Tag: N’Jaila Rhee

DC Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life, Movies6 Comments

Wonder Woman, Now the World is Ready For You

The Nerds of Color

After shattering box office glass ceilings with a $200 million global debut, Keith breaks down the latest, and most successful, entry in the DC Extended Universe with two Wonder Women in their own right: N’Jaila Rhee (@BlasianBytch) — who also wrote the official NOC review — and Britney Monae (@HiBritneyMonae). Together they rank Wonder Woman against other comic book superhero movies and why the “No Man’s Land” scene is the best, discuss the problems with the last act of the movie, break down the argument that Gal Gadot is a person of color and/or a Zionist, and determine which Chris is the Ultimate Champion White Actor Dude Named Chris.

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Hard N.O.C. Life, Video Games1 Comment

Barbarians at the (Gamer)Gate

The Nerds of Color

The latest Hard NOC Life dives headfirst into the internet controversy that is #GamerGate. Joining guest host N’Jaila Rhee (@BlasianBytch) are Jeopardy! champion Arthur Chu (@arthur_affect), from This Week in Blackness Aaron Rand Freeman  (@ANSFreeman), #StopGamerGate2014 creator Veerender Jubbal (@Veeren_Jubbal), and Tanya (@INeedDivGms), creator of the #INeedDiverseGames hashtag.

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DC Comics, Roundtable, Television8 Comments

Why We Can’t Take Gotham Seriously

Keith Chow

Okay, I give up.

I tried to like Gotham, honest, I did. Despite my previous reservations, I tuned into the first two episodes like everyone else in the geek-o-sphere did. And you know what, I didn’t hate it. At least not as much as I was anticipating. In fact, some of what I saw was quite good. But the problems I had remained. Namely, that the whole conceit of the show is that it exists in the Batman universe. Also, the acting is pretty horrible. I’m looking at you, Ben and Jada!

If this were just a typical police procedural, I’d find it pretty entertaining (even though I’m not a fan of the genre). Where the show loses me, though, is that it fundamentally misunderstands the universe in which it has chosen to partake. Case in point? They’ve just cast 34-year old actor Nicholas D’Agosto to play Harvey Dent.

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DC Comics, Movies, N.O.C. One-Shot6 Comments

N.O.C. One-Shot: Green Lantern Ruined the DC Cinematic Universe

The Nerds of Color

In this outtake from last week’s Hard N.O.C. Life with William Evans from Black Nerd Problems, Keith and N’Jaila get him on a rant about the 2011 Green Lantern film and how it ruined the nascent DC Cinematic Universe it was … Continue reading N.O.C. One-Shot: Green Lantern Ruined the DC Cinematic Universe

DC Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel, Television1 Comment

Fall TV Nerd Problems

The Nerds of Color

William Evans (@willevanswrites) of Black Nerd Problems joins Keith (@the_real_chow) and N’Jaila (@blasianbytch) to talk about this fall’s slate of nerd-centric superhero television shows, including The CW’s Arrow and Flash from DC Entertainment and ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter from Marvel Studios.

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

Hooked on the Guardians of the Galaxy

The Nerds of Color

The Nerds can’t stop talking about Guardians of the Galaxy! For this week’s Hard N.O.C. Life, the panel tackles the phenomenon that is Marvel Studios’ latest blockbuster success and what that means for the Distinguished Competition across the street.

Joining Keith on the panel are Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Yang (@originalspin), and former Jeopardy  champ Arthur Chu (@arthur_affect) along with regular panelists N’Jaila Rhee (@blasianbytch) and Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria (@rscpokenword).

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Marvel, Movies, Roundtable1 Comment

NOCs of the Roundtable: Kicking Off Cap Week

Keith Chow

If you hadn’t heard, a little indie movie called Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened over the weekend, and to no one’s surprise, its $96 million opening shattered box office records left and right. We at The Nerds of Color have been eagerly anticipating the release of The Winter Soldier for months now. Back when the first teaser hit, I was already claiming it as the best movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And now that it’s at a multiplex near you, we’re going to be celebrating, analyzing, critiquing this game changer of a movie all week.

We’re going to start it off by assembling our own team of top secret agents Nerds around the Roundtable and share our first impressions of the Captain America sequel. Caution: there will be spoilers. Read on at your own risk (but seriously, you should go see this already!)

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Hard N.O.C. Life, Video Games1 Comment

Calling for a Jerk-Free Video Game Community

The Nerds of Color

On today’s show, Nelson (@aarisings) switches places with Keith and welcomes an exciting panel of gamers to tackle this week’s topic: the diversity of

Joining Nelson are fellow NOCs N’Jaila Rhee (@BlasianBytch) and MashfestNYC’s Jon Haehnle (@SONICBOOMB0X). Other special panelists include actor Tasi Alabastro (host of the KreenPananas YouTube channel) and Shoryuken.com‘s Patrick Miller (@pattheflip).

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Hard N.O.C. Life, Movies, Television1 Comment

2013: The Year in Review

The Nerds of Color

As we barrel toward the end of the year, we figured it was a good time to go on hiatus and take stock of Hard NOC Life before returning on the other side of the new year with a better experience for the viewers. If you have any suggestions on how to improve the show, please feel free to let us know in the comments!

For our special year-end wrap up, Keith (@the_real_chow) has asked a roster of panel all-stars to come back one more time to the topics of the day. Joining the show are Raymond Chow,  Julie Kang (@JulieKang), N’Jaila Rhee (@BlasianBytch), Shawn Smith, and Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria (@rscspokenword). As always, Hard N.O.C. Life is directed by the indomitable Nelson Wong (@aarisings).

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Roundtable, Television1 Comment

NOCs of the Roundtable: Head Over Heels for Sleepy Hollow

Keith Chow

Before the season started, we did an episode of “Hard N.O.C. Life” in which we talked about the shows we were excited for. Sleepy Hollow made the cut, but we speculated that the show would probably be terrible. That said, we were all intrigued by the premise. Several episodes in, and it’s become one of the buzziest shows on television. It’s also one of the most diverse, with article after article pointing to its importance as a bellwether for diversifying TV’s primetime landscape.

Shows what we know for shitting on it back in August. Well, not all of us did. Jason sang the show’s praises as soon as the pilot premiered.

To look back at the first half of Sleepy Hollow‘s debut season, some of the Nerds assembled around the Roundtable once again. Here’s what they think of the show:

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Comics, Marvel, Roundtable8 Comments

NOCs of the Roundtable: The New Ms. Marvel

Keith Chow

Yesterday, Marvel Comics made a splash by announcing the launch of Ms. Marvel #1, written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Adrian Alphona (best known as the co-creator of Marvel’s Runaways). And while launching another Ms. Marvel book isn’t usually big news, the reason for all the attention this time centers around the teenaged girl assuming the mantle — Kamala Khan. In order to process this announcement from Marvel, we convened a “roundtable” of fellow Nerds of Color to talk about their thoughts on this new series from Marvel.

Borne from the childhood experiences of Marvel editor Sana Amanat — who will also edit the new series — Ms. Marvel will tell the story of Kamala, a Pakistani American teen from Jersey City who idolizes Carol Danvers (the original Ms. Marvel who now goes by Captain Marvel). Kamala takes on Danvers’ old codename after she discovers her own shape-shifting super powers. The new Ms. Marvel is part of Marvel’s ongoing quest to spotlight more women and characters of color in their books. After all, Ms. Marvel is coming out on the heels of Mighty Avengers and the all-female mutant X-Men. Overall, I think it’s a net positive to have a high-profile book be fronted with a teenaged girl of color who is also Muslim. Whether or not the narratives inside the pages fall victim to old stereotypes remains to be seen, but I think Marvel deserves credit for making the continued attempts to diversify their superhero roster.

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Hard N.O.C. Life, Horror2 Comments

Zombies! NOC ‘Em Dead with Angry Asian Man

The Nerds of Color

With The Walking Dead breaking ratings records and topping direct market sales charts, what better time to discuss the undead phenomenon on Hard N.O.C. Life? So we wrap up Walker Week with an in-depth look at both The Walking Dead comic and television series and the genre of zombie fiction writ large.

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