packwick

they're also using tarpons prelims score which was higher. coulda sworn it was "most recent score" but i guess not. so tw doesn't move up then, remains 4th in standings.

LOL they're updating the standings right now over on WGI, but all the week 6 scores are listed as week 5 and incorrectly got an extra 1.5 points. oopsie!!

welp i actually ended up being wrong about the rankings of the top tx guards dropping after this weekend. think y'all are right about the "brake pumping" on the scores. final standings will be released on Tues. grand oaks should still be 5th in A, Marcus will move up to 1st in open, if they're even going lol, why not Coppell too?? (that woulda been a huge shift from not even making semis last yr.) woodlands will actually move up w/ their 3-week old score into a 3rd place tie w/ Tarpon in world class. was really expecting all three of Carmel, fishers, and tarpon to squeak out 90s in finals w/ the double panels. maybe the fact that a few on the panel at mideast had seen tw kept the scores a little lower, two of those judges in particular gave some of the lowest scores at mideast. three weeks to go.

for reference, Avon got like a 94.5 in 2019 at the last power regional, which was only a week or two before Dayton, not 3 weeks. so yes they will probably comfortably top their own record. fine w/ that. i like this one WAY more.

98.95 set by Avon in 2019. tho James Logan '05 is still *objectively* the best show in the class ever lol. in other news both Sac and Fuse overtake Paramount in the standings, close tho. my prediction of Fusion becoming the next new IW champ may come true a season sooner than i expected, helps that there isn't a Gaines show at the top of the mix this yr lol. we'll see, still kinda emotionally cold on Fusion's show but it's def fresher than the other two and has the best staging.

arcadia is still trending higher than both of them!! didn't realize they had another contest today, they've been very active in wgi this season. obvious Gaines/Queen involvement, some stuff ive seen from those two before. actually hate that i can easily discern the designers like this, i consider it a judgment clouder. as a "sport" it should be more about the athletes on the floor. honestly doesn't always seem like it. last yr's result at the top of SW left a wee bit o' bad taste in my mouth. and im FAR from a tarpon fanboy.

but it's thematic!!! the trudging along in our existences until we eventually die!!! lol

their placement and score at Avon were already pretty twilight zone-ish honestly, at least as an upstairs judge. id have Fishers over Carmel, upstairs-wise.

tarpon's score is actually roughly where you'd expect with the 1.5 to 2 point standard increase per week, tho likely will increase a little further in finals. with 3 weeks left even the best guards shouldn't be scoring much higher than a 93 this weekend. frankly think the scheduling shift this season has confused a lot of judges.

grand oaks currently at 5th in A class which is fab. hoping they can fix the ensemble/DA stuff b/w now and Dayton. should easily be in finals at least. hopefully azle too, sitting just outside of finals in the standings. Westlake + Bowie at 11th and 13th in open. one more week of contests + one final update, some drops likely but not anything too drastic. ofc Dayton is an entirely new contest, standings disregarded. mainly just used for scheduling and by fans.

hmmmm well unlike cy woods who's only on the current entries list, Marcus is still listed in the standings. most recent update has them 2nd in between Centerville and Noblesville. good sign for their attendance hopefully??? maybe not.

westlake and bowie also posting strong scores in Open... just kinda scrolling through now.

happyy happy happy to see Grand Oaks finally get the score they deserve, only took a double panel to get it lol. they always come around to my opinion at the end. well.... usually lol. still some significant room for improvement. not surprised to see their DA scores wayyy worse than their IA scores. still some clarity and ensemble timing issues. things to hit hard b/w now and Dayton. last wgi show in TX. purrrdy happy w/ the results/final seeding scores. both Marcus and Grand Oaks should be up there at Dayton. Marcus for sure a strong podium contender, maybe 3rd to Centerville and Noblesville. little less sure about Oaks, A class being such a cluster f lol. for world class not as worried about tw's austin seeding score as some others are. seen all the worlds now and their show speaks for itself. should easily medal, id have it a comfortable 2nd. if difficulty and risk were a POC id have it 1st. FloMo not out of the game, was hoping for just over 80, but 78 perfectly reasonable score for this time of yr for possible SW finalist, may need to overtake Chino Hills or a couple Florida ones.

fun fact, fusion actually scored higher than blessed sac in prelims at the East power regional, pre-penalty. and every single judge had them first in the performance half of their sheets. so they DID get it right!! it's gonna be interesting to see how Para, Sac, and Fuse play out at Dayton for the top 3. not totally in love w/ any of them. methinks lots of caption splitting.

results are all kinda janky over on wgi right now w/ some of the units missing. color me surprised to see the judges got it right w/ sac and fusion. 91.7 to 91.6. fusion gave the better performance and should have been first from at least a few judges but thought it wouldn't happen.

lol i mean Avon winning at Dayton in SW has been a forgone conclusion since the Avon regional. the judges are now just circling the wagons, as they often do. i don't mind an Avon win bc they have the cleanest show and it's elegantly written but the gap will likely bug me. also maybe Carmel had a really lousy run tonight. LOL. cool to see Fishers so close to them. WHY is the wgi site still down?!!

agreed. i liked em when i first saw em back in Houston and i like em even more now that ive seen a proper upstairs performance. lots for the DA judge to chew on.

FloMo got a bit of a glow-up performance wise. that's what the kids say right? LOL. much cleaner than i last saw it. could see this one sneaking into finals at Dayton.

plenty of fun to be had in AMP. not as well performed as usual, wondering if fusion poached some of the talent. still don't like their approach to design at all, which means most ppl probably like their approach to design LOL. the soundtrack is like the music to a Hollywood movie trailer for a movie i have utterly no interest in seeing, like King Kong vs Godzilla or something lol. theres just a question of taste level for me. can u tell i don't really care for any IW guards this year??? not feeling the positivity course through my veins at the moment. LOL. this is why i always say the best thing a guard can do is shut me up!!

the guy in Dartmouth's guard over at Wgi East illustrates the need for some sort of all-state process to reward students WAY better than the guards they're in. also i would be SO drunk after watching this show if i played the wgi drinking game and drank every time the solo boy in the scholastic guard did the hard weapon solos LOL. Sac is very 90s, early 00s again this year. at least the cluttered staging is worked into the chaos concept, also the Bernstein music is very enjoyable. not a great run, drops like every other ensemble moment, tho i like to view things proportionally, like just bc one person drops doesn't negate the other 10 who did it well. their talent is obvious. still a big fanboy even if it's not my fave from them. fusion had a better performance than sac, don't think they'll be rewarded for it tho. really a very strong run. show is still too cerebral for me which is saying something. kinda a typical issue i have w/ Vanderkolff shows. provide more emotion to balance w/ the intellectual and the aesthetic.

overall the As don't seem to be having great runs, or at least not the best ones lol, hopefully they can clean things up for finals. happy to see G Oaks 1st in their round and 2nd overall. been hypinggg them all season. flags could still use some cleaning, actually some of it's just the way it's staged, a little unclear, unfocused, disconnected. they're also smaller and don't command the space of the floor quite as much as say Hebron, but training is clear. also clearly the best aesthetic w/ that floor. it's like some minimalist pop art concoction lol. glad to see these things from a proper high angle for once. b-land's staging weaker than i thought, well some of that was dirt. just kinda unclear throughout.

okk i just watched it, well sort of, skipped through it, not the most gripping thing in the world. i would have had no idea what this was about just watching it. "another blackbird show?!" hahahaha. performers are fine, im sure the designers worked hard on it. i find the ending w/ the Babs music unbearably maudlin, all thematic considerations aside. lays it on quite thick. Lifetime movie-ish. it doesn't make me esp angry however LOL.

one of the groups of guard directors i mentor is quarreling over Fantasia's show concept LOL. what do you think @Rubisco? exploitative or no? i don't think ive even watched it yet.

wgi steering committee interview w/ Cyndi Robbins from twhs. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fCTJ4Sb38oU her life seems.... stressful... LOL. i like that she takes near complete ownership of the creative process in addition to the teaching. super impressive, tho i fear it will lead to burn out. the guards are only getting bigger lol.

im def curious to see how grand oaks does in scholastic A this wknd. been flying under the radar recently. their placement at Houston, esp prelims, was quite surprising based on what id seen leading into the contest. bit of a comeback in finals, ended up 4th a couple points off the top. at tcgc the next week they were only a little over a point behind wgi houston champ twhs. i see them as being around the same neighborhood as the top 3 Texas As (pearland, twhs, hebron in some order), even more curious bc they're the only one going to Dayton, could make a case for Azle as well.