S29.E11: As Easy As Stacking Cups

[mertensia]

I'm 52, female, and still have my Sega Genesis, so bite me, Tara. 

I was amused that Brooke had to constantly reassure Scott that she could do that cup-stacking.

[enlightenedbum]

For the record I think the median gamer nowadays is like 39.  And I think they're majority women now, just barely.

[Miles]

12 hours ago, Fukui San said:

So here's what I can tell you about that challenge. Anything more elaborate than a kick or punch relies on memorizing sequences with specific timing. The fireballs, throws, uppercuts, and special attacks are largely unavailable until you learn them.

It's been like 20 years since I played (Super) Street Fighter (II Turbo), but wasn't the Hadouken (fireball) just "down, foreward, punch" and the upper cut "up, punch"? That's not exactly hard, especially with the nice joysticks they had. Much harder on a SNES d-pad. Plus, you can just block Hadoukens, you don't have to jump over them. Street Fighter V also isn't like the olden days, where you had to intuit the combos. There is a training mode and at some point during the episode somebody said that the racers had to go through that first, before they played the pros.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Miles

[RockShrimp]

Watched a few days late, but I am disappointed in you all at the lack of inappropriate "Redmond just needed one more leg" jokes.

[holly4755]

well if you look at the additional video, he did it at the finish line. 

[fib]

My first trip to Seoul, ( in 2003) it took 2+ hours to get from the airport to the Hyatt downtown because of traffic. After a 10+ hour flight, it was brutal.  BUT.  It was the one year anniversary of two Korean children being run over by an American Army tank and there were massive protests downtown (this was back when N Korea was less threatening than it is today, and S Koreans were tiring of the American military presence). So even with my horror story, I would never take the train.  It's not a high speed one, and the Airport is really far out of town.  Then Seoul is ENORMOUS.  It is 10 million people, ie, bigger than New York.  So if you have to go to the center of town in the train to then take the subway (stopping every stop) to reach Gangnam, you are wasting a LOT of time.  

I, like Tara, am NOT a gamer.  I am 2 years younger than she and never played them and as a result I just dont have the hand/eye/screen coordination for it.  I think she, like me, is the product of parents who were against video games and she internalized it.  It was totally a time waster, though, it allowed for bonding and hand/eye coordination development.  My friends in college who went on to become surgeons? Gamers. 

But her strategy of careful attacks? Clearly idiotic.  Once London got it, she could have asked for a tip. "Fighting the real bad guys?"  Harumph. And  Clearly Tara isnt aware of the direction the military is going.  Drone warfare is notoriously similar to gaming, to the extent that there are concerns over the ethics of it, since the drone operators are so detached from the violence. I can give her a pass for her frustration, but not for her ridiculous approach to the game. 

Kimchi tastes exactly like cajun spiced soggy cabbage. Its a texture and spice thing - if you dont like the texture, or spice, you're not going to like Kimchi. 

I thought this was a fun leg - much less of the "physical" aspects of the race and more of the technical and brainpower challenges.  Cupping and gaming? Not exactly smarts challenges, but definitely not your classic, "brute strength and power through" elements.  

[jhlipton]

18 hours ago, greyhorse said:

Do you live in Los Angeles?  The subway/train that exists in downtown LA to the neighboring cities is a pathetic imitation of public transportation.  They are expanding the train, but the process will take years and will never be what it is in NYC or Chicago.  You pretty much have no choice but to drive unless you happen to live right next to a train station.  And yes, because everybody drives, traffic always sucks.

I haven't tried going from or to downtown from the airport [take the Red Line to the Blue Line (which 2 or more blocks away!) to the Green Line to the Polka-Dot Line (OK, that's actually a bus)...].  I live in Norwalk (north of Anaheim) and if the 110 is really jammed, the train would be about the same as car.  I agree that the LA Metro (which had to change its name from Rapid Transit District because people wouldn't stop laughing!) is a joke compared with SF, DC or ATL.  That's largely because LA is more a collection of small towns (Burbank, Pasadena, Downey, Whittier, etc) sprawled over a huge area than a true "city".

[raven]

On 5/27/2017 at 8:33 AM, Haleth said:

Looking down the list of winners there are only a couple exceptions to the young and fit mold.

True, my basic issue being they're all so interchangeable.  I'm no expert on TAR as some others here are but I even remember what's called "classic" because of racers with stand-out, individual personalities - Danny/Oswald, Ken/Gerard, Kisha/Jen, Chip/Kim; even divisive ones like Luke/Margie stood out,  Unfortunately as the contestants have come more and more out of a metaphorical central casting, the show has dumbed things down considerably (lack of driving, spoon fed travel arrangements, etc).  So nobody really stands out because they're smart at the airport or whatever.

Also, as has been mentioned by others, the lack of contestant interaction at the pit stop has robbed us of down time moments and reduced most of what we see to variations of "woooo awesome" or complaining and fighting.

The dating season didn't turn out as horrible as I thought it would (though I couldn't tell you who won) and there's potential in pairing strangers but we've gotten the usual types with the usual issues, which is all on casting.  Or maybe there's just no one new out there.

That said, this episode was pretty dull - watching people stack cups and then play video games isn't really exciting for me.

[jumper sage]

On 5/27/2017 at 3:58 PM, backformore said:

I knew a lot of moms who had the attitude Tara seemed to have, that video games are evil and will lead kids down a bad path.

Today's education and workforce use video gaming skills.  From the military, to driver's ed to surgery etc. 

[JenMcSnark]

1 hour ago, jumper sage said:

Today's education and workforce use video gaming skills.  From the military, to driver's ed to surgery etc. 

And, as my daughter (who would love to be a professional gamer but, alas, has to make use of her degree in public relations) pointed out, many military men and women spend their downtime playing video games.  So Tara can also suck it with all that 'I'm busy saving REAL lives' bullshit. 

[Merneith]

7 hours ago, fib said:

My friends in college who went on to become surgeons? Gamers. 

Have you seen the  the Da Vinci Robot surgery? It would look right at home next to the Street Fighter booth at the Arcade -

http://www.davincisurgery.com/da-vinci-cardiac/da-vinci-surgical-system/

The surgeon sits and uses controls while looking through a magnified 3d image of the surgery. There are four robotic arms for the surgeon to control. It allows for great precision and microscopically small movements.

Here's how the Mayo Clinic describes it:

 

Quote

The tower, which is positioned directly over the patient during surgery, contains the robot’s four arms—three that can hold a multitude of different surgical instruments, and a fourth that holds the system’s 3-D cameras. These arms are controlled by a computer that exactly replicates the movements of the operating surgeon.

The console is where the surgeon sits and operates the robot’s controls while looking into a stereoscopic monitor that provides a magnified, high definition 3-D view of the surgical site. The surgeon manipulates the robot’s four arms by maneuvering two master controls that provide fingertip precision of movement.

The surgeon also operates a footswitch that provides additional options, such as the ability to switch between two different energy sources. Touchpads allow the surgeon to easily adjust video, audio and system settings, while the ergonomic console and the alignment of the controls and monitor are designed to keep the surgeon in a relaxed, focused position at all times.

Finally, additional video screens link in the rest of the surgical team by providing a two-dimensional view of what the surgeon is looking at through the da Vinci’s stereoptic monitor.

I would certainly hope that my robot surgeon was a gamer.

[LittleIggy]

I thought the little Korean boy fist-pumping about his cup stacking prowess was adorable.

[Corgi-ears]

13 hours ago, RockShrimp said:

Watched a few days late, but I am disappointed in you all at the lack of inappropriate "Redmond just needed one more leg" jokes.

AftermathTV already got...a leg up on you.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Corgi-ears

[evuaska]

On 2017-05-27 at 8:43 AM, sigmaforce86 said:

Joey, I know you're tired, I know you see the end and want to be in the final but no, the gamer isn't obligated to "let" your partner win or go easy on her.  Sorry the challenge sucked but face it - if a gamer went easy on another player you'd be complaining they got an unfair advantage.  It is possible to pick the wrong person to play against - Tara's opponent seemed to have had his sense of humor removed at some point but that's just luck of the draw.

Perhaps playing against Tara and listening to the denigrative  comments from her and Joey diminished any sense of humour he had. Those gamers are professionals, just like any other professional they had to compete against (the rowers in one of the first challenges). Tara and Joey didn't seem to appreciate that losing the video challenge because it is out of your experience/comfort zone is no different from losing a physical challenge that is out of your experience/comfort zone (like riding bikes with lots of baskets). They were condescending because they weren't doing well in the task and because they actually do look down on young gamers. The stress may have caused Joey's comments to come out, but they wouldn't have come out if they didn't truly already exist in his thought process. 

I liked this team at the beginning of the race, but their whining about the U-turns (that they themselves used twice) and their rude comments about the gamers really turned me off them. Have they always been like this or is their edit changing? In her recap, London mentioned something about the camera team "liking" them and that it "made a difference". I suppose it makes a difference to what gets filmed or submitted for editing.

[Shades of Scarlet]

One particularly heinous aspect of Tara's asinine "fighting the real bad guys" comment is that those video gaming kids live about 30 miles away from a maniac who possesses enough weaponry to level their very pretty city and kill them all within minutes.  Not to mention the large detachment of AMERICAN MILITARY PERSONNEL who are right there as well, protecting the country.  That kid having fun doing something he enjoyed is on the front lines near a very real bad guy every day of his life, not just when he goes to a forward area like the apparently 70-year old Major Tara.  What a completely humorless, clueless dipshit.  

LoLo for the win!  

[fib]

1 hour ago, Shades of Scarlet said:

One particularly heinous aspect of Tara's asinine "fighting the real bad guys" comment is that those video gaming kids live about 30 miles away from a maniac who possesses enough weaponry to level their very pretty city and kill them all within minutes.  Not to mention the large detachment of AMERICAN MILITARY PERSONNEL who are right there as well, protecting the country.  That kid having fun doing something he enjoyed is on the front lines near a very real bad guy every day of his life, not just when he goes to a forward area like the apparently 70-year old Major Tara.  What a completely humorless, clueless dipshit.  

LoLo for the win!  

Not to mention Korea has a mandatory draft for men. These guys are either army or police, or will be, for 2 years of their post highschool life. 

[chaifan]

I wasn't a fan of the video game challenge, just because I found it rather uninteresting to watch.  I'm sure gamers, especially those familiar with that particular game, found it interesting.  But it did nothing for me.  At least with the cups you could see the racers improve and see how they were getting close to beating the clock. 

I'm not a fan of Brooke, but I think the final leg will be more interesting with these three teams.  I'm hoping there is a really challenging final task.  No counting poker chips (that was the lamest final challenge ever), but something that is a little more than a standard memory test.

[egnever]

On 5/28/2017 at 0:21 AM, enlightenedbum said:

For the record I think the median gamer nowadays is like 39.  And I think they're majority women now, just barely.

Only if you count mobile games. E-sports and competitive gaming are still hugely, hugely male dominated. In most e-sport titles, you have to go far, far down the rankings before you find the first woman (if there even are any at that level).

Tara and Joey have lost me. Gaming is a hobby that's enjoyable regardless of age or gender. And e-sports is a perfectly acceptable form of entertainment, especially in an e-sports crazed country like Korea. Those people aren't teenage degenerates. They're highly trained professionals who who made it to where they are with a lot of hard work and dedication. To see that level of dismissiveness about them and their career is absolutely disgusting. And I suspect if it was a more 'mainstream' profession you would see a lot more backlash about it.

[aradia22]

Wow. Not having to do much during a leg really puts Brooke in a good mood. Who was that person?

It looked rainy/dreary so it was hard to tell what time it was and how long the trips took so I had no idea whether the taxi vs. train decision made sense. 

The things with the girls dancing was awkward. No one explained what it was. The crowd didn't seem excited enough for them to be a pop group. But they didn't seem like amateurs... like the stage was some kind of equivalent to a photo booth. It was odd. Did they have to stay and watch the whole routine to get their next clue? I dunno.

I'm not sure why Joey decided to do the cup stacking unless it was to keep their count even. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd be sure to be good at. It was also weird that Logan decided to do it instead of waiting for something physical.

Even the way Brooke talked herself through the cup stacking was completely different. Who is this person?

The place where they were making kimchi was lovely. It was a nice reminder that sometimes there can be task locations that are enjoyable to look at. It was also nice to have a challenge that wasn't all or nothing. OK, these are good. Do those again. 

And then the Brooke we all know came back at the kimchi place. Well, that peace was nice while it lasted. She didn't really work herself up too much though.

Then they said they had to eat something and the camera showed a whole plate and I thought (Oh, no, Brooke!) but it only ended up being a tiny piece. 

Lolo are too boring. She's a little fake. I don't think he likes her that much... still. And I think they might secretly be devious but there's not enough on screen to make it interesting. So... I'm rooting for Brooke and Scott. I'M SORRY. I can't help it. There's no one left. 

A gaming challenge. With "handicaps" every 10 rounds. Cool. I like different challenges. Not just running around and getting things. 

I'm curious if Logan would have been better at the game. I think he implied he'd be better than London but not that he's a regular gamer.

I don't know the Street Fighter controls so it just looked like they were "hitting all the buttons" like Brooke said. XD

Knowing you'd lose, I'd probably take things easy until the blindfolds and the tricks starting coming out to not tire out your fingers. I enjoyed Scott's trash talking though. I don't care if he's a ham. That's how you play. But it probably didn't endear him to his adversary. I wonder how much London's guy was inclined to go easy on a pretty girl. And how much Tara's guy wanted to go easy on her... just because he seemed nice. He's the only one I remember apologizing. I do think even blindfolded and with one hand behind their backs, given the controls, those guys still could have taken them. I assume the producers gave them a point at which to let them win.

Joey was being ridiculous. It's supposed to be a challenge. He's not a bad guy because he's not letting you win. It's not like he was the kind of gamer troll who you'd be right to resent. Not even going to bother with all the gendered comments. 

I was really happy when Brooke and Scott won. I'm sorry. I know. But I was. 

You know, I do think I might have liked Matt with another partner. I haven't liked Red for some time but with the way they've been recently, I would have been OK with Tara and Joey going home. Matt and Redmond seemed to race pretty well this leg aside from the train and taxi trouble. 

Anyone know the song at the end or have some good K-Pop recommendations?

[aradia22]

Quote

Granted, I don't know New York personally, but I doubt the subway is faster than a cab, after rush hour is over. I have seen too much TAR to believe that. The subway is always slower, even in cities with amazing public transport and a ton of traffic like Tokyo, unless it's rush hour.

And locals are always wrong about this fact. They always say the subway is fastest and then it turns out not to be true.

I suppose my word won't count for much since I'm a local but if I'm going a long distance (not walking distance) the subway is totally faster than a cab as long as the right trains are running (which is the difference between NY and cities with simpler train systems). Aside from the train not running, the only thing that would add to travel time is waiting for the train and then walking the rest of the way to your destination. Rush hour is actually bad for the subway since it's super crowded around 5-ish when people are getting out of work. 

[aradia22]

Quote

It actually would be nice if teams were forced to take public transit wherever possible. It would cut out a lot of taxi-luck, make them actually navigate a little themselves (you can always board the wrong train or bus), hussle a bit to get the connection, etc. Of course it's a bit of a fine line, you don't want them bunching up after every task, but if you are in a big city where trains run every 5-10 minutes, I think that would be a great opportunity to have them take public transport.

Amazing producers, if you are reading this, please make it happen!

I think it could be more interesting to watch if it really divided the teams up. But then, it also gets boring to watch everyone do the tasks and then watch Matt and Redmond get through them later. I'm sure there are also practical concerns... like safety and also not wanting to have the camera people go get lost with them. Not sure what the regulations are for paying the camera people. Last I heard, people on reality shows (behind the scenes, I mean) aren't paid that well but still, probably not a lot of good footage from sitting in a subway car and maybe they can claim overtime. I like taxi-adjacent alternatives, like jitneys and buses that have irregular schedules. Maybe not bikes in somewhere hot like Vietnam with a bunch of physical tasks again but somewhere like Amsterdam? Or maybe motorcycles or scooters in Italy... though that might be something you have to know how to use before the race. Anyway, I agree that more public transportation (aside from when they bunch up because everyone's on the same train or bus or ferry) would be nice but I can imagine reasons why they avoid it. 

[cujo]

5 hours ago, aradia22 said:

 

I'm not sure why Joey decided to do the cup stacking unless it was to keep their count even. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd be sure to be good at. It was also weird that Logan decided to do it instead of waiting for something physical.

 

Lolo are too boring. She's a little fake. I don't think he likes her that much... still. And I think they might secretly be devious but there's not enough on screen to make it interesting. So... I'm rooting for Brooke and Scott. I'M SORRY. I can't help it. There's no one left. 

A gaming challenge. With "handicaps" every 10 rounds. Cool. I like different challenges. Not just running around and getting things. 

I'm curious if Logan would have been better at the game. I think he implied he'd be better than London but not that he's a regular gamer.

I don't know the Street Fighter controls so it just looked like they were "hitting all the buttons" like Brooke said. XD

Knowing you'd lose, I'd probably take things easy until the blindfolds and the tricks starting coming out to not tire out your fingers.

Only because I watched London and Chase's (featuring Logan for the first time) recap about the episode I'm able to answer some of these for you. Logan did the cup stacking because they essentially read gym and assumed it was a physical task that was made for Logan. They laughed when it was "the least physical thing you could do in a gym" but just kept Logan doing it - they didn't know at this point that the other partner would have to do the next task no matter what.

London and Logan get along quite well. But he doesn't like her "like that" and after the race Logan and Sara (from Sara and Shamir) got together and are still together. Sara was also in the recap video.

Bringing us to the gaming challenge. Logan said he played video games essentially for the first 18 years of his life and was somewhat familiar with Street Fighter. He told London who has never played video games ever to execute the button mashing technique as that's essentially what you do when you first start a fighting game if you have no clue what anything does. There's a lot of key combo/sequences to do for the special moves so if you're mashing at the buttons chances are you'll accidentally fall on to one of them. The racers didn't know about the handicaps happening and when they'd happen. London stated if she knew that she'd get an advantage after the tenth round she would have just sat there the first rounds getting beat.

[iMonrey]

Quote

They were condescending because they weren't doing well in the task and because they actually do look down on young gamers. The stress may have caused Joey's comments to come out, but they wouldn't have come out if they didn't truly already exist in his thought process.

What I found really offensive was Joey's need to denigrate the character of the pro gamer kid that Tara was playing against. That's why I'm not inclined to just give his behavior a pass and chalk it up to frustration. It's one thing to say "Well, gee, I wish this kid would just give her a break" but Joey had to go one step further and assign character flaw to this kid - "he's got an ego, he likes beating up on women." What? Joey doesn't even know this kid, but because Tara is losing, Joey starts talking smack about some kid like there must be something seriously wrong with this kid. 

[aradia22]

Quote

Only because I watched London and Chase's (featuring Logan for the first time) recap about the episode I'm able to answer some of these for you. Logan did the cup stacking because they essentially read gym and assumed it was a physical task that was made for Logan. 

Well, that seems silly as most of the others seemed to run to the door, see the oversized cups and know what they were doing. I think Matt and Redmond actually ran into the gym before deciding who would do the detour. 

But thanks for answering my questions anyway. The racers' recaps would give some added perspective but I can't bring myself to watch more of them than I already am. 

[holly4755]

I don't know what the camera people are paid, but I know that the camera person has to run fast backwards, heh.  they have a ton of camera teams on this show, they used to and probably still do have the camera crews alternate weeks, and they don't stay with the same racers. Every task had a separate crew to video so the people who accompany the racers get a break. 

[HawaiiTVGuy]

4 hours ago, holly4755 said:

I don't know what the camera people are paid, but I know that the camera person has to run fast backwards, heh.  they have a ton of camera teams on this show, they used to and probably still do have the camera crews alternate weeks, and they don't stay with the same racers. Every task had a separate crew to video so the people who accompany the racers get a break. 

I never thought about this, but yeah, that would make a lot of sense.  But man, if I there was a show to get as a camera guy, this is the one to get, being able to travel and see the world with an occasional day off here and there between work?  Sounds like fun!

[Netfoot]

24 minutes ago, HawaiiTVGuy said:

But man, if I there was a show to get as a camera guy, this is the one to get, being able to travel and see the world with an occasional day off here and there between work?  Sounds like fun!

Toatlie!  But hard work, I expect.  I mean, some poor sod has to sit in a car with Brooke all day.  Camera man can maybe put in ear-plugs, but Sound man can't...

[holly4755]

I meant Camera men alternate legs, not weeks,  a brain fart. 

Edited June 1, 2017 by holly4755

[piequinn35]

Lol Tara, I can understand she was in the military, but Tara I am 37, I played all diablo games, call of duty, clash of clans, boom beach, simcity, candy crush, etc lol.

[Merneith]

I'm almost 50 and I've been playing video games constantly since 1976, when my Dad brought home a Pong machine, all excited because it was The Future!