Blerds

December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

10 Black Celebrities Who Have Expressed Their Love For Anime

Kanye West tweets about best anime films

Chris Brown

In a vlog series he put out just before releasing his Fame album back in 2010, Brown expressed his love for video games and cartoons and explained that he always has to have the channel tuned to shows that create “fictional worlds.” Later in 2012 he got more specific with what kinds of cartoons he watches, revealing that he loves watching Japanese animes. Over the years he has revealed which animes he watches the most, including Dragon Ball Z and Astro Boy and he was even spotted out and about wearing a One Piece shirt.

Kanye West

Most people won’t be surprised that the rapper thoroughly enjoys his fair share of anime based on his incorporation of unique cartoon animations in his own works. He confirmed his love for anime when he took to Twitter to debate those who said Spirited Away was better than Akira. “No way Spirited Away is better than Akira… NOOO WAAAY…sorry was just looking at a youtube of top 10 anime films,” he tweeted.

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December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

DC Comics Casting of Viola Davis as Amanda Waller Is Exciting

Be clear, the announcement that Viola Davis is now cast as Amanda “The Wall” Waller in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie is pretty exciting news. Sure, we saw Angela “Did I give you permission to speak my name?” Bassett play her in Green Lantern, but we all know Amanda doesn’t mess with Green Lantern like that in the comics, so her role wasn’t going to be major here. Yes, Amanda Waller was also portrayed on Smallville (we see you, Pam Grier), and her cold all-business demeanor (but not her likeness) has been (arguably?) most accurate under Cynthia Addai-Robinson with her portrayal in Arrow. However, what we have here is a big start. Suicide Squad is Amanda Waller’s wheelhouse. If I could be so inclined to quote from the album of Beyonce, track 11 verse 8, this movie will have Viola Davis on her …

For those of you who don’t know much about Amanda Waller from DC Comics, the woman who Shoryuken/Dragon uppercuts the glass ceiling with how hard she goes in the paint. Let me give you the rundown right quickly. This is a woman who runs a squad of villains doing suicide missions in order to get time off for their sentences or pardons (rarely happens), the way she gets sh*t done with politics, through politics or by passing politics all together would make Theodore Roosevelt get her name tattooed across the belly while shouting out, “Yaasss, Amanda! Yaaasssss.” Waller takes the big stick ideology, breaks it over here knee and says, “Let me show you how we goin’ do this.” She ain’t taken sass from anyone, Batman included.

Now, if we keeping it over 9,000 power level, we can already see hints of Amanda Waller appear in Davis’ role of Annalise Keating in How to Get Away With Murder. Keating is a lawyer who goes for the headshot kill or the jugular in the courtroom on the show. However, the main difference is we see Annalise Keating vulnerable eventually within the series. That doesn’t exist with Waller. Amanda Waller has no vulnerability, no weaknesses to exploit. There is nothing she won’t do, and nobody she won’t merk for the mission or the long game. She is a strategist, she is a straight-up general, and she is in charge.

Read more from Omar Holman at Blacknerdproblems.com

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

Every Blerd Will Be Proud of the ‘All-New Captain America’

Nerd moments and proud Black moments alike make me happy. But proud, Black nerd moments make me do parkour flips in my living room like Roy Harper in CW’s Arrow.

If anyone who hadn’t read comic books before came up to me asking what they should start with, “All-New Captain America” is on the short list I would give them. (The independent, mind-bending stuff comes later. I don’t want to scare anyone off too soon.) It’s not too far from the MCU that everyone’s familiar with and it explains itself enough where you have no problem catching up.

The best thing about this issue, besides a Black Captain America, is … nothing.

The symbol of American freedom and defense is now a Black man. Even with the current strength of racial tensions in America, this makes me forget about it all for 10 minutes or so.

The best thing about Sam Wilson, formerly known as Falcon, as Captain America is that he’s still learning how to hold down the mantle and is underestimated by everyone, including himself. He goes out of his way to prove himself and bear the weight of the massive chip he has on his shoulder. Something everyone deals with at some point.

Due to overcompensating, Cap makes rookie mistakes. His natural skill and years of training help him work his way through. And when that isn’t enough, he gets a strong Black woman to help him out.

The flashbacks of Sam’s upbringing are still very appropriate but should start to disappear as the series goes on. For right now, it’s a great tool to use for those unfamiliar.

Source: Keith Reid-Cleveland at Blacknerdproblems.com

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

Jaguar’s New ‘Ghost-Car’ Navigation and ‘See-Through’ Pillars Are Truly Futuristic Features

Jaguar Land Rover is developing the 360 Virtual Urban Windscreen, which allows drivers to get a complete, unhindered view of the road. Watch the video to see the transparent pillars, Heads-Up display and ‘Follow Me’ Ghost Car Navigation.

Source: Jaguar

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

Marvel Confirms ‘Halo: Nightfall’ Star Mike Colter Will Play Luke Cage in ‘A.K.A Jessica Jones’

From the video game-inspired world of Halo to the comic universe of Marvel, Mike Colter will take on the role of Luke Cage in Marvel’s A.K.A Jessica Jones, scheduled to air on Netflix in 2015.

Colter is certainly no stranger to taking on fantasy driven worlds as he is currently starring in the Xbox Originals series Halo: Nightfall as Jameson Locke.

His newest role, however, will have him starring alongside Krysten Ritter as both actors will attempt to bring the story of Jessica Jones to life.

Jones is the super-powered heroine whose life changed after she was in a car accident that left her doused in chemicals.

Jones went into a coma but when she awoke she eventually realized she had super powers.

As Luke Cage, Colter will be playing Jones’s super strong husband who was once locked up for a crime he didn’t commit.

Cage’s unique experiences create several emotional layers to the character and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg says she has faith that Colter will bring that to the life.

“Mike embodies the strength, edge and depth of Luke Cage,” Rosenberg, who is also the executive producer, said, as reported by Marvel.com. “We’re excited to have him bring this iconic Marvel character to life.”

It’s an important role for Colter as he will essentially be introducing the mainstream media world to Cage.

“Fans have longed to see Luke Cage and in Mike we’ve found the perfect actor,” said Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer and Marvel’s Head of Television, as reported by Marvel.com. “Viewers will get to meet Luke Cage in ‘Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones,’ and experience why he is such an important super hero in the Marvel mythos.”

With comic book-inspired films and shows reaching an all-time peak in popularity, now is as good a time as any to release the Jessica Jones series.

Of course, many blerds might argue that this is about more than just adding another comic book adaptation success to Marvel’s resume.

This is yet another project by the comic giant that will bring diversity to the gang of Marvel super heroes in mainstream media.

It’s a mission Marvel has been pretty adamant about after casting Black actor Michael B. Jordan to take on the role of the traditionally white character Johnny Storm, known best as the Human Torch.

Then there was also the announcement that The Falcon will take over as the new Captain America, marking the first Black Captain America in the comic’s history.

This was a particularly important portrayal of a Black character, according to Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.

During a recent interview with CBSN Alonso explained that, “the significance of an African-American man dressed in red, white and blue is not lost on the public.”

“It’s caused a lot of interesting debate, but this is the world in which we live,” Alonso added.

Marvel has also made other serious shakeups to boost diversity by introducing a female Thor and a Pakistani-American teen as the new Ms. Marvel.

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

9 Robots That Could Take Your Job In 2015

In our modern world we will be interacting with robots that at some point in time had a person doing its job. Robots might make the consumer happier but robots are taking away human jobs at a record pace, according to Deloitte . Even though the report is about jobs in the United Kingdom, it is still a global phenomenon. If this continues—and it will—the unemployment rate will also increase as the world’s population increases as well.

Sales Clerks

Most stores like Walmart and Kroger have begun to push self-help checkouts. The self-checkouts have made the consumer more independent but has taken away jobs for needy people. At this point, those machines need a human to work out the occasional bugs and help customers who have issues, but in the near future people will not need to oversee them anymore.

Hotel Concierge

Just like the self-checkout, these machine concierges will take away human concierges.

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December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

5 Unexpected Ways Gaming Can Enhance Real-Life Skills

There’s an invariable amount of knowledge to be had when you amass the thousands upon thousands of hours of gaming in a gamer’s life. For years, there have been a number of attempts, both successful and not, to brand forms of gaming as particularly educational and market them to kids, particularly those who have parents who are more stringent about the way their children spend their time in front of a computer or console. Here’s my short list of five skills that have been ingrained in me through gaming — mostly through indirect subsidiary parts of major franchise titles.

This list is presented by Ian Khadan at Black Nerd Problems.

How to Read a Map

Maps are a basic part of games across countless genres. Maps are used in games to relay landscape, resource, quest, story line and territorial claims among countless other variations that cater to what a game designer may feel necessary to convey to the gamer. Though there’s precedent for reading maps, particularly in urban areas, via Google Maps or something of the like, there aren’t many people I’ve met who can truly read a topographical map. Just consider you’re dropped into the middle of nowhere and you’re given nothing but a map of the immediate 10-mile radius around you. I don’t imagine there are many folks in both urban and suburban areas who can even locate where they are on that map given the context of the landscape, topography and direction they’re placed in. Through gaming, I’ve honed this skill solely because that’s exactly what many games do, they drop you in the middle of nowhere and you have to figure out the best route to loot, food or shelter. Many games even incorporate nature as a compass in that you can use the sun in game (because in-game time and the passage of it is synchronized with real-world time) to determine what direction you’re heading. Now I’m not saying that I’ve been transformed into some sort of survivor-man because of what I’ve learned about map reading via gaming, as I certainly am not about swallowing any bugs for small amounts of protein, but I can confidently say that if I’m dropped in the wild and I’ve got an accurate map of the area, I’m most certainly capable of finding the nearest Chinese food buffet.

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December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

Watch and See How Much the World Is Going to Change with ‘The Internet of Things’

David Rose, the author of “Enchanted Objects,” sees a future where we can all live like wizards.

Source: NY Times.

December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

NASA’s Plans For A Cloud City Above Venus Could Have People Living Like the Jetsons

After years of exploration efforts focused on getting human life on Mars, NASA is ready to bring Venus back into the conversation with a permanent city floating high above Earth’s closest neighbor.

NASA has unveiled the concept for the floating city, deemed Cloud City, that would allow humans to live above Venus since it is impossible for them to live on the planet’s surface.

The average person discussing the possibilities of life on another planet tend to set their sights on Mars, despite the fact that it’s actually not the closest planet to Earth.

Venus is closer to Earth but the surface conditions on the planet make it inhabitable for human life.

Venus has an atmospheric pressure more than 90 times greater than that of Earth and temperatures that soar to more than 860 degrees Fahrenheit.

It also has a atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide, a very small amount of nitrogen and a cloud layer composed of sulphuric acid.

All these things mean humans can’t live on the planet’s surface—but NASA believes people could live comfortably floating above the planet instead.

Cloud City would be floating about 30 miles above the planet and people would be living on a High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) spacecraft.

Functional plans for a permanent Cloud City are still in the works but for now humans would be able to live above Venus for about 30 days before returning to Earth.

The idea, for now, also open to the average person looking for a literal out-of-this-world vacation destination.

Astronauts would be the only ones welcome in Cloud City for the purpose of collecting data about the planet.

The temperatures and pressure on-board the HAVOC spacecraft would allow astronauts to stay above the planet while being subjected to conditions similar to what they would face on Earth.

The atmosphere at that altitude will also offer protections from solar radiation comparable to living in Canada.

After the initial round of probing for 30 days, NASA hopes to send teams of astronauts up to Cloud City to live for at least an entire year.

NASA has already made plans for transportation in Cloud City as well with a design that will essentially have people living like the famous cartoon family of the future – The Jetsons.

The design would allow astronauts to leave the main HAVOC spacecraft and further explore in Venus’s atmosphere.

Cloud City itself would be a fixed city but solar-powered Zeppelins would be used for further exploration.

NASA tells IEEE Spectrum that it could be another decade or two before Cloud City actually comes to fruition but experts believe further exploration of Venus could help advance efforts to get life on Mars.

“Venus has value as a destination in and of itself for exploration and colonization, but it’s also complementary to current Mars plans,” said Chris Jones of the Langley Research Center, according to CNET. “If you did Venus first, you could get a leg up on advancing those technologies and those capabilities ahead of doing a human-scale Mars mission. It’s a chance to do a practice run, if you will, of going to Mars.”