As the year slowly slips away and the autumn leaves remind us of our inescapable mortality, it's time for another episode of Nerds Amalgamated.
First up this week, Valve is leaking and blowing off some steam. The entire source code for TF2 and CSGO has been leaked, and Valve News Network's source has some interesting rumours about Half Life 3.
The PS5 finally has a release date and a price. It's finally time to move to the next generation of consoles, but don't make space in your TV cabinet just yet.
More anime is becoming live action. Because that's exactly what everyone was begging for. This time it's Cowboy Bebop season 2 and One Punch Man.
But in another nightmare, your Ego has a big part to play in the frequency of nightmares. Is self-affirmation a more effective dream weapon than Freddy Kruger's claws?
This week, Professor went Old Skool and played Objects in Space, a modempunk space adventure. DJ chose a demolition derby to knock out some stress and Dev-i isn't ready to leave the VR Chat world just yet.
Come back next time for more Nerdy News.
Valve is leaking
- https://twitter.com/CSGO/status/1253075594901774336
- https://www.newsweek.com/valve-source-code-leaks-online-developer-says-no-reason-alarmed-1499628
All things PS5 including production and release date
Anime turning into live action
- https://observer.com/2020/04/netflix-cowboy-bebop-season-2-live-action-john-cho/
- https://variety.com/2020/film/news/sony-film-manga-one-punch-man-venom-writers-1234585282/
Nightmare on Ego street
- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-74996-001
Games Played
Professor
– Objects In Space - https://store.steampowered.com/app/824070/Objects_in_Space/
Rating: 4/5
DJ
– KillSteel - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1269550/KillSteel/
Rating: 3/5
Dev-i-Boy
– VRChat - https://store.steampowered.com/app/438100/VRChat/
Rating: 4/5
Other topics discussed
Valve source code comment
- https://i.redd.it/chodbngq4fu41.jpg
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - E3 2018 - Nintendo Switch
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L93H7YC-83o
Hunt Down The Freeman (Half-Life 2 fan-game that was developed and published by Royal Rudius Entertainment and released commercially on Steam on February 23rd, 2018)
- https://store.steampowered.com/app/723390/Hunt_Down_The_Freeman/
Cremator (The Cremator, also known as the Combine Janitor, is a passive enemy cut from Half-Life 2.)
- https://half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Cremator
Axel Gembe - The Half Life 2 hacker
- https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-21-the-boy-who-stole-half-life-2-article
Facebook hires hacker who started Sony war
White hat hackers (The term "white hat" in Internet slang refers to an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who specializes in penetration testing and in other testing methodologies that ensures the security of an organization's information systems. White hat hackers may also work in teams called "sneakers",red teams, or tiger teams.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hat_(computer_security)
PS5 controller: the DualSense
- https://www.gamesradar.com/au/ps5-controller-dualshock-5/
Xbox Series X logo reveal
- https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-04-22-heres-the-xbox-series-x-logo
Vidal Sassoon logo
- http://logok.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Vidal-Sassoon-logo-300x220.png
Xbox Series X
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/p/xbox-series-x/8wj714n3rbtl
- https://www.xbox.com/en-AU/consoles/xbox-series-x
Xbox 360 technical problems (The Xbox 360 video game console is subject to a number of technical problems and failures that can render it unusable. However, many of the issues can be identified by a series of glowing red lights flashing on the face of the console; the three flashing red lights (nicknamed the "Red Ring of Death" or the "RRoD") being the most infamous.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems
Denis Villeneuve Explains Why ‘Dune’ Will Be Split into Two Movies
- https://collider.com/dune-two-movies-sequel-explained-reason-why-denis-villeneuve/
J.J. Abrams Developing Remake of Japanese Hit ‘Your Name’ With Paramount
- https://variety.com/2017/film/news/j-j-abrams-your-name-remake-paramount-1202574994/
Popeye (Popeye was a cancelled 2016 film based off the Popeye cartoon characters)
- https://cancelled-movies.fandom.com/wiki/Popeye_(2016_animated_film)
Objects In Space – Build Your Own Control Panel
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I270vSrTIuk
Close Encounters of The Third Kind - Ship In The Dessert
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTcKFCw2MO0
Absolute Beginners ("Absolute Beginners" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Beginners_(David_Bowie_song)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Beginners_(David_Bowie_song)#Production_credits
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (Frank Herbert's Children of Dune is a three-part science fiction miniseries written by John Harrison and directed by Greg Yaitanes, based on Frank Herbert's novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert%27s_Children_of_Dune
Dune (Dune is a 1984 American epic science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch and based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(1984_film)
The Loch Ness Monster: The Story of The Surgeon’s Photograph
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is a 1970 DeLuxe Color film in Panavision written and produced by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, and directed by Wilder.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Private_Life_of_Sherlock_Holmes
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Nessie prop found
- https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36024638
Dell : We just have better computers…
- https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/11/17226064/dell-china-laptop-pubg-cheating
Troubling Issues (TNC podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/troublingissuespodcast
That’s Not COVID (TNC podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/thatsnotcovidpodcast
Shout Outs
15 April 2020 – Brian Dennehy American actor of stage, television, and film, passed away at 81 - https://variety.com/2020/film/news/brian-dennehy-dead-dies-tommy-boy-first-blood-1234582309/
Brian Dennehy, the winner of two Tonys in a career that also spanned films including “Tommy Boy,” “First Blood” and “Cocoon,” and television roles including “Dynasty” and “Death of a Salesman,”. His daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, tweeted on Thursday, “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife, Jennifer, family and many friends,” The actor made his TV and feature debut in 1977, from that point he maintained a heavy work load for decades. In 1982 his profile increased significantly thanks to his effective performance in the role of Teasle, the sadistic small-town police chief who is Sylvester Stallone’s lead adversary in “First Blood.” One of Dennehy’s most memorable film roles came in Alan J. Pakula’s 1990 adaptation of Turow’s bestselling novel “Presumed Innocent,” starring Harrison Ford as the Chicago assistant district attorney on trial for the murder of a co-worker with whom he had an affair. Dennehy played his boss, who’s up for re-election and has multiple divided loyalties, with a subtlety that was necessary. He died from sepsis in New Haven, Connecticut.
15 April 2020 - Allen Daviau, American cinematographer passed away at 77 - https://variety.com/2020/film/news/allen-daviau-dead-dies-e-t-empire-of-the-sun-1234582518/
Cinematographer Allen Daviau, a five-time Academy Award nominee for films including Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial” and “Empire of the Sun”. Food editor and writer Colman Andrews wrote on Twitter that Daviau had died of coronavirus at the MPTF hospital. “RIP Allen Daviau, my friend of almost 60 years, cinematographer and bon vivant, five-time Academy Award nominee, dining companion extraordinaire, pure soul, who left us last night at the MPTF Hospital, his longtime home, after contracting COVID-19. Salut, mon ami.” Daviau, a New Orleans native, was nominated for best cinematography Oscars for Spielberg movies “The Color Purple,” “Empire of the Sun,” and “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” — along with two Barry Levinson films, “Avalon” and “Bugsy.” He also shot the Gobi desert sequence for Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” In 1983, he talked to American Cinematographer magazine about prepping the “E.T.” shoot, “We sat down with Steven and started screening movies together. This is the best way I know to get started, watching our own movies and other people’s movies, discussing them, evolving the style we want. We watched Night of the Hunter, Alien, Apocalypse Now, Last Tango in Paris — I forget what all.” Daviau described his favorite scene in “E.T.” to the magazine: “It would be the one in which the youngster [Henry Thomas] says, ‘I’m keeping him.’ The little girl [Drew Barrymore] walks forward, there are highlights in E.T.’s eyes, no detail in the face, and the light is yellow, the effect is very much that of a Maxfield Parrish painting.” He died from complications of COVID-19 in Los Angeles,California.
16 April 2020 - Gene Deitch, American animator & filmmaker passed away at 95 - https://news.expats.cz/weekly-czech-news/american-animator-longtime-prague-expat-gene-deitch-passes-away-at-age-95/
Gene Deitch was an American Oscar-winning illustrator, animator, film director and producer, he directed 13 episodes of “Tom and Jerry” and also some of the “Popeye the Sailor” series. As an animator, he got the Gold Medal of the New York Art Directors Club for the best commercials twice at end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s. These works of his were the first to enter the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Deitch said he loved Prague, where he had shot 70 animated films and seven TV series and was very happy there. He won the Winsor McCay Award for his lifetime contributions in animation in 2004, which he appreciated more than the Oscar, he admitted in one of his interviews. He died from cardiac arrest in Prague.
17 April 2020 - Matthew Seligman, New Wave Bassist For The Soft Boys And David Bowie passed away at 64 - https://variety.com/2020/music/news/matthew-seligman-dead-dies-coronavirus-bassist-david-bowie-1234584453/
Matthew Seligman, was a member of The Soft Boys and the Thompson Twins, and was a sideman for Thomas Dolby. Seligman was also a member of Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club and The Dolphin Brothers. Seligman joined Bowie during his 1985 Live Aid performance and played bass on the soundtrack for his 1986 film “Labyrinth.” His longtime friend and fellow musician Thomas Dolby shared details about Seligman’s death in a Facebook post, saying he suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke on Friday. He had also been in an induced coma for two weeks after testing positive for coronavirus in St. George’s University Hospital in London. Dolby posted a photo of Seligman with lyrics from his song “I Love You Goodbye.” “Some words are sad to sing. Some leave me tongue-tied. But the hardest words I know are I love you goodbye,” he wrote. He died from complications of COVID-19 in London.
Remembrances
21 April 1965 - Edward Victor Appleton - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Victor_Appleton
English physicist, Nobel Prize winner (1947) and pioneer in radiophysics. He studied, and was also employed as a lab technician, at Bradford College from 1909 to 1911. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 for his seminal work proving the existence of the ionosphere during experiments carried out in 1924. Appleton had observed that the strength of the radio signal from a transmitter on a frequency such as the medium wave band and over a path of a hundred miles or so was constant during the day but that it varied during the night. This led him to believe that it was possible that two radio signals were being received. It was sensible to suggest these variations were due to the interference of two waves but an extra step to show that the second wave causing the interference (the first being the ground wave) was coming down from the ionosphere. The basic idea behind Appleton’s work is so simple that it is hard to understand at first how he devoted almost all his scientific career to its study. Thanks to Appleton’s research, the periods when these would occur could be predicted and communication could be switched to wavelengths that would be least affected. Radar, was one that came about thanks to Appleton’s work. On a very general level, his research consisted in determining the distance of reflecting objects from radio signal transmitters. This is exactly the idea of radar and the flashing dots that appear on the screen scanned by the circulating ‘searcher’ bar. This system was developed partly by Appleton as a new method, called the pulse method, to make ionospheric measurements. It was later adapted by Robert Watson-Watt to detect aeroplanes. Nowadays, ionospheric data is important when communications with satellites are considered. He died at the age of 72 in Edinburgh.
21 April 2016 – Prince - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_(musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson, American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, actor, and filmmaker. A guitar virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist known for his eclectic genre-crossing work, flamboyant and androgynous persona, energetic live shows and wide-ranging singing voice, in particular his far reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams, Prince is regarded as one of the greatest, versatile and most successful musicians in the history of popular music. His innovative music integrated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, psychedelia and pop. Prince pioneered the late 1970s Minneapolis sound, a funk rock sub genre drawing from synth-pop and new wave. He sold over 100 million records worldwide, ranking him among the best-selling music artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, seven Brit Awards, six American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He was also honored with special awards including the Grammy President's Merit Award, American Music Awards for Achievement and of Merit, and the Billboard Icon Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2016, he was posthumously honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Minnesota. Rolling Stone placed him among its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He died from accidental overdose of fentanyl at the age of 57 in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
21 April 2018 - Verne Troyer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verne_Troyer
American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers film series. He had cartilage–hair hypoplasia and was 2 ft 8 in (81 cm) tall. Troyer first met with Jay Roach to discuss portraying Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series, Myers was impressed with Troyer's performance, rewriting the script for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to give Mini-Me more screen time and remove the character's death. Troyer reprised the role three years later in Austin Powers in Goldmember, and collaborated again with Myers on The Love Guru. After reaching a large audience as Mini-Me, Troyer portrayed the goblin Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and played the role of Percy in Terry Gilliam's fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He died from suicide at the age of 49 in Los Angeles,California.
Famous Birthdays
21 April 1816 - Charlotte Brontë - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB
English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. In 1839 she undertook the role as governess for the Sidgwick family but left after a few months to return to Haworth where the sisters opened a school, but failed to attract pupils. Instead, they turned to writing and they each first published in 1846 under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. While her first novel, The Professor, was rejected by publishers, her second novel, Jane Eyre, was published in 1847. The book's style was innovative, combining naturalism with gothicmelodrama, and broke new ground in being written from an intensely evoked first-person female perspective. Brontë believed art was most convincing when based on personal experience; in Jane Eyre she transformed the experience into a novel with universal appeal. She was born in Thornton.
21 April 1915 - Garrett Hardin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Hardin
American ecologist and proponent of eugenics who warned of the dangers of human overpopulation. He is most famous for his exposition of the tragedy of the commons, in a 1968 paper of the same title in Science, which called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology: "We can never do merely one thing. Any intrusion into nature has numerous effects, many of which are unpredictable." In 1968, Hardin applied his conceptual model developed in his essay "The tragedy of the commons" to human population growth, the use of the Earth's natural resources, and the welfare state. Hardin blamed the welfare state for allowing the tragedy of the commons; where the state provides for children and supports over-breeding as a fundamental human right, Hardin stated in his analysis of the tragedy of the commons that "Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all." He was born in Dallas, Texas.
21 April 1979 - James McAvoy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McAvoy
Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and made mostly television appearances until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes the thriller State of Play and the science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. He has performed in several West End productions and received three nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, and has also done voice work for animated films including Gnomeo & Juliet, its sequel, Sherlock Gnomes, and Arthur Christmas. In 2003, McAvoy appeared in a lead role in Bollywood Queen, then another lead role as Rory in Inside I'm Dancing in 2004. This was followed by a supporting role, as the faun Mr. Tumnus, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His performance in Kevin Macdonald's drama The Last King of Scotland garnered him several award nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. The critically acclaimed romantic drama war film Atonement earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination and his second BAFTA nomination. He later appeared as a newly trained assassin in the action thriller Wanted. In 2011, McAvoy played Professor Charles Xavier in the superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool 2 and Dark Phoenix. In 2016, he portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 alternate personalities, in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, for which he received critical acclaim, and later reprised the role for the sequel Glass. He was born in Glasgow.
Events of Interest
21 April 1918 – German flying ace, “Red Baron,” killed in action - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/red-baron-killed-in-action-2
In the well-trafficked skies above the Somme River in France, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as the Red Baron,” is killed by Allied fire. On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen led his squadron of triplanes deep into Allied territory in France on a search for British observation aircraft. The flight drew the attention of an Allied squadron led by Canadian Royal Air Force pilot Captain Arthur Roy Brown. As Richthofen pursued a plane piloted by Brown’s compatriot, Wilfred R. May, the Red Baron ventured too far into enemy territory and too low to the ground. Two miles behind the Allied lines, just as Brown caught up with Richthofen and fired on him, the chase passed over an Australian machine-gun battery, whose riflemen opened fire. Richthofen was hit in the torso; though he managed to land his plane alongside the road from Corbie to Bray, near Sailley-le-Sac, he was dead by the time Australian troops reached him. Brown is often given credit for downing Richthofen from the air, though some claimed it was actually an Australian gunner on the ground who fired the fatal shot; debate continues to this day.
21 April 1934 – The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax) - http://www.myday.si/index.php?c=events&view=detail&id=450&d=21&m=4
The "Surgeon's Photograph" purported to be the first photo of a "head and neck". Dr. Wilson claimed he was looking at the loch when he saw the monster, so grabbed his camera and snapped five photos. After the film was developed, only two exposures were clear. The first photo (the more publicised one) shows what was claimed to be a small head and back. The second one, a blurry image, attracted little publicity because it was difficult to interpret what was depicted. Wilson's refusal to have his name associated with the photograph led to it being called "Surgeon's Photograph". The strangely small ripples on the photo fit the size and circular pattern of small ripples as opposed to large waves when photographed up close. Analysis of the original uncropped image fostered further doubt.
21 April 1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang. - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-students-begin-protests-at-tiananmen-square
Six days after the death of Hu Yaobang, the deposed reform-minded leader of the Chinese Communist Party, some 100,000 students gather at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to commemorate Hu and voice their discontent with China’s authoritative communist government. The next day, an official memorial service for Hu Yaobang was held in Tiananmen’s Great Hall of the People was broadcast live to the students. General secretary Zhao Ziyang delivered the eulogy. The funeral seemed rushed, and only lasted 40 minutes, as emotions ran high in the Square. Students wept. Security cordoned off the east entrance to the Great Hall of the People, but several students pressed forward. A few were allowed to cross the police line. Student representatives carried a petition to the steps of the Great Hall, demanding to meet with Premier Li Peng. The larger number of students still in the Square but outside the cordon were at times emotional, shouting demands or slogans and rushing toward police. The Chinese government refused such a meeting, leading to a general boycott of Chinese universities across the country and widespread calls for democratic reforms.
Intro
Artist – Goblins from Mars
Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)
Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ
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