This week on Hard NOC Life, Shawn and Keith are joined by We’re Not All Ninjas co-host Melissa Slaughter to run down all the trailers that just dropped this week (there are so many, we didn’t get to talk about Creed II or X-Men: Dark Phoenix)!
The trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Crimes of Grindelwald is finally out! Here’s hoping the movie can keep up with all of the plot lines that the trailer packed in. Below is a rundown for a few magical extras in this fantastical sequel. Spoilers start now!
Continue reading “The Final ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Trailer is Out Now and Action Packed”
It‘s almost Tony Awards Time, which is a Broadway nerd’s Superbowl. And through the luck of the great wizard Dumbledore, I got last minute tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is nominated for a solid 10 … Continue reading Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ on Broadway
Originally published at Twinjas Book Reviews
One of the questions I’m constantly asked (which admittedly I never get tired of answering) is what my process in terms of world building and developing complex characters.
My approach to world-building and character development ultimately corresponds to my overall approach to storytelling. As a writer, I personally belong to the school of character = story. What truth do we discover along the character’s journey? More than that, whether it’s fiction, articles or blog posts, I generally have three mandates which I dub E-Cubed: Enlighten, entertain and empower.
Needless to say that E-Cubed has led to other techniques which has only enhanced my storytelling abilities over the years.
Continue reading “My Steps To Creating Characters And Building Worlds”
Update 11/25/16: The original version of this post stated that Tina was simply white. I have since realized that Tina’s full name is Porpentina Goldstein, and that she and her sister Queenie are likely of Jewish descent (and thus both have only conditional whiteness). I have updated the post with this information in mind.
The Harry Potter universe is a world that’s followed most of us since we were kids. While in many respects it’s aged along with us — we see Harry grow up and have kids, and the film Fantastic Beasts is certainly aimed at an older audience — in other aspects it has remained disappointingly behind the times. In particular, Fantastic Beasts is yet another example in the Potterverse of how marginalized folks, particularly queer people and/or people of color, continue to be exactly that: marginalized.
Continue reading “Fantastic Beasts is Not So Fantastic with Diversity”
Amongst my friends and family, it is no secret that the only holiday I care about is Halloween. No, it isn’t just because the candy is free and flowing — although this is a huge bonus. What I love the most about he holiday is that there is this unbridled demonstration of ingenuity, creativity, and imagination. People get to step a little outside of their mundane lives and step into the realm of the fantastic.
Another thing I love are the costumes. I don’t think I’m alone in this, especially amongst my fellow NOC. While many of us were too busy to dress up, we made sure that our children did.
I would like to present to you the NOC Parade of Costumes: Our Children’s Addition.
Continue reading “An N.O.C. Halloween: Our Children’s Edition”
“I ran back in time because Zoom and my dad and things and I got to live with my parents and it was all good but then it wasn’t so I came back but everything is different and I want everything to change back.” – Barry Allen during this week’s panicked voiceover
Barry flips his shit so hard that he flips it all the way to Star City. All over Felicity. Who, like us, is like, “You just, like, run back in time? All the time?”
Not so long ago, my family and I went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, in Southern California. In a word, it was amazing. Despite my being too broad-shouldered (and totally crushed) that I couldn’t fit into the seat for “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” (my wife and daughter said it was the single best ride of their lives), the trip was worth the drive to get there. So was waiting in the horrendous lines. What rendered moot any complaints of inconvenience was the near-constant look of awe and wonder on my daughter’s face.
Continue reading “Harry Potter and the Magic Loving Black Girl”
The script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth and probably final story about Harry Potter, was finally released yesterday. Written exclusively for the stage by Jack Thorne, JK Rowling, and John Tiffany, the London play is nearly all sold out through December 2017, and Potterheads everywhere celebrated the midnight release with costume parties. Fanfare aside, the big question is, is it worth the read? Here’s ten things to consider (without plot spoilers!):
Continue reading “10 Things to Consider If You Haven’t Read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Yet”
by Dr. Adrienne Keene | Originally posted at Native Appropriations
Remember back in June when it was announced that the new Harry Potter prequel-of-sorts had an American Wizarding school? Remember how I was concerned? If you don’t, here’s a link to that post.
Continue reading “Magic in North America: The Harry Potter Franchise Veers Too Close to Home”
Finding something decent to watch on Christmas can often be a challenge. Reruns have no appeal, neither do cheesy holiday specials, and you probably couldn’t care less about sports.
Fear not. The following are five film suggestions that are appropriate not only for Christmas but basically any day ending in ‘y.’
Hermione Granger means so much to so many girls, myself included. She’s smart and brave — the smartest witch of her age — and saved the world. She’s someone who prefers books to people (except a select few) and can be brass and bold at times when girls are usually told not to be. She’s a role model and a mirror. And because her race is never specified in the Harry Potter series, many girls around the world can picture someone who looks like them as her character. She was of course, cast as white in the Hollywood adaptations of the books — because Hollywood gonna Hollywood — but that doesn’t mean that she has to be white in all adaptations of the series. Buzzfeed already showed us the mounds of Hermione-as-black fanart that exists in the world. And now that dream that so many of us had is coming true.
Continue reading “Harry Potter and the Fact That Hermione is Black”
[Ed. note: Since EW.com just revealed an exclusive first look at next year’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, we’re reposting this piece that originally appeared on The Mary Sue in September.]
All Potterheads were excited when it was announced that a new movie was coming out (even if we were sad it wasn’t a Marauders prequel). And some fans were excited because with a new cast, it meant an opportunity for people of color to become main characters in a series whose fans span the globe.
J.K. Rowling herself spurred many of the theories that Fantastic Beasts could feature a more diverse cast than the Harry Potter franchise. (The film series as a whole only features 0.47% of lines spoken by people of color, according to the Every Single Word video series.) Over on Pottermore, she described Newt Scamander’s (author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) grandson Rolf as “swarthy,” a word which means “dark-skinned.” Many fans figured this could mean that Newt himself could be black.
by Dr. Adrienne Keene | Originally posted at Native Appropriations
Dear J.K. Rowling,
I am unabashedly a huge Harry Potter fan. I first encountered Harry when I was in Junior High, volunteering at the public library (nerd status, I know). The children’s librarian handed me book one, and I was hooked. I even used to frequent Harry Potter message boards back in the day with my friend Kathleen (we were “Parvati” and “Lavender” cause we also shared an interest in divination, ha). Anyway, all this is to say, Harry holds a sacred spot in my heart. But I’m not one of those fans who can recite things verbatim, or remember every tiny detail, so if I’m missing something, I hope one of those fans will help me out.
I’ve been interestedly following the news that there is a new Harry Potter prequel-of-sorts in the works, for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, following “magizoologist” Newt Scamander. I hadn’t been following it closely, but a few days ago, I saw your exchanges on Twitter about the name/location of the American Wizarding School — and I started to get a bit concerned.
When Love Actually premiered in cinemas over a decade ago, who knew it would be one of the most influential — and divisive — holiday movies ever made? You might think I’m being hyperbolic, but this movie is consistently one of the best selling DVDs and blu-rays every year1 and gains legions of new fans from multiple airings on cable and Netflix — though not for much longer. It’s also responsible for spawning an entire sub-genre of similar romantic comedies like Valentine’s Day and the equally awful New Year’s Eve. Love it or hate it, this flick evokes extreme feelings either way.
So why am I writing about Love Actually? It’s not like romantic comedy is a topic that’s covered on the NOC. Well, for one thing, most of the movie’s sprawling cast of British actors have gone on to become icons of the Comic-Con set. The stars of today’s biggest genre properties can trace their lineage back to this flick, and it’s amazing.
Continue reading “‘Love Actually’ is Ground Zero for Geek Icons”
So my version of a nerd is a person who passionately and purposefully seeks out the way- more-than-necessary knowledge about a strangely specific subject1. There are barely-there nerd memories of inventing my own Pokémon with their successive evolved forms, obviously, Toonami afternoons of Dragonball and Dragonball Z, explaining The Adventures of Lois and Clark to my grandmother, and losing my elementary-aged shit when Hercules and Xena had their first crossover.
Continue reading “NOC Origin: If I Had a Horcrux, it’d Probably be My Terminator Boxset”
Every second Monday in October, many folks across the country get to enjoy the day off from school and/or work to celebrate Chris Columbus, the director whose filmography has grossed nearly $4 billion worldwide. Though, I’ve always found it odd that the federal government would name a holiday after a director who, despite the overwhelming box office of his films, isn’t the most innovative or important filmmaker in American cinema. I mean, shouldn’t Spielberg or Scorsese or Spike get a holiday before this guy1?
That said, it’s Columbus Day, and you’re already sitting at home. So why not fire up the blu-ray player and watch one — or all — of these nerd-friendly movies by the man most famous for teaching Macaulay Culkin how to shave. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
Continue reading “Five Nerdy Movies to Celebrate Columbus Day”
Originally posted at Ghoststar.net
In January 2009, I decided to write a book. I’ve always written, always made up strange worlds and sent characters hurdling into them, always dreamt of monsters. But until that day, I was scattered: a screenplay here, a few essays there. Some poems. None of ‘em went very far.
I’d read all the Harry Potters and loved them, loved how they immersed me in the world so thoroughly and stayed grounded and exciting. And I wanted something more… I’d just finished Junot’s Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Walter Mosley’s Six Easy Pieces and the combined ferocity of those two singular and relentlessly truthful voices lit a fire inside me. Octavia Butler’s work stoked that fire and Stephen King’s On Writing reminded me that writing a book was something that can be done, long as you sit down and do it.
So I did.
The flip side of the discussion of opening up the speculative fiction genres to more writers of color telling stories about characters of color is the phenomenon of white writers employing characters of color. Such works are not automatically or inherently problematic when done sensitively and skillfully; indeed, the diversification of the worlds of white creators to reflect the real diversity of our own is necessary. Speculative fiction abounds with examples both bad, like the racial allegories of Tolkien‘s Middle Earth, and good, like Le Guin’s Earthsea series, Stephenson’s Snow Crash, or Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.
Continue reading “Talking Back to White Creators: Rachel Rostad’s “To J.K. Rowling, From Cho Chang””
