Tag: Ren Hsieh

Sports

Apply for the Dat Winning Sportswriting Fellowship

Keith Chow

We don’t cover sports much here on the NOC, but that’s what our sister site Dat Winning is for! And I’m pleased to share that the site, The Dynasty Project, and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop have teamed up to announce the Dat Winning Fellowship that  “seeks aspiring Asian American writers with an interest in covering the world of sports.”

The application deadline is December 19. More info after the cut.

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Comics, Crowdfunding, Toys

Kickstart The Green Turtle and Other Amazing Heroes Action Figures

Ren Hsieh

There is a Kickstarter ending in three days that will produce retro-style super hero action figures. Among them is The Green Turtle, the first Asian American comic book superhero. The character was recently rebooted in the graphic novel, The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew earlier this year.

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Comics, Movies4 Comments

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Proves Michael Bay Does Not Care About You

Ren Hsieh

Very rarely do the things we cherish as youth hold up over time. By the 1980s, the cartoons my generation watched were mostly extended commercials to sell toys. Nevertheless, the lasting ones all seemed to have a good spirit. There were lessons to be learned about teamwork, camaraderie, and leadership. And, then we would go buy some toys.

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action reboot is a hollow Makerbot rendering of a movie. It is a garbled pastiche of disconnected pop culture references crudely assembled, as if by not-yet-ready-for-Skynet A.I. trying to calculate the best ratio of human enjoyment vs product placement.

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Marvel, Movies, Reviews4 Comments

NOC Reviews Guardians of the Galaxy: Hooked on a Feeling

Ren Hsieh

If you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy yet, you will. Director James Gunn and his cast — starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Bradley Cooper — have found that cross section of great action and effects, genuine mirth, and likability, that makes for a movie that kids will fondly remember into adulthood. What was once widely thought of as a long shot in Phase Two of Marvel Studios’ cinematic universe, Guardians could very well be the new Star Wars to this generation’s adolescent filmgoers. Halloween is going to see a lot of trees and raccoons running through the front yard for years to come. Toys will be flying off the shelves. And Marvel has $94 million reasons to celebrate its box office dominance.

Which is not to say that Guardians is the new sci-fi G.O.A.T., but rarely does a film so effectively appeal to both youth and adults. And, unlike Marvel’s previous films, young fans of Guardians get an all-new set of characters to love that don’t belong to their parents. Like Harry Potter before it, Guardians will belong uniquely to this generation of toy-buying, cosplaying kids.

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