Southwestern Championship

[ediejoy]

Thank you Cadets for finally putting a decent costume on the "head angel!"

[boxingfred]

Don't know if this was posted anywhere...

Chief Judge – Garland Markham

Visual Effect – Marie Czapinski

Visual Effect 2 – Frank Morris

Music Effect – John Bell

Music Effect 2 – Glenn Fugett

Visual Performance – Bruce Jones

Ensemble Visual – Tim Ochran

Color Guard – Mickey Kelley

Brass Performance – David McGrath

Ensemble Music – Joe Allison

Percussion Performance – JJ Pipitone

Contest Director – Tony DiCarlo

Cadets win tonight?

[somerville]

Is Rick Perry at the show or is he praying for our souls?

[2000Cadet]

I just believe there is a lot behind the scenes which influence judges... thats my opinion.

I doubt it, but you could be right.

[YogiBear]

I just believe there is a lot behind the scenes which influence judges... thats my opinion.

Although you may think politics effect the judges decision during the season, they usually get it right by finals night.

[Tez]

It lacks the personality that real instrument possesses. Electronic drum sets are the same way; Roland has some samples that you listen to and think "hm, that sounds pretty accurate", but once you start playing, your ear can tell that yes, it sounds like you're playing an electronic drum set. It lacks the imperfections and variations that make a real acoustic instrument SOUND like a real instrument.

Add in the fact that it's coming through some mid-grade speakers rather than being hear naturally, or with minimal and transparent amplification, and you add another layer of falsity that the ear picks up.

You can paint Hopper's Nighthawks by numbers, and be perfect in terms of color placement, but even in that imitative perfection, still be missing the sense of drama inherent in the actual work. It's why I think synths are best used when they're NOT imitating actual instruments.

Anyway, my two cents.

It's really, really close though. Much, much better than any other kind of sampled sound (especially drums). Piano sampling has come a long way in recent years. They record something like 6 different samples on each note (at different velocities). I bet if Crown used a real piano and micced it on the field, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference over a webcast stream.

[actucker]

Does anyone know if they were using the experimental sheets last night in Houston? I'm curious because there were some crazy variations in the caption scores. I'd be interested to know if the sheets had anything to do with it.

[drumcat]

My video quality was way, way short of that at Minneapolis. Very blurry and smeared, but not with the pixellation that would suggest it's my Internet speed. I hope it's not fingerprints on the camera lens and something that can be fixed for the VOD later.

Just to go on the record here... the biggest difference here is the indoor lighting and color of the astroturf. Every other element of setup (except sound of course) was identical to Minneapolis. The carpet here has a sheen that is a white-balance headache, no doubt. But it's the same camera, etc.

[Plan9]

I just believe there is a lot behind the scenes which influence judges... thats my opinion.

Or it could be that your emoticon has eyes that are different sizes!! Seek balance!

[ApathyJones]

Woohoo! Go Spirit!