Dark Dude, Dark Tower

Another casting announcement, another collective nerdy white boy meltdown. This time, they are directing their ire towards the rumblings that Idris Elba is “the frontrunner” for Roland Deschain in the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s brilliant (well, except for books 5 and 6) The Dark Tower series. I won’t go into why I love the series or what it is about, but for those of you who are unfamiliar or want to know more, click here. Needless to say it is Stephen King, so the series is a masterwork of imagination, storytelling, and world building. I think folks were fancasting this series in the early ’80s, with Clint Eastwood being the near unanimous choice for Deschain. Back in the day, the choice was spot on. Hell, even King alluded to it. The only clear choice for Deschain is Viggo Mortensen, not Elba.

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Too Street? No, Idris Elba is Too Big for Bond

Over the past several weeks, there has been quite a lot of net-chatter about Idris Elba’s suitability for stepping into the role of James Bond. Former Bond, Roger Moore — who, arguably, starred in some of the worst films in the franchise — was against against it; other folks were for it, and current keeper of the literary portion of the franchise, Anthony Horowitz, stated that he felt Elba was “too street” and that Adrian Lester would be a more appropriate Bond.

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The Time Travel and Ending of Edge of Tomorrow Explained

Originally posted at Reappropriate

I went to see the new Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt science-fiction film Edge of Tomorrow, which is based on the Japanese novel and manga All You Need is Kill.

The racial cross-casting of Cage’s character aside — he is inspired by Japanese protagonist Keiji in the manga — this film is phenomenal. Nerds and feminists — and especially nerd feminists — will adore this movie. It’s sharp, funny, entertaining, compelling, and visually stunning. Haters of Tom Cruise get to see Tom Cruise get killed about a hundred times in stunt scenes that Cruise himself described as “channeling Wile E. Coyote” on The Daily Show. Emily Blunt’s Rita is stellar: she is the aspirational super-soldier, and not the simpering girlfriend; she’s also got a bad-ass giant sword. Those who loved Pacific Rim‘s portrayal of a male-female peer relationship that was largely non-sexual will adore the relationship between Rita and Cruise’s Cage in this film.

Basically, it’s just really good. Go see it. I’ll wait.

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Mako Mori Battles Giant Kaiju

It’s not a secret that I wasn’t the biggest fan of this past summer’s giant-robots-punch-giant-monsters-in-the-face flick Pacific Rim. In fact, there was a whole segment of “Hard N.O.C. Life” dedicated to me disagreeing with Jenn about the merits of the movie.

That said, I do realize that I am in the minority in this opinion, at least among the fanboy set. I get that. I ain’t hatin’. Whatever floats your jaeger, right?

One of those fanboys who loved this movie more than me is my friend, artist Jamie Noguchi. It’s probably safe to say Jamie loves this movie more than most — even Guillermo Del Toro. Probably. Jamie feels so strongly about this movie (because SWORD!), he wrote a song about it. Wanna hear it? Hear it go.

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N.O.C. Nerd of Color — Updated for 2013

Thanks Keith for creating this site and inviting me! I revised my 2010 Origin Story for 2013. Check it out:

I’ve told this story a million times: when I was young, my father kept me off the streets and saved much needed money buying me the toys I wanted by getting me a library card and teaching me to walk to the Franklin Avenue library, and there began my love of books and stories.

What I’ve written less about is the books I gravitated towards: books about mythological monsters, Greek gods and heroes, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Lord of the Rings, my older sister’s Elfquest collection and X-Men comic books. And the secret of many a nerd of color from the ‘hood: my lifelong devotion with role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Vampire: the Masquerade.

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