http://www.afronerd.com/2022/03/regina-kings-master-amazon-hbo-max-dmz.html
Afronerd Radio can now be heard LIVE courtesy of Apple Music/Itunes
Time to make the donuts, fellow AFROnerdists! Check out a new episode of Afronerd Radio’s Mid Week in Review airing this Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern on the BTalk 100 internet broadcasting platform. Listen to the latest discourse from your friendly NYC neighborhood AFROnerdist hosts as they wax about the following (mid) weekly issues: popular comedic actress, Regina King stars in the upcoming horror film, Master, courtesy of Amazon Prime and we have our thoughts about the recently released trailer:
One of our own, former cohost, Claire Lanay, stars in the highly-anticipated Ava Duvernay helmed dystopic HBO Max streaming show, DMZ, based on the same eponymous DC graphic novel series:
And if there weren’t enough trailers premiering this week, we absolutely must discuss the Disney plus, Obi-Wan Kenobi preview that hit the cyber-webs a few hours ago:
And where is The Batman?.…spoiler discussion that is; it looks like the Jeffrey Wright/Jim Gordon Gotham PD series for HBO Max has been canceled; there’s talk of Will Smith rebooting the I am Legend franchise but this time with the inclusion of Michael B. Jordan; thoughts about the Crown Act bill which addresses African-American hairstyle discrimination at the workplace; Picard the second season, on Paramount plus; Lastly, our impression of the Amazon animated anthology series, The Boys: Diabolical debuted last week.
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!!!
Also, Afronerd Radio’s podcast format can be heard via BTalk 100 Pandora, Spotify and, IHeartRadio….more formats to follow!
Afronerd Radio can now be heard LIVE courtesy of Apple Music/Itunes
Time to make the donuts, fellow AFROnerdists! Check out a new episode of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review airing this Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern on the BTalk 100 internet broadcasting platform. Listen to the latest discourse from your friendly NYC neighborhood AFROnerdist hosts as they wax about the following (mid) weekly issues: popular comedic actress, Regina King stars in the upcoming horror film, Master, courtesy of Amazon Prime and we have our thoughts about the recently released trailer:
One of our own, former cohost, Claire Lanay, stars in the highly-anticipated Ava Duvernay helmed dystopic HBO Max streaming show, DMZ, based on the same eponymous DC graphic novel series:
And if there weren't enough trailers premiering this week, we absolutely must discuss the Disney plus, Obi-Wan Kenobi preview that hit the cyber-webs a few hours ago:
And where is The Batman?....spoiler discussion that is; it looks like the Jeffrey Wright/Jim Gordon Gotham PD series for HBO Max has been canceled; there's talk of Will Smith rebooting the I am Legend franchise but this time with the inclusion of Michael B. Jordan; thoughts about the Crown Act bill which addresses African-American hairstyle discrimination at the workplace; Picard the second season, on Paramount plus; Lastly, our impression of the Amazon animated anthology series, The Boys: Diabolical debuted last week.
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!!!
Also, Afronerd Radio's podcast format can be heard via BTalk 100 Pandora, Spotify and, IHeartRadio....more formats to follow!
I’m writing the bulk of this on Sunday evening, February 27th. According to the Destiny 2 Heatmap (link), I have played for a little over 40 hours before the weekly reset on March 1st.
Crossing checking with my life time stats on WastedOnDestiny (a name I don’t concur with because I am having a great time with however many hours and don’t feel like a second has been wasted), those 40 hours are a small drop in a bucket of nearly 3300 active hours played. And for maybe the third time of the franchise, I feel confident in saying this is the best state the game has ever been in.
After a surprisingly tame one hour of server hiccups, I managed to get in and initiate a series of protocols that I pinned in a word document. One of their quality-of-life changes was drastically reducing the cost to switch affinities. I decided to take full advantage of it and altering and remodding my carefully curate armor selection. And once all of my stat blocks were verified and energy optimized, I set out to tinker with the new Void 3.0. For the past year, I had amassed a staggering number of kills as a Behemoth, introduced November 2020 in Beyond Light. I had become fond of the playstyle, but a new expansion means trying out all the new toys. So with a variety of toggles switches and theorizing, I set my cursor to the Legendary campaign. And a new adventure begun as I set out to combat Savathun, the Witch Queen.
I ended up doing the majority of the 8-mission long campaign solo, while also doing a handful of the missions as a duo. It was the first time in franchise history that I actually felt the enemies and challenge were appropriate with the number of people in the fireteam. And as a result, Legendary was also the first time where I felt actively challenged, and that $#!% was hard. However, with the promise of 1520 Power Loot (20 levels above the soft cap) that would accelerate the seasonal power grind and a new exotic, my Titan, armed with their new Void 3.0 overshield quickly discovered that said overshield would not save me. My usual flash and thunder tactics would not be applicable either. Instead, we reverted to the original style of attrition, and the best word to describe the experience is “taxing.”
Missions were long. Multiple rally flags set up different Darkness Zone encounters that featured a plethora of mini bosses, bosses, and objectives. The shortest missions took around 30-40 minutes to complete on my own, and the longest ones clocked in at just over an hour. Of course, some of that time spent could be attributed to fatigue and making bad plays, but a nontrivial part of it was a constant stream of “Wait, there’s more!” There were bosses that lead to bosses that lead to post-script scenes that became bosses again. In the moment though, the mission length didn’t quite bother, because my hands were still trembling at a well-fought victory. My eyes were in awe of a different set pieces, and my ears absorbed the phenomenal orchestral score. Gameplay aside, the main narrative thread was some of the finest work from Bungie writers to date that catapulted the myth arc of the universe to a staggering degree. The tagline “Survive the Truth” was certainly apt in more ways than one.
Very early on in the campaign, Guardians got acclimated with the highly marketed glaive. It was a weird hybrid weapon that features a low-speed projectile that generate energy to power a nigh impenetrable frontal shield while also allowing for a devastating three hit melee combo. This is the first weapon type introduced since Forsaken‘s Bow, and I am here for it. While it took a while to get accustomed to the new armament, it quickly became one of my main tools in the campaign and general play thanks to its versatility and ample amount of sustainability it offers. As someone whose main form of survival is throwing up as many walls as I possibly can (physical and emotional), having yet another implement to stave off the hordes is more than welcome. I have amassed over 2800 kills with the shooty, stabby, blocky stick, given it a title and a bespoke shader and have no plans to remove this from my Energy slot even after the seasonal mods that are elevating them to ridiculous levels of power vanish.
The Enigma essentially spoiled my on-weapon crafting as its starter perks were fairly agreeable, and the “gun” itself was so fun to use that it was easy to level up. My next few experiments with the crafting system were not quite as kind. Weapon crafting is an entirely new system to the Destiny universe and is slightly easier to do in game than explain in words, but I’m gonna try to explain in words. In order to craft a weapon, you need to have its pattern. Some patterns are tied to a quest, but the majority are found by attuning Deepsight Resonant Weapons, basically legendary drops that have a red border. However, only a curated selection of Deepsight Resonate Weapons have patterns, but you’re gonna wanna use those red-bordered guns anyways to get all of the crafting material which does put you at odds when it comes to leveling up the guns you want to use.
The system is far from perfect, requiring an almost myopic dedication, but as an enfranchised guardian, I have already been able to craft the new lightweight frame bow to my exacting specification. I made it to mimic the draw time time of my previous favorite bow, maxing out of the accuracy, and enhancing two of my favorite perks. Having a purely deterministic system is fantastic, and you still have plenty of opportunities to be excited by random drops as there are plenty of guns with unique perk combinations that aren’t crafting. However, given there is no centralized way to see how much material you’re carrying or how perk material overflows where as neutral element seemingly doesn’t have enough intake for the amount you’re using, sometimes I approached the Relic excited; only to discover I couldn’t quite make the changes. Still, the new armory features some great new perks and offers a lot of fun toys to experiment with while you fit out your monster killing machine.
On the flipside of weapon sandbox, Void 3.0 marked the largest upheaval to some of the long-standing elements of the game with the new Fragment/Aspect customization. No longer the days of a fixed grid in D1 where there was often one actual configuration with very little straying and gone were the three trees of completely synergistic kits, and in its place the modular aspect/fragment system.
My initial reactions of Void 3.0 for Titan were tepid, and even after several iterations and buildcrafts, I have yet to find any configuration that completely sates my personal taste for combat. I appreciate the ranged melee, having bubble as a separate super, and the access to Bloom. Strangely okay with the bubble nerf as it means that I’m not going to be expected to run it by default in end game content, and its new blast shield functionality is practical and efficient if nothing else.
From what I’ve gathered, Warlocks basically unanimously sing the praises of the new Voidwalker, and Hunters are even split between “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to us” to “This is the best thing they could have done for me,” which speaks a lot about the community as whole and the weirdness of game balance.
In post-campaign of The Witch Queen, there were plenty of things to do. Exotic quests that unlock some of the coolest additions to the armory in the form of a Yeeting Worm Launcher and a Psionic Grenade Launcher that can switch elements. Seasonal challenges in the playlist, where I spent an ungodly amount of time grinding Gambit for power and incidentally becoming a Gilded Dredgen x4 before the first reset. New strikes and the addition of new battlegrounds to break up the pace, and a lot of trudging around the Throne World.
The realm of the Witch Queen, God of Lies, predictably has a staggering number of secrets, and honestly, it’s neat conceptually; however, it’s also my least favorite part of the Destiny 2 grindstone. I enjoy the moment-to-moment combat, I enjoy actively engaging in things and honing my skills more than skulking around an area. By that same virtue, I know plenty of folks who adore the detective work and that really gets to one of the most salient parts about this release.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen takes the existing foundation of the game and has built a veritable fortress of content right on top of it. It has retooled fundamental systems and incorporated a staggering degree of quality-of-life changes, new systems to interact with, new toys to play with, an arena that allows you to play both offense and defense on alternative days, new environments to explore, and it’s been exactly one week.
We still have more seasonal content, more post-campaign story, and hell, the pinnacle of Destiny, the raid, hasn’t even come out yet. Who know what will happen after the first clear on March 5th. We have only begun to glimpse the surface of everything in store, and the fact remains this is the third time I can confidently say the game is staged to be in the best place it has ever been. I said it during Taken King. I said it during Forsaken. And I am happy to say that even as we near the end of the “Saga of Light and Dark” that I’m going to soldier on with this as my singular game.
If you’re like me, you didn’t need any of this. If you’re a newcomer or returning player, I know it sounds like a lot, but if you’re willing to learn (and maybe convince someone to help you out), you’ll easily fall in love with one of the most ambitious game franchises, a shared world shooter that survived 8 years on the merit of it being real addicting. And once again, I have the stats to prove it.
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The post A Little After the First Reset of ‘Destiny 2: The Witch Queen’- A First Impressions Retrospective appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Add some color into your kid’s life with our list of the best painting ideas for beginners!
Hello all, I’m back once again, and this time I bring you even more interesting goodies. Time to talk about painting ideas for beginners and that means it’s time to break out your brushes and paints. This list covers simple ideas for toddlers and kids to detailed ideas aimed at teens and up. Never painted before? Don’t let that intimidate you! I promise there’s nothing to be scared of, well besides getting messy. But that’s all part of the fun!
Need some recommendations for paint supplies, or perhaps you adore Bob Ross as much as we do? Then, be sure to check out our Bob Ross starter kit list for everything you need to get painting.
Okay, got everything? Great, let’s get to it!
To start off our list of painting ideas for beginners, we have this kit of Paw Patrol figures. When my cousin was little, her obsession with Paw Patrol was too real! Everyday for hours and hours on end she’d watch it. It made me seriously wonder if that was the only show that was on. So, seeing this brought a nostalgic tear to my eye. I feel, if she’d seen this, she would have asked for them, and I would have had a beautiful bonding moment to share with her. But, alas, I missed out. Don’t you miss out though! Get this and have your own bonding moment!
The Mandalorian Canvas Activity Set
As we know, Star Wars has lived in the hearts of fans for decades, and of course for some that means their kids have to be obsessed too. For a fun way to introduce your little Jedi to Star Wars, start by letting them paint the adorable Baby Yoda! Plus, the little easel it comes with is simply precious.
As someone who’s still living off the rush and excitement of No Way Home, I know I’m not the only one who needs more Spidey in their lives. Further, this 2-pack comes with the chibi-style Avengers art to paint! Blame it on my obsession with anime but chibi art makes my heart swoon. I mean, tiny Vision is just SO precious. Most importantly, you paint these using only water which means hours of easy, mess-free fun!
I’m gonna go way off topic for a second but bare with me. So, is it wrong that my favorite part of this isn’t even the paint or the paint sheets (which are great!), but the lovely assortment of stickers that comes with it? I know that’s not the topic for today but still they’re really lovely. And, hey, that means extra ways to jazz up the paint sheets! Hard to be mad about that.
How about we talk about something magical now. First, Watercolor Wonders comes with everything you need to begin your child’s journey with painting. That means, 7 colors of paint, a premium paintbrush, pages and pages of art. Second, and here’s the magical part, blank spaces on the pages, when painted over, reveal invisible ink art! Making for a fun and surprising good time.
Lisa Frank: Paint w/ Water Book
As someone who grew up in the 2000’s and was pretty much obsessed with every facet of Lisa Frank’s existence (I’m talking folders, pencil cases, and stickers galore), seeing this took me straight back to my childhood. With this be careful, take your time, and use gentle brushstrokes; don’t be me! Too much water at once can make your painting a sloppy gray disaster.
I’ve been seeing these types of Funko Pops for a while. Mind you, they have actually a whole set of these beauties and a pretty decent range too. Also, not all of them are Disney characters, like good ol’ Simba here. There’s also the Sanrio icon herself Hello Kitty. Truly, I think what’s good about these is that they’re simple yet full of possibility. Which I’ll discuss again in a moment. So keep up, it’s just getting good!
As a Batman stan, every time the caped crusader comes into my life, in any shape or form, I get so happy. Much like the Funko above, how you decorate this is entirely up to you. Follow whatever vision you see fit because the pssibilities are limited only by your imagination. Or to be super cheesy about it: “Holy paint splatters, Batman, this makes a fun afternoon activity!”
You may have noticed that I have two Avengers items on this list. Don’t judge me, judge the MCU for making me love them so much! Besides, I love the fact this comes with not only detailed art but instructions on the various shading and color mixing techniques needed to help make your project look amazing. When you’re done, you and your kids can hang it up, and say, “Hey we did that!”
No list of painting ideas for beginners would be complete without the icon himself, one of the most soothing artists ever, the OG of ASMR, Bob Ross. Remember, it’s okay to make happy accidents and to always be gentle with your strokes. I know you might get a little excited wanting to see the picture come together, but it’s important to take your time. Enjoy the process, and if you make a mistake, it’s nothing freak out about. Have fun!
Disney Princesses Paint-by-Numbers
I’ve voiced this in the past, but I have such unbreakable love for the Disney princesses. And I’ll go live on that hill forever! Which is why when I saw this, I was taken aback. It’s stunning, and I’m absolutely drooling over the stained glass window look. Perfection! It works so well and makes for a nice calming paint-by-numbers concept. To be honest, I find it therapeutic.
I told you’d we’d be talking about these lovelies again. Now, the possibility isn’t limited to a pre-made design. First, check out the female version here, if your prefer. I’ve seen so many people take these figures and turn them into amazing figures. If you’re willing, branch out into clay sculpting for hair and any other details you want to add. That will obviously add new layers of depth to your creation. To be clear, this requires more than a few simple coats of paint. For sculpting, check out this YouTube tutorial to grab some tips.
I’ve been seeing this type of glass painting everywhere lately, especially among the anime community. So, it felt right to add it to the list. At this point, I feel like fate is telling me to just try it and see. I mean, I guess I could mess it up, but at least this kit comes with tips and tricks to make it easier to do right. Want a more in depth look at the process? Check out this YouTube tutorial.
Totoro Paint-by-Numbers Canvas
It doesn’t need to be said that Studio Ghibli is and will forever remain an iconic animation studio. The movies they create live in my heart, and every time someone celebrates this in any shape or form, I feel such a sense of joy—whether that be official merch, fan merch, fan art, or, now, paint-by-numbers. Personally, this is on my pick-up list. Maybe, it’s Haku in his dragon form snuggling Totoro that does it for me.
Postmodern Paint-by-Numbers Darth Vader
Finally, on our list of Painting Ideas for Beginners, it’s time to show the original space daddy some love. Not only is this painting eye-catching, but believe it or not, it’s also paint-by-numbers! Further, it comes with all the paints and brushes you need to knock this painting out of our galaxy and into a galaxy far, far away. So, give into your feelings, reach out with the Force, and get this today!
The post Painting Ideas for Beginners by Age appeared first on Nerdy With Children.