NOC Recaps Game of Thrones Part Two: Valar Morghulis
[Ed note: The season finale was so epic, we couldn’t contain our thoughts in just one post! So to accommodate all the thoughts and feels from the Season 4, Episode 10 “The Children,” we’ve called on the heroic trio that led us the last ten weeks — Anna, Julie, and Alice — to each share their thoughts on the finale and the season overall. Part one is here.]
Wow wow wow wow wow! Best season finale ever!!!!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Game of Thrones Part Two: Valar Morghulis”
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones Part One: All Seasons Must End
[Ed note: The season finale was so epic, we couldn’t contain our thoughts in just one post! So to accommodate all the thoughts and feels from the Season 4, Episode 10 “The Children,” we’ve called on the heroic trio that led us the last ten weeks — Anna, Julie, and Alice — to each share their thoughts on the finale and the season overall.]
And now my watch (for book six and season five) begins. What a finale. Online, I read mixed reactions from hardcore fans but I found plenty to enjoy about the finale.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Game of Thrones Part One: All Seasons Must End”
Game Recognize Game… of Thrones with Jamie of Black Girl Nerds
Keith (@the_real_chow) brings on #GoTNoC recappers Julie (@JulieKang) and Alice (@SFdirewolf) and Jamie Broadnax, the founder of @BlackGirlNerds, prepare for Sunday night’s season finale of Game of Thrones and all issues concerning the seven realms.
Continue reading “Game Recognize Game… of Thrones with Jamie of Black Girl Nerds”
Kickstart This: The AEON by Arthawk Entertainment
Arthawk Entertainment is piloting a bold new idea to present compelling stories featuring characters of color — created by writers and artists of color — on computer screens and devices for a whole new generation of readers and viewers. Using an innovative form of storytelling that combines comics, animation, gaming, and video to tell different facets of the same story — dubbed “transmedia” — the minds behind the Arthawk Entertainment Online Network (AEON for short) need your help to make this a reality.
Continue reading “Kickstart This: The AEON by Arthawk Entertainment”
Please Give this Man Money: Adam WarRock’s Donation Drive
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Adam WarRock at the NOC. I mean, just look at the tag cloud at the right of this page. “Adam WarRock” is almost as big as “Batman.” Maybe that should be the title of his next album: Bigger Than Batman.
Anyway, today is the anniversary of the day he decided to quit his day job and be a rapper full-time. He’s marked this occasion every year by doing an annual Donation Drive to fund all of the awesome (and mostly free) music that he puts out on the internet all the time. So if you enjoy free Adam WarRock music, you should make a pledge. And like PBS, you’ll even get some swag just for doing so! (No tote bags, though. Just more music).
In conjunction with the kick-off to another donation drive, Eugene (that’s his not-so-secret identity) and I chatted about all the music he’s released and touring he’s done this past year and what you can expect from him in the next one and beyond. Plus, we talk about House of Cards and X-Men. But just a little.
Continue reading “Please Give this Man Money: Adam WarRock’s Donation Drive”
Hard N.O.C. Life Returns, Talks Dem Thrones
[UPDATE: The episode is available here!] You read that right. After another brief hiatus, we’re bringing back everybody’s favorite YouTube show, Hard N.O.C. Life! And what better topic for our return show than the earth-shattering events of Game of Thrones? … Continue reading Hard N.O.C. Life Returns, Talks Dem Thrones
Angry Asian Man Asks for Your Support
by Phil Yu | Originally posted at Angry Asian Man
I’ve been running Angry Asian Man for over thirteen years. When I first launched the blog, it was a humble little endeavor, and I honestly didn’t expect anyone to read it, outside of a few close friends. Well, it’s still a humble little endeavor, with maybe just a little more notoriety now. Somehow, over a dozen years later, it’s become a thing. A destination. A resource. And I’ve dedicated myself to managing and writing the best blog I can.
So thank you for reading.
Heads up. Later on in this post, I’m going to be asking you for money. Just letting you know, if you’re not interested in reading that sort of thing. Before we get to that part, I have a few things to share.
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: They Might Be Giants
Episode Nine, “The Watchers on the Wall,” starts with an awkward discussion between Jon Snow and Sam Tarley. Sam presses Jon for details on what sex with Ygritte felt like and wonders whether the vows they took called for strict celibacy or just forbidding marriage and children. Jon, as per usual, mumbles and cannot express himself eloquently (nor properly dry his hair).
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: They Might Be Giants”
The Time Travel and Ending of Edge of Tomorrow Explained
Originally posted at Reappropriate
I went to see the new Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt science-fiction film Edge of Tomorrow, which is based on the Japanese novel and manga All You Need is Kill.
The racial cross-casting of Cage’s character aside — he is inspired by Japanese protagonist Keiji in the manga — this film is phenomenal. Nerds and feminists — and especially nerd feminists — will adore this movie. It’s sharp, funny, entertaining, compelling, and visually stunning. Haters of Tom Cruise get to see Tom Cruise get killed about a hundred times in stunt scenes that Cruise himself described as “channeling Wile E. Coyote” on The Daily Show. Emily Blunt’s Rita is stellar: she is the aspirational super-soldier, and not the simpering girlfriend; she’s also got a bad-ass giant sword. Those who loved Pacific Rim‘s portrayal of a male-female peer relationship that was largely non-sexual will adore the relationship between Rita and Cruise’s Cage in this film.
Basically, it’s just really good. Go see it. I’ll wait.
Continue reading “The Time Travel and Ending of Edge of Tomorrow Explained”
Ghostbusters II Turns 25, Still Too Hot to Handle (Too Cold to Hold)
Oh yeah, and the original Ghostbusters is having an anniversary, too.
Yes, this weekend marks 30 years since that groundbreaking film Ghostbusters was first released. Trust me, I am more than excited for this fact; other than how old that makes me feel, that is. Sony is going all out for this anniversary too. Not only will the film be re-released in theaters this August, but they’re giving us a fully-loaded anniversary edition of the blu-ray in September!
As great as all of this is, I am here to talk about the thing I am actually even more jazzed about. You see, while 2014 is indeed the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters, it’s also the 25th anniversary of Ghostbusters II, aka the greatest sequel in film history. Yeah, that’s right. Sorry Godfather 2 or Empire Strikes Back or The Dark Knight.
Continue reading “Ghostbusters II Turns 25, Still Too Hot to Handle (Too Cold to Hold)”
Bruce Lee Fight to be Told from a Disciple’s P.O.V.
by Phil Yu | Originally posted at Angry Asian Man
The Adjustment Bureau director George Nolfi has signed on to direct the Bruce Lee “biopic” Birth of the Dragon, an upcoming action movie inspired by one of the legendary martial artist’s most infamous real-life fights. The story of the match is told from the perspective of Steve Macklin. Wait, who the hell is Steve Macklin?
Birth of the Dragon is inspired by the true story of Lee’s historic 1965 Oakland duel with kung fu master Wong Jack Man — a fight that’s already been fodder for considerable mythmaking over the years. According to Variety, this tale is told from the perspective of Steve Macklin, a fictional young disciple of Lee, who ultimately joins forces with Lee and Wong to battle a vicious band of Chinatown gangsters. Um, okay.
Continue reading “Bruce Lee Fight to be Told from a Disciple’s P.O.V.”
Yes, All Geek Men
This culture of ours saved my life. This isn’t an exaggeration. If not for Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L’Engle, Star Trek, The Wild Wild West, comic books, Isaac Asimov, and Dr. Who, I would probably be dead. I grew up in a neighborhood where the idea of dreaming outside of the concrete, glass, and busted elevators that encroached on my every day was damn near forbidden — it could also get you killed. Dreaming above your station was discouraged as you didn’t want others to think you were better than them. If they were in the shit, so were you. So in secret, I visited fantastic worlds — these worlds kickstarted my dream machinery, inviting me to see beyond what I thought were my limits.
Fiction has a way of doing that. It forces you to imagine worlds so very different than your own — and want to live there.
As I got more into SF (my catchall designation for all the outré things we love), not just as a consumer but also as a creator, I started to see just how amazing this stuff ours is. The potential for SF to affect real world change was absolutely astonishing. But the thing is, most of these changes happen only in the realm of the object. Cellular phones, teleconferencing, mobile digital health monitoring — all these things delivered on the promise of SF. These were delivered in tangible forms. What disturbed was that the human element stayed contemporarily human.
Superman is a Brand
by Jamal Igle
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or don’t read the book (which is probably a lot of you) DC’s Earth 2 series has introduced Val-Zod as a new “Black” Superman character [Ed. note: not to be confused with the Superman of Earth-23 from Grant Morrison’s upcoming Multiversity series]. Many have asked if Marvel can make a black Spider-Man, why can’t DC make Superman black permanently?
Well for one reason, like Earth 2 Superman, Marvel’s version of Spider-Man is also in an alternate reality, or have we forgotten that?
Changing Superman’s race only works in an alternate dimension because Superman is an established brand and has an established look. Every attempt to permanently change or alter him has failed because the people behind it don’t know the basics of marketing and public perception.
New Big Trouble Comic Captures the Classic Film’s Essence
Driving the Pork Chop Express. Rescuing Chinese girls with green eyes. Fighting little old basket-cases on wheels who turn into ten-foot-tall road blocks. Shaking the pillars of heaven. That’s all in a day’s work for Jack Burton, the charismatic truck driver hero with a mullet from John Carpenter’s 1986 kung fu/sci-fi comedy, Big Trouble in Little China.
It’s been nearly 30 years since the film was first released at the box office, and since my friend Julian and I would pretend that I was Miao Yin and he was David Lo Pan. We’d quote lines like “Chinese girls do not come with green eyes, Mr. Burton” and “It’s all in the reflexes” and cross our pinky fingers just like evil Lo Pan did before beams of light shot out of his mouth. Big Trouble was one of my favorite movies of the 80s, and it was my second favorite from director John Carpenter (right after The Thing).
Continue reading “New Big Trouble Comic Captures the Classic Film’s Essence”
Web Portal Opens Door for Black Creators
Here at The Nerds of Color, we’re always on the look out for spaces that not only shine a light on the lack of diversity in comics, but actually are doing something about it.
We recently learned about a new web portal that just launched a few days ago. It’s called Peep Game Comix, and its mission is to showcase the work of African American comic authors, artists, and publishers.
Check out their official press release after the jump.
NOC Reviews Toshiro: An Endorsement
If I had only one sentence with which to review Toshiro, a new original graphic novel from Dark Horse hitting store shelves this Wednesday, it would be this: Buy it the day it drops. If I had another: Wait in line if you must.
This isn’t hyperbole. Toshiro — written by Jai Nitz with art by Janusz Pawlak — is the reason I read comics.
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Bloody Hell
Oh, my sweet summer children. You had no idea THAT was coming, did you? Even as someone who has read the books twice, last night’s Game of Thrones was difficult to watch; in some ways, I wonder if it was worse for us readers because we knew exactly what would happen and this time, we’d see it fleshed out. Gouged out. Squeezed out. But I am getting ahead of myself. Ahead, yes a… head. A ruined head. A bloody mess of a head. Too soon, oh it’s too soon to contemplate that nightmare. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
R.I.P. Yuri Kochiyama: For All The Free by Jef Castro
Last night, news broke across social media that legendary human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama had passed away. Official news sources were slow to confirm, but sadly, it was true. The world had lost another titan of history — less than a week from the day Maya Angelou was taken from us, no less. The universe can be cruel sometimes.
As part of the digital comic I edited in conjunction with the Smithsonian‘s touring “I Want the Wide American Earth” Asian American history exhibit last September, I commissioned my fellow SIUniverse alum Jef Castro to create bookend pieces for the book that were inspired by the Carlos Bulosan poem from which the exhibit drew its name.
Continue reading “R.I.P. Yuri Kochiyama: For All The Free by Jef Castro”
Maleficent is Seldom What it Seems
Beware ye who may read this, for there be slight spoilers ahead.
In an embarrassment of riches as far as summer movies go, there was one that I had no intention of missing in the theatres. Maleficent was that movie.
As you would expect, this is a retelling of a story that you only think you know. Like the mega-popular Broadway musical Wicked did for The Wizard of Oz, Maleficent retells the tale of Sleeping Beauty from another point of view. Oh, and what a tale it tells! But that is also where I had the most problem with the movie.
I Kill Giants, Free Music, and the Donation Drive
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
I had the pleasure of meeting Joe Kelly yesterday, author of the wonderful Image Comics graphic novel, I Kill Giants. He was an amazingly nice and supportive person, and I had the chance to perform my “I Kill Giants” track for him, which made the house a bit misty eyed. It was a great moment for me, and if you haven’t had the chance to read the book, or hear the song that I made, please take a second to check it out!
Continue reading “I Kill Giants, Free Music, and the Donation Drive”
My Daughter’s Preschool Class Sang “Let It Go”
I’m sure that by now you’ve seen the video in which young Jathan Muhar answers the perennial graduation-time question of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” with an answer to warm any NOC’s heart. He wanted to be Batman. [Ed. note: I guess kindergarteners are a superstitious, cowardly lot. Also, somebody should warn the kid’s parents to never walk down any dark alleys at night. Just sayin’.]
In one short day, it’s been everywhere from Break.com to Gawker to The Huffington Post to the Facebook page of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. But I saw it before it went viral — I saw it live because my 5-year-old daughter was a classmate of his, graduating with him this past Wednesday.
Continue reading “My Daughter’s Preschool Class Sang “Let It Go””
Feminism is our Superpower
by Marjorie Liu
What can I add that hasn’t already been said? Not much, I suppose. There’s been an amazing symphony of voices on the internet, keeping alive the reality, the truth, that so many would prefer to ignore: that misogyny continues to thrive in every corner of the world. It is reflected back on us women every day, in a million different ways, and while it’s easy to point the finger at other countries and say, “Look at the way they treat women!” we all must know, deep down, that here in America we put into practice the same patterns of hate and ownership, and entitlement.
A pregnant woman was just stoned to death in Pakistan for marrying a man against her family’s wishes — but that happens here in America, all the time, with just slightly different players. Google “boyfriend kills pregnant girlfriend” and you’ll see a list of unending deaths. We read in horror about how rapists in other countries are let off easy by “corrupt authorities,” but what about our legal system? It’s just as monstrous towards victims of sexual assault. Check out this imagined, but very real, conversation — what if mugging were treated like rape is in the eyes of the law — found at the @femusingsteam twitter feed:
Revisiting The Boondocks Part Two: The Show
Yesterday, we ran through a brief history of the characters that inhabited The Boondocks comic strips that I loved. That roll call was all prelude to why I don’t love the animated “adaptation” on Adult Swim.
When I first heard of a ‘Docks cartoon, I was elated. If I could never have a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, I was owed a ‘Docks one, right? Like damn near all my friends, I was glued to the television. The first episode, “The Garden Party,” started off promising with a Huey Freeman voice over: “I’m not a prophet. But sometimes I have prophetic dreams; like then one when I was at a garden party.” Huey walks out on stage at this lily-white garden party, and drops the following jewels, “Jesus was black. Ronald Regan was the devil. And the government is lying about 9/11.” A riot ensues. The white folks can’t handle the truth. Despite my finding the anime/manga style stilted, this scene was rendered well. What a way to launch your first episode.
Continue reading “Revisiting The Boondocks Part Two: The Show”