Blerdcon Recap, plus review of Alex Cross & Wonder Man

Was Wonder Man one of Marvel's best live action series? Can Alex Cross continue to save DC from serial killers?
Is Blerdcon the premier convention celebrating Black culture?
#blerdcon  #alexcross #wonderman

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagram (@3HokagesPodcast) & Youtube  (@3Hokages).

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to another episode of the Three Hokagas podcasts. We're your host Kay Creeman Hanif. Uh, we're gonna talk about BlurCon for a bit. Actually, I'm gonna change this up and move the banner so that way we can actually see Kim's face. Here we go. You can't hide from us, Kate. Yes, I can so blurcon does happen this past uh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday um at Crystal City, Virginia. Uh for those who don't know, BlurCon is probably one of the earlier, um, not the earliest, but one of the earlier black-owned uh conventions in the United States that focuses on black nerd culture. Um, it's while it focuses heavily on black nerd culture, it is all-inclusive. So people who are not black are always welcome to go. And I've seen many vendors as well as you know, family members come that are not black, but they look like they have a good time. Um, this year's theme, every year is a different theme, which I always enjoy. Uh, this year's theme is Keeknik, so it's more of a cars and bars, no, not taking it back to the 90s uh era. Um, so so many of us who've lived through it enjoyed a lot of the the the throwbacks towards the 90s era hip-hop. Um, the VIPs, which you know, shout out to BlurryCon, they always do the VIP badges, um, and and gifts very well. You know, there's VIPs, uh their badges was a gold rope chain with a wood uh block design that had VIP engraved on it. I mean, you go, I don't I can't recall what the price was for VIP, but I know it's less than your Comic Con the Read Pop ones. And you know, you get VIP at Read Pop, you get a special, you know, normal uh uh plastic lanyard that says may say VIP, maybe what has a walking dead or uh some other anime on it. And physically that's that's like to me, that's it doesn't really separate you from the rest of the pack when you're walking down uh uh the show floor. Like you got this same style lanyard that everyone else got. You may get a uh a lounge if you can make it there, if you can even find a seat because there's so many VIPs, and uh but I I enjoyed that seeing that that kind of um swag that they gave out at BlurCon. Um we were vending, so I didn't get a lot to I didn't get a lot of chances to go around on a chauffeur like we did in previous years. Um, but it was packed. Friday was much more busier than last year's Friday. So I was it felt like almost like there was a holiday weekend where a lot more people just showed up where they know I'm not going to work Friday. I'm coming to BlurCon. Yeah. Um, they uh Carl Jones was there again this year as well as last year. I believe he may have shown a snippet of a video he's working on with um uh Meg De Stalin. It's not her anime. He you know, Meg DeSalan said it wasn't her, it wasn't from her anime, it was I think from one of her music videos that he's working on. Um Zazzy Beats was there. She had a panel on her to do a little premiere teaser for her upcoming movie called I think I Will Kill You or They Will Kill You. Um I haven't seen I haven't seen the uh the movie yet. I think it comes out shortly, but that was another good panel. Uh Redman was there. Uh he did a small performance, but he also had his own booth to promote his comic book as well as no uh uh cannabis use. Uh I think it's called Free the Green was a booth that he had downstairs in the main atrium area where the DJs and the video games and stuff were. But he got a lot of love down there. Um, and one thing I would enjoy about Blur Cut is like you is you see all the people who you follow on social media and within the nerd space. So you know, we saw Navy Martel, um, we've seen uh a lot of cosplayers from our from the Ataqua Noir calendar. You know, we've seen them in person, so that's always fun. And it's just like it's all felt like a um a high school reunion. Like you see, you know, people you know, but that you've been DMing and talking to, you finally see them in person, or you just seen them a few cons ago, like, hey, how's everything? You know, what's going on? Um, and I thought that's that was really nice uh about BlurCon.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

You gotta go. You gotta go, Kareem. It's yeah, I miss going. Well, I like going, but um I always it's always very interesting to me because we know I feel like I'm like the low like behind the scenes of everything, right? Like I don't I don't talk to people too much. I'm just like I don't like I'm not I'm not I'm not that very great with people. I'm not I mean I can be, but I don't like it. But um so it's very interesting when I run into people who remember me, like I make it a point now to always go to see um tuskegee airs, and it's interesting to me that Greg always remembers who I am. Like always, and it's just weird because I'm like, I am like the least noticeable person, like I am so like just everyday regular person, and I'm just like, and Greg is the one that's like consistently like like that's so cool. Like, even when I'm like, I think randomly was went to Seattle and he was there, and he was like, You're here too.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

I'm like, uh but to be honest, I think as from a vendor standpoint, certain people you recognize or you kind of remember, especially if you had a good rapport with them. Um, and I think whenever we stop at Greg's booth, we have a conversation, like, hey, how's everything going? Yeah, you know, we we've talked to them a number of times in New York City. You know, you said you went to Emerald City, it's even C2E2. We've seen him and and and um uh Marcus as well. So we we have a good conversation with them. So I could see them remembering our face, our faces. As as a vendor, I've seen I can remember, I get your face, ball head, glasses, like it's insane.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

But I'm like, I'm normally like simple to draw. Like I'm normally walking around looking at people's stuff, like, okay, what's this? What's this? That looks interesting. Did it okay? What's this for the next thing? What's this for the next thing? Like, I'm always so it's it's really cool looking and seeing, and like that connection that blurred content seems to help foster with people. Like it is, it is like going back to like a high school reunion or a school reunion kind of feel. Like you're like, oh, I remember seeing this, this person, this, and like, and you know, like you remember the vendors, you get to remember some of the cosplayers, you get to remember some of the faces that you're just like that you're used to seeing, and you're just like, wow, this is really kind of cool, and it just it just blur con feels like no other convention that I've been to, and that's saying a lot because I've been going to we've been all going to conventions for roughly two decades.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

At least a decade. No, at least a decade. We'll stop there.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

We we've been there for at least we've been going to BlurCon for at least a decade, and so it's like, and it's weird to like it's not weird, it's a great feeling to feel like blur con feels like how older how the bigger cons used to feel for me. It's like the bigger cons, like every year, Kareem, we would like again we went to school together, but then we didn't see each other for like years, and then we kept running into each other at New York Comic-Con. And I'm like, that's how BlurCon feels to me. Like it's a way of seeing people that you don't see often. Like, I think if we were still going into New York Comic Con now without having reconnected, we'd never see each other. It'd be it would be completely different. But with BlurCon, it feels like you still have that community versus like some of the other conventions.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

So yeah, this is one of the cosplays. Uh this might have is this uh yeah, this that was this show because they had the uh they had a one uh set Blurred wasn't there, uh Bird Official, but they had a uh a one-piece Netflix had a one-piece spool, so you go there. I guess you take pictures, and they give you like the no the Luffy uh uh bucket hat or pirates hat. Um but yeah, this is one of the cosplays. And the thing was 90. I don't have the picture, but the thing was 90s uh uh uh hip-hop. So one one person actually cosplayed as like the the old Bugs Bunny, uh no, the hip hop t-shirts. So he had the pants on back with the base the baseball uh jersey on, and then he had the big Bugs Bunny uh mask with a baseball cap on. I'm sure it's floating around somewhere on social media, but if I I'll find it to y'all because I'll send it to you um after this. But it it was one of those like you walk by like I had your t shirt, I had you on a t-shirt. I used to get those bootlegs at the flea market with a little table with a little cap on backwards.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Like you see my t-shirt in Malvern and on the avenue.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Yep, yeah. I saw that. I was like, Whoa, and I love the live streaming that um Blur uh Blur Station did. I love the live streaming because it helped to like in the inter like in the interview sessions, like because you get to see you got to say where they're where they were set up was like by the escalators, so like you saw everybody walking through, and I'm like, oh, it's really jam-packed, it's super jam-packed full of people, but then you got to see like all the different cosplays. And I almost wish that maybe for next year what they should do is like they should like have a stopping point there. We're like, hey, take a picture, take a picture, take a picture, take a picture. Because the vast number of people that just walk through and they're just like that was cool. Like, there's some dude who I'm still not sure what the cosplay was, but I think someone said something it was supposed to be an African take on Wolverine.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Oh, and I'm like, What?

SPEAKER_04 9:42

Because like the person just kept walking, and I'm like, you they they never like who like they never stop to like. I guess because people are interviewing other people about other stuff, but it's like they're like you want to see them stop, like, dude, your cosplay looks awesome. What are you? Um that sounds yeah, see that like right behind there.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

It would like this is one of the low low must be one of the earlier times in the day because it was oh it's always packed because there's panels up uh up at the top uh of the escalators, there's a lounge area right out here, and this is this is actually a hotel, so the people can actually you know come in and you know they gotta stay for the night or whatever. So that's all in the butt on the back right. So this whole area when you first come in is flooded with people, cosplay is just walking back and forth. Um I think that was Friday morning, yeah, or Saturday morning. That was actually every oh, this picture here was probably Friday morning. Yeah, I think that was every yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Because I remember she was talking about her costume again. This is how this is how bad it is. I remember her talking about her. She was nope, this was Saturday because the day before she was dressed up as um Missy Elliott. Um, this is how bad that I remember. Like, that's how great this I think I found a Missy Elliott picture. This stream was. She was not sure if her flowers were going to stay on her body.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

I'm sorry, it's just the random things that I remember. She she because she was Missy Elliott. Um, I think I'm not sure if she was the Missy Elliott from where Missy Elliott was like it was like the the take of um Mega Man, where you know, like it was the Missy Elliott and Little Kim in the in the video. That's what and yes, so I think she's that I don't remember if she's the one that's in the um the the the balloon suit, but I think she was the one who's in the Metro Man kind of look. I was like, that is just awesome, and that's for Friday.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Yeah, so I mean, yeah, and so it's I think with the popularity of Blur kind of feel like they they're slowly growing um larger than the facility that they're in. Like it's because they don't have many panel rooms, uh, they probably have six or maybe six or seven panel rooms. Um I think they might have expanded to the hotel next door, the Marriott, to maybe host other things. Because they have like no dance panels where people learn how to do different popular video game dance moves or um other kind of stuff. But I think it's I think it feels like sometimes when it's in the show felt, I feel like they could have a lot more vendors if they had a bigger facility. Um, I don't know the the behind the house, the back of the house kind of stuff as far as costs, if they can move it to another place, if there's even another you know uh location nearby that they can even expand to. Um, this is but this here feels like a if you ever been to DragonCon, it kind of reminds you of DragonCon where you have different panels and things inside of different hotels and within walking distance. Like there's literally four hotels in a one block or radius of of this location, but everything's primarily in the uh high regency that you see in the picture, so it gets crowded. Um, it definitely gets crowded. There's unfortunate only uh one escalator going up, one escalator going down to all levels. Um, but there's something for you to do, and the food trucks are much better than what we get in New York Comic-Con. That's not even not even a competition. Prices are much better. Um, you know, you got everything. Like you can like I got told Kay, I went down there with with actual food containers planning planning to bring food back. That's that's like last year you guys last year we came back with like um some of the stuff like they had the lady had a dessert truck, and so she had made you know cupcakes, and then she had cobblers that she put inside of mason jars. So we I think we brought back an apple cobbler.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

So it's really like a family gathering.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Yeah, literally, that's what it is. It is 100% just a family gathering, and it's great because if you don't want to drive to if you don't want to drive down there, I mean again, it's because we're because New Yorkers, just hop on the Amtrak, just like go on an Amtrak, Amtrak, and then go by Cabot, uh Amtrak to to to the DC station, and from there to uh where we where we are at the ThorCon, it's probably uh a 20, 20, 20 minute drive, maybe 25 minutes for traffic.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Um yeah, so it's like if honestly, if you you want to do it, just you want to just do a Saturday, just come down on the Saturday, come down uh but they open up at 10 a.m. So you come down on a Saturday and then you just you know hop on a train and go back that same Saturday just to see what it's like because Sunday is Sunday is a short day, so I think they open at nine and the show floor closes at three o'clock. So, really, if you want to come down just for Saturday, see what it's like and head back, that's fine.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

Like I miss it, I miss I miss it being in July, but I wish it was kind of in April because then, and this is purely on a selfish need, you could do this and then go see the cherry blossoms, and it'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah, yeah. The warmer weather would be more conducive to sitting out stuck. I mean, they do have a little, you know, about they had at least six to seven, at least seven food trucks, and then there's like a parking lot area behind the hotel, and then they have a whole bunch of benches and chairs, and they have a stage. And I guess depending upon the weather, they have like two years ago they had performances and stuff. Uh, but I think last year it was kind of uh it rained a few days, a few a few times, so it was like people really weren't out at the food, they get the food and they go inside. It really wasn't standing outside this year. Um, honestly, I didn't even get a chance to even see the food trucks.

SPEAKER_04 15:16

I was we were so busy, but there was um the for the food trucks, there was a California taco truck there. Yeah, that's what I saw because people watching people's videos. I was I did because like dude was from the taco truck, because he dude was from California. What whoever the whoever the YouTuber I was watching, he was from California and he was looking at the taco truck, and then he was looking at the cars. The cars this year Ozzy was there.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Ozzy bought his car.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Yo, them cars this year were beautiful, like the Black Panther car.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

What it had like the Zachala uh uh uh uh design on the side up, and I'm like like there, and and there was a blade car that had I didn't see that one.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Dude had a blade car, and he had and again that was at night time. There were two red skulls in there, and then to hold the hood up, I don't think that was a nor the normal hood stick that you don't whatever, y'all know what I mean. Yeah, but it said it was like it looked like the blade sword, and then it said blade, like B L A D. I was like, yo, why is that awesome? See, creativity man, people are so smart. I am never I could never be this, I could never be that inventive with stuff, but it's just so awesome. See, because I watched it too.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, I watched it for it. His booth was about around the corner from us. I I got to talk to him for a little bit in between his interviews. Um, actually, it's Thursday when we were unloading our stuff. He was coming down, he was already there. He's like, I've been here since this morning, and uh, we just really just starting right about now. And that was like 6 p.m. We we got there, so um talked to him. Uh, we had a good time doing a raffle for of some of his artwork. Um, yeah, his car, I mean some of his stories like you might have seen on his his uh Instagram, you know, people stand on top of his car twerking and stuff like that at night. He's like I don't even know what's happening right now. I mean, but by that time, I'm already probably in the hotel passed out because from the vending floor straight to the hotel, order something to eat, go to sleep.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

See so career. I think next year you should go. Well, wait, no, you have you'll have youngins that'll be a little too young to do this.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

But I could do a day and a half, and that would be all right.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Next year is the uh 10-year anniversary, and it's gonna be a wrestling theme, like Slam. Oh, that's gonna so it's gonna it should be interesting to see people coming in there with their uh their wrestling cosplays. I've seen enough black macho man Randy Savages uh this past weekend. So you know they're gonna come out full of full effect next year.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

I'm sorry. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

There was a wrestling panel already, and they were doing the um every person was cosplaying as a different wrestler, so they were they were walk doing the wrestling walk, so they all did the entrance of those wrestlers. So someone did uh Macho Man, they had the slim gems, and they were throwing them out. I gotta find an Instagram video, but they had they had a uh no the Heartbreak Kid, um uh Macho Man. I think they did uh the Discina, they did the Rock. Um uh was it Mankind? Uh I believe it was Mankind with the guy who had like the the face mask on or the sock. Is that is that Mankind? I think so. I look. I mean, but they they did a bunch of different uh ones, so I thought that was pretty cool. That you know, you get your own panel and just do like a uh cosplay walk of this of the wrestlers that you're cosplaying as.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Yeah, that was yeah, that was Mankind McFole.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, so he had Socko and whatnot. They got a little sock in his hand, he's doing the walk. I was like, no, yeah, I'll give y'all credit because I would not have gotten that down. I think they did um the Hardy Boys. Um, I'll give them credit.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

So it's very like because if they did that this year, not knowing what the theme for next year is gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

That's gonna be all out next year.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Someone someone's gonna get a wrestler thing. Set up a small little um wrestling thing, just like, hey, we're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah, they they they should come up with a uh uh do a wrestling match. Doesn't have to be WWE or you know uh any other professionals. That's like if they have local wrestlers to do at least a wrestling match, that would be pretty cool to see. I'm sure there's a way to find some people, even amateur wrestlers. If Brooklyn Comic Con can get wrestlers, you guys can get wrestlers. There's gotta be some locals here. We look forward to uh next year. Um, but I digress. Let's let's let's focus now away from the conventions, away from the live events. Let's go towards our streaming fun. Um, let's go. I don't think we talked about Wonder Man in full. Let's let's jump to uh Wonder Man. So Wonder Man, uh played by uh was Yaya Abdul Mateen, uh the second. It was actually much better than I actually anticipated. It was really it was really a good uh uh uh MCU series, actually the best one they've put out since uh to me since Daredevil. No, so um, I don't well I guess can we can spoil it because I mean it's it's been that it's been out, right? Yeah, so he's got superpowers. Spoiler, he's got superpowers. Um pretty much he he knows he has special powers, uh, but he's just trying to be a um normal individual, like he's just trying to be an actor. His his whole focus is to become a successful Hollywood actor, and and I think they show you in one of the episodes what happened to someone who did have powers and they were they were an actor, bad things happened. So no movie studios have a clause out where they don't allow you know superpowered individuals to be actually on the set because you know bad things can happen. Um, so he he lies about that ability, and so he just really just shows a struggling actor just trying to make it in Hollywood. And I think you really don't get to see his superpowers manifest until literally the what the last episode, or maybe last two episodes, you actually see his manifestation of some, if not all, of his powers. I know Wonder Man is pretty much like one of the top 10 strongest, you know, Marvel characters or so. Um, he can do pretty much anything. Um so I think the last episode really shows him doing what he can do. But I think what really what I what attracted to me was just the acting itself. No, it doesn't have to be a complicated plot, it just it was, I think it was a really well written show.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Yeah. So I do agree this is one of the MCU's best shows on Disney Plus. I look at it as it's not a superhero show. It's a show about a superhero. And you know, for a while I kept thinking it's going to be some kind of a twist, where it's going to be a show within the show, but he's already known as, you know, the superhero. But, you know, to see his journey and to see the other side of the MCU where you're dealing with real life consequences. You're dealing with what the average person may think about. You're dealing with someone who has superpowers, but may not necessarily want to be a superhero. What that could be like. And so I did enjoy the journey in terms of the, you know, the fake Mandarin who I think they're still trying to redeem that plot line. I think that was a great touch. Because he did play a role in terms of tying up some loose ends that I kept wondering how they're going to tie those up. You know, with Simon's powers being revealed, you know, where basically he's being treated as an asset. We all know he's being talked about as a threat, but what they really want is to utilize him as an asset. So I did enjoy that aspect of it where it's his personal life. He actually had a family that's not part of any superhero universe or any superhero organization. They're just going about their lives. And he also has some mental instability based on his trauma, his life here. And I think they did an excellent job in capturing Wonder Man over the year. Because let's be honest, not a lot of people knew much about Wonder Man unless they were into the comic books, you know, a long time ago. So I did know something about Wonder Man. I did enjoy him as a character. And so I do think they captured a lot of those, you know, trickier aspects of the character in this show perfectly. Um, the different iterations. Um, you know, there's a lot of stories that obviously they can tie into, but they may at some point, you know, like Honda and Vision, um, you know, things of that nature, the Grim Reaper. Um, but I do think not showing his powers is more about budget. Um than about, you know, so much the story. But I do think that they they crafted a great story where you didn't have to see his powers fully manifest to understand how strong he actually is. And I think we got that image of it where it's like, whoa, how strong is this guy? Um, who can he go toe-to-toe with? Um, and I think they did give this perfect origin backstory without it feeling like it's an origin movie, the typical, you know, trying to strive to see who you want to be. It's a real life story of someone trying to pursue his goals and dreams. And um, the acting to me is with Soldier Shaw, which is excellent, in my opinion. Yeah, agreed.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

It was fun. It um I would have liked to see more of his powers, but um, I get again budget. Although it wasn't really budget because y'all were using your own real actual studios to film this, so like you know, we're gonna just use our actual studios to show that this place this is the movie set.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

You gotta pay somebody to make the stuff sparkle, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

They're paying themselves, okay? It's a write-off. No, um, it actually was. I I'm a person that had no idea who the heck wonder Wonder Man was, but that's fine. Like, so all of this was just new for me, and I'm like, okay, this is interesting. He is an interesting character. I did like the fact that you saw that he was a kid, you saw his family life, you and you connect. Well, some I connect to the fact that he had like here he is being a sibling, and how like it just seems like you can't live up to your other siblings, and then how it seems like your other siblings don't necessarily always see you for who you are, kind of situation. Um, I was like, that's an actual great way to throw this in there, and then having them be um children of immigrants was interesting as well. Although, again, what is up with why do we always have to do a dead parent? I mean, yes, he was at least however old before his his dad, spoilers, before his dad died.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Yeah, that's the comic book lore. What how many uh superheroes have both their parents? Superman's dad is dead. Well, damn, but I'm sorry, his whole family, his whole, his whole world got blown up. Batman's parents got popped. Um no, Peter Parker, you never seen his parents.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

Miles Mells still got both parents.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Okay, there we go.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Well, which version, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

I was gonna say, doesn't his dad die? Isn't that a canon event according to uh uh Spider-Man 2099? It can't be stopped. It's only a matter of time, buddy. Your days are numbered, buckle.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

Okay, fine, but I just think I want one, I want, I I want like I don't like it. It does annoy me that like it's always like there's a dead parent somewhere involved. Like you can become a superhero without having to deal with that trauma. Like, why couldn't your trauma be just hiding the fact that you're you know you got powers? I mean, your parents probably know anyway, but still, it's just that was the one thing like I was like I wasn't necessarily overly keen for that. Like, again, it's a dead parent, and I know it's a superhero cliche, but it just I was like, Can we not do that one?

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Did his Wonder Man did his his father didn't die in a fire, right? He just so this is the thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

We don't actually know how his dad died.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Okay, I was gonna say I thought I thought we knew he started the fire and in in the house, but I wasn't sure if the I thought his dad died.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

No, that that's the thing. I don't think they actually ever explicitly explain whether or not his dad died in the fire or if his dad died something else. Like that's the thing. I'm like, but we know his dad is dead. Yep, yeah. Maybe that'll be part of season two. Maybe that's where he gets the superpowers from. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

I hope, yeah. I hope to see uh a second season. Uh no, he's on a run now with um uh Ben Kingsley. Uh I agree with Queen. Like, they definitely read the I don't think they ever had this plan for Ben Kingsley's character, fake Mandarin, to be no, he he's as well Mandarin, Shang Chi, he shows up and now he's in it. Like that they didn't have that plan. That they there's no way you're gonna you're gonna convince me that we we had this planned out. We had it on the video.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

No, you did not. People just happened to like Ben Kingsley in the room. We were like, Oh, we want to see more.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Yeah. If if Ben Kingsley was the Mandarin, how he portrayed himself to be, you know, no terrorist or bad guy, and they just and they captured him, they arrested him, knocked him out, whatever, brought him to justice, and he get and he escapes. I'd have sected that, but you know, you figure out he's friggin' an actor, uh you know, a drug, drug-fueled actor who just was signed on to do some acting roles. Like, what?

SPEAKER_04 29:42

Right, that that was different, but I liked it. And like they people were saying, like, during what's happening, like when they when they were talking about like the different characters that the character has Trevor had played, it are some of those roles were actual roles that he did in his real career. Oh, they were, yeah, yeah. I was like, I never knew that. It was kind of interesting. I was like, because it it's that like I thought that was like a cute little way, like a nod to like, hey, this dude's had like a long career, like a long career, and we're gonna like kind of also honor that. Um, I was not expecting um Joe Pantaliona. Yes, I was like, what? Like that was the weird thing. I'm like, so we're just don't and the way that everyone says his full thing's like, oh, okay, can we not? It's you're making it weird. You're making it weird. I was like, like that was fun. It was like getting to see the life behind the behind an actor is kind of interesting, and playing it that way was like, okay, it's not a superhero show, it is a show about a superhero and how they become. And do we consider him a superhero at this point, or is it someone that's trying to help their friend?

SPEAKER_01 31:01

No, I don't think he's a superhero. I think he's he's a he's a super powered individual. Like he's not a he's not on that level of I'm going to make it my job. Or my my life's calling is to you know help others using my abilities, like you know, Peter Parker does, or uh Captain America, or or you know, freelance. Like I'm I'm gonna use my abilities to help others. No, I feel like he's just a guy, I got powers, I'm trying to hide them. I don't I don't want to use my powers to get me to where I want to go. I want to use my natural powers of my acting, my skill as opposed to pew, pew, pum. I can shoot you know energy beams on my eyes and hands, I can you know fly, I can, I'm super strong. I just want to be known for being a great actor, you know, being able to uh engage the audience with my words and my movements and have them transport themselves into this world of make-believe that I I I you know created on stage or on on film. Um, and I think that's to me is what I look liked about it. Like it wasn't we we weren't focused on okay, is he gonna use his powers this episode? It's like, is he gonna get the role? I was more focused on is he gonna get the role and is he going to keep it? Is he gonna mess himself up? Because you saw how he messes himself up in the first 10 minutes of the uh the first episode where he's second guessing the director and doing everything, and then he gets you know gets canned before he can even say action, like you know what, let's just cut. We can find someone better. Yeah, and Josh Cat is in the thing, too. That's what was like, okay, another no celebrity actor playing them portraying themselves, right? Are we gonna see Josh Cad again?

SPEAKER_04 32:38

No, he's stuck in the door.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Yeah, that was pretty funny too. You know, I just think that you know, with how good this show was. Um, you know, and I don't know what the marketing would have looked like um based on the story that was in the show. Again, he didn't they he wasn't using his powers every single episode. There were no great spectacles of you know power and excitement. Um, but it was a very solid story. It was excellent acting. Um, and and it was a show that I blew through. So it's just again causing the question like, why are there certain things that they don't want to promote on Disney Plus that seems to be a hit? Um and it's like, is it self-sabotage? Is it deliberate sabotage? Is it just wanting to downplay? Um, because they they really could have utilized this show and his character with even all types of you know fan theories after the fact. Like, oh, is he gonna become part of the West Coast Avengers? Is he gonna meet this person? And it's like they could have utilized that because, like you said, he wasn't really a superhero in this in this move in this show. Um, not until the very end that he started trying to make a difference independent of his acting career. Um but that leads to a lot of excellent questions as to where is he gonna be with the upcoming slate of movies? Um, is he gonna why how is he gonna get recruited? Is it just to you know redeem himself? Is it just to get revenge for you know what may happen to his family? Is it because he realizes he has responsibility? You know, there's a lot that they could utilize to tie him into the upcoming slate of superheroes. Because again, he may not be as known as other characters, but he is one of the original characters um going back decades before people even you know cared about the Avengers like they do now.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Are are is there a vision uh series coming out this year? Or the what kind of so I mean that's the what the white vision, right? Yeah, the one that left in uh Wanda vision. So maybe he may make an appearance there, or is he supposed to show up on Doomsday? Um I don't know. Uh I'm looking forward to it. I agree it very it was not much marketing done to advertise Wonder Man. Uh similar to what they did with Ironheart, was like, yeah, we're gonna put it out. You'll find it if you want if you're interested in it.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Um, but I think I think this was much better than Wonder or than Ironheart. I've I forgot why I didn't, I thought Ironheart was okay, but I just felt like I didn't know the villain. Um, I think that's probably also what the I I didn't really care about um and I like Anthony Robinson. Not that he's not a bad actor whatsoever. I just his reasoning for doing things is like, uh, no, the plot twist at the end was like, oh yeah, I'm also your no, I'm your son, and you kicked me out the house, so I'm gonna make all your stuff suffer. I'm like, okay. I don't care. I was more happy that they finally saw Mephisto, honestly. I was like, oh, finally Mephisto does exist. And he and he's working with uh you know, Ironheart's gonna work with him, you know, sacrificing some of her soul or whatever to get power, but we'll see what happens with that. But I enjoyed the I guess more adult or more complex dialogue and drama inside of uh Wonderman as opposed to the normal popcorn fluff we get in these superhero superhero movies. But aside from almost uh I guess similar to Wonderman where you have you know complex dialogue and scenarios, uh Alex Cross on Amazon Prime is uh entered its second season. We're I think up to one week away from the season finale. Um, for those that don't know, Alex Cross played by Aldus Hodge uh as a uh Washington DC detective. Uh pretty much he's no, I was like, I I think of him almost like a black Sherlock Holmes. Like he he can see things that other people sometimes can't see. Definitely well, the book book version of Alex Cross, he can see things that other people can't see within a crime scene. Uh always trying to deduce um uh the murders, the kidnappings, and and things like that that take place. I forgot what number of book they're up to. Probably at least 15, 16. Um, pretty much in this, like Kim said, Why do all heralds have trauma? This one, he's you know, he's a married black man with two kids. His wife gets gunned down and they um uh she gets she gets shot and killed. And so it's a mystery of who killed his wife. Um, so uh no that that drives him to always solve murders and no give it all give it his all. Um he lives at his his grandmother's house. Like the like basically he he has he he lives with his grandmother, who no, they have his two children there. I think they're about uh 12 and 14 years old, 12, maybe 12 and 15 years old. Um, and it's just like a you know, strong black uh dad, you know, being a cop and also looking out for his family. Yeah, he has a really close friend that he's grown up with, uh, John Sampson, another black uh black man that's you know they're running buddies, but they're also partners at the uh Metro DC Police Department. Um, the books are great. Uh for those who are watching the Alex Cross first season, they they definitely you know swap some characters around. It doesn't follow the storylines of the book. So if you're reading the books, expecting it to you know follow that on on the screen, it doesn't do that. So that that to me was a little disappointing. I was looking for certain scenes that happen, and no, they they the the episodes this season and last season, I think they wrote exclusively for television.

SPEAKER_04 38:15

Um there are 34 books.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Yeah, we're uh we're not up there. We're I think we've listened to at least there are probably 10. Because where we are in the in this because I think I think by now, I think his eldest son, or his youngest son, because he has two kids, two boys and one girl, by the time we're up to it. His youngest son is like in kindergarten, but I think later on it's almost like encyclopedia brand, like one of his kids has their own mystery series of solving crimes, like local school mysteries kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

So that's Ali Cross. Those there are three of those in that series, but there are 34.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Well, I think it's Ali. I think it's Ali because Ali. Yeah, yeah, it's Ali because whoever the the writers, which is a white guy, at least every I think every book we've we've read or listened to, they describe him. He's always looks like a young Muhammad Ali, like, oh my god. Like it does, and it doesn't mention it once in the books. They mention it like whenever someone sees him or you know, they're talking about oh, he's strong, strong, strapping guy, six four a lot of brown skin, like a young Muhammad Ali, like, oh god.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

Yeah, we would have no confusion.

unknown 39:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

I mean, it wasn't, I mean, like like a young at one point we had we were going on, like, no, if it says young Muhammad Ali, like, take a shot. It's like it's it happens so often, but um another one of the James Patterson, Mr.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

James Patterson of Newburgh, New York.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Yeah, yeah, so yeah, uh, which I I didn't know was a white guy until uh you know went online so it's a white guy. Um I didn't think it was black at certain times because of certain foods that you know Alex Cross was cooking at home. I was like, oh, who eats that? But it was like some snail something that's like what the fuck are we here for? But um uh aside from that, it it the the the um mysteries are are very good. Um there was uh I'm trying to think what was this there was in difference between the TV show and the books, uh there's uh a former FBI agent, Kyle Craig, in the books, but they gender swapped it and made a Kyla Craig in the TV show.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

But that's that's a major character that you know plays throughout several books. I don't know where I we'll see what happens at the end of the season, but uh you know, then give stuff away. But that's some that's a major character within the Oxcross world. So um we'll see how that um develops. Um what is your take on on this season so far, Kareem? Because we haven't even talked about the plot of this season, but what was your take on uh the second season?

SPEAKER_00 40:51

So I I think that the initial premise is very interesting. Um, you know, you have these this this duo working to basically eliminate um some powerful men, some billionaires, um who have some shared dark secret, uh, but obviously, you know, abusing, you know, women, children, communities, um, areas, basically with without any consequences.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Um, and so they're gonna go out and met their own justice um as they see fit. Um, you know, as soon as I saw the first episode, the first 15 minutes, I'm like, it's an 15 episode. Like, okay, okay, I can get down with this. Um, I did find that very fascinating. Um, you know, even in terms of like lose and the way that she's being portrayed, um, the impact that they're having, um, where it's not so much a secret um who's involved, at least not, you know, to a different extent, but it's not just them. They have people who would go unnoticed by others assisting them. Like when she's trying to get away, she's sneaking through. There's this regular, you know, utility workers or service workers who are helping them, and people wouldn't even look at them. So I like that aspect of it where it's like, okay, you have people trying to push back. Um, and again, I haven't watched the the latest episode. Um, that's how uh, but it doesn't feel as if it's as much of a mystery this season, um, besides the storyline with John's mother. Um, because that is like a real mystery in terms of did she do it or did she not, you know, kill um this other individual. But I I do find it enjoyable. Um, you know, there's some actors from the expanse that you know, I'm always glad to see them. I like them, yeah. I'm always glad to see them in different shows now. Um, you know, so I I am enjoying the plot line. Um there seems to be more focused on relationships this season, um, and in in terms of uh trying to move the characters forward. Um so it's not like they're not revisioning the same stories, where of course is trying to get back, you know, with his ex. Um so I do want to see how that's going to play out in terms of uh the complications later. Um, but I I'm old enough to appreciate the lack of love triangles. Um I I do love that. I I I appreciate the lack of I'm getting ready to tell you something extremely important, but then the phone rings or something else happened. I do appreciate that. I do appreciate the adult type relationships, but they actually have conversations um to work through these problems. Uh, but the the main, at least what I believe is the main storyline now with Luz and Donnie, uh, it doesn't feel as much of a mystery this season. But again, it it could be wrong. But it's still enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

No, I agree. Agree. Um, there's really not um not much of a mystery as to it's it's I always enjoy the who done it, but sometimes the plot twist of why they did it is is cool. But This one we know from probably episode one or two that we know why these people are doing what they're doing. Um, uh you know, you uh you kind of you get kind of torn as to should we allow these vigilantes to run free and kill who who we know all know are bad people, or should we bring them to justice and have them serve in our judicial system, which we know is but for people who are that high up with power and and kind and touch, these can you know they'll see a fine and keep going about their day. Um, especially for what they were doing, like the first episode was like Epstein Island, yeah. Uh, and then uh you know, they find out that they're trafficking uh children and and uh um uh I hate the term illegals, but um uh people from Mexico or South America bringing them up here and having them work illegally uh in these factories. And if they get hurt, you know, they either kill them or just no throw them someplace. They got them they like the guy said he had he didn't know they was had had the children sleeping inside of the chicken coop, inside the chicken factory. Like, how do you have how do you how do you do that? Like, you know, you can't be a bill, I guess you can't be a billionaire without have without uh doing some kind of dirt. Yeah, and that doesn't I'm not saying that to absolve the fact that you're a billionaire, but it's like you shouldn't have that much money and and still be that morally corrupt. Yeah, there's some exploitation along the way. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless you win the lotto. Yeah, no one there's never been a billion, a billion dollar lotto. No one's coming off.

SPEAKER_04 45:37

Yes, there has.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Someone won a billion dollar. I was talking about after taxes, you're a billionaire.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

No, okay, wait, wait, wait. Okay, so wait. You want to hear my okay. So this is yes, agreed. So in America, there's never been a billion-dollar lotto. But so you know how like we in the US when we win the lotto, like all these taxes are taken out of them. That's a US thing.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

So, what do they do in the UK?

SPEAKER_04 46:00

That no, so if you win the lot the euro millions or whatever, you win the whole amount.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

You don't have to pay taxes on that.

SPEAKER_04 46:11

They get to clean the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Right. I was like that that they're messing up their system. I mean, how do y'all not get no taxes? I mean, I'm for the winning the money.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Like regular taxes, but like how the US takes out like like the people like the billion dollar ones that have already happened, like mega millions has been billion, and I'm uh sure Powerball has been a million has been over. So, like how they literally take out like 45, 55, but like in taxes straight off the bat, no, that is that's not how that works out everywhere else in the world. I'm just like, what is it like to be instead of a country that doesn't try to screw you over completely at all levels? Sorry, that was just a random thought. Okay, I just no no yeah, it's just yeah, I mean but uh it's weird, but I am I'm enjoying this season. I am enjoying, I have not read this, I have not read any Alex Cross books at all. Um I will say I'm not necessarily the biggest James Patterson reader in terms of like like my mom has read James Patterson, my brothers have read James Patterson. Um, I have not been like a big James Patterson person, like I like my horror. So like I don't want to read, but now this is making me like even though we've seen like all the different other James Patterson cross stuff that have become things, I've it's never made like, oh yeah, I want to not read these books. But this is the first show, this is the first thing of James Patterson that makes me actually want to go and read the books.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Well, we did the audio books, we did we don't we we do the audio books, and those are those are better. And and those the long camera spider, the one that Morgan Freeman was in, uh the other one that uh uh what's this guy's name? Um Tyler Perry. Uh those the books are much better than what we've seen on on the TV screen. Because I mean he's a young he's a young man, so when you see Morgan Freeman, like Morgan Freeman is he's a per he's a he's a forever 50 year old dude. Like we there's no young photos in this guy. His high school photos is like me right now, like it's you're not gonna be below 40 years old. Um, so for him to be that Alex Cross, it's like, and that that's our introduction to Alex Cross. It's like this is the first book. This is a young guy. That's like he's like in his, I think, his early 30s.

SPEAKER_04 48:36

Um I'm sure that was Morgan Freeman at that time.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Oh yeah. He probably in Morgan years is not 30 in normal black people years. That's just that's a whole different thing. Like he's forever looking like dude from uh Shoreshanka. He's not young. Bless his heart, though. I mean, he looks like he doesn't age much after he hit the 50 year old mark. So well, the thing is, when did he hit 50 year old?

SPEAKER_04 49:04

1972.

SPEAKER_03 49:07

When he was easy reader, um, not not too many people are gonna get that one, and not too many people are gonna get the easy reader for him.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

Yeah, but uh Alex Gross is uh only the my gripe with this up with this season felt like there was less dialogue, and like it felt like if we can't we can't push dialogue, let's throw a sex scene in there. Like it didn't even need like it was this. I think the was the first episode, like Samson and his girlfriend, they're arguing in the car and they pull over in the parking lot and they start yeah. I was like not necessary, not like yeah, could have maybe it's the old person to be like, Oh, I gotta say some booze, but like it's like I don't like it could have either eliminated that scene altogether, but it felt like it's forced. Like we gotta we got a bigger budget, so we can now add more sensuality to it.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

Or maybe the actors were like, Yo, I want to see, like, I want to seem sexy, like let me let me get a sex scene up in here or two, and maybe people were like, Well, I just kind of want to see I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

Look, I was I mean, you already got all these medium t-shirts on like you got those under armor shirts, he's all muscular showing off, like but but it looks like you actually worked out for a bit. Like, damn, this guy he's killing us here. You know, and then um they're like, I'm working out.

SPEAKER_04 50:19

I want to I want to show this off. Damn it. I want to have a shirt, I want to be shirtless, I want some boobs. No, I'm just kidding. I don't know what's with the girl.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

Well, the girls have a tendency to fast forward past that.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

I'm like, I don't care, just go just like the first yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

The first episode, like him and um his ex they know that he start talking and they make it out like oh boy.

SPEAKER_04 50:40

And then um with the girl, the um the the the killer. She when she's with with the guy in the um that she met at the what is it called? The casino. I was like, I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 50:51

I was like, I don't I don't need to see a cheeks, please. Uh okay, oh all right. Then the other guy at least at least I think there's uh maybe the last episode, not this past week, but I think the last week was the episode you didn't see no nobody have sex, and then Bobby, him and his banana hammocks, like, come on, man, put the bristle jewels on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

He didn't need that. He could have had on some regular shorts.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

He only like five foot one over the knife and a little banana hammock. Like it's like, is this what uh Kevin Hart looks like?

SPEAKER_02 51:46

Horrible.

SPEAKER_04 51:48

But aside from that, the the I do enjoy this. It's a well-written show, it's a good show. It's um again, we we want more dialogue, but that's not gonna always happen. Um, and because this isn't necessarily directly tied to the novels, they get a little bit more leeway with how Amazon may want to portray stuff. They may want to like yo, we got a clause, we want this, we want to have like a certain amount of violence time, a certain amount of this time, just to like keep the numbers rat uh kicking up.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

So the whole thing with making Kyle Craig into Kyla, uh Kyla or Kayla Craig, and now you sleep with Alex Cross, like there was no um sexuality between the between the two characters in the book, the two guys. They were like, no, well, they they respected one another because he was for FBI and they worked closely with one another um inside the in the in the in the in the books. There's some no some animosity between no Kyle Craig and Alex because no, he thinks Alex took all the credit for the Gary Siniji um case, which you know they they mentioned in the first season, but that kind of ramps up in the books. But I'm trying to figure out how it's going to play out in the um in a TV show because we don't know who this person is who's who's trying to blackmail her. Um at one point I'm thinking maybe she has split eye, maybe it was her, but she has like almost like split personality. Like, how do you go into a store, buy a uh a burner phone, you put it on your car seat, and it rings automatically looking for you? Like, how does that work? Like they knew you were in there, they knew what's burner phones was inside there, and they called it right away. Like you literally just open it up, ring. Yeah, I'm talking, I'm looking for you. Like, how does that work? Yeah, yeah. I was like, this that to me is like that's the biggest surprise I want to see be revealed this season, as opposed to well, will they catch loose and her uh before she kills uh Shaggy or something like that?

SPEAKER_04 53:44

I mean, no, I hope she doesn't. Like, I hope she gets to kill Shaggy.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

Like, you hope she does, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

Hope she does. Kill him.

SPEAKER_01 53:49

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I want him to, yeah. He dies, or you know, they know he gets to go to jail or something. Cause I mean, you was you oh come on, he's not going to jail.

SPEAKER_04 53:56

Let's be honest. That's not gonna happen. She she's gonna have to kill him.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

She killed the black guy at the at the wedding, so I was like, oh damn.

SPEAKER_04 54:02

So, you know, like he he he doesn't deserve to live. No, not well, none of them, so he can go, like, nah, get rid of Shaggy, he's fine.

SPEAKER_01 54:15

Yep, yeah. It's nice to see him as an actor do uh more serious roles as well.

SPEAKER_04 54:21

It is, it's it's I think that was my biggest shock. That was like, because when it was announced who's gonna be, I was like, Matthew Lillard, serial killer? I don't like I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

Well, he was one in Scream, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:36

Oh, that's not the serial killer I meant. My bad. What I was thinking was from him and um hackers. That sorry, so whenever I say serial killer, I think of I'm I'm talking about hackers. I'm almost never speaking about screaming ever. And I just realized I was like, Yeah, well, you know, so he right, you know what he does, he has form for killing people, so from screen with his smile, then gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Um, I think the next episode we can uh discuss the the season finale of cross. Yeah, but we'll we'll hold off any speculation as to what happened, but we'll circle back as to if it actually pans out to what we think is gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04 55:13

I think, and then like the week after that, you're you guys get your daredevil back again.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

Yeah, can't wait. Can't wait. Heroes for hire excluding. I don't I haven't seen Iron Fist in any of the fetters, so maybe he's on vacation, maybe he's in Kung Lao or something. I hope so. Please give me that or just a new actor. I mean, if they give us a different actor, that I might maybe that'll redeem it.

SPEAKER_04 55:35

Yeah, it's probably gonna be the same dude. He's not gonna be doing his martial arts stuff, so you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:41

So what are you there for? Exactly. Iron fist the chauffeur, he's driving Luke Cage around. Like, what do we do?

SPEAKER_04 55:46

Maybe he's using guns. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 55:48

So I got Iron Man.

SPEAKER_00 55:50

He doesn't kill anybody. Like, oh, maybe he's with Shang-Chi.

SPEAKER_01 55:53

Maybe he's he's out there, and then he mentioned he's out there with Shang-Chi and he's he's working on something. Okay, sure, write him off. Perfect. You're not missed here in Hell's Kitchen. At all. At all, yeah, exactly. At all. But tune in next time, we'll talk about uh ending of Alex Force and much more. Uh we're your host, Kay Karina Hanif. Have a good one.