“Best Investment” in Bonsai, 6 cents or $6.50 per hour??

Joe Dupre'

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Sounds crazy until you watch the video of Ryan Neil saying just that. There was no teaching in the Western sense where the teacher told you what to do. Ryan had to catch hints and techniques by watching Kimura work........sometimes sneaking around and watching him after hours.
 

PABonsai

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Not to be rude but this seems like an awful lot of thinking for $65. This is something that you'll spend years, possibly a lifetime learning. One set of videos or 3 months of Mirai videos won't be the end. So just buy the videos, if they're useful then good, if not then next year do something else. I know this probably doesn't seem like helpful advice, but in this world $65 is like buying a pot. I think you're over analyzing.
 

Adair M

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Sounds crazy until you watch the video of Ryan Neil saying just that. There was no teaching in the Western sense where the teacher told you what to do. Ryan had to catch hints and techniques by watching Kimura work........sometimes sneaking around and watching him after hours.
Boon said something similiar. Pretty much what he was told was, “that’s no good. Do it again.” And he would go into the garden, look at other, similiar, trees, and try to replicate them.
 

AlainK

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520 hours of Ryan Neil? In one month?

When people post videos, there's a lot of blah-blah. Sometimes, things that can be shown in a few pictures on a web page and read in 5 minutes can be more "instructional" than a 20-minute video, even from very competent, experienced people, but...

Video, ego sum...

(I'm not taking sides, it's just that I'm not into video "tutorials")
 

leatherback

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When people post videos, there's a lot of blah-blah. Sometimes, things that can be shown in a few pictures on a web page and read in 5 minutes can be more "instructional" than a 20-minute video, even from very competent, experienced people, but...
Thank you. I thought I was crazy for not liking videos!
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Haha! My wife can't be in the same room when I'm watching Ryan Neil. His voice drives her crazy! I've never had a problem with it.

I've heard that Coloradans have an accent, but I've never noticed it. I guess we don't pronounce our T's?
I don't hear an accent in Ryan, that's why I asked native speakers. I can distinguish Australian from South African, I know Texan is a thing, Bostonese too. I can hear if people are from the south or north of the US. Or Ireland or Scotland, or mainland Britain. Canadian is harder to place. But Coloradans don't seem to have a distinguishable accent to me.
I think it's the voice and intonation. It must be.

Bonsai Empire does accept paypal, and it's a life time access deal; you pay once and you get to 'keep' the material. A huge advantage to Mirai, which to my knowledge is totally paywalled; if you don't pay, you can't watch anymore.
I have read that the content quality (in depth knowledge) of BE is somewhat falling short, or at least, that was the case in the past. So I'll wait for the first people to review it first before I spend money on that.

For the time being, I'm sticking with the stereotype of Dutch people being cheapskates, it's Bjorholm's Bonsai-U for me.
 

wireme

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Thank you. I thought I was crazy for not liking videos!


I’m the same. I am a very fast reader, can scan through text in no time, find the stuff I’m interested in, slow down, read it a few times over...

Videos take so much longer, with many I’ve found that I feel like I’m mostly just waiting with growing impatience. I’d take text with pics and diagrams any day over video.
 

BonsaiDawg

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I love the Bonsai Empire stuff. Its very concise and divided up well. Easy to go back and find and replay the lessons. They are great for clubs as well. I CAN'T STAND the Mirai videos. They are endless ramblings 2-3hrs long and it is difficult to go back to any thing. The length spreads out any info so that it seems to get lost.

Definitely not for me.

Makes sense....there's definitely a market for those types of bonsai people including the 'club' social types primarily involved for club fellowship and comradery uninterested in developing their skills and pursuing bonsai on a higher level. Purchasing the 6 hours (vs 520 hrs) for twice the cost is perfect for you...
 

leatherback

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I prefer short doses of infor and actually working on my trees to improve my skills. And the odd social weekend with a few experts that help develop individual trees.

But yeah, I can see there is a market for those types of bonsai people primarely involved in sofa-sitting watching other people do bonsai uninterested in laying their hands on an actual tree. Purchasing the gazillion hours on a monthly subscription basis is perfect for you.
 

Underdog

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Assuming I could only bear up to one hour per day of listening to Ryan's voice, and the occasional day off to give my ears time to stop bleeding,
For me it's the dozens of "Okay?" and "Alright?" at he end of every sentence. I believe he is a very good public speaker but... I'd rather buy more trees and watch some free stuff during the winters.
 

choppychoppy

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Makes sense....there's definitely a market for those types of bonsai people including the 'club' social types primarily involved for club fellowship and comradery uninterested in developing their skills and pursuing bonsai on a higher level. Purchasing the 6 hours (vs 520 hrs) for twice the cost is perfect for you...


Except that for me the Mirai stuff isn't worth much at all, so the 'value' is clear. I'm in Florida as well so 90% of the stuff he works on won't even work in my area. And since I've spent $15K on intensives and trees the last few years I'm actually pretty well 'pursuing bonsai on a higher level'. And hours and hours of blah blah blah (520 you've stated) don't mean squat when its mostly chit chat and the actual lessons and techniques are buried amongst it. For me it not worth the cost on any level - I even had it for a while. Every person that I have recommended the BE courses to have loved them.
 

Tulsabonsigh

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If you are judging just based on the price I don’t think it will be accurate. I’m a fee only financial advisor. I can talk for 20 mins and tell you just as much as I can in 6 hours.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Except that for me the Mirai stuff isn't worth much at all, so the 'value' is clear. I'm in Florida as well so 90% of the stuff he works on won't even work in my area. And since I've spent $15K on intensives and trees the last few years I'm actually pretty well 'pursuing bonsai on a higher level'. And hours and hours of blah blah blah (520 you've stated) don't mean squat when its mostly chit chat and the actual lessons and techniques are buried amongst it. For me it not worth the cost on any level - I even had it for a while. Every person that I have recommended the BE courses to have loved them.

I understand that Ryan Neil does not cover much material that will grow in North Florida or the Gulf region, but I do think his videos are a lot more quality than just "chit chat", especially to those of us in more northern regions, where we actually have winter, and actually can grow the species that Ryan works on. You're being a bit too harsh. BUT I do understand, if you are in zone 8b or warmer, where sub-tropicals and tropicals are the only species that thrive, there would not be a lot of direct information you could glean from Ryan's videos.
 

BonsaiDawg

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Except that for me the Mirai stuff isn't worth much at all, so the 'value' is clear. I'm in Florida as well so 90% of the stuff he works on won't even work in my area. And since I've spent $15K on intensives and trees the last few years I'm actually pretty well 'pursuing bonsai on a higher level'. And hours and hours of blah blah blah (520 you've stated) don't mean squat when its mostly chit chat and the actual lessons and techniques are buried amongst it. For me it not worth the cost on any level - I even had it for a while. Every person that I have recommended the BE courses to have loved them.

Aren't you pleasant. Typical PWT Floridian running his mouth. The hours are chit chat, really? Enlighten me tard face.
 

coltranem

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Purchasing the 6 hours (vs 520 hrs) for twice the cost is perfect for you...
Except at Mirai Live you are just renting the videos with BE you are purchasing.

I bought the BE shohin series when it went on sale. The quality is good but I would have liked more content.

I subscribed to Mirai for a few months last year. I enjoyed the videos and the depth of coverage. However I found I had to go back multiple times to absorb things. I probably should have taken notes. He probably should have show notes you can download. I dropped it after a few months. I figured if I got bored this winter I'd subscribe again but it doesn't make sense to me to pay every month. I'd rather buy material.
 

Woocash

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I’m the same. I am a very fast reader, can scan through text in no time, find the stuff I’m interested in, slow down, read it a few times over...

Videos take so much longer, with many I’ve found that I feel like I’m mostly just waiting with growing impatience. I’d take text with pics and diagrams any day over video.
Exactly. I’d love an abridged and illustrated transcript of a mirai video, rather than the ordeal of watching the whole thing. I watched a video of Ryan buying and styling a huge cryptomeria on mirai live and I ended up watching the first third then skipping to the end to see the result because of all the unnecessary noise. I watch to learn, not to be entertained. This pretty much told me mirai isn’t for me. I just don’t have the patience for long videos in general though so it’s probably not just a reflection of mirai.

Reading and re reading is much easier to ingrain a concept in my mind than to have to rewind videos constantly. As you say, skimming through to useful information is so much more efficient.
 
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