NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Disney+, DC news and Anne McCaffrey
May 23, 2019, 6:50 am
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
Today is Thursday and we're not done yet, this week isn't over there's still a chance to kick this week's butt.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
If you don't like crawfish, all you can eat specials or charity then maybe this isn't for you, because it's an ALL YOU CAN EAT Crawfish boil, that's right! It's the Light of the Phoenix Charity All You Can Eat Crawfish Boil, and there's stuff for the kids to do too while you grub a dub dub. $25 buys your ticket now but $30 gets you in. This is the kind of thing I live for, doing a good deed and eating a bunch of food as you do it. #NerdsUnite
THE STREAMING WARS
Some news broke earlier this week, Netflix announced Spider Man: Into the Spider-verse is coming June 26, great movie, I'm pumped people need to be seeing this if they haven't and if they have they need to be seeing it again. It did win an Oscar. Also Disney fired some shots this week announcing that when Disney+ goes live their content will be off of Netflix, so the only place to get Disney stuff will be at Disney+. There were initially talks that this would be a gradual fade out and move over because of contracts and what not, but now that all the smoke has cleared options have been declined or in some cases exercised and now there is no "us" when it comes to Netflix and Disney. Disney+ will be the closely watched case study of, can these separate streaming services survive? Also the slow, eventual death of Hulu has been initiated as the last two major shareholders of Hulu (Comcast and Disney) have made an agreement that sometime in the next five years there will be a buyout order from Disney to either sell to a third party or sell to Disney, must be weird working there, am I right?
SPEAKING OF
DC Streaming actually was airing television commercials the past few weeks advertising tomorrow's season finale of Doom Patrol on the app. I like seeing them be aggressive on this and try and break into the psyche of streaming customers by airing television ads because honestly, that's who streams if that makes any sense. Also on the comics front, at the retailer summit a lot of people walked away from DC's events with positive feedback for once, they were actually happy with DC, which for those who don't know… hasn't been the case lately. Overall this is a good bit of positive momentum building up for DC so the real question is, what happens next?
I SAW SOME PEOPLE REQUEST MORE ANNE
I got excited, one of my favorite writers growing up was a lady named Anne McCaffrey and she wrote some really great stuff. Truly awesome world building, big universes, big stories and great powerful women in sci fi and fantasy which both genres sorely needed. The reality is none of her series has ever moved into production seriously as far as I have ever heard and that's disappointing to say the least, as she is truly one of the more prolific writers with several different book series under her belt before she passed. She did truly great work and honestly it's worth checking out and enjoying the books and just hoping one day someone builds up enough capital and creativity to give her works a try because if done right, they'd be amazing.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
So recently I've been working strictly as a freelance creative and honestly there are some positives and some negatives to the whole experience. The cool stuff is making my own schedule and being able to truly have the freedom to pursue creative ventures as they come up and be able to try and create some real momentum in the various things I like to pursue. The frustrating part is that as I step into this process money is tight, there's not a lot else to complain about but man it would be great if everything wasn't so hold your breath and hope for the best, so if you got a minute, do me a favor go to Side Hustle Ts and grab one of the shirts. I don't care which one, just get one and enjoy it, it would help me out tremendously and I do give some of the proceeds to charity.
I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Thursday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Friday and we'll be bringing more good times your way. Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.