Category Nerdvana

Nerdvana: Super Best Friends

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There’s far too much animosity in the world today.

Spy_vs_Spy_(MADtv)

 

After a while, I get tired of seeing pairs of characters constantly hating each others’ guts and always being at each others’ throats. This is why today’s Nerdvana takes the opposite approach and pays tribute to some of my favorite besties in fiction. Today we celebrate…Super Best Friends, some of my favorite fictional best friend duos. As you should know by now, we’re big on duos here at Twinsanity.

BLUE BEETLE II (TED KORD) & BOOSTER GOLD

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold

I know these days lots of peoples’ favorite Blue Beetle is Jaime Reyes because “he was in Young Justice and that was the best DC show eva and I hate Cartoon Network for cancelling it for Teen Titans GO! and blah blah blah blah blah”, but my favorite Blue Beetle is and always has been Ted Kord, the goofy genius with the amazing tech. For a time during his reign, it looked like Ted was being groomed to be the Tony Stark of DC, and I definitely could’ve gotten behind that. Ted wasn’t dark, brooding, perfect or overly serious; he was fun, good natured and self-effacing, something you rarely see in capes nowadays. Another reason I like Ted Kord is because he was bosom chums with another C-list at best superhero, Booster Gold, everyone’s favorite time-traveling glory hound. Together the 2 of them formed the duo of Blue & Gold, getting into wacky shenanigans and even dare I say…

boostertedbromance

While Booster Gold has made a few TV appearances already, we’ve seen very little of Ted in animation, mainly because by the time of the DCAU and the subsequent superhero media boom, Ted Kord was already deceased in the comics. Darn shame. Maybe after DC reboots and retcons their universe for the umptee-seventh time, they can resurrect Ted, and then maybe we can finally get some Blue and Gold antics on a TV show or DTV movie. Personally I’d totally be up for some “BWAH-HA-HA!” action somewhere. Fun, goofball superhero buddies are sadly rare.

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Let’s get ludicrous!

SUPERGIRL & BATGIRL

supergirl-batgirl

I’ve already went over this briefly in Carpin’ and Gripin’, but one of the many reasons why Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice left me cold is because I’m personally sick and tired of Supey and Batsy’s nonstop pissing contests that DC and popular media insist on perpetuating post-Dark Knight Returns. This is why I’m glad to see that whenever Superman and Batman’s female counterparts, get together, they actually get along. When Batgirl and Supergirl team up, they don’t start fuedin’ and fussin’ like cats and dogs, they’re fast friends, working together and complimenting one another, Kara’s arsenal of alien powers meshing well with Barbara’s big brain and incredible tech arsenal. (In fact, their friendship calls to mind a show idea I tried developing many years ago called Super Trouble!, about 2 silly young aspiring girl heroes who were always getting into crazee situations, think Broad City meets Freakazoid!.) I still dig Superman and Batman as they’re the parentheses of the superhero world, but I’d really like to see this ongoing chest-pounding contest between them come to an end; they could learn a lesson from their teenage girl offshoots. maybe one day we can get a response movie called Batgirl & Supergirl: Dawn of Besties.

LYRA HEARTSTRINGS & BON BON

Lyra and Bon Bon

No, these 2 aren’t superheroes or even main characters, but our site, our rules. My favorite 2 background ponies, each one belonging to my 2 favorite Pony Tribes (no offense to the Pegasi, but I’ve always liked the unicorns since they can do magic, and the Apple Family, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Bon Bon made me a fan of the Earth Ponies–I can’t resist the country, candy and desserts); the MLP fan base turned these 2 random characters into a cute and endearing coupl…er, um…DUO. Yeah, duo. When Lyra and Bon Bon finally made their speaking debut as said characters in Friendship Is Magic‘s 100th episode “Slice of Life”, they didn’t disappoint:

 

OK, 3 things:

  1. Awwww, obviously.
  2. Sitting cross-legged is quite an achievement for a horse, and
  3. I think it’s pretty obvious that DHX is, or is at least teasing hardcore, that these 2 are supposed to be a couple. If there was any doubt before, then we got this:

 

No, I’m not delusional, I know that’ll NEVER happen in canon, but I wouldn’t be against it; I find Bon Bon (or Sweetie Drops) and Lyra to be profoundly cute together, in any regard, I’m OK with them just being BFFs (Best Fillies Forever).

Soul Daddy

“I dunno y’all, I’d like to see me some filly on filly action. That’d be groovitatious!”

Yeah, I think we’re done here.

Nerdvana: Two Voyages

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Today Nerdvana gets all international up in here.

One song I’ve been grooving to lately is the Europop standby “Voyage, Voyage”. Here’s the more popular 80’s version of the song performed by androgynous pop star Desireless, from the album Francois.

 

-Next, a cover of the song, performed by Maison du Malheur (sp?). In my typical Wrong-Way Norris fashion, I first heard the cover of the song before the original. I first heard this version of “Voyage, Voyage” in a 2013 Heineken beer commercial; there doesn’t seem to be an actual video version of this rendition (more’s the pity), but the visuals in the ad fit the looser, wackier style of MdM’s version perfectly.

 

Maison du Malheur, if you’re reading this, please release a studio version of your version of this song. I’ll pay for an mp3 of this.

Shut-up-and-take-my-money

Nerdvana: Three Merry Widows – In a Box

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Today Nerdvana revisits the band Three Merry Widows. This tune isn’t nearly as rockin’ as the first 3MW song we covered here, “Black Halo”, but it’s a decent tune nonetheless. This song is more typical of what you’d expect from a band called Three Merry Widows. I get a easy-breezy small town vibe from this number; it could probably also be because they’re apparently performing in a small local coffee shop or an ice cream parlor. Here’s “In a Box”.

Nerdvana: Free 2B What UB

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Quick question:

What do DC Super Hero Girls….

DC Super Hero Girls Logo

…And My Little Pony…

Pony4

…Have in common?

Well, they’re both toy franchises aimed mainly at young girls, though they’re not exclusive to them…

no-shit-sherlock

Both take place in beautiful, picturesque, exotic locales,

Metropolis 2

Metropolis

Dream Castle with Rainbow

and Dream Castle/Paradise Estates/Ponyville/Equestria, respectively…

And both shows can teach us a thing or 2 about tolerance.

Larry Wilmore

 

Grumpy_Promo

“Great. This is gonna be one of THOSE articles!”

Hear me out. First, let’s look at My Little Pony. Its’ citizenry consists of 3 main Pony tribes:

MLP Pegasi

High-flying Pegasi…

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Mystical, magical Unicorns…

Apple_Cobbler

And humble, proud, strong, good-hearted, yada yada yada Earth Ponies.

Each of these tribes has specialties, abilities, traits and attributes that the others don’t, but unlike, say, the Sneetches, where one group avowedly looked down on and snubbed the other…

sneetches_on_beaches

“One side, peasant. The unwashed aren’t permitted to mix with the golden!”

…the Pony Tribes all live together and co-exist peacefully. Every one does what they specialize in, and no one’s job is more important than another’s.

 

 

cutie_mark_crusaders___pyramid_by_thatguy1945-d6yfg3v

Whether you can proactively cast spells, levitate objects with telekinesis and do magic, fly through the air like a supersonic jet, control the weather and stand and walk on clouds, or possess more Earth-based abilities such as farming, baking, great strength and a near psychic connection with nature and animals and/or innate skills or talent that’s so intangible that some folks mistake it for not being powered at all, all 3 of the Pony tribes are equals and equally special in their own way.

ddp23

And that’s a GOOD thing.

Now, let’s look at DC Super Hero Girls. In Superhero High…

Superhero High

Come in and get schooled.

Some of the alumni have amazing super powers out the wazoo…

DCSHG Supergirl

 

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And that’s AWESOME!

While other Hero students aren’t ‘Super’ at all.

catwoman-super-hero-high

Stuart-Smalley

“And that’s OK.”

DC Other Girls

Some of SHH’s students are from outer space, some rely on super-science or magic rings, some hail from the land of myth and legend and some rely solely on their own mad skills and training.

Batgirl 2

 

Some have super-intellect and an amazing array of high-tech gadgets and hardcore computer wizardry…

Poison Ivy

Some characters are actually villains in the comic book canon…

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And some are just clowns whose only ‘powers’ are acrobatic flipping and being wacky and nutty.

But unlike, say, the 2005 Disney superhero flick Sky High, where the powered alumni are placed in the revered Hero classes while the non-powered pupils are automatically given the lowly label of

Coach Boomer

“SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDEKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!”

(NOTE: You had to have seen the movie in order to get this reference.)

In Superhero High, all of the students are equals and are taught, trained and treated equally, regardless of their genetic makeup, power/skill set or planet or origin.

Linda-Richman

“No big whoop.”

Superhero High

(Also, for some reason I really like that Amanda Waller is the Principal and Gorilla Grodd is Vice-Principal. That just makes me smile for some reason.)

-To Sky High‘s credit, they did have Medula, Professor of Mad Science…

Medula

Medula was played by Kevin McDonald of the Kids in the Hall, which alone is Epic Win. That man would be funny reading off the value menu at Wendy’s.

Gwen_TECH_path

They also had Gwen Grayson, a genius student who was also a technopath–able to psionically control and upgrade technology with her mind.

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Of course she turned out to be the infamous super-villainess Royal Pain, who tried to destroy the school, but Gwen was still kind of cool.

-Where was I? Oh yeah, the tolerance thing. Both of these shows can teach kids (and adults too, for that matter) a thing about tolerance.

Laughing DC Girls

Truly good mixed casting is something we could stand to see more of in TV, books and movies. It’s more honest, more interesting and a positive example for impressionable young kiddos. If you really want to show your kids the importance and value of tolerance and diversity, forget doing a bunch of preachy PSAs or Very Special Episodes. Just show your cast being diverse, respectful and tolerant as if that’s just the way to live.

Other Ponies 2

It’s one thing to talk about getting along and respecting people different from you, and another to simply SHOW lead characters living that way as though that were the most natural thing in the world. Example can teach just as well as any platitude, or perhaps even better.

Grumpy_Old_Man

“FEH! That’s hippie talk!”

Perhaps so, but if it is, then pass me the bong while I put up my love beads!

On that note, kick it!

 

 

 

 

Nerdvana: Playgirl by Ladytron

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Today is Valentine’s Day, or as we call it, Sunday. To commemorate the occasion, I’d like to showcase one of my favorite songs currently. The video is odd, but the beat is downright infectious; I can’t help bopping to the beat every time I hear it. The song has a very Europop, runway model vibe to it, and I dig it. Enjoy “Playgirl” from the band Ladytron.