NOC Recaps Arrow: The Magician and the Monster
The end of this week’s Arrow gutted me (and Oliver) more than the literally torso-piercing mid-season finale did. As I write this I am still in shock and can’t really move. We’ll get to that later though.
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Fresh Off the Boat by Point and Question
Our second Fresh Off the Boat-inspired illustration today comes from the collective known as Point and Question, a.k.a. Jef Castro and SooJ Lee. Don’t forget to catch the premiere of the life and times of young Eddie Huang tonight on ABC at 8:30pm (sandwiching a new episode of Modern Family).
NOC Recaps The Flash: Peek-A-Boo(b)
“Crazy For You” opens in an upside-down car with two “ohmygod”-ing teenagers strapped down (up?) and trapped while electrical wires zap around, signaling to us that they are in trouble. It’s very Smallville/CSI/Teen Horror Movie, but I accept it; The Flash has always had a trope-ier tone anyways. Our hero zips in just as a powerline ignites the car’s leaked gas and creates a LITERAL RING OF FIRE around the inverted vehicle. Shit goes down real fast, but our man in red is even faster. The car bursts into flames like Ronnie Raymond, but Barry has already rescued the remaining victim. And the Central City Fire Department is all, “Okay we can take it from here, I think.”
But the two car crash victims embrace and turn to Barry. “Thank you… Flash.”
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.
Fresh Off the Boat by Artist Quan
Tonight’s the night! The first two episodes of Fresh Off the Boat — the sitcom loosely based on the Eddie Huang memoir of the same name — debut on ABC at 8:30pm (sandwiching a new episode of Modern Family). Since ABC is giving you double the FOTB, we’re also going to be doubling up our artistic tributes to the show. Come back later in the day for a piece by SIUniverse alum Jef Castro. But right now, dig this dope piece from Boston-based illustrator Quan.
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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Fresh Off the Boat by Artist Earl Yi
As we continue the countdown to the premiere of Fresh Off the Boat — which chronicles the early life of Eddie Huang — we’ve been asking some of our favorite artists to help us celebrate the first Asian American family comedy on network television in 20 years. Next up is the homie Earl Yi.
Kickstart This: Jamie Noguchi’s Kitsune Hoodie
The Kitsune Hoodie is a zip-up hoodie featuring an all-over printed fox spirit design.
Like many web cartoonists, I occasionally design shirts to supplement my income. But I’ve never been very good at coming up with the clever designs or mashups that you might see on popular t-shirt sites. My shirt designs tend to feature strange creatures.
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Fresh Off the Boat by Artist Alex Tarampi
This Wednesday at 8:30pm, the hotly anticipated new sitcom Fresh Off the Boat — loosely based on the childhood and memoir of writer and chef Eddie Huang — finally makes its debut on ABC. To celebrate the first Asian American family comedy on network television in more than two decades, we’ve asked some of our favorite artists to create illustrations celebrating the show. First up is Alex Tarampi.
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Will Disney’s Latina Princess Get the Same Treatment as Other Princesses of Color?
Originally posted at Childish Things
Disney’s next Disney Film Canon Princess isn’t set to arrive until 2019 Edit: 2016! [Sorry!], and she’s a princess of color — Moana, a Pacific Islander. In the meantime, they are introducing a new Latina princess to its cartoon universe. Elena of Avalor will be introduced on the already popular Disney cartoon Sofia the First, before receiving her full spin-off.
It is about time that Disney spread its diversity notches to the Latina community. While it reeks of tokenism, it is still an excellent opportunity for young Latina girls to have someone to look up to other than the aged up Dora the Explorer. I’m actually surprised Disney didn’t jump on a Latina character soon, considering Dora has been so popular for so long. I hope this princess does well and that the Disney TV Cartoon princesses can join their film counterparts in inspiring young girls of color to follow their dreams and work hard and all those other themes. It’s so frustrating that each group must wait their turn basically before they can have some representation on television in a big way like this.
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.
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Icon and Rocket: Redefining the Superhero Sidekick Paradigm
If there’s one trait that always distinguished Milestone Media, it was its consistency in delivering a brilliant new take on an old idea.
A primary example of this can be found with two of their flagship heroes, Icon and Rocket. The superhero pair is a fascinating case of the superhero sidekick paradigm being redefined.
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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.
Dear Marvel, Thank You
by Preeti Chhibber | Originally posted at Panels
Last week’s issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#13) had a series of panels, an aside really, that struck me.
First, a quick backstory on the current Spider Verse event happening in Amazing Spider-Man (and a ton of other series, Spider-Woman, Scarlet Spiders, etc.). All the Spider-Men (and Women!) from various Marvel universes have come together to fight their greatest foes, the Inheritors.
Enter Pavitr Prabhakar. Pavitr is an Indian Spider-Man. He had a short-lived series that ran from 2004–2005, and it’s okay. Some of the “Indian-ness” of it was a little heavy handed, but over all I appreciated that it existed and the effort Marvel put in for cultural representation. He pops up again as one of the first recruits that Super Spider-Man picks to start fighting against the Inheritors.
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.
NOC Recaps Arrow: Weekend at Ollie’s
The subtitle for this recap is two-fold. With Oliver gone, Team Arrow is like kids whose parents went out of town so they have a big party, but everyone breaks things and they have to scramble to fix the house before the parents return. Only Oliver isn’t coming back (yet). On the other and more obvious side of the metaphor, Laurel’s absurd aversion to telling her father the truth gets frustratingly WEIRD.
Blerd Boost for Supergirl: Mehcad Brooks Cast as Jimmy Olsen
It looks like Greg Berlanti is trying to own all of superhero broadcast television. He’s involved in two of the five current DC Comics TV shows (ahem, his shows are doing the best too — is Constantine still on the air? Sorry Constantine fans.) with a few other shows on other networks (like Mysteries of Laura on NBC). His latest venture will be Supergirl over on CBS, co-produced with Ali Adler (Chuck, The New Normal, No Ordinary Family).
Melissa Benoist (Glee) will be playing Supergirl, but as much interest as I already had in the show (knowing it’s a part of the Flarrow universe), I became about 1000% more excited when I learned that Jimmy Olsen will be played by Mehcad Brooks. A lot of people know him from Necessary Roughness or Desperate Housewives, but I am just excited that they’re casting a person of color in a lead role. A lead romantic role, if The Hollywood Reporter’s description reigns true (though I have a bone to pick with a part of it — more on that later).
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NOC Recaps The Flash: Selfies, Secrets, and Sonic Waves
Just like last week’s Arrow, we start off with a motorcycle chase. Barry zooms around after three motorcycles and, with the help of Dr. Wells, corners them without their keys. Our thematic monologue of the week has to do with heroes. “Everyone has a hero. What’s hard is when our heroes stop believing in us.” There are two layers to this opener and it all has to do with Harrison Wells and his two different layers.
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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.
‘Brave New Souls’ Free Online Screening for Black History Month
In honor of Black History Month, I will allow three days of free online screenings of the documentary Brave New Souls: Black Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writers of the 21st Century.
From Sunday, February 1 at 12:00am (EST) through Tuesday, February 3 at 11:59pm (EST) you’ll be able to watch the documentary free of charge!
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Kickstart This: Meraki Cosplay Expo
What makes for great cosplay pictures? It’s when an amazing costume is photographed in an interesting and unique location. However, most of the time cosplayers and photographers can only meet up at conventions. While cons are great for seeing friends and buying things, they are not always the best locations for cosplay photo shoots. Concrete walls at crowded convention centers are not satisfying backgrounds for the costumes cosplayers have worked so hard on. There are conventions that have tried to use backdrops but they often result in pictures that look flat, as if they were taken at a mall. Some people have been able to afford to host kickstarters to allow them to do on locations shoots, but wouldn’t it be great if more people had access to such an opportunity?
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.
Track Commentary: “Gifted Student”
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.
First up, the title track. In a lot of ways, “Gifted Student” was one of the last songs me and kHill finished for the album. Wait, let’s go back and start over at the beginning.