Special Halloween Episode 🧟 (10/31/20)
LISTEN + SUBSCRIBE HERE
Description
In today’s episode: 🎮 An update on the annual Halloween virtual event “Fortnitemares” from correspondent Bridget Todd 🐝 Learn more about the Asian Giant Hornets, known as "murder hornets" 😱 Hear about the eerie Broadway theater tradition of the "ghost light" 👻 Find out what *spine-tingling* new donut flavor was created just in time for Halloween.
Links
🎧 Listen to correspondent Bridget Todd's incredible podcast about marginalized voices shaping the internet: There Are No Girls on the Internet
🎸 Check out WaveXR's virtual concerts
🐝 Stay safe and learn What you need to know about ‘murder hornets’
😱 Read more about Why Broadway Theatres Keep a 'Ghost Light' Burning on the Stage
📧 Email us your curious facts, funny stories, and chuckly jokes at: hello@thetennews.com
🎇 Follow the show on Instagram: The Ten News on Instagram
Transcript
Bethany Van Delft: [00:00:00] Good evening...or morning afternoon, whenever you're listening to this. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and this is The Ten News. I get it. A special Halloween edition of the show where in the time it takes to sort your candy by type and order of preference, we find out what's spooky in the world.
[00:00:24] In today's episode, we'll find out what Fortnightmares are made of, get the buzz on some killer bugs, learn about an eerie Broadway tradition and find out what spine tingling new donut flavor was created just in time for Halloween. Stick around till the end of The Ten for that tricky treat.
[00:00:47] Okay, let's get into The Ten.
[00:00:50] Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, four, three, two, one.
[00:00:57] Sure. Getting candy with your [00:01:00] friends is fun, but what about earning pumpkin rocket launchers with your squad? Our correspondent, Bridget Todd has an update on some exciting virtual fun, starting with the annual Halloween event Fortnightmares.
Bridget Todd: [00:01:14] Thanks Bethany, this Halloween, the game Fortnite is getting spooky with Fortnightmares, their Halloween edition, and here's what it's like to play.
[00:01:23] So what are we playing right now?
Mike Amato: [00:01:30] I'm playing Fortnight the new, uh, Halloween spooky edition, Fortnightmares.
Bridget Todd: [00:01:37] I see you play Fortnite all the time, but this looks so much spookier than it usually looks. What's going on?
Mike Amato: [00:01:43] Its spooky now there's all this Halloween stuff everywhere. When you get killed, you come back as a shadow creature and have to hunt down the living.
[00:01:55] And it's pretty stressful when you're out there and there's all these undead [00:02:00] chasing you down. Just whole hordes of them coming to slash you with their spooky claws.
Bridget Todd: [00:02:06] Does it make the game more fun to have it be spooky?
Mike Amato: [00:02:10] It is nice to have it be spooky. Uh, it's nice to change it up a little bit. You know, it really changes the game to have this new element that, you know, used to just be regular elimination, Battle Royale, once you were out, you were out and now you come back in this army of the undead.
Bridget Todd: [00:02:29] Is it helping you get in the Halloween spirit?
Mike Amato: [00:02:32] It is. Yeah. It's kinda nice to feel spooky.
Bridget Todd: [00:02:37] And that's not all Fortnite is doing to get us in the Halloween spirit. On Halloween night, musician, Jay Baldvin will play a concert in Fortnight at 9:00 PM. eastern time.
[00:02:47] Virtual concerts on games like Fortnite and Animal Crossing have been one way that everybody has been staying entertained in the quarantine, but just what goes on in a virtual concert, Adam Arrigo designs, virtual concerts with his company, Wave [00:03:00] XR. Tell us about Wave XR. What is it?
Adam Arrigo: [00:03:03] We make a platform for producing distributing and monetizing virtual concerts.
[00:03:09] Our concerts are live, they're avatar driven, and they can be experienced in a bunch of different ways like on YouTube in video games and in virtual reality.
Bridget Todd: [00:03:22] Wow. So if I go to a concert in virtual reality, what can I expect?
Adam Arrigo: [00:03:27] Actually, I don't know what you'd expect. Anything's possible. Unlike a real show in virtual reality, you're not, you don't have to adhere to the laws of physics or gravity.
[00:03:37] So we've done concerts where the audience could fly, where the performer was a thousand times normal size and would explode into a bunch of stars. So we're like a mixture of a video game, a concert, a live stream and a dream.
Bridget Todd: [00:03:53] Wow. How did you get the idea for working in this space and the idea for putting on a virtual concerts?
Adam Arrigo: [00:03:59] I've worked in [00:04:00] video games for over 10 years, mostly in music games. Like if you ever played Rock Band. I was a designer at that company, Harmonics, and I've always been passionate about letting people experience music and new ways that ultimately bring people closer to each other.
Bridget Todd: [00:04:16] Do you think virtual concerts will be a really popular option even after we're no longer sheltering in place and no longer, you know, under quarantine and all of that?
Adam Arrigo: [00:04:24] I think that won't go away even after we returned to quote unquote normal and concerts come back. People will still use this method to promote their music and also just to reach fans. You don't get to go to real shows, like kids, like most like concerts, you know, are 18 plus or 21 plus. So, um, if you're a kid, like you normally have to wait through, you're older to go to a show, but if you were to see a concert in a game like Roblox or Minecraft, like that's accessible now. And, um, when we've done concerts, we've had people say in the comments, this was the first concert I ever attended.
Bridget Todd: [00:04:58] So my last question for [00:05:00] you, so let's say that there's kids out there who are so taken with all the things that you're saying, and they want to work in the virtual space, what is your advice for those kids?
Adam Arrigo: [00:05:09] Yeah, I think video games, um, even though your parents might tell you not to play them, um, for several hours at a time, which I agree with, uh, actually are going to become a lot more important as a, uh, medium and a technology and an industry, um, in the future. So, um, learning to code, if you want to become a programmer or getting into game development, just like becoming an artist, a 3D modeler animator. There's so many different jobs in the games industry, and I really, really recommend, um, learning how games get made and potentially going into that career because it won't, you'll have skills that will apply not just to literally making video games, but so many other things like making virtual concerts or creating avatars for people to [00:06:00] socialize within these 3D spaces.
Bridget Todd: [00:06:02] I love it. Well, you heard it here first kids, keep playing video games!
[00:06:08]Adam Arrigo: [00:06:08] Listen to your parents, you know? Try to limit your screen time.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:06:12] Did you know that almost all Broadway theaters share a common tradition of leaving a single light on at night when the theater is empty. It's known as the "ghostlight" and superstitious theater folk debate, whether its purpose is to ward off, distract or light the way for you guessed, gggghosts!.
[00:06:41] The most notable is the New Amsterdam, which is said to be haunted by the ghost of Olive Thomas, a former show girl from the Ziegfeld Follies, a series of productions that ran throughout the early 1900s. Olive is such a big part of the theater's culture, that there are pictures of [00:07:00] her hanging near the exits and entrances where the cast and crew traditionally blow her a kiss at night on their way out to keep her happy. You want to keep a ghost happy, you know. The ghost light actually does have a more practical purpose. According to stage managers, because the edge of the stage hovers right above the drop into the orchestra pit light helps make sure that anyone on the stage after hours won't accidentally fall off because they can't see the edge.
[00:07:30] Beware. Our next story is a chilling tale of murder hornets! From friend of The Ten Laine Farber of the Nature Nerds podcast. Keep listening if you dare.
[00:07:45] Happy Halloween, my friends. With spooky season in full swing. I think it's about time we chat about the terrifying, creepy crawly that's been making headlines this year. It's a horrific creature. That's killed millions, [00:08:00] brought entire communities to their knees and is threatening to destroy life. as we know it. Well, at least for the bees that is. That's right today, we're talking about the dreaded Murder Hornet. The Asian Giant Hornet affectionately known as the Murder Hornet is a species of Hornet that is native to Asia. Despite being the largest species of Hornet, the insect is not a reason for concern in Asian countries. It's a natural part of the ecosystem there. It's only when the Murder Hornet is introduced to new environments, that its destructive power is unleashed. Unfortunately for those of us living in the United States and Canada, the Murder Hornets have arrived. Uh oh. Scientists don't know exactly how the insect got here, but they do know they want it gone.
Laine Farber: [00:08:49] And for good reason, the Asian Giant Hornet gets its murderous reputation for killing bees. Like lots of bees. Just a few Murder [00:09:00] Hornets can wipe out an entire colony of bees in a matter of hours. The massive bugs are brutal and efficient killing machines. Their favorite way to dispatch a victim decapitation.
[00:09:14] Yeah, they straight up bite the heads off of bees. So obviously Murder Hornets are not great for bees, but why should we be worried about them setting up shop in America? Because we need bees. Did you know that bees pollinate roughly one third of the food we eat? That means that after every third bite of food you take, you should find the nearest bee and give them a fist bump of appreciation.
[00:09:43] Uh, on second thought, um, a thumbs up should do just fine. So whether you like them or not, bees are important and we need to protect them so that we have food to eat. Insect scientists called entomologists are working hard to make sure our bees stay safe from the [00:10:00] murderous hornet invaders. Just last week, officials located and destroyed the first Murder Hornet nest in the United States.
[00:10:08] They found the nest by attaching trackers to captured Hornets and releasing them. The marked insects led investigators straight to their secret hideout and were quickly eradicated. News agencies have been celebrating the victory all week, but wary scientists remain on high alert for they know the battle is not over.
[00:10:30] Just like any good horror film, the villain may reappear. At any moment.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:10:41] Murder Hornets. Seriously? All right 2020, keep it coming. To learn more from Laine. Check out her podcast, Nature Nerds.
[00:10:54] Is it a trick or treat either way it's time for your trivia question of the day?
[00:11:02] [00:11:00] What spooky new flavor did Dunkin Donuts release this month? Was it A) blood orange, B) ghost pepper or C) lady fingers. Did you guess it, the answer is.
[00:11:20] B) The spicy ghost pepper doughnut is the first spicy flavor ever released by the popular chain. The deliciously daring donut as Duncan describes it. Ooh, alliteration, is topped with strawberry icing mixed with cayenne and ghost pepper. One of the world's hottest chili peppers. Would you try it? Not me.
[00:11:46] I do know some people that would put hot sauce on a doughnut though. So this for them.
[00:11:53] That's the end of The Ten for today. You can catch new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Ten News is [00:12:00] a co-production of Small, But Mighty Media in collaboration with Next Chapter Podcasts and distributed by iHeart Radio. The Halloween edition of The Ten News was written by editorial director, Treacherous, Tracy Crooks, with contributions from Stephen Tomb-kins, Bridget Odd and Laine Fear.
[00:12:19] The creative producer is Jenner the friendly ghost Pascua. Marketing is led by Jacob Broom-stein with web support by Frightening Adam Pharr. Editing and sound design by Pete Monster-o under the production direction of Jeremiah the terrible Tittle. Executive producer, Donald All-dark and show creator, Tracy Bleeds Kaplan round out the team.
[00:12:41] If you have any questions about the show, a story idea, or a fun fact, you want to share. Email us at hello at thetennews.com. And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review The Ten News on Apple podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your [00:13:00] podcasts.
