Critical Geekery: Talking Representation in Pop Culture with the Nerds of Color
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Tag: Alice Wong
NOC Tweets Game of Thrones: She’s a Killer Queen
Last night, NOCs Alice (House Stark) and Julie (House Mormont) assembled to live-tweet the Season 6 Finale of Game of Thrones!
Here is a round-up of our tweets as well as some of our favorite reactions from the Twitterverse.
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APAture2015: Interview with Jason Bayani
We continue our spotlight on Kearny Street Workshop and its APAture2015: Future Tense, a series of showcases featuring emerging artists from the San Francisco Bay Area. This Saturday, October 10, the Comics & Illustration Showcase will feature a number of comic book artists. Yesterday was my interview with artist Thi Bui. Today, I chat with Jason Bayani, Program Manager of Kearny Street Workshop.
APAture2015: Interview with Artist Thi Bui
Kearny Street Workshop, one of the oldest and well-known arts organization in the Asian Pacific American community, proudly presents APAture2015: Future Tense, a series of showcases featuring emerging artists from the San Francisco Bay Area.
On Saturday, October 10, the Comics & Illustration Showcase will feature a number of comic book artists. Below is a brief Q&A with Thi Bui, who is the featured artist at this year’s showcase.
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Sikh Captain America: The Man Behind the Shield
Is America ready for a Sikh Captain America — a superhero fighting hate crimes and intolerance? In the wake of 9/11, the massacre of Sikh Americans in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and America post-Ferguson, my answer is a resounding yes! If superheroes can battle aliens, cyborgs, and fellow villainous superheroes, why canât there be one that fights for social and racial justice?
In 2013, cartoonist Vishavjit Singh wore a Captain America costume for the first time with a royal blue turban to match his ensemble. The short documentary Red, White, and Beard is a quirky, lighthearted glance into Sikh Captain America and the man behind this growing phenomenon.
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NOCs of the Roundtable: All the Flarrow Feels
Wow. It’s been two days since the epic crossover between The Fastest Man Alive and the Emerald Archer blew up the internet and we are still thinking about it! Even though Christelle and Connie dropped 5,000 words combined on both episodes, we still have more to say. So we reconvened the Roundtable and brought in some of the other Nerds to talk through their Flarrow Feels.
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When Gotham is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die
Whatever issues you might have with The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Bane is probably one of the most divisive. Either you loved it or you hated it. Nolan’s take on the villain deviated so much from the comics, it was a wonder why he even chose to go with Bane in the first place. Another strike against Nolan’s Bane is that you could also argue that the character was racebent from the way he’s depicted in the comics. Or not. Personally, I rather enjoyed Hardy’s completely wacky and out there interpretation of the character. Not only are his mannerisms and fuddy-duddy English accent so utterly imitable, but he made a character that is admittedly boring on page really compelling on screen.
The reason that I just spent 100+ words talking about Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is because last night’s episode of Gotham used the opportunity to introduce Venom, the drug responsible for Bane’s abilities in the comic. And the whole time, all I could think about was Tom Hardy in his ridiculous face mask.
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Gotham & Sleepy Hollow: More Mixed Feelings on Monday Nights
This week both episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow left me feeling a lot less meh, especially Sleepy Hollow. During Gotham, I noticed on my Twitter timeline either a lot of rage toward the Arkham storyline or a lot of excitement seeing the asylum for the first time on the show. Since I am not a reader of the comic books and unfamiliar with the Batman canon, perhaps I am less disturbed and annoyed by the way Arkham (and the role of the Wayne family) was introduced on the show.
Episode four of Sleepy Hollow, on the other hand, had an embarrassment of riches for #Ichabbie shippers. Those golden shipper moments in combination with some great action and comedic scenes made this episode much more fun to watch and live-tweet.
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Putting the Meh in Monday Nights
I’d have to say both episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow this week left me feeling a bit meh. It feels like the episodes are, dare I say it, becoming formulaic. And yet, I must be a servant of Moloch because I will most likely live-tweet again next week. The question is, will Moloch (a.k.a., the God Demon of Child Sacrifice) reward me for my loyal viewing?
Here are some choice tweets for this week’s episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow, “Balloonman” and “Root of All Evil,” respectively. For more, check out the hashtags #Gotham and #YungGotham for the Batman prequel and #SleepyHeads and #SleepyHolla for some great tweets. And check out Keith’s take on last night’s Gotham.
Monday Night Live-Tweet: Gotham and Sleepy Hollow
Monday nights are just full of nerdy goodness. First with Gotham and then Sleepy Hollow on FOX. It’s been fun live-tweeting both episodes back-to-back. Here are some choice tweets for the second episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow, “Selina Kyle” and “The Kindred,” respectively.
For more, check out the hashtags #Gotham and #YungGotham for the Batman prequel and #SleepyHeads and #SleepyHolla for everyone’s favorite
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Sleepy Time is Over: A Storify of the Sleepy Hollow Season Premiere
Gotham wasn’t the only high-profile NOC-friendly series to debut on FOX last night. Immediately following was the second season premiere of Sleepy Hollow, and since I was already on twitter, we live-tweeted that too! You could’ve followed along with the hashtags #SleepyHeads and #SleepyPremiere.
If you missed any of the live-tweets, find them on Storify here. Some highlights are after the jump.
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Once Upon a Time in Gotham: A Storify
Since last night was the kickoff to the new fall season, I was tasked with watching the FOX network for two straight hours, with Gotham debuting and NOC-favorite Sleepy Hollow returning. Fortunately, I was joined by the lovely folks on twitter since I was live tweeting both shows on the official NOC twitter, using the hashtags #GothamPremiere and #YungGotham.
If you didn’t get a chance to follow along, here’s a Storify for my live-tweets of the Gotham pilot. Check back later for the Sleepy Hollow one. I’ve also highlighted some choice tweets below as well.
R.I.P. Robin Williams
Like most of the world, we were shocked to hear of the passing of Robin Williams last night. It’s hard to crystallize all of the emotions that come when a beloved personality passes away. Shock gives way to grief and then finally reflection. There are countless tributes and eulogies celebrating Williams’ life and career all over the internet. Here, we’re going to remember the roles and memories that have touched our lives and will continue to bring joy and laughter to generations to come.
Origins of The N.O.C.: Year One
Believe it or not, today marks the one year anniversary of the official launch of this blog. (While we reposted Bao’s article that inspired the website on August 1, we didn’t officially kick off the site until this post on the 12th.)
A year later, we’ve grown exponentially across our various social media platforms thanks to all of you loyal readers, followers, subscribers, and likers. To mark the occasion, we’re going to look back at the secret origins of all of the NOCs who contributed this past year. Fortunately, our roster continues to grow, so you can keep track of future origin stories by following this tag.
Forever Ghibli
It might be sad commentary that I get my breaking news from my Facebook news feed. I suspect the same is true for millions of others. Earlier this week, I was alarmed when several friends alerted me to an announcement by Studio Ghibli that they will be closing their production division.
Translation: no new Studio Ghibli animated magic.
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones Part Three: It’s Not Easy Seeing Green
[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; part two is here.]
With a heavy heart I write this re-cap of the Season 4 finale of Game of Thrones: âThe Children.â
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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.
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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
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Dividends and Debts
Season four of Game of Thrones has been a tumultuous one to say the least, especially for those who have read the A Song of Fire and Ice series and know how much the television show has diverged with the characters in the last several episodes in particular (cough, cough Jaime Lannister the rapist).
The season’s sixth episode, âThe Laws of Gods and Men,â grapples with a lot of thorny issues such as how leaders need to balance justice with mercy and whether they truly are able to deliver justice or just merely a series of motions with a pre-ordained verdict.
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NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Only the Good Die Young
In âBreaker of Chains,â the third episode of season four of HBOâs Game of Thrones, everything is running amok in Westeros, North beyond the Wall, and Meereen. Things were never sweet, but they sure are sour. The long overdue death of the king has created a power vacuum, and the many players of the Game are scrambling to realign themselves with the next ruler.
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NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Reversal of Fortunes
In the immortal words of Salt-N-Pepa, I’m gonna “Push it… Push it Good…” and recap the season four premiere of Game of Thrones, “Two Swords,” as best as possible. For those who want a review of whatâs happened so far and where we left all the main characters, go here, here, and here.
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NOCs of the Roundtable: Favorite Asian Bad Guys
This week on Hard N.O.C. Life, I’ll be interviewing our buddies Stephen and Patrick from the National Film Society. They just premiered their Kickstarted webseries Awesome Asian Bad Guys to packed houses last week during CAAMFest in San Francisco, and I was lucky enough to have them on to talk about the series. In addition to the NFS guys, I’ll also be speaking with Yuji Okumoto, aka Chozen from The Karate Kid II.
All this talk about Awesome Asian Bad Guys got me thinking about which iconic Asian villains are most beloved by the NOCs. So we assembled around the old roundtable and shared our own Awesome Asian Bad Guys.
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A Mutant from Planet Cripton, An Origin
In 1974, a baby arrived in the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana from the planet Cripton. She looked like the offspring of two Chinese immigrants, Ma and Pa Wong, but something was different.
The Earthâs gravitational force made it difficult for this baby to raise her head. She couldnât crawl and went straight from sitting to walking. Perplexed, Ma and Pa Wong took their baby to the doctor and found out: she is a mutant from Cripton!
This is her origin story.