Coronavirus winners

Yes, well I know that it is not necessarily the most appropriate title but it sums up a thought that came to my mind today.
Over a month that we are now confining, condemn to see the same people indefinitely (for the lucky ones who are confined with someone). It is only natural that we turned to digital entertainment. Let’s start with the streaming plateforms

Big opponent of traditional TV, these are characterized by big emblematic names such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or even more recently Disney +. Even if I am not personally a customer, I wanted, as a digital media enthusiast, to take an interest in the increase in views on these platforms in these times of lockdown, and it confirmed my opinion:
The action of the largest platform, Netflix, has seen an increase of almost 40%. Even if this trend is only ephemeral and caused by the lockdown, it is almost sure that it will have a lasting impact on the figures of the platform, already well above its direct competitors. The causes of the continuity of this trend: the laziness of new subscribers to take the initiative to unsubscribe after the lockdown, or simply the part of the audience which discovered and was conquered by Netflix during this period. We do not yet know the exact increase in the number of new subscribers (The platform having the habit of not revealing them until mid-end of the month), but it is sure that Netflix, which had 110 million subscribers per month of Mars, take advantage of this situation.

In another area, we can also talk about the great evolution of Zoom, the web conferencing company. More professional than Skype and simplier and more accessible to use than her other opponent, it also knew how to take advantage of the situation which forced the majority of companies to make their employees work from home. There is indeed, in one month, an increase of 40.75% (98.5 € on March 16 against 138.5 € on April 16). Again, I remain convinced that the evolution of this society will not be just a fad: indeed, with the lockdown, many companies have discovered and seen the benefits of working from home for their employees. I would not be surprised if some of them decide to keep, or at least partially incorporate, this type of work into their habits. To be continued then.

Finally, and to finish on a subject a little closer to my interests, we can talk about the incredible and worthy timing of Animal Crossing New Horizon, one of the last games produced by Nintendo.
Indeed, this game saw his European release date (March 20) roughly coincide with the confinement of the majority of the countries of this same continent. And this made itself impact on the ranking: it rose directly to the top of the games sold, ahead of Doom Eternals, Call of Duty or even Fifa 20. A real success so, but what are the causes?
For me, it is quite simply : his concept. A game in which it is possible to develop your virtual island by means of quests and interactions with virtual characters or even real people. He therefore had the perfect characteristics to peform during this period: the cocooning and exotic aspect of our virtual island, to counter the monotony of our apartment; his social dimension which allows many friends to progress together in the game and therefore to be able to continue talking during this lockdown period; the nostalgia side also: the majority of the former players of the last edition of this saga, Animal Crossing New Leaf, now having the age to be able to buy themselves the edition of the game and to offer themselve a bit of nostalgia ; and finally the very”all public” aspect, specific to the Japanese firm, and which had much ease to conquer this new player audience (let’s call them “players of Lockdown”) than a Doom Eternals, bloody and violent game or even than a Fifa, more focused on male players)
All these parameters leading to domination of the last Nintendo game, and for several more months in my opinion.

Simon LD

Let’s dive into Twitter

So we’ve been locked up in our homes for almost two weeks. Some have managed to find an occupation, a routine to keep them entertained, others have even managed to provide content that wouldn’t not been possible otherwise (I think of all the amateur videos and photos that we see spreading on the net right now, produced by people who are bored at home for people who are bored at home).
In my point of view, and as a relentless user of twitter, I could observe a drastic increase of meme or amazing content on this platform. I find that is preferable for us to be able to detach oneself from the actual situation through humor or entertainment.
This is why I offer you today a small tweet compilation on the CoronaLockdown

https://twitter.com/emmabethgall/status/1241470477459230722
https://twitter.com/kingvader/status/1240720130415316993
A perfect example of the creative videos I mentioned in the introduction (and a jojo reference as bonus)
https://twitter.com/it_meirl_bot/status/1242164477908242432
How I imagine those who still organize outings
https://twitter.com/T_Insomniac/status/1240196885748604928
One of the best quote from one of my favorite characters… interesting
https://twitter.com/it_meirl_bot/status/1242442484682076160
Outch
https://twitter.com/_schuermann/status/1239294777452974080
Tips and tricks from the hand sanitizer crisis
https://twitter.com/it_meirl_bot/status/1243109861501440005
Pretty accurate
https://twitter.com/it_meirl_bot/status/1242735396187848704
Some things never change

Annnnnnnd it’s time for the french twitter to shine (dont worry, every tweet caption will have a translation right below)

https://twitter.com/Ael_AnArgoat/status/1220646225852145666
“When someone starts to cough weirdly on the bus”
https://twitter.com/Lea_mstramgram/status/1238900720000208896
“Tobacco is count as one of the “essential businesses” with pharmacy, bank and food, i laugh so hard. We’re so f****** French, they were on the verge of putting wine merchants in this group”
https://twitter.com/WinamaxSport/status/1235263743665135617
“Everyone : Only 100 days before the UEFA Euro 2020
The Coronavirus :

As a true football fan, the last one still hurting.

Simon LD

Gardening in virus season?

Probably, you think about what to do in a long period indoors. But not everything must be indoors! Some of you may have a garden, so guys you have time enough to work on your personal garden!

During these days, I have been working on my garden. As you can see, no one touched the garden in months! Of course we thought in October that snow and cold would clean the garden by winter. That was far from true… After even February, the grass was still growing! Our timetables and the lack of tools made us procrastinate and letting the garden issue apart. Suddlenly, the virus came and we had to make quarantine. I had no doubt of it, I said “I have to clean this garden by once!”. All the labour started under a beautiful shining-sun.

You can see no one helped in a long time
Still, the process was painful and my hand got injured. It was the first time a make this sort of work.

The labour was hard! There were so many grass between and under the flagstone. I took the globes and a plastic bag. I was willing to clean up everything as far as I can! However, the sun is strong and the grass too. So we planned a different goal: we need a courtyard. Why? There was a shining sun and fresh air. I addmit also that we were lazy enough and we didn’t want to make everything in one day. But this also was a good idea to take the sun and enjoy the atmosphere with chilling mornings under the light.

Finally, we managed to clean up a big area. The flagstone was cleaned enough, the leaves were put into the rubbish and all the insects got far enough from us. Thus, we finished! We just needed now to use the wood as chairs and then put a table on the center. Do you want to see how ended up?

YES! We had a marvelous lunch under the sun outside.

You may have no garden? Well, gardening is not only clean a courtyard and remove bugs. You can have flowers in a window or you can try to plant vegetables in a small pot! I invite you to visit different web pages to guide you or giving you more ideas. Internet is big! And now you have no excuses to finish your job or getting bored at home. Do your best in this troublesome season!

Of course, try not to lose your mind!

José M. Gómez