This site is updated Thursday at noon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration. James Schellenberg probes science-fiction, Carol Borden draws out the best in comics, Chris Szego dallies with romance, and Ian Driscoll stares deeply into the screen.
While the writers have considerable enthusiasm for their subjects, they don't let it numb their critical faculties. Tossing away the shield of journalistic objectivity and refusing the shovel of fannish boosterism, they write in the hopes of starting honest and intelligent discussions about these oft-enjoyed but rarely examined artforms. Click here for the writer's bios and their individual takes on the gutter.
Recent Features
Perfect Candidates for Costumed Aggression
Alienated, ranting about how the world
could be perfected if only the fools would listen, plotting intricate
schemes, focusing great minds on tiny slights, losing their beloved
and scarred by experiments gone awry, revenging themselves on the
world, supervillains are where it's at. Here are some of my favorite
villains--in alphabetical order to avoid retribution.
Dean Koontz has been on the bestseller list with his books for quite a
few decades now; one of his current series started with a book called
Odd Thomas in 2003. Odd (that’s his first name) sees dead people. I see
an old idea in new clothes.
Continue reading...
Alpha Bits
It kind of goes without saying that the Romance genre is full of tropes and archetypes (though just to be clear: the happy ending is not archetype, but architecture). Some come in plot form: the rags-to-riches story, for instance, a modern take on the Cinderella mythos. Sometimes they pertain to character: the driven career woman forced to reassess her priorities, or the survivor of a bad marriage learning to trust again. Occasionally character archetypes can read less like original patterns than faded photocopies, and stock characters become exhausted pastiches. One character archetype that’s occasionally misrepresented and often misunderstood - though never out of favour - is the character of the alpha male.
It's all about ladies, booze and mysteries for Gu Long and his most famous character, the Bondesque swordsman detective, Chu Liu-xiang. "When you hear 'martial arts novels,' you can think of several famous
writers of Chinese literature. But when you hear 'mystery martial arts
novels,' only one name can pop in your mind: Gu Long."
Here at the Cultural Gutter we have a proven fondness for infotainment from the EU. So here's a chemical party showing elements making out and fighting. (thanks, Steven!)
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"16) If you have a nosebleed, you most definitely have cancer. And you
have no money to pay for the surgery that will save your life. And your
liver is missing. We're not sure where it went, but it's making your
cancer progress faster."
Everything Mark Russell needs to know about life he learned from Korean tv dramas.
Alienated, ranting about how the world
could be perfected if only the fools would listen, plotting intricate
schemes, focusing great minds on tiny slights, losing their beloved
and scarred by experiments gone awry, revenging themselves on the
world, supervillains are where it's at. Here are some of my favorite
villains--in alphabetical order to avoid retribution.
Dean Koontz has been on the bestseller list with his books for quite a
few decades now; one of his current series started with a book called
Odd Thomas in 2003. Odd (that’s his first name) sees dead people. I see
an old idea in new clothes.
