Film critic and screenwriter Roger Ebert has died. Ebert wrote about death in 2011. His colleagues at The Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune remember him in obituaries. This is Ebert’s final blog post, announcing, “A Leave of Presence.” Here’s a collection of Ebert’s tweets, quotes and photos. At The Gutter, we considered Ebert one [...]
Muppet performer, designer and producer Jane Henson has died. Henson collaborated with Jim Henson to create The Muppets. The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times have obituaries. Here is a rare interview with Henson.
Gutter friends Todd Stadtman and Keith Allison are quoted in Shaikh Ayaz’ Open Magazine article about Indian filmmaker, Joginder, “The Poet of Poop.” “You need a special sort of brain to invent the lota dance, or potty rap, as it is known in somewhat better civilised parts of the world. And Joginder, according to his [...]
I’m going to talk a bit about Adventure Time, but I want to tell a story first. When my nephew was a toddler, he liked to play princesses with his mother and me. Usually, we were all beautiful princesses. Once, to show his displeasure, his mother was a “Bad Princess,” which actually was kind of [...]
Elmore Leonard talks about writing, Westerns, crime fiction, adaptations and Justified. “They made me an executive producer on the show, and executive producers don’t’ really do anything. I thought, ‘How can I sit here and collect money and not do anything?’ So I wrote a book, Raylan.”
The Daily Mail has a nice interview with Michael Caine and photographer David Bailey.
Author James Herbert has died. Herbert was the author of horror classics such as The Rats and The Fog. The BBC and The Guardian have obituaries. David Barnett has an overview of Herbert’s work.
Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones –a 1990 documentary about composer and musician Quincy Jones is online and complete.
“[T]here is a sound narrative logic behind the sustained popularity of this impossible person in tights. There is one appeal whose effectiveness has remained operative since 1939.” Acephalous explains “[h]ow to teach the interrelatedness of historical context and audience via Warren Ellis’s Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth.” (via @aytiws)
Matt Singer explores two elements that recur in all of Sam Raimi’s films, Pandora’s box and, “The Classic,” a 1973 Delta 88. “Using The Classic to play Uncle Ben’s car may have just been a fortuitous way for Raimi to shoehorn in his beloved trademark, but in the larger context of his career, it imbues [...]
Boing Boing is publishing Elfquest: The Final Quest, the latest Elfquest storyline. It’s an ongoing fantasy/science fiction comic by Wendy and Richard Pini that’s been going since 1978. The previous storylines are available gratis for your reading pleasure at the Elfquest official site.
Interior Designer Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde’s floor plans for houses and apartments from The Simpsons, Frasier, Sex and the City, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Up, Seinfeld, and Friends. (Thanks, James!)
Actress Bonnie Franklin has died. Franklin was best known for her role as Ann Romano in the sitcom One Day At A Time, but performed on stage as well as on television. Here she is performing in the Tony Awards in the 1970s. The New York Times has an obituary.
When humanity, subjugated by the terror of crime, has been driven insane by fear and horror, and when chaos has become supreme law, then the time will have come for the empire of crime.” –The Testament of Dr. Mabuse “[W]hatever factors come into play in the cases that we have studied, the conclusion is inescapable [...]
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.
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.”
“As a Black man in American, I brought something to the screen that hadn’t really been there before.”Jim Brown talks about his film career, making the transition from football to film and producing films in two parts of a documentary by Spike Lee. Here and here.
At Wired, Laura Hudson writes about the women of Star Wars and the dearth of female characters in film and television in general. she notes, “Criticisms about representations of gender (or race and other diversity) are often countered in fandom by analyses attempting to explain why the inequality happens according to the internal logic of [...]
Mr. White and Mr. St. Mary have an in-depth look at Reservoir Dogs at The Projection Booth podcast. Special Guests: podcaster Jamie Jenkins, Film Threat‘s Paul Zimmerman and Reservoir Dogs executive producer, Monte Hellman. Special features include, Mike White’s video, “Who Do You Think You’re Fooling?” comparing Ringo Lam’s City On Fire and Reservoir Dogs, [...]
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.
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What, it’s June already? I’m sure a I had a whole year here a minute ago. In any case, summer means humidity, allergies, and a sad lack of home AC. This year, it also means squirrels in the roof (don’t ask. No, really).
