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https://blacknerdproblems.com/the-great-soul-food-cook-off-is-a-kitchen-lituation/
You Know the Kitchen is Lit if they Talkin’ Smack
Listen, I know some of you folks love some QUALITY cooking competition shows. Some of you love you that good baking competition that will have you buying vanilla paste in bulk. Some of you enjoy good ol’ fashioned kitchen rage (I’m not judging you, just saying you deserve better.) Then there’s some who want a little bit of everything. Well, let me introduce you to something you been waiting for: The Great Soul Food Cook-Off on Discovery+. It got your classic shit talking, instigating, immaculate plates, legendary judges, and celebration of a beautiful cuisine. When I talk about how food competitions be trying to dilute soul food into “rustic”, “simple” and “unrefined” I be wanting to cuss them out. Soul Food comes in many variations. It’s wonderful, inventive, and has a rich history. It confuses me when people downplay it. This show presents flowers to your shrimp n’ grits and gives a standing ovation to your granny’s pound cake.
The Great Soul Food Cook-Off is that energy you need to start your year off right. We have Miss Melba Wilson (Owner of the Legendary restaurant Melba’s in New York City), Eric Adjepong (a personal favorite finalist from Top Chef, and a chef whose specialty lies in West African Cuisine), as well as many guest judges and an invigorating host, Kardea Brown. This show gives you Black people living their best chef life, creating dishes based off various challenges that touch on the history and importance of Soul Food. As a Chef Dorian and Chef Chris fan when I saw that they would be entering the arena, every Saturday night I pulled up a delicious plate then proceeded to scream and snap at my television.
Give Me That Black Joy
Through this show, I got to learn about soul food chefs that I wish I knew about before. Each chef had a different approach to soul food, whether it was simplicity and preservation or innovation and pushing boundaries, each person’s vision was valid and supported in the show. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off pushed forward flavor and appreciated presentation. Many cooking shows would demean food where the presentation didn’t seem “proper” in their eyes. Presentation was a story of themselves instead of a vehicle to prove they’re capable of “fine dining.”
The Great Soul Food Cook-Off touches on the colonization of the kitchen through stories of the chefs. Being Black in the culinary world is still challenging despite Black folks’ historical inspiration behind great dishes we know and love. We get to hear stories of overcoming odds that goes beyond “we grew up in a poor family, and now I’m using my skill to hopefully bring us out.” There are so many cooking-competitions that try to idolize the come-up story. The “cream of the crop” where they need to prove their worth. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off already recognizes the worth of the competitors, because they’re not competing for a white audience. The competitors know their skill, instead what they’re fighting for is specific to them. They’re not heralded as a representation of a race but as a representation of their own narrative and goals.
Take Heed, Take Example
Cooking competitions need to take an example from The Great Soul Food Cook-Off, because it gives flowers to being yourself. There hasn’t been an episode where I wasn’t engaged. I want people to see this show and imagine what a respectful cooking show looks like. Something that brings critique and doesn’t question the worth of someone who doesn’t fit in a box in their head. Appreciate the specialty in others and what makes them different. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off brings infectious Black joy, delicious food, and inspirational stories reflective to your own. Shows like this are important because it doesn’t force representation, it celebrates it in all of its forms. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off in its entirety is streaming on Discovery+ now!
Cover Image via rottentomatoes.com
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The post ‘The Great Soul Food Cook-Off’ is a Kitchen Lituation appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
You Know the Kitchen is Lit if they Talkin’ Smack
Listen, I know some of you folks love some QUALITY cooking competition shows. Some of you love you that good baking competition that will have you buying vanilla paste in bulk. Some of you enjoy good ol’ fashioned kitchen rage (I’m not judging you, just saying you deserve better.) Then there’s some who want a little bit of everything. Well, let me introduce you to something you been waiting for: The Great Soul Food Cook-Off on Discovery+. It got your classic shit talking, instigating, immaculate plates, legendary judges, and celebration of a beautiful cuisine. When I talk about how food competitions be trying to dilute soul food into “rustic”, “simple” and “unrefined” I be wanting to cuss them out. Soul Food comes in many variations. It’s wonderful, inventive, and has a rich history. It confuses me when people downplay it. This show presents flowers to your shrimp n’ grits and gives a standing ovation to your granny’s pound cake.
The Great Soul Food Cook-Off is that energy you need to start your year off right. We have Miss Melba Wilson (Owner of the Legendary restaurant Melba’s in New York City), Eric Adjepong (a personal favorite finalist from Top Chef, and a chef whose specialty lies in West African Cuisine), as well as many guest judges and an invigorating host, Kardea Brown. This show gives you Black people living their best chef life, creating dishes based off various challenges that touch on the history and importance of Soul Food. As a Chef Dorian and Chef Chris fan when I saw that they would be entering the arena, every Saturday night I pulled up a delicious plate then proceeded to scream and snap at my television.
Give Me That Black Joy
Through this show, I got to learn about soul food chefs that I wish I knew about before. Each chef had a different approach to soul food, whether it was simplicity and preservation or innovation and pushing boundaries, each person’s vision was valid and supported in the show. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off pushed forward flavor and appreciated presentation. Many cooking shows would demean food where the presentation didn’t seem “proper” in their eyes. Presentation was a story of themselves instead of a vehicle to prove they’re capable of “fine dining.”
The Great Soul Food Cook-Off touches on the colonization of the kitchen through stories of the chefs. Being Black in the culinary world is still challenging despite Black folks’ historical inspiration behind great dishes we know and love. We get to hear stories of overcoming odds that goes beyond “we grew up in a poor family, and now I’m using my skill to hopefully bring us out.” There are so many cooking-competitions that try to idolize the come-up story. The “cream of the crop” where they need to prove their worth. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off already recognizes the worth of the competitors, because they’re not competing for a white audience. The competitors know their skill, instead what they’re fighting for is specific to them. They’re not heralded as a representation of a race but as a representation of their own narrative and goals.
Take Heed, Take Example
Cooking competitions need to take an example from The Great Soul Food Cook-Off, because it gives flowers to being yourself. There hasn’t been an episode where I wasn’t engaged. I want people to see this show and imagine what a respectful cooking show looks like. Something that brings critique and doesn’t question the worth of someone who doesn’t fit in a box in their head. Appreciate the specialty in others and what makes them different. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off brings infectious Black joy, delicious food, and inspirational stories reflective to your own. Shows like this are important because it doesn’t force representation, it celebrates it in all of its forms. The Great Soul Food Cook-Off in its entirety is streaming on Discovery+ now!
Cover Image via rottentomatoes.com
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram!
The post ‘The Great Soul Food Cook-Off’ is a Kitchen Lituation appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Warning: Spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2 of Harley Quinn.
DC’s Harley Quinn animated series is a boundary-pushing, wildly hilarious showcase of Batman’s best (and worst) villains. Writer-creators Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey pay homage to the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, while incorporating more recent incarnations of various cast-off characters. Boasting a stellar voice cast, Harley Quinn gives the DCU a funhouse feel that’s anything but boring.
Premiering in 2019, Season 1 begins with Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) landing in Arkham Asylum after the Joker (Alan Tudyk) uses her to distract Batman (Diedrich Bader) while he escapes their latest crimes. Always believing in her man, she expects him to come and break her out. A year goes by and she’s still there, but Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), with the help of the Riddler (Jim Rash), breaks them all out of Arkham. It takes Ivy a frustratingly long time to get Harley to leave Joker for good, but when she does, it’s the beginning of a brand-new, bat-wielding Harley Quinn.
The rest of the season follows Harley as she establishes her own crew — Clayface (Tudyk), Dr. Psycho (Tony Hale), and King Shark (Ron Funches) — and tries to get into the Legion of Doom headed by Lex Luthor (Giancarlo Esposito). Unofficial members of HQ crew include their landlord Sy Borgman (Jason Alexander) and Ivy’s “roommate” Frank the Plant (J. B. Smoove). Ivy also begins dating Kite Man (Matt Oberg) — in secret, given his extreme confidence and bro-ness.
One of the best parts of the series is the use of Batman’s Rogues gallery. The series features familiar characters like Bane (James Adomian) and Scarecrow (Rahul Kohli), as well as the more obscure villains like Doctor Trap (Tudyk) and Queen of Fables (Wanda Sykes). Some appear as the villain-of-the-week, while others become semi-regular characters.
And you’d think it wouldn’t matter that much, but just hearing the villains dropping f-bombs makes the characters infinitely more entertaining. In a panel for DC FanDome, Alan Tudyk said, “Cussing as the Joker seems natural. The Joker would have foul language.”
It wouldn’t be Gotham City without the Caped Crusader, though he’s more of a supporting player in the series. His best scenes are with a despondent Commissioner James Gordon (Christopher Meloni), who’s just trying to be a damn good cop. A very young, bratty Robin (Jacob Tremblay) makes a few appearances as well, including an episode where he tells everyone that he’s Harley’s arch nemesis.
Since appearing in 2016’s Suicide Squad (and the much better subsequent films Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad), I’ve been a diehard Margot Robbie fan. I can’t imagine anyone else in the role, so I stupidly put off watching the Harley Quinn series when it first came out. Well, joke’s on me because Kaley Cuoco is fantastic.
All of the voice actors are incredibly hilarious, especially Funches’ instantly lovable King Shark. In addition to playing the Joker, Alan Tudyk also lends his voice to Calendar Man, Condiment King, and the failed actor Clayface. That character alone comes with many other characters of his making, like a co-ed named Stephanie.
In Season 2, Harley is on a mission to take down the Injustice League, formed by Bane, Two-Face (Andy Daly), Penguin (Wayne Knight), and Mr. Freeze (Alfred Molina). The season also introduces new faces/voices including the sultry and aloof Catwoman (Sanaa Lathan) and the excitable Batgirl (Briana Cuoco).
The central story of the second season is the growing romance between Harley and Ivy, slowly transitioning from friendship into something more. They have one hell of a turbulent relationship, but it doesn’t have anything to do with being queer. It’s refreshing that a queer love story exists without a tumultuous “coming out” plotline. Honestly, these women have had enough trauma from their parents and exes. They don’t need to play into tropes.
Season 2 ends with Ivy finally admitting that Kite Man wasn’t the right person for her. She may love him, but Harley is her number one. Kite Man is definitely one of my favorite characters. It’s sad to see him heartbroken, but it was bound to happen. Seeing Harley and Ivy declaring their love for each other and riding off into the Gotham sunset is what we all want, right?
The short preview from the DC FanDome 2021 event promises the two going on quite the adventure as a new couple on the run. Though it’s only a sizzle reel, I was still satisfied seeing Harley and King Shark again. Keeping with the show’s meta nature, Harley complains about the slow animation process and announces that the third season will air “sometime in 2022.”
Tee Franklin’s 6-issue comic series Harley Quinn: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour picks up right at the end of the Season 2 finale. It follows the newly coupled Harls and Ives as they take an impromptu honeymoon, partially to celebrate their relationship. Also, because Gordo is determined to catch them after his master plan to arrest all of Ivy’s wedding guests failed.
Franklin maintains the uniquely endearing and raunchy tone set by the animated series, making Harley’s world even more inclusive. Artist Max Sarin keeps with the show’s style and expands Ivy’s and Harley’s wardrobe with some killer outfits I’m dying to see in the third season. The comic bridges the gap between seasons, debuting in August and recently concluding with the January 4 final issue. Hopefully, this means that “sometime in 2022” is very soon.
Harley Quinn is one of the best things in the DC Universe right now. The perfectly cast voice actors continue to amaze and entertain, bringing their own personalities to fan favorites. It shows just how ridiculous super villainy can be while exploring more serious topics like trauma, abuse, and identity. It’s got comedy, heart, and beautifully animated violence. Whatever Season 3 has in store, it’s sure to be a riot.
The first two seasons of Harley Quinn are available to stream on HBO Max.
Not Gon Lie, Y’all Had Me in the First Half
The opening act was disorientating, but it was also its only service. It’s downhill after that but not smoothly you know, like skiing? Nah, nah, nah. The Matrix Resurrections goes full Homer jumping the Springfield Gorge.
There were some really dope meta-within-meta plot points at the beginning of the movie. It was as if it took itself seriously. As the movie goes further into a Penrose staircase of self-reference, it starts to lose track of any gravitas the original trilogy built up. As an audience member, you get the feeling that Lana Wachowski didn’t have a great time making the original films and is taking it out on Warner Bros. The problem: fans of the franchise get caught in the crossfire.
Whatcha Say, Whatcha Say, Whatcha Say, What?
The writing in Resurrections was not inspired, at all. With so much plot, exposition was packed into the explain-y dialogue that there are moments where characters are literally impossible to hear. A lot of those were given to Jessica Henwick’s character Bugs (yes, as in ‘Bunny’, another coded dig at Warner Bros and reference to the ‘white rabbit’ from the first Matrix. She even says, “what’s up Doc?” early in the movie). You can boil quite a few parts of this movie down to, “Wait, what did they just say?”
Acting performances were decent throughout the movie, especially Jonathan Groff as Agent Smith. Keanu and Carrie-Anne pick up where they left off with Neo and Trinity with little effort. Henwick’s rebellious Bugs is tolerable but not as dynamic as she could be as the main character. Yahya Abdul-Mateen’s Morpheus/Smith was strange. I’m sure he did his best with the awkward role and the direction given, but it never truly landed or paid true homage to either character. The only other stand-out is Neil Patrick Harris’ turn as “The Analyst.” He hams it up, as the script demands, and it’s cool and funny until it isn’t.
Sense…9?
A very touching nod to supporters of The Wachowski’s work, a large part of the main cast of Sense 8 play roles in The Matrix Resurrections. On one end, it is beautiful to see these actors again and to see their solidarity with Lana Wachowski. On the other hand, it took me right out of the movie to see them all. The movie didn’t go many places, so it was a little distracting to always see one of them onscreen. That might be because I adored Sense 8 though. On the other side of that, huge shout to casting Thelma Hopkins aka Aunt Rachel from Family Matters. Didn’t see that coming, and it was pretty cool.
Your Weakness is Not Your Technique
Yeah, it is. The fight choreography in Resurrections is so painfully weak and unintentional it hurts. Yuen Woo-Ping took months to teach each of the lead actors a particular martial arts discipline for the original trilogy, and it showed. None of that kind of artistic integrity shows up in any of the fight scenes. Typically, that wouldn’t matter, but this is The Matrix – the fights are as pivotal to the story as the dialogue. This was not it. Especially when your franchise is known for the clean fight work that is technically sound and easily seen. Resurrections had fight scenes that were so convoluted (on the bullet train in particular) with slowed shutter speed and close-ups just shy of a Jason Bourne movie. It was very Train to Busan but with none of the satisfaction. We’re not even going to discuss that random battle royale in the abandoned building with The Merovingian’s goons. Yikes.
Every Beginning Has an End
Empty character cameos and a weak story truly take away from the deeply philosophical, scrappy, and clever world the Wachowski’s designed to begin with. Like, how do you shortchange The Merovingian? How do you boil that character down to just complaining about social media? Somehow, this movie makes the gigantic world of The Matrix feel small and crowded. Super real talk, The Matrix Resurrections left me with the feeling that the Wachowski’s might’ve never really known how their work had spoken to the downtrodden and ostracized. The Matrix Resurrections comes across as an angry letter from an artist to a corporate giant, but not in a good way. A cinematic middle finger to their parent company that offends diehard fans yet entertains newcomers and (hopefully) piques interest in the previous movies.
P.S.: It Felt Like Dying
If you don’t know what impact The Matrix had on the refinement of my political views, peep here. Even if you didn’t know me from a femme in a red dress, you can read the disappointment in my spirit. This movie had all the tools it needed to be great. The lost potential here is staggering. In real life, where what the first Matrix posited as the scariest outcome for humanity is our actual day-to-day life; this movie couldn’t recall that idea. What could have been the most powerful place for a critical analysis of corporate media tactics, Resurrections makes fun of but then exemplifies. The movie becomes the exact same fluff the original movie forced you to question.
So much of what is wrong with this movie comes down to the beginning of the credits. The familiar electric guitar riffs swell with the political angst of the late-90s. Rising to a shrill but needed release into Rage Against The Machines’ classic song, the aptly titled, “Wake Up.” Only for a band other than RATM to hit that opening, “Come on!!!” lyric!?!?! Are you serious? Did y’all really do that? No shade to the band that performed the song, Brass Against. But you will never know the pain I felt in that moment unless you were there: Madison Square Garden in 2001 when Knicks legend Patrick Ewing missed an open layup on a fast break to give the San Antonio Spurs a championship.
The Matrix Resurrections really felt like a visual monologue of an ‘old head’ scoffing at the new technologies of the next generation. There are moments, few and far between, that remind audiences of The Matrix that was. However, everything in Resurrections falls short of any of the passion and drive of the message synonymous with the arc of the first trilogy. It really just falls short.
You can watch The Matrix Resurrections at home on HBOMax or brave movie theaters nationwide.
Cover Image via Vox.com
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