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Welcome to another fact-finding, fiery installment of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review airing this Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern on the BTalk100 platform.   Join your favored AFROnerdist hosts as they use their pocket Hubble Space Telescope to analyze the following topical phenomena:  the hardest working comic book creator/editor (DC Comics, Valiant, Milestone Media)  and friend of our "steam engine," Joseph Illidge stops by to shed some light on two exciting projects bearing his handiwork-The Access Guide to the Black Comic Book Community and an upcoming Prince tribute comic, MPLS Sound;  The gentleman of many hats-Civil Rights legend, business executive, attorney and DC power broker, Vernon Jordan passes at 85;  6 books will no longer be published from the extensive Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog due to racist imagery and to keep in line with today's sensibilities; our thoughts about a recent Harper's Bazaar sponsored tete a tete between the esteemed CA Congresswoman, Maxine Waters and "WAP" rap performer, Megan Jovon Ruth Pete aka Megan Thee Stallion:

popular actor, Winston Duke (Black Panther, US) is poised to portray iconic Black nationalist and Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey in an Amazon project entitled Marked Man;  Dburt will probably ask "The Uncanny" Daryll B (a continuation of Sunday's Grindhouse discussion) his opinion of the recent (Black) Superman reboot with JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates; is the Hogwarts Legacy VG channeling Cyberpunk 2077 with gender customization features.....I guess the Mr. Potato Head redux is involved as well and lastly (we think).....Ray Fisher continues his attack on DC Films and Geoff Johns is in his crosshairs this time regarding racial insensitivity concerns.

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

Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!! 

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Entertainment Weekly has gotten an exclusive look at Space Jam: A New Legacy, and once I spotted my girl Lola Bunny on the cover, I knew I was in it for the long run.

Space Jam is my comfort movie. Since I was a child, it has been an important part of soothing my heart when it felt green. Not only that, but as I get older I think about how cool it is to have such a major moment in pop culture history center a Black athlete and his Black family. There is something neat about that, which is why I wasn’t surprised to see so many Black creatives coming together for a sequel.

“It felt like a real cultural moment,” says New Legacy producer Ryan Coogler.

Coogler and LeBron James, who will be the athlete star of this film, were introduced by Michael B. Jordan to bring this together. Of course there always gonna be a ton of comparisons between the LeBron and Jordan (basketball, not actor), as there have always been, but there is literally no one besides Serena Williams who would be more fitting for this role.

“In my younger days, part of my thinking was ‘Space Jam was so good, how can I top this?’ ” James says. “There’s always going to be conversations about LeBron trying to do everything Michael [did]. But I’ve gotten older, and you know who you are. You know what you stand for.”

So what does this movie stand for?

Oh yes, the story! Playing a heightened version of himself, James struggles to relate to Joe’s Dom [James’s son in the film], who’s much more interested in creating games than playing them. When Dom’s tech skills draw the attention of a CGI humanoid named Al G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), the father-son duo get sucked into the Warner 3000 entertainment “Server-verse,” with the A.I. kidnapping Dom in the hopes of stealing some of the King’s followers (IRL he has about 80 million on Instagram). Cheadle doesn’t consider Al G a bad guy (what bad guy does?), but rather “an A.I. with a chip on his shoulder,” says the MCU veteran.

Somehow a basketball game will settle this and James has to bring the team together, including a banished Bugs (why?), to defeat the formidable Goon Squad.

Much of the early discussion on New Legacy centered on the reintroduction of Bugs, Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, and the rest of the Tune Squad. “Kids are [now] more likely to watch other kids’ YouTube channels than cartoons,” Coogler says. “It was a bit challenging to think about, but we were reminded very quickly why the Looney Tunes work. When we watch the parts of the film [featuring] the Tunes, you have a smile come over your face because, if you’re from our generation, you miss them.”

They will be in good Warner Bros. company. When James is sucked into the WB server, he drifts through some of the studio’s most famous films to track down his underdog squad.

So this is like Space Jam meets Ready Player One … not crazy about that. At least this time they probably won’t have the Iron Giant be a literal gun.

(via EW, image: Warner Bros.)

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Source: Arny Freytag / PLAYBOY

Before Renee Tenison was featured in PLAYBOY, she didn’t really know anything about it. She had a boyfriend who had a subscription, and instead of feeling some type of way about it, she flipped through the magazines along with him, in awe of the women.

“I would look at it every month and I just thought the women were so beautiful,” she tells MadameNoire. “I just was mesmerized by them.” And then one day, after her boyfriend told her she could be in the magazine, she actually took the steps to make it happen. A few bikini photos later, she was selected to be Playmate of the Month in November 1989. To her shock, a year later, she would be selected as Playmate of the Year. Her life would change, kicking off not only a great relationship with the folks at Hugh Hefner’s iconic mag, but also launching an acting and modeling career. She appeared on sitcoms that were ’90s staples, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Living Single, Martin, and The Jamie Foxx Show, as well as a few film roles. It was work she was also able to share with her twin sister, Rosie (they posed together in a 2002 issue), making it a family affair. It was a stepping stone that has allowed Tenison the chance to even kickstart a career in fashion. In addition to that, her Playmate of the Year crowning opened doors for the three other women who received the same honor since, including, most recently, Jordan Emanuel, 2019’s POY.

Being that it’s Women’s History Month, we spoke with the ageless beauty about making history all those years ago, going from a small town in Idaho to the pages of PLAYBOY and how she stays forever young and fine in her 50s.

MadameNoire: Everyone loves a good origin story. What was your exposure to PLAYBOY and how did you end up deciding to enter a contest for the magazine to be initially selected as Playmate of the Month? I read you were 19, 20 at the time.

Renee Tenison: I originally didn’t know anything about PLAYBOY or the magazine. I had no interest in it but my boyfriend had a subscription to PLAYBOY. Then one day he said to me, “You know you could you could be in PLAYBOY magazine.” I went to like a local photographer, we took some bikini shots. I sent them in to Chicago. I didn’t realize they were doing the 35th-anniversary search. I received a phone call from [PLAYBOY photo editor] Michael Ann Sullivan, she said that they had had 14,000 entries and they narrowed it down to 14 and they wanted me to fly to Chicago to test for the playmate.

Source: Arny Freytag / PLAYBOY

While it’s one thing to appreciate one’s body and nudity, it’s another to have the confidence to pose nude for a major magazine and be sure that others will like what they see. Can you speak to having that confidence then and now?

I don’t know why I did not have a problem with posing nude. To me, I just looked at it as art. The pictures were so classy and beautiful. I really looked forward to the opportunity to get to shoot with the photographers and everybody was so professional at PLAYBOY. So I guess the confidence just came from knowing you were working with the best. I was flown all over the world, nothing was done cheap, everything was top-notch! I flew to Paris for my Playmate of the Year photo shoot. I shot in a castle in London. They flew me to Cuba. Everything I did with PLAYBOY was top-notch and some the best photos I’ve had in my life.

Looking back more than 30 years later, how does it feel to have a place in history as the first African American Playmate of the Year?

I’m extremely proud of the opportunity to represent PLAYBOY and be the first African-American Playmate of the Year. It changed my life. I think it just opened up the door for African-American women to feel that they were sexy as well and not be afraid of their bodies and to be seen as sexy icons!

Can you speak to what the reception was to you being a Black POY? Did you experience any pushback from either PLAYBOY readers or others by chance? Or was it always good vibes?

I always experienced good vibes from the PLAYBOY readers. I did have one instance where I was doing an autograph signing in New York and I received a death threat from someone who said if I showed up to the appearance they were going to shoot me. They were upset because I was African-American and in Playboy, but I didn’t want to give this person power over me, so I chose to do the appearance. They brought in protection, I did my appearance, it was like success, and I’m still here today!

Source: Arny Freytag / PLAYBOY

Speaking on Blackness, I read that you grew up in a very white environment in Idaho and said in 1990 that you and your sister weren’t often approached by guys looking to date you and you thought being Black had something to do with that. You go from that situation to being a playmate and everyone wants you, which I know had to be a mind warp. How was that shift in experience for you?

I did not date a lot in Idaho because of the fact Rosie and I were the only African-American girls in our school. So we never really went to proms or got asked to dances. When I graduated I did get asked out more and when I became a Playmate of the Year it opened up a whole different dating experience for me.

How did your twin sister get involved in posing for the magazine with you? How did your family react to that?

When I first thought about doing PLAYBOY I approached my sister and asked her if she wanted to send some photos in with me. She immediately said, “Absolutely not. You’re on your own. I think it’s going to be a very a bad experience for you.” But I said oh well I’m just gonna go ahead and do it and see how it pans out.
Needless to say, my sister was stunned when I was named the first African-American Playmate of the Year. [Hugh Hefner] did approach us about 15 years later and asked us to do a celebrity pictorial. He said he would fly us anywhere in the world, all we had to do was let them know where. We picked Cuba!
My family was cool with PLAYBOY because they saw all of the positives that came out of it so they had no bad feelings.

You had a very successful career on television and in film. What are you working on now? I know you and Rosie have had your Varga boutiques.

After I did PLAYBOY I modeled for about 20 years and then I decided in my mid-30s that I wanted to have a career change so I went into fashion. It’s my true passion. I went to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. I ended up opening up a boutique called Varga. We also have a website called vargastore.com and it’s truly my passion project and I love it! I love dealing with fashion, I love dealing with customers. I’m very proud of our Varga boutiques.

Source: Playboy/Tenison in 1990 (left) and in 2017 (right) / PLAYBOY

And what’s the trick to looking as good as you do at 52? I know you’ve always been quite fit!

I think looking good, it’s just a state of mind. I always do my makeup in the morning. I also make sure to try to do some sort of cardio every morning. I live in Santa Monica so I go to the beach every day to try and walk at least 10,000 steps in the morning and then if I can, try and catch another 10,000 in the evening.
I make sure to eat well, try and get my eight hours of sleep. But I truly believe aging is just a state of mind. It’s all just how you feel and I feel happy at age 52. I’m probably happier than when I was in my 30s, so age is just a number!

This week, the governors of Texas and Mississippi decided that their states no longer needed to enforce public safety measures like mask-wearing and social distancing. Both governors recommended that people still listen to the experts of medical experts and remain personally vigilant, they’re just removing the requirement to do those things. This is absolutely a reason to be furious with these governors, Greg Abbott and Tate Reeves. It is not, however, an excuse to denigrate the entire populations of these states.

Both Keith Olbermann and Michael Moore are liberals of the Bill Maher variety, meaning very few actual liberals or progressives want to be associate with them in any way. Both men decided to take to Twitter to insult the people of Texas for the decision of their governor. Even worse, both chose to suggest depriving the states’ communities of access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Again, this is what we’re not going to do when a state’s governor does something to harm their constituents:

Why are we wasting vaccinations on Texas if Texas has decided to join the side of the virus? https://t.co/Yn2i7zT8KL

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 3, 2021

Texas – we hear you. You didn’t want to be part of our electrical grid. And now you’ve removed your mask mandate & are allowing large crowds to gather. We hear you! COVID is a hoax! So u don’t need our precious vaccine. We’ll send it to ppl who are saving lives by wearing masks.

— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) March 3, 2021

“Why are we wasting vaccinations on Texas if Texas has decided to join the side of the virus?” wrote Olbermann. Moore’s suggestion that “our precious vaccine” be sent to people “who are saving lives by wearing masks” had more of a jokey tone but still shared the same elitist sentiment.

I don’t know how this still has to be said, but there are millions of people living in Texas who did not vote for Abbott or Ted Cruz or any of the other politicians who are constantly trying to screw them over. States like Texas have countless progressive activists on the ground working to improve the lives of people in their communities. And if those Republican politicians didn’t work so hard to suppress access to voting in the state, the results of their elections might look a whole lot different. None of these people should be punished or mocked because of the choices of their elected officials. And people who voted for these politicians are also still people and don’t “deserve” to suffer.

It’s also very strange (yet unfortunately not at all new) to scapegoat southern states and brand them the problem when no state is a political monolith. California is incredibly conservative outside of its major metropolitan hubs, as is New York, as are most blue states.

Michael Moore’s own home state of Michigan is divided in its leadership, with equal numbers from both parties represented in the House and Senate. Sure, its governor is a Democrat but as recently as 2018, that wasn’t the case. The state voted for Biden in 2020 but in 2016, it went to Trump. Hypothetically, if another Republican had been elected governor in 2018 and refused to institute a mask mandate, would Michael Moore have suggested that the people of Michigan didn’t deserve the vaccine? Or would he have fought for the recognition that one person doesn’t represent an entire state?

Moreover, just because Michael Moore lives in a blue-voting state, that doesn’t make it “his” vaccine. His repeated use of the word “our” to describe the vaccine (and the country’s electrical grid) is incredibly weird. Not only he did likely do absolutely nothing to contribute to its development, but—another thing that should not have to be said!—once again, even if a person voted Republican, even if they don’t support a mask mandate, even if anything at all, they still have as much of a right to health and safety as anyone else.

Greg Abbott and Tate Reeves are doing active harm to the people living in their states. No one else needs to be helping them in that endeavor, least of all white snobs acting in the name of faux-progressivism.

(image: Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)

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