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https://blacknerdproblems.com/the-terrifics-23-review/
Writer: Gene Luen Yang / Artist: Sergio Fernandez Davila / DC Comics
In all this time, why has no one told me that DC has a series that features a black superhero couple leading a team through a series of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey adventures??
In no way is it remotely my fault for not being informed of this, even if it is my job, and the blame rests entirely on the shoulders of all of you for not telling me!
Anyway…
I checked out The Terrifics #23 on a whim. When I first started reviewing comics for BNP a long five years ago, I was reading The New 52: Future’s End every week — still shaking that one off, if I’m being honest. But one takeaway I had from that series was an appreciation for the genius that is Mr. Terrific. So, it was refreshing to see that he’s leading his own team-up series that’s a whole 23 issues in.
When I started the issue, my first thought was “Oh no… Bizarro!” Because reading a comic with Bizarro-speak can be a real test in mental fortitude and could possibly leave you with a feeling that you’ve developed a mild, temporary case of dyslexia.
But Gene Luen Yang knows this. So the conversations ran smoothly and bounced back and forth and even included a couple jokes as to how absurd the whole opposite language thing is. It’s all in good fun.
As far as emotional notes go, this story caught me by surprise. It opens up with Bizarro’s son telling us how he’s ultimately conflicted by his father’s decision to live in a time loop where he constantly tortures The Terrifics. But this is also his only way to spend time with him.
We then get more emotional resonance as Mr. Terrific gets a reminder that not every problem can be solved with logic, alone. Sometimes, you need to just feel things out. That’s when we get hit with some pretty good sci-fi, which is all you hope to get when you introduce complicated plot vehicles like time warps and such.
Overall, this was a good jumping in point for this series, and I’m going to stick with it for a while.
8.5 out of 10
Reading The Terrifics? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.
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The post The Terrifics #23 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Writer: Gene Luen Yang / Artist: Sergio Fernandez Davila / DC Comics
In all this time, why has no one told me that DC has a series that features a black superhero couple leading a team through a series of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey adventures??
In no way is it remotely my fault for not being informed of this, even if it is my job, and the blame rests entirely on the shoulders of all of you for not telling me!
Anyway…
I checked out The Terrifics #23 on a whim. When I first started reviewing comics for BNP a long five years ago, I was reading The New 52: Future’s End every week — still shaking that one off, if I’m being honest. But one takeaway I had from that series was an appreciation for the genius that is Mr. Terrific. So, it was refreshing to see that he’s leading his own team-up series that’s a whole 23 issues in.
When I started the issue, my first thought was “Oh no… Bizarro!” Because reading a comic with Bizarro-speak can be a real test in mental fortitude and could possibly leave you with a feeling that you’ve developed a mild, temporary case of dyslexia.
But Gene Luen Yang knows this. So the conversations ran smoothly and bounced back and forth and even included a couple jokes as to how absurd the whole opposite language thing is. It’s all in good fun.
As far as emotional notes go, this story caught me by surprise. It opens up with Bizarro’s son telling us how he’s ultimately conflicted by his father’s decision to live in a time loop where he constantly tortures The Terrifics. But this is also his only way to spend time with him.
We then get more emotional resonance as Mr. Terrific gets a reminder that not every problem can be solved with logic, alone. Sometimes, you need to just feel things out. That’s when we get hit with some pretty good sci-fi, which is all you hope to get when you introduce complicated plot vehicles like time warps and such.
Overall, this was a good jumping in point for this series, and I’m going to stick with it for a while.
8.5 out of 10
Reading The Terrifics? Check out BNP’s other reviews here.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
The post The Terrifics #23 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Dogs are people’s best friends, to paraphrase King Frederick of Prussia, and this video of a pooch playing Jenga demonstrates that sentiment perfectly. This Australian Shepherd (who’s possibly mixed with a Border Collie), has enough grace and focus to match any human game participant we’ve ever seen, and her brick-pulling skills are only the tip of the KONG toy.
Holy crap, this is incredible: A dog playing Jenga. Turn-taking, fine motor control, apparent understanding of the aim of the game. I would not have guessed a dog could do this. pic.twitter.com/cewL7wmaK5
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 29, 2019
The shockingly brilliant canine brain featured in this clip (via Buitengebieden on twitter) is named Secret, and she’s the pet, friend, and presumable confidant—considering that name—of Seattle teenager, Mary Peters. Peters has set up an Instagram account for herself and Secret, my_aussie_gal, and nearly every one of their videos features the frisky, furry genius pulling off some kind of feat that will make you stop and say: Dogs can do that?!
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(@my_aussie_gal)On top of playing Jenga, Secret can also dance, sled down hills, do yoga, dispose of her own garbage, place Christmas ornaments on a tree, mop, play the drums, draw, paint, ride a scooter, and help build the Dyson Spheres necessary for the development of a Type II Kardashev civilization. OK, there’s no proof of that last ability, but if there’s any dog who could pull that off, it’d be Secret. Just check out the little brainy beauty as she performs a trust fall with Peters. And as a fun thought experiment, imagine doing this with a cat—you’d have to have bags of donor blood on hand considering the scratching that would ensue.
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There isn’t a ton of information regarding Secret or Peters online aside from their Instagram account, and various tidbits of unverifiable information from a handful of news outlets like The Sun, so it’s hard to say exactly how Peters managed to teach Secret to be such a wunderdoggo. Although she does note on her Instagram that she’s an advocate of R+ and clicker training. For those wondering, according to Dogster, R+ is a form of positive reinforcement training; “clicker” refers to the use of a handheld contraption that makes a click sound, and is also generally used for positive reinforcement training.
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Even though Secret is obviously a maximum-level smarty paws, it should be noted that Australian Shepherds are, for the most part, some of the smartest dogs out there. According to the American Kennel Club, “Aussies are remarkably intelligent…” and are perfect for anybody “looking for a brainy, tireless, and trainable partner for work or sport….” They do love to be very active though, so if Secret has inspired you to make an Australian Shepherd part of your family, make sure you’re ready to keep up. Or at the very least have some of these back-flipping quadruped bots on hand to help make things interesting.
What do you think about Secret and her mad Jenga-playing skills? Are you desperate to pick up an Australian Shepherd after watching these clips, or do you prefer your pup be more of the derp variety? If your dog is as brilliant as this one, have it write out your opinions in the comments!
Feature image: Lyn Figura
The post Jenga-Playing Dog Is a Canine Genius! appeared first on Nerdist.
One of the most influential and controversial filmmakers of our time — Quentin Tarantino — is profiled in QT: The First 8 which covers his 30-year cinematic history.
I’ll begin by saying I’m not your average Quentin Tarantino fan, and as a Black woman, I have a love/hate relationship with the filmmaker. Both race and gender aside, there’s also other issues I’ve come to learn about his auteur style that begs the question of whether he has an original creative bone in his body. When I was in film school, I wrote a paper about Tarantino because his Reservoir Dogs resonated with me, as well as the story of Tarantino himself. I, too, used to work at a video store spending my evenings and days off watching movies until there was no tomorrow.
I was that geek at the video store who knew the name of every actor in every movie and can tell you where to go find what you’re looking for even if the description of what you wanted was vague. The character Randy Meeks from Scream and I were definitely kindred spirits. I also dabbled a bit in screenwriting and admired the fact that the chamber piece flick Reservoir Dogs was written in three days. This movie has some of the best dialogue, including the compelling “Like A Virgin” speech at the opening scene. It is definitely worth your time.
I’ve gone through ebbs and flows of the social consciousness critiquing race, feminism, and art through film. And as I’ve grown older (and hopefully wiser) my relationship with Tarantino’s work is like an ex-boyfriend. I keep coming back knowing he’s no good for me, but I love the time we share together and he’s my guilty pleasure. I can’t really show him around to my friends and family and share public displays of affection for fear of ridicule — yet instead I text him in secret and we only hangout on very specific terms.
Here’s the thing. Tarantino’s movies will be indelibly printed in our collective minds and his impact on pop culture cinema is nothing to be ignored. He has his share of fans and his share of haters and perhaps that’s why he’s such an enigmatic figure. However, as a fan and sometimes former fan, I see why I’ve loved and also disliked who and what he represents.
Let’s start with the problems and then we will buff around the jagged edges with positive stuff later. Before I dive into the review of QT8: The First Eight, I first want to establish that this documentary serves as a love letter to the filmmaker from his devoted colleagues, friends, and partners — it does fawn over Tarantino a bit. This, of course, is completely understandable given that many of the subjects in this film, like Tim Roth, Richard Gladstein, and Michael Madsen, have worked with him for nearly 30 years. A slightly less subjective view of the man would have created a more thoughtful study and analysis of this deeply complex filmmaker.
Tarantino’s problems began with Spike Lee’s critique of his overzealous use of the N-word. Then there’s the copying (or inspiration) Tarantino derives from other films. Nearly all of his films have similar plots, cinematic shots, or character arcs from movies that have impacted him over the years. In a 1994 interview with Empire magazine, Tarantino said, “I steal from every single movie ever made.”
There’s also the issue of his use of putting women actors in dangerous situations, such as using Uma Thurman as a stunt driver in Kill Bill Vol 2. That resulted in a permanent neck injury. Or Quentin Tarantino himself nearly squeezing the life out of Diane Kruger in Inglorious Basterds. And let’s not forget his 25-year relationship with a sexual predator.
Here’s the thing though, QT8: The First Eight addresses all of this. The doc doesn’t spend too much time on it because the idea is to get you to focus on his body of work as an artist and to adore him as the perfect director that he is, but there it all is as a footnote to add to QT’s history.
The documentary starts from Reservoir Dogs (one of my favorite films of all time) and ends at Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. It tells the tale of how Tarantino made his first trip to Cannes that year presenting Reservoir Dogs after leaving his friend’s couch in Los Angeles and came back a star. Miramax bought the rights to the film, which began the start of his relationship with Harvey Weinstein.
The documentary explores films that target race like Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained and addresses the incessant use of the N-word. Actor Jamie Foxx gave some commentary about the hypersensitivity surrounding the criticism. Stuntwoman and actor Zoe Bell shared her thoughts about QT making the egregious error of putting an untrained Uma Thurman in a stunt car without a team to support her, resulting in a car accident that could have killed her. She simply said, “It was a mistake.” And Diane Kruger’s response to QT putting his hands around her neck strangling her to make the scene more real, which nearly took her life as well, was — “Quentin is very hands on.”
I did appreciate the film devoting time to Harvey Weinstein and the many allegations against him from women (including actors who have worked on Quentin’s films) featured in the doc. The doc never directly dives into QT’s direct relationship with Harvey outside of being a producing partner; it simply regurgitates headlines and news stories intercut with scenes from Tarantino’s films, which I thought was kind of an odd form of editing. There is a chef’s finger kiss moment that reveals the character of Harvey Weinstein as told by Michael Madsen in animated form that you just have to see for yourself. The story is just too hysterical to believe but makes so much sense about Weinstein’s issues with entitlement and control.
QT’s presence in the film is minimal. There are no soundbites or interview clips from him directly; his story is told through images of old stock photos and crafty animation. I personally would have wanted to learn more about some of the quirky aspects of QT’s work like his weird foot fetish — if you haven’t noticed, Tarantino has a thing for women and feet. I also would have liked more script to screen story. I’m always fascinated with how a screenplay becomes a movie. True Romance was a damn good script and I would love to know more of the story behind that.
Now here’s the highlights of what I did love. I appreciated that they mentioned the QT multiverse, which is kind of like the Marvel Cinematic Universe because this guy has managed to integrate all of his fictional characters into his films. Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega and Reservoir Dogs’ Vic Vega are brothers. Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained is connected to Paula Schultz, the infamous tombstone The Bride was buried alive in.
Funny moments of QT interacting with the cast, like Eli Roth recalling a moment when they got wasted on the set of Death Proof, showed a humorous side to the filmmaker.
My feelings for QT will likely forever remain complicated, but I just can’t stay away from his movies. And his reel and body of work is something that cinephiles will talk about for quite a long time.
The post Review: ‘QT8: The First Eight’ and My Love/Hate Relationship with Quentin Tarantino appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.