Hubris and How Not to Run a CON

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”

The 3rd Annual Black Girl Nerds of Color Meetup

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.

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BGNOC Part III: The Nerds Take NYCC

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!

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BGN, Racialicious, Team Up with the NOC for San Diego Comic-Con

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!

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Join the N.O.C. at Comic-Con in San Diego

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!

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A smiling Daredevil action figure sits in front of a computer monitor, arms raised above his head triumphantly. The opening sequence from the Netflix series Marvel's Daredevil plays on the screen behind him with a newly added audio track selected in the settings menu that reads: "ENGLISH - AUDIO DESCRIPTION." In the corner are two hashtags in red text: ‪#‎Dare2Describe‬ ‪#‎HellYeah‬

The Fight for Audio Description on Netflix’s Daredevil

When Marvel’s much-anticipated Daredevil premiered on Netflix on April 10, the disability community, especially the nerds with disabilities, looked forward to the series in appreciation of the genre, the comic books, and in particular, the blind protagonist, Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil. Unlike other popular superheroes with disabilities that might be cyborgs, mutants, or aliens, Matt Murdock became blind in an accident, a very human and mundane event, nothing supernatural or alien about it. Yes, the radioactive isotopes that he was exposed to gave him certain abilities, but his lived experience as a blind man in a non-blind world also gave him certain skills that became as useful as his heightened senses, ability to take a beating, and mastery of the martial arts.

Very soon after the release of Daredevil on Netflix, people began to realize that blind Netflix users could not enjoy Daredevil’s adventures since the series did not come with audio description.

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The Homicide of Darrien Hunt: An Update

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.

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Cosplaying While Black? The Homicide of Darrien Hunt

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.

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Creating a Perfect Storm

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.

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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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