Episode 62: Nerds Vs Covid 19

Topic: How has Nerdy things Changed during Covid 19

Myself and Mom and have skirted around the concern about the pandemic, especially how it's changed just about everything in the world.  As it is now, we've been stuck at home for nearly two and half months, going on three, and probably four or five.  A lot, including myself, have lost their jobs and in this uneasy time, not even our favorite Nerdy passions haven't been effected either.  So, this week, we go in to see what's happened and has changed in light of the world's sudden changes.

Movies
Box Office movies as of early March expect to lose $5 Billion US Dollars
Many major Studios will no longer be releasing Box Office figures until future date.
Nearly a hundred movies have been pushed back to later dates, including some movies set to release either within the last two months or in the near future.  Some movies that were set to release in theatres were instead released on home video immediately.

Released to Home Video/Streaming Early:
Frozen 2
Onward
Birds of Prey
Sonic the Hedgehog
Artemis Fowl

Movies in Production
Suspended:
Avatar Sequels
The Batman
Cinderella
Jurassic World: Domination
Matrix 4
Mission Impossible 7
Shang-Chi And the Legend of the Ten Rings

Delayed:
Fantastic Beasts 3
The Little Mermaid
Home Alone
Spiderman Sequel
Peter Pan & Wendy
Uncharted

Movies yet Released:
Wonder Woman 1984 – Set for June 2020, Tentatively set for Aug 2020
Thor: Love & Thunder- Set for Nov 2021, Tentatively set for Feb 2021
Top Gun: Maverick – Set for June 2020, Tentatively set for Dec 2020
Soul – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for Nov 2020
New Mutants – Set for April 2020, Tentatively set for Aug 2020
Mulan – Set for March 2020, Tentatively set for July 2020
Jungle Cruise – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for July 2021
John Wick 4 – Set for May 2021, Tentatively set for May 2022
Ghost Busters: Afterlife – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for March 2021
The Eternals – Set for Nov 2020, Tentatively set for Feb 2021
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse – Set for May 2021, Tentatively set for March 2022
Black Widow – Set for May 2020, Tentatively set for Nov 2021

Conventions:
With Concerns over social distancing and stay at home orders, the following conventions have been canceled for 2020.

BlizzCon – Mid November
PAX West(Penny Arcade Expo: West) – Labor Day Weekend (Early September)
Comic-Con San Diego – Mid July
Anime Expo – July 4^th weekend
Fanime – Late May

Many other conventions set for August and beyond are still set to continue, however these are likely to be canceled as well. 

For contractual reasons, many conventions are unable to cancel their events outright ahead of time like they would like to.  This is due to many contracts including a ‘Force Majeure’ clause within their contracts.  The clause is an element of most standard contracts that allows for the cancelation of the contract and agreement, presuming that the reason for cancelation is outside of the control of either party and was unpredictable. 

As example, an outdoor Concert or Event being canceled due to rain wouldn’t fall under this clause because rain for an outdoor event is predictable.  If the location was flooded due to rains, especially if the area isn’t known for flooding, this might fall under the Force Majeure clause of a contract.

For many conventions, they are unable to cancel their contract unless the city, state, or venue say you can’t continue as normal.  As a result, especially in the beginning, many companies canceled their events prior to the city or state starting lock-down procedures and stay at home orders.  Even though the orders went in to effect, if the venue canceled it before hand, the clause doesn’t apply, as the decision to cancel was made prior to order going in to effect.

This may be why many conventions and events are still scheduled to go, as many conventions need to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of time to reserve the space and technology needed for the convention.  Many conventions are also trying to play the waiting game as well, waiting to see if the concern over the pandemic will subside and allow for business to go on as normal. 

Pro-Wrestling
Initially was to be canceled due to Corona Virus, however in mid April, Flordia stated that Pro Wrestling is an essential business.  A Pro-Donald Trump for President PAC, ran by the McMahon family, donated 18.5 Million dollars to Florida Govern Ron DeSantis on day of the announcement that Pro-Wrestling was considered an Essential Service.

WWE
All WWE Live Events/House Shows have been canceled indefinitely
Filming for Raw/Smackdown/PPV filmed out of WWE Performance Center(Training Facility for WWE)
NTX Still filming out of Full-Sail University
Raw and Smackdown performs, as of now, are filming multiple shows worth of content at a single time.  This is in an effort to keep employees at home as long as possible in order to limit exposure.
Several wrestlers sitting out during Virus.  Roman Reigns is the most well known, was set to fight Bill Goldberg for Universal Championship at Wrestlemania, but pulled out due to concerns over his young newborn twin’s safety
Wrestlemania and Money in the Bank PPV shot at Performance Center
Wrestlemania was a 2-day Show, with Movie-like matches for AJ Styles Vs Undertaker and John Cena Vs Bray Wyatt
After Wrestlemania, over twenty main talent wrestlers were released, along with majority of Producers/Road-Agents and staff, amidst a desire to cut back the budget.  Reports claim that the reduction of staff would save potentially $4 million dollars monthly savings, however the company has over $500 million dollars in savings in the bank, along with lucrative TV deals still in production.


AEW
Continued with Empty Arena tapings, choosing to do so weekly rather than tapes, and only the one show. 
Moved operations to Jacksonville, Florida, where Company Owner’s NFL team resides. 
While initially shot in Empty Arenas, it was later moved to smaller venues. 
Audience is made up of other wrestlers.
New wrestlers continued to Debut during Empty Arena shows, including Matt Hardy, FTR(Formerly The Revival: Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood), Brodie Lee(Formerly Luke Harper)
New Mid-card Title created: AEW TNT Title, named and themed after network they broadcast on.

Independent Wrestling Organizations
Smaller Independent Wrestling Organizations have taken a major hit and aren’t performing.
With many wrestlers essentially out of work for the time being, Funds started by Former WWE Talent Rusev, who started by donating $20k for other wrestlers not working. 
Concern over cancelation of events and dates for organizations sparks concern, especially in the beginning.

Video Games
Lots of people have been stuck in doors, and with many people furloughed or with stay-at-home orders, they can’t do much.

• Major Gaming Consoles are not available in stores, need to be ordered online.
• GameStop and other retailers not open due to Virus.
• Video Game Sales is up by $1.6 Billion over last year.
• Twitch saw 1.49 Billion game hours watched, 50% increase over March
• Nintendo announced Sales of the Switch up by 24% over last year, with 13.5 Million copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
• Microsoft reported 130% additional gamers playing online

There are concerns over development of both games and Consoles.  As Nintendo’s delays in production only recently made the Switch console available for retailers, Microsoft’s Xbox X Series and Playstation 5 are now going in to production for a holiday release, and with production houses closed, the delay may mean that fewer or no consoles will be available for winter release, missing out on lucrative Christmas revenue.

Same is true for games themselves, with many production houses having to either shut down, or reduce staff/hours in order follow city and/or state guidelines.  Similar to movies, there are many games that will likely be either canceled or postponed to later dates due to the pandemic. 

Episode 61: Anime for Kids Review

Topic: Anime for Kids Review

We're back again this week to talk about some of the anime we watched with my Sister in Law and mother of my two nieces who are only fledglings into anime.  We watched some, but not all of the anime, as children do from time to time.  But we talked about some of our shared experiences as well, and found that we’re not too different at all, just that some of us spent a lot more time watching cartoons and the other didn’t have children.

Most of these series are fully available online from streaming services in English Dub.  Links for each included.

Sailor Moon Crystal (Hulu)

Card Captor Sakura (Hulu)

Kaleido Star (Hulu)

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki Kun (Netflix)

K-on (Netflix)

Cells at Work (Netflix)

Glitter Force (Netflix)

Teasing Master Takagi-san (Netflix)

Fireworks (Netflix)

Violet Evergarden (Netflix)

Little Witch Academia (Netflix)

Them's Fightin' Herds

Episode 60: Animal Crossing Review

Topic: Animal Cross Review

We spent a week to let Mom give the Animal Crossing a try.  She actually started atleast a week or so prior to our first episode on the topic, but now that she’s been playing for about two weeks, we come back with more questions and comments about those Darn Raccoons and their plots to steal all of our Bells!

Some Cool Tips

Nook Miles Buy Recommendations:
Pretty Good Tools Recipes – 3000 Miles
This will give you the better versions of tools, upgrades from your flimsy versions you might have been carrying using before.

Pocket Organization Guide – 5000 Miles
There are two of these that eventually come up, but they allow you to expand your inventory from 20 to 30, and then to 40 items.  Which even then, will certainly get filled up fast. The first one comes up after you pay off your house, and once you get the Residential Center, the second one should pop up.

Tool Ring: It’s Essential! – 800 Miles
This allows you to map your most commonly used tools to a ring on the directional pad, allowing you to easily access your tools or put them away without always going into your inventory
.
Custom Design Pro Editor - 800 Miles
This will let you develop or make your own custom designs for signs, flooring, and clothing.  Until you have this, you can't recieve or download them either, but once you do, lookout custom clothes.

Nook Miles Ticket - 2000 Miles
These are basically island adventures, where you can catch rare fish or bugs, but also find new fruits and crafting materials.  Occasionally, you might wind up on Scorpion or Turantula Island, which can be very profitable.

Top 8 Pop Hairstyles - 2400 Miles
Top 8 Cool HairStyles - 2400 Miles
Top 8 Stylish Hair Colors - 3000 Miles
These are new customize options for your character, including new hair styles and different colored hair.  If you want pink hair, only way to go.

The Stalk Market
This is an easy, but risky way to make easy bells in the game.
On Sunday mornings, until 12pm/noon, your in game time, there will be a boar named Daisy Mae, who will offer to sell you Turnips in batches of 10.  Later in the week, you can sell your Turnips to Timmy and Tommy Nook, hopefully for more Bells than what you bought them for.

The price for the Turnips fluctuate throughout the week, and change from morning to evening.  You’ll learn the prices by talking to Timmy or Tommy and asking the prices.  Sometimes, it will be for a much higher price than bought for, while others less so.  Ideally, you create a network of friends who are also playing, and trade what the prices for your turnips are.  Price vary, in some cases they go up throughout the week, and others go down.

Alternatively, Reddit, being all Reddit, has a subReddit for people who want others to visit their islands to sell Turnips.  Beware that when the Nook boys are buying turnips for high prices, that it attracts a crowd, so expect long wait times for selling if you don’t get in right away on a post. 
r/acturnips

Get the Nintendo App and Custom Clothes/Designs
Ever wanted to create/import your own unique logo/design in to Animal Crossing?  You can.
Download the Nintendo Switch Online app and register your friend code.  It knows what games you have, and once you install the Animal Crossing addon, which it will do for you, it will give you a ‘mini’ Nook Phone.  From here, you can scan custom QR codes online and import your own images into do the game.

You can get QR codes online or make them yourself in an editor.
Custom Pattern Editor

There’s also a Nook Book of fashion, and once you get the Able Sisters tailor shop, you can download them for free from the internet.
Nook Island - Custom Designs


Talk Show
Someone was a mad man and created an entire Talkshow in Animal Crossing!  Gary Whitta, a screenplay writer for Hit Movies like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Created an entire Set and has had all sorts of Celebrities visiting his Island.  You have to check it out, because it is a full-on Late Night Comedy Show.