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https://blackgirlnerds.com/hammed-animashaun-on-playing-loial-the-ogier-in-the-wheel-of-time/
BGN interviews actor Hammed Animashaun (Loial) for the Prime Video series The Wheel of Time.
The Wheel of Time is one of the most popular and enduring fantasy series of all time, with more than 90 million books sold. Set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists and only certain women are allowed to access it, the story follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a member of the incredibly powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai, as she arrives in the small town of Two Rivers. There, she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity.
Interviewer: Jeandra LeBeauf
Video Editor: Jamie Broadnax
The Wheel of Time is currently streaming on Prime Video.
Writer: Robert Vendetti / Artist: Michael Avon Oeming and Nick Filardi / DC Comics
World of Krypton deals with the beginning of the end of the planet by the red sun that birthed heroes like Superman & Supergirl.
It follows the famous El family, right after the birth of Kara, as they attend a party for her naming ceremony. All of the Els are in attendance as they welcome the new baby into the family. Meanwhile, Jor-El gets troubling news from Nira-Ur, Chair for Natural Sciences on the council about the sudden death of a herd of Thought-Beasts.
World of Krypton #1 was a pretty solid first issue, and Vendetti did a really good job setting up the tone of the world, which most of us come in knowing a fair bit about already.
What I found interesting is that this is a story that we already know the ending to. We know that Krypton explodes, and everyone save for a handful of Kryptonians are going to die. We get to see them navigate the beginning of the end. It’s got to be incredibly difficult to write compelling characters and make us care for them when we ultimately know they’re not going to make it. But Vendetti is able to do it with ease. I guess that’s why he’s a professional.
I also thought Vendetti did a good job of conveying the different layers of Kryptonian society. We root for the Els because they have the same name as one of the greatest heroes ever, but it’s their hubris that ultimately causes their world to die. And most of the rest of the planet hates and resents them for their status. A big source of conflict in World of Krypton #1 follows an assassination attempt from some citizens that don’t agree with the Els continued prestige.
I really like Oemings’ art on this book. He brings a stylized look that really adds to the regal tone and aesthetic that Vendetti is setting up. It also helps differentiate it from something that takes place on Earth. Not that stylized art can’t take place on Earth, but it’s just another layer that adds to the story that makes it feel unique. Also, the Kryptonian clothing on display is absolutely fire. If they weren’t all about to die, I’d say that I’d like to see them strut the runway one time for the one time.
I like this book. I can’t really say that I’m excited to see how it turns out, because I already know. But I’m interested to see how we get there.
9 Dead Thought-Beasts out of 10
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The post ‘World of Krypton #1’ Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
After almost two years of sheltering in place due to the pandemic, getting vaccinated and traveling solo during these past few months has been life-changing. Journeying through Paris solo during the holidays gave me the perfect opportunity to rest, relax, and start the New Year with a fresh perspective. Here are ten reasons Paris is perfect for spending the holidays traveling solo.
- Mild weather. In December, the weather in Paris is crisp. Daytime temperatures typically reside in the mid-40s F (6 to 8 C), late nights and early mornings tend to be in the mid to upper 30s F (1 to 3 C), colder mornings tend to dip down into the mid-20s F (-4 to -3 C). The risk for rain and snow is low in December.
- Walkable. Paris is much smaller than New York City. The entire length of the Champs-Élysées is 1.2 miles, and you can walk from Notre Dame to the Louvre in about 15 minutes. Paris is more walkable than most visitors think if you don’t have mobility issues. Travel light and be aware of pickpockets.
- Parisian café culture. The French café is the perfect spot for the solo traveler to drink in the city’s culture. Most cafés are open until past midnight. Guests are encouraged to order a café au lait and spend as much time as they want people watching, reading a novel, or striking up a conversation with new friends. Most of the cafés I found encouraged patrons to take their time and relax. I brought my sketch pad and journal and spent many afternoons watching people, drawing, and sketching. Allowing myself not to have to be anywhere or do anything was lovely. I could experience the luxury of being present.
- Many French people speak English. If you don’t speak French, don’t let that keep you from visiting France. A large percentage of younger Parisians can speak conversational English. It’s always best to learn as much French as you can, but English is the global language in Europe, so you can still make your way around the city if you aren’t a fluent French speaker.
- Holiday lights. Paris is the city of lights, and during the holidays, the beauty of Paris at night is magnificent. Take evening strolls to the Montmartre district, Bercy Village, and the avenue des Champs-Élysées and behold the elegance of Christmas.
- Strict COVID-19 protocols. France has some of the most rigorous COVID-19 protocols on the planet. As I write this article, everyone must wear a mask on all public transport. Folks who are two weeks into their second dose and booster vaccinations of Pfizer, AstraZenica, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson can attend events and go to restaurants and museums with a vaccine health passport app without COVID-19 PCR or antigen tests. With new variants appearing, be sure to check the vaccination, testing, and travel requirements before you book your trip and be financially prepared for any unexpected changes.
- Fantastic tour guides. Travel provides unexpected moments of joy that live in the memory for a lifetime. While waiting for an Uber to pick me up in front of the Gare de l’Est train station, I saw a guy sitting on this substantial two-person moped. I struck up a conversation with him and learned he took people on moped rides through Paris. I booked a session with him for later in the week. The feeling of joy I felt taking in the entire city from the back of a moped was the highlight of my trip.
- A welcoming Black community. Paris is a cosmopolitan city with a beautiful multi-racial community. The African diaspora in France accounts for about half of the African diaspora in Europe. As a Black woman traveling in more rural parts of France, I felt more vulnerable on my own and had some negative experiences, but in Paris, I was as comfortable as I am in New York City. On my first day in Paris, I realized I didn’t bring my loc sponge and was able to find a Black hair supply shop that was a 10-minute walk from my hotel. Along the way, I discovered every kind of African and even West Indian restaurants along with Indian and Asian cuisine. Some ladies at the hair-braiding salon recommended some laid-back bars in the area, and later in the week, I went to hear live music and made new friends.
- Bumble dates. Okay, single folks, the Bumble app works in France. I had a great time meeting and going on fun dates with some nice guys. The Parisians I met love their home as much as I love New York City, but the difference is that they know their city’s history. The men I met on Bumble could have been tour guides — really hot tour guides.
- Shopping, museums, spas and food. Leave room in your suitcase because Paris is a shopper’s delight, it’s the birthplace of the restaurant and spa culture, and there are 130 museums within the city limits. I spent several days, mystified, exploring the largest museum in the world, the Louvre. Every day after my explorations, I walked back to my hotel and discovered a different café. Every single meal I ate in France was divine.
Spending time solo during the holidays allows particularly single folks the freedom to shake off the grime of not fitting into perceived societal “norms,” to wander without the pressure of another person’s wants or needs. Why not take a trip to Paris solo this holiday season if you’re able? You may just recognize that part of your liberated best self you’ve always dreamed of being.
Last week we reviewed Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, and this week Casey Gilly, the writer, and Joe Jaro, the artist, were kind enough to sit down with us and talk about what it takes to make a dark, alternative future for a beloved franchise.
Black Nerd Problems: So today, we get to talk about Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, which is such a fun sentence. Where did the idea of doing a dark future Buffy comic come from?
Casey Gilly: Well, it was a combination of Elizabeth Brei, the editor, and myself. Elizabeth and I had previously worked together, and we really liked each other. She reached out to me and said, “Hey, we have this skeleton of an idea for an older Buffy who is dealing with some kind of an apocalypse. Do you want to take a crack at it?” And I sure did. So, there was a prompt, which, by the way, if any publishers or editors are reading this or listening to it, that is incredibly helpful for writers, to give us a little bit of a direction. And it just turned into what it is now.
BNP: Given how many iterations of Buffy have existed between the movie, the series, the original comic, and the rebooted comic, what were the challenges of approaching this new, alternate-reality Buffy?
Casey: I would say that my challenge is I am the demographic who grew up with Buffy. I’m in my forties. And I love the show, it will always have a very special place in my heart, and I do think that the fans of Buffy who have been there from the drop might ask themselves, “Why would I want to read a 20-year-old superhero? Why would I want to read somebody who’s a teenager? Why would I want Buffy to stay at this age?” And the way that I challenged myself was, “How can I keep her familiar and relatable and authentic to who she was then versus who she is now in a way where people won’t have to question, ‘Is this Buffy that I knew?'” In a lot of ways, it’s not. But I think that the whole team working on it has done a great job making sure that everything makes sense, that it feels like something that would be part of Buffy’s life, even the things that are maybe a little bit shocking or sad that you’ll see in future issues. I try to treat this very respectfully, because these characters are not mine. I get to play with them for four issues, and I’m really grateful that I do. I don’t think that writers should engage in fan service, but I think that you should engage in character authenticity. So that’s something that I truly challenge myself with every single issue.
BNP: To that point, out of all of the iconic elements that are associated with these characters, what were the key things you really wanted to preserve with old Buffy and the ones that you wanted to transform?
Casey: Joe, do you want to go first?
Joe Jaro: With older Buffy, I tried to make her familiar. You know that pulled back with the low ponytail. I tried to keep it grounded into that, just adding into what I think she would look as an older Slayer. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Casey: Joe, I love that you mentioned the low ponytail, because changing-
Joe: It’s her, right? It’s Buffy! Whatever hairstyle she has, her default is the low ponytail.
Casey: Like that Founding Father ponytail?
Joe: That’s her default!
Casey: Something I really wanted to help transform was a lot of the styling choices made on the show that I would not have made. I think that our Buffy and friends dress way better. We’re not doing anyone dirty. We’re not putting anybody in weird, multi-braided hairdos. There are no corsets for no reason. And I love that that makes the show feel like it does, but that was one of the first things where I was like, “Mm-mm, not on my watch.”
Casey: The other thing that I was really excited to transform was this ingénue that Buffy had been. Even though she was tough and gritty and did what had to be done, there was always this heroicism and pureness in Buffy that I do not think is a sustainable quality in a Slayer. They are not meant to live forever. They are not meant to even really have long life spans. Buffy is the oldest that I think has ever existed and still been active, and I was so thrilled to transform her into somebody who grew and earned a critique of being a Chosen One.
BNP: Part of the premise of this comic is that vampires and humans have this tenuous societal thing going on, which is like, “We’re not gonna not eat you, but not gonna be so up-front about it.” And one of the interesting things about vampires is that they’re a metaphor for about a dozen different things. Particularly interesting is in the past two years, they’ve been a metaphor for death and disease. So, what’s it like writing a vampire story in the haze that has been 2020 and 2021?
Casey: I approach my vampires as a symbol of capitalism.
BNP: That’s also still relevant!
Casey: In a lot of ways, I thought about the consensual drain that we all take part in and what it’s like to have it be marketed, and made cute, and made funny, and integrated into our daily lives in this very insidious way. I am obsessed with vampire movies. I went and saw Lost Boys at a very young age without an adult knowing about it. They are such a formative part of me being a writer. And going into this catastrophe on Earth, we have to assimilate, there are people who take advantage and profited off of what happened to us in the last couple of years, and that was definitely what I fed into these vampires.
BNP: Alright, time’s running out. Just fire from the hip, favorite episode of the original series.
Joe: “Hush.” I love that one. I thought it had a great combo of action, horror, comedy. Definitely had a lot of comedy in it, for what it was.
Casey: “Tabula Rasa.” I think it’s a really great character arc that was pretty natural but still unexpected, and I would say that that’s an episode I definitely reference in writing this comic, is some of the things that happened in there, and the consequences of them. “Hush” is an amazing episode.
Joe: It scared me. Even as a young adult, I was like, “Ahh, that’s kinda creepy!” (laughs)
Casey: And I love every Halloween episode.
Joe: Yes.
BNP: What do you hope that readers experience after they’re done reading the first issue? What’s the takeaway that you hope that they have at the end?
Joe: For Buffy, with any…there’s definitely purists out there, who…the fandom is very fickle. But I would hope that no matter how staunched of a fan you are of Buffy, they can dive into this more like, “Yeah, you know what? Maybe if things did happen differently, this is what would happen.” And I think Casey did a great job of grounding it into the lore, even though it is an elseworld story.
Casey: I hope that they are so charmed and annoyed and curious about her that they can’t wait to read what’s next.
BNP: I ask this question to everyone I interview, but what’s a piece of media you wish more people knew about? Not your favorite, or the most popular, but one you wish had more eyes on.
Joe: Hmm.
Casey: I have an answer, Joe, if you need a minute to think.
Joe: Go for it, no, go for it.
Casey: So, there is this Instagram account that I’m obsessed with called Rexy Studio, and they do puppets. They do just such cool work, I highly advise you all, go check it out. I’m not affiliated with them at all, but, rexy_studio on Instagram. They have a snake puppet that sings. Please go watch it, it’s so cool. I wish that they would blow up so that they can make more and more and more, just for me personally.
Mikkel: I have followed as we have been talking, and oh my god, the snake.
Casey: Isn’t it-
Mikkel: Oh my god.
Casey: Okay, there’s a “Berries and Cream” song, if you all remember that Starburst commercial if you’re old like me. Mikkel, find it, it’s maybe 15 videos back.
Casey: My four-year-old is obsessed with it. The puppetry is so good.
Joe: Just real quick, I am not too proud to beg: me! Follow me.
Casey: Yeah!
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The post Vampires as Symbols for Capitalism – Talking with Casey Gilly and Joe Jaro about ‘Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer’ appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.