Podcast Airs 8.29.2018 Hey folks! We're keeping it simple this time-check for our latest episode of Afronerd Radio'sMid Week in Review(MWIR) airing this Wednesday at 7pm eastern. Your favorite Afronerd podcasts unpack the following issues: noted past guest, music journalist and author, Laina Dawes (What Are You Doing Here?: A Black Woman's Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal) stops by to discuss our collective impressions of this past weekend's Afropunk festival (Planet Brooklyn edition); another horrible shooting has occurred this time from the Florida video gaming community; self described political maverick, former Republican presidential candidate, foil to the current POTUS and AZ senator, John McCain passes; rapper, Cardi B gets into a bit of hot water lampooning historical Civil Rights leaders in skit for a new show called Off the Rip; actor, Alec Baldwin has been cast to portray Thomas Wayne in Todd Phillips' forthcoming Joker origin film including "Trumpian" overtones (DC gotta DC); what about talks concerning Ghost Dog and Robocop sequels?; we finally make room for the Disney colorism debate regarding its Black princess character, "Tiana" And lastly, we address the dearth and hopeful future of Black animation. Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620.
We're getting right to the matter at hand-shaken and not stirred! It's the Mid Week in Review (MWIR), engineered by Afronerd Radio and airing Wednesday LIVE at 7pm eastern. Your regular Afronerd cast of actors-podcasters are here to discuss the following topics: actress, Asia Argento is under heavy scrutiny for settling a sexual harassment claim with a male accuser while simultaneously lobbing accusations as a victim against Harvey Weinstein; according to Black Enterprise, African-American business ownership rose approx. 400% within the past year (reminder to check HBCU owned Harlem Hops); picking up on some topics we left on the table last episode (Dburt just found out about a book that links Google searches with America's true inner psyche entitled, Everybody Lies; why aren't HBCU's represented on Jeopardy; Ducktales finale and Venture Bros S7 impressions; Disney's colorism controversy involving their Black princess being used in the upcoming Wreck It Ralph sequel); it seems that the proposed Galaxy Quest TV series is still moving forward (Orville be damned); Jeffrey Wright's (Westworld, Bond franchise);Hold the Dark trailer from Netflix hits the cyberwebs; Judge Joe Brown had some stern words for singer, SZA for her critique of men; And lastly, Nichelle Nichols and Madonna latest news. Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620. And as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, check out a new Harlem hangout and Black owned (HBCU grads), Harlem Hops:
It appears I'm back on my OCD grind, once AGAIN! I assure our listeners/readers that THIS will be my final posting on the Idris Elba as James Bond supposition. I am no genius but I am prone to pensivity on an occasion or two. Having an epiphany during our last podcast, it became even more clear to me, how an expectant film audience is entitled to a Black and/or minority super agent but not necessarily a MI agent with a case of reverse vitiligo between franchises. While musing aloud during our infamous Grindhouse show, I thought about how DC's Batman character is truly a some of all his parts (i.e. his Bat Cave; Alfred Pennyworth; the Batmobile, etc). And in like-minded fashion, James Bond, too, has a host of idiosyncrasies. How would you recognize your favorite MI-6 agent without his vaunted Aston Martin , spy gadgets or special "shaken and not stirred" dry martini?" Trust me, the attorneys representing the Fleming estate, Eon Productions and MGM are copiously aware of the motifs that are distinctive to the Bond mystique. So what do the aforementioned quirks have to do with an Africanized Bond? The short answer is...nothing. And therein lies the conundrum.
First and foremost, one shouldn't have to inject their race/culture into every job, project or endeavor known to man. However, it serves no real purpose beyond the visual aesthetic, if we are going to explore a person of color assuming the 007 cinematic mantle. Today's movie going audience, especially in the wake of the linear successes of Get Out, The Black Panther and Sorry to Bother You, are extremely sophisticated and demanding of product that elicits worldbuilding and wait for it......character idiosyncrasies. In the case of Elba or any other Black British actor, he or she (another oft-discussed gender possibility....Jane Bond) would inherit Euro-Bond's motifs.
Going back to my original premise, I would build (admittedly being completely self indulgent) a better...stronger...faster and Blacker Bond (archetype). Would he work for a different British Intelligence agency (OSCT? NBIS?). What kind of tricked out vehicle does he drive?
Does he (or again she...) wear formal clothing that subtly connotes his heritage (hence the African print bow tie)?
Where was a Black Bond educated? (maybe a Hampton/Morehouse/Howard and Oxford combo...maybe he studied medicine at Meharry, ELAM or Harvard). Who are his associates and what is his spirit of choice? Just as Tuvok (and more recently, Michael Burnam) is distinct from Mr. Spock and Miles Morales is Spiderman (and not Peter Parker) so should Black Bond (Hughes.....Desmond Hughes).....food for thought.
New Podcast Airs 8.19.18 Our audience knows the deal, so let's dive in! It's time for Afronerd Radio's Grindhouse podcast airing every Sunday at 6pm eastern. Listen to the unique waxing of the Afronerd podcasters as they highlight the following topics: iconic American songstress, Aretha Franklin passes at 76 and the world mourns; And who picks up the baton that Aretha tried to pass along? No one; thoughts about an upcoming X-men arc that returns the character, Psylocke back to being White (yes it's convoluted) despite having been portrayed as Asian for close to 30 years; more on filmmaker, Jordan Peele's upcoming HBO TV series, Lovecraft Country based on the book that explores horror and race through the adventures of a Black family on a road trip in the deep South during the Jim Crow 1950s; Disney gets accused of colorism with a black character's second appearance in an upcoming animated film; picking up where we left off with the Lyor Cohen interview about drug use promotion in hip hop; Dburt wonders why aren't there HBCU contestants on Jeopardy during their college themed shows; highlighting the book, Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz which essentially places focus on Google's ability to tap into the human psyche on a Freudian level (and it's not pretty); discussing the Ducktales reboot along with the return of Adult Swim's Venture Bros.; unfortunately, Boots Riley has a problem with Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman; And more about Dburt's #getoncode agenda. Call LIVE at 646-915-9620. And while you wait.....check out the latest Afronerd Radio's First Impressions-The BlacKkKlansman:
New Afronerd Radio Podcast Airing 8.15.18 We're going straight for the fictional jugular! It's the Mid Week in Review airing every Wednesday at 7pm eastern, thanks to the good folks at Afronerd Radio Machineworks! Listen to your podcast crew favs "chop it up" about the following topics: former White House aid and reality show contestant, Omarosa Manigault is causing a stir with her new book, Unhinged and she gets rewarded by Trump with a "dog" slur tweet; legendary music executive, Lyor Cohen (Def Jam, YouTube) recently shook the internet with a recent Breakfast Club interview in which he gave a duplicitous response to questions concerning his support for artists that promote illicit drug use; in pop culture news-there's new Spock casting for Star Trek: Discovery S2; Londoners are testing 3 screen immersive theaters as a way to combat viewers that are "Netflix-ing it and chilling"; a black owned cryptocurrency firm called "Wacoinda" in seeking a trademark might be hearing from Marvel's legal department; Dburt is thinking about a new hashtag campaign....#getoncode; positive thoughts and best wishes go to American Icon, Aretha Franklin who is in hospice care due a cancer diagnosis: impressions of Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen team up in new Green Book trailer; thoughts about the return of the Fantastic Four (in print...#1 was released last week)m courtesy of writer, Dan Slott; And lastly, Fortnite Twitch gamer/streamer, Ninja is getting criticized for not playing with female gamers (#me2 concerns). Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620. And while you wait for another funky, fiery fact finding mission(ary) podcast, check out some African Americana classics from Aretha Franklin and Don Shirley (depicted by the aforementioned Mahershala Ali in Green Book) with some assistance from some dude called Duke Ellington..(cue my humor):
As always, we like to keep our followers fully informed and geek/sci-fi/horror culture satiated! Check out my first impressions video for The Meg....it's no Jaws but you knew this! And don't forget to check out our latest podcast discussion on the film and more!
Afronerd Radio Podcast Airing 08.12.18 Our audience knows the drill, so let's get into this, shall we? The podcast is simply called The Grindhouse amd it's powered by the Afronerd Radio machine. It airs religiously every Sunday at 6pm eastern LIVE. Listen to our ever present and prescient podcasting brain trust as they wax poetic about these new topics: we give our impressions of new film releases-Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansmanand The Meg with Jason Statham; for the umpteenth time, news that Sierre Leonean/Ghanaian-British actor, Idris Elba might be tapped to portray James Bond went viral and then was quickly debunked......again; noted director, Antoine Fuqua hot off the heels of his Equalizer sequel is purportedly in talks to direct an unknown MCU property; Marvel may be making an appeal to Disney to rehire GOTG director, James Gunn (who else has plans to usher in Marvel Cosmic); is Star Trek 4 still a go if negotiations with Chrises Pine and Hemsworth are breaking down? And with a boatload of Star Trek product on the horizon is ST4 needed? (unless this Tarantino's version); more trailer releases-including The Deuce S2 and Black Earth Rising; Cyborg news-both on TV (Doom Patrol) and film....maybe; is Sony looking for their own FOX parachute via their Marvel rebranding-Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC); And lastly, what about Oscar's new popular film category (what...the other films are unpopular?). Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620. And while you wait for the upcoming episode, check out the latest interview with the cast of The BlacKkKlansman including the real life detective, Ron Stallworth.
So here we are again with more prurient speculation that the producers of the James Bond film franchise may break from tradition by casting popular Black British actor, Idris Elba for the vaunted role of Agent 007. And once again....it's not going to happen (nor should it). Longtime Afronerd Radio listeners are keenly aware that I am (for the most part) a stickler for canon and unless it's in print, logistically plausible or a wholesale reimagining, I'm probably not going to be supportive of such a change. The closest James Bond came to being even "Caribbean" was when Ian Fleming decided to name the character after his favorite (white) American ornithologist who was an expert in West Indian bird species.
Let's delve even deeper into the malaise, shall we? Fleming's original vision of Bond entails not only the physical amalgamation of the author himself and singer Hoagy Carmichael but also having the psychic resemblance to a vast array of military colleagues encountered during his stint as a British naval intelligence officer. Here's further evidence regarding the author's intentions via one of his drawings:
James Bond as a fictional character, is a very complex, if not perfidious figure. He's also very white-specifically of Scottish and Swiss ancestry. "Where does Marvel Comics fit into this?", you may ask. Well after 80 years of stories including an extremely successful decade devoted to an interconnected universe with perimetric characterizations-why shouldn't Bond folklore follow suit? There is also the hurdle that MI5/MI6 have a diversity hiring problem in real time. Sure you can chalk up a rebuttal by affirming that it's all fantasy except Fleming's influences surrounding Bond's development were quite real. Fleming served as a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve during World War II where he encountered a cadre of impressive soldiers and spies that undoubtedly fueled his creation. His most immediate inspiration probably came from within in his own formative household as embodied in his older brother, Peter Fleming.
But back to Marvel and the notion of a "Bond" of color. Just as comics (the House of Ideas, notwithstanding) explore an immeasurable amount of tangential heroes and storylines, why not a Bond-verse?. Bond's mythos is quite extensive, compelling (and racist in many regards) and just colorizing the character would actually be doing his prospective audience a disservice. Let's petition for a Black (and other protected class depictions) super spy with his/her own unique backstory that, like Fleming, relies on personal and historical context. There is an untapped wellspring of Black historical-fact not fiction-figures that are worthy of cinematic consideration. Why not a Mary Bowser film that highlights the eidetic former slave's exploits as a Union spy during the Civil War?
And then there's George Washington Williams who actor, Samuel L. Jackson loosely portrayed in the widely panned 2016 reboot, The Legend of Tarzan. Jackson's fictionalized version of Williams pales in comparison to the real life attorney, Civil War soldier and journalist. It should be noted that Williams single-handedly exposed the alternate Black Holocaust (aside from the transatlantic slave trade) occurring in the Congo Free State under the auspices of Belgium's King Leopold II:
Again, this is just the ofttimes hackneyed tip of the iceberg. Let's get back to fiction. I propose that we build a better, stronger, faster and Blacker Bond archetype that belongs to another military agency beyond MI6-the British secret services since the first World War, diverged into approx. 19 department numbers. Let's expand the fictionalized British Military Intelligence post Bond and while we're at it, I assert that for the next Lone Ranger adaptation, Hollywood should cast a Black actor for a change....this time for the sake of historical accuracy.
This will be another 'straight with no chaser" moment for our listeners. Welcome to the latest Mid Week in Review (MWIR) podcast airing this Wednesday at 7pm eastern. This installment (like all others) is powered bu the might Afronerd Radio machine and features your regular cavalcade of podcasters discussing the following issues: a misunderstanding over service in a Brooklyn nail salon erupts into a fight and boycott if the business and race may play role (these are the times); perhaps we're finding out what we all suspected-the military may have final say and.or approval with certain Hollywood films; actress Ruby Rose appears to have gotten the role of Batwoman in an upcoming appearance on Arrow (could a series be next?); a recent NY Times editorial hire gets accused of anti-White animus due to past twitter remarks; it's nonsense but Dburt will probably talk about neo-minstrel phenomena (Beyonce in/on Vogue; Ciara critique regarding her past dating choices); more death and mayhem coming from Chicago; another Marvel ABC TV series and New Warriors pilot talk; more on Sony's Venom post trailer reveal; Candace Owens vs Dr. Michael Eric Dyson on MSNBC over Trump; why there's no Batman TV series; And lastly, our impressions of the Netflix Daredevil teaser for S3. Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620.
I just happened to catch the latest episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher whereby the eponymous host returned from a month long hiatus and it dawned on me that this might be the first show that I actually enjoyed in its entirety. Maher famously eschews political descriptors as he has made self allusions to a chock-full of isms-libertarianism, progressivism, atheism and so forth, yet in this episode he dovetailed into my bailiwick....pragmatism. Being a contrarian and cautious observer (shout out to Uatu....Marvel heads will comprehend), I try to warn the Black collective that the metaphorical drawbridge is not lowering as they proceed and no one is listening (in theory). If you are a Black conservative (or at the very least have moderate to quasi-traditional views) you will be lucky to be perceived as just contumacious by your people. The kneejerk assertion is that you are traitorous, an "Uncle Tom" and definitely not to be trusted. At Afronerd Radio, we have had countless debates about Blerd/nerd culture, economics, religion and most certainly the "third rail"-the African-American Body politic. But this time it's different. We are living in the Trump era and it is imperative that we embrace all that is Vulcan. I'm talking about absolute empiricism (damn another ism), FACTS and clarity of vision (and I mean on the 20/20 side of the game.....actually seeing). Check out this Real Time episode as we have affirmed just about everything in this show on previous podcast installments-our precog abilities remain unwavering.
Black folks for the majority of our 400 year vacation stay in the Americas are preternaturally used to American skullduggery.
But still....these are the times to PLAN. Support the outlets that you trust. Contribute what you can to burgeoning outfits (the Afronerd machine, notwithstanding) that promote the programming (or deprogramming) that fits within your personal political paradigm. We have a lot of attainable goals for the Afronerd machine.....better equipment, continued Youtube penetration, tapping the convention circuit and movie showings. This is not just pop culture....it's reverse engineering the failure narrative. So remember to vote during the forthcoming mid-term elections, consciously support Black business as you divest from reductive anti-Black/minority finance.
Afronerd Radio IS going to persevere but your investment sure would make the journey less treacherous.
It's the Grindhouse, citizens! Our latest installment streams LIVE every Sunday at 6pm eastern as engineered by the Afronerd Radio machine. Join your favorite podcasting crew as they wax about the following topics: director/musician, Terence Nance's Random Acts of Flyness (HBO) premiered this weekend and it appears to be picking up where Sorry to Bother You left off; And speaking of STBY, the film's director is asserting that international distributors are passing on global showings because of the "Black films don't sell overseas" mantra; Chicago has its first First Wakandacon which is not only an ode to the Black Panther mythos but also Afro-futurism; EA Sports apologizes and promises an update to address the suspicious omission of Colin Kaepernick's name from their Madden NFL '19 soundtrack (spec. the YG song, "Big Bank"); FX CEO place blame squarely with Marvel for cancelling The Glover Brothers version of the highly anticipated Deadpool animated TV series; a new CBR (Comic Book Resources) article highlights some of the most iconic Marvel arcs that can now be explored post the finalization of the Disney-Fox merger; Luke Cage season 3 has not been confirmed by Netflix but is it simply that the writers are trying to come up with something compelling or is a Heroes for Hire iteration in the works featuring Danny Rand?; actor, Sir Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard for a new CBS All Access Star Trek streaming series; Venture Bros S7 returns (finally) on Adult Swim; And lastly, Dburt may be warming up to Sony's solo Venom movie after seeing the latest trailer. And what's this about an expanded backstory/mythology for symbiotic race? Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620.
Longtime Afronerd listeners are keenly aware of our penchant for Prince/Funk music but there's also a great deal of admiration for the Spike-verse (ok.....I made that nomenclature up but you get the point)-adhering to all things celluloid centered with Brooklyn's favorite son, filmmaker Spike Lee. Well, I don't think too many folks were aware of the close friendship between the two artists aside from true Prince enthusiasts (yours truly included) but according to the Okayplayer website, an unreleased Prince rendition of the antebellum Negro spiritual, "Mary Don't You Weep" is slated to be included in Lee's highly anticipated BlacKkKlansman film. Here's more information, courtesy of Okayplayer:
Now that Afronerd.com is most certainly open for business, I think it's best for yours truly to finally put pen to digital pad and succinctly summarize my thoughts regarding the retconning of Lando Calrissian as pansexual controversy. For those that may be unfamiliar with the dustup, it stems from a May '18 Huffington Post interview with Solo: A Star Wars co-writer, Jonathan Kasdan (born circa '79) musing that he interprets both Donald Glover and Billy Dee Williams' portrayals of the Lando character as being sexually fluid-hence, "pansexual." You probably noticed that I parenthetically included Kasdan's date of birth in the preceding sentence. I suspect that Kasdan being an older millennial (The Empire Strikes Back was released May 1980) partially plays a role in his viewpoint. Sometimes you have to be either old enough to remember the tenor of the times when Empire premiered or at the very least well educated in cinematic history. If you think "diversity" is a dirty word in some circles currently, we can posit that representation was also problematic in decades past. When Lucasfilm hired Billy Dee Williams in '79 to become a part of the Star Wars franchise juggernaut, it had very little to do with fairness or altruism. Williams was a legitimate Black superstar who garnered so much notoriety as a romantic lead that he was oftentimes dubbed "Dark Gable," an obvious reference to the quintessential and White matinee idol, Clark Gable. I don't think we can argue that Williams' characterization wasn't morally ambiguous but was Lando's sexuality equally duplicitous as well? Check out this excerpt from a 1980 People Magazine article encapsulating exactly why Williams was chosen for the role:
Or is Calrissian something else? Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far
away—say, Hollywood in the ’60s—they called it tokenism. Whatever the
label is today, Sid Ganis, VP of Lucasfilm, emphatically denies the
charge, saying: “We were just looking for a wonderful romantic hero.”
Williams accepts that. “The reason I was attracted to this role was
because it wasn’t written for a black person,” he snaps.
As a perfunctory salvo, we (blerds, nerds....humans) should be open-minded, if not demanding of diverse depictions in all manner of cinema. However, we should also be mindful of classic imagery and what is plausibly canonical. And what is Star Wars, exactly? Is it not a space opera? The space opera genre, dating back to the 1930s implicitly imbued chivalric romance and melodrama which fits within the crosshairs of Williams' well crafted persona. Another problematic inference with Kasdan's opinion deals with the White gaze and it's discomfort with Black sexuality and swagger. Despite what a muched derided Root piece asserts, Black straight males are not the White people of Black people.
Being a person of color irrespective of where you fall on the sexuality scale is not a welcoming consideration in mainstream cinema. Black traditional romanticism is still very much a non starter in media and the legacy of Billy Dee Williams (and Lando Calrissian) should be respected as a sort of sacred cow. Let's face it-James Bond, Batman, Captain James T. Kirk, Philip Marlow, Han Solo etc. are probably not going to get that pan label in the near or distant future. John Constantine (and maybe Wonder Woman) is canonically omnisexual and therefore, that depiction might make it to the silver screen. Why was the sole Black person in Star Wars given this label? We have had rather festive jousts with other Blerds concerning this issue and no one can seem to answer how are Han, Obi or Luke not perceived similarly in this fictional space faring community? When there's an agenda at play, it seems that the Black image is consistently up for grabs obfuscating all other considerations or iconography (CW's Mr. Terrific, anyone?).
What Kasdan has exhibited is essentially queerbaiting whereby a person teases or implies alternative representation without really addressing the issue. It's lazy and tantamount to throwing gristle to hungry wolves-in this case a growing audience demanding of expansive and more varied depictions. I get it. BUT...as someone who appreciates the classics, the first wave of Black fictional characters really should remain unfettered. Let's demand that writers do the leg work and develop new interesting characters (with their own mythologies) that ALL audience members can rally around. Interestingly enough, in a new take on the science fiction and sex rules in space argument, Seth MacFarlane's The Orville addresses this as fresh canon:
