... well ... well then why do you look just like in that TV show? All simple lines and such. You have so little detail, and our world is much more complex, so it's pretty clear that that with less depth and detail is the product of that with more depth and detail."
     
    - Aand... again you're basing this on the TV show. But in a way you're still right! Your world might have less of some things, but more of others. Ponies wrote fiction that is different from what we usually experience in our world, because - duh! - it's more interesting! Your world is more interesting because it is less interesting. ... Does that make sense? ... Ah, never mind.
     
    "You still didn't answer my question about the detail."
     
    - Well, as I said, the pony life is quite awesome regarding what's happening and all, so ponies started imagining how it must be to not have that. Some call it grimdark, but that's just some grumpypants. But then phantasy fiction needs something higher, better, different than our world, so ponies came up with this idea of more inner detail, like, everything has more of the same in it, but not quite like that. I like it! I myself once imagined a 100 grams chocolate cupcake that had one pound of chocolate in it and tasted like a kilo! Mmmmmm!
    So we have this weird idea of a world where things that happen are less pleasant or interesting, but it is happening in awesome detail, like, more intense! It's so crazy, but I see right now why the idea is so appealing. You look ...SO...DEEP! Hihihi!
     
    And here I am, checking out this fictional work for myself, jumping right in. Hah! I think I'm the only pony who can actually do that!
     
    "Uuuhh... I don't... feel so well. I think I have to throw up."
     
    - See?! You had WAY more chocolate than you thought!
  15. Dowlphin
    OK, I'll probably not find the motivation to write a full report about my experience at BUCK Con, so I'll just write smaller pieces whenever I feel like it.
     
    While I was sitting in the Auditorium, noticing how the items that were put up for auction were very rare and thus very desirable, generating a lot of charity money, I suddenly realized:
     
     
     
    That charity auction is an example of how Rarity inspires generosity!
  17. Dowlphin
    This idea suddenly occured to me. Poison joke changes something crucially defining about a person, a strength or something dear, into its opposite. It's a cruel joke and naturally not easy to handle.
    But looking at this optimistically, an experience like that could be sought. The result: Learning more about oneself and one's strengths and weaknesses as well as issues and fears and then overcoming them through direct experience and coming to terms with it.
    And that is relatively similar to what the jungle brew ayahuasca is used for: to be confronted with one's deep fears and issues and work through them, as well as gaining insight.
    Poison joke grows in the wilderness of the Everfree Forest, and Zecora lives there, in the role of a typical African medicine woman (which blends into the role of a shaman).
    I've only seen Zecora warn to not ingest that plant, but as a medicine woman, she should see the potential in it.
     
    I'm not saying this necessarily provides enough material for a fanfic (although one never knows), but I found it worth mentioning; in the spirit of seeing the good side in things.
     
     
    yayhuasca
  20. Dowlphin
    I was browsing through my video project resource files to see how much I can delete to save harddisk space. When I came upon After Effects project files, I thought about how well it manages to rediscover all connected files even after a renaming extravaganza and how impressed I was by that.
    But I wanted to see in more detail how file names and paths were saved in those files. So I opened one project file from one of my Twilight Sparkle videos in a hex editor, and this is what I saw:
     
    Adobe thinks bad of Twily
     
    And no, I never use that derogative term for her in any file or project names.
     
    I then figured out that it's in the header of every project file, but it was pretty funny because of the unconventional idea to hex-edit that file and to do it with a Twily project.
  21. Dowlphin
    Youtube is a constant source of anger for me.
    This forum, too. Right now because I can't make the same Youtube link multiple times (it will embed multiple times though!) and the first link got converted to embed despite me not embedding it, but linking it, and the poem I made recently took me half an hour to format properly, but never mind. I will be crippling the Youtube links in this text, because the forums won't do what I tell it to do.
     
    I wanted to watch
    My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic PINKIE PINKIE PINKIE (compilation)
    h_ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJBm-3Ga0w
    in fullscreen, but my Windows task bar is set to fixed, and HTML5 player always has the task bar in the picture.
     
    So I tried
    h_ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJBm-3Ga0w&html5=false
    but it still loaded HTML5 instead of Flash player. It outright ignored the parameter that took me extra effort to type out in the URL.
    So I switched to my permanently open browser tab with the HTML5 'trial' opt-out
    https://www.youtube.com/html5
    to check for the gazillionth time whether I had been put in again, but no. Still opted out.
    So I tried a variation, just to be sure:
     
    h_ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJBm-3Ga0w&html5=0
     
    Still HTML5.
     
    h_ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJBm-3Ga0w&html5=no
     
    Still HTML5.
     
    h_ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJBm-3Ga0w&html5=fuckyou
     
    That got me the Flash player.
    Seriously.
  22. Dowlphin
    A few days ago I've read a quote by Meghan McCarthy, one of the writers for MLPFiM. I can't find it right now, but it went like:
    Good ideas are common. People who put those good ideas into action are rare, though.
     
    This left me with mixed feelings. I was wondering what line of thought was behind that quote. Because it can be used merely as a belief, thus acting as if it were true and thus more or less unconsciously perpetuating this idea.
    Since she is saying that as a writer, she is speaking of (among others) herself as a rarity. Which is nothing remarkable.
     
    Writers sow ideas. They express ideas in an appealing way, thus spread and advertise them. But as she herself said, those ideas are common. She might find it a good idea to spead these ideas, so she works as a writer. She succeeds at putting that idea of spreading ideas into action.
     
    Now those ideas are out there, and few people will be able to actually put them into action. Is this an acceptable state? It is not clear from above quoted statement whether Meghan McCarthy thinks so.
    Convincing someone of something might bring a certain responsibility with it, because supporting good ideas and adopting ideals can be difficult; it is a sacrifice, and needs all the support it can get. By McCarthy's very own reasoning, good ideas themselves are not that much in need of nourishment, but putting them into action is. And many people can help with this. THAT is where support is needed dearly.
    Many people choose to adopt ideals out of a deep recognition of the good that is contained in them, only then to find themelves in way over their head, left on their own, unsupported by their immediate social environment. And once the good within an idea has been recognized, it is almost impossible to defy that idea. But when it happens, it can cause a massive blowback.
    In order to flourish, good ideas have to be practical in the environment they are being put into, and with the evolution of global broadcast media, ideas more and more often fall onto soil regardless of how realistic they are there. Buckshot principle. Fire&forget. It can be like giving a plant a big shot of fertilizer, encouraging a growth boost, that then never gets any fertilizer again and will struggle to keep all its leaves alive for the rest of its existence.
     
    It's easy to imagine all the good coming from spreading good ideas, but did you ever think about the bad that good ideas can cause? An uncomfortable thought maybe, but worth exploring. It might not even be the idea itself so much as the attitude of the messenger that spoils things.
     
    Helping each other to get stuff done is where the mastery lies, for that creates facts by spreading the magic of cooperation and connectedness of all beings in the most direct way possible.
     
    If you've ever heard someone say the line: "I did it, and you can do it, too!"
    then ask them: "Show me!" Because without putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak, it's borderline deception of those who are willing to believe easily. It's convenient to project your own philosophy onto other people, but that philosophy will be put to the test. And the less substantial and applicable that philosopy is, the more people will be left nonbelievers. In the end, nothing might be gained but polarisation. A deepending of the gap, leading to less empathy when the messenger is hit by the unconvenient reality of the whole picture, then leading to such denialist thoughts as: If you didn't make it, you're just lazy.
     
    You won't hear the Dalai Lama say: "Buddhism worked so well for me. I'm sure it will for everybody." He knows very well that that's not true.
     
    And yet, philosophies like Buddhism, just like any other, have agents and they have followers.
    When a buddhist monk passes a farmer who is struggling to fix a cart wheel, do you think he will tell the farmer: "Just keep trying! You can do it!" or will he lend him a hand? And what message will either of those reactions convey? Which one do you tnink is more powerful? ... What is more powerful? 1 kW of electricity or 1 gram of uranium? A flash of light or a light motion of the flesh?
     
    Are you going to gamble or are you going to get stuff done?
     
     
     
     
     
     
    "Let me help you"

  23. Dowlphin
    I watched The Last Unicorn again. (First time was as a child.)
     
    Here some comments:
     
    1) The unicorn has a star on her head, around her horn, that looks quite a lot like the main star in Twilie's cutie mark.
     
    2) In dubbing, they used the sound of a flying pigeon for a raven, a falcon ... and AN OWL!!! Owls are known for their silent flying, and there they apply the sound of probably the loudest flyer of all to it.
     
    3) A Prince slays not just a dragon in a typical western style context, but an Asian style dragon! In Asia dragons are associated with wisdom and are very diferent from the dragons in Western tales.
     
    4) The King Haggard part reminded me a bit of the Greyjoy family stuff in Game of Thrones.
     
    5) I refuse to drink Red Bull!
    (Better quench your thirst with water.)
  24. Dowlphin

    So Many Wonders!

    By Dowlphin,

    What is this ace
    filled with so many wonders?
    Casting his spell
    That you are now under
    Squirrels in the tease
    and the cute little punnies
    Birds flipping free
    and Dowlphin pees honey
    Hooooonneeeeeeey!
     
    Oooh, I'm a magical ace
    and I owe it all to Pinkie Pie's ways
    If I knew that sound had so much up its sleeve
    I'd have composed sooner, and never grieve
    Yes, I move everyooooone!
  25. Dowlphin
    Reporter: "Discord, what is your favorite recurring event or celebration? Are there concerts or festivals or sports events that you like to attend regularly?"
     
    Discord: "Oh, I LOVE Domino Day! ... I always try to arrive early."
     
    Reporter: "Really? Why is that?"
    Discord: "Well, before it gets crowded, it's easier to find a good spot. ... If you know what I mean."
×
×
  • Create New...