Hard N.O.C. Life

Coming soon to Hard NOC Media, Shelf Conscious is a brand new podcast all about the world of toy collecting. Join host Keith Chow as he discusses action figures with fellow collectors and industry professionals. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and YouTube ! Shelf Conscious, where we always come collect! Art and theme music by Jamie Noguchi.

Dominic , Britney , and Keith react to the official Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins trailer and why Henry Golding's portrayal of the character is so meaningful. They also watched a short behind-the-scenes feature and differentiate between the G.I. Joe comics and cartoons, and Keith explains why he no longer cares if Iron Fist is Asian American anymore. All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on...

Colson Whitehead's novel The Underground Railroad is a necessary reading for the ways it transcends a violent history and navigates the magic of self determination and Black personhood. The novel, published in 2016 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book awards for fiction, follows the life of Cora and Caesar, two slaves in 19th century Georgia who take on the treacherous journey that i...

Dominic , Britney , and Keith break down Marvel's Phase Four announcement video, as well as the trailer for Sony's Venom sequel . Later, Keith talks to his Secret Identities partner Jerry Ma about his new Kickstarter project, The Monkey King . All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on your screen, hit "play," and check this. Subscribe to all of the podcasts in the Hard NOC Media family on A...

Chiara Aurelia portrays Jeanette Turner, a nerdy and sweet high schooler who wants more from life, in Freeform's highly anticipated new drama Cruel Summer . In this Hard NOC bonus, Sophia got to speak with the actress all about the series and episode 4 , "You Don't Hunt, You Don't Eat," before it aired so beware: we will be getting into spoilers . All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on y...

For AAPI Heritage Month, Dominic and Keith are joined by writer Pornsak Pichetshote to talk about his new book, The Good Asian ! What's Nerd Poppin: the trailer for Netflix's Sweet Tooth , which Pornsak used to edit when he worked for Vertigo, leaks of the Ms. Marvel costume from the Disney+ show, and a Kickstarter for Jerry Ma's Monkey King graphic novel. All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watc...

Before Dominic , Jamal , Keith , and Britney break down the finale for Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier , the trailer for Shang-Chi , or the #1 movie in America, Mortal Kombat , the crew has to talk about all the WTF moments from Sunday's Oscars telecast! All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on your screen, hit "play," and check this. Subscribe to all of the podcasts in the Har...

Dominic , Jamal , Keith , and Britney analyze the penultimate episode of Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with an actual Flagsmasher! Desmond Chiam , who plays Dovich on the series, sits in with the crew to talk about rebellion, revolution, and representation. He also talks about Cap's shield, an irrational fear of water, and also nerding out on JRPG video games! All this and more on Ha...

In the first of two episodes of Hard NOC Life releasing this week, Keith sits down with Broadway superstar and now, children's book author, Mandy Gonzalez to talk about her new middle grade novel, Fearless . They also talk about her career -- from originating the role of Nina for In the Heights to replacing Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica in Hamilton -- and why being fearless has helped her cop...

Dominic , Keith , Britney remember the life of DMX before breaking down the latest episode of Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and getting hyped for Snake Eyes which is now coming out in July. All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on your screen, hit "play," and check this. Subscribe to all of the podcasts in the Hard NOC Media family on Apple Podcasts , Google Play , NPR One ,...

Dominic , Jamal , Keith ,  Britney are back to share their thoughts on the latest episode of Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, commiserate over Warner's decision to cancel Ava DuVernay's New Gods , and marvel over the boffo box office of Godzilla vs. Kong . All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on your screen, hit "play," and check this. Subscribe to all of the podcasts in the H...

Dominic and Keith are back to continue talking about HBO Max's Snyder Cut (now that Dom has finished it) and the just released  Suicide Squad  sequel trailer . They also break down the latest episode of Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, as well as Marvel's decision to split from Diamond and San Diego Comic-Con's in-person return. What's nerd poppin': Amazon's Invincible animated series...

Dominic and Jamal return to join Keith and Britney to break down the Good, the Bad, and the WTF (with apologies to Jeff and Phil ) of Disney+'s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and HBO Max's Snyder Cut . Later, The Washington Post' s David Betancourt joins Keith to talk about his profile of Zack Snyder as well as his thoughts on Justice League. The crew also addresses the tragedy in Atlanta and t...

Keith and Britney share their favorite moments from Disney+'s WandaVision making-of special before revealing what's Nerd Poppin' this week. For Britney, she's reading all the books in the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative. Meanwhile, Keith has seen The Snyder Cut and gives his semi-spoilery opinion of Zack Snyder's Justice League . All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on...

Dominic , Keith , are joined by new recurring co-host (and friend of the NOC) Britney Monae ! Together, they break down the series finale of WandaVision , review Disney's latest animated adventure Raya and the Last Dragon , and more! What's Nerd Poppin this week: Assembled: The Making of WandaVision on Disney+, Titans on HBO Max, and the launch of Paramount+ (and why HBO Max should take notes ). A...

Dominic , Keith , and Jamal return to speculate about what the title Spider-Man: No Way Home means for the franchise, break down the role of grief in the latest WandaVision , analyze the news about JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates working on a Superman reboot, the controversy behind The CW's Superman and Lois , and more! What's Nerd Poppin this week: The 25th anniversary of Pokemon , leaked Lego set...

Dominic and Keith are discussing the latest WandaVision , speculating about Monica Rambeau's future in the MCU, breaking down the Snyder Cut trailer (and its associated Joker memes), revisiting the De La Soul episode of Teen Titans GO! , and getting hyped for digital-first comics set in the Burton and Donner cinematic universes . All this and more on Hard NOC Life ! Watch it on your screen, hit "p...

Shawn is off this week, but Dominic , Keith , and Jamal are here to discuss another episode of WandaVision , as well as the latest look at Falcon and Winter Soldier . They also talk about Disney's distancing from  The Mandalorian' s Gina Carano and new (old) allegations against Joss Whedon. They also explore Pedro Pascal's cinematic Dadverse. What's nerd poppin': Jamal thinks Tom Holland is lying...

Shawn , Dominic , Keith , and Jamal return for an all-new episode of Hard NOC Life . This week, the fellas discuss the latest episode of WandaVision , news of a Wakanda series for Disney+, and what the latest DC Comics event reboot means for The Rock. What's nerd poppin': Lunar New Year, Black History Month, Judas and the Black Messiah coming to HBO Max, the finale of Expanse , Iranian vampires ,...

When fans mobilize, they can upend the stock market or convince a multi-billion dollar corporation to release a director's cut of a box office bomb. This week on Hard NOC Life , Shawn , Dominic , Keith , and Jamal look at how the nerds took over the news cycle. Like everyone else, the hosts have been following the GameStop story and discuss what can happen when nerds leverage their fandoms for goo...

It's been a long time. We shouldn't have left you without a dope pod to listen to. For the 200th episode of Hard NOC Life , Shawn , Dominic , and Keith are back and joined by the newest co-host, Jamal , to recap all the Nerd Pop we missed since the show's been on hiatus since July 2020. From the rise and fall of QAnon to the defeat of America's first toxic fandom president, there's a lot to catch...

Hard NOC Life is still on hiatus; however, we have an exciting bonus episode to bring you! Last week, Keith was asked to moderate a panel as part of Scholastic's "Power of Story" speaker series. Two artists, Eric Wilkerson and Pablo Leon, speak about the important of representation in comics and children's lit. You can also watch the original panel on Scholastic's YouTube channel and Facebook . Al...

Hard NOC Life will go on a brief hiatus as we prepare for our landmark 200th episode. However, in honor of the streaming debut of Hamilton on Disney+, we're digging into the archives to bring you this conversation of the musical phenomenon. Back in November 2016, we recorded a live edition of Hard NOC Life from the NOC Reading Lounge at CTRL+ALT — the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's po...

On the last Hard NOC Life of Pride Month,  Shawn , Dominic , and Keith re-contextualize Joel Schumacher's contributions to the legacy of Batman. In the wake of Schumacher's passing, the hosts look back at the late director's mid-90s Batman sequels with a new lens . Was the negative reaction to the Schumacher era the beginnings of the toxic fandom that permeates the internet today? How much of that...

From Comic-Con at Home to DC FanDome , on Hard NOC Life , Dominic and Keith discuss the transition to a virtual con season this summer. They also talk about the trend of political books aping pop culture for their titles (looking at you, John Bolton ) and the recent PS5 event and confusion about the Spider-Man: Miles Morales game. Nerd poppin' this week: John Boyega Rebel Leader (and a possible At...