Author: Guest N.O.C.
Inside Out is Not for Kids, and That’s Exactly Why Your Kids Should See It
by Mayka Mei | Originally posted at The Maykazine
Last week I cried three times. First, the shooting at Emanuel AME Church. Then when I watched Inside Out. Then my friends got married. Adult life is confusing.
Each instance occurred within the span of three days, and though each event has warranted its own inner reflection and the outer two are deserving of their own longwinded meanderings, right now I want to write about the middle one, the kids’ movie. (I’ve also written about the AME shooting. Here are my raw thoughts from the morning after that god-awful Wednesday night.)
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Superman: The Man of Tomorrow
by Gene Yang | Originally posted on GeneYang.com
There’s a reason why folks call Superman the Man of Tomorrow.
When he was created in the late 1930s, he really did embody that era’s ideas about the future. Back then, progress was seen in largely physical terms: our technology would make us stronger, faster, more invulnerable. And that’s what Superman was: the world’s strongest, fastest, most invulnerable person.
But in the decades since, our imagined future has changed. Nowadays, when we think of tomorrow’s technology, we don’t necessary think about physical power — we think about information. We think about knowledge. Our dreams of the future are as much about bits as they are about atoms. Maybe more.
So how does Superman, a character whose “tomorrow-ness” dates back to the 1930s, deal with the “tomorrow-ness” of today?
We Are Brienne
by Lexi Alexander | Originally posted at Lexi-Alexander.com
“All my life men like you’ve sneered at me, and all my life I’ve been knocking men like you into the dust.”
Imagine being a female TV & movie director trying to make it in an already competitive industry and the first thing that comes across your news feed at the beginning of the week is the sad fact that the most talked about show on TV failed to hire a single female director on its last season.
An Open Letter to J.K. Rowling about the American Wizarding School in Fantastic Beasts
by Dr. Adrienne Keene | Originally posted at Native Appropriations
Dear J.K. Rowling,
I am unabashedly a huge Harry Potter fan. I first encountered Harry when I was in Junior High, volunteering at the public library (nerd status, I know). The children’s librarian handed me book one, and I was hooked. I even used to frequent Harry Potter message boards back in the day with my friend Kathleen (we were “Parvati” and “Lavender” cause we also shared an interest in divination, ha). Anyway, all this is to say, Harry holds a sacred spot in my heart. But I’m not one of those fans who can recite things verbatim, or remember every tiny detail, so if I’m missing something, I hope one of those fans will help me out.
I’ve been interestedly following the news that there is a new Harry Potter prequel-of-sorts in the works, for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, following “magizoologist” Newt Scamander. I hadn’t been following it closely, but a few days ago, I saw your exchanges on Twitter about the name/location of the American Wizarding School — and I started to get a bit concerned.
Meet Patrick Lin, Layout Supervisor for Inside Out
This post is part of a series I’m writing based on my recent visit to Pixar Studios, courtesy of Disney.
On my recent trip behind the scenes at Pixar studios in Emeryville, I met several prominent Asian American and Pacific Islander animators who are playing a big role in the making of the upcoming animated film Inside Out, which opens in theaters June 19. One of them is Patrick Lin, Layout Supervisor for the movie.
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May the Fourth Be With You: Last Day to Preorder this Epic Tee
by Jerry Ma | Originally posted at Epic Proportions
So… it’s about that time of year again.
I’m getting ready for a few comic conventions I’ll be attending this year, and originally I wasn’t planning on making any new tees. But… this one just kinda came naturally to me. So I had to make it.
I’ll be bringing this design with me to the New York Comic-Con later this year in October. And there, I’m only going to be bringing about 36 of these in total with me. And those 36 will be spread out from sizes Small, Medium, Large, XL, and XXL. Meaning just like 6-10 of each size. But for this design only, I’m going to try something different. I’m going to open this design up for pre-order.
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Black Mask, Yellow Peril: Anti-Asianism in Netflix’s Otherwise Brilliant ‘Daredevil’
by Takeo Rivera
So let’s get one thing out of the way: it’s probably safe to say that Marvel and Netflix’s Daredevil is the finest piece of television ever made in the superhero genre. With its stellar cast and consistently tight writing and direction, the show can easily go toe-to-toe with any other major serialized TV drama in this golden age of Mad Mens and Breaking Bads, elevating superherodom to an unequivocal status of high art in much the way Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica elevated the space opera. And, as a cherry on top, Daredevil happens to be one of the most progressive shows of the genre; in particular, Matt Murdock battles not some alien Super-Wario intent on blowing up the planet with an ancient glowing Rubik’s cube, but a scion of urban “redevelopment” — read gentrification — in Wilson Fisk, and spends an unhealthy time fighting white collar crime and community displacement by punching the crap out of it.
But Daredevil also has one massive problem: Asians. That is, Asians are the problem, and Daredevil’s problem is that Asians are a problem.
There’s a Teaser for the Batman v Superman Trailer: This Bullshit Has to Stop
by Marc Bernardin | Originally posted at Playboy.com
We have entered a brave new world of advertising, where the marketing material needs its own marketing. Late yesterday, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder tweeted this:
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Beyond the Cape: Batgirl and the State of Women in Comics
by CG | Originally posted at Black Girl in Media
[Trigger warning in these posts for mention & discussion of: sexual violence, molestation, rape, and violence against women]
Fiction always reflects the cultural temperature of the times. This could be a good thing, and sometimes be a great thing. But most of the time, it leads to us uncovering not so pleasant parts of our society. Comics have always been an accessible part of that cultural narrative, as their mix of visual and written storytelling have led to them being embraced by fans for decades. Comics and superhero culture are very much at the center of dictating societal norms.
So when we have instances of dictating women’s dress, allowing for female oppression and violence against women for book sales, the issue goes beyond just the individual books or characters in question. It’s about questioning the system that we’ve allowed for this behavior and thinking to flourish enough to reach the success that it has with the comics industry.
This is the state of women in comics.
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People on the Internet Get Things Wrong: Comic Book Cover Edition
by William Evans | Originally posted on Black Nerd Problems
Trigger Warning: Some of the images pulled from comic books depict assault and violence towards women.
DC is celebrating the Joker next month with a plethora of variant covers devoted to him. The Joker, who by definition is a deranged, sinister and disturbed individual is shown on most of these covers the way he’s always been: scaring the shit out of somebody. One specifically that sparked a lot of outrage was where the Joker is cozied up to a frightened Batgirl for her cover. After a lot of people voiced their displeasure with the cover AND RECEIVED THREATS OF VIOLENCE FOR IT, the artist Rafael Albuquerque asked DC to pull the cover. Now of course, there’s the backlash to the backlash as many fans and creators are crying foul and constructing this as an evil feminist argument that ruins everything. Sigh.
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Luther Remake Stalls: What Happened to Colorblind Casting?
by Marc Bernardin | Originally posted at Playboy.com
Fox wants to bring the BBC’s award-winning, frankly awesome detective thriller Luther to the U.S., but they’ve got a problem: Finding an American Idris Elba — who brought a ruthless intelligence and rugged sexuality to the role of haunted detective chief inspector John Luther — has proved too daunting a task. So, according to The Hollywood Reporter, they’ve put their remake on hold — after, apparently, entertaining the thought of Marlon Wayans as the lead.
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How the Diversity Argument in the Nerd Community Chases its Own Tail
by William Evans | Originally posted at Black Nerd Problems
I don’t usually, and don’t plan to be the guy that writes reactions to other columns. It’s kind of circular and masturbatory and rarely does the work of informing an audience, as opposed to finger pointing across the table at someone else doing the same thing you do. The issue of the diversity in comics seems to be taking on a larger life beyond simple media commentary, however. And we are always 72 hours away from the next event that brings this conversation into focus. For days (and continuing now) it was the topic of what Marvel and Sony should do with their respective versions of Spider-Man. Debates involving Peter Parker’s race, the likability of Miles Morales (or some saying he’s a C-level character), and just how white the MCU films still are currently, have hit the internet at breakneck speed. I contributed to that malaise as well.
The latest such “where we are in 2015 with race and pop culture” test came with the Michelle Rodriguez story over the weekend. Responding to TMZ about the rumors of her being cast for Green Lantern, she responded with the now infamous “stop stealing white people’s superheroes.” Well, as you can imagine, that led to someone Michelle Rodriguez pays, probably telling her how her message was going viral in the way you don’t want things to go viral, which led to her issuing an apology via her Facebook page. It was your garden variety “I’m sorry you’re offended, not sorry for saying something offensive” type of apology that gets passed out in Hollywood as frequently as gift bags at award shows.
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Seeing San Fransokyo: Thoughts on Big Hero 6
by Sean Miura | Originally posted at Down Like JTown
Last week was a big week for Big Hero 6. Not only did the film take home an Oscar, but its DVD and Blu-ray releases hit stores Tuesday and owned the Best Sellers list on Amazon.
I’d been anticipating Big Hero 6 since the first teaser slowly revealed a jaw-dropping rendering of San Fransokyo, the Tokyo/San Francisco hybrid that sets the stage. Though I am wary of any films that feature Asian… anything, there was a certain nostalgic familiarity in the Kingdom Hearts-style pan over the city.
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Different But Not Broken: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Disability
by Jihan Abbas | Originally posted at the Disability Visibility Project
Within the superhero genre, comic books have always strongly connected notions of difference with unique abilities. Villains and heroes alike often find their motivation and power through origin stories that speak to difference or a process of change. Alice Wong wrote a great piece exploring how the mythology behind superheroes is relatable to many disabled people and those who grew up on the outside looking in.
It was our shared interest in disability representation in comic books and the recent expansion of Marvel into television that prompted a back and forth between Alice and I around disability and difference in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While the show first framed itself as an opportunity to view the inner workings of S.H.I.E.L.D. — the so-called “normal” folks who work behind the scenes in this superhero filled world — it was clear from the beginning that the show was pulling on powerful threads about change, difference, and otherness. While this is not unusual where superheroes are concerned, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. applied these same dynamics to the bureaucracy behind the Avengers. In the first season Phil Coulson’s return from the dead — and the differences in him that resulted from this process, as well as Skye’s mysterious origins — were front and center.
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New Movie Spider-Man Should be Peter Park
There’s something obvious that’s been under our noses this entire time: Spider-Man as a Korean American named Peter Park, played by The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun.
‘Nuff said, as Stan Lee would say.
Not ’nuff? Okay.
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Track Commentary: “Star-Lord (Remix)”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
I’m doing track-by-track commentary on my new EP, Gifted Student. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site.
Last day, last track. First of all, thanks to everyone who’s bought the album. I’m excited to perform about some of these songs live on tour, and by the shipping info, I am getting the CDs today, and will promptly start shipping them out this week.
Track Commentary: “The Fire Burns Forever”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
I’m doing track-by-track commentary on my new EP, Gifted Student. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site.
My girlfriend has pointed out to me that these haven’t really been commentaries, more like “crazy ramblings that I just puke out of my brain.” So today, on what is undoubtedly my favorite song on the EP, I will give you my commentary.
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Track Commentary: “Nerds Won’t Dance to This”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
I’m doing track-by-track commentary on my new EP, Gifted Student. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site.
Greetings! I’m back, the Super Bowl was yesterday between two teams I, as a Steelers fan, have personal beef with, so… yay? I didn’t get to watch it, I went to Chicago this weekend, and ended up having to leave early only to be caught in the middle of a blizzard somewhere in the state of Ohio. So wherever you are out there, stay safe and warm. Icy conditions on the roads, believe me, I know.
So back to the new EP. Thanks to everyone who continues to support it. I’m glad that people are enjoying my first official release in over a year. This year, I kinda want to make… more albums. I say that, meaning more official albums, not just mixtapes or EPs I put together for the site. Don’t worry, I want to make those too. But I’ve been a bit more motivated lately to actually sit down and make cohesive products, rather than ephemeral kind of pop cultural stuff. I’ve got a few things in the works, and for the first time in a while, mostly because of the experience I had in making this EP, I am really looking forward to starting the work on my next full-length album.
Continue reading “Track Commentary: “Nerds Won’t Dance to This””
Track Commentary: “Prometheus”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
All this week, I’ll be doing track-by-track commentary on the new EP. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site, PHYSICAL COPIES OF THE CD WILL ONLY BE FOR SALE ON MY SITE UNTIL END-OF-DAY FRIDAY. If you want a copy of it, get it now, or get it at a show.
Believe it or not, the concept of this song was formed from this webcomic as much as it is based on the actual myth of Prometheus. There’s a loose fire theme on this album, that I’ll get to in about two songs in much more detail, but it was a beat that needed a concept, and a song that needed guests on it. And it’s really fascinating when you see how Sulfur and Ran both take the idea and make it their own. Sulfur, with his sense of humor that covers up the resentment towards God in his character; Ran with his talking of legacy and obligation, the chain metaphor taken to its logical conclusion. I really didn’t have much of a road map for this song, and I really ended up loving this track.
Track Commentary: “The Bottom”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
All this week, I’ll be doing track-by-track commentary on the new EP. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site, PHYSICAL COPIES OF THE CD WILL ONLY BE FOR SALE ON MY SITE UNTIL END-OF-DAY FRIDAY. If you want a copy of it, get it now, or get it at a show.
What’s funny is that me and Mikal both flipped this well known Drake hook into basically the same line without ever having really talked about it. So there’s kismet for you.
Track Commentary: “Big Bad Man”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
All this week, I’ll be doing track-by-track commentary on the new EP. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site, PHYSICAL COPIES OF THE CD WILL ONLY BE FOR SALE ON MY SITE UNTIL END-OF-DAY FRIDAY. If you want a copy of it, get it now, or get it at a show.
I’m literally traveling as this posts, so it will probably be a bit short. Believe it or not, I’m not traveling to do shows, but traveling for personal reasons. What? Not for touring? People do this?
Anyway, during the making of Gifted Student, Mikal and I were pretty dismayed by the constant news of police shootings. Dismayed is probably not the right word. Upset, angry, betrayed, whatever word fits best. We both talk daily in kind of a stream of consciousness running email chain, and for a bit, it was a daily dose of reading about how our justice system had gone so wrong.
Track Commentary: “Lost in Translation”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
All this week, I’ll be doing track-by-track commentary on the new EP. You should go grab the new EP at my bandcamp site, PHYSICAL COPIES OF THE CD WILL ONLY BE FOR SALE ON MY SITE UNTIL END-OF-DAY FRIDAY. If you want a copy of it, get it now, or get it at a show.
There’s something about rapping in 3/4 time that can drive some crazy. I know some people hate it, I actually think kHill hates it, but I love it. It’s the same as a lot of tracks I’ve released, like the “Paperman” song I released. It’s such a refreshing challenge to write, sometimes taking your flow and delivery past the end of the measure, sometimes stopping cold a half beat before it ends, connecting the rhymes in the unlikeliest of places. It’s like figuring out a puzzle, and something that not a lot of rappers can do.