#Spring Stampede 98

[casprite]

Grooming the creature

[red-black-aesthetic-bout]

Round 3: Match 15

Vash the Stampede (Trigun 98/Trigun Maximum) vs. Ranma Saotome (Ranma ½)

Vash the Stampede

- VASH THE STAMPEDE MY BESTFRIEND VASH THE STAMPEDE :] If I actually enumerated everything that makes me insane about him we’d be here for hours so I will simply say: extremely strong contender for Most tortured sillyguy I’ve ever laid eyes on and he just means So Much to me♡ Best red/black aesthetics are in trigun maximum imo but all versions of him are wonderful thank you for the consideration mwah - Vash is a weird alien plant thing that helps people vigilante style, but he kinda sucks at it so ended being labeled as a major criminal instead, also he has a twin brother who wants to annihilate the human race and vash tries really hard to stop him because he love humans

Ranma Saotome

- ranma saotome is the OG trans swag anime/manga protagonist. thanks to a cursed spring, cold water turns him into a girl and hot water turns him back to a boy. he starts out hating this change but only makes half hearted attempts to reverse the curse, and eventually becomes quite comfortable with his female half, acknowledging it was always a part of him. he’s a martial artist, he’s a stupid teenager, he’s rude and prideful but he can also be really sweet and thoughtful, literally everyone is either in love with at least one version of him or they want to kill him, sometimes both. his signature red chinese style outfits and his black hair, dark pants and other black accessories already make him a perfect fit for this tournament, but the real kicker is that in the anime, his hair even changes from black to red when he turns into a girl. although a good chunk of the source material didn’t age well, he means a lot to many trans people who watched/read ranma ½ at a young age, including myself. anyway if this was a martial arts tournament he would win <3

mod notes: hello to my mutuals who submitted each of the contestants here. it's come to this...

[thebhorror]

nine people you’d like to know better

tagged by @evilwomanenjoyer thanks I love talking about myself <3

last song: Washington square park by the wonder years (happy almost spring gay people)

favorite color: blue but I’m also partial to red and black

currently watching: the bear and the great and rewatching trigun 98

sweet/savory/spicy: sweet I fucking love dessert always and forever a sweet treat type of guy

relationship status: engaged (still giggling and kicking my feet about it)

current obsession: homestuck and the locked tomb primarily but I’ve also been rotating trigun in my head a lot (vash the stampede my beloved)

last thing you googled: I have incognito mode on so I have no idea but the two tabs I have open on my phone currently are a page to buy tickets for a convention and homestuck beyond canon so do with that what you will

im tagging @kotenokk (bc I love you and can’t not tag you) @dreamyzworldlove @buoyantsaturn @rainnows @glassamphibians @thelordofshrimp @dykestriders @miindhonii @eggthedyke

[84reedsy]

Slamboree '98

Thanks to the NBA playoffs, WCW only had about 4 shows between Spring Stampede and Slamboree

If I recall correctly, Scott Hall returns after a hiatus. And I am READY.FOR.IT.

Nash, Hennig, and Rude were about all that got me through that dry spell

And...as you can see...the graphics team was pulling out all the stops again :|

[chibivesicle]

Well, that explains a lot.  Why Trigun Stampede was Sci fi over Western.

I was toodling on Youtube (as one oft does in these current times) and stumbled upon this excerpt from a Trash Taste podcast where they interviewed a staff member from Studio Orange about Trigun Stampede.  Pretty much this expands upon some of what I’d briefly read from a Sakuracon panel this spring.

TL:DR - Trigun Stampede was a complete remake of the original Trigun with a hired sci fi writer to not only write 150 years of history and lore but also mechanics of the world.  This is why most of the elements of the original are lost.  The manga and ‘98 anime were an example of an American style Western plopped on a desert planet but one where the materials and mechanics of the world are similar to our own.

If you are interested check out the video here:

This both supports what had been my general take away from the final product as well as explains things I observed but had no evidence for without hearing it from a staff member.

1.) Sci fi elements were a huge deal -  hiring an independent writer explains why it has such a different voice and storytelling tone.  One could argue that the original Trigun made it too easy to recognize it was a western, but that was what we were given as readers and viewers.  As much as I, an anal retentive person who like details like thinking that there is no wood on the planet, therefore, we can’t have wood saloon doors.  I also like a story that makes sense and flows.

2.) The twelve episode format boxed them in.  Who knows how these sort of deals are made but they needed at least 24 episodes from the start.  This is what killed the pacing.  You can redo all you want but if the pacing and writing are bad, it will be bad.  I feel like I’m the niche version of someone like Friendly Space Ninja and Amanda the Jedi.  Just because you put a lot of time, money and effort (also money) it won’t matter if your writing is bad. 3.) I fully agree that the CGI was exceptional.  It is obvious that the studio put so much effort into this front.  The animation was breathtakingly well done for the most part.  There were a few too many ‘show off’ animation sequences which annoyed me but the facial expressions were great.

However, due to the shift with the sci fi aspect being much greater than the Western, we get the loss of the ability to animate more of the common people who are largely absent and a key aspect of Nightow’s works.  I’ve stated this elsewhere but the adults in his series are trying to protect the common folk.  By leaning into the desert aspect and the desolation of the desert stereotype, they lacked the random kids, bakers, bankers, laborers, servers, farmers, mothers, fathers etc.  I’m not sure if this is a technical issue from the computational/technical side or a storyboarding/framing issue.  Or that they just forgot about the people in general were a thing?

This also heavily leans into the incorrect assumption that a desert is desolate and does not support life.  Anyone who has visited or lived in the desert knows that despite appearing like it is dead and empty at first, plenty of life is present.  It just has a totally different way to adapt to things.  I was disappointed that the creative team leaned into this stereotype using green plants [photosynthesis] = livable and desert using angelic being plants = livable.  My own experience of living in the desert also made me cringe at Wolfwood’s shoes.  No.  Just no.  You do not wear slip on shoes in the desert.  Lace ups for sure and up past your ankle even better.

4.) Ample amount of creative effort went into this.  Again, Studio Orange put a lot of effort into this.   Technically, it is very nice.  If you wanted to look at it from an anime perspective, the presentation was excellent, and the writing was at most average.  But, with so much source material that they did not include and the creation of so much of their own original ideas and concepts, it took it far from the work.   If they wanted this as their product (which seems to have been their goal) then they succeeded.  However, if they wanted to take the original and build on it and give it a fresh coat of paint with 2020s Pantone Colors of the moment, they did not do that.

5.) I’m surprised at how many YT critics are impressed and overall giving this positive reviews.  I know that people in these positions have made it their job to do anime/manga media commentary and critiques so they may want to be less harsh perhaps.  Many of them saw the original material, and so many seem to be okay with it.  Yet, is anyone not commenting on what happened to all the female characters?  No!  This annoys me so much but repeating myself here won’t really do much other than reinforce the fact that I was very unhappy with Meryl, Elendira, Luida, and Rem.  Lazy writing would be with the limited time space for the episodes they became tropes and shadows of their former selves.  But Meryl was a key character and deserved better. Yes, I love to critique things I love and that is fair but I’m wishing for a more comprehensive critique of Trigun Stampede taken from not a bunch of dudes on the internet.  I have neither the time nor effort to become a Youtube creator and commentator in this space.  With that whole full time job sort of thing that pays quite well.  But I do want to see more women in this space expressing how they interact with media and walk us through their reactions an feelings towards it.  For example someone the The Anime Tea. I absolutely love her analyses! 

https://www.youtube.com/@TheAnimeTea

I honestly would love to see her do a review of Trigun Stampede!  But it might be outside of her general scope and I’m not here to demand an analysis from anyone.  She had a lot of nuanced and contextually appropriate reviews and ways to approaching things which is just - sooo good.

[starbug]

WCW United States Championship: Diamond Dallas Page © vs. Raven  April 19th, 1998 - WCW Spring Stampede, Denver Coliseum, Denver, CO

[iqwrestler]

@coldhologirlcrusade as if we didn’t already know! One of your old boyfriends took this sign to Spring Stampede ‘98!

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF SEASON REPORT - VOLUME 7

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The ECHL's Kelly Cup has been won. The AHL's Calder Cup winner was decided. On Wednesday night, the top award in professional hockey, the Stanley Cup will be awarded to either the St. Louis Blues or the hosting Boston Bruins. While that might be the top talk of the sport right now, it's not all that's going on in what was once again another busy week in the off-season. PACK UPDATE When JD speaketh people listen. In his first interview since taking over the Presidency of the New York Rangers, John Davidson spoke about the direction of the organization he now commands will be taking. The first topic he spoke about was here in Hartford and the dysfunction that has been the Wolf Pack over the past five years which is how long it's been since their last playoff appearance. Not only have they not made the playoffs, but the Wolf Pack have been languishing at or near the bottom of the entire AHL over that span. It's been one season worse than the next with no winning, no player development, and no fan happiness. Read about it HERE. LARRY PLEAU FEATURE Larry Pleau is one of the true Hartford Whaler legends. In his early career, the Lynn, MA native played for the 1963-64 Memorial Cup finalists Montreal N.D.G. (Notre Dame de Grace) Monarchs with future NHL’ers Carol Vadnais and Rogie Vachon, and the head coach was a very young, Scotty Bowman. He played in the AHL just before the WHA emerged. He played for the first Montreal-based team AHL team, the Voyageurs. They finished tops in a nine-team AHL but lost a second-round, three-team round-robin series to Buffalo and Springfield. He played for Montreal in 1971-72, after starting with the AHL team that moved to Nova Scotia, that lost to the Rangers in six games. Pleau jumped to the renegade WHA the following year. He played for the New England Whalers in their first season in Boston where they won the WHA Avco Cup. Pleau played all in seven New England Whaler WHA seasons, finishing as the second all-time leading scorer with 372 points to Tom Webster’s 425. He was tops in assists with 215 and second in games played with his 468 to Rick Ley’s 478. Brad Selwood was third with 431. When the Hartford Whalers were born, Pleau was with the team in its early NHL days. After retiring as a player, he worked behind the bench. Pleau as an assistant for two seasons (1979-1981) before being elevated to the head coach where he replaced Don Blackburn in 1981, Pleau was a head coach until 1983 before he making a second foray into the AHL, but as a coach. He was the head coach in Binghamton, who, at the time, was the Whalers' top affiliate, from 1984-1988. He won the AHL Coach of the Year (Louis A. Pieri Award) in 1985-86. He was brought back as a Whalers' head coach once again in 1987 as a mid-season replacement to Jack Evans where he stayed until 1989. Pleau hooked-up for a long association with the Rangers. He was there from 1989-1997 as their assistant GM, and Director of Player Development. He was also the last General Manager for the Rangers' Binghamton affiliate from 1995-1997 before the Rangers moved their farm team to Hartford. He moved on to become the GM of the St. Louis Blues from 1997-2010 and is still in a Senior Advisor role with the Blues. Read a fabulous piece on his relationship with the Blues HERE. CALDER CUP FINALS The high-speed hockey train called the Charlotte Checkers won their first Calder Cup title. Trailing by a 3-1 score on Thursday night, the Checkers dominated the second half of the game and scored four unanswered goals for a 5-3 win over the Chicago Wolves. They then went on to clinch their first title Saturday night in Chicago with another 5-3 win. In the deciding game, Morgan Geekie had a goal and two points, Andrew Poturalski scored twice and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of the 29 shots to have AHL Commissioner, Dave Andrews, come down and present the team with the Calder Cup. In Game 4, Nicolas Roy scored two goals, Martin Necas also chipped in with two points and ex-Wolf Pack, Dustin Tokarski, picked up his sixth win in the AHL post-season without a loss. Tokarski finished the campaign with a 13-0 record since being reassigned to Charlotte by the Rangers on February 28th in a swap that sent defenseman Josh Wesley to Hartford. The last Wolf Pack playoff win was on May 15, 2015, in a 6-3 win over the Hershey Bears. The Pack was led by Marek Hrvik, who had a hat trick. The Pack has had 56 franchise hat tricks during the regular season, but only four in the playoffs. The record for goals in a playoff game is held by Chris Kenady. He had four goals on April 20, 2000, against Springfield. Also that year, the Manchester Monarchs, in their last AHL season, swept the Pack en route to the Calder Cup. They scored the game’s first goal in 15 of the 19 playoffs games that year winning all 15 games. Charlotte’s performance is the only team that has come close to that level of perfection, During this playoff season, the Checkers scored first eight times, but in three of their wins, the opponent scored first.  KELLY CUP FINALS In their first ECHL season, the Newfound Growlers captured the championship in six games. They won the decisive championship game 4-3 over the Toledo Walleye at Mile One Centre in St. John’s. They became the first, first-year team to win the title since the Greensboro Monarchs in 1990, who were then coached by former Whaler, Jeff Brubaker. Former QU Bobcat goalie Michael Garteig played in 19 playoff contests for the championship squad. Five members of the team were from St. John’s, starting with playoff MVP, Zach O’Brien (16 goals and 29 points), and including captain James Melindy, Marcus Power, and Adam Pardy (Bonavista), a former NHL defenseman rounded out the playing quartet. After the game, Pardy announced he was retiring after giving his nephew a championship to see in person. The fifth Newfie was former New Haven Nighthawk, and Rangers assistant coach, and Mt. Pearl native, Darryl Williams, who is in his second coaching stint in his native province. The first was with the St. John’s Fog Devils (QMJHL) where, for three seasons, he was an assistant coach. He was hired temporarily in December with the medical absence taken by head coach and ex-Ranger, Ryane Clowe. He was formally added to the staff at the end of January. Williams is a St. John’s resident. Williams was a rough and tumble player during his skating days. He had 495 PIM in 136 AHL games along with 29 goals and 56 points. They all came during his time with New Haven, "Willy," as he was known, played and racked up 1,906 PIM in 540 IHL games along with 98 goals and 224 points. He played with Phoenix, Long Beach, and Detroit. He played in only two NHL games in 1992-’83 and had 10 PIM. Ex-Pack, Matt Register, played for the runner-up, Toledo Walleye. He climbed the statistical ECH playoff ladder with 124 playoff games played and 14 assists in the Kelly Cup Finals. UCONN 2019-20 SCHEDULE RELEASED The Huskies hit the XL Center for the first time on November 11th and 13th. It's a Friday and Saturday night with two non-conference games against Army (WCHA) for the home opener and then RPI from ECACHL conference the following night. The first Hockey East game will be against Merrimack on November 1st. They then will mark their visit ever from Miami (OH) (NCHC) on November 29-30, a week after Thanksgiving. The first-ever Connecticut Ice tourney with all four CT Division I college teams is from January 25th and 26th at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The schedule is HERE. NAHL DRAFT One of the last two major North American drafts was held last Tuesday when the US Tier II junior circuit-the North American Hockey league. Here are the CT connected draftees. Matt Crasa (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) was selected in the second round (31st overall) by the Amarillo (TX) Bulls. Crasa is a Sacred Heart University (AHA) commit for 2020-21. He was drafted by the Sioux City Stampede (USHL) this spring and by Windsor Spitfires (OHL) in 2017 Cooper Swift, (West Hartford/Choate Prep) also went in the second round (35th overall) by the Jamestown Rebels. He was selected by the Fargo Force (USHL) in their draft earlier in the spring. Corey Clifton was drafted in the third round (55th overall) by the Corpus Christi (TX) IceRays. He will become the third Clifton from his Matawan, NJ family to play at Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) in 2020-21. He played this season with the Surrey Eagles (BCHL) and was just traded this week to the Trail Smoke Eaters to play next season. He was drafted by Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) in 2017 and previously by the Aston Rebels (NAHL) in 2017. His brother, Connor Clifton, is competing for the Stanley Cup with the Bruins while his oldest brother, Tim Clifton, is with the San Jose Barracuda (AHL). Ian Pierce of Kent Prep went in the third round (60th overall) to the St. Cloud Blizzard. He is a Dartmouth (ECACHL) commit for 2020-21. Kennedy O’Connor (Loomis Chaffee) also went in round three (67th overall) to the Shreveport (LA) Mudbugs. He is a UMASS-Amherst (HE) commit for 2021-22. The Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) took him in their draft in April. Carter Primo Self, (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) was taken in the fifth round (127th overall) by the Amarillo Bulls and is a Miami (OH) (NCHC) commit for 2020-21. Matt Iasenza of Canterbury Prep (New Milford) went in the sixth round (144th overall) to the New Jersey Titans and has no college commit at this time. Philip Ekberg of the CT Jr, Rangers (USPHL) was taken in the ninth round (212th overall) by the Maryland Black Bears and also in uncommitted at this time. Logan Martinson, the son of former Nighthawk, Steve Martinson, the current coach of Allen (ECHL), was taken in the tenth round (236th overall) by the New Mexico Ice Wolves. He was selected by Langley (BCHL) in their 2018 Draft and in 2017 by Tri-City (USHL). The another CT Jr. Ranger was taken. Maxim Kuznetsov went in the tenth round (260th overall) by the Johnstown. Tomahawks. The last amateur draft before the NHL Draft in Vancouver in two weeks will be the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) in Quebec City on Saturday at the Videotron Centre. PLAYER & COACHING MOVEMENT Ex-Sound Tiger head coach Jack Capuano was hired as an associate head coach for the Ottawa Senators. Five more AHL’ers leaves for Europe. Josh Jooris, the ex-Ranger, leaves the Toronto Marlies and heads to HC Lausanne (Switzerland-LNA) on a rare three-year deal. Jooris holds Swiss citizenship. When his father Mark Jooris, a Vancouver scout and Junior A coach, played for Lausanne in the 1990s, he also played some junior hockey there before they returning to Canada. Libor Sulak leaves Grand Rapids for Severstal Cherepovets (Russia-KHL). Braden Christoffer goes from Bakersfield to Sterjen (Norway-NEL). Travis Murphy and Andrej Suster both go from San Diego to Kunlun (China-KHL) on two-year deals. These exits make 36 AHL’ers to sign in Europe. 21 of the league's 31 teams have now lost at least one player to Europe. Ex-Sound Tiger defenseman Mathieu Gagnon Brampton (ECHL) signs with Manchester (England-EIHL). Kevin Morris, (Salisbury Prep), the son of ex-Nighthawk, Mark Morris, announces his retirement after playing with Coventry (England-EIHL) this past season. He completed his MBA and heads off to the working world. Alex Barron (Quinnipiac University) signs with HK Dukla Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL) after splitting last season with EHC Freiburg (Germany DEL-2) and HK SKP Propad (Slovakia-SLEL). Mitch Ferguson of Division III SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC) signs with GHC Bordeaux (France-FREL) next season. That raises the number of college players signing in Europe to 33 and the total number of collegians to have signed pro deals art 218. Ex-Sound Tiger, Peter Mannino, who was let go at the University Miami (OH) (NCHC) as their associate head coach, doesn't stay unemployed long. He lands with the Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) as their new head coach. The Sioux Falls Stampede are the new USHL Clark Cup champions. They completed a three-game sweep in their best-of-five final over the Chicago Steel by the score of 5-1. Leading the way for Sioux Falls was goaltender Jaxson Stauber, the son of former Wolf Pack and Nighthawk goalie, Robb Stauber. The younger Stauber head to the University Minnesota-Mankato (NCHC) in the fall. Chicago was led by their head coach, the former Wolf Pack captain, and Sound Tiger, Greg Moore. THE CRAZY WORLD OF BILLY TIBBETTS The following link is of ex-Pack, Ranger, and Danbury Whaler, Billy Tibbetts. He actually ran for the Scituate, MA city council and lost. It’s a tour de force performance of classic Tibbetts and his riding high, riding low. It's unfiltered, raw, and unbridled. WARNING: For those sensitive to foul language, there are swear-words in some of these series of one and two-minute video clips. Tibbets is a lot of things, boring isn't one of them. HERE Read the full article

[runzwithbullz]

#98 WCW Spring Stampede 2000 ft. Ryan

[psychsounds]

Sylvia Patterson - I’m Not With the Band

1982: Massive Goth, flapping around dance floors to The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ wearing black canvas tops with buckles up the side and winklepicker shoes. Tribal warfare raged daily in the school common room, Boys vs Girls, the stinky, spotty, limp-haired boys ever-lurching towards the stereo with their hoary old vinyl ‘outings’ by Rush, Hawkwind and hideously perm-haired prog shriek howlers Led bleedin’ Zeppelin (the worst). Me and my pals stampeded in first, all the better to educate these losers with the stuff that really counted: Killing Joke, Bauhaus, Psychedelic Furs, Aztec Camera and blubsome Esperanto yodellers The Cocteau Twins. p. 21  

Fernandez born to be alive. p. 25

Paul Heaton was (and remains) a freedom fighter who believed humanity drank as much alcohol as it did (and still does) ‘to break down the Berlin Wall we build around ourselves.’ More gin flowed and more walls came tumbling down.  149

Growing up in Scotland in the 70s, especially if your parents were of the war generation - insulated from the rock n roll fifties by the demands of new parenthood and the new-found thrills of security - country n western music spoke to the collective sensibility like no other, built as it was on the deep-down depths of damage, desolation and devils. p. 178

A lasting symptom of growing up through the post punk era, with shards of the original punk mentality still lodged in your righteous convictions, meant the likes of Led Zeppelin - and everyone else the old bastards called ‘seminal’ were viewed into adulthood as Johnny Rotten’s fossilised dinosaurs. p. 203

Thing was, back in Spring ‘98, the young generation had lost its collective mind, no longer with two fingers cocked to the hoary hippies but celebrating the old bastards instead. Prog rock, confoundingly, had returned. Or, at least, a-whole-lotta-noodlin’ on the nonny-nonny ‘axe’ had returned via the likes of The Verve and the Beta Band, Britain now a psyched-out landscape of wiggy ‘riffs’ and bingo mayhem, the Beta Band’s on-tour backdrop a projection of dusty vintage album sleeves including Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Led bleedin’ Zeppelin. So know the young wanted to know all about them. p. 205

[vidmidnews]

WWE NetworkMILLENNIALS HAVE KILLED DANCING Previously on the Best and Worst of WCW Monday Nitro: Macho Man Randy Savage won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Spring Stampede thanks to interference from Kevin Nash, but lost it a day later on Nitro

[sualkmedeiors]

Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity

South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu recently gave a Ted Talk explaining the staggering growth of the Chinese internet and how it is rapidly changing millions of lives for the better. What’s especially fascinating is how impactful their internet growth has been for the Chinese migrant workers and the poor and how this is only the beginning.

There are still 600 million Chinese offline, their wages are rising too which means their spending power is a huge opportunity for internet startups. 

South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu talks about the impact of 772 million Chinese that are now on the internet:

Technology is Changing China

Once every 12 months, the world's largest human migration happens in China. Over the 40 day travel period of Chinese New Year 3 billion trips are taken as families reunite and celebrate. The most strenuous of these trips are taken by the country's 290 million migrant workers for many of whom this is the one chance a year to go home and see parents and children they left behind.

Travel options are very limited with plane tickets costing nearly half of their monthly salary, so most of them choose the train. Their average journey is 700 kilometers, the average travel time is over 15 hours and the country's tracks now have to handle 390 million travelers every Spring Festival.

Until recently, migrant workers would have to queue for long hours, sometimes days, just to buy tickets often only to be fleeced by scalpers and they still had to deal with near stampede conditions when travel day finally arrived, but technology has now started to ease this experience. Mobile and digital tickets now account for 70% of sales, greatly reducing the lines at train stations, digital ID scanners have replaced manual checks expediting the boarding process, and artificial intelligence is deployed across the network to optimize travel routes.

New solutions have been invented, China's largest taxi hailing platform Didi Dache launched a new service called Hitch which matches car owners are driving home with passengers looking for long-distance routes. In just its third year Hitch served 30 million trips in this past holiday season, the longest of which was further than 1500 miles. That's about the distance from Miami to Boston.

China's "Need Economy" is Driving Innovation

About a year and a half ago I moved from my home in New York City to Hong Kong to become the CEO of the South China Morning Post and from this new vantage point. I've observed something that is far less familiar to me, propelling so much of China's innovation and many of its entrepreneurs is an overwhelming need economy that is serving an underprivileged populace which has been separated for thirty years from China's economic boom.

The stark gaps that exist between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural, or the academic and the unschooled, these gaps form a soil that's ready for some incredible empowerment. When capital and investment become focused on the needs of people who are hanging to the bottom rungs of an economic ladder that's when we will start to see the internet truly become a job creator.

Because of the country's sheer scale and status as a rising superpower, the needs of its population have created an opportunity for a truly compelling impact. When explaining the rapid growth of the Chinese tech industry, many observers will cite two reasons. The first is the 1.4 billion people that call China home.

Chines Government: "Active Participation" or "Pervasive Intervention"

The second is the government's active participation, or pervasive intervention, depending on how you view it. The central authorities have spent heavily on network infrastructure over the years creating an attractive environment for investment at the same time they've insisted on standards and regulation, which has led to fast consensus and therefore fast adoption.

The world's largest pool of tech talent exists because of the abundance of educational incentives. Local domestic companies in the past have been protected from international competition by market controls. Of course, you cannot observe the Chinese internet without finding widespread censorship and very serious concerns about dystopian monitoring.

Yet, the Internet Has Continued to Grow

Yet the Internet has continued to grow and it is so big, much bigger than I think most of us realize. By the end of 2017, the Chinese internet population had reached 772 million users. It's larger than the populations of the United States, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Canada combined. Also,  98 percent of them are active on mobile and 92 percent used messaging apps. There are now 650 million digital news consumers and 580 million digital video consumers.

The country's largest ecommerce platform Alibaba now boasts 580 million monthly active users. It's about 80 percent larger than Amazon. On-demand travel between bikes and cars now account for 10 billion trips a year in China. That's two-thirds of all trips taken around the world. So it's a very mixed bag the internet exists in a restricted, arguably manipulated from within China, yet it is massive and has vastly improved the lives of its citizens. Even in its imperfection, the growth of the Chinese Internet should not be dismissed and it's worthy of our closer examination.

As the Chinese Internet continues to grow, even in its imperfection and restrictions and controls, the lives of its ones forgotten populations have been irrevocably elevated. There is a focus on populations of need, not of want, that has driven a lot of the curiosity, the creativity, and the development that we see. There's still more to come.

An Enormous Opportunity: 600 Million Chinese Offline

In America, internet penetration has now reached 88 percent. In China, the Internet has still only reached 56 percent of the populace. That means there are over 600 million people who are still offline and disconnected. That's nearly twice the US population and an enormous opportunity.

Wherever this alternative fuel exists, be it in China or Africa or Southeast Asia or the American heartland we should endeavor to follow it with capital and with effort driving both economic and societal impact all over the world. Just imagine for a minute what more could be possible if the global needs of the underserved become the primary focus of our inventions.

The post Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity appeared first on WebProNews.

from https://www.webpronews.com/chinese-internet-growth-is-staggering-and-is-still-an-enormous-business-opportunity/

[daleisgreat]

Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living

Earlier this year three-time WCW World Champion, master of the Diamond Cutter and yoga sensei, Diamond Dallas Page received his long overdue home video biography from WWE with the release of Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living (trailer). The biography is only a little over an hour, but it surprisingly hits almost all the notable points of his life and career, and the collection receives the standard extra feature treatment with several hours of bonus matches spanning his entire career. The brief time spent on Page’s childhood years growing up is an inspirational watch as he explains how he had to overcome hurdles such as ADD, Dyslexia and a car wreck at age 12 that wrecked his knee. Page explains how the car wreck left only sport left for him to play was basketball and stated how he was awful at it initially but over many years of practice made the high school’s starting squad. From personal life to professional life it goes to show the theme here is hard work pays off.

I recall reading how DDP was in the night club business, and Page goes into how he spent most of his 20s running night clubs and experimented with wrestling briefly before an injury in his second match got him to exit the business for the time and go back to the club scene. Even though they are now divorced, many fans remember DDP’s ex-wife Kimberly being a big part of his career as his on-TV manager, and WWE interviewed her for the video and she goes on to state how they met at one of Page’s bars and how their relationship evolved. I read Page’s autobiography, Positively Page, that came out all the way back when he was still in WCW in 2000 so I am a little familiar with his early life and how he broke into the business, but that was 17 years ago so this BluRay is a handy refresher and I gleamed many new things throughout. If you are unfamiliar with Page’s journey you may be surprised to learn he broke into the wrestling scene late, and did not make a TV debut until some connections from the night club scene landed him a manager gig in the AWA in 1987 when he was 30. They have clips of his manager tryout video which are awesomely-cheesy, and they are included in their entirety in the extras. WWE interviewed Scott Hall, Eric Bishoff, Terry Taylor and Goldust about meeting DDP in the clubs and helping him land his first job in the AWA.

DDP spent his first five years in the business as a manager in AWA, FCW and WCW, and even had a Wrestlemania VI cameo that DDP reveals on how it came to be. Hearing Page’s story on why he took up wrestling at age 35 and making his proper in-ring debut at the end of 1991 is one of the highlights of the documentary. It seems like an impossible task to start training at that age, but over the years Page kept plugging away and kept putting in the time to get better and the results are easily apparent over the years on how he became a top player in WCW. The documentary spends a little time with him progressing over this time, but the extra features are where it is more noticeable where they include a couple matches from each year of Page’s career. Page’s memories and respect for Dusty Rhodes are among my favorite parts of the bio. Page loves him, and I was all ears for the few big Dusty stories Page peppers out throughout the biography on how Dusty helped him out and motivated him throughout his career. A lot of time is spent on Page emerging as a breakout main event star in WCW in 1997 by feuding with the nWo and his intense rivalry with Randy Savage that lead to a classic series of matches with him. Hearing Page relive his success with Macho Man had me nostalgic for that era and that rivalry was one of the few things WCW did right among their ‘Monday Night War’ success. Ditto with Page recounting his super-successful run teaming with Karl Malone to take on Dennis Rodman and Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach ‘98. I had no idea until hearing Page state here that it was WCW’s highest grossing PPV of all time.

The documentary moves along to DDP winning his first WCW World Title at Spring Stampede ‘99 and Page has a good tale on how he met his goal to reach that milestone. I was not so surprised Positively Living skips the final two years of his WCW career since that was when WCW was in a downward spiral to its demise, but there were still a few interesting DDP moments from that era I would have liked to hear Page comment officially on such as his other celebrity team-ups with Jay Leno and David Arquette and DDP’s time teaming with his friends Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Kanyon in the Jersey Triad faction. Additionally, the Ready to Rumble film is a guilty pleasure of mine and I would have loved to hear DDP’s memories of being the primary WCW wrestler used in the movie. This clip from a shoot video interview will have to suffice instead. His final year in his full time career where he jumped to WWE following the WCW buyout is briefly touched on, and Page tongue-in-cheek admits he was not too big on how the whole ‘stalker’ character was handled but stated he tried his best to make it work. I am a big fan of his ‘positive’ character he introduced later on in 2001 and DDP said he was too and how it was an amped up version of himself. Kimberly has a nice memory of Page walking in and out as a champion at Wrestlemania X8 was a good bookend to his career.

Fans of DDP knows Page has had a ton of success post-wrestling with his yoga business. DDP & Kimberly go into detail about forming the yoga business after yoga helped DDP recover from injuries and after a couple rough early years their hard work turned DDP Yoga into a big success. I am glad they do not gloss over this part of DDP’s life as it has been tremendous for him and the countless others he has helped in the proceeding years. I vividly recall hearing how DDP was starting his yoga business and immediately scoffed at it and all the clichés that go with yoga. Then I heard and saw the success stories (DDP helping Jake Roberts in this Netflix doc is must-see!) of it with wrestlers like Scott Hall and Jake Roberts. Finally, after hearing Chris Jericho vouch for it on how it helped him recover from a back injury last year I took the plunge and ordered the DDP Yoga DVDs when I was dealing with some shoulder issues. After a few weeks I was surprised at how much better the shoulder and my general well being improved. Now, a year later I still routinely do DDP Yoga three times a week. The documentary has a nice final chapter where DDP and his current wife Brenda are interviewed about how they met and how DDP is a proud stepfather. The WWE production crew also capture DDP’s genuine raw reaction to Triple H calling him and informing him that he would be inducted into the 2016 Hall of Fame class in a emotional scene that once again proves that DDP’s mantra of hard work does indeed pay off. I went into a lot of detail than I anticipated for an hour long documentary, but DDP was one of my ‘Monday Night War’ favorites and for the most part I like how this biography was handled.

There are 22 matches to indulge in the extras, or 27 if you go the BluRay route. Again, I really like how the first several matches feature Page in his early part of his career teaming with other before-they-were-stars talent such as Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Raven, Cactus Jack and Buff Bagwell in the early 90s. DDP is very green, but the matches just go to show for far he improved over the years. He has some breakout matches from 1997 in here that established him as a main event player with bouts against Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan and Curt Hennig. His standout PPV headlining encounter with Bill Goldberg from Halloween Havoc ‘98 is here in all its glory, and to this day I still think DDP got the most out of Goldberg in the ring. Both of DDP’s celebrity tag matches from 1998 are in here where he tags with Malone and Jay Leno. The match with Malone actually has some surprisingly decent action, and Jay Leno is wisely only used for comedy spots (minus his armbar of doom). Not-so-surprisingly his tag match with David Arquette is not included. A couple of excellent US Title matches with Bret Hart are however, as well as both matches that saw him lose and regain the title from Sting on the same night (I will never forget being there live for those two matches and going nuts for that first match against Sting!). The extras close with DDP’s successful European title defense against Christian at Wrestlemania X8. I give Positively Living the highest of recommendations. Minus a few nitpicks mentioned above, I was really happy with the biography since it covers almost all the major parts of his personal and professional life thoroughly and it has nearly most of his major matches included as well as a few hidden gems. Whether you were an avid fan of DDP or not, his unorthodox journey and inspiring message is one that should be witnessed by all fans. Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 For All Mankind Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold RoH Supercard of Honor V RoH Supercard of Honor VI RoH Supercard of Honor VII RoH Supercard of Honor VIII RoH Supercard of Honor IX RoH Supercard of Honor X ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Sting: Into the Light Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28 Wrestlemania 29 Wrestlemania 30 Wrestlemania 31 Wrestlemania 32 The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016

[the64thfloor]

spring stampede 98 was so turnt omg bout to watch this tonight

[sualkmedeiors]

Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity

South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu recently gave a Ted Talk explaining the staggering growth of the Chinese internet and how it is rapidly changing millions of lives for the better. What’s especially fascinating is how impactful their internet growth has been for the Chinese migrant workers and the poor and how this is only the beginning.

There are still 600 million Chinese offline, their wages are rising too which means their spending power is a huge opportunity for internet startups. 

South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu talks about the impact of 772 million Chinese that are now on the internet:

Technology is Changing China

Once every 12 months, the world's largest human migration happens in China. Over the 40 day travel period of Chinese New Year 3 billion trips are taken as families reunite and celebrate. The most strenuous of these trips are taken by the country's 290 million migrant workers for many of whom this is the one chance a year to go home and see parents and children they left behind.

Travel options are very limited with plane tickets costing nearly half of their monthly salary, so most of them choose the train. Their average journey is 700 kilometers, the average travel time is over 15 hours and the country's tracks now have to handle 390 million travelers every Spring Festival.

Until recently, migrant workers would have to queue for long hours, sometimes days, just to buy tickets often only to be fleeced by scalpers and they still had to deal with near stampede conditions when travel day finally arrived, but technology has now started to ease this experience. Mobile and digital tickets now account for 70% of sales, greatly reducing the lines at train stations, digital ID scanners have replaced manual checks expediting the boarding process, and artificial intelligence is deployed across the network to optimize travel routes.

New solutions have been invented, China's largest taxi hailing platform Didi Dache launched a new service called Hitch which matches car owners are driving home with passengers looking for long-distance routes. In just its third year Hitch served 30 million trips in this past holiday season, the longest of which was further than 1500 miles. That's about the distance from Miami to Boston.

China's "Need Economy" is Driving Innovation

About a year and a half ago I moved from my home in New York City to Hong Kong to become the CEO of the South China Morning Post and from this new vantage point. I've observed something that is far less familiar to me, propelling so much of China's innovation and many of its entrepreneurs is an overwhelming need economy that is serving an underprivileged populace which has been separated for thirty years from China's economic boom.

The stark gaps that exist between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural, or the academic and the unschooled, these gaps form a soil that's ready for some incredible empowerment. When capital and investment become focused on the needs of people who are hanging to the bottom rungs of an economic ladder that's when we will start to see the internet truly become a job creator.

Because of the country's sheer scale and status as a rising superpower, the needs of its population have created an opportunity for a truly compelling impact. When explaining the rapid growth of the Chinese tech industry, many observers will cite two reasons. The first is the 1.4 billion people that call China home.

Chines Government: "Active Participation" or "Pervasive Intervention"

The second is the government's active participation, or pervasive intervention, depending on how you view it. The central authorities have spent heavily on network infrastructure over the years creating an attractive environment for investment at the same time they've insisted on standards and regulation, which has led to fast consensus and therefore fast adoption.

The world's largest pool of tech talent exists because of the abundance of educational incentives. Local domestic companies in the past have been protected from international competition by market controls. Of course, you cannot observe the Chinese internet without finding widespread censorship and very serious concerns about dystopian monitoring.

Yet, the Internet Has Continued to Grow

Yet the Internet has continued to grow and it is so big, much bigger than I think most of us realize. By the end of 2017, the Chinese internet population had reached 772 million users. It's larger than the populations of the United States, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Canada combined. Also,  98 percent of them are active on mobile and 92 percent used messaging apps. There are now 650 million digital news consumers and 580 million digital video consumers.

The country's largest ecommerce platform Alibaba now boasts 580 million monthly active users. It's about 80 percent larger than Amazon. On-demand travel between bikes and cars now account for 10 billion trips a year in China. That's two-thirds of all trips taken around the world. So it's a very mixed bag the internet exists in a restricted, arguably manipulated from within China, yet it is massive and has vastly improved the lives of its citizens. Even in its imperfection, the growth of the Chinese Internet should not be dismissed and it's worthy of our closer examination.

As the Chinese Internet continues to grow, even in its imperfection and restrictions and controls, the lives of its ones forgotten populations have been irrevocably elevated. There is a focus on populations of need, not of want, that has driven a lot of the curiosity, the creativity, and the development that we see. There's still more to come.

An Enormous Opportunity: 600 Million Chinese Offline

In America, internet penetration has now reached 88 percent. In China, the Internet has still only reached 56 percent of the populace. That means there are over 600 million people who are still offline and disconnected. That's nearly twice the US population and an enormous opportunity.

Wherever this alternative fuel exists, be it in China or Africa or Southeast Asia or the American heartland we should endeavor to follow it with capital and with effort driving both economic and societal impact all over the world. Just imagine for a minute what more could be possible if the global needs of the underserved become the primary focus of our inventions.

The post Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity appeared first on WebProNews.

from https://www.webpronews.com/chinese-internet-growth-is-staggering-and-is-still-an-enormous-business-opportunity/

[sualkmedeiors]

Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity

South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu recently gave a Ted Talk explaining the staggering growth of the Chinese internet and how it is rapidly changing millions of lives for the better. What’s especially fascinating is how impactful their internet growth has been for the Chinese migrant workers and the poor and how this is only the beginning.

There are still 600 million Chinese offline, their wages are rising too which means their spending power is a huge opportunity for internet startups. 

South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu talks about the impact of 772 million Chinese that are now on the internet:

Technology is Changing China

Once every 12 months, the world's largest human migration happens in China. Over the 40 day travel period of Chinese New Year 3 billion trips are taken as families reunite and celebrate. The most strenuous of these trips are taken by the country's 290 million migrant workers for many of whom this is the one chance a year to go home and see parents and children they left behind.

Travel options are very limited with plane tickets costing nearly half of their monthly salary, so most of them choose the train. Their average journey is 700 kilometers, the average travel time is over 15 hours and the country's tracks now have to handle 390 million travelers every Spring Festival.

Until recently, migrant workers would have to queue for long hours, sometimes days, just to buy tickets often only to be fleeced by scalpers and they still had to deal with near stampede conditions when travel day finally arrived, but technology has now started to ease this experience. Mobile and digital tickets now account for 70% of sales, greatly reducing the lines at train stations, digital ID scanners have replaced manual checks expediting the boarding process, and artificial intelligence is deployed across the network to optimize travel routes.

New solutions have been invented, China's largest taxi hailing platform Didi Dache launched a new service called Hitch which matches car owners are driving home with passengers looking for long-distance routes. In just its third year Hitch served 30 million trips in this past holiday season, the longest of which was further than 1500 miles. That's about the distance from Miami to Boston.

China's "Need Economy" is Driving Innovation

About a year and a half ago I moved from my home in New York City to Hong Kong to become the CEO of the South China Morning Post and from this new vantage point. I've observed something that is far less familiar to me, propelling so much of China's innovation and many of its entrepreneurs is an overwhelming need economy that is serving an underprivileged populace which has been separated for thirty years from China's economic boom.

The stark gaps that exist between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural, or the academic and the unschooled, these gaps form a soil that's ready for some incredible empowerment. When capital and investment become focused on the needs of people who are hanging to the bottom rungs of an economic ladder that's when we will start to see the internet truly become a job creator.

Because of the country's sheer scale and status as a rising superpower, the needs of its population have created an opportunity for a truly compelling impact. When explaining the rapid growth of the Chinese tech industry, many observers will cite two reasons. The first is the 1.4 billion people that call China home.

Chines Government: "Active Participation" or "Pervasive Intervention"

The second is the government's active participation, or pervasive intervention, depending on how you view it. The central authorities have spent heavily on network infrastructure over the years creating an attractive environment for investment at the same time they've insisted on standards and regulation, which has led to fast consensus and therefore fast adoption.

The world's largest pool of tech talent exists because of the abundance of educational incentives. Local domestic companies in the past have been protected from international competition by market controls. Of course, you cannot observe the Chinese internet without finding widespread censorship and very serious concerns about dystopian monitoring.

Yet, the Internet Has Continued to Grow

Yet the Internet has continued to grow and it is so big, much bigger than I think most of us realize. By the end of 2017, the Chinese internet population had reached 772 million users. It's larger than the populations of the United States, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Canada combined. Also,  98 percent of them are active on mobile and 92 percent used messaging apps. There are now 650 million digital news consumers and 580 million digital video consumers.

The country's largest ecommerce platform Alibaba now boasts 580 million monthly active users. It's about 80 percent larger than Amazon. On-demand travel between bikes and cars now account for 10 billion trips a year in China. That's two-thirds of all trips taken around the world. So it's a very mixed bag the internet exists in a restricted, arguably manipulated from within China, yet it is massive and has vastly improved the lives of its citizens. Even in its imperfection, the growth of the Chinese Internet should not be dismissed and it's worthy of our closer examination.

As the Chinese Internet continues to grow, even in its imperfection and restrictions and controls, the lives of its ones forgotten populations have been irrevocably elevated. There is a focus on populations of need, not of want, that has driven a lot of the curiosity, the creativity, and the development that we see. There's still more to come.

An Enormous Opportunity: 600 Million Chinese Offline

In America, internet penetration has now reached 88 percent. In China, the Internet has still only reached 56 percent of the populace. That means there are over 600 million people who are still offline and disconnected. That's nearly twice the US population and an enormous opportunity.

Wherever this alternative fuel exists, be it in China or Africa or Southeast Asia or the American heartland we should endeavor to follow it with capital and with effort driving both economic and societal impact all over the world. Just imagine for a minute what more could be possible if the global needs of the underserved become the primary focus of our inventions.

The post Chinese Internet Growth is Staggering and is Still an Enormous Business Opportunity appeared first on WebProNews.

from https://www.webpronews.com/chinese-internet-growth-is-staggering-and-is-still-an-enormous-business-opportunity/