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Temë: Interview with Brad Marshall - The Elite Press Host |
24 përgjigje
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#1 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 10:49:43 (Së fundi edituar 24 Shtator 2020, 10:52:27 nga Jun Ho)
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Citim
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Due to the overwhelming positivity from my previous interview, we now have one from one of the great guys of GPRO. The one that is brave enough to interview the best of the best. This is of course Mr Brad Marshall!
JH: Hi there! To whomever who doesn't know you, what is your name and occupation, and what is your favourite cuisine/meal of all time? :)
BM: Well hello there, Jun! Believe it or not my name is Brad Marshall and I teach and conduct research in the field of chemistry, though sadly it's been much more of the former lately.
Oh geez, choosing a favorite cuisine is not easy. I think French and Thai come in a close second for me but there's nothing quite like the assembly of spices found in Indian food. Tikka masala or vindaloo? I can't decide.
Mexican is also delicious. Actually, I’ll eat anything you put on my plate.
JH: Unpopular opinion: I actually don't rate Indian food that much. I probably had it, max 3 times in my life. :)
Have you ever had British cuisine? :)
BM: Well I've had fish and chips and a full English breakfast, if that counts, but I'm not sure I really know what is British cuisine.
JH: Bangers and Mash, Toad in the Hole, Spotted Dick. The proper Brit classics haha.
Let's talk about your GPRO career. You started off well, gaining promotion on your second season. How did you find the game initially? Easy or hard?
BM: I think my start in GPRO was much easier than for most because I lucked into the superb mentorship of Mikko Heikkinen. He entertained my endless questions without directly spoon-feeding any detailed FOBY and this allowed me to understand basic game mechanics much more quickly than I would have otherwise. That is really how I was able to promote out of Rookie in my second season in good financial standing.
To think back on it, I must have been one annoying n00b. Well, I’m sure many still think of me that way. :-p
JH: I never stress enough about the importance of mentorship when you start playing! Everyone should go through with it :)
So after those seasons, you managed to stay within Pro, but never progressed further than that. How come?
BM: Didn’t I mention I’m a n00b? :-D
More seriously, other than getting out of Rookie I never had a specific goal from a management point of view. I had no desire to reach this or that tier just to say I’ve done so and accordingly my account has never been in a position where it could be sustained in the higher tiers.
For the most part, I have been more interested in learning how the game works and doing what I could to help my team. That sort of reached its conclusion when Jasper won the championship in S76, if it hadn’t already to that point. There’s really nothing more I can do to help my team so I guess now the only thing left is to actually do something as a manager. 😊
JH: I've never even reached Pro in my career, so I am more of a noob than yourself haha.
Speaking of teams, how did joining Cuccioli Malati occur?
BM: I was nearing promotion from Rookie to Amateur and not yet sure I wanted to join a team when I stumbled into the GPRO chatroom and found this bloke named Nigel Smith who was a master at finding sporting livestreams. We got to chatting and, probably after he saw I was spending an absurd amount of time on the site, he informed me Malati were recruiting (they were always recruiting in those days). Cuccioli just happened to be the team in the family with an opening so I wrote an application and sent it off to the Cuccioli team leader at the time but I would quickly discover this character named Jasper was acting as a sort of de facto leader of the family and because I had a pulse, I was accepted. To be honest, I think most Malatis who joined in that era have a similar origin story.
I can’t honestly remember what it was that convinced me to join the team because frankly I didn’t know much about them—or any team really—but it turned out to be a wonderful match because what Jasper had in mind in terms of FOBY and such was really what I was looking for all along.
JH: Ahh, that is an interesting story indeed! How big was Cuccioli Malati at the time of application? Obviously right now they are a constant presence in the first page of team standings, but what about then?
BM: Well let’s see, before I joined the team had a highest finish of 60th in S59, so not big at all. Andrew Wilden was the one responsible for expanding Malati into a family team and basically turning it into a training ground for young managers. It still had this reputation when I joined and, though primitive in terms of tools, had helped launched some good careers--Alpo Kaakinen perhaps most notably. A talented and properly motivated recruit joining Malati then could expect to reach Master but probably not much more.
This largely began to change after Jasper’s failed Elite promotion attempt in S64. The team went through a renaissance in which Jasper and others took an ab initio approach to things, rejecting hand-me-down tools with their elusive errors and misleading assumptions and instead building tools from scratch based purely on empirical evidence collected within the team. This philosophy continues to the present and is a substantial reason for the team’s recent collective success.
JH: Fair play! That team has definitely grown in the last 10-20 seasons or so, definitely challenging the old school top teams such as Tiger, Jaguar, W&C and Versant.
Speaking of, what made you change from the Malati family to Versant?
BM: I was barely in my third season at Malati when the opportunity at Versant opened up. I think had the Versant thing came just one season later I would have felt too tethered to Malati to leave but at the time it seemed a bit like a golden opportunity and so I threw in an application never expecting it to stick. In retrospect, perhaps it was not the best move for me because Versant were already well established and so I was forfeiting the opportunity to help build a team up. Nonetheless I enjoyed my time at Versant quite a bit. Those guys are wonderful and they gave me something of a graduate education in GPRO. Towards the end of S68 I started having some dreaded real-life issues that sent me into a bit of a GPRO-depression and so I contemplated leaving the game, or at least playing extremely casually, and felt I would be more of a hinderance there than someone who could help.
In the end Versant traded up as they got back their beloved Beagles! 😊
JH: I would not call Beagles a trade-up.... ;)
So how did the opportunity to join the Malati family again come about? Were they forgiving that you left for Versant?
BM: It took a lot of pleading and begging! Really, I had been hanging around those clowns for awhile so it was a natural fit I think.
As far as forgiveness, they hated me before and nothing has changed! :-p
JH: Haha, fair enough then!
Now, we get to your coveted position as the host of the Elite Press! How did this all come about? What made you want to do that?
BM: Really it was just dumb luck again (this is a running theme in my GPRO career). It started from me being an annoying fan of the topic asking when we would get more interviews. Florencia Caro was foolish enough to dare me to try it myself and I literally didn’t know that was allowed. I don’t know what I thought, maybe Vlad came down from the GPRO heavens and appointed you host or something. Anyway, I started to ask Flo about it and I guess she was really bored so she ran through the ins and outs of the whole thing, briefed me on the history, and suggested I get Rimantas’ blessing.
I wanted to do the thing because I loved reading the old interviews from Rimantas through Florencia and it was lying dormant for awhile (I understand why as it’s a lot more work that it looks—I’m sure you can relate, Jun) and I thought I could offer some originality to it. Still, without Florencia’s encouragement I would never have thought to do it. Also important was the inspiration I got from Max Watson’s Quixotic Press which I have shamelessly copied in many ways.
My original idea was to do a special one-off interview with Ioannis Dimitroglou and Christos Bobolis together. They had just competed for the S67 championship with Ioannis coming out on top and I thought there was an interesting story there with both being teammates and having a long history together in the game. In the end, I decided a duel interview like that was impractical and settled for one with Ioannis alone. I was quite nervous about the whole thing because I was a complete unknown, without so much as a single race in Master to my credit, suddenly trying to interview the best in the game, but neither Rimantas nor Ioannis hesitated with their approval and I am incredibly grateful for that.
JH: It is definitely a tough job, trying to organise interviews like this, but it is definitely worth every effort to do!
Finally, I would like to ask about Arbitrar-ity. WHAT HAPPENED? But also, how the hell did you get the idea to do that? :D
BM: Arbitrar-ity? Is that English? I know nothing about this “Arbitrar-ity” but a source close to the show who wishes to remain anonymous informs me “it serves as a vehicle for a certain host to express his absurd side while maintaining involvement in Silly Games. I don’t understand how all these silly gamers have time to play these things without ignoring GPRO. Arbitrar-ity allows one to participate in something that requires no thought whatsoever.”
The anonymous source adds, “Fear not, Jun, Arbitrar-ity is not dead!”
JH: This source... are you able to put in a good word so that I can interview them? This show definitely needs to be decyphered and would love to see what is under that head of his/hers.
But happy that:
Quote ( Brad Marshall @ September 7th 2020,18:22:32 )
Arbitrar-ity is not dead!
Although I think my kitty cat is dead though :/
Any plans for future silly games that you want to host?
BM: Quote ( Jun Ho @ September 7th 2020,23:08:15 )
This source... are you able to put in a good word so that I can interview them?
Oh that's going to be difficult; those guys don't typically speak to the press.
Quote ( Jun Ho @ September 7th 2020,23:08:15 )
Any plans for future silly games that you want to host?
Not so much. I've had a couple of ideas but it's too much work for now. Seriously, how do you guys play all these silly games AND race??? :-D
JH: We have no life, that is the main criteria to hosting/playing a silly game!
Well, thank you for accepting this interview! Just one last question. Who do you think will win Arbitrar-ity this season?
BM: Thanks, Jun. I guess it would be hypocritical to deny your interview request when I'm trying to get others to accept my own requests. :-p
It think it's anyone's ballgame in Arbitrar-ity with there being so many fine arbiters there to arbitrate. Some insiders believe the game is rigged in favor of Ahmet's mustache, however.
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#2 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 11:21:08
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Citim
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#3 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 11:24:19
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Citim
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#4 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 11:45:47
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Citim
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Quote ( Jun Ho @ September 24th 2020,10:49:43 ) Some insiders believe the game is rigged in favor of Ahmet's mustache, however.
My moustache can neither confirm nor deny such a thing.
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#5 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 11:55:42
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Citim
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Quote ( Ahmet Sonverdi @ September 24th 2020,11:45:47 ) My moustache can neither confirm nor deny such a thing.
That is because it doesn't exist.
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#6 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 11:58:36
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Citim
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Hi Brad, great to see that the RL demands have settled down and you are back into your gpro adventures. Enjoy!
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#7 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 12:31:46
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Citim
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Some say he only went to Versant to steal their tools... :o)
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#8 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 12:45:49
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Citim
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#9 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 12:47:43
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Citim
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#10 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 13:14:43
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Citim
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Long live Brad !, hip hip hurray.
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#11 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 13:38:28
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Citim
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Brad needs to open up a podcast channel for GPRO.
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#12 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 16:33:05
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Citim
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Quote ( Iain Bartholomew @ September 24th 2020,12:45:49 ) Never heard of this guy.
Me either. Why are we getting an effing notification for this??
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#13 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 16:33:44
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Citim
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Who is this Brad Marshall?
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#14 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 19:33:21
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Citim
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Haha I am definitely not a trade up from Brad...unless spending most of your career in Amateur is considered a trade up :P
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#15 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 19:52:39
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Citim
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Quote ( Jonathan Beagles @ September 24th 2020,19:33:21 ) .unless spending most of your career in Amateur is considered a trade up :P
How is that any different from me?? :-D
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#16 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 19:57:38
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Citim
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Quote ( Brad Marshall @ September 24th 2020,19:52:39 ) How is that any different from me?? :-D
Yeah actually you're right - they traded sideways :D
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#17 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 20:20:08
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Citim
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Lateral moves are the best.
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#18 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 20:41:01
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Citim
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Quote ( Brad Marshall via some ho @ September 24th 2020,10:49:43 ) I teach and conduct research in the field of chemistry
You’re basically Walter White =]
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#19 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 20:54:58
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Citim
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Quote ( Max Watson @ September 24th 2020,20:41:01 ) some ho
That's my cousin's name.
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#20 Postuar 24 Shtator 2020, 21:48:47
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Citim
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I thought it was Brad Marchand interview...Got surprised to know he is a GPRO manager. Need to slow the pace of my english reading :)
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#21 Postuar 25 Shtator 2020, 01:22:01
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Citim
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Quote ( Max Watson @ September 24th 2020,20:41:01 ) You’re basically Walter White =]
No one would confuse me for 'the one who knocks'. :-p
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#22 Postuar 25 Shtator 2020, 05:27:17
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Citim
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Nice interview Jun / Brad.
It's like a "behind the scenes" look into the press box.
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#23 Postuar 26 Shtator 2020, 18:28:08
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Citim
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#24 Postuar 28 Shtator 2020, 20:30:47
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Citim
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#25 Postuar 29 Shtator 2020, 17:08:15
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Citim
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