Honestly, neither am I. Like, I know she exists, but I’m not familiar with any of her music.
Of course, I’m not super into Pop in general. The only notable pop artists in my music library are P!nk and Paramore.
Well, the last time Jennifer started spiraling after running into Alice she embroiled herself in a self-destructive lesbian relationship, so it wouldn’t be too surprising
Now I want to see a montage of various cast members trying to help Walky with his math. Joyce explaining bounded sequences. Jason discussing convergence and divergence. Sal demonstrating power series. Amber (or maybe A-G) discussing parametrics.
One of Joyce’s less-spotlighted traits in the other universe was her talent with complex math. Seems that might have carried over to this one. Though, being good at Thing and being able to TEACH about Thing are entirely different skillsets.
Walky was secretly smart in the other universe and is not-so-secretly smart in this one. There are any number of reasons why a smart person might fail to absorb knowledge, but I am disinclined to try diagnosing him.
Jerach
I mean, I think multiple characters including Walky himself have suggested he has ADHD, which would certainly explain “is smart but struggles really hard to maintain focus on certain things.”
LOL well joyce has been known to be good at math but surprised he wouldn’t ask his gf or someone else that doesn’t have as much contempt for him as joyce
tho i can totally imagine some celeb/popstar being asked to make an ‘educational’ catchy song or so XD;
They’re so useful! If you’ve got a complicated function you can just pretend it’s a polynomial instead and we already know everything about polynomials!
clif
We already know everything about polynomials. – Good one.
Steamweed
Oh, yeah, calculus is a totally solved area of human study. Thoroughly developed; completely explored.
Was Jennifer actually in math class with Joyce/Walky? I don’t know what the requirements of her major are, so I don’t know if math is a requirement. (It does look like she was coming from the same building Joyce and Walky were, but it doesn’t look like she had any books, so maybe her appearing there was a random occurance.)
Roll on the random encounter table!
1. Jennifer
2. Sudden Dorothy!
3. Asher, leaning on a wall and smoking
4. Amazi-Girl – that’s when the hero shows up!
5. Dina doesn’t know how she got there
6. Charlie doesn’t know how she got there
7. Ruth, we should put a bell on her
8. Becky! Did you know she’s a lesbian?!
9. phantom Mike in your head
10. roll 1d100 and consult the Randomer Encounters table
What is Jennifer thinking here? Is Jennifer thinking that Joyce is encroaching on her role of “bicker with Walky”? And realizing that she’s not OK with that?
Wasn’t it “humming”? (why do I even remember this?)
Needfuldoer
Alliteration is a hell of a drug.
Steamweed
Apocalyptic alliterating addiction.
(okay, so that’s smart-ass-onance instead)
Leadsynth
Good memory! It was totally Hymmel the Humming Hymnal!
Which was a parody of Psalty the Singing Songbook… Which is funny to me because the name “Psalty the Singing Songbook” sounds MORE like a joke to me than “Hymmel the Humming Hymnal” does.
Dear Cheese, I hope not. Olivia Rodrigo is so much better. All of Sabrina’s songs give of the stereotypical “stuck-up cheerleader” vibe. Annoys me so much.
It’s Sabrina Carpenter. I don’t get it either. Literally her only song I’ve heard is Espresso and like it’s not bad but not that good. I think it should be Chapel Roan
Don’t make Olivia Rodrigo be a pop star. I love her, but she makes punk. It’s super lite pop-punk, but it’s punk and no one else is doing that. Let’s get her to go into rock stardom.
Most “stuck up cheerleader” characters in fiction are written by creepy nerds who don’t understand consent. We’re talking the type of person who you’d be glad doesn’t have self confidence in high school because they’d be a rapist by now otherwise. Most cheerleaders I’ve known who come across that way just have self confidence and assertiveness in a misogynistic society.
Sirksome
I do wonder where those tropes come from? It’s been over a decade, getting closer to two since I’ve been in high school, but I do remember most of it. I was a nerd but I don’t remember the cheerleaders being super catty mean girls. I knew one in my english class. She seemed nice enough. The jocks weren’t really jerks either. In fact some of the meanest kids I remember were other nerds. Cliques do form but usually everyone seemed mostly okay. Bullying and stuff happened but it’s definitely not like they show in the teen drama shows.
Li
So, SOME of it is definitely because a certain stripe of entitled boy winds up feeling like “not being romantically interested in me (even if I never even spoke to her and she has no reason to know I’m alive, much less pining after her)” is a villaneous injustice that must be being perpetrated by evil shallow bongoes.
But also, consider that it’s just not very narratively effective to tell a story where you’ve got one (1) protagonist, and then the antagonist is split across like twelve different characters who only ever briefly interact with the protagonist for four years of high school.
It just makes a lot of sense to reduce “a lot of different girls said mean things to me once” into a single character, and in order for that character to be an effective antagonist, it makes sense to give them social capital in the form of significant popularity.
I was talking about this the other day, back when we last saw Jennifer’s flashback, but — I don’t think cheerleaders are usually beloved by an entire school, so much as that they TEND to be outgoing and athletic. They play a team sport, which gives them and the other cheerleaders a shared interest, and the other cheerleaders are also outgoing… so, they have kind of a built-in friend group, among which there will often be at least one girl who’s especially pretty and well-liked in the group. If they also date guys on the football team (due to proximity and shared interests), they also have that as a further extension of their friend group. A football team’s worth of friends is a lot bigger than most high school friend groups, so, you wind up popular in at least one sense of the word by default. This also gives you more people willing to vote for you when it comes time to choose prom queen.
Then, too, football games are one of the bigger social events a high school can have, and sometimes attendance is even mandatory (it kind of depends on how into “school spirit” a given school is), so, unlike other group activities a school might do (like choir), cheerleaders are more likely to at least have moments where they’re performing their skills while also being the center of attention.
So, you’ve got this combination where student athletes tend to have more friends and get more opportunities for being the center of attention, plus the narrative convenience of a singular focused antagonist, and is it any wonder that cheerleaders and football players often become bullies in fiction?
Based on the current sliding timescale, Olivia Rodrigo is a solid choice for Disney Channel into music stardom, which, given that Chappell Roan opened for her tour a couple years ago, was…a significant moment for a lot of Joyce-like girls.
199 thoughts on “Bounded”
maxh
Is it a bounded series or a Taylor series?
clif
If the Taylor series is infinite and unbounded, you might try a Taylor polynomial approximation instead.
AbacusWizard
If there’s a Fast Fourier Transform, there’s got to be a Swift Taylor Series.
clif
If not, in the days before digital computers, you could do a slow Fourier Transform using a Mader–Ott Harmonic Analyzer.
Hm. Google tells me that there is a YouTube video of Taylor Swift explaining Taylor series in 90 seconds, which I do find rather Swift.
Aquila
If I weren’t an atheist, I’d be thanking God that I don’t have to deal with complex mathematics.
Delavan
I love that this was the first post. Well done.
Jerach
As somebody who’s gonna teach my students about complex Taylor series’ today this tickles me quite a bit.
Doctor_Who
Can’t say I’m familiar with any TSwift songs called “Probably Shut Up”. Is that one from her feud with Katy Perry?
clif
No idea, but I don’t know why Joyce would lie about it.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Why would those two have a feud?
clif
With Joyce and Walky, it just comes naturally.
Thag Simmons
I have no idea, but they did, and the good news is that it resulted in some truly unlistenably bad music from both parties.
Schpoonman
If only more pop artists dropped feud tracks like “Not Like Us”.
Thag Simmons
For what it’s worth Kendrick Lamar was on one of them
Rose by Any other Name
Honestly, neither am I. Like, I know she exists, but I’m not familiar with any of her music.
Of course, I’m not super into Pop in general. The only notable pop artists in my music library are P!nk and Paramore.
sultryglebe
Someone seems lonely.
Thag Simmons
I wonder if she’s still looking for a viable character witness
clif
Like Johnny Lee, she’s looking in the wrong places.
Thag Simmons
Unfortunately for her she doesn’t really have a right place to be looking, just a selection of bad ones
Suet
Lonely? Nah. I don’t think she’s gonna end up with Dorothy soon.
Of course not…
Of course not.
Thag Simmons
Well, the last time Jennifer started spiraling after running into Alice she embroiled herself in a self-destructive lesbian relationship, so it wouldn’t be too surprising
Dorothy can do better though
Steamweed
Jennifer and Dorothy, going out (or staying in) drinking, would be bad. Much regrets the following morning.
Rose by Any other Name
Drinking? Yeah. Hope that’s not where this is going.
Dorothy and Jennifer having sex stone cold sober – that I would be onboard for. MAYBE it would get both of them to finally admit that they’re bi.
DashWallkick
Of course she’s not, look at her, she’s very very specifically doing her best to *not* look lonely.
Sirksome
It’s nice to see Walky trying hard at math instead of just assuming he is.
Steamweed
Now I want to see a montage of various cast members trying to help Walky with his math. Joyce explaining bounded sequences. Jason discussing convergence and divergence. Sal demonstrating power series. Amber (or maybe A-G) discussing parametrics.
Gigafreak
One of Joyce’s less-spotlighted traits in the other universe was her talent with complex math. Seems that might have carried over to this one. Though, being good at Thing and being able to TEACH about Thing are entirely different skillsets.
Walky was secretly smart in the other universe and is not-so-secretly smart in this one. There are any number of reasons why a smart person might fail to absorb knowledge, but I am disinclined to try diagnosing him.
Jerach
I mean, I think multiple characters including Walky himself have suggested he has ADHD, which would certainly explain “is smart but struggles really hard to maintain focus on certain things.”
anon
LOL well joyce has been known to be good at math but surprised he wouldn’t ask his gf or someone else that doesn’t have as much contempt for him as joyce
tho i can totally imagine some celeb/popstar being asked to make an ‘educational’ catchy song or so XD;
Imogen
It hurts seeing a dynamic she used to fit into comfortably. Well, sort of uncomfortably, really. But at least she fit.
Mr. Random
Taylor Series is gonna mess Walky up after this.
True Survivor
I looked those up and they are awesome. Thank you for the chance to learn something.
AbacusWizard
They’re so useful! If you’ve got a complicated function you can just pretend it’s a polynomial instead and we already know everything about polynomials!
clif
We already know everything about polynomials. – Good one.
Steamweed
Oh, yeah, calculus is a totally solved area of human study. Thoroughly developed; completely explored.
Doopyboop
Walky and Joyce would make for some interesting metamours. I think they’d get along fine and share Dorothy tips.
clif
They kind of almost qualify already.
Needfuldoer
Joyce and Walky?
Maybe in some other universe!
morleuca
Sharing Dorothy’s tips?
Doopyboop
Hehehehe…
Steamweed
Sharing Dorothy tips.
Giving Dorothy tips.
mindbleach
Jennifer absorbed none of this math class. Enthralled by watching these two bicker.
Doctor_Who
In fairness, same. I have learned no math from reading Dumbing of Age, but have gotten plenty of enjoyment from watching characters bicker.
True Survivor
Speak for yourself. I just did some research and relearned what a bounded sequence is. Its awesome.
Doctor_Who
I know what Bounded Sequence is!
… It’s that Disney Channel sitcom, the one that started whatshernane.
clif
It it’s on the Disney Channel you have to ask if it’s an ordered sequence.
Steamweed
My sister’s a fan. But the tv station has them out of order. It’s all a disordered sequence. She has opinions about this.
clif
Same.
Jamie
I’ve never been able to understand sequences and series. =/
Segnosaur
Was Jennifer actually in math class with Joyce/Walky? I don’t know what the requirements of her major are, so I don’t know if math is a requirement. (It does look like she was coming from the same building Joyce and Walky were, but it doesn’t look like she had any books, so maybe her appearing there was a random occurance.)
Effie
Roll on the random encounter table!
1. Jennifer
2. Sudden Dorothy!
3. Asher, leaning on a wall and smoking
4. Amazi-Girl – that’s when the hero shows up!
5. Dina doesn’t know how she got there
6. Charlie doesn’t know how she got there
7. Ruth, we should put a bell on her
8. Becky! Did you know she’s a lesbian?!
9. phantom Mike in your head
10. roll 1d100 and consult the Randomer Encounters table
Leadsynth
What is Jennifer thinking here? Is Jennifer thinking that Joyce is encroaching on her role of “bicker with Walky”? And realizing that she’s not OK with that?
Cholma
You should’ve used Psalty or the Church mouse as a reference, Joyce!
JA
What about Hymmel the Singing Hymnal?
APW
Wasn’t it “humming”? (why do I even remember this?)
Needfuldoer
Alliteration is a hell of a drug.
Steamweed
Apocalyptic alliterating addiction.
(okay, so that’s smart-ass-onance instead)
Leadsynth
Good memory! It was totally Hymmel the Humming Hymnal!
Which was a parody of Psalty the Singing Songbook… Which is funny to me because the name “Psalty the Singing Songbook” sounds MORE like a joke to me than “Hymmel the Humming Hymnal” does.
Steamweed
That would give Walky flashbacks. Best to avoid that.
Thag Simmons
They did agree that it never happened
Sirksome
I think Sabrina Carpenter is this generation’s current pop star idol right?
Cholma
Dear Cheese, I hope not. Olivia Rodrigo is so much better. All of Sabrina’s songs give of the stereotypical “stuck-up cheerleader” vibe. Annoys me so much.
AMagicalDuck
It’s Sabrina Carpenter. I don’t get it either. Literally her only song I’ve heard is Espresso and like it’s not bad but not that good. I think it should be Chapel Roan
CallynD
Don’t make Olivia Rodrigo be a pop star. I love her, but she makes punk. It’s super lite pop-punk, but it’s punk and no one else is doing that. Let’s get her to go into rock stardom.
Joy
Most “stuck up cheerleader” characters in fiction are written by creepy nerds who don’t understand consent. We’re talking the type of person who you’d be glad doesn’t have self confidence in high school because they’d be a rapist by now otherwise. Most cheerleaders I’ve known who come across that way just have self confidence and assertiveness in a misogynistic society.
Sirksome
I do wonder where those tropes come from? It’s been over a decade, getting closer to two since I’ve been in high school, but I do remember most of it. I was a nerd but I don’t remember the cheerleaders being super catty mean girls. I knew one in my english class. She seemed nice enough. The jocks weren’t really jerks either. In fact some of the meanest kids I remember were other nerds. Cliques do form but usually everyone seemed mostly okay. Bullying and stuff happened but it’s definitely not like they show in the teen drama shows.
Li
So, SOME of it is definitely because a certain stripe of entitled boy winds up feeling like “not being romantically interested in me (even if I never even spoke to her and she has no reason to know I’m alive, much less pining after her)” is a villaneous injustice that must be being perpetrated by evil shallow bongoes.
But also, consider that it’s just not very narratively effective to tell a story where you’ve got one (1) protagonist, and then the antagonist is split across like twelve different characters who only ever briefly interact with the protagonist for four years of high school.
It just makes a lot of sense to reduce “a lot of different girls said mean things to me once” into a single character, and in order for that character to be an effective antagonist, it makes sense to give them social capital in the form of significant popularity.
I was talking about this the other day, back when we last saw Jennifer’s flashback, but — I don’t think cheerleaders are usually beloved by an entire school, so much as that they TEND to be outgoing and athletic. They play a team sport, which gives them and the other cheerleaders a shared interest, and the other cheerleaders are also outgoing… so, they have kind of a built-in friend group, among which there will often be at least one girl who’s especially pretty and well-liked in the group. If they also date guys on the football team (due to proximity and shared interests), they also have that as a further extension of their friend group. A football team’s worth of friends is a lot bigger than most high school friend groups, so, you wind up popular in at least one sense of the word by default. This also gives you more people willing to vote for you when it comes time to choose prom queen.
Then, too, football games are one of the bigger social events a high school can have, and sometimes attendance is even mandatory (it kind of depends on how into “school spirit” a given school is), so, unlike other group activities a school might do (like choir), cheerleaders are more likely to at least have moments where they’re performing their skills while also being the center of attention.
So, you’ve got this combination where student athletes tend to have more friends and get more opportunities for being the center of attention, plus the narrative convenience of a singular focused antagonist, and is it any wonder that cheerleaders and football players often become bullies in fiction?
Viktoria
Based on the current sliding timescale, Olivia Rodrigo is a solid choice for Disney Channel into music stardom, which, given that Chappell Roan opened for her tour a couple years ago, was…a significant moment for a lot of Joyce-like girls.
clif
There are a lot of Joyce-like girls? [Insert skeptical face emogi here]
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