Originally posted on Salon.com
Like it or not — despite the many, many hectoring jeremiads by the people who fall on the “not” side of the argument — “remake culture” seems to be here to stay. The most anticipated films of the upcoming year are all adaptations of or sequels to works that are decades old.
Originally posted at Salon.com
We’re now three months in, and the social media-based “consumer revolt” against the “progressive agenda” of the gaming press, known as GamerGate, shows no signs of abating.
I’ve gotten to know a lot of the industry personalities that GamerGate has targeted for bizarre charges of “corruption” and “nepotism” since this mess started. I’ve come to consider some of them friends, if only Twitter friends. And my frustration and anger at the hounds of GamerGate biting at their heels has increased in proportion.
But it didn’t become personal for me until Felicia Day, an actress and writer who created the popular web series The Guild, dared write one blog post speaking out against GamerGate, talking about how scared she was of being targeted and “doxxed” (having documentation of her personal details revealed online) by gamergaters, only to be immediately doxxed in response.
Not because I know Felicia Day or have any sort of relationship with her, but because I don’t. Let me explain.
Continue reading “Not That Creepy Internet Guy: How GamerGate Gave Geeks a Bad Name”
Originally posted at Salon.com
Perpetuating stereotypes isn’t just immoral — it’s bad TV. That’s why shows like Sleepy Hollow are so crucial.
When I was seven, I asked my mom if I could dye my hair blond and get blue contact lenses. It’s probably the first serious conversation I ever had about my appearance and all I wanted to do was look like Luke Skywalker. I wanted it so badly. She was appalled and I couldn’t understand why. Star Wars was Everything. There were no Latinos running through the halls of the Death Star, blasting storm troopers. Of course I was caught up.
Continue reading “Whitewashed TV isn’t Just Racist, It’s Boring”
Apparently, while the Nerds were all consumed with Star Trek last week, other stuff was happening on the Internet. So here’s a brief rundown of things you might have missed because you were too busy exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations. But first, let me get a little self-congratulations and self-promotion out of the way.
Welcome Pop Candy readers! And a big thanks to Whitney for giving us a little plug in her USA Today column. We hope you all enjoy the NOC community and join us as we look at “pop culture with a different perspective.”
Okay, that was the congrats, now here’s the shameless self-promo.
Over the weekend, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center opened its traveling Asian American history banner exhibit “I Want the Wide American Earth” at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles — after spending the last three months on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In honor of the exhibit’s West Coast opening, the Smithsonian APA Center unveiled an online digital comic I edited that features key moments in Asian American history illustrated by some of the top names in the comic industry, including Bernard Chang, Ming Doyle, GB Tran and my SIUniverse partners-in-crime Jerry Ma and Jef Castro.
You can see the comic online here. A downloadable version is still forthcoming.
So there’s that. And after the jump is other stuff on the web you should be reading:
