Exactly one year ago, Keith launched the latest addition to the Hard NOC Media podcast family: Shelf Conscious. To celebrate that anniversary, we’re sharing that initial episode — featuring fellow NOC toy collector William Bruce West — here on the Hard NOC Life feed.
Actor Ludi Lin has always played the good guy. Whether it be as a Power Ranger or an Earthrealm warrior in Mortal Kombat, Lin has always been on the right side of the law. Now, in The CW series Kung Fu, Lin is getting a taste at playing the bad boy aka the villain.
Continue reading “Ludi Lin is Ready to Show His Dark Side on ‘Kung Fu’”
On the inaugural episode of Shelf Conscious, Keith welcomes fellow collector — and OG NOC — William Bruce West!
Brandon has the best post second dose story ever.
Continue reading “FDI Cast 109: Staring Down the Green Ranger”
This was a pretty good year for American Tokusatsu fans.
Continue reading “2020: A Good Year for American Tokusatsu Fans”
It’s release week for Aquaman, and everyone’s favorite fish-talking badass better watch his back, because he’s got a Power Ranger coming after him!
Ludi Lin, portrays the leader of Atlantis’ frontline army, the Men-of-War, Captain Murk. Murk, serving as the right hand man of primary antagonist, Orm (Patrick Wilson), commands a formidable force of soldiers to go after Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) and Mera (Amber Heard) throughout the film.
Continue reading “Getting Deep with ‘Aquaman’ Star Ludi Lin”
Who needs Halloween when you can go to Los Angeles Comic Con for three days in a row and indulge in all the spoopy cosplay goodness surrounded by all the fandoms you know and love? There’s no place like Los Angeles Comic Con (formerly and fondly remembered as Comikaze, may you rest in pieces) during this time of year where people converge to bring out their best to help end the year of conventions. Come join LACC as it celebrates its 8th anniversary!
Curious as to what there is to check out at this ever expanding convention? Here are some highlights that may pique your interest!
On Hard NOC Life, Keith sits down with actor and stunt performer Yoshi Sudarso.
By the time the Power Rangers craze first swept through in the early ’90s, I was just starting college, paying $290 a month in rent for a studio apartment in the Whittier neighborhood of South Minneapolis with a bed that pulled down from a wall, going to see Hong Kong flicks like Swordsman II and The Bride with White Hair Fridays at midnight, organized by Asia Media Access. I was still into nerd shit, but honestly the Power Rangers seemed, to me, corny and commercial. I thought it was funny that the Black Ranger was Black, the Yellow was a Vietnamese woman, and the Pink Ranger was a white woman.
My love of all things nerd grew in Phillips: Minnesota’s largest, poorest, and most racially diverse neighborhood, not all that far from my college apartment. As refugees from war with not a lot of money to spare, I learned to walk to the Franklin Avenue library where reading and checking out books was free. Comic books were less than a dollar, and watching television shows like Robotech and Dungeons and Dragons just meant having the discipline to wake up in time. I had friends of all colors and genders and backgrounds, and bullies of all colors and backgrounds. Things were difficult for us since my family were among that first wave of refugees that became the first large visible concentration of Asian American people in Minnesota. But there was also joy, and love, and friendship to go along with all the pain and conflict.
Flash forward to 2017.
Continue reading “Power Rangers Brings Asian American Poverty Front and Center”
Originally posted at Just Add Color
If you told anyone that the movie that was going to shake up the superhero genre in the best way would be the film adaptation of Power Rangers, they would be shocked and probably, in some strange, elitist, I’m-too-old-for-Power Rangers way, appalled. But Power Rangers has come out of the blue as the film when it comes to portraying a diverse group of people in a way that is both organic and makes sense for today’s world and today’s multicultural and diverse audience.
Continue reading “Power Rangers Shows Superhero Genre How Representation is Done”
