A Damn Fine Cup of Culture
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Since November 2020, the Damn Fine crew have been working on bringing you a Weekly Six Damn Fine Degrees for the Friday deadline. This pinned thread is going to slowly work its way back through the archive in one appropriately connected form!
"Margery Allingham’s novels are rather more intricate than Christie’s, she seems to have more of an interest in the minutiae of not just the narrative, but also the characters and writing style. "
Six Damn Fine Degrees #263: Campion
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
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December 5, 2025 at 4:17 PM
"Margery Allingham’s novels are rather more intricate than Christie’s, she seems to have more of an interest in the minutiae of not just the narrative, but also the characters and writing style. "
"As in the best adaptations of Le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold depicts the corrosive nature of this world without giving in to a need to soften or romanticise it."
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/29/c...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/29/c...
Criterion Corner: The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (#452)
Most people, when asked to think about spy movies, will think of James Bond, of Sean Connery or Roger Moore or Daniel Craig. They’ll think of shootouts and stealth and suave secret agents bed…
adamnfinecup.com
November 29, 2025 at 6:11 PM
"As in the best adaptations of Le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold depicts the corrosive nature of this world without giving in to a need to soften or romanticise it."
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/29/c...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/29/c...
"He is The Villain here, and he’s out to destroy the Doctor for reasons we need to keep watching to discover. The rest of the series features a number of nicely created villains and monsters but none of them carry the danger and menace of The Valeyard."
Six Damn Fine Degrees #262: The Valeyard
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
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November 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
"He is The Villain here, and he’s out to destroy the Doctor for reasons we need to keep watching to discover. The rest of the series features a number of nicely created villains and monsters but none of them carry the danger and menace of The Valeyard."
“The enjoyment of The Secret Agent lies in its sheer joy in telling stories – some gory, some goofy, some thrilling, some tragic. But there is a purpose to the way it is eager to begin stories but hesitant to stick with them.”
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/22/f...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/22/f...
Fabula rasa: The Secret Agent (2025)
Murder, memory, sharks. Two-faced cats. Corpses left to rot. Disembodied legs cleaning up the seedy underbelly of Recife, one well-placed kick at a time. The story may just be reactionary and homop…
adamnfinecup.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:09 PM
“The enjoyment of The Secret Agent lies in its sheer joy in telling stories – some gory, some goofy, some thrilling, some tragic. But there is a purpose to the way it is eager to begin stories but hesitant to stick with them.”
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/22/f...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/22/f...
"Famously, Corman claimed that among his sixty films as director and his over four hundred (!) films as producer, none ever created a loss."
Six Damn Fine Degrees #261: Roger Corman’s Big Little Shop of Horrors
Melanie’s review of 1980s cult musical Little Shop of Horrors through teenagers’ eyes finally gives me a chance to loop back, not only to the 1960 original directed by Roger Corman, but…
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November 21, 2025 at 4:39 PM
"Famously, Corman claimed that among his sixty films as director and his over four hundred (!) films as producer, none ever created a loss."
“How does it feel to return to Twin Peaks, Washington, the site of Laura Palmer’s murder, the focus of supernatural and surreal goings-on, after our loss of the man himself?”
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/15/a...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/15/a...
A Damn Fine Espresso: November 2025
Over the year, we’ve dedicated a number of episodes to the sadly departed David Lynch, his films, and his iconic TV series Twin Peaks. For our November espresso, Alan and Sam return to 2017 a…
adamnfinecup.com
November 16, 2025 at 2:34 PM
“How does it feel to return to Twin Peaks, Washington, the site of Laura Palmer’s murder, the focus of supernatural and surreal goings-on, after our loss of the man himself?”
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/15/a...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/15/a...
"Watching teens – all of them raised with modern media sensibilities – sample a 1980s horror comedy musical was a ride."
Six Damn Fine Degrees #260: Teens discover Little Shop of Horrors
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
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November 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
"Watching teens – all of them raised with modern media sensibilities – sample a 1980s horror comedy musical was a ride."
"For me, at the age of 50, Before Sunrise had a truth that I didn’t see before, but it wasn’t the truth about love or romance or life, even if that’s exactly what young Céline and Jesse think they’re navigating during their night in Vienna."
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/08/a...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/08/a...
A night to remember: revisiting Before Sunrise (1995)
I may have mentioned it before: I love rewatching films. Obviously not all films, but on the whole I get a huge enjoyment out of revisiting films. Doesn’t matter that I know the plot and all …
adamnfinecup.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:53 PM
"For me, at the age of 50, Before Sunrise had a truth that I didn’t see before, but it wasn’t the truth about love or romance or life, even if that’s exactly what young Céline and Jesse think they’re navigating during their night in Vienna."
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/08/a...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/08/a...
"And of course we were always prepared for the uncanny, the strange and bizarre and frightening, by the ever-smoking Rod Serling with his trademark snarling voice, telling us what was in store for us with that half-smirk."
Six Damn Fine Degrees #259: The Twilight Zone
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
adamnfinecup.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:25 PM
"And of course we were always prepared for the uncanny, the strange and bizarre and frightening, by the ever-smoking Rod Serling with his trademark snarling voice, telling us what was in store for us with that half-smirk."
You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not of sight and sound... because of a Twilight Zone box set vanishing without a trace.
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/07/s...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/07/s...
Six Damn Fine Degrees #259: The Twilight Zone
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
adamnfinecup.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not of sight and sound... because of a Twilight Zone box set vanishing without a trace.
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/07/s...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/07/s...
“How does the xenomorph survive its transfer onto a new host: the streaming services?”
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/01/a...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/01/a...
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture Podcast #98: Alien: Earth
When Alien came out in cinemas back in 1979, did anyone think at the time that this would turn into a franchise that is alive and kicking 46 years later, much like that Chestburster in Spaceballs? …
adamnfinecup.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:17 PM
“How does the xenomorph survive its transfer onto a new host: the streaming services?”
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/01/a...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/11/01/a...
Could these three dapper elderly gentlemen ever scare the heck out of you?
Feat. @punkyfins.bsky.social and @movietrubs.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/31/s...
Feat. @punkyfins.bsky.social and @movietrubs.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/31/s...
Six Damn Fine Degrees #258: Halloween Trio
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
adamnfinecup.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Could these three dapper elderly gentlemen ever scare the heck out of you?
Feat. @punkyfins.bsky.social and @movietrubs.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/31/s...
Feat. @punkyfins.bsky.social and @movietrubs.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/31/s...
"All these media and forms of expression make some things concrete and leave others open to interpretation: the difference between the media lies in where the blanks are that we, the audience, get to fill in."
Six Damn Fine Degrees #257: The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
adamnfinecup.com
October 26, 2025 at 6:41 PM
"All these media and forms of expression make some things concrete and leave others open to interpretation: the difference between the media lies in where the blanks are that we, the audience, get to fill in."
A teensy bit late (sorry about that!), but here is this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees.
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/25/s...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/25/s...
Six Damn Fine Degrees #257: The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
adamnfinecup.com
October 25, 2025 at 8:48 AM
A teensy bit late (sorry about that!), but here is this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees.
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/25/s...
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/25/s...
“Surrealist film doesn’t begin and end with Lynch, so we’re dedicating the October espresso podcast to one of the greats of experimental filmmaking: Maya Deren.”
@thirith.bsky.social
@punkyfins.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/18/a...
@thirith.bsky.social
@punkyfins.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/18/a...
A Damn Fine Espresso: October 2025
We’ve spent a lot of this year talking about the sadly departed David Lynch – but surrealist film doesn’t begin and end with Lynch, so we’re dedicating the October espresso …
adamnfinecup.com
October 19, 2025 at 1:10 PM
“Surrealist film doesn’t begin and end with Lynch, so we’re dedicating the October espresso podcast to one of the greats of experimental filmmaking: Maya Deren.”
@thirith.bsky.social
@punkyfins.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/18/a...
@thirith.bsky.social
@punkyfins.bsky.social
adamnfinecup.com/2025/10/18/a...
"The adage “the pictures are better on radio” really applies in this instance. It’s a tour de force for the imagination. As a kid I remember listening to it in the evening with all the lights turned off and my eyes closed and really feeling like I was there in Middle Earth."
Six Damn Fine Degrees #256: The BBC Radio Lord Of The Rings Part Two: The Two Adaptors
Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instal…
adamnfinecup.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:07 PM
"The adage “the pictures are better on radio” really applies in this instance. It’s a tour de force for the imagination. As a kid I remember listening to it in the evening with all the lights turned off and my eyes closed and really feeling like I was there in Middle Earth."