What Did I Miss?: December 2020

Published Works

Hiromi Kamata On Growing Up with Selena’s Music and Directing Netflix’s Biopic Series – For The Nerds of Color, I spoke with one of the directors of the first season of this new series about how it came together.

Kimiko Guthrie on Her Career in Dancing and Writing Block Seventeen – For Hapa Mag, I speak with this Bay Area author about growing in Berkeley in the 1970s, her work in the dance world, and about the process of writing her debut novel.

Raya and the Navigation of Asian America as a Mixed-Race Filipino American – For Hapa Mag, I dive deep into my excitement for this upcoming Disney animated feature film, after years of going about Asian America as both a mixed-race and Filipino American woman.

Three Characters Lauren Mary Kim Performed Stunts for in ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 – For The Nerds of Color, I go over the characters this former interviewee performed stunts for in the most recent season of this live-action series from a galaxy far, far away.

Appearances

#Kollab2020 Alumni Staff Highlight – Ahead of Kollaboration’s 20th anniversary celebration, I was featured as one of many former staff members, where I talk about my experience being a part of the organization and how it has changed my life. (Facebook version available here.)

NOCs of the Roundtable: Goodbye 2020 – As we close out this horrendous year, the people behind this pop culture outlet come together to discuss their favorite nerdy moments from the year.

Readings

SCI-FI Festival Best Scene Reading: An Absolute Mind by Lauren Lola – WILDsound’s Fantasy/Sci-Fi Film & Writing Festival produces an audio-only reading of one of my favorite scenes from the screenplay adaptation of my second novel of the same name.

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7 Years of Lola By the Bay and 2020 Year in Review

A part of me has always found it perplexing that I chose to start up my website at the end of a year. I sometimes wonder, “Why not have waited one more week until you were in the new year before finally starting it?” Well, seven years later, I look back on that decision and I think it worked out, actually. I get to both acknowledge the formation of this constantly growing website and look back on the past year in one go… and… well…. needless to say, this is quite a year to look back on.

Believe in the Sun: Recommended Reading

Putting on my “Star Wars” hat for a brief minute, Princess Leia Organa has an empowering quote: “Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you see it, you’ll never make it through the night.” You don’t need me to tell you that it’s been a hard year on everyone, and for the longest time, we weren’t sure exactly how long the darkness would last. But now there’s hope in sight; both in the change of administrations a month from now and recently with the vaccines that are starting to be administered around the country.

The End of BookExpo and BookCon

In this pandemic, it has been a common practice to cancel in-person events altogether and move them virtually. However, this week came an instance where an event that was held virtually earlier this year is being cancelled altogether. I’m talking specifically in this case about BookExpo and BookCon.