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There will be adult language in this post, because Robert De Niro is just…awesome. He’s not only talented, he’s the voice of the people, such as when he stepped up at the Tonys to say: “Fuck Trump.” So succinct. So right. The legendary actor is making the round to promote his latest collaboration with fellow icon, Martin Scorsese in The Irishman and while the Netflix epic is garnering rave reviews, Brian Stelter on CNN wanted to talk about the political stances De Niro has taken of late and the controversy they have caused Well, when it comes to the pundits on Fox News wringing their hands over his language, De Niro isn’t backing down at all:

—@BrianStelter asks Robert De Niro about criticism he gets from Fox for speaking out against Trump.

“Fuck em,” De Niro replies. “Fuck em.”

Stelter reminds him, “This is cable, so it’s not an FCC violation, but it is still a Sunday morning.” pic.twitter.com/9IOo1VvXCM

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 29, 2019

As fun as De Niro dropping a double f-bomb on a Sunday morning talk show is, the real meat of his comment are what matter: Trump shouldn’t be president. End of story. And F@&$ anyone who wants to argue about it. Bob (I call him Bob) has the right idea, the arguements of language and other performative nonsense aren’t worth our time. As with many of his performances (we’re not gonna talk about Rocky and Bulwinkle, okay?) De Niro’s honesty is getting rave reviews:

You really gotta watch the video, to appreciate the EXTREMELY De Niro delivery of these lines. No one can De Niro like this guy. https://t.co/zGiMb3A2Pj

— David Roberts (@drvox) September 29, 2019

Same people who are acting outraged over Robert De Niro saying Fuck Em are also the same people fine with their President grabbing women by the pussy

Just treat it as Locker Room Talk..

— YourPresidentIsARacist (@battletested5) September 29, 2019

Y’all, it’s really this simple: if you think Robert De Niro saying “fuck ’em” in response to fascists is more profane than literal fascists undermining the integrity of our constitutional framework, you don’t understand profanity.

— Charlotte Clymer️‍ (@cmclymer) September 29, 2019

Nothing but respect for MY Godfather.

In other, less spicy news around the net:

• Mark Hamil – still the best.

• You misspelled “Fraud.”#GoForceYourself https://t.co/ORY6eeyGgj

• — Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) September 29, 2019

• Ruby Rose revealed she had to have emergency surgery or be in danger of paralysis. We wish her a quick and safe recovery! (via EW)
• Speaking of calling out the President, Hillary Clinton called him a “corrupt human tornado.” Nice. (via CNN)
• The demons are multiplying…

• A month ago, DragonCon witnessed The Great Crowley Saunter through Atlanta as we strutted to the Ritz @drmuig @neilhimself @michaelsheen #GoodOmens #goodomenscosplay pic.twitter.com/rrADQBHLOi

• — Suri Smith (@SuriSerendipity) September 29, 2019

• SNL is back, I guess? (via THR)
• Things that are good: Dogs.

• This is Sally. She doesn’t mind complying with the “dogs must be enclosed in a container on the subway” rule because it’s truly quite fashionable. 14/10 pic.twitter.com/Me0FPVZmyl

• — WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) September 26, 2019

• The Whistleblower will testify. (Via Vox)

And finally, we wish a happy new year to all celebrating Rosh Hashanah! Shana Tova!

(featured image: Andrew Toth/Getty Images for DIRECTTV; via CNN)

This is Sally. She doesn’t mind complying with the “dogs must be enclosed in a container on the subway” rule because it’s truly quite fashionable. 14/10 pic.twitter.com/Me0FPVZmyl

— WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) September 26, 2019

Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty

Gabrielle Union will be working behind the scenes for her next project. Instead of taking on a starring role, Union will be serving as executive producer for a comedy called Black Girl Magic.

According to Deadline, the half-hour, single camera series will air on NBC and follows three estranged sisters that reunite in their hometown of New Orleans, LA after they learn about a family secret. Union will be executive producing the show alongside showrunner Robia Rashid and show creators Crystal Boyd, Chandra Russell and Emebit Beyene. Union’s co-executive producers will be Bryan Brucks and Holly Shakoor Fleischer.

Besides her new gig, Union will continue to serve as a judge on America’s Got Talent and is preparing to shoot the second season of L.A’s Finest. 

View this post on Instagram

I spent the day with @glamourmag and @mercedesbenzusa to talk about my mission to empower the next generation of creatives and build a more inclusive Hollywood. Watch more here: http://bit.ly/2mjYj5j #ad

A post shared by Gabrielle Union-Wade (@gabunion) on Sep 19, 2019 at 10:13am PDT

Through her production company,  I’ll Have Another, Union is focused on empowering the next generation of creatives as well as increasing diversity in TV. Union is executive producing Black Girl Magic under her company.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis / Artist: Szymon Kudranski / DC Comics

I am feeling all the feels reading this week’s Action Comics. The Black Girl Magic is strong in this issue. A new hero, Naomi, meets Superman and Batman. I’ve heard about Naomi and the rest of Bendis’ Wonder Comics line but I tend to avoid books geared towards the Young Adult audience. I’ll have to revisit that because this direct tie-in to the series is top tier.

Beautiful Cover, Girl

I am admittedly less art-focused, I gravitate towards story and dialogue. Imagine my surprise when both the main cover and the variant caught my eye. The variant cover’s photo-realistic portrait of Naomi and Superman is the kind of art I want framed on my wall. The main cover deserves attention because it reflects a trend coming back in comics where the cover includes speech bubbles that may or may not (probably not) accurately reflect the comic’s content. This typically annoys me but I won’t lie, I appreciated more after reading the book. Comparing the cover to the beginning of the book — Naomi: I got this! Narrator: Naomi did not have this.

Super Guidance

I’m grateful to have read this book at 31 and not when I was a 20-year-old comic fledgling. I developed from demanding a gratuitous amount of punching and angst to appreciating relatable stories. This book carries that sentiment with a beautifully innocent narrative of a young woman thrown into an unfamiliar world and being strong enough to ask for help. Just as wonderful, she is met by well-meaning adults who want to help her. It’d be tempting to have a character coming into their power met with hostility by another hero only to catch the misunderstanding after a fight. Instead, we get “Superman . . . I need your help”. “Well, then let’s get you some help”. Another gem was her interaction with Batman. Granted, he performs a signature “pop out of nowhere, terrifying the poor girl” but later, they bond over the shared tragedy of losing parents. She even inspires a Bat-smile.

The book rounds out with some action towards the end and promises a confrontation between Naomi and a frequently appearing villain in Action Comics. The best part of the conclusion of this book is Superman throwing shade at the villain in “disappointed father”-ly form. Why can’t you be more like Naomi, bad guy?

10 “Wobbly Flights” out of 10

Reading Action Comics? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

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The post Action Comics #1015 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Astronomers have been doing a fantastic job this year of giving us a whole lot of what we want to see from outer space: Mainly black holes doing crazy black-hole stuff. Earlier this year earthlings were treated to their first-ever picture of a black hole, and NASA’s most recent GIF-style animation of one of the lightless beasts was straight out of Interstellar. Now, we’re being treated to our first glimpse of what NASA refers to as a “star-shredding black hole,” and even the below simulated visualization of the event is hauntingly beautiful.

In a recent press release, NASA announced that its “planet hunting” Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spotted a supermassive black hole feasting on a star as the latter celestial object was sucked into orbit by the inescapable gravity of the former. The cosmic event, first eyed by TESS in January of this year, has been documented in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The event, which was recorded by a team of researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS) along with those at NASA, gives a unique look at what is referred to as a tidal disruption event, or TDE. CIS’s own announcement detailing the vision of the supermassive black hole sucking down its star snack notes that TDEs occur when a star comes too close to a supermassive black hole. “The black hole’s forces overwhelm the star’s gravity and tear it to shreds,” CIS notes in its statement, adding that “Some of [the star’s] material gets flung out into space and the rest falls back onto the black hole, forming a disk of hot, bright gas as it is consumed.”

What happens when a star strays too close to a black hole? Intense tides break it apart into a stream of gas. @NASA_TESS helped produce the most detailed look yet at the beginning of this cataclysmic phenomenon. Visualize how it unfolded: https://t.co/k8V9LFVX9f#BlackHoleWeek pic.twitter.com/h9H9mnfq9t

— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2019

In regards to getting a sense of scale, the supermassive blackhole, located in the center of galaxy 2MASX J07001137-6602251, is roughly six million times more massive than our own sun, while the star destroyed by the supermassive black hole is estimated to be roughly equal to that of our local fiery ball of nuclear fusion.

The cosmic event has been dubbed ASASSN-19bt after the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (or ASAS-SN), which was used to verify what TESS first spotted. ASAS-SN was able to do so because its array of 20 robotic telescopes based in both the northern and southern hemispheres is capable of surveying the entire sky approximately once every day. And while ASAS-SN’s main mission is to search for supernovae, this star-shredding event is obviously just as exciting—in fact, while supernovae happen every 100 years or so, TDEs like this only happen every 10,000 to 100,000 years in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way.

“Having so much data about ASASSN-19bt will allow us to improve our understanding of the physics at work when a star is unlucky enough to meet a black hole,” explains @CarnegieAstro‘s @astrodecker. https://t.co/boOu7WIN0f

— Carnegie Science (@carnegiescience) September 26, 2019

Moving forward, NASA and CIS are aiming to answer a bunch of questions raised by the TDE “poster child” event, including why it gave off so much UV light relative to higher-energy X-rays. The mystery surrounding the emittance of surprisingly low energy-light remains a mystery for now, but there’s no question the exploration of TDEs has a very bright future.

What do you think about this supermassive black hole shredding up a star? Tear up the comments with your thoughts!

Images: NASA 

The post Black Hole Shredding Star to Smithereens Glimpsed for the First Time appeared first on Nerdist.