Monthly Archives: March 2020

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The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Days 4-5: Keeping Busy

I missed a day, so this entry will detail my first weekend in quarantine/lockdown.

Saturday I returned to BioLife, where I was able to donate. They’ve told me that plasma is desperately needed now, especially since the number of donors has dropped with people staying home. Just because there’s a pandemic going on doesn’t mean other medical issues have ceased. Also, they told me that there is some preliminary research that says plasma from people who’ve recovered from coronavirus may help those who are suffering from it. That may not hold up after more research, but it’s a good sign.

After returning to the Fortress of Solitude, I set up my podcast equipment to interview Eric Elliott, the mastermind behind the fan comic Batman Meets Godzilla, which is based on an unmade film back in the 1960s that would’ve featured the Adam West Batman battling the Big G himself. No joke. That interview should drop April 15. We had a fun time nerding out about comics and superheroes.

After lunch and more UltraSeven with Jarod, I got back to grading papers. I was determined to get them all done that day, if for no other reason than to do right by my students since we aren’t meeting in the classroom anymore. Sadly, I let myself get distracted (again) and got started a bit later than I wanted to. I spent the entire afternoon slaving over their papers, but even at 10-15 minutes a paper, I didn’t feel like I was burning through them fast enough, especially since I got a few late submissions the day before. It got to the point where I just couldn’t force myself to get going and took a break for thirty minutes to watch some YouTube videos. That left me rejuvenated. I wanted to have dinner with Jarod, but his eating schedule is so wacky, we ended up not doing it. That break lasted longer than I wanted it to. I plowed through what was left of the papers and had them done by late evening.

I punctuated my day watching a cheesy 1994 action film starring Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba called Immortal Kombat on YouTube while giving live commentary with friends on Facebook messenger. The movie was kinda boring in the middle and had too many subplots, but the beginning and end were fun.

The next morning I “attended” church at home through their livestream. I was working a bit during it, though. I recently became the webmaster for their website, so I was updating the site while the livestream was going on. While I’m glad they’re doing this, it isn’t the same as actually being there. I miss the community.

Lunch and a double helping of UltraSeven followed. Then I spent some time writing a script for an upcoming podcast episode. But during that writing session, some friends asked me to play some video games with them online, and given that chatting with them while playing has become another avenue for me to connect with the outside world in all this madness, I took the offer. All I have to say is if you’re playing The King of Fighters XIV and meet a player named “Bumba Chunga,” you better bring you’re A-game. I finished that, but then another friend invited me to play after dinner, so I did.

Here’s the stream video my friend Sergio took of that session. It starts in the middle of my match. Sadly, you can’t hear my side of the chat.

By then it was close to 9pm. I still had to finish that script and do some reading for school, so I spent the next few hours doing exactly that. It wasn’t the most productive time, but hey, I needed a Sabbath.

What’d you do during your first weekend in quarantine/lockdown? Comment below!

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The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 3: What Artists Contribute

My day started with a trip to BioLife to donate plasma. I was late (I’ve gotten into a bad habit of doing that), and with the coronavirus scare, the check-in procedures have been reordered. Today, unfortunately, my protein levels were too low to donate. It was the first time in months this has happened. But as Scarlet O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day.”

With no excuse to be out of the Fortress of Solitude, I returned. First order of business: I finished editing the trailer for Kaiju Quarantine. I had to bug my fellow podcasters to send me their lines. One recorded the wrong lines and, for whatever reason, his audio file was a garbled mess in Audacity. So, I had him send me a new file. Despite Audacity giving me issues with file locations (an issue that concerns me), I put the trailer together and posted it in my podcast’s feed. I shared it with my fellow podcasters for them to disseminate.

That brought me to lunch and more UltraSeven with Jarod.

My plan was to spend the rest of the afternoon grading papers—and the distraction issues plagued me again (no pun intended). I didn’t get through all of my students’ papers. I don’t know what it is with me. Perhaps I’ve allowed myself to think I have more time than I do. Maybe the lack of structure is making me careless. Conceivably (hey, I needed a synonym, okay?), I’ve been away from school for too long, and now with everything turned upside down, I haven’t found a new rhythm yet.

(Random aside: Has anyone noticed how weird the word “rhythm” is? It has no true vowel and is a weird combination of consonants).

It might be more necessary than ever for me to keep myself off my phone, especially now that it’s become my only real source of social interaction.

While eating dinner, I watched a bit of Super Sentai Jetman on Tokushoutsu through the PlutoTV app. Every time I see it I’m shocked at how bipolar it is. One scene it’s being a silly teen rom-com, the next a hero is slashing his palm to save his girlfriend. And this was a kids’ show in Japan! Talk about cultural differences!

I punctuated my day with a new endeavor: video game streaming. I broadcast my playthrough of the game Override: Mech City Brawl through my PS4 to my podcast’s YouTube channel. It was one way I’ve tried to provide some much-needed entertainment for people who are stuck in lockdown/quarantine. I’ve realized that what artists/creatives provide in troubled times like these is exactly that: entertainment. We create an oasis in the desert of uncertainty. Listen to, read, or watch us to forget your worries, if only for a short time. It helps fight off the depression. It’s a vastly underappreciated service. People don’t realize how important it is until they desperately need it.

Here’s the video of my stream, if you’re interested in seeing it:

I may do it again. I (foolishly) tried to play the game on hard mode, so I wasn’t able to finish the campaign even after four hours. I think I’ll move on to Shadow of the Colossus after this.

What did you do to pass the time today? Let me know in the comments below!

Blog

The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 2: Schoolwork, Schoolwork, and More…Gaming?!

I don’t know if it was a mistake or not, but I slept in today. Then again, I was up later than I expected last night. During my late breakfast, I decided to start a new anime since I recently finished Code Geass. So, I did what I should’ve done a long time ago: I started RoboTech, a classic of anime. Let me tell you, in just one episode, I found myself reveling in the ‘80s anime goodness.

This was my first week back to university after the extended spring break, and today was the first post-coronapocalypse deadline for my students’ paper drafts. From about 11am until 6pm, most of my time was spent grading papers. I had “online office hours” from 11am-1pm, which included a videoconference Skype call with one of my students. That was different. I took a lunch break at 1pm and watched UltraSeven with Jarod.

Unfortunately, I battled distractions throughout the rest of the afternoon. Friends kept messaging me. Amusing things kept happening on Twitter. I kept wondering if it would’ve been easier if I was on campus, but I’m not sure. What was happening probably wouldn’t have happened if not for the current crisis, I’m sure.

One of the downsides of being a writer is the constant “what ifs…?”

Regardless, I managed to get through all of my first class’ papers. Tomorrow I do my second class’ papers.

On a whim, I decided to try streaming Street Fighter V on my YouTube channel as practice for when I do it on my podcast’s channel tomorrow (Friday) at 7pm EST. I was joined by several friends, including Sergio (who played against me), Josh (who commented), and Mike (who was on chat for ten minutes).

Here are the videos (with apologies for my mic issues at first):

I think I might try to make this a more common occurrence.

After that, I got to work on the trailer for Kaiju Quarantine, a big watch party being organized by me and several of my fellow podcasters. (More on that later).

All the while, I never left the Fortress of Solitude. I guess that makes me a good citizen.

I will admit this lockdown has made me try new things, and I’m finding that I like them.

What’d you do today to pass the time in lockdown? What new things, if any, have you tried?

Blog

The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 1: Reputation, Lockdown, and Excuses to Leave

The foggy scene outside my apartment on day one of the Indiana lockdown. (Photo by Nathan Marchand).

As I mentioned on my social media, with my home state of Indiana in lockdown and my university going to online only classes, I’ve decided to increase my creative output to entertain (and hopefully enlighten) all of you True Believers while in quarantine. We could all use some relief, and this is one way I can help with that.

When I wrote my blog last week, I hesitated to put in my political commentary. I make no secret of my political leanings (I’m a conservative), but I don’t make a habit of broadcasting them to the world because it always invites trouble. That’s the climate we live in now. But I left it in because it was part of my frustration. Predictably, I was accused of being flippant, propagating misinformation, and not taking the situation seriously. I ended up adding a “retraction” of sorts to the blog and posting it as an addendum. This came after I did some more reading and learned a few things I didn’t know before about coronavirus.

The criticism ignited an old fear that has dug deeper roots in recent years: perception is reality when it should be truth. In other words, the actions and decisions of others have more control over my life than I do. I could be objectively qualified for, say, a job, but the employer could still not select me. In the case of my blog, I didn’t mean to spread misinformation or offend anyone. Given that I’m something of a public figure (and the internet is vicious), damage to my reputation could cost me big time. I’ve seen the destruction wrought by gossip. I know firsthand how ungracious people can be. That’s why I went into “damage control mode” to mitigate the problem. I should’ve known everyone, including myself, is on edge with everything happening. It’s only natural to respond defensively. I stay up-to-date with the latest reports on the crisis, but there’s a lot of unknowns out there. Humans fear the unknown more than most things. That’s why coronavirus is terrifying but the flu isn’t.

Sadly, I saw the internet tear someone else apart this week over this. J.D. Lees, the editor of G-Fan magazine and the organizer for G-Fest, sparked the controversy of the week in the kaiju fan community when he posted coronavirus stats on the event’s Twitter page. Yes, it was a bad PR move, but I’ve rarely seen such instant hate in this fandom. People called him a “clown” and a “villain” and said they would cancel their magazine subscriptions and their G-Fest tickets. I know J.D., so I know he meant no harm, which is why I did try to stem the hate. That and my recent experience made me sympathetic to his plight. At least no one bit my head off for it.

So, now almost everywhere I would go is closed. School, the dance studio, bookstores. Heck, even my church had to start livestreaming services. To say I feel isolated would be an understatement. It makes me glad my brother Jarod moved in with me or else I would die of loneliness. I’ve distanced myself from online communities to focus on real-life relationships, and now they’re all I have for the time being.

At least I was able to do some work for InstaCart, and they seem to be staying in operation. At this point, I’ll take any excuse to go outside.

On my first day of quarantine, I drove to BioLife to donate plasma like I normally do. The stuff is desperately needed, and it’s good money. Appropriately, fog as thick as peanut butter blanketed the city at 9AM. It made me think of the people’s blindness and how fog would deter travel. Beyond that, I spent the day raiding my overfilled cupboards, watching UltraSeven with Jarod, doing schoolwork, catching up on my TV viewing, and gaming online with my friend Bill.

One of the goals on my whiteboard is, “Add more adventure to your life.”

That just got more challenging.

What are you doing to pass the time in self-quarantine? Comment below!

Podcast

NEW PODCAST – Episode 13: The Three Treasures (Mini-Analysis)

Hello, kaiju lovers!

The unintentional “epic films month” continues with 1959’s The Three Treasures (aka The Birth of Japan), but thankfully this episode doesn’t cross the “Kurosawa threshold.” This is a religious epic in the vein of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments except it’s about Shinto. It tells the tale of Prince Yamato Takeru (played by the always awesome Toshiro Mifune), the legendary 13th emperor of Japan (who’s being covered in our 13th episode…oh boy…). Interspersed throughout the film are vignettes depicting stories from Japanese mythology that parallel the prince’s life. Nathan zeroes in on several of the film’s story elements, including the Japanese creation myth, the Imperial Regalia of Japan, and Yamata no Orochi the eight-headed dragon. There’s so much that could be said about this film, Nathan may have to do a follow-up with Rev. Mifune (no relation to Toshiro Mifune) or the guys at The Kaiju Apostle.

Nathan then reads yet more feedback clarifying the Batman Meets Godzilla story treatment—or rather, the Twitter war that almost broke out over it.

Speaking of which, Batman Meets Godzilla, one of the craziest yet most intriguing lost projects made famous by John LeMay’s book, The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films (which now has a new “mutated” edition), is being adapted into a fan-made comic book miniseries!

T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY: Everyone who shares the Facebook and/or Twitter posts for this episode (or tags the show when they share it themselves) will be entered for a drawing for a Batman Meets Godzilla T-shirt. (One entry per person per social media). Entries will be taken from March 25 to March 31 at 11:59pm (EST). The winner must then send Nathan his/her shirt size, shirt color, and mailing address to be forwarded to the team at Batman Meets Godzilla. Here’s a link to the Tee Public site with this epic shirt.

Here’s the KVR episode: Episode 41: The Three Treasures a.k.a. Nippon tanjo (The Birth of Japan) (1959) (Shinto)

This episode featured the songs “‘BATMAN’ [OG Theme Song Remix!]” by Remix Maniacs & “ULTRAMAN” by Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi.

Join the Kaiju Quarantine Discord server!

© 2020 Nathan Marchand & Moonlighting Ninjas Media

Bibliography/Further Reading:

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An Addendum to My Previous Blog

In case anyone didn’t see it, here’s an addendum I made to my previous blog:

EDIT: This blog has been edited since it was first posted. After some discussions on social media and a little more research, I realized it had some inaccuracies. The blog was also meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, and once again I’ve learned that doesn’t always communicate on the internet. The biggest deletion pertained to the hysteria being manufactured to hurt the Trump Administration going into the election. I had no idea this was something started by President Trump on Twitter. It was a conclusion I came to on my own. I am a self-proclaimed “Trump agnostic,” meaning I’m not part of either the Never Trumpers or the president’s cult of personality, which is why I tick everyone off. (I do think someone needs to take Twitter away from him, though). However, I do stand by my assertion that the media is stoking the hysteria because, as Tim Constantine wrote for The Washington Times, “fear sells.” Since this is new (“novel,” which means “new,” is part of the disease’s name, after all) and relatively unknown, people fear it even though there are diseases out there that are far more common and far more likely to kill someone. Humans fear the unknown. However, I also know human nature well enough to know that there will be those who will try to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit, and that’s especially true for those in power. That’s the big reason why I think the hysteria needs to stop, which is the point I wanted to make with this blog. We need to be safe and watch out for those who are the most vulnerable among us (my younger brother has a form of asthma, so I know), but turning the world upside down like the Black Plague has suddenly returned is an overreaction. My apologies for not making that clear in the first published draft of this blog. (EDIT ENDS)

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Coronapocalypse Now

EDIT: This blog has been edited since it was first posted. After some discussions on social media and a little more research, I realized it had some inaccuracies. The blog was also meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, and once again I’ve learned that doesn’t always communicate on the internet. The biggest deletion pertained to the hysteria being manufactured to hurt the Trump Administration going into the election. I had no idea this was something started by President Trump on Twitter. It was a conclusion I came to on my own. I am a self-proclaimed “Trump agnostic,” meaning I’m not part of either the Never Trumpers or the president’s cult of personality, which is why I tick everyone off. (I do think someone needs to take Twitter away from him, though). However, I do stand by my assertion that the media is stoking the hysteria because, as Tim Constantine wrote for The Washington Times, “fear sells.” Since this is new (“novel,” which means “new,” is part of the disease’s name, after all) and relatively unknown, people fear it even though there are diseases out there that are far more common and far more likely to kill someone. Humans fear the unknown. However, I also know human nature well enough to know that there will be those who will try to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit, and that’s especially true for those in power. That’s the big reason why I think the hysteria needs to stop, which is the point I wanted to make with this blog. We need to be safe and watch out for those who are the most vulnerable among us (my younger brother has a form of asthma, so I know), but turning the world upside down like the Black Plague has suddenly returned is an overreaction. My apologies for not making that clear in the first published draft of this blog. (EDIT ENDS)

For the first few months of 2020, the coronavirus (or Covid-19 as the media is now calling it) was China’s problem. It was nasty, but it was “over there,” to quote a goofy Superman comic. It was an issue for the elderly and immunodeficient (spellcheck doesn’t like that word for some reason), but so was the flu.

But like black mold creeping along your floor, the disease kept spreading until it hit the U.S. California, if I remember correctly. Then Washington State. I figured it would be contained. The CDC reacted quickly. But then it cropped up in other states. Again, I didn’t think much of it. Until a man in Indianapolis was diagnosed with it. Within a few days, another man in the county next door to me was infected.

By that point, as the old saying goes, all hell broke loose.

State and local governments started mandating that large gatherings be postponed. Restaurants and schools closed. Movies had their releases or productions delayed. Sporting events were canceled. People were told to stay home in self-quarantine.

Businesses are losing gobs of money—unless you’re Clorox or Netflix. They’re swimming in money. Hand sanitizer is liquid gold now. I saw a listing on eBay where someone was selling four 30-ounce bottles of the stuff for $500. If I’d known, I’d have stockpiled it and started a black market.

At least The Babylon Bee has had a heyday with this pandemic panic.

Not only am I going to Walmart and grocery stores and finding the shelves empty (thankfully, I have enough toilet paper to last a while), but it has affected my schooling and my job. My university has decided to extend its spring break a week and make all classes totally online for the rest of the semester. I’m taking two as a grad student and teaching two as a graduate teaching assistant. I’ve taken a few online classes before (and didn’t like it), but I’ve never taught one. Now I have to find a way to adapt for the last six weeks or so of the semester. And I’d just started to get to know my students and looked forward to seeing them. So, my extended spring break has become an extended working spring break since I now have to figure out how to re-jigger my classes. Meanwhile, I don’t know what the classes I’m taking will look like. One professor is totally old school, with the only online stuff he does being e-mail. The other professor has one foot in old school and one in new school. I’m more confused than a dog after he catches a car.

Elsewhere, the ballroom dance studio I attend has started making students not touch each other in group classes and has canceled their Friday night parties until further notice.

Now I don’t know if I’ll make it to G-Fest or Gen-Con this summer.

I thought my small church would be fine, but Gov. Holcomb has decreased the size of allowed public gatherings from 250 to 50. Now President Trump is recommending it be limited to 10. Even my church wouldn’t be able to meet if that was in place.

With all this mandated “social distancing,” I’ve joked this is introverts trying to get revenge on extroverts. Or its social engineering to wipe out extroverts.

You’d think I’d revel in that, but I’m a freak among the freaks: I’m an extrovert. I drive my fellow nerds and writers crazy.

Now when I make jokes about this or point out the hysteria, I get pushback on social media. Someone even said I was being flippant. All I could do was shake my head.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be concerned. I’m not saying they shouldn’t take precautions. But this is a disease that, at most, has a 3% fatality rate (and that’s if you’re old or have an outstanding medical condition). If this was something both highly contagious and truly deadly, I could understand the fear, but people are treating Covid-19 like it’s the T-virus. I get it: hospitals could be overwhelmed with an influx of patients. However, I’ve heard most people who get it don’t show symptoms. That being said, it doesn’t justify all the freaking out.

Well, that’s enough of me complaining about my unimportant first world problems.

In the meantime, if you want some new books to binge read while in self-quarantine, I have plenty. They’re all on Amazon, which means they can be delivered to your door so you won’t have to go out. (Although, one features a bio-weapon plague, but maybe it will be cathartic for you).

Also, I have 12 episodes of a kaiju (giant monster) podcast you could binge listen. It’s called The Monster Island Film Vault.

Yes, I’m not beyond using this for shameless self-promotion. That’s why it’s shameless. 😛

What do you think of the whole situation? Is it legitimate or is it hysteria?