Fan X Fan Show: 'The Flash' 304 - "The New Rogues"

Episode Highlights-

- Trav votes early, and we urge you to get out and vote

- I talk about the early success of my acting debut in 'Nneka The Uber Driver'

https://www.facebook.com/nnekatheuberdriver/videos/890693434365122/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

- Writing my first Web Series!

- Amalgam Comics' Ariel makes get her own Marvel Variant Cover!

- We talk Halloween, terrible Joker costumes, and being fat

- Barry and Wally (and Joe!) are suckers when it comes to women

- Changes to Mirror Master and The Top

- Snart makes his "expanded universe" debut

- The many versions of Harrison Wells

- How Jesse Quick is Trunks/Goten, and her costume is awesome

- Traci Lords in 'Crybaby', oh my

- Cold mirrors and showerheads

- Our Election Season Show???

Fan X Fan Show: 'The Flash' 218 - "Versus Zoom"

We recorded this hours after learning the world lost Prince, one of it's most important figures of (at the very least) the last century.  Travis and I talk at length about Prince's impact on our culture, our families and ourselves.  After I shed a tear or two, we get into our weeks, and Travis continues to enjoy his new reads.  I'll tell you about the Gilani/Seemion wedding, and my first acting audition in years!  Then... oh boy.  Travis and I take turns yelling at the television as Team Flash comes up with a plan (kinda) to stop Zoom (maybe?) once and for all (we hoped kinda maybe).  Wally decides the rent is too damn high, Cisco decides the dark side is way too close, and Zoom's pops decides the chicken was too damn dry!  Some great juxtaposing, more and more insight as to why the supporting cast matters so much, and a room full of killers who can't bring themselves to kill this time.  Damn.  All this and more on this week's Fan X Fan Show!

Shane Falco, Aunt Jemima, and the San Francisco Chinamen: A Few Words from a Lifelong Washington Redskins Fan.

I grew up in the great state of Texas, specifically San Antonio (HOME OF THESE GUYS). I moved there when I was 11, and my immediate family still lives there. But I'm originally from Camp Springs, Md, which is located just outside of Washington, DC. For this reason, and a few others, I've been a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. I was enamored with the guys in old lady dresses and pig snouts, loved singing the fight song with my mom, and was always amazed at how damn fast Darrell Green was! The Redskins were an institution, a way of life, a gold standard. As a kid, I never really thought about the name, but I also didn't think about the absurdity of the name 'Indians' either, because I was a kid. So yesterday, various sources reported that the Washington Redskins trademark would not be renewed, due to a strong political movement hoping to force a name change for the franchise. As a near 30 year old man who has never even considered an allegiance to another pro football team... I really have no problem with it. AT ALL.

But no see, this is cool, cuz it's like... but see...

I've heard very, very strong opinions on the subject. "Why now?" seems to be the prevailing opinion. People are ranting about the new found sensitivity on America, how we seem to cower and concede whenever someone deems something offensive. In this case, my response is "ok, so?". There is nothing so damn important about the Redskins name that it can't be changed to something less derogatory. It's not as if player salaries drop, it's not that you won't be able to buy new team gear, hell, it's not like you won't be able to wear your old gear! But what's so wrong about adjusting? It's really similar to reparations. Now, I'm in no way saying the name of a sports team holds a candle to slavery, it's reach or it's ramifications. What I'm saying is, one of the major problems people have with reparations is that in admitting wrongdoing, you worry about opening up the floodgates to having to PAY WHAT YOU MAY ACTUALLY OWE. People don't want to feel responsible for past wrongdoing, and want you to act as if everyone started with equal footing. Any acknowledgement that that idea is silly puts people in a position to have to come up with solutions, and they'd rather just ignore valid complaints. Nothing new here, but it's the prevailing truth in America.

DC FOOTBALL LEGEND BRUH.

As a supporter of a franchise that's only had FLASHES of success since the mid nineties (like these guys, only more honest about it) I for one am ok with a name change. What have the Redskins been since like '95? Average? Below average? This isn't the Pittsburgh Steelers or New England Patriots calling audible, it's a franchise with more losing seasons than 10 win seasons since i was a kid. I love the football team representative of the DC/Maryland/Virginia Area (DMV for those in the know)regardless of their name. Shane Falco? Big fan of that guy. Also the Art Monks and the Mark Rypiens, Even the Michael Westbrooks and Stephen Davis's, right on down to the RGIII's and the Brian Orakpos (hook 'em) on the team. I'm not tied to any name that people may rightfully deem offensive. Wouldn't affect my fandom in the slightest.

Where the 'was anyone offended?' argument goes the hell out the window.

Politicians from all over the country all of a sudden made this their focus, this being the great cause they chose to champion. It'll be interesting to see if people grill them on other things they may deem wrong, and if they fight so vehemently against those things. Am i going to have to switch to log cabin, because well, that damn Aunt Jemima looks like a mamm... nevermind. In the meantime, hail to the Re... whatever. Fight for all DC!

If you Can Make Out the Words I've Typed, your Biracial Children Will be Fine.

Kermit was about that life.

A Facebook friend, a Hispanic in her late 20's, was livid yesterday.  A coworker of hers told her that she "doesn't approve of Hispanic and Black babies."  Now, the same coworker takes no issue with Hispanic and White children, but made it a point to voice her displeasure toward her choice in partner and living, breathing (adorable!) children.  She had every right to be upset - anyone that would try to define a "proper" combination for race mixing is proving their ignorance toward the world that we live in, and the world that is approaching.  If anyone tells you that they don't "approve" of biracial families/children, or think you are placing unnecessary hurdles in front your children, it's clear they aren't going to be the movers, shakers or policy makers your children will have to interact with later down the line.

Yeah, I think the "Safe" stigma helped out a bit.

When people say "post-racial", chances are they don't know what the hell they're talking about.  But an argument can be made that the world is progressively "mixed tolerant".  Why exactly?  Who knows - this is an entertainment blog, not  (insert boring blog title here, ZING!)  so let's just throw out a few examples:

1) KINDA Black President - not a shot, but do I think  Barack Obama being a handsome, not so dark individual made him a more attractive choice than Al Sharpton?  Damn right!

2) Jessica Alba - Nerd and race motivated shit talked that I am, I didn't even think to question her playing the Invisible Woman, or being Chris Evans' sister in The Fantastic Four.  And he's so clearly white they let him be Captain America!!!

3) Today's NBA - Look at Joakim Noah, Blake Griffin, (create-a-player #1) Klay Thompson.  They are appreciated for their talents as top players, and even in barber shop circles, they aren't made out to be "too" anything, or "not enough" anything else.  And three of the best point guards of the last decade (Parker, D. Williams, and the GAWD J. Kidd) are all from mixed ethnicity.

So those in control - the voters, the people that talk with there dollars, and the American sports fans, are all tolerant, and appreciative of the portion of the population that come from mixed backgrounds.  So what does it matter if people you interact with on a lower level don't?

Nobody even blinked.  Not a soul.

At this point, it's not even "progressive" to date outside of your ethnicity, it's almost a given.  Growing up in San Antonio, Texas (nawfwest till I rest)  it's almost a given that as a person of Black/ White/ Asian/ Middle Eastern descent, you would at some point date a Hispanic person, unless you actively avoided it, because they made up most of the population.  Any person that would give you a hard time for this was old, or couldn't count, or wanted you for themselves and wouldn't verbalize that.

The bigger issue is this guy being French.

 The people in charge of hiring your children, the people that grant them admittance into college, these people don't have a bias against biracial people, because by the time your children are old enough to encounter these people, the population will have grown to be exponentially multiracial, based on a whole bunch of numbers I read so you wouldn't have to (I care.)  So let people you talk to have their opinions, even if these are things they try to pass down, it'll be awfully hard for their children to formulate such strong resentment if the people they grow up with, in the same neighborhoods, playing the same sports, wearing the same clothes and having the same interests as them.  Changing with the times isn't for everyone.  Lucky for us, time tends to change without their approval.