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http://www.afronerd.com/2022/06/black-adam-prey-trailers-ms-marvel.html

 

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Greetings to all our stalwart supporters!  Let's just jump into the fray, citizens.  Check out a new episode of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review airing tonight on the BTalk 100 cyber-broadcasting platform. Join your SHAZAM empowered AFROnerdist hosts as they elucidate on the following topics this (mid) week: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's highly-anticipated Black Adam trailer hit the internet today and we have our thoughts:

And then there's the umpteenth reboot for the Predator franchise, entitled Prey, that might actually "stick" this time around and it's slated for release courtesy of Hulu:

We give our impressions of the Disney Plus premiere episode of Ms. Marvel as wel as the fourth installment of Obi-wan Kenobi, also on "the mouse's" streaming platform;  the North Carolina Panthers professional football team has hired their first transgender cheerleader; Dburt has some thoughts about the accuracy of Rolling Stone magazine's  200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time; more thoughts about the possible return of Luke Cage television or rather streaming (also Disney+);  And we finally give our thoughts about The Root's recent piece linking the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial to Black Women's woes;  

One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF

https://nerdist.com/article/every-obi-wan-kenobi-easter-egg-star-wars-reference-in-obi-wan-kenobi-episode-four/

As we find our way two-thirds into the series, Obi-Wan Kenobi episode four gives us many classic Star Wars vibes. But more than anything else, this episode of the Disney+ series reminds us of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. And that’s only fitting because this is “episode IV” of Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s even officially titled “Part IV.” That’s a clever Easter egg in and of itself. But, it’s only one of many. Let’s take a look at every Star Wars Easter egg and reference Obi-Wan Kenobi gave us today.

“Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” That famous line rings in our ears as episode four of Obi-Wan Kenobi begins. And it’s an Easter egg Obi-Wan Kenobi has played with before. But before Obi-Wan can go off on any rescue missions to save Princess Leia from danger, he has to heal himself. We get more of our favorite Star Wars deus ex machina, the bacta tank, and cross-cut flashes of Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. It looks like they can sense one another through the force.

But, of course, Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t Leia’s only hope because it takes a village. We get to meet some more members of The Path, a secret network that works to bring Jedi and other Force-sensitive people to safety. The way this episode sets things up, what we’re really looking at is part of the beginning stages of the Rebel Alliance that exists by the time we reach A New Hope.

The next part of the episode harkens back to many Star Wars rescue missions we’ve seen throughout the franchise. In true form, though, Leia is holding her own against Inquisitor Reva, even as a child. And this Obi-Wan Kenobi Easter egg reminds us of how unphased she is by Darth Vader’s interrogations in A New Hope. And this episode might even continue to hint at Leia’s Force sensitivity.

In the end, a combination of Tala’s quick thinking and calm-under-pressure ways, Obi-Wan’s returning Force powers, and the guts of the nascent Rebel Alliance save Leia from some serious Kylo Ren feeling torture chambers. But not before we glimpse a very disturbing hall of Jedi encased in amber. Among them are Coleman Kcaj, an Ongree Jedi Master who sat on the Jedi Council and Tera Sinube. We first met Tera Sinube in The Clone Wars. He was a friend of Ahsoka Tano, even helping her after she was charged with treason in season five.

Our gang makes an escape though they lose a member in the struggle. But, unfortunately, Leia’s droid LOLA has been turned into an Imperial spy. She’ll lead the Empire right to Obi-Wan and The Path.

We’re guessing we’re heading into another big battle. Maybe next week we’ll finally get to meet Quinlan Vos in the flesh. Or maybe we’ll see Qui-Gon Jinn (not in the flesh).

The post Every Easter Egg in OBI-WAN KENOBI Episode 4 appeared first on Nerdist.

https://nerdist.com/article/queen-releasing-freddie-mercury-song-face-it-alone-september/

It’s been over thirty years since his passing, but Freddie Mercury is still one of the greatest rock legends of all time. And just when we thought we’ve already heard every Freddie song recorded with Queen, another one comes along. A new track has just appeared from within the vaults. According to a report from Deadline, his Queen bandmates will soon release it in a remastered version. The song will release sometime this September.

The song goes by the title “Face It Alone.” Queen originally recorded it for their 13th studio album, The Miracle, in 1989. This was a mere two years prior to Freddie’s untimely passing due to complications from AIDS. Despite his worsening medical condition at the time, you’d never know listening to any Queen song from that era. Freddie’s voice was always operatic and gorgeous.

“Face It Alone” didn’t make the final cut for The Miracle. But Freddie’s Queen compatriots Brian May and Roger Taylor recently discovered the demo versions. In an interview, they said they’d pretty much forgotten about the song entirely. May said in an interview, “It was kind of hiding in plain sight. We looked at it many times and thought, ‘Oh no, we can’t really rescue that.’ But in fact, we went in there again and our wonderful engineering team went, ‘Okay, we can do this and this.’ It’s like kind of stitching bits together. But it’s beautiful. It’s touching.”

The album from which “Face It Alone” originally came from was the second to last album Freddie recorded before he died in 1991. It wasn’t that well-received upon release, but time has been far kinder to it. Although Queen has had other frontmen since Freddie’s passing, none have ever touched what Freddie did. Here’s hoping that this is another reminder to the world of just how amazingly talented he truly was.

The post Queen to Release Lost Freddie Mercury Song Later This Year appeared first on Nerdist.

https://blackgirlnerds.com/exploring-the-dark-side-of-the-bobs-burgers-movie-through-comedy-murder-mystery-and-music/

Based on the Bob’s Burgers television series, The Bob’s Burgers Movie is currently playing in theaters. BGN had the honor and privilege to interview Creator/Director/Writer Loren Bouchard, Producer/Writer Nora Smith, and Animator/Director Bernard Derriman. 

Bob’s Burgers started its first season with mixed reviews, then grew into a critical phenomenon for twelve seasons! Now here’s this blockbuster movie! What made y’all decide, “Oh. Now’s the time to do a movie.” 

Loren Bouchard: The fans asked for a movie multiple times. Not everyone, but some. In the early days, I think we were nervous. The answer would have been “No” in those days. Or at least, “Don’t ask us now. We’re freaking out trying to make this show.” 

Then [20th Century Studios] asked us, and it was a nice time. We were later in our run, which built up some confidence. We knew we would at least do a good job [making the film] while still doing a good job [making the show], at the same time. 

I’m so glad [20th Century Studios] asked us! The Simpsons Movie was a big success [Laughs]. I hope they’re not disappointed that The Bob’s Burgers Movie doesn’t make as much money as The Simpsons Movie. 

Nora Smith: I don’t think they care about money at all. When I talked to them.

Bouchard: It’s true, you’re right. 

[Smith laughs]

Why a murder mystery? 

Smith: I don’t know if we’d be able to do a murder mystery on the show. It didn’t feel quite right to wrap up in twenty-two minutes: “Oh! That guy got murdered. We figured it out!” You know?

We all love that [murder mystery/horror] genre a lot. We were excited to have a body and have that play out; go a little bit darker than we do on the show.

Bouchard: Yeah! When death is in the frame, it changes everything! It ups the stakes for sure. If someone died, then anybody could die. 

Smith: As a horror-comedy fan, I love juxtaposing jokes with darkness and scary moments. For me, it just makes jokes more fun to write. 

Bernard Derriman: The skeleton stunt was one of the most fun bits to work on in the movie. That was a busy time. I remember I took that [concept] to save for the end for myself and worked on it over the weekend. That was something we’d never do on the show. That was a fun thing to work on. 

A huge theme in this movie is fear. There’s Bob [voiced by H. Jon Benjamin] and Linda’s [voiced by John Roberts] fear of losing the family restaurant, Tina’s [voiced by Dan Mintz] fear of talking to her crush, Gene’s [voiced by Eugene Mirman] fear of performing. But the fear that stood out to me was the fear for Louise (voiced by Kristen Schaal) because, in the show, she’s the bravest of them all.

Bouchard: What’s great about Louise is she is brave. But she wears this hat. She won’t take it off. So she’s got a vulnerability that she’s literally walking around with. Yet, she’s brave! We wanted to unpack that and explain to the audience a question we get all the time: “Why does she wear the bunny ears?” 

Some people ask, “What’s under the hat?” I find that question perfectly fine but less interesting. In my mind, it’s just the top of her head. What is interesting is “Why?” So we find a moment where she contemplates that maybe, she’d be ready to take it off. Maybe.

Y’all have been asked a lot about the lack of women who are voice actors in your show. I’m more curious about, and I’m aware of the racial diversity in your shows The Great North and Central Park, the lack of Black people and people of color, in general, having a lack of speaking roles in this movie. What would it look like for Bob’s Burgers to have more racial diversity — especially with the growing amount of voice actors of color Bob’s Burgers has? 

Bouchard: Glad you asked that. We are forever feeling behind where we would like to be, behind where we feel the show should be — always trying and then failing. The movie is a perfect example. We aspire to make the show more diverse because it will make the show better.

In the movie, it’s painful to realize, as we were trying to make some diversity on screen, that we ran into minutes. The number of minutes and our own limitations as storytellers. We had the story to tell and the characters we had. 

But fortunately, thank goodness, the show is an ongoing thing. The show isn’t done. We just have to redouble our efforts. Make sure we don’t take the foot off the gas of our efforts. 

Smith: My husband [Producer/Writer Jon Schroeder] also works on the show. We were just talking about [the discontinued character of the show] Marshmallow. It’s almost a little daunting because she’s such an amazing person; the person that writes the episode worthy of [bringing back] Marshmallow, it’s like: “Ohhhh, that’s gotta be a good episode!” But also, she is just one character.

It’s also exciting to think about how we could make ourselves better. I wouldn’t say “challenge” because it’s a fun thing to do, you know? Who could we incorporate into the school? What voices are we hearing? Who are people we like [we can put on the show]? It’s exciting to be able to make it happen. And we need to start making that happen, obviously. 

I didn’t see anyone listed in the credits for choreography. How did the choreography get mapped out for the animation? 

Derriman: It was all just very us, really. We trolled the internet a little bit and found things we found funny or thought would translate well to our animation. And the majority of it was Nora. Nora has a great knack for doing those funny little dances. It often would happen where I’d run into a wall, and then we’d turn to Nora, and she’d every time come back with three or four [dance moves] to choose from. 

I find animating dancing time-consuming, but I always find it’s kind of easy when you have someone to provide you with references like that. I have animated for long enough that I could just copy what’s being done; wouldn’t need to think about it, and listen to music frame for frame. Draw the character I see Nora doing. That’s where a lot of the dancing came from — Nora in her kitchen. 

Smith: I mean, Bernard also makes the dances funnier when he draws them. I have a goofball family that I came from. I think on the weekends when we did chores, we’d make each other laugh with our dances. So I think I’ve just been trying to earn my parents’ love for a long time.

[All laugh].

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is currently playing in theaters.