Tragedy Systems in Grand Theft Auto IV
“Death is permanent and, in all works of fiction, predetermined. Except in video games, where most of the time it is neither.” At Hit Self-Destruct, Duncan writes about agency, time travel and death.
Carol
Carol Borden was editor of and a writer for the Toronto International Film Festival’s official Midnight Madness and Vanguard program blogs. She is currently an editor at and evil overlord for The Cultural Gutter, a website dedicated to thoughtful writing about disreputable art. She has written for Mezzanotte, Teleport City, Die Danger Die Die Kill, Popshifter and she has a bunch of short stories published by Fox Spirit Books including: Godzilla detective fiction, femme fatale mermaids, an adventurous translator/poet, and an x-ray tech having a bad day. Read and listen to her other shenanigans at Monstrous Industry. For her particular take on gutter culture, check out, “In the Sewer with the Alligators.”
RIP, Ho Meng-Hua
It’s a sad time for fan of martial arts and Shaw Bros. Filmmaker Ho Meng-Hua has died. Ho started in the 1950s at Cathay studios, but his wuxia and kaiju work at Shaw Bros. Studios is probably more familiar to most fans. He directed Cheng Pei-Pei and Lo […]
RIP, Shih Kien
Shih Kien has died at 96. He was 61 when he played the villainous Mr. Han opposite Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. By then he’d played Villain Kin opposite Kwan Tak-Hing’s Wong Fei-Hung and various villains threatening Connie Chan Po-Chu and Josephine Siao Fong-Fong for decades. Make […]
The Union Forever
It’s card-carrying union members vs. scabs in Crane Wars: “You make your towers, as quickly as you can, topping them off with a top part to finish them. Alternatively, lob buildings or trucks at the scabs at work across the street. Or both.”
Suzuki Seijun’s Japanese Noir
Todd at 4DK has decided to “throw some verbiage” in Suzuki Seijun’s direction with reviews of and stills from Underworld Beauty and the best titled film ever, Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! I love it when Todd throws words around.
Re-Taking Pelham 1 2 3
Linda Holmes and Andrew O’Hehir see some things in John Travolta’s The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 villain: “the lamentably noisy bad guy” replacing a more chilling, bureaucratic evil and a far more awesome possible movie: “Freddie Mercury …. starring in some cracked Tony Scott movie where […]
The Cultural Gutter 