“Agent of Influence”
Fascinating article on thriller writer Dennis Wheatley’s role as a planner of deceptions for WWII British Intelligence and his influence on Ian Fleming and James Bond. (via @driveinmob)
Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits
An armorer has some suggestions about balancing functionality, character and story in “fantasy armor and lady bits.”
Roger Corman, Vincent Price and William Shatner Talk Film
Some interviews with Roger Corman on his birthday. Roger Corman and Vincent Price talk about horror films with Elwy Yost on Saturday Night at the Movies. Corman and William Shatner discuss The Intruder. And Corman discusses film history and filmmaking–with some clips from his films.
“Battle Royale and Japanese Nationalism”
This Japanese Life provides some historical context for Kinji Fukasaku’s film, Battle Royale–including an incident from Fukasaku‘s own life as a student drafted into a munitions factory, writer Yukio Mishima and the Hagakure: “Since the film deliberately omits much of the novel’s WW2-inspired alternative reality, I look at Kitano […]
Russian Avante-Garde Design
Abebooks has a gorgeous gallery of Russian Avant Garde book cover illustration from the end of the Czarist era through the 1930s.
On Wonder Woman and Amazons
Kelly Thompson and Colin Smith offer two related criticisms of Wonder Woman #7. Thompson asks, “Is the Destruction of the Amazons the Destruction of Feminism in DC Comics?” And Smith writes, “Of all of the flak fired up to obscure the mean-spirited, thick-headed sexism of Brian Azzarello’s script […]
The Cultural Gutter 