The Cultural Gutter

unashamed geekery

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

See the Fury!

Black and white wuxia? Animated chi? See the devastating fury of Buddha’s Palm!

Aerial City 008: Operation Spring

1960s Japanese science fiction Supermarionation. Scary or supercool? (Scroll down for a complete episode of Aerial City 008).

FEARnet does Halloween up right

In fact, FEARnet does Halloween up right with all their FEAR Fest treats:  Streets of Fear, a review of Haunted houses and tricks of the costume trade.

The Modern Master of Suitmation

It’s a little Minoru Kawasaki retrospective:  Calamari Wrestler (2004); Executive Koala (2005); Beetle, The Horn King (2005); Kani Goalkeeper (2006); The World Sinks Except Japan (2006).

Space Monster Guilala Awakens!

After a space sabbatical of over 30 years, Space Monster Guilala returns in Minoru Kawasaki’s Monster X Strikes Back:  Attack the G8 Summit, aka Guilala’s Counterattack the Toyako Summit One-Shot Crisis.  The Guilala song, the suitmation, the kaiju movie white guy–It makes me feel good in too many ways to count. More here. (via Kaiju [...]

Godzilla vs MechaRealism

Yes, it

A while ago I watched some Godzilla movies with some people who don’t exactly appreciate the aesthetics of suitmation / kigurumi, or, in less technical language, a guy in a rubber suit. One of the things I like best about Godzilla movies is that as soon as I glimpse Godzilla rising from the depths or [...]

Ninjas vs. Pirates

It’s an idea whose time has come: Ninjas vs. Pirates! Sounds homebrew too: “Almost all scenes in NVP were shot in front of 9 sheets of 30-cent green posterboard in a 12′x13′ apartment living room, lit with $12 Wal-Mart halogen work lights.”

The Grouchy Snob

Talking about Lucas brings out the worst in me

When people find out that I like science fiction (and write about it), they often try to find a familiar example to talk about. This is a better reaction than to say, “Oh, that crap?” or something along those lines. But recently, the example has inevitably been Star Wars — and what was up to [...]

Well-rendered Television

The show’s opening sequence starts with a woman in a black bodysuit facing off against a hulking monster. When she finishes him off with a jump-kick, the music swells and the words “Game Over” come up. “Did you ever wonder what happens after the game ends?” a voice reminiscent of Laurence Fishburne intones. “Welcome to [...]

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  • Of Note Elsewhere

    A novelist takes revenge on writers he doesn’t like via wikipedia. Slate has the story. “Qworty’s edits undermine our trust in this great project. Qworty’s edits prove that Wikipedia’s content can be shaped by people settling grudges and acting out of spite and envy. Qworty alone, by his own account, has made 13,000 edits to Wikipedia. And Qworty, as the record will show, is not to be trusted.”

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    Diane Dooley writes about Mars’ need for women and ways to subvert it.

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    “[T]he mainstreaming of Jane Eyre as a vanilla romance, or even as an exploration of a woman’s pure, uncompromising, and uncomplicated (and religious! and feminist!) integrity, says all kinds of things about our inability to speak honestly about violence and sex.” More on Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, consent, sex and submission, here. (via K.A. Laity)

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    Comic Book Attic talks about comics about comics, with plenty of pages from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s The Newsboy Legion for your enjoyment.

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    At Babbler Dabbler, Briana discusses female cyborgs in Ghost In The Shell and in Alien: Resurrection.

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    Commander Chris Hadfield performs David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in space.

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