Production Designer Ray Cusick has died. Cusick is most famous for creating Doctor Who’s nemeses, The Daleks, but he also worked on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple (1985 & 1987), Cold Comfort Farm (1968) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1975). The BBC reports on his death and the creation of the Daleks here and here.

I’ve been spending a portion of my wee small hours (normally spent standing under a solitary street lamp on a lonely street, staring in melancholy reverie at my cigarette) revisiting old horror films. As a budding cult film obsessive, I cut my teeth on the horror films of cinema’s early decades. In the days before [...]
Writer Donald Richie has died. Richie is best known for his writing on Japanese culture and film. The Japan Times and The New York Times have obituaries. Fora.tv has a conversation with Donald Richie in 2009, “Life in Japanese Film: Donald Richie.”
At Comics Alliance, David Brothers takes us on a walk through Black history in comics from Krazy Kat; Orrin C. Evans’ All-Negro Comics; Billy Graham’s Panther’s Rage; Hardware and Milestone Comics to now.
A complete, online documentary about legendary film maker, Chang Cheh. Thanks to the ladies of the Heroic Sisterhood for reminding us that Feb. 10 would’ve been his 90th birthday. “He liked all actors, but he liked the naught ones more, especially the ones who didn’t listen to him.”
“In a good heist film, the heist always goes wrong.” Andrew Nette shares his favorites.
The Documentation Officer for the Ray Harryhausen collection shares some of Harryhausen’s film materials.

Instead of raving about Satyajit Ray’s well-known-outside-of-India projects like the Apu Trilogy (Pather Pancahli/Song of the Little Road, Aprajito/The Unvanquished, and Apur Sansar/The World of Apu) or Jalsaghar/The Music Room (available through Criterion), I want to rave about his fantastic fantastical 1968 children’s film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne/The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha.
Columnist Pauline Phillips has died. Ms. Phillips was best known for her advice column, “Dear Abby.” The New York Times has an obituary. At NPR’s Monkey See blog, Linda Holmes writes about why people ask strangers for advice, noting that it’s a “curiously optimistic thing to do.”
Gene Demby searches for signs of Martin Luther Kings’ inner life in Dr. King’s Ebony advice column.
The Hairpin‘s Anne Helen Petersen has written an excellent piece on Cary Grant’s career and life–scandals, Randolph Scott, sartorial brilliance and all: “Grant’s image was in many ways univocal — he played variations of the same character, he seemed to be a ladies’ man on and off the screen — but it also had room [...]
Director Nagisa Oshima has died. Oshima directed numerous films exploring sexuality, death and power of all kinds, including: In The Realm ff the Senses, The Empire of Passion, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide , Cruel Story of Youth and Taboo (starring a young Tadanobu Asano). He was also a pioneer of television, directing many documentaries for [...]
Walt Kelly presents Pogo‘s Albert Alligator in Muckey Spleen’s The Bloody Drip, “a Publication of the New National Treasury of World Culture.”

As a transguy, the question “What makes me a man?” has meant both pretty much the same things to me as to any other guy, and also something a bit different. I had to figure most of it out on my own, going through a second puberty of sorts at a point when all my [...]
The Movie Morlocks’ R. Emmet Sweeney shares his favorite film discoveries of 2012.
Director, producer, writer, effects pioneer and puppeteer Gerry Anderson has died. Anderson created the Supermarionation television series: Thunderbirds, Fireball XL5, and Stingray He produced the live-action series: UFO, The Protectors and Space: 1999. The Guardian has an obituary and two letters remembering Gerry Andreson’s legacy. And here’s Craig Ferguson’s tribute to Fireball Xl5.
Actor Jack Klugman has died. Klugman is probably best known for his roles on the tv shows The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E. and he had roles in classic tv series such as The Twilight Zone, Inner Sanctum, Playhouse 90 and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His last role was in Daywalt Fear Factory’s Camera Obscura horror [...]
Actor Charles Durning has died. Durning was most famous for his supporting roles in on stage and screen including, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Dog Day Afternoon, The Sting, The Muppet Movie, The Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother Where Art Thou? and Tootsie. Durning also lived an incredible life [...]

It seems like when people think of comics, they think of superheroes, but there was a long time when crime and comics were synonymous. And now it seems like some of the best comics around are crime books. There’s a new golden age, a new crimewave in comics. I’ve been meaning to write about it, [...]
Comix artist Spain Rodriguez has died. The Comics Journal has tributes from his fellow artists including Trina Robbins, R. Crumb, Mario Hernandez, Mary Fleener, Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman
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