The Case for a Sherlock Holmes Multiverse

March 30, 2021May 15, 2021 Shawn Taylor

Here is where I make canonists angry. Boom. So, Sherlock Holmes is kind of like Michael Moorcock’s ‘Eternal Champion.’ Holmes is different than a Paladin of Balance as he isn’t there to restore/maintain balance between Law and Chaos, he’s there to ensure justice in any way it needs to manifest. His mind and prowess are wonders, but his demons stop him from reaching his full potential. As great as he is, as helpful as he is, he cannot ascend past being an excellent consulting detective. He can never ascend to shining hero status. His demons can range from addiction, to misogyny, to broken and unhealthy relationships, or a combination of them all. The constant is that he wages an intense personal/internal battle in every universe. This impedes him from being nothing more than a celestial tool for those seeking redress.

Hard N.O.C. Life, Movies, Television

Hard NOC Life: Desi Geek Miracles

February 14, 2019May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

It a Hard NOC crossover as Desi Geek Girls’ co-host (and YA author) Preeti Chhibber joins in on Hard NOC Life to talk about South Asian representation and more!

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Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel, Music

Hard NOC Life: Feels Like the End of Summer

September 7, 2018May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

This week on Hard NOC Life, Shawn and Keith discuss the news from the waning days of summer, including Childish Gambino’s latest, the new Jack Ryan series on Amazon, and the reveal of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.

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Television6 Comments

My Top 15 Television Series of 2015

January 14, 2016January 15, 2016 Dennis R. Upkins

They say there’s nothing good on television. Clearly, more than a few shows were trying to disprove that saying. 2015 kept me busy in terms of reviewing shows but more than a few proved to be well worth it.

As is the standard, for a series to be reviewed (much less nominated), it must meet the guidelines of my Media Litmus Test.

So without further adieu, the following are my Top 15 Television Series of 2015:

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Television22 Comments

Why ‘Elementary’ is Far Superior to ‘Sherlock’

March 11, 2015April 15, 2020 Dennis R. Upkins

[Ed. note: In most geek circles, the BBC’s modern interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories — starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman — gets most of the praise and attention from fans. In 2012, CBS put its own Sherlock Holmes adaptation on the air in the form of Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as the iconic Holmes and Watson. Needless to say, we at the NOC prefer the latter. Here are ten reasons why. — KC]

Oh yes, I go there.

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Movies98 Comments

There are No Asian American Movie Stars

December 15, 2014June 23, 2020 Keith Chow

Last week, North Korean hackers allegedly broke into the personal files of Sony Pictures execs as retaliation for the studio producing the James Franco and Seth Rogen comedy The Interview, which is about a CIA plot to assassinate Kim Jong Un. Normally, we’d be all over the nerd-friendly news about, say, Spider-Man coming home to Marvel Studios, but that’s been covered plenty of times on the web. Besides, we already told the world the best way to mashup Spidey and the MCU.

The thing to emerge out of the Sony leak that really bugged me was the assertion by Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin that “there aren’t any Asian movie stars.”

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