Author: Kandace

What the Mess!? Dilemmas of a Black Girl Nerd

| Kandace

I’m in love with Zachary Levi. I’m not exactly sure when I first became aware of his tall, dark, nerdy, sexy self but the moment I did I was instantly infatuated. My attraction to him was instilled before Disney’s Tangled and has deepened with every episode of Chuck I devoured via Netflix. This said when I heard he was starring in the revamp of the sci-fi drama Heroes, Heroes Reborn, I was thrilled! A chance to watch my boo in a drama every week? Yes, please! There was only one problem: What the heck is Heroes?

After completing season 3 of Orange is the New Black in June, I immediately set to work binge watching all four seasons of the original Heroes series. It took me longer than I thought it would to get into the show. I hadn’t expected it to be so dark and brooding. Every time I had to endure one of Dr. Suresh’s voice overs it just made me want to find him and punch him in the throat. I was also frustrated because I expected all the heroes to get together and form a super team like The Avengers. (I’m a really big Marvel fan). I thought the scattered heroes would form such an alliance after they saved the cheerleader, but that didn’t come to fruition.

Today, thanks to the power of Netflix, I am four episodes away from having seen every Heroes episode! The other night while watching NBC I saw a commercial for Heroes Reborn featuring Sir Sexy Levi himself. At the end of the promo I noticed the premier date: Thursday September 24th. Wait a sec… I thought. That’s the same night as the premier of Scandal!

“What the mess?!? Why would they schedule Heroes Reborn at the same time as Scandal???” I demanded.

“Maybe they’re competing with each other.” suggested my foolish friend.

Not likely! I thought. They’re two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT genres of evening television entertainment!

Maybe that’s why they’re on at the same time! What viewer could possibly find him/herself  having to decide between the supernatural, action drama of Heroes Reborn and the saucy, fast-talking, realism of Scandal??? Um, hello! THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE!

Yes, I enjoy watching Olivia Pope hold her own as a Black leading lady taking on government corruption AND yes, I wanna see Zach Levi save the world alongside a team of special strangers. Is it so preposterous to be interested in both dramas?? These shows are two circles existing in close proximity to each other that look like they don’t intersect but they do! They do intersect and I’m living in that intersection along with the other Black girl nerds and other fans of both  supernatural and saucy dramas.

I know what you’re thinking and no, I am not interested in watching either show via a secondary source such as On Demand, online, or TiVo whatever. I’m old school. I like watching my shows in real time with commercials and a tub of popcorn in my lap.

Still upset about my impending TV conflict, the next day I Googled Heroes Reborn to double check its running time. To my pleasant surprise I found only the two-hour season premier of Heroes Reborn would conflict with Scandal, but the ensuing episodes would take place during the hour before Scandal. Thus I’d be able to watch Heroes Reborn from 8-9pm then Scandal from 9-10pm.

Thank the Television Orchestration Overlords!!! I guess they’ve got a Black Girl Nerd among them who found these coinciding times to be as much of a travesty as I did. I’m just glad I won’t have to choose between my endless admiration for Love-Me-Good-Levi and live tweeting scandalous “uh oh” moments.

When’s the last time you were caught between two very different yet perfectly synchronized forms of television entertainment?

Why What Sticks?

| Kandace

What Sticks. Not to be confused with What Stinks. I’m sure there’s a blog named that somewhere in the internetosphere that covers all kinds of olfactory offenses but this isn’t it. What Sticks refers two important reasons for my online existence.

Stick Figures. I love drawing them! Drawing is all about communication, and while I would love to be able to sketch flawlessly detailed portraits and landscapes, they are not the art forms I turn to when I have something to tell. Stick figures are more than capable of expressing a wide range of emotion and action that helps me get my point across.

Seeing what sticks. I want to be a writer, and to be a writer one must write. So this blog acts as an exercise. I’ll write a bunch of different posts consisting of poems, sketches, rants, musings, and writer’s-process confessions and see what kind of reactions or responses I receive.

I’ve just reread what I wrote and it’s not as interesting as I it sounded in my head an hour ago. I apologize. It’s incredibly hot and humid in this room and it’s affecting my concentration. Ughh. It’ll get better. Not quite sure if I’m promising you that or myself, but hopefully we’ll both be satisfied.

The First of Many

| Kandace

As I sit here sipping bitter tea and alternating my stare between the sunny, green view from my bedroom apartment window and blank doc on my computer screen I think to myself… Kandace, is this really what you want to do?

Of course it is! I’m a writer, and a writer needs a blog or some kind of website to put her words and thoughts into the world!

Why?

Why?! So she can be discovered! But more importantly, so she can interact with the community and figure out what she has to say and how she’s gonna say it!

This is just one of many internal dialogues that will take place today.

Now, as I’ve sat here writing this, the first post, The Temptations’ Get Ready and Stevie Wonder’s Uptight have crossed through my impressive speakers via Pandora radio and now I’m hype! Let’s do this!

I’m Kandace J Coston. I love writing but I loathe writing about myself so instead I’m going to list some facts about myself that will reveal my character more so then a self description ever could:

  • I let my Magic 8 Ball dress me one day. You might be thinking: oh how cute! She must have been in middle school or something, but no. I was definitely a senior in college and left the dorm wearing black pants with brown shoes and a fugly shirt.
  • I’m a huge fan of comics and superhero stories, particularly Marvel’s The Avengers and even more particularly, Iron Man. In an alternate universe where Tony Stark is a guest lecturer for Columbia University’s Astronomy department, he’s my husband.
  • I would rather be a super villain than a super hero.
  • Characters I’ve painted on my nails include but are not limited to: Ursula (The Little Mermaid), Sulley (Monsters, Inc.) The Hulk (The Avengers), and Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th).
  • My first command as Supreme Overlord of The World would be the worldwide demolition of all automatically flushing toilets.
  • I could eat fresh pizza every day for the rest of my life.
  • Favorite Disney Princess: Pocahontas. She’s beautiful, strong, adventurous, the granddaughter of wise willow tree.
  • I believe in ninjas, chivalry, and dragons and would LOVE to read a story that skillfully combines all three.
  • Bubbles, Scotch Tape, and Magnetism are sources of every day magic.

That’s most of me in a list. You can find more in my “About” page which I will commence writing now.

*Realizes writing the “About” page involves writing about self, throws head back in frustration, shuts laptop, grabs mug and trudges to kitchen in search of sugar for the now-cold but still bitter cup of tea.*