Martial Arts, Movies, Streaming1 Comment

The Backstory ‘Cobra Kai’ Should Tell

January 19, 2021August 30, 2021 Lauren Lola

WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Season 3 of Cobra Kai.

The third season of Cobra Kai has been out for a few weeks already on Netflix and a lot unfolded over the course of its ten episodes. Familiar faces returned, dynamics between some of the characters changed for the better while others changed for the worst, and through a sequence of flashbacks, audiences got a glimpse at the backstory of the original (and current) Cobra Kai sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove).

Podcasts

Southern Fried Asian: Melissa Slaughter

March 21, 2018October 12, 2019 Southern Fried Asian

Fellow Hard NOC Media podcaster Melissa Slaughter — co-host of We’re Not All Ninjas — is the guest on a brand new episode of Southern Fried Asian!

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Movies17 Comments

Surprise: Hollywood is Still Whitewashing POC Characters

May 9, 2017May 10, 2017 Laura Sirikul

Happy Asian American Pacific Islander Month!

Good news! The story of the Ni’ihau Incident is coming to the big screen. Bad news? Hollywood has learned nothing from the whitewashing outrage that has been in the zeitgeist for the last year.

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Comics, News

Announcing New Frontiers Anthology Inspired by the Life of George Takei

April 10, 2017July 24, 2017 The Nerds of Color

The team behind the groundbreaking Asian American superhero anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered, in partnership with the Japanese American National Museum, have issued a Call for Submissions for New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei, an original graphic novel anthology that will serve as a companion volume to JANM’s historic exhibition of the same name (running through August 2017), which showcases Takei’s life and the cultural landscapes through which he has traveled. The anthology’s target publication date is July 2017.

Diverse creators with stories to share that speak to the themes and issues Takei has confronted in his life are encouraged to pitch them at the Submissions Form located at here before the pitch deadline of April 24, 2017. Relevant issues include, but are not limited to: unlawful incarceration, status as an “illegal” alien and the push for LGBTQ equality and civil rights for all, yellowface, whitewashing, media stereotypes, and the rise of digital culture and social media.

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Movies, Music, Theatre4 Comments

See George Takei’s Broadway Musical Allegiance on the Big Screen

October 26, 2016September 3, 2019 Keith Chow

If you missed out on George Takei’s Allegiance during its acclaimed, but brief, Broadway run, Fathom Events is giving you an opportunity to see the musical — that made Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda sob — in a cinema near you!

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Movies, Reviews, Star Trek4 Comments

It’s More Than Okay To Be George Takei

May 16, 2014September 8, 2019 Keith Chow

Last night, I had the distinct honor to attend a screening of To Be Takei — the new documentary about Start Trek actor, civil rights activist, and social media maven George Takei — as part of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center‘s ongoing Asian Pacific Heritage Month celebrations. Bookended by remarks from Smithsonian APAC Director Konrad Ng and a Q&A with the film’s subjects, the entire evening was a celebration of one of our culture’s most trailblazing icons.

Having made its debut at Sundance in January, To Be Takei was recently acquired by Starz for digital and theatrical distribution later this year. In advance of its formal theatrical release, the film has been doing the festival rounds and made its Washington, DC premiere at the Warner Brothers theater inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. I was lucky enough to check it out with the homie (and fellow NOC) Patrick Michael Strange.

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Art, Comics1 Comment

Internment/Service by Bernard Chang

February 19, 2014March 9, 2016 Keith Chow

Last September, I mentioned how I was honored to coordinate and edit a digital comic in conjunction with the Smithsonian‘s touring “I Want the Wide American Earth” Asian American history exhibit.

(And once again, many thanks to Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis and Konrad Ng for allowing me to be part of such an honor).

Since today is the 72nd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, and a Day of Remembrance for the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II, I wanted to share Bernard Chang‘s contribution to the Smithsonian project. Titled “Internment/Service,” Bernard‘s illustration honors the Japanese Americans who fought for justice abroad while their families suffered from injustice at home.

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Comics, Marvel, Movies9 Comments

Magneto Was Right

September 18, 2013June 17, 2021 J. Lamb (Snoopy Jenkins)

“The X-Men are hated, feared and despised collectively by humanity for no other reason than that they are mutants. So what we have here, intended or not, is a book that is about racism, bigotry and prejudice.”
—Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont, 1981