Get Ready for Black Magical History Month 2023

A magical time is approaching! In February, Black Nerds Create is hosting their sixth annual Black Magical History Month (formerly Black Wizard History Month). The event is a month-long celebration of Black magical stories, characters, and fans. 

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Bonus Hard NOC Life: ‘Hamilton’ as Fan Fiction (from 2016)

Hard NOC Life will go on a brief hiatus as we prepare for our landmark 200th episode.

But since today is the premiere of Hamilton on Disney+, we’re re-sharing this panel from November 2016 as a bonus episode of the podcast. You can find the original post here.

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‘Lost’ Legacies: How to Re-imagine Sacred Nerd Texts

Before December 2019 ends, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on one of the most significant pop culture artifacts of the year. This is the month, after all, in which one of the co-creators of the iconic series Lost gave us a critically acclaimed and universally praised ninth episode of a series that breathed new life into a franchise that had not been this beloved since the mid-1980s. By shifting the focus away from the historically white male heroes of the original and toward a story centering women and people of color, the creators had to also confront the toxic — and often racist — fan culture that had laid claim to the property for over thirty years. Plus, they were able to do all of this without the consent of the property’s original creator.

Of course, I’m talking about Watchmen on HBO.

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Bryan Thao Worra on Lao Science Fiction (From CTRL+ALT)

In our final live edition of Hard NOC Life from the NOC Reading Lounge at CTRL+ALT — the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s pop-up culture lab in the former Pear River Mart location in SoHo, award-winning poet Bryan Thao Worra discusses the literature of the Laotian diaspora and explains why the Asian American literay canon needs more speculative fiction.

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History as Fan Fiction: A CTRL+ALT Panel on ‘Hamilton’

Back in November, we recorded a live edition of Hard NOC Life from the NOC Reading Lounge at CTRL+ALT — the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s pop-up culture lab in the former Pearl River Mart location in SoHo. Hamilton superfans Constance Gibbs, Kendra James, and Kevin T. Morales joined Keith to nerd out over the smash Broadway hit musical Hamilton.

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#Stormpilot: How Finn/Poe Could Become Canon (and Why It’s a Good Thing)

Stormpilot: It’s the fandom pairing of the decade! And it just might come true.

“Girl, please,” you might be saying, but just listen to me! Not only could it happen, but if it does, it’ll change the game forever (and in a good way.) First let’s get into the timeline. Keep in mind: the timeline is intense. Let’s get into it:

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