Tranquil Ashes here again! Sorry it’s been so long but A LOT has transpired — for instance… this Universal FanCon catastrophe. If you don’t know about it, here is the “short” version. Universal FanCon is an inclusive, fan funded, multi-fandom … Continue reading What About the Creators: Universal FanCon
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”
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”
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”
Originally posted at Black Girl Nerds
All that is lacking in substance is made up for with gorgeous imagery in a Zhang Yimou’s new and pointless film, The Great Wall. Whomever his set people are, give them all the awards because they bring their A-game when it comes to costume and set design. But I digress.
I’m not sure what I expected, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the Silk Road version of Edge of Tomorrow featuring giant Komodo Dragons. Shouldn’t a larger budget allow more time to work on perfecting the CGI? How many Adobe-editing programs did they use to get these monsters to look as fake and silly as they do? Zhang Yimou should stick to martial arts dramas because he is out of his element with The Great Wall.
Continue reading “The Great Wall Review: Is It Worth The Watch?”
In the aftermath of the United States’ 2016 presidential election, many white Americans are asking how a candidate so inexorably tied to white supremacy was able to secure a seat as the leader of the free world.
People of color in the United States, however, are somewhat less surprised. We’ve seen, felt, and suffered under white supremacy as long as we’ve been alive.
Discussions examining the conditions resulting in the President-elect’s ascension have largely been variations on a limited set of themes, and are often confined to the world of political machinery. Was it the relative political weakness of his opponent? The failure of mainstream media to do its job?
Continue reading “#SupportPOCpods: An Open Letter From Podcasters of Color”
We are in the midst of another New York Comic-Con, and as is becoming customary with these major Comic-Cons, we’ve teamed up with Black Girl Nerds to bring BGNOC to the east coast. And now we can announce online merch outlet TeePublic will be sponsoring the meet up! For a limited time, TeePublic is having a site-wide sale that ends during NYCC weekend. But fret not! Fans of the NOC will get a one-week extension on the sale. Click through to find out how.
Continue reading “TeePublic Sponsors BGNOC at NYCC, Extra Discount for NOC Followers”
If you haven’t heard, this Thursday is the kickoff to another New York Comic-Con. In addition to hosting the very first East Coast BGNOC, I’ll be on a few panels and hanging out at the Epic Proportions booth (#2010) all weekend! Speaking of Epic Props, my boy Jerry Ma just Kickstarted his own martial arts comic, so see below for how to contribute and where to find me at NYCC.
Continue reading “Epic Props Kickstarts New York Comic-Con Week!”
In exactly three short weeks, New York Comic-Con will be returning to the Javits Center on the West side of Manhattan, and we will be there stationed at Epic Proportions Booth 2010! And since it’s a Comic-Con, we will once again be co-hosting a meet up with our friends at Black Girl Nerds on Friday night! That’s right, we’re bringing BGNOC to NYCC!
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”
On August 3, I was excited to unveil a project I’d been working on for nearly a year. I had been working with Magic: The Gathering to produce a brand new character; a character who is a biggie for their Planeswalkers cast of characters. Kaya, Ghost Assassin has made history as the first black woman Planeswalker, and I’m honored to have been a part of her creation.
Continue reading “The Creation of Kaya, Magic: The Gathering’s First Black Woman Planeswalker”
For the second year in a row, we are co-hosting a special meet up with our friends at Black Girl Nerds and this time we’re officially bringing along the crew from Racialicious to party with us on Friday night at the Hilton Bay Front Hotel (click here for additional photos of the space)! Click through for more info and we’ll see you at the con!
Continue reading “BGN, Racialicious, Team Up with the NOC for San Diego Comic-Con”
For this week’s edition of Hard NOC Life, we’re changing it up and focusing our attention on a genre that doesn’t get much attention on the site: musical theater! At a time when Hollywood still thinks it’s risky business to put people of color in their movies, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is literally poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not. With its company of African American, Latinx, and Asian American actors playing the men (and women) who founded our country, Hamilton is proof that diversity equals box office. Joining Keith to talk all things Ham, are super-fan Constance Gibbs, Hollywood Reporter Rebecca Sun, and #OscarsSoWhite creator April Reign.
If you ever get the chance to attend Comic-Con International in San Diego, you should probably do the complete opposite of what I did. Namely, give yourself some time to travel and eat food. Other than that, my Comic-Con experience this year was probably the best time I’ve had at a convention in a long time! Big thanks to Marissa, Mike, and Dariane of Racebending for inviting me to the Super Asian America panel (more on that later!) and allowing me to come back to SDCC in the first place!
Originally published on Black Girl Nerds
When my debut novel, Hollowstone, was released a few years back, I had no idea how far the rabbit hole would go. What began as me publishing a YA novel that I completed during my inaugural NaNoWriMo challenge has resulted in endless opportunities (such as writing for Black Girl Nerds). It’s also sparked some most excellent discussions on diversity: race, LGBTQ, and gender.
I couldn’t be more humbled and honored.
Looking back, there was one thing I found to be a bit unsettling. Whenever white feminists commented on the female players of Hollowstone, they discussed (and praised) Neely at length. Understandable, given that she was a universal fan-favorite. While Abigail and Brianna were examined, I noticed Cassidy and Ruby were ignored. This bothered me. Brianna was only in the first half of the novel as opposed to Cass and Ruby who were main players that appear throughout the entire novel.
The difference is that both Cassidy and Ruby are Black women.
Continue reading “West of Sunset: My Love Letter To Black Women”
Can you feel it in the air? It’s officially Comic-Con week, and we are happy to announce that for the first time ever, the N.O.C. will be in full effect in San Diego! In addition to seeing many of our guest contributors on panels and at booths during the show, we are also co-hosting a meet up with our friends at Black Girl Nerds on Saturday night! So check out everyone’s schedules and we’ll see you at the con!
Continue reading “Join the N.O.C. at Comic-Con in San Diego”
What kind of nerd am I? A black girl nerd. A TV nerd. A Harry Potter nerd. A watch-all-three-Lord-of-the-Rings-Extended-Editions-in-one-weekend nerd. A nerd who is still discovering new, awesome nerd things every day.
But let’s talk about being a TV nerd, since I’m going to probably do most of my writing in the TV section of this website. I guess I became a TV nerd when I was about nine and I had to miss an episode of Sailor Moon after school. I cried. I thought about how I might never get to see that episode (this was pre-DVR, of course and I didn’t know I wouldn’t be home, so VHS recording the episode was out) and I’d miss that time with Serena and Darien and the girls (it was the American dub, it has a special place in my heart even though I should know better).
Continue reading “Forming the Pilot Episode: The Origins of a TV Nerd”
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.
Last week, we brought you Black Girl Nerds’ account of the shooting of Darrien Hunt, the 22-year old Utah man who was killed by police for “brandishing a sword” that happened to not be a real sword at all. Depressingly, Hunt’s murder is part of an all too common pattern of high-profile killings of unarmed black men by those who have been sworn to protect and serve them.
The death of Darrien Hunt did not happen in a vaccum. In the wake of similar instances in Staten Island with Eric Garner, or Ferguson with Michael Brown, and Ohio with John Crawford1 — and these cases are just from this summer — the mainstream media and society in general is paying attention more than they ever have in the past.
by Jamie Broadnax | Originally posted at Black Girl Nerds
This morning I read the link to a news article tweeted to me about Darrien Hunt, a 22-year old Black male who was gunned down by police on Wednesday September 10 by the Saratoga Springs police department. Several news outlets initially picked up the story as reported by the police and Tim Taylor, the chief deputy attorney for Utah county. His statement to the press was as follows:
When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt, he brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword, at which time Mr. Hunt was shot.
Continue reading “Cosplaying While Black? The Homicide of Darrien Hunt”
At a time when many comics fans are clamoring for more gender and race representation in superhero comics, one character has been the benchmark for strong women heroes of color for decades. And the X-Men’s Storm is currently receiving a bit of a creative renaissance with Marvel recently launching her first ever solo series.
On the latest episode of Hard N.O.C. Life, guest host Shawn Taylor (@reallovepunk) discusses the importance of the character with an all-star panel: Storm writer Greg Pak (@gregpak), actress Maya Glick (@MayaSokora) — creator of the Kickstarted Storm fan film Rain, and Storm superfan Jamie Broadnax of @BlackGirlNerds.
In this debut N.O.C. One-Shot extra, Shawn Taylor and Jamie Broadnax discuss the origins of Black Girl Nerds. The website and twitter account that has quickly become the go-to destination for live tweeting, news sharing, and culture critiquing for discerning … Continue reading N.O.C. One-Shot: The Origin of Black Girl Nerds
