Ray Harryhausen passed away last week. This has been noted by people more qualified than I to discuss the master of stop-motion magic—Rick Baker, Adam Savage, Todd Masters, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and more. The superhuman talent and perseverance evident in a Harryhausen effects sequence can easily be seen in countless visual effects artists since he first brought his creations to frame-by-frame life on the big screen. That makes sense. So how can I really say anything of worth when I say that I was also profoundly influenced by the artistry of Ray Harryhausen? With modesty, and a story about Clash of the Titans. Continue reading…
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Recent Features
Ray Harryhausen and Me: A Life of High Adventure and Escapism
Things That Change You Forever
I have a ghost story of my own. At least, I have a ghost-cat story.
My final year as an undergraduate was spent in relative splendor. My friends and I lucked into tenancy in the house of a professor on sabbatical. Twelve foot ceilings! Built in bookshelves! Three cats! Real, grown-up furniture! Wait… let’s get back to the cats. The professorial family had three cats and a dog, though the dog was sent to a friend with a farm (later, they told us later that we clinched the lease when they told us that cat care was part of the deal and our response was, “Aw, we don’t get the dog?”).
So. Three housemates, three cats. One morning around the (solid oak!) table, we were chatting about the cats’ sleeping habits. Two of the cats routinely slept in my room, the third with one of the others. Feeling a little left out, the third roommate said, “That’s okay, because Ghost Cat slept on my bed last night.” Continue reading…
Secret Agent, Detective, Genius, Jerk: Modernizing Sherlock Holmes
A man with dark wavy hair wakes up in an iron-framed bed in the middle of a windowless room. He leaps out from under the white sheets and stares intently at a corner of the white ceiling. Suddenly, gracefully, he spins to defeat an invisible opponent in four swift motions, finally falling to his knees in front of an empty chair, hands outstretched.
There’s something about the way Benedict Cumberbatch plays the lead role in the BBC series Sherlock that seems like it could be Holmes’ fantasy version of how a brilliant detective behaves. Continue reading…
My New Weapon of Choice
In April, the Guttersnipes like to mix it up a little. This month, Comics Editor Carol Borden writes about romance.
“You hit him with a frying pan,” he said to her. “How come you didn’t grab a knife?”
“The frying pan was closer.” Her eyes slid away. “It’s not like I had time to pick a weapon. It’s not like the frying pan is my weapon of choice.” –Agnes And The Hitman (27)
Growing up in a town where Elvis was sighted post mortem, I despised and mocked The King. Now, I have held wakes in his honor. I used to only like punk. Then I used to say I liked everything but country. Now I don’t even bother arguing that I’m listening to “Americana,” not country. It is a truth universally acknowledged that something I once despised I will come to appreciate and, often, love. So when both Chris and alex recommended Jennifer Crusie, the author of many romance novels, and in particular her collaboration with Bob Mayer, Agnes And The Hitman, I knew I needed to read it. Continue reading…
Weird R. Kelly Tales
Tales from R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet told by actor Michael K. Williams and drawn by Kagan McLeod.
Attention, Horror Fans!
Couchcutter asks horror fans not to cheat themselves out of the future: “I’m not asking you to buy less Hollywood. I’m telling you that we *need* to buy more Independent. At least, if there is any independent stuff that you love or have ever loved. If one of the two have to suffer out of [...]
Framing Stan Lee
Some pretty sweet portraiture by Joel Kimmel for “The Inquisition of Ms. Marvel.”
Gutter-A-Go-Go!
Gutter-A-Go-Go, The Cultural Gutter’s fundraiser, is now in effect! We have amazing perks from Jim Munroe, Shannon Gerrard, the Fewdio Horror Collective, Shelf Life CC, Evan Munday and Edanna Politoske! If you can’t contribute, please consider sharing our campaign.
Genesis of the Cultural Gutter
Way back in 2003, Jim Munroe conceived of a SXSW panel, “Why I Dig Working In The Cultural Gutter” and the Cultural Gutter is one of the results of that discussion. Heath Row’s Media Diet has a transcript of that panel.
Riffing Zombies and Incredible Time Travellers
I’ve missed the spooky month of October by one day, and probably rotted my brain on too much Rifftrax. In lieu of coherent thoughts, here is a compilation of recent observations.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012!
The schedule for the Toronto After Dark Film Festival–starting tonight, Oct. 18!
Pioneers of Animation: Winsor McCay
True Classics has a lovely retrospective of vaudevillian, cartoonist and animator, Winsor McCay. “McCay got his start in entertainment doing “chalk talks” on the vaudeville circuit. Much like J. Stuart Blackton, a groundbreaking figure in early animation in his own right, McCay drew figures on a chalkboard and altered them during his performance….In 1911, Blackton and McCay [...]
More Than A Bullet In The Head
Soldier of Cinema Rob Mitchell talks to Mike Lane about editing zombie death for the Nuit Blanche installation, “101 Zombie Kills / Cent Une Tueries De Zombies.”
Interview with Don Coscarelli
At the Midnight Madness blog, the Gutter’s own Carol Borden interviews Don Coscarelli about adaptation, Godzilla and John Dies At The End.
Ben Wheatley’s Viral Videos and Rob Zombie’s Ads
Kill List director and suspected Pirate Captain Ben Wheatley has been secretly making commercial videos for years. Siân Elizabeth-Anne just happens to have gathered all Wheatley’s booty in one place, The Vanguard programme blog. Or most of it. Meanwhile, at the Midnight Madness blog, Chad Eberle has collected evidence of Rob Zombie’s secret life as [...]
Vanguard 2012 Trailers!
This year’s Vanguard program at the Toronto International Film Festival also looks pretty sweet with Soi Cheang’s Motorway, starring Anthony Wong Chau-Sang; 90 Minutes; Berberian Sound Effects; Blondie; I Declare War; iLL Manors; Painless; Pusher; Sightseers; Thale; and Michel Gondry’s The We And The I. I haven’t found trailers for Beijing Flickers; Here Comes The [...]
Midnight Madness 2012 Trailers!
Trailers for this year’s Midnight Madness programme! Dredd 3D; Seven Psychopaths; The Lords of Salem teaser from a Rob Zombie concert; ABCs of Death; The Bay; and the much anticipated, John Dies at the End. No One Lives; Hellbenders; Aftershock; and Child’s Play/Come Out and Play are all playing Midnight Madness, but I haven’t found [...]
Jonathan Frid and Seizure.
“There was a Jonathan Frid drought in those days, and the man himself had just led me to an oasis. Not only was a Frid film on video for the first time, it was a movie I had never seen. Seizure was legendary among Dark Shadows fans. Although only a decade old, it was considered [...]
“No Matter How Hard They’re Punched: Superheroes and Real World Issues”
Books and Adventures finishes off a series on comics and educations with a discussion of superheroes and real world issues between Books and Adventures’ Matt Finch, Professor Mark D. White of CUNY; Tom Miller of McMaster University; critic, screenwriter and University of Melbourne graduate student, Martyn Pedler; and artist-educator and doctoral candidate at Teachers College, [...]
Lo Fi Sci Fi Salon
Jim Munroe is programming a series of sci fi salons as a run-up to the 48 Film Challenge! The first is a chat with Louis Savy, Programmer for SCI-FI-LONDON, over Skype and a screening of shorts fro m SFL’s 48 Hour Film Challenge on Monday, August 31. See the entire schedule and more details here. (Full [...]
FantAsia Film Festival 2012
The FantAsia site is up and running with many, many trailers to get you ready for the festival. (Or at least, what films to keep an eye out for).
Girls, Education and Comics
The Gutter‘s own Comics Editor was kindly invited to join the “Comics in the Classroom” roundtable at Books And Adventures with Dee Pirko from Girls Read Comics Too, educator and editor Lisa Fary from Pink Raygun, writer Louie Stowell and Adele Walsh from Melbourne’s Centre for Youth Literature.
A Nasty Game
As part of the harassment of Feminist Frequency‘s Anita Sarkeesian, a guy from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario made a “game” where players could punch her. The Internet found the game’s designer and people talked to him on Twitter. Storify has more as does Gameranx. And She Was Disclaiming has an analysis of the ensuing conversation.
Bruce Campbell on TVO
TVOntario’s Saturday Night At The Movies interviewed Bruce Campbell when he was in Toronto for Bubba Ho-Tep‘s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival’s 2002 Midnight Madness Programme. (via Bruce-Campbell.com)
« go back — keep looking »Of Note Elsewhere
“It’s easier to tell the same stories everyone else does. There’s no particular shame in it.
It’s just that it’s lazy, which is just about the worst possible thing a spec fic writer can be.
Oh, and it’s not true.”
Kameron Hurley writes about lazy writing, cannibal llamas, female soldiers, and women here. (Thanks, James!)
Patton Oswalt’s multi-franchise super-movie described in his Star Wars filibuster from Parks and Recreation, animated.
Corrigan Vaughan writes an open letter to “Fans of Geek Things“: “I appreciate that you think I have a nice rack and that some of you even find my friends and I to be pretty. That’s very kind. I’m not, however, super in love with the fact that having a rack at all seems to preclude me from being considered a ‘real’ fan.”
The Hollywood Reporter interviews director Takashi Miike about his new film, Shield of Straw: ” In Japan now, films are very safe. When I was young and went to old cinemas, they had a distinctive feel, an adult smell about them. As you got in your seat and the lights went down, there was a feeling of excitement: What if the film is scarier than I thought it’s going to be? You’re taken into that world. Nowadays, you can sit in the theater and know it’s going to be safe. That’s good for business, but not for filmmaking.”
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