NOC Week in Review #18: 10/31-11/6/2026

The biggest news this week is actually something we didn’t write about on The Nerds of Color. On Tuesday, millions of Americans made their voices heard and swept in Democratic leaders all across the country. Historic wins in deep red states¹ like Kansas, Iowa, South Carolina, and Texas have reshaped the political landscape, and for the first time in two decades, a sense of HOPE has returned. In the days leading up to the election, a lot of right wing troll accounts — including official government ones — were appropriating Star Wars imagery and unironically aligning themselves with the Galactic Empire. (Great way to prove you’re not the fascists, guys!) Fortunately, the American people showed the world that we had friends everywhere.

And since Dark Matter is over, I don’t have an outlet to talk about Pearl Jam’s songs anymore. Still, this song off their self-titled 2006 album is pretty relevant for the events of the week:

Got me a big wave, ride me a big wave, got me a big wave

Anyway — riding that same wave of good feeling, let’s get into what we actually published this week, starting with the movie everyone and their kid already has plans to see this weekend.

The Cat in the Hat hits theaters, and we’ve got it covered from two angles. Mike got some time with Quinta Brunson, Giancarlo Esposito, and the film’s directors for a genuinely fun conversation about bringing the Seuss classic to the screen. Then, he joined the Roundtable team on our YouTube channel, breaking down whether the movie’s worth the trip to theaters.

Speaking of reviews, Valerie filed two dispatches from NYFF 64: her review of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, a quietly devastating drama about what it means to actually be alive, and her take on Clarissa, a story about what happens when the past shows up for dinner. While on the other coast, Edward reviewed the LA stage production of Rorschach — a tightly argued piece on a production that’s better than its marketing suggests.

Convention season also made its way into the lineup as Nikita worked the floor at L.A. Comic Con, coming back with two conversations: twenty years on, the cast of Bring It On: All or Nothing on friendship, legacy, and what the movie still means to the people who made it, and a catch-up with The Proud Family and All That actress Alisa Reyes on her career then and now. While back at NYCC, Sophia sat down with American Horror Story: 13’s Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe, Leslie Grossman, and the costume designers behind the franchise’s final season to reflect on ten years of AHS.

Also this week: Lauren talked to Trese author Budjette Tan about elevating Filipino folklore and horror in pop culture; she then joined Swara and the Roundtable crew as they broke down the Avatar: Seven Havens season finale in their latest episode; while he and Nikita returned with the Nerds of Newport for a spoiler recap of The Gilded Age’s Season 4 premiere here.

That’s the week: a historic election, a giant Seuss hat, and a festival’s worth of film criticism, all in the span of seven days. See you next Friday.

— Keith

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1. Hell, even Mississippi too, if we’re lucky! ↩︎