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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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…
Chromatophores + “Insane In The Membrane”
Scientists hooked a squid up to an iPod. This is what happened.
“Protest Style”
HAPS puts PSY’s protest style in context.
Weird R. Kelly Tales
Tales from R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet told by actor Michael K. Williams and drawn by Kagan McLeod.
What is Gangnam Style?
“PSY does something in his video that few other artists, Korean or otherwise, do: He parodies the wealthiest, most powerful neighborhood in South Korea. Sure, he uses physical humor to make it seemingly about him, a man who wants to project glamour but keeps falling short…But ultimately, by declaring ‘Oppa is Gangnam Style,’ he turns [...]
Vice Interviews ICP
“Ah shit, man, being a Juggalo is a hard thing. But at the same time, it’s the closest love you’re ever gonna have.” More from Jason Webber’s interview with Insane Clown Posse’s Shaggy 2 Dope here. (via Matt Staggs)
A Letter from Mr. Nathaniel Hornblower
In memoriam, a letter Adam Yauch wrote to The New York Times as Nathaniel Hörnblowér, his nom de direction for Beastie Boys music videos. TheDose.ca has a collection of Mr. Hörnblowér’s work. excluding “Sabotage.” And here’s an interview with Mr. Hörnblowér.
“Why Do People Hate Rap and Opera?”
At NPR’s classical music blog, Deceptive Cadence, Tom Huizenga discusses the results of a poll asking readers to “name their musical blind spot.” Over and over, people disliked rap and opera and Huizenga ponders why that might be and what rap and opera might have in common: “Opera and rap take work to appreciate — [...]
RIP, Don Cornelius
Soul Train creator and host Don Cornelius has died. The LA Times has an obituary and YouTube has many, many Soul Train clips.
My Pretty Pony: Remixing is Magic
Variety has a piece on how Hasbro allows fans to use footage from My Pretty Pony: Friendship is Magic, while other media copyright holders continue to try and squash fan use of media properties. “Really it all comes down to a question of control for big media companies….They can either attempt to clamp down on [...]
Evan Munday Does Like Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo
Gutter Guest Star Evan Munday reviews the dance classic and possible rival to The Empire Strikes Back as greatest sequel of all time, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo! “The makers of Breakin’ 2 know you’re here for the breakin’, and they are all too happy to provide….with only the barest lip service provided to a plot, [...]
Who’s That? Brown: The Video Game
Das Racist’s awesome bit-art video for “Who’s That? Brown” is also a game you can play! (Thanks, John!)
Great Comics That Never Happened Annual #1
The Comics Alliance has gathered together “The Great Comics That Never Happened” all in one place. Thrill to “Aliens vs. Predator vs. Ted Nugent!” Sigh with “Young M.O.D.O.K. Romance!” Discover the “Crisis in the 36 Chamber” with the JLA and the Wu-Tang Clan!
“And I don’t understand all your references / like what a TARDIS is…”
“I Have Never Watched An Episode of Doctor Who In My Life,” a hip hop confession by Adam WarRock / Eugene Ahn.
The RZA Directs
The Playlist has the first trailers for the RZA’s first film, Wu-Tang vs. The Golden Phoenix.
“This Pie’s So Good It Is A Crime”
MC Chris’s song, “Twin Peaks”: “This pie’s so good it is a crime.”
The Temptation of the Unspeakable Groove
Unspeakable horror + Unspeakable groove. Animation with art by Dan Hillier and music by Losers. (via Dan Hillier)
More Real Fight: Raging Phoenix starring Jija Yanin
Jija kicks organ-stealing gangster ass with hip hop and drunken Muay Thai. It’s Raging Phoenix with Jija Yanin, B-Boys Thai, Kazu and champion bodybuilder Roongtawan. (via Wise Kwai)
Ebert Hunts the Snark
Roger Ebert suggests that snarking “has operated almost as a reflex to smack down behavior that upsets our expectations.” And offers the case study of Joaquin Phoenix’s hip-hop persona/possible Andy Kaufmanesque performance art project.
Welcome Home, Brother Charles Rap
Scroll down for some rap based on Welcome Home, Brother Charles, a film about a Black man castrated by a white cop who gets revenge when his penis grows back.
Afrofuturism
Preserved from usenet, Mark Dery’s 1994 essay on Afrofuturism: “Hack this: Why do so few African-Americans write science fiction, a genre whose close encounters with the Other—the stranger in a strange land—would seem uniquely suited to the concerns of African-American novelists? …. This is especially perplexing in light of the fact that African-Americans are, in [...]
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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