03-31-2024, 05:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-03-2024, 12:04 PM by wetwilleh. Edited 1 time in total.)
Welcome to Inside the Quacktors Studio!
Inside the Actors Studio was a long-running interview show, hosted by James Lipton, where actors would take part in a candid interview about their craft, their family life, and a look behind the scenes at some of their most famous roles. Each intervierview ended with the same 10 questions, adapted from the french TV host Bernard Pivot.
I thought this would be a fun series to get to know some of the players on this season's Minnesota Grey Ducks! One note is that in the original questionnaire they ask: "what turns you on/off" and that is none of my business so I've taken liberties with some of the survey questions!
Inside the Actors Studio was a long-running interview show, hosted by James Lipton, where actors would take part in a candid interview about their craft, their family life, and a look behind the scenes at some of their most famous roles. Each intervierview ended with the same 10 questions, adapted from the french TV host Bernard Pivot.
I thought this would be a fun series to get to know some of the players on this season's Minnesota Grey Ducks! One note is that in the original questionnaire they ask: "what turns you on/off" and that is none of my business so I've taken liberties with some of the survey questions!
@Gage2, in character as WR Julian Rose
You left Puerto Rico to move to West Lafayette for your college ball at Purdue. What was that transition like?
In some ways it was actually a breath of fresh air. I love living in PR but it can feel like a lot at times, over 300 thousand people in San Juan on an island. I had only been to states like Florida before and knew very little about Indiana besides from my college visits. I learned English in school so it wasn’t too big of a deal to deal with a mostly English speaking population. The weather was probably the toughest part. It can get really cold in Indiana and I hadn’t seen snow before in my entire life, it admittedly was a lot of fun to play in once I got used to it.
With your first season in the DSFL in the books, what is the biggest difference between the college and professional games? This is in terms of the on-the-field game and the off-the-field game.
One of the biggest differences was you could tell the level of competition went up. My dad was a practice squad qb back in the day and it’s tough. I can totally see how the DSFL separates those who can hang and who can’t. Minnesota much like Indiana gets cold but wayyyy colder. You’re traveling around to these different places like London and Bondi Beach that are all around the world, the travel schedule is tough. Every game you play is under the scope of ISFL scouts taking notes. You’re constantly competing with other people not only to win the game but for draft position. The game itself comes at you fast and I found out the hard way. Getting popped by monster linebackers and laying on the ground. It’s certainly no joke and to excel in the DSFL you need to be a premier athlete.
Your team mounted a real campaign around your ISFL draft candidacy with the ScoutJRose.com movement. Where did that strategy come from?
While I was at Purdue I was often going at it with sports media, this was usually due to me calling them out for trying to antagonize me due to my past antics where I had some choice words at times about things during the games. Due to that a lot of the sports media blackballed me because I called them out on the antics they were doing which meant less coverage of me towards the ISFL draft. This lead to the movement originally being a dig at the media and ScoutJRose.com being a website that allowed the teams to directly talk to me and to see my highlights that weren’t being shown on TV. It was pretty effective as I was getting a lot of messages and calls despite my lack of media coverage.
You landed with the Cape Town Crash! What was your scouting experience like, and how would you describe the CTC locker-room environment?
The Crash were a franchise that when I was talking to their scouts really showed they had a big interest in me. It went both ways since I was interested in them as they’re a terrific organization that’s competing. I worked out privately in Cape Town and heard one of the coaches say that I was the best receiver in the class, I thought they might’ve been buttering me up a bit but no it was legitimate. The crash has a great locker room. I met the quarterback Thor Bǫllrsveifla pretty much as soon as the Crash turned in my draft card and he really helped with getting me on board with the team culture. I could tell that I was wanted which means the most to me.
You’re down with Minnesota for now, but how do you feel about moving to upcoming move to South Africa? Anything that you’re nervous or excited about?
I like to travel, despite how exhausting it can be. The fact I’ve spent a couple days in Cape Town already has helped eliminate a lot of the anxiety I would’ve had. I’ve never been to Africa before that. In some ways it reminds me of PR. There’s a lot of fun to do in Cape Town
You were top five amongst rookies in the DSFL for receiving yards last year, any goals for yourself this year?
I’m going for OPOY, I think I can get just as many yards if not more this season. It sounds bold for me to say but as a teams number one wide receiver I can’t play myself down. I have to be confident and i am confident that I can get many more touchdowns compared to last season. With some of the call ups from the big players leaving for their ISFL franchises, the door is open and the better I play means it’ll force me to be talked about.
1. What is your favorite word?
Shenanigans
2. What is your least favorite word?
Moist
3. What’s a friendship green flag?
Being able to stand by someone at their worst
4. What’s a friendship red flag?
Jealousy
5. What is your favorite curse word?
[REDACTED]
6. What sound or noise do you love?
The sound of a heater or fan
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
The sound of styrofoam
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
MMA fighter
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Anything overly businessy, Like an office worker
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“Even at your worst, you tried your best”
You were famously the steal of the DSFL draft, going in the seventh round and quickly becoming one of the top earners of your class. What about the ISFL made you want to dive in so fiercely?
Not gonna lie, most of the stuff you have to do takes like 10 minutes a week. Add 15 minutes if you do the point task. Then you need maybe 1-2 hours throughout the entire month getting the money for your equipment although that’s probably an overestimate. Offseason requires a little more time but not like THAT much. I really only needed to be mildly invested to earn as much as I have and I’ve had enough fun competing for the Ducks that I do!
ISFL Gameday is a community staple, and you’ve started to carve out a niche as a stream host. What have you learned about being a good commentator, and what would you recommend to others hoping to join the hosting game?
It’s tough because the play is constantly happening. It’s not like real sports commentary where you get to add in tid bits and stats (especially when I’m far less familiar with this league than the NFL). Any new commentator should learn how to access the ISFL/DSFL index’s and TPE trackers located on the forums. They’re a big help to talk about players and teams you know nothing about.
You were drafted in the third round of the ISFL draft, doubling the draft position of your DSFL draft. What was your experience like as a prospect from this past draft?
Most of the questions from the teams that interviewed me were the same, but I had fun collecting teams that had scouted for me. (Ended at 11/14). I definitely am NOT AT ALL salty that I fell to the third round getting drafted behind dozens of players with lower TPE than me, and WILL NOT write a media when my player becomes a legend about all 42 players drafted ahead of me. I really thought I’d be an early-mid second rounder tbh.
Landing in Austin, you’re making the move to linebacker this season. Dason Dehorn is gone, and Bull Dozier is here. What are you looking forward to with the position switch?
Honestly I was getting attached to the CB position but Austin didn’t really need one and I wanted to be a good draft pick so I switched. I chose LB so I could stay down another year to get that DSFL salary, but I’m looking forward to having real stat lines each game and hopefully eventually be drafted in ISFL fantasy!
What are your expectations for the DSFL season? Any predictions you want to make?
Ducks Ultimini.
1. What is your favorite word?
I have a lot of them. Maybe indubitably or hullabaloo or something of the sort.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Awkward and Vibe.
3. What’s a friendship green flag?
Plans always seem to work out
4. What’s a friendship red flag?
Plans never seem to work out
5. What is your favorite curse word?
[REDACTED]
6. What sound or noise do you love?
This is sort of not in the spirit of the question but trumpet is one of the best instruments so I’ll go with that. I don’t even play it lol.
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
Government warning noises. All of them. The Amber alert/Flood watch noise, the robot talking to give a notice. All of it sounds dystopian as fuck and it scares the bejesus out of me.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Sports broadcaster or a teacher of sorts maybe?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Any sort of sanitation or anything that involves cleaning. I get so grossed out so easily.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
You’re not done yet! Get back in there!
I was going to ask you general questions, but now I am utterly obsessed with knowing everything about your recent media magnum opus. When did you decide to embark on this media piece, and how long did you THINK it would take?
So my thinking going into this was that I had assumed that every team would have at least a 1% chance to win it all, no matter how bad they were. I mean if you think about it, with only 14 teams, and only 7 that a particular team has to worry about, it’s not that ridiculous. So if they have a 1% chance you’d expect them to win within 100 attempts. I figured that even if they only had a 0.1% chance you’d still expect them to get it within a thousand tries. So when they hit that number and just kept going I was honestly just curious to see how long it would go.
How much time did you spend simming, and how much time did you spend writing?
Hard to say, since I would sim until I hit whatever benchmark I had set, be it the 10th sim or a playoff appearance, and then I would write. The writing would be really quick since it was just describing my thoughts. For simming I’d say that each sim would take maybe a minute or 2? Longer if we made the playoffs and then I’d take the screenshots you saw in the article, so you can do the math there.
Were there various points along the way when you thought about scrapping it? Secondarily, how did you decide when you were done?
Nah I wasn’t ever gonna scrap it, especially once it got to a couple thousand words I was posting it no matter where it went. I never really decided on an end point. I just stopped one day and never picked up the urge to start it again. I would try to force myself but never get farther than one sim before shutting it off. I will say I did consider cheating it at a few points. Especially with the final ultimus appearance I seriously considered creating a save point and just saving and reloading over and over again until they won, but decided that would cheapen the whole thing for me.
What did you learn about yourself in the process? This is a labor of love (or madness), and I imagine you realized something through doing this.
I think I realized my breaking point for a project, especially one that I thought would be funny, was much greater than I thought it was. Although I also learned that I am not crazy enough to truly keep going until the goal is met if it truly seems unachievable.
What idea is more comforting to you: that the sim eventually WOULD have given Honolulu a championship, or that it NEVER would have happened?
I mean it’s still clear to me that it was going to happen. Especially since they made it 3 times over the course of my attempts, it just never happened. Maybe someone will pick up where I left off someday.
Tibetan Buddhists practice creating sand mandalas, which are incredibly time-intensive works of art, only to erase them in a statement about the transitional nature of life. Would you consider making this your sand mandala and having the mods delete the thread after you get paid?
Not a chance. I want my insanity documented for all time. I want future generations to talk about that one time HOF user and multi-time MDM winner Rusfan went on a crazy bender over a few months only to fail.
How do you follow this project? You created a mosaic of mouse clicks, and I imagine you can’t follow up on a project of this scale and depth with any old article. Do you have any hints for your next project?
Well I can straight up say that I’m working on ranking every Ultimus ever played right now, the scoring is done I just have to write. In the future I would like to do a modified version of this idea. Something like simming from the week 1 files of past seasons 100 times each to see who had the best shots at winning the ultimus those years, and compare them to who actually won.
1. What is your favorite word?
Onomatopoeia
2. What is your least favorite word?
Toxic
3. What’s a friendship green flag?
Unafraid to be dorky
4. What’s a friendship red flag?
RUdeness
5. What is your favorite curse word?
I’ve enjoyed foreign translations of swears, particularly [REDACTED]
6. What sound or noise do you love?
Sweet Jazz
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
The printer screeching out an order at work
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
I’d like to be an actor
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Those people that climb those cell towers to fix them
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
You did good
You’re back as a civilian after serving your time in the GM mines: Is there anything about being a GM that you miss, and any part of it that you are glad is now someone else’s problem?
It’s certainly weird going back to being a regular user without any GM/war room responsibilities after that was pretty much my job from around S19 - S30 something. My time as a GM was a mixed bag. I loved the DSFL aspects of the job where I got to help new users, have a bit more open fun with the job as you act as someone’s intro to the league, and getting to create weekly gfx for users. That was definitely my favorite thing to do as a GM which I continued even in Baltimore with making game jersey breakdowns like we were a real team showing off what colors we’d wear every game.
One thing I’m more than happy to pass on is the stress and the rumors about being a GM on a dying team. My time as the Baltimore GM was like trying to keep a sinking ship afloat for as long as possible while also being the QB of that ship. It was the older locker room talk of EVERY team that Chika sucked, I was a bad GM, and I can only imagine what was said about me in some team’s war rooms I wasn’t in. Partially why I avoid joining war rooms nowadays. So to answer the question more clearly: the thing I don’t miss is drafting amazing players to fix your sinking ship, having to trade them so the can GM another team, and your team sinks further into the abyss.
It’s been about 5 years since you first joined the league. How do you think the league has changed since when you started?
It feels much more involved than my early days. When I first joined the league, you had handful of people that would do media/graphics and hardly anyone else. There wasn’t a ton of discord activity either. Seeing the fact that everyone is getting into a lot of facets of the league is so exciting that it becomes daunting at times!
You’re off the great white North with the Yellowknife Wraiths! What was your scouting process like with YKW and how has it been getting plugged into the team culture?
Getting scouted by Yellowknife was odd at first. I’d never gotten scouted by them before so when I got a message, I at first thought it was just going to be one of those “oh we have to fill out our scouting board” messages. It could’ve been, but they drafted me so I’ll take it. Short conversation where I talked with the scouter about switching positions, wanting to finally get some ISFL awards, and then our luck at certain awards. It’s been fun getting in and seeing some old faces! Still getting used to it and learning all the inside jokes and deciding what Georgia Tech pun I can use for my server name there.
Your player is also making the move to Safety. As a fellow Safety, I know that it can be a position that really makes you earn stats. What hopes do you have for Tony as he moves into the defensive backfield?
Looking forward to playing a dominant role in both coverage and with the tackling game. I had a DSFL CB many seasons ago that was actually solid so I’m hoping that my experience can grow through this current player. Safety isn’t a position I’ve done before and I always like something new. At the very least, making a Pro Bowl/All-Pro at least once will make it worth the swap!
What advice would you have for newer users like myself about how to find the sweet spot between staying engaged in the league and not burning out? How does someone find a sustainable relationship with the community?
Finding the sweet spot is to not overwork yourself. It’s easy to get into a rhythm where you pick a day to do TPE related stuff, check out media, and then do gfx. Setting aside specific times to do stuff helps out a lot. The best thing to also keep in mind is that it’s just a game at the end of the day. If you’re unhappy with something then avoid it, if you can. Don’t stress missing a PT or predictions even if someone freaks out about that. This is something I still struggle with at times, but if you see someone that just wants to talk nasty about you or has trash talked you outside of playful sim football stuff, they’re not worth the effort.
1. What is your favorite word?
My favorite word would be “onomatopoeia” because of the spelling. Words that are fun to say with phonics always go around in my vocabulary.
2. What is your least favorite word?
My least favorite word would have to be anything that does not follow the “I before E, except after C” rule that was taught all through my school years. It’s a big group of words, but there are some words I stare at for minutes without ever feeling fully confident in my spelling of them.
3. What’s a friendship green flag?
A relationship green flag would be someone that is comfortable getting into deep emotional talks without making it feel like they’re dragging you down or trying to hurt you. Then, even despite opening back some layers, they still treat you like the same friend.
4. What’s a friendship red flag?
Whenever you have to constantly be “on” around them. You can’t let yourself relax and just hang out with them which creates this odd sort of theatrical experience of having a friend.
5. What is your favorite curse word?
One that everyone will probably use at some point is the word [REDACTED]. Very simple curse that isn’t too offensive but hits a very soothing response in the brain whenever someone is just acting like a [REDACTED].
6. What sound or noise do you love?
Whenever you’re up late at night during a thunderstorm slowly growing, there’s a point where the thunder is just calm enough to sound relaxing. Not super distant thunder, but nothing that’s going off in under 3 seconds.
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
The sound of nails on a chalkboard or utensils scraping against a plate. It’s physically repulsive to my entire body that I have to try creating another sound to cover it up or scratch at something soft.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Something I’ve always wanted to do beyond teaching is being an astronaut. It might be the childish answer, but going into space on the ISS or just orbiting around the planet would be amazing.
9. What profession would you not like to do?
As much as it’s needed, the last jobs I would ever do would be garbage disposal or crime scene cleanups. My nose is far too sensitive for either job like that.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
I think just hearing “Welcome” would be enough. Making it to such a place after a (hopefully) long life would make any of the small issues or worries worth it.