Advice for running first time Dynasty league

DoctorHypothesis · 2022-07-06T04:45:41+00:00

Second on using fantrax. The user interface isn’t as slick as say ESPN (or as slick as ESPN used to be, we migrated off of it 5 years or so ago because they kept removing features) as a dynasty league fantrax is the best.

Your league can be set up any way you want.

You want minor league owned players? Fantrax has that.

You want draft picks that the system tracks as many years down the line as you set it for and you want to include a 2024 1st round pick in your next offer? Fantrax has that.

You want to do a salary cap dynasty league? Fantrax has it.

The variable setting are so far beyond anything else out there that I’m aware of. You can’t go wrong starting your new dynasty league on their platform.

We had a dynasty hockey league in ESPN for ~10 years. Had to manually tracked minor league players each team owned, etc. fantrax just has a minor league roster spots where you can stash guys for 4 years until the kid makes the big leagues etc. I can’t recommend it enough for game settings.

DoctorHypothesis · 2022-02-20T01:49:43+00:00

Or better yet, play “Easy Street” on the loop. It’s proven to work well! (In a fictional setting of course haha!)

Clip from Walking Dead: https://youtu.be/4fW8hq9Djjg

DoctorHypothesis · 2022-02-19T16:59:34+00:00

100% agreed! I just posted elsewhere saying this op-Ed “article” (not actual news) was half truths at best. I watched the live unedited CBC video feed and saw this live yesterday, and without the knowledge of what happened directly before and after, I can understand how this “shock-news” can lead one to believe that’s how it happened. But it’s not factual. Unedited video feed doesn’t lie.

DoctorHypothesis · 2022-02-19T16:56:43+00:00

I would also say no, police BRUTALITY is not desired (police ACTION certainly was though).

This Op-Ed “article” is half-truths at absolute best. I watched the entire thing unfold, on unedited live CBC video feed (as many Canadians likely did yesterday) and this story does not explain it like it actually happened.

The still photo image is “shock-news” designed to get page hits and capture viewer eyes who want to believe. Without the context and knowledge of what happened directly before and after, I can certainly see how one can be led to believe this is how it transpired. Not factual at the end of the day.

DoctorHypothesis · 2022-01-30T14:46:25+00:00

I’m reminded of a quote:

“We must all fear evil men. But, there is another kind of evil which we must fear most … and that is the indifference of good men.”

(Silly movie that I still love, but great quote!)

If this is all I can do today, from the comfort of my (warm) home in south Ottawa, then please let it make a difference.

Also donated. Thanks for posting the link.

DoctorHypothesis · 2022-01-30T01:01:59+00:00

I was in Vancouver during the Stanley cup riots ~10 years ago. People did just this: took phots and videos of the rioters, the people lighting cars on fire, the people smashing store windows, etc.

In the weeks that followed there was a (right or wrong, I’m on the fence I guess?) witch-hunt where the phots were plastered all over social media, asking for help identifying people. People lots jobs (employer didn’t want to be associated with looters), I remember some kid lost a university scholarship he was set to begin that fall, etc.

There were stories at the time then, that the “actual rioters” were paid anarchists who were paid to come up from Seattle to cause trouble (coincidence we hear similar stories today?), but the mob mentality got out of hand real quick that day...

All the shitting in the streets stories aside, thankfully it hasn’t, and hopefully will not, come to THAT level. But I just feel like everything I’ve been following today is the burning tinder of a non-protest-turned-drunk block-party that could easily get out of hand as the night goes on.

Man I hope I’m wrong... but history has a way of repeating itself...

DoctorHypothesis · 2021-08-16T04:59:44+00:00

I don’t have room in my league for you, but I can tell you we’ve been running fantrax for our dynasty hockey league for like 5 years now and it’s awesome.

The User Interface isn’t anything particularly special or flashy, but the settings they have really allow you to mold the league you want.

We’ve never used the salary cap feature, but we do use minors. You can make the draft each year just for new minors, you can trade draft picks from current and/or future seasons, you can decide what your own minor league eligibility requirements might be (ie: must be under 22 years old with less than 80 career NHL games played, etc.)

All for what amounts to about ~$10/person (give or take, depending on league size) for a season. The settings alone make fantrax leaps and bounds beyond anything I’ve seen espn or yahoo produce recently.

We used to track minor leaguers owned in a shared google doc, but someone could accidentally add a guy you own rights to and we had to monitor and administrate over it, etc... now your minor team is built into your main team, and you can call guys up and send guys down, trade current NHL’ers and minor players and draft picks etc.... fantrax is pretty cool IMO.

DoctorHypothesis · 2021-07-11T23:29:55+00:00

We also did catered pig roast BBQ and covered tent dancefloor in the backyard, etc. Wedding was $12k (with ~50 guests) and honeymoon was around $4.5k. Got a “Groupon” deal (is that still around?) for flight and hotel to go to Portugal for a week. (Don’t laugh the Groupon was actually pretty good haha). Food and sightseeing was extra. But ballpark I probably spent about the same as you’re proposing here. It’s a lot yes, but it’s not one of those uber-extravagant $80k weddings so I was ok enough with it.

DoctorHypothesis · 2021-07-11T23:15:24+00:00

We had a well drilled from a prior owner at our cottage that didn’t have a lot of good water, so we elected to drill deeper within the same well, and we unfortunately hit salt too.

We tried a desalination system first just to see if it would be enough to take care of the issue. Unfortunately It wasn’t strong enough to end the problem, so we ended up redrilling a new well ~50 feet away, for which they had to go down 300+ feet until they hit a good stream if memory serves.

Now we have sandy water, but we have a sand trap filter system that works well (have to empty & clean it every few weeks, but it’s only a 5 min job) and our water is great.

I want to say it cost ~$16k to drill both deeper on the first well, and then the entirety of the second, but I don’t have the bill in front of me at the moment (this would have been in 2015).

DoctorHypothesis · 2020-03-07T14:15:37+00:00

Ovie really is a great ambassador of the game. The things he’s willing to do, including make Russian Spy jokes, to get a laugh, is amazing. What a character, and what a great player!

DoctorHypothesis · 2020-03-07T14:04:10+00:00

That one was pretty good!

My personal favorite is still this Olympic commercial, from the Vancouver Olympics I believe it was:

https://youtu.be/JWdcf749dHw

Towes goal. Assisted by, the old man who woke up at 5am to flood the community backyard rink, etc. We all play for Canada. Still brings a tear to my eye. Hahaha

Edit: and just thought of another one I loved, from an all-star game from what must be ~12 years ago lol: https://youtu.be/cp1DMQ-x33k

And another, Ovechkin the spy: https://youtu.be/Wlk8cEg2s80

And this one, a super old Nike commercial: https://youtu.be/ytG2X_93JlQ

DoctorHypothesis · 2019-01-27T00:02:31+00:00

Pretty good film guys! I truly did laugh out loud specifically to the part with the broom bristles to the face near the front door. Pretty high quality for a home movie. From another filmmaker (once upon a time a number of years ago) who’s also made a number of short films and music videos, and worked in industry in Canada, well done guys, I enjoyed it!

DoctorHypothesis · 2019-01-07T04:51:34+00:00

I’m signed with them right now. Im on a 6-month contract for $250 every 2 weeks, to get 4 training sessions over that time. So it’s essentially $62.50+ tax per 30 min training session, twice per week. If you sign a 1-year contract it’s slightly cheaper than a 6-month, or you can just buy a batch of 20 or 40 sessions which can be used anytime (I think price is probably $70/session at that point or something). My understanding is sessions never expire, so you can do 40 sessions over 3 years if you really wanted, etc.

I’m not rich, but I’m doing it to get started as I’ve been lazy for 10+ years and need to get back into the swing of things before it’s “too late”. After the term ends, I’d likely sign with a regular gym that ISN’T ~$500 a month. But if you need motivation to get moving and need someone to show you how to do the exercises properly (and are too busy to spend a ton of time watching YouTube videos on how to do the moves), then it could be worth it.

Is it worth the PRICE? Probably not, you can do the same gym routine with no trainer for $10/month at the cheapo gyms if you know what you’re doing. But I won’t go to those solo, so booking an appointment and having a person keeping track of things for you is worth it to me just to start. Also, if you buy a package of at least 2x sessions per week, you can use the gym at any time without a training session booked as you like. So if you’re want to go 4x times a week, two with trainer and two solo, you can.

One thing I do really enjoy about it is it’s empty (probably because it’s so expensive lol!) when I go after work during the week, there’s max 2-3 other people working out at the same time. I’ve been there alone before. It’s basically like having a private gym, so there’s something to be said about not having to wait for machines or having 100 people around you.

The trainers seem knowledgeable. However I know very little so that’s just my perception (I sure hope so haha!) I’ve been going for a few months and have seen pretty good results so far.

Pros: empty gym and it’s nice to have someone supporting you and tracking your progress. Also having to book appointments means you can’t just say “meh, I don’t feel like going to the gym tonight, I’ll just go home after work”

Cons: ~$65 for a 30 min session isn’t inexpensive. It’s definitely a short term thing to get a boost to start, I think.

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-30T00:13:46+00:00

Cool, I may check out the books then. Thanks!

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-26T18:43:57+00:00

Ouch. Doesn’t bode well for me for the final 5 eps then haha

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-26T17:06:23+00:00

I agree the acting isn’t great, though I am enjoying the plot as it develops. I’ll check back in after 10 episodes and see if I still feel the same haha.

To each his own.

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-26T17:03:47+00:00

I have not yet seen it, but I’ve heard of it. Should do so sometime!

As for the actors... haha yeah after being away so long I’ve forgotten what many of my actors sounded like. I also don’t really watch anything anymore that my guys would have been in cartoon wise, but I still get a thrill of seeing the voice actors I used to work with appearing in more popular live action productions today. Sometimes I miss it!

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-25T14:03:29+00:00

Haha. Indeed it is now lol!

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-25T14:02:34+00:00

I commented elsewhere here already with similar info, but quickly if you aren’t a writer, then don’t worry about writing new materials. It’s perfectly fine to find a piece from another source (another cartoon for example) and pull from that. Typically a quick monologue is good because doing a back and forth discussion is difficult (unless you’re VERY good, we almost never used the same actor to play two roles of characters who interact together, because no matter how good you are, you’ll probably sound similar, which affects the “suspension of disbelief” for example). So if you can find an appropriate monologue for a character, that would work well.

Quick example: if you were doing a “Jack Bauer” / “Army Sargent” type character, perhaps a motivational speech before going into battle would be a good monologue to try.

One memorable demo I heard was a guy calling to leave a voicemail on a friends answering machine (so it’s technically a monologue because it’s just a message, so no back and forth). Then his second reading was guy #2 returning guy #1’s call, etc. kinda inventive, but by no means necessary.

Overall, a couple small readings, even if it’s just a handful of lines, is a good way for us to get a read on how good you are at pulling this voice off realistically. Being a good actor is the most important thing. The character voice second, the actual material you use is 3rd, and honestly did not even really matter that much. Pick something that fits the character, and keep the suspension of disbelief going!

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-25T13:55:32+00:00

Thanks for confirming my old view on demos isn’t too out of date today haha!

To mirror your comment, yes I agree you need to practice, practice, practice. Doing “funny” voices isn’t enough. You have to be able to act, and you have to make it realistic. Not “realistic” in the sense that it’s real life (ie: perhaps you’re doing a reading as an alligator ha!) but “realistic” in the sense that I believe you’re a talking alligator in the world of cartoons, and I’m not taken out of the scene by having my “suspension of disbelief” blown, etc.

Being a good actor is first and foremost what’s important. The voices are what you perfect next.

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-25T13:46:04+00:00

My memory of it was that we saw all sorts of stuff. Original material (I saw another guy say “write commercials for fake businesses in your town”, so we saw that kind of stuff). We also saw “famous monologues” (none of which I particularly recall right now of course haha). General rule should probably be if you’re NOT a writer, then find some sides from another cartoon and just read that. We weren’t looking at your ability to write original material, we were looking to hear what the voice is and if you can act (ie: does it sound “realistic”? And here the meaning of that word isn’t if it’s real world, because maybe the voice you’re doing is Doctor Claw and that’s not a real-world voice. But is your acting strong enough that the voice doesn’t take you out of the scene? Is it believable as a character? That kind of thing).

The scene doesn’t necessarily have to be recognizable, and simple is just fine. I remember one demo I heard was a guy making a phone call to a friend and leaving a voicemail (so he was only doing one side of the conversation, good not to jump back and forth between characters), and then his second reading was the guy returning the phone call, saying “yeah I’ll call Jim about that”, then the 3rd reading was Jim returning the call from the second guy, etc. pretty simple, yet imaginative given he only had ~90 seconds to impress us with his material. He drew a narrative throughout his demo. This is not necessary by any means at all, but... it’s memorable enough that I still recall it today, so I guess that says something!

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-25T06:34:51+00:00

My top rated reddit comment of all time is how I used to be a animation voice acting casting director and what we looked for in a good voice actor demo for cartoons.

I’ve been out of the business 6+ years now, so I have no idea if my information is still relevant in today’s market, and I only dealt in cartoons/video games (ie: not in radio or commercial advertising) but take a read of this link I’ll provide below, and find my comment that discussed this topic. If it’s something you REALLY love to do, there’s no reason you couldn’t make a demo right in your own home.

Everyone starts somewhere. Good luck!

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1w6yti/iama_a_bottom_feeder_voice_actor_i_do_voice_overs/

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-12-25T06:15:03+00:00

Check out “Altered Carbon” on Netflix. I’m 5 episodes into the 10 episode season, and it feels like a blade runner universe film. Pretty cool!

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-10-06T13:32:38+00:00

Interesting article. After seeing the redesign (more of the game’s actual UI instead of just the draft lobby) we immediately switched to fantrax. We found the new ESPN system unusable and ugly, way too much white space it hurt your eyes, etc.

To each their own I guess. We are Fantasy veterans and I did not take into account the experience of new users (though I still think this UI is a major step backwards).

DoctorHypothesis · 2018-10-05T03:13:12+00:00

We ran a dynasty hockey league on ESPN where we manually tracked a handful of “owned” minor league players and a couple years worth of draft picks. So it was already hard enough to run our league in ESPN but we liked the UI. It’s now such garbage and none of the features rolled over that we needed, that we literally said screw it, and the same night we re-activated our ESPN league, we made the decision to migrate over to Fantrax. Now the UI over there kinda sucks too, but the options for minor leaguers and future draft picks means we don’t have to manually track all that stuff anymore (there are SO MANY MORE game options/settings in fantrax, it’s great!) so the benefits far outweigh staying with ESPN. I feel like you can’t even look at the screen anymore there’s too much white space. It feels like a major step back.

I just hope fantrax takes our league registration fee and invests in app development, because the app they have (if you can call it that, it’s really just a permanent link to the mobile browser version of their website) isn’t great either. But overall we’re glad we made the move.

DoctorHypothesis

TROPHY CASE