We are living in a world where people are moving around the earth almost as fast as information. Most of us will not be buried in the soil of our birth. We move for different reasons: safety, opportunities, whims. What is gained and lost from these migrations?
Continue reading “Wakanda and Migration: #BlackFreedomBeyondBorders”
Crazy Rich Asians continued their press tour with a visit to the Upright Citizens Brigade Sunset in Los Angeles tonight. Four members of the Crazy Rich Asians cast — comedians Nico Santos, Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng, and Ken Jeong … Continue reading ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Celebrate a Night of Comedy with Asian AF
Dr. Who. Star Trek. The Twilight Zone. The Night Stalker. Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Battlestar Galactica (the original series) E. E. “Doc” Smith. JRR Tolkien. David Eddings. Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman. Joseph Campbell. The Avengers (tv show and comic), Spider-Man, The Uncanny X-Men, DC’s Trinity and on and on and on. What do all of these pieces of geek-pop have in common? They were all generated from the minds of (mostly) white men.
Not that there is anything inherently wrong with this, but it begs the question: Do I actually like this stuff, or is it all part of some kind of indoctrination into the dominant culture? Continue reading “Decolonizing My Fandom”
Okay, folks. We’re hurtling towards San Diego Comic-Con this week. Sadly, I can’t make it this year, but as Keith Chow said on the Hard NOC Life Podcast, I’ll be there in spirit.
Many of us have felt the sting of Star Wars whineboys, Tump’s obvious treasonous behavior, the #comicsgate and #gamergate travesties; waiting for a refund from Universal FanCon, or genuinely feel let down by nerd culture. I get it. Trust me. But this weekend should be a time for celebration, connecting with old friends, making new friends, and having fun. Yes! Remember when this stuff was fun?
I came to Doctor Who in 2013, after my cousin Robyn came to my house to commandeer the television for the 50th anniversary of the show. I had only vaguely heard of Who at the time and was wary about delving in deeper because I was sure I would get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of episodes there were. However, after sitting with my cousin to watch “The Day of the Doctor” — and with her assurance that I could start with New Who and not wade all the way back through episodes from the ‘60s — I decided to take the leap into time and space.
Ever since Kelly Marie Tran was bullied off of social media by Star Wars fanboys, an age-old debate in nerd circles has reemerged: Why is fandom so broken?
Continue reading “What Broke ‘Star Wars’ Fandom and Why #SWRepMatters”
By now, most of you know the much-hyped Universal FanCon is “postponed” until further notice. It was “postponed” just days before it was meant to kickoff. How it was cancelled was super shady (really? you gave the venue less than a week’s notice?) and there are still tons of looming questions that have yet to be answered.
Many of us are hurt, saddened, and feel betrayed by the organizers. I’m not sure why I’m writing this post, other than to try to make sense of a grimy situation. Continue reading “Hubris and How Not to Run a CON”
The superhero genre is slowly expanding its insular universe with Wonder Woman and the highly anticipated Black Panther. Though just a drop in the bucket compared to white male superheroes, such images can significantly impact audiences who have never seen themselves portrayed as (s)heroes. Recently at Comic-Con in San Diego, one Asian American girl, Ashley Keller, teared up when she met Gal Gadot (aka Wonder Woman) in a video that went viral, demonstrating the real-life impact of on-screen role models:
Continue reading “Representation Matters: Super Asian Americans”
by Jamie Broadnax | Originally posted at Black Girl Nerds
The 3rd Annual Black Girl Nerds of Color Meetup, also known under the hashtag #BGNOC was a success! The idea of the meetup was a collaborative effort by Keith Chow managing editor of The Nerds of Color, Jamie Broadnax managing editor of Black Girl Nerds, and Arturo Garcia Editor-At-Large at Racialicious.
Continue reading “The 3rd Annual Black Girl Nerds of Color Meetup”
So this weekend Doctor Who regenerated for the 13th time and is now a woman. Jodie Whittaker is replacing Peter Capaldi as the iconic Timelord.
As with all things speculative fiction and social justice, social media has been lit, to put it mildly with everyone expressing opinions for and against the new Doktah.
I have a thoughts on the new casting as well. Hence me writing this piece and you reading.
Allons y!!!!!!!!
Just in time for tonight’s hotly anticipated season 7 premiere of Game Of Thrones comes a musical romp that takes our favorite characters into a much more light hearted spin. Coming off a successful run in Los Angeles earlier this year in February, the musical is now heading to San Diego Comic Con from July 20 to 23.
Continue reading “Game of Thrones The Musical: The SDCC Version!”
Hello All,
I just wanted to let you know about my new e-book (paperback version will drop in a week), Parables, Vampires, and Pregnant Men: The Narrative Resistance of Octavia E. Butler. Adapted from my graduate work, this little volume refutes C.M. Kornbluth’s assertion that science fiction is unable to work as social critique.
Shout out to Brandon Easton (Agent Carter TV series, M.A.S.K.,Vampire Hunter D comics, and the Brave New Souls
We are living in a truly golden age of nerdom. There are several superhero films out each year — the amount of films increase each subsequent year; damn near every night of the week you can watch a superhero, supernatural, paranormal, or spy-fi program, comics are everywhere, graphic novels are taught in the academy — our once exclusive (and highly ridiculed) club is, gasp, mainstream. Going mainstream comes with its own set of problems. But I want to focus on what I feel is the primary problem of this golden age: Toxic Fandom. Continue reading “Toxic Fandom”
In exactly one year from now, fans from all over the country will be gathering by the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Maryland to celebrate their diverse fandoms at the first ever Universal FanCon. And for a limited time, you can get early bird weekend passes for the convention, which go on sale today!
Continue reading “Early Bird Passes for Universal FanCon are On Sale Now”
by Tony B. Kim | Originally posted at Hero Within
On Monday morning we released our summer collection that included our new Wonder Woman Denim Jacket. Out of everything new we are creating this year, this is the one piece I am most excited for. Wonder Woman is FINALLY getting her own live action film after almost 40 years since Linda Carter’s iconic TV version. Fortunately, in the past few years, we have seen more social advocating for equal representation of gender, orientation, and race in our favorite comics, TV, and films. Much has changed. Much has not.
Continue reading “We Made a Wonder Woman Jacket… and Guys Hate It”
The NES was my staple console for the majority of my childhood. While I did not have many games at my disposal, games like Double Dragon and Double Dragon II were titles that I played just about every day on my own and with friends. I still consider Double Dragon II to be one of my favorite NES games and it influenced my tastes in games I play today. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series’ creation, Arc System Works recruited many of the original crew that made the original game to make a brand new sequel in the form of the 8-bit games I cherished as a child. When hearing about this news, I was excited and skeptical at the same time. The nostalgia side of me wanted it but would it be enough to maintain my interest in the current era of video games?
Continue reading “Stumbling Down Memory Lane with ‘Double Dragon IV’”
For the last eight years, my president was Black. More than that, he was a Black Nerd, a Nerd of Color, the Head Nerd in Charge. After today, we aren’t going to see the likes of someone sit in the Oval Office as intelligent or intellectually curious as Barack Obama. His record in office speaks for itself. Because of President Obama’s leadership, 20 million more Americans have health insurance, marriage equality is the law of the land, and nerds of color were finally represented in the White House.
Continue reading “8 Times President Obama Proved He Was Our NOC-in-Chief”
Okay, we, as nerds of color (TM), especially now that a white supremacist nightmare is about to become our president, need to get our collective shit together. Bigly.
So I’m gonna — periodically — post some links and actions and ideas (under the heading “What Can A Nerd Do?”) about what a nerd can do, politicalwise, to combat the eeebil is is come upon us. And I will edit-to-add any legit links/ideas left in comments about the topic at hand as well, so jump in mah nurds!
Ladies and gentlemen, this is my 100th post here at the Nerds of Color.
To say I’ve been ecstatic about hitting this milestone would be a vast understatement, as my colleagues will tell you.
So for this special edition post, I wanted to do something special. I’m going to answer some FAQs, share some memories and some behind the scenes shenanigans.
But before I do anything else, I want to take this opportunity to thank the person who all of this possible, Fearless Leader. Though he’s known to some of you as Keith Chow. None of us would be here if it wasn’t for him. He works tirelessly to make the NoC the special place it is. More than that he’s been an amazing leader, friend, mentor and brother and I will forever be grateful for him taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity.
Also mad love to the rest of the NOC team that welcomed me and made me feel like I joined a family.
My name is Julie, and I am an actual woman in tech. Sometimes it’s hard being me in tech, because I am a woman… of color… with children… who hasn’t watched a single Iron Man or Wolverine movie. Call me Unicorn.
Have you read about the latest study that shows how shitty it still is to be coding while female (or, I assume, presenting as female)? The way they controlled for geekiness is especially awesome. There aren’t many surprises in this study’s findings; women in Computer Science and tech in general have always been excluded, implicitly and explicitly, and it seems the majority still likes to protect its vanguard.
The article’s flaw, in my opinion, is labeling Dungeons & Dragons, Star Trek, and other geek institutions as “masculine.” That’s too easy to dispute, and therefore, dismiss. We all can see why “masculine” is not the most accurate adjective to use: there are plenty of counter-examples of masculinity that have nothing to do with that stuff, and of course there are plenty of femmes who like that stuff. It is rather more a slice of the pop culture universe that is indeed white male dominated, but takes its identity from fandoms, the objects of those fandoms, and the general quest for purity within those fandoms. So for the rest of this article, I’m going to call this cultural archetype “ubergeek.”
Continue reading “Gender and Tech: The New Boss, Same as the Old Boss”
Today is National Coming Out Day. This year I’ve been reflecting on the trending hashtag #QueerSelfLove which emerged in response to the Orlando and LA Pride (attempted) attacks this past summer. It’s an initiative for LGBTQs to reclaim their power and celebrate who they are. It’s a great idea and I’m happy to see so many people have taken to it.
Truth be told, me loving myself has never been the issue when it comes to the systemic oppression I face in my day to day. It also goes without saying that one of the main battlefronts for said oppression is fandom. For me to survive much less thrive, I find myself constantly channeling my patronus. In short, when they come for this Clark Kent, they in turn meet Lucas Trent.
Midnighter Mode in 3…..2……1……..
Continue reading “National Coming Out Day, Queer Self Love, and Becoming Midnighter”
Thanks for featuring the NOC on WordPress Discover! Continue reading Critical Geekery: Talking Representation in Pop Culture with the Nerds of Color
Originally posted at Black Girl Nerds
Welcome to my column. I thank Jamie Broadnax and the BGN family for giving me a platform to talk about the adventures I experience being a journalist. Let me remind everyone that just because I have been given this platform, my thoughts are my own. And don’t necessarily reflect the thoughts of those at BGN.
Who am I?
Continue reading “Valerie’s Complexium: Navigating Through Nerd Spaces”
