deerstalker
https://blackgirlnerds.com/8-new-hobbies-to-make-2023-more-fun/
Eating healthier and exercising more were two of the top 3 new year’s resolutions for the past year according to statista.com. There’s a good chance one of those is included in your resolutions as well. Yet no matter what your goals are for 2023, it’s important to remember to incorporate fun.
An easy way to incorporate fun and achieve goals is by trying out a new hobby. If you’re not sure how to get started, here’s a list of eight new hobbies to try out in 2023.
( source: Getty Images)
1. Hiking
Getting yourself out into nature for a vigorous walk is a beneficial hobby to try out. According to National Park Services, hiking can improve your heart health as well as strengthen your muscles.
In addition to this, there are also other mental health benefits according to a study done at Stanford University. During this study, they compared the physical and mental effects of two groups: one that spent time walking in nature, and another that spent time walking in an urban environment. Those that spent time in nature showed significant changes in the brain, such as decreased rumination of negative thoughts. Participants also improved their moods and showed a calmer state of being.
2. Foraging
Foraging is a word you’ve most likely heard in your history class when you learned of early settlers. Foraging is the act of collecting food in the wild.
Before you skip over this hobby thinking you’d rather buy your food from the grocery, consider this benefit. Food that is grown in and picked from the wild hasn’t been chemically alternated or modified.
Alexis Nikole Nelson is one Black woman who is leading the charge and has used Instagram and TikTok to highlight the importance of foraging. Nelson shares on her channels her adventures of going into the forests and beaches to find things such as acorns and edible seaweed. She brings her findings home to cook and create something delish.
If you’re intrigued by this hobby but aren’t quite sure where to start, hobbyknowhow.com shares 10 places in the United States where you can forage to your heart’s content.
(Source: Getty Images)
3. Learning to play an instrument
When it comes to playing an instrument, many people attended piano lessons as a kid or were in band. For those who didn’t grow up playing an instrument, it can feel like you missed your time to learn.
If you’re questioning if 40 is too old to play an instrument the answer is no. According to musichousechool.com, there are many benefits to learning or relearning how to play an instrument as an adult. These benefits include reducing stress, preventing Alzheimer’s disease, enhancing patience and discipline, and providing a creative outlet.
4. Thrifting
Whether through garage sales or utilizing Facebook marketplace, you’ve most likely done some thrifting.
What has probably been more of a seasonal activity, something you do when you’re spring cleaning or moving, can turn into a year-long hobby.
Thrifting is a great way to save money and prevent items from piling up in landfills. It can be like a modern treasure hunt by finding unique accessories that can enhance your wardrobe or home decor. It can also enhance your creativity when you’re able to put things together that you wouldn’t normally come across.
5. Restoring furniture
If you enjoy thrifting and want to exercise your creative juices a little more, you can try restoring furniture as a new hobby.
Restoring furniture is not only a fun and useful activity, but it can also be a side hustle. Refurbishing old tables, chairs, and sofas is about seeing the potential beauty in something that was discarded or broken.
To get started, take a look at items you already have in your home. Reach into the back of your garage for the discarded dresser or lounge chair that is collecting cobwebs. If you don’t have anything in your immediate vicinity, try taking a walk or driving down your neighborhood streets to see what’s been discarded at the side of the road. Even a neighbor’s garage sale can offer some furniture that needs refurbishing.
( Source: Getty Images)
6. Playing paintball: for both men and women
This may seem like a common hobby for men, yet there are many benefits for women to get into the sport. Besides crushing gender stereotypes, paintball is a great way to exercise, blow off some steam, and let your hair down. If you’re new to the activity, here are some suggestions to get started from hobbystrategy.com.
They suggest layering up and wearing protective gear such as knee pads. Paintball isn’t a gentle sport, so having enough protection is important in being able to enjoy the sport. Additional advice for newcomers is to focus on playing on a team to better support one another. When out on the field, keep moving and don’t be intimidated by the other players.
7. Hosting game nights
Hosting a game night is a low-cost and fun way to socialize without leaving the comfort of your home.
If you’re interested in hosting Dicebreakers.com suggests getting started by creating a guest list. It’s ideal to have a mixture of competitive and non-competitive people. Next, you’ll want to schedule a time and location.
Once you know when the game is happening and who will be attending, you can choose the right games. You can set up games as the host or invite guests to bring their favorite games. Lastly, you’ll want to make sure everyone feels comfortable by providing a welcoming space.
If you like the idea of a game night but don’t want to take on all the responsibility of hosting, then you can ask a friend to co-host with you.
8. Learning a new skill
Whether you want to find a new job or excel in your current position, learning a new skill is an important activity to take on. If you’re not sure which skill you should learn, focus on high-income generating skills such as SEO, copywriting, video editing, coding, AWS cloud, and project management.
For 2023 the best way to achieve your goals and enjoy more of life is to combine a goal with a fun new hobby. For instance, you can incorporate hiking into your goal of getting into shape. You can try thrifting or restoring furniture to support the goal of creating a new stream of income. When you can find the balance between hard work and enjoyment, then goals become a little bit easier to achieve.
Eating healthier and exercising more were two of the top 3 new year’s resolutions for the past year according to statista.com. There’s a good chance one of those is included in your resolutions as well. Yet no matter what your goals are for 2023, it’s important to remember to incorporate fun.
An easy way to incorporate fun and achieve goals is by trying out a new hobby. If you’re not sure how to get started, here’s a list of eight new hobbies to try out in 2023.
( source: Getty Images)
1. Hiking
Getting yourself out into nature for a vigorous walk is a beneficial hobby to try out. According to National Park Services, hiking can improve your heart health as well as strengthen your muscles.
In addition to this, there are also other mental health benefits according to a study done at Stanford University. During this study, they compared the physical and mental effects of two groups: one that spent time walking in nature, and another that spent time walking in an urban environment. Those that spent time in nature showed significant changes in the brain, such as decreased rumination of negative thoughts. Participants also improved their moods and showed a calmer state of being.
2. Foraging
Foraging is a word you’ve most likely heard in your history class when you learned of early settlers. Foraging is the act of collecting food in the wild.
Before you skip over this hobby thinking you’d rather buy your food from the grocery, consider this benefit. Food that is grown in and picked from the wild hasn’t been chemically alternated or modified.
Alexis Nikole Nelson is one Black woman who is leading the charge and has used Instagram and TikTok to highlight the importance of foraging. Nelson shares on her channels her adventures of going into the forests and beaches to find things such as acorns and edible seaweed. She brings her findings home to cook and create something delish.
If you’re intrigued by this hobby but aren’t quite sure where to start, hobbyknowhow.com shares 10 places in the United States where you can forage to your heart’s content.
(Source: Getty Images)
3. Learning to play an instrument
When it comes to playing an instrument, many people attended piano lessons as a kid or were in band. For those who didn’t grow up playing an instrument, it can feel like you missed your time to learn.
If you’re questioning if 40 is too old to play an instrument the answer is no. According to musichousechool.com, there are many benefits to learning or relearning how to play an instrument as an adult. These benefits include reducing stress, preventing Alzheimer’s disease, enhancing patience and discipline, and providing a creative outlet.
4. Thrifting
Whether through garage sales or utilizing Facebook marketplace, you’ve most likely done some thrifting.
What has probably been more of a seasonal activity, something you do when you’re spring cleaning or moving, can turn into a year-long hobby.
Thrifting is a great way to save money and prevent items from piling up in landfills. It can be like a modern treasure hunt by finding unique accessories that can enhance your wardrobe or home decor. It can also enhance your creativity when you’re able to put things together that you wouldn’t normally come across.
5. Restoring furniture
If you enjoy thrifting and want to exercise your creative juices a little more, you can try restoring furniture as a new hobby.
Restoring furniture is not only a fun and useful activity, but it can also be a side hustle. Refurbishing old tables, chairs, and sofas is about seeing the potential beauty in something that was discarded or broken.
To get started, take a look at items you already have in your home. Reach into the back of your garage for the discarded dresser or lounge chair that is collecting cobwebs. If you don’t have anything in your immediate vicinity, try taking a walk or driving down your neighborhood streets to see what’s been discarded at the side of the road. Even a neighbor’s garage sale can offer some furniture that needs refurbishing.
( Source: Getty Images)
6. Playing paintball: for both men and women
This may seem like a common hobby for men, yet there are many benefits for women to get into the sport. Besides crushing gender stereotypes, paintball is a great way to exercise, blow off some steam, and let your hair down. If you’re new to the activity, here are some suggestions to get started from hobbystrategy.com.
They suggest layering up and wearing protective gear such as knee pads. Paintball isn’t a gentle sport, so having enough protection is important in being able to enjoy the sport. Additional advice for newcomers is to focus on playing on a team to better support one another. When out on the field, keep moving and don’t be intimidated by the other players.
7. Hosting game nights
Hosting a game night is a low-cost and fun way to socialize without leaving the comfort of your home.
If you’re interested in hosting Dicebreakers.com suggests getting started by creating a guest list. It’s ideal to have a mixture of competitive and non-competitive people. Next, you’ll want to schedule a time and location.
Once you know when the game is happening and who will be attending, you can choose the right games. You can set up games as the host or invite guests to bring their favorite games. Lastly, you’ll want to make sure everyone feels comfortable by providing a welcoming space.
If you like the idea of a game night but don’t want to take on all the responsibility of hosting, then you can ask a friend to co-host with you.
8. Learning a new skill
Whether you want to find a new job or excel in your current position, learning a new skill is an important activity to take on. If you’re not sure which skill you should learn, focus on high-income generating skills such as SEO, copywriting, video editing, coding, AWS cloud, and project management.
For 2023 the best way to achieve your goals and enjoy more of life is to combine a goal with a fun new hobby. For instance, you can incorporate hiking into your goal of getting into shape. You can try thrifting or restoring furniture to support the goal of creating a new stream of income. When you can find the balance between hard work and enjoyment, then goals become a little bit easier to achieve.
If you’re excited for the Super Mario Bros. Movie coming in April 2023, you’re not alone. If you’re in it for the nostalgia factor, you’ll definitely want to check out the recut trailer below. Super-fan and YouTuber King Bob Gaming recreated the movie’s second trailer shot for shot in the style of Super Mario 64. While we’re looking forward to the smooth visuals promised by the real movie, seeing it in clunky 3D is undeniably familiar to those of us who suffered through the dark days of mid-’90s gaming. Let’s just say the transition from 2D to 3D was not without its rough patches. Most notably, in the version N64 version of the Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer below, the characters’ mouths don’t move. But somehow, that only seems to make Chris Pratt’s Mario voice work a bit better with the character.
If you’re not familiar with the Super Mario 64 version of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and the others, it’s never too late. You can play the game on Nintendo Switch, along with a few others from the good old Nintendo 64 days. Even the gorgeous Mushroom Kingdom and those adorable Toads are a bit off in blocky 3D. We came across this trailer thanks to ComicBook.com. It is a good reminder to be grateful that we’re getting an animated movie now rather than back in 1996. And we’ve all collectively agreed to block out the live-action one from 1993, right?
Super fans of Super Mario 64 may also want to snag the 25th anniversary LEGO set with the iconic yellow Question Mark Block. One lucky (and rich) person even found an unopened copy of the game that recently sold at auction for over a million dollars. Maybe they didn’t know they could play it on the Switch. Or get a free nostalgia boost from watching trailers like this one.
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.
The post An N64 Version of the SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE Trailer Truly Takes Us Back appeared first on Nerdist.
Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter is a new trading card game that gives us a fresh outlet to play with our favorite Disney characters and create epic crossovers. Would Maleficent and Cruella de Vil be friends or foes? Could Stitch endear himself to the likes of Captain Hook? And would Robin Hood and Elsa make a good team? Those are the six characters that make up the first set of Disney Lorcana trading cards. The game was announced at the D23 Expo but launches in Fall 2023, with new sets released four times a year. The trading cards will show off more original Disney artwork than any other product, and from what we’ve seen so far, the cards are all beautiful.
Disney Lorcana is a partnership with puzzle and game maker Ravensburger, who has lots of other great Disney content. Fans at the D23 Expo were able to buy an exclusive first edition pack of the cards. They also got their hands on an exclusive Mickey Mouse card called “Brave Little Tailor” that isn’t part of the set. The other characters have their own unique abilities. Captain Hook is listed as a forceful duelist and has a sword for a hand. Maleficent appears in her dragon form in the Disney Lorcana trading cards, while Creulla de Vil’s strongest quality is “miserable as usual.” I wonder how that presents itself in gameplay. There’s also Elsa the Snow Queen, Robin Hood the unrivaled archer, and Stitch as a rock star. Certainly an interesting lineup.
As for how the game will work, Ravensburger shared the basic mechanics of the Disney Lorcana game. “Players will take on the mantle of Illumineer, a powerful sorcerer, and band together Disney characters from Lorcana’s “The Great Illuminary,” a treasury of all Disney songs and stories ever made.” Additionally, a new Lorcana card revealed introduces the idea of “action cards” to the game.
The “Dragon Fire” Lorcana card features Disney’s Maleficent in her dragon form, “breathing cursed green fire.” Use of this card will allow players to “banish [a] chosen character.” At this time, we don’t yet have any further information about gameplay mechanics for Disney Lorcana. But we do feel excited to learn more.
Finally, the latest Lorcana card brings a familiar face to the table, Olaf. Warm hugs for all!
Finally, all that Disney knowledge rattling around our brains will win us more than just trivia contests!
Ravensburger has lots of other licensed products from properties like Despicable Me and Minions. There are Star Wars puzzles and an Alien board game. Plus some less obvious partnerships, like a card game for Taco Bell.
Originally published on September 9, 2022.
Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.
The post DISNEY LORCANA Trading Card Game Is a New Way to Play with Your Favorite Characters appeared first on Nerdist.
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents. Tokyo Godfathers is the acclaimed holiday classic from master director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue), with script co-written by the legendary Keiko Nobumoto. For those unfamiliar, Kon was “a kind of the Stanley Kubrick of animation” as noted by a commenter on one of my favorite video essays about his work here.
I’ve always been enamored with the way Nobumoto wrote humanity and personalities into the animated projects she worked on. Some of my favorites include Cowboy Bebop and Wolf’s Rain. Off jump, Tokyo Godfathers is a classic. It’s a critically acclaimed film, it’s a tour de force in the world of animation by way of Japan, and it has sincerely one of the best narratives about family in a film.
Tokyo Godfathers (2003) also has one of the high honors of being one of my favorite Christmas movies. What makes a film a Christmas movie? Depending on how you might define it in your own understanding: The Christmas Story (1983), The Nativity Story (2006) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) are a few films that may make the cut. In the same breath, Die Hard (1988), Mean Girls (2004) and Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (2001) may also make the cut.
In my heart of hearts, this tragicomedy has always been a Christmas classic from the first time I watched it years ago, and I will tell you why. Tokyo Godfathers is one of the best Christmas films because it has a narrative focusing on family, on the audacity of hope, and features characters chasing redemption and working to put others first.
Note: This editorial will explore some plot points of Tokyo Godfathers. Please know that while I do not spoil the entirety of the film, certain details are revealed and elaborated on. To avoid any spoilers, please consider watching this amazing film and returning to read if this caught your eye!
Family, Matters
Tokyo Godfathers employs a trope that so many of us adore: the (found) family trope. According to the incredible online database TV Tropes, it is also alternatively referred to as Family of Choice. The website states that “Members of a Chosen Family mourn the lack of family in their lives and decide to build one of their own out of people they care for and who care for them in turn.“ This is true for our little family present in the film: a homeless bunch consisting of Gin, Hanna, and Miyuki. All three have circumstances that are hinted at why they aren’t with their families by blood.
It is revealed that Gin once was married and even had a child, but his own vices destroyed his family life. He surprises the other two when he demonstrates how to change a diaper and how to fix a bottle of baby formula for the little one to drink. Hana, is a trans woman (voiced by Shakina Nayfack in the newer English dub restoration) who actually never knew her actual parents. She’s the one out of the bunch who feels the most sympathy for “Kiyoko,” the baby they find that she also names. The youngest of the three that found our mystery baby is Miyuki: our teenage runaway who actually still has a home to go back to but won’t. It is revealed later that her home life was tense and an incident she’s involved in caused her to leave home and stay far away from it.
The TV Tropes site also mentions: “To fill the vacant roles in their lives, some characters build their own families with people they choose to care about.” This rings true in the sense that as homeless people, the three are forgotten members of society. They mostly do their best to protect themselves, find food together, and avoid who would do them harm. Sadly, through each viewing I am reminded how their being homeless makes them less than in the eyes of many: their ordeal to find a happy ending for the little one means the three are constantly dismissed, belittled, harassed, ignored, and even physically beaten for the audacity of existing.
The Audacity of Having Hope
Christmas, while celebrated widely around the world, means something different to everyone, but the original Christmas story is most often the celebration of the Christ child. A baby born into the world to bring hope and salvation to a dark world. Children bring newness to the world, don’t they? In happier situations, babies are happily expected and celebrated. Their births bring happiness, light, and joy to those who receive them. Baby Kiyoko is the same with her pseudo family. There’s a line from the original subtitled version of the film where Gin (voiced by Tōru Emori in Japanese) says out loud “A child’s the only thing you hold dearer than life itself.” It is a poetically beautiful line that illustrates the start of the bond that our little crew gains with this lost child.
The baby brings hope to the little family that finds her along with a bevy of mixed emotions. Gin, who was once a father, feels out of place whenever pressed too hard about his daughter and his life back then. Hanna, later thinks back on a life she had with a now deceased lover and the family she never was able to have. Miyuki, when comforted by a good Samaritan who breastfeeds baby Kiyiko, reveals how her own actions–an act of violence injured someone she loved. Having this baby in their presence eventually leads all three of them to come face to face with their pasts and their mistakes that have brought them to the now.
Redemption Comes in the Morning
Christmas, December twenty-fifth, is one the last major holiday before the year ends. To me the period of December twenty-fifth to January first has always felt like a magical, ethereal time period. For me, it has been a time to ponder about the person I wanted to be and start moving towards her. Whatever I failed at, I could try again next year. Whatever hurts I carried on my heart, I could work to drop them and focus on happier things in the new year. There’s a great line of poetry, a haiku actually, that Hanna drops in the film about the new year and wrapping up business and dealings. In Tokyo Godfathers, baby Kiyoko’s adventures with Gin, Hanna, and Miyuki take place during this time between the holiday and the rising of the new year’s day.
Perhaps one could look at this journey to personally reunite the baby with her parents as a selfish or even illogical course of action, especially when most would agree that dropping the baby off at a police station would do. But that won’t work, not according to Hanna. She’s of the mind that this little one will need a better memory for the future. She doesn’t relish the idea that Kiyoko will be told that her first Christmas will be spent at a police station where eventually she’ll be told that she was abandoned and found on the day. Caring Hanna is determined, hell bent, really to hear from the mother of the child, herself why this little bundle of love was abandoned.
Doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest task as Gin, Hanna, and Miyuki find out throughout the film. A trip to a hospital for one member of their family leads to a surprise family connection and reunion for Gin. Hanna in a calculated act of love purposely pushes Gin to be closer to this family member that they meet at the hospital. She gently tells young Miyuki that it’s the best course of action because people need to be with their families with the understanding that she’ll be left alone. It is a selfless gesture that startles Miyuki as she struggles to understand Hanna’s reasoning.
It is also a noble and heartbreaking moment that takes me by surprise with every viewing as it comes later in the film after I’ve emotionally bonded with this group and their mission. And yet upon relaxing a critical error when returning baby Kiyoko to her mother, the three regroup to right the wrong they have unwittingly done in the last act of the film. In the rising light of the new day of the new year, several souls are redeemed as everyone rushes to save not just one person but in a proverbial way themselves, as well.
Home is (Where your heart is)
What I love for our motley crew at the end of Tokyo Godfathers is that they learn that home is more so the people we love more than actual places. Back when our little family with Kiyoko in tow finally find the house in the photo of the baby’s parents, they are shell shocked to learn that it’s not only deserted but in the process of being torn down. Their last big lead is gone, and they sit about nearby listless and depressed until an incident sends them to the hospital.
What a happy accident it is because it is where Gin reunites with the person from his past, she tells him that the house they once lived in is gone but offers up her contact info so they can stay in touch. Even Miyuki discovers over the course of the film that her family home is certainly a place but not a whole one if she’s not there, according to the ones who loved her first.
At the end of the film, the audience is reminded that family is the people we choose. Yet family is also the people who chose us. That means the new families we make and the members of the ones that are left behind. One last twist reunites two families: two that were broken and also introduces to them the makeshift family that saved the day two times over. This hilarious and touching last moment ties together a film that continues to serve cinema by way of the Christmas spirit, in the best way.
Tokyo Godfathers works its magic with a story focusing on the importance of family and the audacity of having hope in dark periods of life. It is a brilliant film that features characters chasing redemption and working through selfishness to make it to the light of a new day for the sake of others. For these reasons, this is why Tokyo Godfathers stands the test of time, in my canon of favorite Christmas movies. I will turn to this film when I want evidence that miracles do happen and happy endings are not in short supply, waiting for those who least expect them.
You can watch the original subtitled version of Tokyo Godfathers on Youtube and on the Tubi app
Cover image via Rotten Tomatoes
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram!
The post Why ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ is One of My Favorite Christmas Films appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.