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We’ve just taken Hyundai’s new smartwatch app for a spin. It lets you start your engine, lock your doors, and even find your car, right from your wrist.
Source: USA Today
Some of them couldn’t fly. They didn’t wear colorful costumes, and they didn’t have superpowers. But they were superheroes all the same. Others were as real as Spider-Man. Throughout the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, comic books appeared featuring real or fictional African-Americans.
The real-life Black heroes were brilliant scientists or former enslaved people who risked their lives for the freedom of their people. Fictional Black heroes defeated villains ordinary humans could not.
In 1947, the first issue of Negro Heroes featured George Washington Carver, Matthew Henson, Harriet Tubman and Joe Louis. The second issue featured Booker T. Washington, Sadie Alexander, Jackie Robinson and many other real-life Black heroes.
Nonfiction African-American comic books continued into 1969 when the Gilberton Co. produced Negro Americans. Like Negro Heroes, the Negro Americans comic book covered the lives of African-American great achievers. Many illustrations in the nonfiction comic books appear to have been taken from photographs, and the plain yellow, brown or blue colors give the stories a real and not fantasy look.
In the 1940s, All-Negro Comics stood out as being owned, produced and written by Blacks. Unlike Negro Heroes and Negro Americans, however, All-Negro Comics featured fictional African-Americans. Ace Harlem is one character in All-Negro Comics. Although Harlem is a tall, Hollywood-handsome Black detective, the bad guys might be called stereotypes. Other characters in All-Negro Comics were created for laughs but may also have displayed an image many Blacks did not care to see.
Probably the best character to come out of All-Negro Comics is college-educated Lion Man, who is an agent for the United Nations. Lion Man’s mission takes him to Africa where he meets his sidekick — an orphan named Bubba. Today, you’ll find a character named Lion Man appearing in various comic books including Batman. This is likely because Lion Man carries the title of Public Domain Superhero. One of the most interesting versions of Lion Man is the comic book tutorial by Eric Neal that teaches life lessons to children.
The life story of Orrin Cromwell Evans, creator of All–Negro Comics, involves Nazi-sympathizer Charles Lindbergh, racism and Evans’ determination. Tom Christopher states that Evans “went out of his way to meet Morrie Turner, the first syndicated black cartoonist. He was always impressed with the way a well-executed cartoon could simplify and clarify complex issues.”
Nonfiction comic books related the lives of outstanding African-Americans in an easy to understand format. The fictional African-Americans in comic books produced Black heroes with a positive image. Whether fiction or nonfiction, the African-American characters in early comic books sent the message to readers that he or she could also achieve through determination.
Source: Demetrius Sherman at Black Girl Nerds
It seems like 2015 is looking a lot like the year of the smart home, and CES is ground zero. But building a good smart home ecosystem needs to be about solving genuine human problems and not just filling a house with toys. Bloomberg’s Stephen Pulvirent rounds up the best smart home products at CES that you actually should buy.
Source: Bloomberg Business
In the second issue of Fight Like a Girl by David Pickney and Soo Lee, we find Amarosa continuing on to her second trial. She’s a witty, spunky, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer Black girl heroine. Her brother is sick, and she is going through a series of trials set forth by a rather mysterious council of gods in order to save him.
At the beginning of this issue, Amarosa is talking with Kaiden (who I’m assuming is her boyfriend). Although he was previously very supportive of her, he’s doubting her ability, the worth of her actions if something were to happen to her, and even questioning if she would do the same for him as she is for her brother. Needless to say, that struck a nerve. She leaves him standing there, which I’m assuming is the end of the hint of romance.
This trial finds her in a future wasteland. Expecting zombies, the sprite laughs and tells her how ridiculous that is. Apologies for the spoiler, but as a zombie enthusiast, I was right there with Amarosa. I won’t tell you what challenge was behind door number two, besides crushing your hopes for zombies, but it’s still pretty killer.
I love Lee’s use of the vivid pink for the backdrop of this issue. It contrasts very nicely with the browns, grays and blacks of the barren wasteland and really makes Amarosa pop. The brilliant sky, monochromatic buildings, and rich colors of Amarosa’s clothing and glasses each creates a distinct separation that makes the world seem to come to life and leap off the page at you.
Pinckney’s use of dialogue to establish a wonderful banter between Amarosa and the sprite are definitely a large (and humorous) chunk of this comic. Their interactions in this issue are reminiscent of Katniss Everdeen’s interactions with Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games – the somber warrior fighting her battles while a chirpy, prying interviewer tries to drag out and sugarcoat her life story. The sprite informs Amarosa that people from all the “multi-realms of the heavens” are watching and asks about her brother, but I get the sense that there is some actual concern and a mutual respect. This issue focuses a little more on her inner dialogue and we get to see more of what is going on inside the head of our spunky heroine.
Pickney and Lee continue to deliver in a comic full of adventure and a heroine full of sass. Though it seems we’re no closer to seeing her brother, and the gods council was mysteriously absent this round, Fight Like a Girl keeps the reader turning to see what Amarosa will do next!
Source: Diondra Powers at Black Girl Nerds
Microsoft’s new holographic headset can be used to play Minecraft, make video calls, do your work, and more.
Source: IGN
Comedy Central has had its turn at bat trying to add a little color to late night. The short-lived Chappelle’s Show will live on forever in our hearts despite its host, shrewd comedian Dave Chappelle, getting out early while the getting was good (if you ask him, at least). David Alan Grier’s news satire, Chocolate News, made its best effort but wasn’t quite smart enough for an audience still in withdrawal from the Chappelle magic. The network’s most successful attempt at late night was Mind of Mencia and that show had more hate-watchers than a Dallas Cowboys home game (and about the same effectiveness). They just couldn’t seem to find the right formula.
Who would have thought that all you needed in the end was Stephen Colbert’s old time slot, a Daily Show alumnus and a fairly gimmickless format? Add all these together and you get The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (originally meant to be titled The Minority Report). At first glance, the comedian’s new late-night follow-up to The Daily Show does a lot to mirror its big brother, hosted by Jon Stewart. You get a sharp, savvy monologue that’s half “A” block news rundown, half standup routine, and highly effective at both.
The real treat here is a raw fearlessness not seen on Comedy Central since Saint Chappelle himself. Not the “Senior Black Correspondent” Daily Show fans have grown to love nor a black version of Colbert’s hyper conservative caricature (modeled after Bill O’Reilly), Wilmore is unburdened by any mandate to play a character. When he expresses his disenchantment with Al Sharpton (“You don’t have to respond to every black emergency! You’re not Black Batman!), it’s not a well-landed Stewart gag that he’ll waste tweets clarifying later. When he stops to place extra exclamation points on his attitude toward Bill Cosby’s Dead Sea Scrolls’ worth … because “laundry lists” are too short … of rape allegations (“That motherf***er did it!”), that’s him talking.
The courageousness goes even further as The Nightly Show follows Wilmore’s well-crafted monologue with a panel discussion. Unless you count those “after-party” shows that talk about the popular show everyone just watched like Talking Dead, panels are rarely done with late-night comedians (with the exception of Bill Maher) because it means they control less variables for a funny show. And make no mistake, the panelists are not mere ringers. From cerebral hip-hop artist Talib Kweli and comedian John Leguizamo to news personality Soledad O’Brien and columnist Jamilah Lemieux, these are opinionated people of mention that give as good as they get.
Read more from Oz Longworth at Black Nerd Problems
DARPA revealed upgrades to its Atlas robot on Jan. 20. The robot was redesigned for DARPA by Boston Dynamics, with the goal of improving power efficiency to better support battery operation. Approximately 75 percent of the robot was rebuilt; only the lower legs and feet were carried over from the original design. The upgraded robot will be used by up to seven teams competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, which will take place June 5-6 at Fairplex in Pomona, California. Admission to the event is free and open to the public.
Source: DARPAtv
(Warning: Mild nudity)
“Speech Sounds,” a dance theatre performance choreographed and curated by Makeda Thomas, explores the metaphors for art and technology that come out of Afrofuturist culture.
The dance theatre work calls on improvisation, dances of the Orishas, and Thomas’ “richly-honed” contemporary movement to ask, “What does it mean to be a performer of the present? Of the future?”
“Speech Sounds” gets its title from Octavia’s Butler’s Hugo Award winning science fiction short story about a future world “where the only likely common language was body language.” Three powerhouse performers engage a performative strategy that pushes its elements in, to, over and beyond themselves; and explores the metaphors for art and technology that come out of Afrofuturist culture. It looks at improvisation, as an exploration of the dancer’s self, and how it transitions to a shared experience with the audience. It further asks, then, what does it mean to be a performer of the present? Of the future?
Each performance, each iteration of the work exists in multiple variations, with each variation being characterized by the improvisations of the performers. In this way, the work is imbued with its own autonomous power that engages a more present performer—a future performer—in moments of infinite imaginations and re-creation. Speech Sounds is about the spaces between selves; of how individuals connect and disconnect; of isolation and companionship; of what happens when we lose that which we value the most—be that a person, symbol, idea or name; and, of arriving at a loss of words.
The choreographic work is being underscored by an ongoing global transnational historical research project that seeks new critical understandings of history and identity in the African diaspora. The research navigates through West Africa, Western Europe, the United States, Venezuela, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Trinidad.
The embodied aspects of that research explores how Orisha dance, which bears unique syncretisms of those distinct cultural histories, and as “an earthly manifestation of the divine through human movement,” is embedded into the improvisatory dance practices of contemporary dance artists and creates new choreographic, movement, and performance processes. This research, as “Bring de Power: Orisha dance as a mobile technology of African diasporic identity making,” was presented for Dancing the African Diaspora—Theories of Black Performance at Duke University in February 2014.
“Speech Sounds” is set to make its U.S. debut in Fall 2015, and is being made possible with a Performing Arts Award from Creative Capital and a fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas.
Learn more at makedathomas.org/speechsounds.
Rasheedah Phillips is a Philadelphia public interest attorney, speculative fiction writer, the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair, and a founding member of Metropolarity.net. She recently independently published her first speculative fiction collection, “Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales).”
Meet Tristan Walker, from diverse start-up Walker and Co., who has set out to prove that startups don’t have to be primarily male and white.
Source: USA Today
The Nerd community is a really tough bastard to please. The Black Nerd community, maybe even more so. Still, because we rarely get what we want, throwing us a really big bone is often a good way to buy yourself some goodwill and keep our adamantium claws firmly in our hands a bit longer. Storm is probably the biggest get out of jail free card that may never get played. This week, Bryan Singer announced that they had found their next Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm for the X-Men: Apocalypse film.
Now, you’ll probably notice…they are young. Like, could be Famke Janssen’s kids young. But that was to be expected, considering that the Apocalypse Film was essentially going to be set in the “First Class” timeline with no wonky time travel going on this time (new powered up Kitty Pryde not included). So, we weren’t going to get the old Scott, Jean and Ororo in their Hollywood Geriatric state and that’s fine cuz bruh, that’s actually a good thing. So, we can talk Sansa Stark playing Jean Grey (I’m going to need more convincing) or Tye “You might remember me from Mud, actually naw, you probably don’t” Sheridan playing Cyclops, but come on, fam. You’re on Black Nerd Problems right now…you know we’re gonna talk about Ororo Da Literal Gawd.
I do not come to bury Alexandra Shipp. I don’t know Alexandra Shipp. I like her politics though. I like that she likes President Obama as more of my Black friends complain about him (*cough*Omar Holmon*cough*).
I like that she is willing to take on big iconic roles that resonate specifically with the Black community. But I also know that the Aaliyah biopic was a derailed train into a forest fire. And when movies are that bad, but the lead actress or actor is amazing, that becomes the narrative. Like, Chadwick Boseman in Get On Up. Or most small films that Tom Hardy stars in. Or Viola Davis starring in this planet Earth. None such came out of that Lifetime Feature except it might take a Lifetime to erase that from Aaliyah’s legacy. None of this is really about Alexandra Shipp though. Which really sucks for her. But it isn’t.
What this is about is the way that Hollywood continues to pretend that no impact or history lies in the darkness of someone’s skin. Well, when I say Hollywood, in this case I mean Bryan Singer. And when I say “someone’s skin,” I really mean Black Women. “What’s the real issue, it’s not like they cast a white woman as Storm, does it really need to be this complicated?” Yeah, it kind of does. Even as a fictional character, Storm is a feminist symbol for Black Women the way that most assume Wonder Woman has been for women all these years. Storm has always been powerful, goddess-like and African. And no, not Charlize Theron, South African. Her dark complexion has always been part of her appearance and it’s not by accident. The same way it isn’t an accident that Storm has become a beacon and symbol for women with darker skin for decades now. The unwillingness to recognize that is just another thunderbolt in the side of a demographic of women who frankly, are plenty used to it by now. Still not understanding the public contempt for this casting choice? Ok…
(Actress Alexandra Shipp)
Read More from William Evans at Black Nerd Problems