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So there still have been no announcements from Disneyland Resort nor Walt Disney World Resort regarding park closer extensions. It’s my opinion that we are not out of the woods yet regarding the covid-19 virus, and that the parks will not be open by April 1st. Meanwhile, construction at Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park has been halted. According to the Disney website, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which is scheduled to open in 2022 in Disneyland’s Toon Town, and the Avengers Campus at California Adventure park has been halted during the park closure. No word yet on whether opening dates will be affected.
As always, make sure to stay tuned on the updates because you never know what will happen. Fingers crossed!
The post Disney Update appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out on March 19th at 11PM CST, and I have been playing it everyday in several hour bursts since then. It’s important to note that while this probably would have been the case independent of what’s going on in the world, there are several factors that are worth mentioning, namely: the fact that I have not played an Animal Crossing game since the original came out on the GameCube, the fact that I have been working from home since March 16th as a form of social distancing, and the fact that I just finished season 1 of Beastars the day before Animal Crossing: New Horizons released. And while these are extenuating circumstances that have influenced some of my experiences and interactions, I know in the depths of my heart that I love this game, my virtual neighbors, and the various friends I’ve been interacting with online in lieu of in-person social interaction. The timing is incredibly odd in the grand scheme of things, but the impact is the same: Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a peaceful meditation in a wonderful sandbox where you can decide exactly how you approach your island faring life.
Day 0 #AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/dYLB6CFjOe
— Mikkel Snyder (@ChimericNotion) March 26, 2020
The premise of the game is simple: you “won” a deserted island getaway package and are starting life on an island of your choice. You get some preliminary character customization (that becomes a lot more involved as the game progresses), get to pick whether your island is in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, and get to pick the layout of your island. You take your seaplane out to the island, meet your economical overlord Tom Nook and his sons, Timmy and Tommy, and get to know your neighbors, and begin cultivating the land. You pick a place for your tent (with the option to pick the location of your neighbors), do some light foraging, and then you’re kind of left to your own devices to figure out exactly how to pay off a surprising amount of debt that was apparently buried in the package contract. The game gives you hints and tips of course, but for someone who hadn’t played an Animal Crossing game in a minute or honestly, a game that wasn’t Destiny 2, it took a day or two to get into a routine and find out what level of engagement works for me. Although, I am comforted by the fact that Isabelle is able to find balance between the Animal Crossing and Doom fandoms.
Finally it's here ! Which game did you guys get ? #AnimalCrossing #DOOM pic.twitter.com/BgBuSzxnzI
— Inx (@InxanityOCE) March 20, 2020
Animal Crossing: New Horizons happens in real time, which means that unless you’re willing to engage some light time travel shenanigans by messing with your system settings, you’re going to be limited in your progression at the beginning. Each new day happens around 5AM EST (at least at time of writing. I’m not exactly sure how Daylight Savings Time will impact that come fall), and your construction projects will be complete whether you completed than 23 hours beforehand or five minutes before the new day. Your island’s main feature in the early game involve the Residential Services Plaza which contains a crafting bench, a small store, multipurpose ATM, your and your neighbors’ tents, and the seaplane dock where you make your landing. Depending on how you progress, you’ll also set up a museum site and a proper corner store and start learning how to be the representative for your island, even if you only can access portions of it since rivers and hills will prevent you from exploring everything from the get. Yet as you do some light colonization, you’ll get access to tools like a vaulting pole and a ladder to fully chart your island which let you harvest more resources which you can use to pay off debt and create fixtures for your new home. And I know that I’m just at the beginning of what is going to be an ongoing experience.
#AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/4tpDeKRBS6
— Mikkel Snyder (@ChimericNotion) March 26, 2020
I am engaging with the game on a daily basis. I play for an hour or two sprint in the morning and evening, and since I’ve been working from home, I also sneak a brief lunch time check in to check the “stalk market” and see if my turnips are worth anything. Thus far, I bought 40 turnips at 104 a piece, and the market has plummeted to an all-time low of 17 at time of writing. I have friends who have already upgraded their house, fully populated their island, and furnished their homes. Meanwhile, I just got my fourth neighbor and added an expansion to my house. My insect and fish index is remarkably empty because I’m not as interested in bug catching or fishing, although I am very interested in lawn work (which is funny considering I hate being outside in the real world). I have a fenced orchard at the airport where I have a collection of most of the fruit (cherries seem oddly rare in my adventures). I’ve cleared out several acres of trees on my island, although I’m making a point to cultivate a forest at the top of my island. I attempt to make daily trips to other deserted islands for materials, and have a steady stockpile of resources that I am mostly able to convert to the things that I need for bells, the in-game currency.
I have rituals and routines. I have a sense of stability during a time where the world is a little bit unstable. I found my eyes widening subconsciously when talking with my chicken and deer neighbors after seeing the first of Beastars and having so many questions about things like egg sandwiches and deer social dynamics. So like, I’m approaching this game from a very “adult” perspective, where the idea of having your own community on an isolated island where you have a mortgage that you can pay off anytime in any amount interval without fear of eviction and can make significant amounts of money by crafting is kind of the best escapist fantasy in 2020. It also leads to moments where I find myself saying “Oh god, I know nothing and you’re asking me to do things that I only have vague conceptions about” which is a little too real, but at the same time: there’s something calming about this pocket island.
I’ve had friends come visit my island, pick some oranges, and leave gifts. I’ve visited friends’ islands and helped them weed their yards and brought tools that they didn’t have yet so they could explore the island much like my friends did from me. I learned that holding A allows you to organize your inventory and that digging two holes before striking a rock allows you to create a foothold brace that nets you more material. And there is still so much I don’t know, but as someone who just wants a palette cleanser from the stress of real life and the shock and awe of first person shooters, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is kind of perfect.
#AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/ZqDI3vI06R
— Mikkel Snyder (@ChimericNotion) March 26, 2020
It’s peaceful and quiet, and honestly the worst thing that can happen is that you get stung by a wasp too many times and get taken home or you have too many things in your pocket or leave something behind on an island that you needed. There are some quirks with the game (online connectivity and play takes a second to get used to, the fact that you can only have one island per system, and the inability to transfer files at release), but whether you’re a solo player casually piecing the flow of the game together or a networked player with a series of spreadsheets and datasets so you can optimize your island, you’re gonna find something to love. There is still so much more on the horizon, but seven days is enough to know that I’ll be logging on daily for quite some time.
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The post ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ is a Much Needed Source of Respite in Strange Times appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Season 3 // Netflix
Here’s some shoptalk that I would usually spare you, but it’s relevant here. I got the opportunity to review season two of Ozark last time around: or at least give a preview, with access to the first four episodes. I felt like the opening of season two had some new players, but was mostly more of the same. The Byrdes paint themselves into a corner and then Marty or Wendy manipulate some other third party to get themselves out. To varying degrees of suspended disbelief. Kind of rinse and repeat. At least that’s how I felt through the first four episodes.
The latter half of the season saw some big twists and turns: the progression of Wendy’s character into an ambitious sociopath, the Cartel flip, and the ultimate transfer of power in the Blythe house by season’s end. Suffice to say, my review of the whole season was completely different than my review of the beginning.
Sometimes it be Your Own Kin
Season three starts much quicker than season two, mostly because the focal point of the show has moved to the instability of the Byrde’s household. Look, we’ve never seen them as stable. But at least they were paddling in the same direction. I know I’ve compared Ozark (in it’s construction, not in it’s potency) to Breaking Bad, but something Breaking Bad never explored is if Skylar ever had equal or more power than Walter. So much so that she was driving the decision-making and making Walter work against her. In season three of Ozark, it’s some Kramer vs Kramer shit happening. Well, Kramer vs Kramer vs the Poppy Fields vs the Cartel vs the Cartel’s rivals vs the Kansas City Mob vs the Feds vs…
It’s a lot to keep track of but the pacing handles this well. Each conflict is shown with the possible repercussions it will have on other conflicts. Friend or foe are useless words in the world of Ozark. Everything is either co-conspirator or obstacle and they both have very short expiration dates. The pacing is fine but the sheer amount of plot threads feels a bit overwhelming at times.
A Gordian Knot
In addition to the marriage / partner drama between Marty and Wendy, you also have Jonah’s crypto-currency ambitions, Helen coming to town with her family (who don’t know what she actually does), Wyatt finding his way into a weird relationship with Darlene, and feds watching the Casino. Well, casinos? Maybe. I mean, at one point there are two casinos but that kind of gets dropped halfway through the season. Not to mention major catalyst in the form of two new characters like Wendy’s bipolar brother Ben played by Tom Pelphrey and the FBI agent Maya Miller (Jessica Frances Dukes) assigned to the Byrde’s federal case. To say nothing of the large Cartel drug war going on. Most of the threads come together in some way or another by the end, but it is a tangled mess. Intentionally so. But not with a 100% success rate where it doesn’t feel like we are unintentionally in the weeds for spells at a time.
The Shine
What works best for this season is that the tension takes a different form than the previous seasons. To an extent. The Byrdes are still the prey when it comes to the Cartel and the FBI, but they are the predator to everyone else and in a more forceful way than previously. Wendy has completed her transition into an ambition-over-everything sociopath who can justify every thing in every situation. In a way, she becomes more Walter White than Marty ever was.
The newcomers shine as well. Pelphrey gets the glamour role as Ben, who has more mood swings, monologues and heartbreaking moments than just about everyone else on the show. And Dukes as Special Agent Miller gives an even-handed and righteous performance trying to flip the Byrdes with her idealism.
The Stale
The trade-off of that is there is only so much oxygen and not every gets an equal share. The Byrde kids are all but background music when they could’ve really been impactful in unique ways this season. And while Ruth is a huge part of the season (and Julia Garner is still spectacular), her character is reduced down to angry and vengeful at every turn. Gone are the days of her being the smartest backwater women in the room. Now she’s just keeping her guard as high as possible (until she doesn’t) and saying fuck every second word. Her character deserved a lot more development and I was hoping she would evolve into one of the most galvanizing characters on the show. But that didn’t happen.
At the end of the day, the season is more consistent throughout than season two was, but didn’t quite turn the volume up to eleven like the previous season did either. Ozark is still polished and well put together television. But we’re also entering a point where the Byrde’s have been on a knife’s edge for three seasons now with not a lot of the status quo changing. Season three definitely endears more seasons to come and it would be nice to see the world evolve away from what has become the standard.
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The post Ozark Season Three Review: Death of Decent People appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.