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Mercury via Messenger probe; Wikimedia commons.

It’s here again: that time when you can blame all your problems on a planet sixty million miles away. Yes, friends—Mercury is in retrograde. But what exactly does that, you know, mean?

First off: what is a planetary retrograde? Well, because all the planets have different speeds and orbits, at certain points they all appear to move “backwards” in the sky. When a planet gets closer to us, our different relative speeds create, basically, an optical illusion that they are moving backwards. According to Astrology.com: “retrograde motion is an illusory side-effect of planetary proximity.”

Every planet does this, actually, and various planetary retrogrades affect our horoscopes in different ways. For instance, Venus will go into retrograde in May. Mercury, however, because it is the closest planet to the sun and thus has the shortest orbit, goes into retrograde four times a year when the planet is closest to us. When Mercury speeds past us, it looks like it’s going the wrong way in the sky for a few weeks before it “corrects” itself and that backwards movement it what creates disruption, astrologically speaking.

Okay, so we’ve got what it is but what is that disruption? What does this tiny planet do? Well, the whole idea of astrology is that where celestial bodies are in the sky, how they’re moving and what signs and constellations they’re moving through affect us. Also, how the signs, moon, sun, and planets are positioned in relation to where they were when we were born. (You don’t have to believe in this, of course, but some of us do, and being mean about astrology doesn’t make you look smart, it just makes you mean).

Different planets have different properties and influences, often associated with the gods they are named after. Mercury shares its name with the messenger of the gods, who you may know as Hermes in his Greek version. Mercury, therefore, rules communication. All communication, from speaking and writing to coding and, yes, the internet. Mercury also affects inspiration and intellect. This is why Sailor Mercury was the smartest Sailor Scout!

So when Mercury goes backwards? Hoo boy, can you expect it to mess with everything from your electronics to your group chats to your term papers. It’s a bad time to start new projects, enter into contracts or try to make big plans. It’s a turvy-topsy time for anything that connects us. Also, maybe not great for travel. Mercury retrograde doesn’t make everything crappy, but it does mess with a lot of aspects of our modern life, where communicating is essential and ubiquitous. But it doesn’t affect everything, so, no, you can’t blame general terribleness on Mercury retrograde. But you can find ways to deal with it.

Use Mercury retrograde as a good excuse to back-up your computers, do a virus scan or clean out your browser cache and search history. It’s a bad time for communication so hey, what better excuse to step away from social media and get out there in the yard or take a walk? Don’t start big projects or journeys right now. Mercury retrograde can be a good time to reevaluate projects and plans, and especially since this retrograde Mercury is in the emotional, intuitive signs of Pisces and Aquarius, use that energy to examine your feelings and personal path. It’s not a time to act, but it’s a good time for introspection and thinking of the future.

This period of Mercury retrograde will last until March 9, so keep that in mind, if such things matter to you. If you are curious, look into how Mercury interacts with your own birth chart and what its movements might specifically mean for you because it might not all be bad. In general, astrology is not about telling the future but about being aware of the present and being prepared. Knowing that Mercury is in retrograde and what that means is just another tool to make your life a little easier … or at least, get you ready for when it might get hard.

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A few days ago, I was reading an article by one of our writers, Morgan Hampton, called “Give Us More Open-World Superhero Games, You Cowards!” It’s good. You should give it a read. It goes in-depth on the various reasons why superheroes and open-world video games mesh together so well. And after reading it over, I noticed something. As nerds, we have a thing for comic books and video games coming together. It got me thinking – why are we so obsessed with comic book video games? I have a theory.

Trust Me, We’re Obsessed

I think obsessed is the right word. There is a trend I’ve noticed when it comes to superhero games and it’s how much attention they draw. If DC and Warner Bros announced a Flash or Green Lantern game tomorrow, guarantee the internet would lose its collective mind. What if Marvel teamed with Bioware for an X-Men action-RPG? Best believe that shit is all we are talking about for the rest of the week. Don’t even get me started on when WB Montreal finally decides to stop teasing the next Batman game and just announces the damn thing already.

In the past, we’ve combed over every inch of any comic-book related video game. How does it play? What do the characters look like? Any Easter eggs, classic costumes, hidden characters or cameos? There is always so much to unpack. That’s usually how it goes with any type of media that is an adaptation of something else. However, with comic books and video games, it has always felt like it’s been taken to the next level. We over-analyze every last bit to see how faithful to the source material it is or whether or not something looks like it might do our favorite characters justice.

Plate Size Matters
Just look at the new Avengers game dropping later this year. Square Enix teased this game for years before making the final reveal. When the official trailer dropped early last year, it teased us with maybe 20 seconds, at best, of actual gameplay footage and more than two minutes of cutscenes and story. While it wasn’t much to go on at the time, that didn’t stop fans from obsessing over every last frame of that teaser from Cap’s Walmartesque riot gear to the dinner plates on Thor’s chest.

As of right now, that first trailer sits at 18 million views on YouTube. People looking over and over several 3-5 second clips just to get an idea of how this game plays. Even the trailers that would come out months later, showing more of the gameplay would be put under a microscope and talked about for days. Fans are divided between those unimpressed with the gameplay shown so far and others who are excited by the chance to play as their favorite Avengers and the game’s all-star voice cast. There’s something about superheroes that just pulls us in and gets us talking.

Modern Games Are Doing the Damn Thing

At first, I thought to myself “Well maybe we’re just looking at superhero games so closely because video games themselves have gotten better.” You know what, that’s true. Games are now more cinematic, their mechanics and gameplay have become more dynamic and their stories feature some of the best writing to come out of any medium. With that thought, the quality of superhero games has risen as well.

The next examples are obvious but you only have to look at the last decade of games to see how far we’ve come:

• Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3
• Batman: Arkham City
• The Darkness II
• The Walking Dead Telltale Series
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• The Wolf Among Us
• Marvel’s Spider-Man

All great games. The Arkham and Walking Dead series are even considered to be some of the best games of all time. Hell, based on this list, I could even write an article on why comic books make the best video games. So, in this day and age, it’s pretty understandable to get excited about the prospect of any superhero, comic character or story getting a video game.

More and more developers and game designers are fans of comic books and treat the source material with care, using comics as a guideline of sorts. Talented studios are putting the work into things like making sure Spider-Man’s swing feels right or that Batman feels like the ultimate predator when taking down a room full of armed goons. There is definitely a lot more faith and excitement when game makers who know what they are doing tackle some of our favorite characters and their world.

Classic Theory Proves We’ve Always Been This Crazy

I want to say wholeheartedly that modern video games are the reason for our obsession but history says otherwise – we’ve always been obsessed. Now, this argument is solely based on my own personal experience but I’m pretty sure it mirrors most of your own. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t excited about a game with superheroes running around in them.

Looking at my collection of video games on the Sega Genesis alone, I had Spider-Man, X-Men, Wolverine: Adamantium Rage (that shit was creepy by the way), Hulk, Superman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even Batman Forever. The funny part is that I remember playing these games more than any of my other Genesis games. Now, some of these games are classics, but others were just pure ass.

If You Code It, They Will Play

I’ve played the Superman game on the Genesis so many times that I’ve lost count, and not because it was any good. That shit was crappy. Bruh, you were literally playing as Superman on a rooftop WHO COULD ONLY FLY IN CERTAIN SECTIONS OF THE GAME. I could chalk this up to being an 8-9-year-old kid but that’s not exactly the case. I knew it was bad then but I kept going back to it over and over again. Keep in mind that just about 90 percent of all Genesis games didn’t have a save function. So I had to power that bonkers opening level over and over again (I was too lazy to write down save codes).

For me at least, there has always been a draw to play any superhero/comic book game, no matter how bad they would potentially be. When thinking about it, most games back then, from the late 90’s to the early 00’s, were mostly tie-ins. Expectations weren’t exactly high for quality but the chance to play as Batman Beyond or, say, Spawn was an opportunity I could not pass up.

That’s not to say the classic era of comic book video games were bad. In fact, some of those Genesis games I mentioned are classics. Not to mention games like Spider-Man 2, X-Men Legends, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and more have paved the way for great comic book video games. In fact, a lot of these games, whether good or bad, left an impression on our minds that I believe influenced our desire to see better made comic book games.

Power Fantasy

I left this theory for last because it’s pretty obvious. I mean, who doesn’t want to embody their favorite characters? As a medium, personally, I find video games to produce the most engaging type of content. Sure, movies bring characters to life and animation is the most visually impressive. However, video games are an interactive medium, allowing players to take full control.

It’s more than just playing pretend like when you were a kid. It’s the closest we will get to the experience of being our favorite heroes or fictional characters and living their complex and compelling lives. There’s nothing quite like grabbing a controller and being able to swing anywhere you want in NYC as Spider-Man or stepping into the world of Fables in The Wolf Among Us and influencing the lives of these dark and modern fairy tales.

Video games force players to participate if they want anything to happen. As far as I’m concerned, that kind of interactivity can immerse you more than anything else. It’s captivating and you are your favorite character. So, for this reason, I get why we are so obsessed. Why we overanalyze the smallest details like how Iron-Man flys or the combat in Batman games. Players don’t want anything getting in the way of that experience. That feeling of being drawn into a game is everything.

Sure, we can get a bit overzealous (seriously, some of y’all need to chill) but most of it comes from a love and respect for our favorite characters and worlds. Those high expectations for really good comic book video games are not going away any time soon. There is also an excitement to playing in these fantastic worlds and getting a type of experience we won’t get anywhere else. Now, with that said, if any developer is ever brave enough to make a Saga video game, just know that I might be in your mentions.

Did I miss anything? Why do you feel we’re obsessed with comic book video games? Sound off in the comments or let us know on social.

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The post Why We’re Obsessed With Comic Book Video Games: A Theory appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

(Marvel Entertainment)

Everyone has their opinion on who their favorite Spider-Man is. I’d say that it comes with age, but it doesn’t, because I grew up watching Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, was a college student who was in love with Andrew Garfield during his run, and now love Tom Holland with my whole heart, so … it just depends on the person.

But there is a problem with understanding our cultural love of Peter Parker: We all think we know what’s best. Unfortunately, we don’t. We barely can explain why we each love him, and if you think you are great at explaining it, I’ll tell you, you’re not. I say this as a girl with a Spider-Man tattoo on my wrist. Even I can’t explain why I love Tom Holland the best; it’s just how I feel.

What I can do is talk about why each of these are different and how that has informed why I love the Tom Holland movies best.

Since the dawning of Tobey Maguire swinging into high school at 27 years old, the first Spider-Man film is a staple that informed my entire life. For context, I was ten, turning eleven, when this movie came out, so prime time for me to have a crush on Tobey Maguire. Ah, if only I knew then that I’d continue to have crushes on Spider-Man actors, but alas.

With Maguire, he was a perfect Spider-Man—understood his desires, how he was behind the suit, and how he wanted to protect Aunt May and MJ most of all. His father figures came in the form of Uncle Ben, Norman Osborn, and even Dr. Otto Octavius. But where he shined as Spider-Man, his Peter Parker fell flat—at least, to me, now that I’ve seen better Peter Parkers. At the time, he was perfect, and Spider-Man 2 was the source of one of the greatest friendships of my life.

For the sake of my sanity, we’re not even talking about Spider-Man 3 and how the studio forced a Venom movie to happen, mainly because if I think about Spider-Man 3 for too long, I remember my upset at the time and how fifteen year old me was devastated. I will not go back!

But then, that leads us into the 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man. Here’s the fun thing: I still remain in love with Andrew Garfield, so I cannot be blamed for how much I love these movies! A man who wanted to play Peter Parker his entire life, Garfield was the first time I realized that Peter Parker could be his beautiful nerdy self and be a hot mess like I wanted the original Spider-Man movies to include.

Maguire’s Spider-Man was still better, but his Peter was left in the dust by Garfield, and I felt like I could finally talk about why I love Peter Parker so much. But even if I did like looking at Andrew Garfield in that suit, it was short-lived.

(Sony)

Now, let me get into why I happen to like the Tom Holland arc as Peter Parker. Again, I don’t think any of us can really explain why a specific Peter is our favorite, because at the end of the day, we’re all coming from a place of love for this character. So sure, me screaming that I love Holland the best is more about me just sharing my thoughts on that specific actor because … well … they’re all Peter in their own way.

But with Holland, for the first time in any of these franchises, it isn’t about losing Uncle Ben and forcing his villains to stand in for that father figure role. Instead, he finds someone to mentor him in Tony Stark. He finds a father figure in his connection to the Avengers and uses it to fuel him.

His desire to help his neighborhood comes from wanting to prove to Mr. Stark that he can do it. When Far From Home happens, he fights because he knows it’s what Mr. Stark would have wanted him to do. But through it all, it also shows that Tony Stark needed Peter just as much as Peter needed him and it, in turn, gave Peter another level to him that wasn’t rooted in his villains being his father figure.

I think a huge part of my problem with the slander against Holland’s movies is that people don’t like how connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe they are. Well … that’s kind of the point.

(Marvel Entertainment)

Spider-Man never had to deal with the other Marvel heroes before because the MCU didn’t exist. Maguire and Garfield’s franchises were separated from other Marvel properties. Sure, there was the odd comment like mentioning Doctor Strange in the Daily Bugle, but they were pretty much on their own.

(Sony)

Tom Holland’s Peter doesn’t have that luxury. He’s very much involved with the Avengers, and so that means dealing with them in his standalone movies, as well. Sure, his connection to Tony Stark makes it so that Peter has to deal with a lot of Iron Man’s problems, but that’s what being a part of a team is.

He was Team Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War, so it makes sense that he’d be connected back to Tony in his own movies. Are you all going to complain that Black Widow was in The Winter Soldier? No, because that’s fine, and so is Tony being in Homecoming or Peter coming to terms with the fact that Tony Stark willingly died to protect Peter Parker and his family.

So yeah, I stand by my previous statement that we can’t really claim someone’s Spider-Man is better than someone else’s, because we live in a world where we all just love this character. What we can do is recognize what we don’t like about something. For me, I love that Holland’s is the first Peter Parker that made sense.

He was the first one who felt like a kid getting thrown into this superhero thing, and I happen to love his connections to the Avengers because, while he is still just our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, he’s also an Avenger, and I can’t wait to see what the future of the MCU holds for him.

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According to The Gazette, a black man from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was taken into custody and arrested for kidnapping a woman and making her watch the Alex Haley miniseries, Roots.

Robert Lee Noye was arrested and charged with first-degree harassment and false imprisonment for the act. Noye has been accused of abducting a woman and then holding her captive at a residence in the 700 Block of Second Avenue SW. She was allegedly forced to watch the nine-hour ABC miniseries “so she could better understand her racism,” based on what is stated in the criminal complaint.

In the complaint, the victim said when she tried to move, Noye ordered her to “remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago.”

The 1977 nine-hour miniseries was based on Haley’s 1976 novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. It starred John Amos as the older Kunta Kinte, Louis Gossett Jr., as Fiddler, Olivia Cole as Matilda, Ben Vereen as Chicken George, Leslie Uggams as Izzy and LeVar Burton. The film chronicles the capture and enslavement of Kunta Kinte, a young Gambian warrior in the 1700s who was kidnapped and sold into enslavement and the subsequent liberation of his decedents.

The book would eventually spend more than four months on The New York Times best-seller list, selling more than 6 million copies. It was also translated into more than 35 languages and earned Haley a National Book Award as well as a Pulitzer Prize.

According to The Washington Post, Roots, won top honors at the 29th annual TV Emmy Awards, taking a total of six prizes for its production, acting, writing, and direction. The series won best “limited series” of the year and the actors who won for Roots were Edward Asner, Louis Gossett Jr., and Olivia Cole. Roots received 37 primetime Emmy nominations while winning a Golden Globe and Peabody Award. The mini-series still holds the record as the third highest episode for a TV series despite having aired 43 years ago in 1977.