Tag: reblogs

REBLOGS: NOCs of the Roundtable: Best Fight Scenes Ever

On By Luther M. SilerIn moviesLeave a comment

I am having a quiet Saturday, bereft of such niceties as “things to say.” So have some kung-fu.

The Nerds of Color's avatarThe Nerds of Color

As our friend Angry Asian Man broke the nerdtastic news this week that some fine fighters from The Raid would be joining the cast of Star Wars, it seemed as good a time as any to convene a roundtable of some of us martial arts film enthusiasts here at the NOC to talk about our favorite martial arts fight scenes.

Before we shared our favorite scenes with one another, we guessed there would be significant overlap, especially concerning the great Bruce Lee. Sure enough, each of us had picked at least one Bruce Lee scene on our individual lists. To avoid repetition, we decided not to double up, so as you can see some folks wrote about legendary Bruce scenes and the rest of us wrote about alternates — but please trust, we keep Bruce at the front of our fighting hearts.

Who’s not on the list, though? Uma…

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REBLOG: Why I Am Not Charlie

On By Luther M. SilerIn Politics5 Comments

I am trying to avoid having something to say about this, because I really don’t much want to. In lieu of my own thoughts, though, this ain’t bad at all.

scottlong1980's avatara paper bird

imagesThere is no “but” about what happened at Charlie Hebdo yesterday. Some people published some cartoons, and some other people killed them for it.  Words and pictures can be beautiful or vile, pleasing or enraging, inspiring or offensive; but they exist on a different plane from physical violence, whether you want to call that plane spirit or imagination or culture, and to meet them with violence is an offense against the spirit and imagination and culture that distinguish humans. Nothing mitigates this monstrosity. There will be time to analyze why the killers did it, time to parse their backgrounds, their ideologies, their beliefs, time for sociologists and psychologists to add to understanding. There will be explanations, and the explanations will be important, but explanations aren’t the same as excuses. Words don’t kill, they must not be met by killing, and they will not make the killers’ culpability go away.

To abhor what was done to the victims, though, is not…

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REBLOG: World Unknown Review is Here!

On By Luther M. SilerIn Reading, Writing2 Comments

I’m published in this! I just ordered it for my Kindle! Go check it out!

L.S. Engler's avatarL.S. Engler

The announcement I’ve been chomping at the bit to make is finally here! I might be pushing it out the door a little early (KDP is giving me weird cover issues and the physical book isn’t yet available on Amazon), but I just can’t wait any longer. World Unknown Review is finally here!

World Unknown Review has been an exciting project for me, one I hope to duplicate every year to help put more voices out there in the popular format of our times, independent publishing via Amazon. This first volume brings a lot of really great stories, in a wide variety of genres, from memoir to romance, science fiction and fantasy, adventure and literary. Some of these authors have a hefty list of accomplishments under their belts, some of them have never been published before. There’s a little bit of something for everyone, and, hopefully, everything for someone.

I’d…

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REBLOG: Color Blindness and the Black Girlfriend: The White Male Superhero’s Ability to Erase Race

On By Luther M. SilerIn TelevisionLeave a comment

A great post about one of the more interesting aspects of this year’s best new show.

Shannon Gibney's avatarThe Nerds of Color

I’m not gonna lie: I was excited and a little bit warmed-in-the-heart-place when I saw that Barry Allen, aka The Flash, was in love with Iris West, his best friend, on The CW’s new hit superhero series, The Flash.

Because hey, how many times — in life, art, or entertainment — do we see a young White dude who’s honestly, deeply into a fly, well-rounded, educated Black girl? And not just as a sexual conquest or to “explore,” but as an actual love interest? Not often, that’s for sure.

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REBLOG: World Unknown Review 2014 Authors!

On By Luther M. SilerIn Writing2 Comments

I am one of these people! Super excited about this coming out.

L.S. Engler's avatarL.S. Engler

Now that we’re into December and I’m trying to wrestle with some formatting with the hopes of releasing the debut edition of World Unknown Review to the masses, I thought it was high time I made an official announcement revealing the authors you’ll find inside this eclectic volume of excellent fiction. I can only express the utmost thanks and praise to these eleven fantastic writers who took a chance on a fledgling publication; I’m incredibly honored to put them all together in what I hope is the start of a beautiful and exciting new tradition. It also blows my mind that I’m actually getting the chance to be the first person to publish a lot of these stories, the first stories to be “professionally” published for many of these writers. True, I had to send out just as many rejection letters as acceptances, which was a bit of a surprise…

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REBLOG: My Gripe with Homeschoolers

On By Luther M. SilerIn Teaching4 Comments

I don’t always agree with Atlas Educational’s ideas about teaching, but this post needs some more attention. I DEMAND YOU READ IT.

Lisa Swaboda's avatarLisa Swaboda is Atlas Educational

Learning for me

It’s funny being on both sides of the coin. I think I can envision what bi-racial people feel like caught between two distinctly different groups of people; except I’m in a group all by myself most of the time. As a former public school teacher of 20+ years who attended Catholic school all her life and sent her kids to private school prior to homeschooling, I’ve seen most of the education world and it’s a mass of bureaucracy…..with most of it totally missing the point of learning.

 I like the idea of school. Scratch that.
I like the idea of learning with others. 

At the age of 10, I knew I was going to be a teacher. I mean, c’mon, Spelling bees with chocolate bars as prizes (yes, I won most of them that year), making forts in the classroom to visit when our work was complete, playing on the…

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REBLOG: Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2014, Day Two: Non-Traditionally Published Books

On By Luther M. SilerIn Writing1 Comment

All my independent author peeps probably want to get in on this while the thread’s hot:

Whatever Holiday Shopping Guide 2014, Day Two: Non-Traditionally Published Books.

REBLOG: OMG, Time Magazine- You’re So Cray Cray

On By Luther M. SilerIn Politics2 Comments

I love it when someone else says things so I don’t have to. Although, sadly, my penis magic would probably mean Time would take me more seriously if I did.

Gretchen Kelly's avatarDrifting Through

I can't believe...

“Done, done, on to the next one

Done I’m done and I’m on to the next one”

-Foo Fighers, All My Life

Oh, Time Mag. You’re like, literally, so smart. I read your annual word banishment poll yesterday and I can’t even…

I love your witty and oh so patronizing list you publish every year. You’re so hip and cutting edge. I wait with bated breath every year to hear what the bastion of cool-ness has to say about words that no respectable Chick Fil A manager would ever utter again. Like, ever.

‘Cept this year you kinda ‘effed up. This year you (spoiler alert) added FEMINIST to the list.

And every intelligent equality-loving non-hater was like “Whaaat???”

I mean, for seriously, WTF Time Magazine.

Lemme clue you in. Equality. Bam. ‘Nuff said.

Imma quote you here “Let’s stick to the issues and quit throwing this label around like…

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