This week the Nerds welcome Dev-i-boy to the group. Dev-i-boy is also known as Brad, a Brisbane game developer, who we interviewed around a year ago. Check that one out too, it's a good one and it'll be in the show notes below.
Professor and Dev-i-boy are gushing over Half Life: Alyx, despite a massive lack of Valve Index availability in Australia. Why, Valve, why?. HL:Alyx also doubles as an online lecture platform, a Cover your Cough training simulator and apparently, a generally good game.
DJ wants to see the Dragons Lair movie. Ryan Reynolds has been cast in a live action remake of a classic animated Laserdisc game from 1983. Don Bluth is on board, so it should be something interesting to watch.
Once again, the Nerds take on the topic of dinosaur chickens. Professor rants about the software design skills of Dennis Nedry and Dev-i-boy thinks there's no point in bringing back dinosaur chickens. But imagine the drumsticks on those chooks.
As usual, we cover the games of the week and remember some famous figures who passed away this week.
Half Life & Valve news
- https://uploadvr.com/new-valve-vr-games/
- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1271440/Next_Gen_HP_VR_Headset/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKsSsEmfjoE&feature=emb_title
Dragon’s Lair Movie remake
Recreating living dinosaurs now a reality
Games Played
Professor
– Half-Life 2: Update - https://store.steampowered.com/app/290930/HalfLife_2_Update/
Rating – 4/5
DJ
– Call of Duty : Warzone - https://www.callofduty.com/warzone
Rating – 4/5
Dev-i-Boy
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_The_Wind_Waker
Rating – 4/5
- Colin McRae Rally 2005 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_2005
Rating – 5/5
Other topics discussed
A Nerds Special - An Interview with An Aspie Life developer : Bradley Hennessey - https://thatsnotcanon.com/topshelfnerdspodcast/episode87
Valve to pay AU$3 million fine for misleading Australian gamers
- https://www.cnet.com/news/valve-to-pay-3-million-fine-for-misleading-australian-gamers/
F-Stop or 'Directed Design Experiments'
- https://vcc.wiki/wiki/F-Stop
Math Teacher’s class in Virtual Reality
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3g9jrqjOZs
Oculus Headset
- https://www.oculus.com/?locale=en_US
Oculus Rift Store
- https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/?locale=en_US
Sullivan Bluth Studios (Irish-American animation studio established in 1979 by animator Don Bluth.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Bluth_Studios
Detective Pikachu (2019 urban fantasymystery film directed by Rob Letterman.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Pikachu_(film)
Free Guy (upcoming 2020 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, a story by Matt Lieberman, and a screenplay by Lieberman and Zak Penn.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Guy
Castlevania (an action-adventure gothic horrorvideo game series about vampire hunters created and developed by Konami.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018 interactive film in the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror:_Bandersnatch
Green Lantern (2011 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern_(film)
R.I.P.D. (R.I.P.D.: Rest in Peace Department, or simply R.I.P.D., is a 2013 American science fiction action comedy film starring Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.I.P.D.
Clive Palmer's dinosaur Jeff destroyed by fire at Palmer Coolum Resort
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-03/fire-guts-jeff-the-dinosaur-at-clive-palmer-resort/6276188
Dennis Nedry (a computer programmer at Jurassic Park and the secondary antagonist of the orginal Jurassic Park Film.)
- https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Dennis_Nedry
FakeFactory Cinematic Mod for Half-Life 2
- https://www.moddb.com/mods/fakefactory-cinematic-mod
No Man’s Land (2001 Bosnian war film that is set in the midst of the Bosnian War.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Land_(2001_film)
Black Beauty (1994 American film adaptation of Anna Sewell's novel by the same name directed by Caroline Thompson in her directorial debut.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Beauty_(1994_film)
The Matrix 4 (upcoming American science fiction action film and the fourth installment in The Matrix franchise. The film is co-written and directed by Lana Wachowski, one of the two Wachowskis who directed the previous three films.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix_4
That’s Not COVID (TNC Podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/thatsnotcovidpodcast
Shout Outs
29 March 2020 - Alan Merrill, ‘I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll’ Songwriter dies at 69 - https://deadline.com/2020/03/alan-merrill-dead-coronavirus-i-love-rock-n-roll-songwriter-joan-jett-and-the-blackhearts-obituary-1202895407/
Merrill was a member of the band The Arrows along with drummer Paul Varley and guitarist Jake Hooker. While in the band, he wrote the song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” which the band released in 1975. The song would later become a chart topper for Joan Jett & The Blackhearts in 1982. In an interview with Songfacts, Merrill said he wrote the song as "a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)'." This version was first released as a B-side, but was soon re-recorded and flipped to A-side status on a subsequent pressing of the record. Arrows performed the song in 1975 on the Muriel Young-produced show 45, after which Young offered Arrows a weekly UK television series, Arrows, which was broadcast on ITV starting in March 1976. Joan Jett saw the Arrows perform "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" on their weekly UK television series Arrows while she was touring England with the Runaways in 1976. She first recorded the song in 1979 with two of the Sex Pistols,Steve Jones and Paul Cook. He died from complications arising from COVID-19 at the age of 69 in Manhattan, New York City.
29 March 2020 - Krzysztof Penderecki dies at 86 - https://deadline.com/2020/03/krzysztof-penderecki-dies-composers-work-used-in-the-exorcist-and-the-shining-was-86-1202895207/
Krzysztof Penderecki, a Polish composer and conductor whose modernist works were on soundtracks for The Exorcist and The Shining. Penderecki was an avant-garde composer and prolific in his output. His resume includes eight symphonies, four operas, a requiem, and several concertos. Film directors often used Penderecki music to capture their moods. His music was used in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Peter Weir’s Fearless, David Lynch’s Wild at Heart and Inland Empire in addition to The Exorcist and The Shining. Pop music also revered Penderecki. Artists ranging from Kele Okereke of Bloc Party and Robbie Robertson of the Band to Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead were fans. He died from a long illness at the age of 86 in Kraków.
31 March 2020 – MDK2 turns 20 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDK2
MDK2 is a 2000 third-person shooter, action-adventure video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment for the Dreamcast,Windows and PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to the 1997 game MDK. First released for the Dreamcast in March 2000, it was later released for Windows in May, with newly selectable difficulty levels and the ability to manually save. The game begins moments after the end of the original MDK. MDK2 received generally positive reviews across all systems, with critics praising the graphics, variety of gameplay styles, level design, boss fights, the game's sense of humor, and its fidelity to the original MDK. The most commonly criticized aspects of the game were the difficulty level, which was felt to be too high, and the platforming sections, which many critics found frustrating and too exacting.
Remembrances
30 March 1962 - Philip Showalter Hench - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Showalter_Hench
American physician. Hench, along with his Mayo Clinic co-worker Edward Calvin Kendall and Swiss chemist Tadeus Reichstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for the discovery of the hormone cortisone, and its application for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The Nobel Committee bestowed the award for the trio's "discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects." His speech at the banquet during the award ceremony acknowledged the connections between the study of medicine and chemistry, saying of his co-winners "Perhaps the ratio of one physician to two chemists is symbolic, since medicine is so firmly linked to chemistry by a double bond." In addition to the Nobel Prize, Hench received many other awards and honors throughout his career. He also had a lifelong interest in the history and discovery of yellow fever. He died from pneumonia at the age of 69 in Ocho Rios.
30 March 2004 – Michael King - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_King
New Zealand popular historian, author, and biographer. He wrote or edited over 30 books on New Zealand topics, including the best-sellingPenguin History of New Zealand, which was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004. King was well known for his knowledge of Māori culture and history. New Zealand Listener, one of New Zealand's most popular weekly magazines, dubbed King "the people's historian" for his efforts to write about and for the local populace. He died from a traffic collision at the age of 58 in near Maramarua,Waikato.
30 March 2008 - Dith Pran - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dith_Pran
Cambodian photojournalist, he was a refugee and survivor of the Cambodian genocide and the subject of the film The Killing Fields. In 1975, Dith and The New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg stayed behind in Cambodia to cover the fall of the capital Phnom Penh to the Communist Khmer Rouge. Schanberg and other foreign reporters were allowed to leave the country, but Pran was not. Due to persecution of intellectuals during the genocide, he hid the fact that he was educated or that he knew Americans, and he pretended that he had been a taxi driver. When Cambodians were forced to work in labour camps, Dith had to endure four years of starvation and torture before Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge in December 1978. He coined the phrase "killing fields" to refer to the clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered during his 40-mile (60 km) escape. He gained worldwide recognition after the 1984 release of the film The Killing Fields about his experiences under the Khmer Rouge. He was portrayed in the film by first-time actor Haing S. Ngor (1940–1996), who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 65 in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Famous Birthdays
30 March 1820 – Anna Sewell - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Sewell
English novelist. She is well known as the author of the 1877 novel Black Beauty, which is now considered one of the top ten bestselling novels for children ever written, although it was intended at the time for an adult audience. During this time her health was declining; she was often so weak that she was confined to her bed. Writing was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed. The book is the first English novel to be written from the perspective of a non-human animal, in this case a horse. Although it is now considered a children's classic, Sewell originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said, "a special aim was to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses". In many respects the book can be read as a guide to horse husbandry, stable management and humane training practices for colts. It is considered to have had an effect on reducing cruelty to horses; for example, the use of bearing reins, which are particularly painful for a horse, was one of the practices highlighted in the novel, and in the years after the book's release the reins became less popular and fell out of favour. She was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
30 March 1853 – Vincent Van Gogh - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh, Dutch post-impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes,portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His reputation began to grow in the early 20th century as elements of his painting style came to be incorporated by the Fauves and German Expressionists. He attained widespread critical, commercial and popular success over the ensuing decades, and is remembered as an important but tragic painter, whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings to have ever sold, and his legacy is honoured by a museum in his name, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings. On 30th March 2020, his painting titled The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring, was stolen from the Singer Laren museum in Laren, North Holland. It was stolen in an overnight smash-and-grab raid on a museum that was closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. He was born in Zundert.
30 March 1930 - John Astin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Astin
American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television series, as well as a television director and voice artist. He is best known for starring as Gomez Addams in The Addams Family, reprising the role in the television film Halloween with the New Addams Family and the animated series The Addams Family. Notable film projects include West Side Story, Freaky Friday, National Lampoon's European Vacation and Teen Wolf Too. His second wife was actress Patty Duke and he is the adoptive father of Duke's son, actor Sean Astin. Astin is director of the Theater Arts and Studies Department and Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater, which offers an undergraduate minor program. He was born in Baltimore,Maryland.
Events of Interest
29 March 1979 – Another Brick in the Wall, Part II hits number one - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1980
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" was released as a single, Pink Floyd's first in the UK since "Point Me at the Sky". It was Pink Floyd's only number-one hit in the United Kingdom, the United States, West Germany and several other countries. The single sold over 4 million copies worldwide. "Part 2" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group. The lyrics attracted controversy. The Inner London Education Authority described the song as "scandalous", and according to Renshaw, prime minister Margaret Thatcher "hated it". Renshaw said: "There was a political knee-jerk reaction to a song that had nothing to do with the education system. It was [Waters'] reflections on his life and how his schooling was part of that." The single, as well as the album The Wall, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after it was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequities in education under apartheid.
30 March 1814 - Napoleon's forces defeated in Paris
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/allies-capture-paris
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Paris_(1814)
European forces allied against Napoleonic France march triumphantly into Paris, formally ending a decade of French domination on the Continent. After a day of fighting in the suburbs of Paris, the French surrendered on March 31, ending the War of the Sixth Coalition and forcing Emperor Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile.
31 March 1999 - "The Matrix" released in theaters - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-matrix-released
On March 31, 1999, the writing and directing sibling team of Lana and Lilly Wachowski release their second film, the mind-blowing science-fiction blockbuster The Matrix. Filmed for $70 million, The Matrix was a stylish, innovative and visually spectacular take on a familiar premise–that humans are unknowing inhabitants of a world controlled by machines–central to films such as Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Matrix starred Keanu Reeves as a computer hacker who learns that human-like computers have created a fake world, the Matrix, to enslave the remaining humans while keeping them in the dark about their dire fate. Packed with slow-motion camera tricks and references from a myriad of sources–including comic books, the Bible, Lewis Carroll, Eastern philosophy and film noir—The Matrix also stunned viewers with its Hong Kong-style fight scenes, choreographed by the martial-arts master Yuen Wo Ping and performed with the help of invisible wires allowing the characters to fly through the air. Greeted with enthusiasm by computer-gaming fanatics and mainstream audiences alike, The Matrix earned a staggering $470 million worldwide and won four Academy Awards, for Best Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound.
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