Today's episode, we sit down with The Council of Cousins (The Blerd Bar and Demond Does) to discuss what we're on about and other hot topics!

We go around the group and each person presented something that has been really grinding their gears lately or a hot take. Afterwards, we go back around the room and everyone else will judge if that person is being fair or if they're buggin'!

For today's episode we're actually presenting a previously unreleased Blerdsgiving episode from Blerdsgiving 2022. In that episode, we were joined by The Blerd Bar! We sit down and go through everyone's hot takes and discuss whether each other's is fair or not. If you enjoy, please consider rating us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

We're back after our long hiatus with a great conversation with friend of the podcast, Cool Colas! We discuss his latest book, The Pro-Black Blerd Series: Exposing Anti-Black Media Tropes the Blerd Way.

Be sure to let us know what you think of the conversation on our social media and also pick up a copy of the book by directly reaching out to Cool Colas on Instagram or YouTube.

*Listener Discretion Is Always Advised*

In this episode, the Blerds discuss the horror (and by extension, suspense and psychological thriller) genre.

We ask each other:

IMPORTANT EDITOR CORRECTION:

A movie cited as Day of the Dead is mentioned in the first part of the episode, which should be Night of the Living Dead (specifically the 1990 remake)

CW: Though both movies are older, we spoil the endings/twists of Night of the Living Dead, and Deep Blue Sea during the discussion that takes place around time tags from 8:15-10:45.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Get Out (briefly, important plot development)

The Purge (briefly)

Stranger Things (briefly)

The Forest Demands its Due by Kosoko Jackson (Book/YA)

Goosebumps (TV series/Hulu)

Fright Krewe (TV series/Hulu)

We Don't Swim Here by Vincent Tirado (Book/YA)

*Listener Discretion Always Advised*

CW: Brief mentions of Ezra Miller and Armie Hammer

The Blerds bring complaints to the jury, and rule on each other's cases.

Mentioned in the episode:

DC, Marvel, and Star Wars franchises

Banned Book Week

1899 (Netflix series)

Poirot

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

*Listener Discretion Is Always Advised*

As Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever is now available for streaming on the Disney+ platform, the Blerds take another look at the movie and expand more on their praise and criticism.

CW: France as a colonizing country and their anger at their depiction in the movie (skip first 10 min if this is a sensitive subject for you)

**Listener Discretion Is Always Advised**

The Blerds- Jillian, Lillie, and Jenna- talk about the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and what's in store for Black History Month.

At the end, we make some TBE (to be experienced) recommendations.

For today's episode, Lillie, Jenna, and Jillian are joined by JHawk from The Blerd Bar for our annual Blerdsgiving podcast. This year we're serving up hot takes (that might be lukewarm, but we'll let y'all be the judge). 

Please be sure to support our guests by listening and subscribing to The Blerd Bar podcast here. You can also find them on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter. The Blerd Bar, serving you content, cocktails, and culture.

For this episode, Jillian sits down with Cool Colas to discuss the recent controversy following an IGN article interviewing the head developers for Final Fantasy 16. We also get into the importance of representation and what we can do as black creatives to get our stories out there.

Cool Colas also known as the Pro-black Blerd King is an author, comic and board game creator and black media analyst. He is a native of Oak Park, Michigan and stands for creating a brand that empowers blacks in the entertainment media realm. He is the owner of Cool Colas LLC, has written one book called Rem Realm:Curse of a Billionaire thus far and establishes himself as an enthusiast of comics, games and other relevant forms of blerd culture. 

Please be sure to check out his podcast, The Pro-Black Blerd Kingdom Podcast and visit his website. You can also follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

As always, thanks for listening and we'll be back soon with another episode.

Jillian sits down with Spencer Waddell (aka Simply Samurai on Instagram) to talk about his journey as a professional swordsman. 

Spencer has been studying martial arts since he was 8 years old. He discovered Historical European Martial Arts in 2005 while stationed in Germany and his current focus is full-contact armored steel fighting or “buhurt” as it’s known in Europe. He is the 2022 USA Historical Medieval Battle Men’s Longsword Champion. Spencer currently serves as a council member for the Historical African Martial Arts Association. He is also one of the founding members of the Wandering Sword Project, a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the education of swords and general weaponry as well as martial cultures from around the world.

Be sure to follow Spencer on his Instagram @simply_samurai. To learn more about the Wandering Sword Project, follow their Instagram @the_wandering_sword and support them on Patreon! Also show some love to Spencer's sponsor: @american_buhurt.