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https://nerdist.com/article/the-best-marvel-movie-tv-show-hallway-fights-ranked/

The “hallway fight” has become a staple of action films ever since The Matrix knocked it out of the park in 1999. Since then, movies like The Raid and others have done their version of the hallway fight scene, taking it all up a notch. And Marvel films and television series are no different. Here are some of the all-time Marvel hallway fights. Whether or not these all count as MCU is debatable. After all, we still don’t know officially if the Marvel Netflix series are MCU canon. But we can make still an argument they are. So for the purposes of this ranking, we are counting Daredevil and the other Defenders shows as MCU.

8. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Spider-Man vs. the Lizard

Ok, this first entry is an “MCU” adjacent fight. But we say it counts, simply because Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is now officially part of the MCU multiverse thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home. In the first Amazing Spider-Man film back in 2012, the Lizard emerges from the sewers and attacks Peter Parker in Midtown High. The two tussle in a hallway between rows of lockers. Eventually, this Peter puts on his Spidey outfit, and the two wreck the school halls in an all-CG scene. They then take the fight to an overpass, also kind of a hallway, where Gwen Stacy gets involved. Granted, some of the effects are dodgy, but the fighting acrobatics themselves are pretty cool still.

7. The Defenders (2017) Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist vs. The Hand

When the Netflix Marvel shows did their crossover, The Defenders, it wasn’t quite the Avengers-level event we hoped for. Nevertheless, it gave us a pretty cool hallway fight between Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist as they take on the Hand. This scene was good enough to make even Finn Jones’ Iron Fist look cool. Everyone fights in their traditional forms. Matt Murdock and Danny Rand use Martial arts, Luke Cage uses sheer strength, and Jessica Jones tosses dudes aside like paper. One of the best parts of the entire Defenders experience is these four emerging from a high-rise elevator and kicking ass.

6. Iron Man 2 (2010) Black Widow vs. Justin Hammer’s Guards

Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) made her MCU debut in Iron Man 2. While not a terrible movie, it is one of the least-loved entries in the Infinity Saga. Without a doubt, Natasha Romanoff had a lot more to do character-wise in future MCU films. However, we cannot deny that her big action scene in Iron Man 2 is one of the greatest Marvel fights ever. Towards the end of the film, Nat and Happy Hogan are looking for villain Ivan Vanko, who is hiding out in the Hammer Industries complex. Nat easily makes mincemeat of every guard that comes at her. She uses every trick both SHIELD and the Red Room taught her. After she’s cleaned all their clocks in the cramped office corridors, she pepper sprays one last guard as if to say “This wasn’t even that hard.” Nat, you were the best.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 (2023) The Guardians vs. the High Evolutionary’s Creatures

The most recent hallway fight on this list is more of a corridor on a spaceship, but it counts. When the full OG Guardians roster busts out to free the kids on the High Evolutionary’s ship in this two-and-a-half-minute action scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, to the perfect James Gunn needle drop of the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” audiences wanted to stand up and cheer. Unlike many of the other entries here, particularly the ones involving the Defenders cast, this one is very CGI-reliant. However, the folks at Weta Digital knocked it out of the park. It may look like one take, but it’s actually 18 separate shots stitched together. We can watch this one on a loop and never tire of it. Just for Rocket’s glee at all the carnage.

4. Daredevil (2016) Punisher vs. Prisoners

In terms of sheer gore and brutality, nothing tops the Punisher’s prison fight in season two of Daredevil. After Wilson Fisk has set him up, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) takes on a metric ton of inmates in the prison corridors. And he murders everyone who gets in his way. The Punisher is not Daredevil. He doesn’t go for the injury, he goes for the kill, and you see it in all its bloody gory. This one is brutal folks, and not for the squeamish. But no single fight scene shows the difference between how Daredevil and the Punisher approach a brawl than this one.

3. Daredevil (2015) Daredevil vs. Russian Traffickers

The first season of Daredevil had everyone talking, when in the second episode, vigilante Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) takes on a group of Russian human traffickers to save one kidnapped boy from their warehouse. The whole thing remains impressive for several reasons. First, it’s a three-minute sequence all shot in one take. Daredevil takes on a good ten Russian thugs inside his little cramped hall, bathed in a sickly green light. And unlike so many fight scenes in superhero media, this one looked like it actually hurt. Not just for the bad guys, but for Matt too. You could feel every punch landed, and every punch Matt landed on the bad guys. There have been other great, more grandiose hallway fights, but this one will probably remain talked about as a game changer for a long time.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Cap vs. HYDRA Agents

If we’re extending “hallway fight” to include any cramped indoor space, then what’s a smaller cramped indoor space than an elevator? And that’s where this entry comes in. When Steve Rogers, realizing he’s in an elevator surrounded by Hydra agents in SHIELD gear looking for a fight, asks if anyone wants to get out before the beat-down begins? You just knew it was going to be a brawl for the ages. Steve proves why he’s freakin’ Captain America in this scene. He takes on all these guys who should have beat him ten to one…and he still hands their butts to them. And then jumps through the glass several stories below. This scene will never not be impressive. If it was in an actual hallway, it would be our number one pick.

1. Daredevil (2016) Daredevil vs. Bikers

After all the accolades season one of Daredevil got, especially that hallway fight, the creators clearly felt the need to top themselves. And we argue they did. This fight showed the Punisher trying to show the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen that his nonlethal ways are ineffective. This scene takes place after Daredevil escaped capture by the Punisher. Matt discovers the gun he taped to his hand doesn’t have bullets in it. Subsequently, Matt fights a plethora of bikers, starting in an apartment complex hallway, later extending into the stairwell. And all without full use of his hands! It is one amazing fight, as Daredevil mows through his attackers. This fight scene somehow topped the first hallway fight from season one. And it’s our favorite Marvel hallway fight of all time.

The post The Best Marvel Hallway Fights, Ranked appeared first on Nerdist.

https://blackgirlnerds.com/karyn-parsons-soars-with-clouds-over-california/

You may know her as Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but Karyn Parsons has also made a name for herself as a filmmaker, producer, and author. The Los Angeles native founded Sweet Blackberry, a collection of award winning children’s animation films. She used the platform to celebrate the more unknown Black heroes who were nearly lost to history. 

To supplement these stories, Parsons has written books about figures like Bessie Coleman and Garrett Morgan. However, her writing doesn’t just stop at historical figures, it also includes narrative fiction with relatable characters and lessons of self-acceptance. 

Through it all, Parsons seeks to quench the thirst for knowledge in young Black children. Her latest offering is Clouds over California, where we follow a young girl named Stevie as she navigates life changes. She’s a biracial girl who has recently moved, which means a new school and new classmates. Also her older cousin is traveling across the country to stay with her family. At the same time, her mom is carrying a secret. Stevie finds herself having to keep other secrets, not just her own.

Clouds over California is a lovely coming-of-age book that shows life against the backdrop of the groundbreaking 1970s. I had the pleasure of corresponding with Parsons and asking her questions about the work. 

How High the Moon and now Clouds over California are both semi-autobiographical works that use a lot of details from your childhood and family. What’s something new that you’ve learned about yourself with these projects?

It’s been so interesting for me to enter the worlds of these children and journey with them, processing so much of my own childhood, reflecting, realizing things, and facing truths. A lot of people push a lot of things aside as a kid — for survival’s sake and in order to fit in. Revisiting events or similar situations to the ones I experienced, I see how much I didn’t allow myself to take up much space with my discomfort or hurt. I’d write most things off as “no big deal.” 

Were there any revelations about your mother and father that surfaced while putting together these projects? 

In an early draft of Clouds, I received a note that the father came across as unlikeable. My editors couldn’t understand this man at all or his relationship with his daughter, Stevie. To address the note, I had to try to make my own father — who Coop is based on — a little more understandable, if not relatable. I didn’t expect anyone to agree with his views; I didn’t agree with many of my father’s views. But since I always loved him in spite of him being difficult, I think I forgot how he might come off to others. 

I went deeper into all aspects of my life as a kid with him and uncovered many memories of him as a loving and jovial man. He was fun and funny, and he did care for his family.  Remembering these things vividly and feeling them fully came to me as my dad was — in real life — in rapid cognitive decline. It was truly a gift to have these memories restored before he passed. I was able to look into his eyes and remember him as a young father who was a great — if difficult — man in my life. 

I found the narrative on the Black Panthers to be particularly interesting. Currently we see them as unsung heroes, but at the time they were sometimes seen as thugs. Tell me about the decision to include the different perspectives of the Black Panthers. Do you see any parallels with civil rights groups of today? 

When I was growing up, I knew little to nothing about the Panthers. All I saw was the image of defiant Black men carrying large guns. All I heard was that they were trouble, “angry,” “militant”; they were vilified. As I got older I learned so much more about the truth of their mission and their contributions to the community. Public schools to this day use the Free Breakfast Program. 

I wanted to share that perspective. As for parallels, I definitely see people doing their best to vilify the Black Lives Matter movement and twist their intentions, very much like what was done with the Panthers. And in a time of catchy sound bites and quick news, most of us ingest what our algorithms feed us and don’t ask a lot of questions, only causing a greater divide. 

I’d love to know more about the microaggressions that Stevie faces — everyone touching her hair, her well-meaning teacher insisting she has a “boy’s” name, etc. They were sad in their relatability. Can you speak to sprinkling these situations in and how they affect Stevie’s point of view? 

As I wrote the story, I touched on many incidents from my childhood. I also found myself unpacking a lot of hurts I still hadn’t dealt with directly, like having people play in my hair and talk about how “weird” it was. It was something I kind of excused away. For Stevie, I think it helped set the stage for Naomi’s entrance into her life and for being introduced to new ideas of beauty and acceptance — for being able to see how beautiful and cool she was just by being herself. 

Stevie talks about never seeing her mother without her “face” and wig. This affects her ability to see herself in her mother. Had you experienced this as a child? 

Growing up, I thought my mom was the sun and the moon. She was the most beautiful woman there was, and she was often made up. But even through that, I fought to see myself in her. Any little resemblance, I held onto like gold. 

Aunt Florence tells Stevie that some people just aren’t good with change. Stevie thinks this is about her dad, but it can also apply to her. Tell us about her journey from resistance to being ultimately accepting. 

Change can be hard for everyone, but it’s constant. How do we accept change? Do we move with it, do we resist it, fight it? Coop [Stevie’s dad] is stuck. He likes things just the way they are and sees no need for change. But resisting it doesn’t make it stop or go away. As long as he fights against it, he will be miserable. Kitty [Stevie’s mom] approaches change a little like diving into the deep end of the pool. It’s terrifying, but exhilarating, and she finds she can swim. 

Stevie has been so happy in her life as it’s been, but she really has been taking most of her cues from her mom — what she likes, finds beautiful, what she sees as the “proper” way to behave. Naomi [Stevie’s cousin] shows up and ushers in the change that was just outside their door. The country — especially for women and Black people — was shifting incredibly in the ’70s. Kitty’s change forces Stevie to face change. But as she finally begins to accept her new world, she starts to recognize her own value, beauty and strength in it. 

Clouds over California is currently available at your favorite book store. 

https://blacknerdproblems.com/kaori-ozakis-love-letter/

A one shot in manga is more commonly known as a single, sometimes standalone story. It is the manga equivalent of a short story and an excellent way for readers to get a feel for a manga creator’s storytelling and art style. I thought of a one shot story that made an impact on me from more modern works that I wanted to write about: Kaori Ozaki’s Love Letter one shot, found at the back of volume three of The Golden Sheep.

Note: This editorial will explore the characters and plot in the Love Letter one shot. Please know that while I do not spoil the entirety of the manga I reveal and elaborated on certain details. To avoid any spoilers, please consider reading this brilliant one shot in the manga I mentioned above and returning to read this editorial if this caught your eye!

Trigger warnings: child neglect, child death, suicidal ideation, implied coerced sex work, implied released incarcerated child abuser, in work and in the written editorial below

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Love Letter by Kaori Ozaki

Kaori Ozaki’s Love Letter is a heart wrenching tale that speaks of unconditional love, radical forgiveness, and the bonds of mother and child. It follows a soul that chooses to continually be reincarnated to be able to see the mother that abandoned them in their first, short life. The manga short begins in heavenly paradise where God with his angel assistants reside in the Birth office. This is a place where souls, just cute little non-descriptive blobs, stand in line to gain the chance to be born.

These pages that place the first location in the manga are fun to look at as Heaven looks massive, with countless souls. It is also where readers are introduced to all the ‘mother catalogs.’ These are catalog books handled by the angel assistants and what souls look at to choose their future mothers. They are physical books, and there are shelves and shelves of them. Hilariously, an angel questions God in why they haven’t gone digital as the catalogs won’t take up so much space, but God simply replies that he ‘prefers analog.’ 

One little soul in particular looks at the catalogs and chooses its mother on the spot. God reveals that she’s a seventeen-year-old runaway named Asako Uonuma and mentions that their life might be a difficult one at the start. Nevertheless, God wishes the little one luck and sends them on their way. Coming into this world, our little soul is finally born as a tiny baby boy who first opens his eyes to his mother’s exhausted face left in awe of the new little person she’s helped create. What follows is the rough start the mother had in the first years and the changing homes and circumstances mother and child had.

Their final home together as a family was a small apartment where the child remembers much happiness with their mother. Unbeknownst to him, Asako faced increasing pressure as implied in a panel of a Jenga tower pulled at precariously. There’s another panel where she is standing in only underwear, hugging herself with a word box revealing: “But to pay the rent, She had to do work that was very difficult”. This makes me think she was perhaps coerced to do sex work or some line of work that exploited or left her in harm’s way.

“Love Letter touches upon flawed motherhood, happy beginnings and tough truths.”

The big reveal in Kaori Ozaki’s Love Letter is that the little soul returns to heaven after it is revealed that his mother abandoned him and left him all alone. This resulted in his short life ending. A short montage of the two in a cluttered apartment and with him always happily greeting Asako at the door leads to a page of her locking the door one day and never returning. Once back in heaven, our little soul meets God and a very angry angel who chastises the little soul for his choice of a mother, whom by all accounts wasn’t a very good one. When questioned about God about the fun parts of his life, the little soul recounts his happiest memories with his mother: the simplicity in going high on the playground swings with him in her arms and the gentle care she would use to clean his face after eating the only dish she knew how to cook.

Once back in heavenly paradise, the little soul is told that he can be born again – be reincarnated if you will – and is asked what new mother he desires. Yet, this happy-go-lucky soul wants to be reborn into the world of living with Asako, his first mother: the very one who abandoned him and led to his life ending. However, that’s not possible as a quick look down reveals that his mother’s actions have consequences as she’s to face imprisonment for her crime of his death. He’s lived a life too short to know about the scales of good and evil and just wants to be with his mother again. “Well, I don’t care what they say about her. I love her,” he says with an assured happy look. Readers could interpret this as innocent naivety or uncompromising love unjustified for such a woman.

What follows in Love Letter is this little soul continuing to return to heaven with God and that very same angel assistant and the childlike pestering to return him to his mother in so many different and creative life forms. In his second life, he returns as a little black kitten born under the porch of a house his mother comes to live at after being released from prison. This kitten also has the misfortune of being abandoned by his cat mother. As Asako starts to observe the cats, she likens herself to the mother cat: giving birth in an unorthodox place. After the mother cat is gone and the kitten is left to fend for itself, Asako also likens herself to the cat as it is alone. In a world where she is demonized and tolerated, this little kitten sticks to her: “You might be the only one in the world that likes me.” 

“Love Letter speaks of unconditional love, radical forgiveness and the bonds of mother and child.”

Yet when his life as a kitten comes to an abrupt end, the soul makes it his mission to return to his mother again and again. From a flower on the side of the road that she sees and brings home to the spring breeze that plays with a piece of her hair, this darling soul chooses to come back into his mother’s life in many ways over the years, in small and perhaps insignificant ways to us, to live with her even if only for a few brief moments. In the later pages of the one shot, we see Asako is living her life and is reminded of her guilt and her child lost to her terrible decisions. 

Seeing the local news story about someone arrested for abuse and seeing a mother on the street with a young, smiley child makes her guilt eat away at her. Asako looks haggard, her face downcast as she stands at a train crossing where she is behind the safety bars. Her body posture leans forward, and it begins to rain. One of her feet lifts off the ground as a train approaches. It is then, at what I perceived as a possible stand of life and death with a train coming, that her child, this determined little soul, appears once again in his briefest and perhaps most significant reappearance in her life. 

As quickly as he comes, he leaves; however, his short message to her rings true and she stops, stunned. Her life is saved, she looks above, and is startled to see a beautiful rainbow arching across a now clear sky. The symbolism behind rainbows varies: love, solidarity, and hope are just a few meanings. Biblically, rainbows represent a sort of promise between God and his flock, or his children, if you will for better days and of his deep, ending love. I interpreted this to be a vivid, breath-taking sign of her child’s love for her and a clear sign to keep hope alive.

Love Letter doesn’t ask you, the reader, for judgment or even sympathy for Asako, the wayward mother. You can cast it on the page when you look upon her, but it won’t reach her. Instead, I believe Kaori Ozaki’s brilliant one shot focuses on the pure, uncompromising love that children have for their mothers that transcends all misunderstandings and shortcomings. Our darling little soul was born into a world and left too quickly as a young child to truly understand how he was wronged and how the world truly works. Never to make light of abusive persons or parents who neglect and leave children to harm, this manga one shot makes me think of the weight of a child’s words and feelings and why they are important. I leave reading Love Letter with a bittersweet taste each time I reread it. I don’t believe that there is any right or wrong way to feel in your interpretation of the one shot and why you feel that way. I feel as moved by the child ‘s heart as I do feel angry for him on his behalf.

“Love Letter emphasizes how grief, along with guilt, can sit with us, long after those we loved or failed are gone.”

I think of motherhood in Love Letter and the flawed, tragic example of Asako and what led to her child’s death. It feels incredibly ironic and even poetic in the darkest way that the mistakes of a mother also birthed her salvation. While difficult to read, Kaori Ozaki’s manga focuses on the redemptive manner in how love can save us. Ozaki’s manga emphasizes how grief, along with guilt, can sit with us, long after those we loved or failed are gone. This one shot quietly builds up this relationship of mother and child and how it transcends human logic and even that known above. I am always left immensely impressed by the mangaka’s decision to illustrate choice and where it takes different people at different stages of their lives. There is a sincere dedication to another here on these pages: a literal love letter for someone who certainly needs it, whether or not we, the readers, feel deserves it.

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Love Letter can be found at the back of volume three of The Golden Sheep which can be found where most manga and comics are found.

Love manga? So do we: Check out more manga reviews and related content here!

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The post Kaori Ozaki’s ‘Love Letter’: A Manga One Shot You Should Read appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://www.thenerdelement.com/2023/08/05/disney-dining-reservation-updates-and-steakhouse-55-news/

Good afternoon, everyone! Today I want to discuss some Disney news that came out to be pretty interesting. So, let’s get started, shall we?! So, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort announced on Aug. 2 that the parks will be rolling out dining reservation enhancements to “simplify planning and make the guest experience more convenient so guests can spend more time enjoying their visits.” The Disney dining experience is about to become more pleasant for theme park attendees. In the coming weeks, the Walt Disney World and Disneyland websites and mobile apps will show guests all reservations slots that are available to them for their selected restaurant or dining location. Currently, people can only see a few available slots that fit their selected timeframe. Additionally, reservations will be sorted by meal period so that guests can see which menu is being served during the time of their reservation. Once on the updated version, when they pick a time like 4 p.m. they will see if either lunch or dinner is being provided. And that’s not all. Made reservation but need to cancel last minute? Disneyland and Disney World recently expanded the window to cancel dining reservations from 24 hours before the scheduled reservation to two hours before the reserved time at most locations for greater flexibility. They also improved mobile ordering service to “to make it easier to find available and nearby dining options.” This latest news comes months after Disney World resort in Florida was bringing back the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Plan on Jan. 9, 2024. The blog also outlined four other updates that would be happening in 2024, including theme park reservation requirements for date-based tickets be a thing of the past and a simpler Genie+ experience. Well, I’m sure that Disney fans are really happy to see this change coming as some of them have been frustrated about trying to book dining reservations at the restaurants. I think that Walt Disney World and Disneyland are trying to get more people to come visit the parks and keep them happy. So, it should make people feel better about the dining reservations.

Onto the news of Steakhouse 55… We all know that the restaurant has been closed for a long time since the pandemic came into play. Now, the restaurant sign has been officially removed. Only a small hallway to the right of the curtain remains open, and serves as a path to backstage for Cast Members. The Disneyland Resort has announced that they are going to be turning the restaurant into a flexible lounge space. The sign, which was once located where this curtain stands now, has also been removed. This marks the beginning of construction on what will become a flexible lounge space. Disney had recently announced the former restaurant’s transition into lounge space, which will sometimes operate as an extension of a seasonal bar. Steakhouse 55 has been closed since 2020, when it was initially shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney announced the restaurant’s permanent closure with a statement in the summer of 2021, stating: “At this time, there are no plans to reopen Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel. We are exploring options for this location and will update you when we have news to share.” Construction curtains went up in front of the restaurant in January of this year. I’m a bit bummed to see it go because I loved the restaurant. I loved their medium well steak, French fries, and the Mac & Cheese. These things tasted so good! So, I hope the flexible lounge space is just as good as the restaurant. I think the lounge space can become a restaurant eventually and they want people to get some great experience. Nevertheless, I think that it will be great when it opens up to the public.

So, what do you guys think about the dining reservation changes and the Steakhouse 55 change?! I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions down below!

Stay tuned for Disney updates.

The post Disney Dining Reservation Updates and Steakhouse 55 News appeared first on The Nerd Element.