The power ponies episode was a roller coaster of emotions. A very mild rollercoaster, but nevertheless. Some parts were fun, other parts just left me mostly apathetic.
There are a few episodes where Spike is absent (like having an important task in Canterlot)
Quite many, in fact. According to tvtropes, Look Before You Sleep, Call of the Cutie, Sonic Rainboom, Stare Master, Sweet and Elite, Family Appreciation Day, The Last Roundup, Hearts And Hooves Day, A Friend in Deed, Putting Your Hoof Down, MMMystery on the Friendship Express, Sleepless in Ponyville, Wonderbolts Academy, Flight to the Finish.
Here are other absentees:
Fluttershy: Look Before You Sleep, Call of the Cutie, The Show Stoppers, Sisterhooves Social, The Cutie Pox, Family Appreciation Day, Hearts And Hooves Day, Sleepless in Ponyville, Apple Family Reunion, Flight to the Finish
Pinkie Pie: Look Before You Sleep, Stare Master, The Show Stoppers, Sisterhooves Social, Family Appreciation Day, Hearts And Hooves Day, Hurricane Fluttershy, Sleepless in Ponyville, Flight to the Finish
Rainbow Dash: Look Before You Sleep, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Stare Master, Sisterhooves Social, Family Appreciation Day, Hearts And Hooves Day, Putting Your Hoof Down
Rarity: Call of the Cutie, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Luna Eclipsed, Family Appreciation Day, Hearts And Hooves Day, Hurricane Fluttershy, Flight to the Finish
Applejack: Stare Master, Hearts And Hooves Day, Putting Your Hoof Down, Hurricane Fluttershy, Flight to the Finish
Twilight Sparkle: Sisterhooves Social, Family Appreciation Day, Putting Your Hoof Down, Sleepless in Ponyville, Apple Family Reunion, Flight to the Finish
Not many websites endure for 10 years, and even less with constant activity and a steady stream of users, old and new.
Tasvideos is starting to be quite a veteran. Consider, for example, that YouTube is younger than tasvideos (YouTube was founded in 2005.)
However, some luck manipulation was used to make the CPU act dumb at about second 18. Anyways the duration of the TAS would be about 17 seconds if we didn't count the time I was idling around.
These two sentences, unless some kind of humor, make me think that you didn't optimize the run completely. I'd like if you specified with more clarity what you meant.
On the unix/linux side, I just love GKrellM. It sits nicely on one corner on the screen, not taking much space (the interface is really optimized for space), and it allows me to get a notion of what's happening in the system by a quick glance (most often to see if something is taking a lot of CPU time, internet bandwidth or disk bandwidth.) Useful also to monitor CPU temperatures if you are worried about them.
The next episode Power Ponies is the first episode to be rated TV-Y7.
"May be more appropriate for children who have acquired the developmental skills needed to distinguish between make-believe and reality." (Federal Communications Commission)
Given that there are many adults who are unable to make that distinction...
Btw, this episode was considered remarkable because it showed that Scootaloo isn't homeless.
The whole homelessness thing is a fan theory, and I can't really understand why people would think that. What sense does it make? This is not only Equestria in general, but Ponyville in particular, where everybody knows everybody else and are more than willing to help those in need. Homelessness would seem a completely alien and bizarre concept.
(And no, I'm not talking about the prevailing theory that Scootaloo is an orphan. I'm really talking about the somewhat prevalent concept that she's also homeless.)
Maison Ikkoku (seinen romance by Inuyasha and Ranma creator Takahashi)
That's probably the most irritating TV show I have ever seen. It just exasperated me to no end.
So this student is studying for some university admittance exams or whatever, and he's so poor he can barely survive. His only hope to ever get a decent job is to get to the university and earn a degree.
His neighbors belittle him and his efforts to get to pass the exams, party in his room without his consent all night long, almost every night, and one of the neighbors even steals the little food he has. He does nothing to remedy this situation, but instead suffers all this abuse like a sucker. The landlady does nothing to remedy the situation, even though it would be fully in her right to do so. He thus fails the exams (and only gets ridiculed because of it) and has his food stolen, and does nothing.
At some point he gets in a fight with the landlady or something, and he moves to another apartment. The previous tenants refuse to move out, keep living there without his consent, eat his food and even steal all his stuff and sell it. He does not call the police. He does nothing. He only suffers through all this abuse like a sucker. These criminals get no punishment, nothing.
And this is not played for drama (which could at least had some semblance of making sense.) All this is supposed to be humorous. We are supposed to laugh.
My ass. I get angry just remembering all that.
If you are even slightly into math, then PARI/GP is an essential and awesome tool.
(Granted, it's not Mathematica or Matlab, but it's free and personally it being usable from the console is a plus.)
SpaceSniffer - Windows - Head over heels the best "what's using my disk space?" application I've used. Even properly supports filesystem links so no more infinite recursions.
I have been using SequoiaView for that purpose, but I might give that a try.
Btw, this episode establishes that Scootaloo really can't fly because of a physical disability (too small wings), unlike other pegasi of the same age. In other words, it was not just that she's too young to fly. No, she really can't fly, and probably never will.
That really made me feel sorry for her...
Says who? We are not competing with unassisted runs, and never have.
"We must allow this or else an unassisted run could theoretically beat us" is only going to cause a slippery slope.
Not very spoilerific, but just in case:
When the head of the equestria games said "everypony will be judged on grace, style and originality" I was immediately thinking "oh no, will this be just a rehash of 'The Show Stoppers', where it's clear to everybody and their grandmother what the role of each crusader should be, but they stubborningly refuse to do so?" To my relief, it was not an episode like that, and that line of dialogue had no significance.
What I didn't like about the episode was RD getting the idiot ball in the first half. The whole thing about being "professional", calm and collected was just stupid. And even then, being collected does not mean you can't praise someone.
(Of course Scootaloo got the idiot ball also, to some degree, but that's more forgivable due to her age.)
(Btw, it seems that spoiler tags do not hide links. Well, seeing the name of the link shouldn't spoil anything... :P )
If some movie gets much user stars, it's a great indication it must be starred officially.
I think that the role of stars has not changed much since they were implemented.
A movie having a star does not mean that it's one of the best or most liked movies (that's what ratings are for.) A star indicates that it's a movie that represents well what's so cool about TASes, and that's the point. It's a "watch these first" list, not a "these are the most liked TASes" list.
Many of the best-rated and best-liked movies do not have stars for the simple reason that there already are other starred movies that demonstrate that particular kind of game and/or form of TASing. Also, at least in theory, even a not-so-highly-rated movie could have a star if it demonstrates a concept exceptionally well. (This is most likely to happen with a game with a very unusual or less common concept, such as a word game or such, which is not common in old consoles.)
I wouldn't say that starred movies are somehow "above" moon-tier movies. Starred movies are simply a hand-picked selection of movies that serves a purpose of demonstration.
(In this sense a "star quota" seems a bit odd of a concept. The list is representative or it isn't. Why should it matter how many movies there are in it?)
Or at least this is how I have always envisioned stars to be, and I think that they have always been at least close to this in concept.
Episodes I would like to see in the show (but will most probably never happen):
- One of the cutie mark crusaders gets her cutie mark, while the others still don't. This causes drama, with the crusader who got the mark getting mixed feelings of joy and irrational guilt. (Probably not going to happen because it would have a too serious tone.)
- A sad/melancholic episode akin to the Snowdrop fan video. (Probably not going to happen because it would be too depressing for the overall tone of the show.)
- An episode giving in-depth character development for Queen Chrysalis. Not a heel-face turn episode (like with Discord), not an "I'm taking over the world!" episode, just character development. Slice-of-life of a baddie (who might at some level even be a bit sympathetic.) (Probably not going to happen, because.)
- A new pony arrives at Ponyville. She's wearing a cloth that covers her flank. It's later revealed that even though she's an adult she has no cutie mark, and she's embarrassed by the fact! The crusaders are intrigued. (I have no idea what the resolution would be. A boring one would be that she gets her cutie mark by discovering her true talent. A more interesting one would have her still not getting any mark even by the end of the episode, but there being some kind of lesson about tolerance and acceptance.)
