Are we there yet?

This week we’re going to look at the total reported cases and deaths globally again as of 5/6. (Worldometers)

What to read

Depending on where you’re at, we’re about six weeks into the general global shelter-in-place order and I gotta tell you: I’ve had about enough of it. I know, I know. We’ve all got to chin up and see this thing through so that we can return to whatever the new normal is going to be.

Mostly, I just miss sports. Technology’s managed to give us a decent replacement for nearly every other entertainment experience we’re missing — multiplayer gaming used to mean going to the arcade and watching a new movie meant going to the video rental store or theater – but not live sports.

And, despite the fact that I am a huge sports fan (go Heat!), I don’t actually miss them for myself. I just miss having sporting events happen nearly every day to give hundreds of millions of fans a place to vent their frustration and stress. It seems like all the vitriol usually reserved for referees who make bad calls, players who miss important shots, and losing coaches is getting spread out everywhere else.

Just take these lunatics:

They stormed a beach in California because they felt that local social-distancing orders were unconstitutional and violated their right to freedom as US citizens. So they slowly, tentatively, tested the cops to see if it would be okay if they engaged in civil disobedience.

This would be funny, except they broke the law for the explicit purpose of endangering others and they directly disobeyed police orders. Luckily for these protesters, the police weren’t in a law-enforcing mood that day.

Interestingly, that group and the armed gunmen that stormed a Statehouse in Michigan recently all had the same thing in common: #FFFFFF. But I digress.

I bet none of this nonsense would be happening if these folks could watch millionaires in extremely good shape compete with one another for points. Unfortunately, it would take a Herculean effort for any of the world’s major sporting leagues – whether we’re talking baseball, cricket, or football – to really make a go of it. And that’s provided that athletes were willing to quarantine like astronauts.

As much as I’d like to see the MLB and NBA back on TV, I’d rather just finish taking our medicine and get it all back when the pandemic ends. I’d like to think that there’s more to “freedom” than yelling about sports-ball scores and mocking police officers because you don’t believe in science.

By the numbers

This week we’re going to look at the total reported cases and deaths globally again as of 5/6. (Worldometers)

Tweet thread of the week

What to read

¯_(ツ)_/¯

In this section, one of our writers will share one weird internet thing they’ve been obsessing over while in lockdown. Last week I extolled the virtues of early 2000’s WWE wrestling. This week’s comes from TNW’s own Napier Lopez.

If you’re anything like me, being stuck at home means watching a lot more TV and movies. It also means you cringe at bad CGI and admire when the VFX artists get it right. Thanks to Corridor Crew’s ‘VFX Artists React‘ YouTube series, I now know why sometimes even big budget movies look like they were rendered on a potato.

The group of filmmakers tackle both good and bad CGI and provide an entertaining look into the minds of VFX artists. If there’s one main thing I’ve learned over dozens of videos, it’s that VFX artists don’t get paid enough. And if there’s another, it’s that more often than not, the difference between great and bad effects comes down to how much time the artists had to work on a scene.

The series kicks off with Sonic’s awful original design for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, so you know it’s going to be good. And while you’re at it, make sure to check out the crew’s ‘Stuntmen React‘ series as well for an in-depth look at what makes a great action scene from the people performing them.