The Cultural Gutter

beyond good and bad, there is awesome

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -- Oscar Wilde

A History of Cinderella

Terry Windling recounts the history of the Ash Girl or Cinderella story from the 9th Century Yeh–hsien to the Disney film, Cinderella, based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 version.

Diabolus in Musica

“I used a descending chromatic scale throughout the score,” explains Marc Wilkinson, who was director of music at the National Theatre when Haggard approached him to write the score for Blood On Satan’s Claw. “To make it scary, I omitted the perfect fifth, which is the one true consonant in the chromatic scale, and highlighted [...]

Mayan Scriptorium

A panoramic view of a recently excavated room in the Mayan city of  Xúltun. (Thanks, Mike!)

Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits

An armorer has some suggestions about balancing functionality, character and story in “fantasy armor and lady bits.”

Christopher Lee is the King of Metal

Christopher Lee conquers Symphonic Metal. Survey his Holy Metal Empire with two promos for Charlemagne, a message from Christopher Lee about the project and some track teasers.

Christopher Lee Is Metal.

Christopher Lee is Metal. “I have been metal for many years,” he says in a review of his new CD, Charlemagne:  By the Sword and the Cross.

  • Of Note Elsewhere

    Kate Elliott asks, “How much sex is too much sex in your science fiction and fantasy?” (Thanks, James!)

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    NPR’s Monkey See blog shares a look at Adventure Time. “Adventure Time insists on emotional honesty.” (via @profmdwhite)

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    Recent shenanigans The Cultural Gutter has been involved in: The lost Drive-In Mob Movie S.P.E.C.T.R.E. on Monster Island; a transcript of the Shaitani Dracula tweetalong organized by The Mysterious Order of the Skeleton Suit; and the ongoing Twitter game/story, “Tonight On Mad Men.”

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    At Vern Reviews The Films Of Cinema, Outlaw Vern offers “one Seagalologist’s perspective on the ‘vulgar auteurism’ debate”: “The practitioners are trying to bring recognition to artists who they think are marginalized, but they’re accidentally creating a ranking of ‘vulgar auteur’ beneath ‘actual auteur.’ And that also shines a spotlight on the idea’s most glaring weakness: even the most establishment of the critical establishment have always worshipped directors who were at some point considered lowbrow–Hitchcock, Fuller, Peckinpah, DePalma.”

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    Pornokitsch finishes determining essential epic fantasy, with statistics, graphs and lists of their selections. Nice to see Homer in there.

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    David Simon shares the best deleted scene from the fifth season of The Wire. (via @pornokitsch)

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  • Spilling into Twitter

  • The Book!

    From ETC Press

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