The Cultural Gutter

dumpster diving of the brain

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

The Hapless Humans of Infomercials

A gallery of incompetent people from informercials. (via @TarsTarkasnet)

Interview with Stuntwoman Bridgett Riley

Action Flick Chick Katrina Hill talks with Bridgett Riley about going from boxer to stuntwoman: “Women get minimal pads if any at times and high heeled shoes are sometimes a must depending on camera. Wardrobe sometimes makes us shoes that are stunt friendly. I like these wardrobe people. It just depends on the shot. The [...]

The Social Relevance of Jackassery

johnny rocket thumb.jpg

Jackass isn’t as stupid as it seems on the surface. I mean, there’s no question it’s jackassery and that’s the main draw, but it’s also a really interesting cultural project.

How Hollywood Killed Stunts

Salon has an excellent piece on the death of stunts in Hollywood movies, exploring everything from the history of film stunts, the reliance on CG effects and new-fangled “intensified continuity” editing. The piece also mentions Michelle Yeoh, Tony Jaa, Zoe Bell and Yakima Canutt. (Thanks, Brian from Shelf Life CC).

For Jean-Claude on his 50th Birthday

Mubi has a lovely, thoughtful post on Jean-Claude van Damme in honor of his 50th birthday. ” But what does that make of an action-star-inverse like Van Damme, who’s at his most interesting when he’s at his most vulnerable and who does not, unlike Stallone or Willis, wield that vulnerability as a weapon, but presents [...]

A DROWNING MAN

swimmer 80 2.jpg

Tomorrow (November 7, if I post this on time), Toronto’s Trash Palace is showing a print of Frank Perry’s The Swimmer. If you’re in the city, do yourself a favour: go see it. If you’re elsewhere (I understand the internets now extend beyond the GTA), do yourself a favour: go rent it.

Missing the Point in Ashes of Time

Grady Hendrix writes about missing the point in martial arts and action movies, especially Ashes of Time: “Character, dialogue and subtext are important parts of the moviegoing experience, but there’s another more primal language that’s harder to parse and that’s the language of action.”

  • Of Note Elsewhere

    This tumblr collects many bad jokes kids have invented.

    ~

    “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 Black Girl Nerds Podcast discusses Black girls and women in the Heavy Metal industry with author and journalist Laina Dawes and Ursula “She-Wolf” Parson from Hear Evil News.

    ~

    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.”

    ~

  • The Book!

    From ETC Press

  • Spilling into Twitter

  • Obsessive?

    Then you might be interested in knowing you can subscribe to our RSS feed, find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter or Tumblr.

    -------

  • Weekly Notifications


     

  • What We’re Talking About

    1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s action adaptation animation art Canada capitalism China comedy comics fandom fantasy feminism film history games geekery gender history horror interviews Japan martial arts monsters movies music RIP romance science fiction space superheroes the ladies trailers tv UK USA video writing

  • Thanks To

    No Media Kings hosts this site, and Wordpress autoconstructs it.