Weird News

Quarantine and chill has video game connoisseurs going nuts, and the console that's scratching their itch is the Nintendo Switch ... something you'll have to pay big bucks for nowadays.

It's true ... Nintendo Switches are the go-to video game carrier right now during the outbreak, and it seems like folks who figured that out too late are now having to pony up and pay a premium price if they wanna get their hands on one. We're talking $200-$300 markups, maybe more.

We've spoken to big box and electronic retailers like Best Buy and Target out here in the L.A. area, as well as some locations in NYC ... they all tell us the same thing -- they're completely out of Switches. No locations within 250 miles of L.A. are shipping them either.

That's not to say you can't still get a hold of one -- we've heard of some lucky gamers in L.A. snagging one off of GameStop about a week ago out of sheer luck ... it just got delivered this weekend. GameStop's site says they're out and on backorder 'til April 30, but we know one person who recently checked and found they had a few in stock online for a brief time, and they jumped on it at the regular $299 price, too. That's a steal these days.

Fact is ... if you head on over to Amazon right now, you'll see they still have them available for purchase. You'll just have to pay upwards of $400 to $500 or more to get one, which is overpriced ... but also how the market works. Supply and demand, baby!

While tons of people who have a Nintendo Switch right now are resorting to classic Mario games -- like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc. -- and playing online with their friends ... the true hot ticket Switch item at the moment in Animal Crossing, which just came out with a new edition, "New Horizons," this past week to incredibly high fanfare.

We've heard of lines out the door -- even with quarantine regulations and social distancing in place -- over the past few days at places like Walmart, Best Buy and others, so people could pick up their pre-ordered copy. It's a simulation-type video game ... escapism at its finest.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is moving further into the good graces of Americans looking for guidance amid the coronavirus pandemic ... his mug is now on a super-popular donut.

Here's the deal ... a bakery in upstate New York is selling new donuts with Dr. Fauci's face on them, and the sweet treats are flying off the shelves!!!

Donuts Delite in Rochester started selling the donuts with Dr. Fauci's face earlier this week, and the bakery says they've already sold hundreds of 'em.

Dr. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert who has become a fixture in daily TV briefings on the virus, is gonna like the delivery options too ... because the bakery is offering curbside pickup, takeout and contact-less delivery.

The Dr. Fauci donut is a plain donut with frosting and if you want, you can it get it with filling. His face is printed on wafer-thin edible paper and placed upon a layer of buttercream frosting. Yum!!!

Dr. Fauci's not only helping save lives with his expertise, he's becoming a rising star in pop culture ... and he just did a fascinating Q&A with Steph Curry, which drew rave reviews from Barack Obama.

Quick, someone get a dozen Dr. Fauci donuts to our junk-food eatin' President!!!

Maybe these will save the economy!!!

Coronavirus isn't stopping people from getting their party on -- they're just doing it in front of computer screens at home now. Welcome to 2020.

Due to multiple state-wide stay-at-home orders, the online event planning biz is seeing a massive spike in engagement for all sorts of get-togethers ... some more adult-friendly than others.

Evite made its name peddling online invitations, but has since become a go-to destination for online events. The company says it's seen a 1,130% increase in events tagged "virtual party" in the last year ... but it believes the lion's share of the boost has come in the last month.

We're told their biggest categories of online get-togethers of late include birthdays, cocktail parties and happy hours -- with average group sizes between 15 to 20.

Paperless Post -- another event planning company -- says in the past 12 days, virtual party events have jumped to 48% of their total biz. It used to be less than 1% ... so that's a clear quarantine-related shift.

As a result, PP's shifted to offer way more online invitation options -- for kids' birthday parties, game nights, book clubs, dance parties, brunch ... all the party possibilities.

Pretty amazing how quickly society adjusted. We've heard of workout groups, baby showers and even charity galas ... all moving to the online realm.

As you'd expect, in-person event planning is down, but not dead. We're told traditional invites for big stuff, mostly weddings, are still ordered -- but by and large event planners are marketing for online biz now.

Evolve or die.

Two airline pilots in Southeast Asia abandoned airship after hearing they had potential coronavirus-infected passengers aboard -- and their escape is bonkers.

The video, shot Friday, shows the AirAsia pilots -- moments after they landed in New Dehli, India -- popping out of the cockpit window and getting down to the tarmac that way ... rather than go through the cabin with the rest of the crew and passengers. The reason for their hasty, and awkward, retreat -- there was a rumor they had a couple sneezy travelers.

Check it out ... one pilot opens up a hatch and slithers through, safely making his way onto the airstairs before helping his buddy out. They were acting pretty caj about it, but c'mon ... this ain't normal.

Apparently, word started circulating mid-flight about suspected cases of COVID-19 in the first row -- so it looks like the pilots didn't wanna chance being anywhere near those seats. As it turns out, nobody was actually infected -- AirAsia says the passengers were screened and tested negative. The plane was fumigated and cleansed too.

Still though ... better safe than sorry.

Mike Huckabee has a solution for the toilet paper shortage being experienced across the country -- wipe up with Mother Nature's own stockpile ... straight from the cornfield!

The former Arkansas governor tweeted out the bizarre advice, saying people should simply turn to the crafty crop for their bathroom needs. He wrote, "Those of us from rural south know how to handle toilet paper shortage."

MH continued, "Eat more corn on the cob! The corn isn't important, but the cobs are free and work great!  (Just don't flush them!) You're welcome!" Now, Mike's no farmer ... and isn't said to have grown up on one either. So, proceed with the homemade toiler paper recommendation at your own risk -- hard to tell if there's any truth or science behind it.

We should also say for those not totally up to speed on their produce terms here, Gov. Huckabee's not talking about using the husk (the outer leafy coating covering the corn itself) ... he's referring to what lies beneath. The cob is what the corn kernels grow on ... the so-called "pole," if you will, that's left behind when an ear of corn is shaved down.

Coronavirus is the mother of invention -- just ask the exotic dancers at Atlanta's Magic City, who've found a way to stay on the pole through the pandemic.

The world-famous strip joint closed its doors last week -- like most strip clubs in the ATL -- but Magic City's keeping its strippers employed through a Livestream. On Friday, the club went live with a deal regular customers have gotta love.

For $20, online patrons get 24-hour access to watch strippers do their thing onstage. Once you're virtually in, you can switch between each dancer who's on the clock. As the club reminded its nearly 100k Instagram followers ... "Who Checkin In For DayShift Action 👀 🤑"

Not exactly the same as "Gentlemen, coming to the stage ... " but these are weird times. We're all adjusting.

Btw, $20 is the usual cover charge just to get inside the club. You'd end up dropping way more in real life on lap dances and -- for you ballers -- champagne room dances.

If you've got the time -- and we know ya do -- they've got dancers who still gotta get through school. Just sayin' ...

America and junk food are getting back together after years apart ... and it only took a global pandemic to kick start the reunion.

According to a new Bloomberg report, a massive and noticeable trend is starting to emerge in the buying pattern of panicked U.S.-based shoppers these past few weeks ... who've been flocking to their local grocery stores and grabbing the essentials off the shelves en masse.

Long story short ... the country's giving up kale, and they're going back to Oreos. In other words, keeping up with the health kick is over, people. We're going back to what we know.

There's a number of possible reasons for this outlined in the report, but the biggest seems to be basic shelf life and expiration dates. A lot of the junk food shoppers are pivoting to is simply going to last longer than pretty much any of super/health foods they've gravitated towards of late. Plus, a lot of the old-school snacks are sold in bulk, and are easier to grab and go in these scary times. Another explanation ... we're creatures of habit.

The numbers are there to back up the theory too -- sales for companies like General Mills, Tyson Foods, Campbell Soup, Kraft and Heinz are going through the roof of late. The company behind Spam is also blowing up with a 37% spike, and Oreo maker Mondelez Int'l is also peaking.

Costco's been packed to the gills lately -- and to get folks the hell out of their warehouses ASAP ... certain locations aren't even giving you the option to park it anymore for a bite.

Check out these photos TMZ got of the Costco location out in Arlington, VA -- just a stone's throw from D.C. -- where they've got their act together down to a tee ... especially in the food court area, where they've yanked all the dining room tables that are normally there.

As you can see ... the area in front of the pick-up window -- which is usually designated for seating -- has been completely cleared. Heck, even most of the food options are limited ... looks like their hot dog and soda special is one of the few things you can grab to go (emphasis on go).

When it comes to the other survival staples members have been clamoring for these past few days -- it appears the Arlington location lets you know from the jump what's available ... and what isn't. They got signs out front indicating which products are in stock.

It's certainly efficient, and right on brand with Costco as a whole. With lines wrapping around the building, it looks like the honchos figured out easy ways to save people time and headaches -- especially when it comes to post-spree meals people might wanna indulge in.

Measures like pulling the dining tables are happening at several different locations across the country -- and pretty soon ... most of them might very well be doing this.

So, don't consider Costco a place to casually shop and nosh -- it's turned into In-N-Out these days. Hop to it now!

The sun will come out ... and when it does someone's gonna make bank!!! Bettors benched by coronavirus shutting down sports are turning their eyes and wallets to the weather.

Bovada -- one of the country's leading online sportsbooks -- tells TMZ ... since pro sporting events, games and seasons have been canceled or postponed -- their customers are laying wagers on the site's "Weather Betting" channel. It's way less complicated than typical sports bets ... which may be a good or bad thing.

The vast majority of Bovada's weather bets are simply about the temperature in a particular U.S. city. For instance, will it be over or under a certain degree on an upcoming day. In L.A., the line is set at 61 degrees for March 18. The odds for over or under that temp are equal ... if you lay down $120 and you're on the correct side of the thermometer, you'll win $100.

Long story short, there's no favorite or underdog -- ya just gotta guess right! Now, we're not saying you're a degenerate gambler if you're wagering money on Friday's weather in Billings, Montana, but ... y'know.

Look, until the Lakers, Rockets, Yankees and Red Sox get back in the swing ... weather's all ya got.

With toilet paper disappearing from stores amid the coronoavirus pandemic, folks are looking elsewhere in their quest to clean their bottoms ... bidets!!!

Bio Bidet, one of the top-rated bidet companies in the business, tells TMZ ... sales are skyrocketing as people struggle to find TP rolls or even a square to spare.

The bidet giant tells us ... Bio Bidet saw over $250,000 in sales in a 24-hour period after the outbreak, and those figures are just from transactions on Amazon alone.

TUSHY -- also a top company -- has seen sales soar to 10x their usual and over double what they were a year ago. Brondell, another manufacturer, has also seen sales spike to close to 10x.

People are also searching for and researching bidets in droves ... company honchos tell us searches for "bidet" on Amazon rose over a thousand ranks to become one of the Top 10 most-searched items on the online retailer.

One Bio Bidet product is already sold out ... the slimedge attachment, which retails for $59 and connects directly to your freshwater supply.

It's pretty saddening to see people fighting over toilet paper in brick-and-mortar stores ... but Bio Bidet says they're committed to providing quality hygiene products to as many homes as they can, despite the unfortunate TP circumstances.

Capitalism is the s***!!!

The dearly departed hopefully won't hold a grudge over low funeral turnouts -- coronavirus is keeping loved ones at home.

TMZ spoke with several prominent funeral homes in major cities across the country -- and the overall message was this ... they're scaling back, and finding innovative ways to grieve those who've passed on during the global pandemic. Prepare for morbidity, folks.

For starters, several mortuaries -- including some in Chicago, San Fran, Fort Lauderdale, New York and Los Angeles -- tell us they're planning on limiting the number of guests allowed at any given burial service in the coming weeks ... hard as that may be.

With the CDC's newest guidelines of no more than 50 bodies in one place at one time ... it sounds like just about all the parlors will attempt to honor that. The question of how is interesting though ... each spot does it differently, some with more ingenuity than others.

Chicago's Leak & Sons Funeral Home says it's considering implementing a "family only" rule for now, in hopes of keeping things compact. James C. Boyd Funeral Home in FL says it's putting a hard cap of 50 people per service ... and a morgue in NYC says they're drawing the line at just 25 at a time. A funeral joint in SF tells us they've seen customers push out funeral dates entirely, solving the problem of crowd control for them.

Now, the more innovative route is being embraced fully by a cemetery in L.A. called Hillside Memorial, where tons of celebs are buried. They say they're offering live streams as an alternative, so anyone who wants in on the service can watch from home.

Some of these other places have streaming options too, but none quite as robust as Memorial's -- which normally costs $235 a pop. Not these days though ... we're told they're waiving it in light of the new safety measures brought on by the outbreak.

So, no worries, your funeral can still get max views. 💀

As coronavirus fears skyrocket and the stock market plummets ... Soulja Boy's making a whole lot of money off a pretty clean gamble.

Sources close to the rapper-turned-entrepreneur tell TMZ ... he's invested in a company called The Soap Shop -- which, of course, sells soap products and the like. We're told Soulja went in on a franchise location in Mississippi last year with his manager, CEO Miami Mike.

Our sources say Soulja's trying to diversify and heard it was a good investment opportunity. What he didn't know is how well-timed it was.

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has people frantically looking for soaps, disinfectant products and anything that'll kill germs. That all adds up to a massive profit for Soulja and co.

Our sources say TSS as a corporation has gone from selling 100 bottles of cleaning products per month to well over 3,000-plus cleaning products in the last 2 months. That's about a 3,000 percent increase, and we're told it's record-setting production.

Soulja and Mike's specific Soap Shop location -- in South Haven, MS -- is seeing similar results. Our sources say profits have tripled without changing anything.

One last thing, the soap venture actually benefits the youth. Soulja has linked his Soap Shop location to a charity called Bubbles for Cash.

The run on toilet paper and wet wipes has nothing on seriously hard alcohol -- 'cause people fearing a full coronavirus outbreak are snatching up booze to cook up their own sanitizer.

Everclear, the potent 190-proof grain alcohol college kiddos traditionally use for Jell-O shots, is in crazy demand now that enterprising DIYers know it's one of few alcohols potent enough to kill nasty bugs like COVID-19.

The craze for the specialty booze is coast-to-coast. The good folks at Seattle's Downtown Spirits tell us they're fresh outta Everclear. A clerk says customers aren't hiding their intentions -- "They're buying it for the sanitizer." The price tag's a mere $20, but he told us it wasn't a commodity until this week.

We're told they sold 40 bottles in 2 days -- more than twice what they normally sell.

Ditto for Broadway Spirits in Manhattan's posh TriBeCa 'hood where they've had customers calling in to make sure Everclear's still in stock. A clerk there told us it's about to go on backorder.

As you know, brand-name germ killers like gels and wet wipes are vanishing from stores -- and the homemade craze started when the World Health Organization released a few recipes to help out newbie chefs.

They suggest folks pull isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and glycerin (if you have it) from cupboards and start whisking to attempt a homemade Purell, if you will. Everclear would come in handy if you're short on isopropyl A.

The Center for Disease Control prefers washing hands. But if soap and water aren’t “readily available” the agency suggests using a hand sanitizer containing “60% alcohol.” Grain alcohol to the rescue!!!

Buyers should carefully read the label because some spirits don’t pack enough punch. Tito’s Handmade Vodka admitted on social media it "does not meet the current recommendation of the CDC."

When life gives you fears over coronavirus ... make some hand sanitizer and sell it at your lemonade stand!!!

Check out these funny pics of two young entrepreneurs in Texas ... the kids are putting a twist on the classic suburban lemonade stand by hawking bottles of hand sanitizer for $3 a pop.

These smart salespeople are cashing in on the hand sanitizer craze ... as you know, people are stocking up on the stuff over fears of catching coronavirus, and stores across the country are selling out ... and they're taking extra precautions by including their Venmo. Money is dirty!

This lemonade hand sanitizer stand is right outside Austin ... makes sense, the city just declared a local disaster and the upcoming SXSW music festival is canceled.

Gotta hand it to these kids, they're making the most of a bad situation ... looks like the country is in great hands!!!