The following is a guest post by Repentant Soul.

G is for Guest Post, G is for Goblins, G is for “Gosh, when is the next update?”

These words are commonly overheard from anyone who has found the gem of a webcomic called “Goblins: A life through their eyes.” For any who are a die hard gamer, have ever played any table top Dungeons and Dragons game, or known those that did; this story is for you. Let me be the first to state, that this is by far, hands down, one of the best and most enjoyable webcomics that is out there currently. Unfortunately, with popularity comes downfall. There are some drawbacks to it, which will be discussed as well.

We start the story with a young, low level paladin, on the run in a forest. We do not know what this character’s antagonist is, at least right off, however, our curiosity is soon satiated with the second strip and we find that goblins, those hated, low level nemeses of many an adventuring party, are the cause for all the hoo-hah.

The strip then goes forth to explain that goblins are people too. Though primarily used as NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and antagonist nuggets of experience points (XP), they have their own society, their own lives, and are just like you and me. That is, until a party arrives to “wipe out the evil” in the forest, namely, the goblins.

The trouble and hilarity ensues and without giving away too much of the story, eventually the party is beaten back, but not without substantial loss to the goblin population. The few that are left, vow to put an end to goblin suffering everywhere, and decide to become players/adventurers themselves.

I won’t go and give away any spoilers from this point on. The story progresses following the brave, intrepid party of goblin adventurers and forms really well written character concepts and ideas. The plots are well thought out and executed, and the artwork is really well done for a webcomic. Each story arc is followed through and segways well within the story. The humor is planned and delivered in such a way that a reader can often miss the innuendos if not paying attention.

So, yeah, read it. Love it. The strip starts in black and white, but soon switches over to full color panels. It’s a quick read, and quite enjoyable…. Until…..

Yeah… the downside now…

While the strip has progressed quite a ways now, the downside is, it takes FOR-FREAKING-EVER for it to update. Not sure if the artist and author is simply busy with life, just likes making sure that his content is that good, or just is.. well…. Slow.  He does write for another comic that seems to take most of his time, Tempts Fate 9. But, it just doesn’t really add up how long it takes the site to update with a new strip. On average, it’s about once every three weeks, though it has gone longer in the past. It’s annoying, it really is, and many of the readers would like to see nothing more than the full attention brought to the strip; however.. it is not to be.

Either way, the strip is well worth the read and check out, even if you don’t want to keep up with the slow-paced updates. The laughs that abound, and the jokes that are cracked, are sure to be enjoyed by anyone who has ever been opposite of… Goblins.

For fantasy genre readers the name Marion Zimmer Bradley is usually a familiar one. It may be known among the science fiction readers due to her popular Darkover series. Marion also helped introduce new authors to the world with the Sword and Sorceress anthology.  It was a tragic loss to the world of writing when she passed on, but she left her readers with many good books and good memories.

Of all of them, however, The Firebrand is a novel that escaped notice for many. It’s a personal favorite of mine, more so than the very well known Mists of Avalon.

Firebrand tells the story of Kassandra, the prophetess who was never to believed, and her part in the Fall of Troy. All the usual suspects are involved, Paris, Helen, Achilles, Hector, and more. The story that she wove took the classic Aegean Mythos and improved upon it.

Out of all the books she wrote, and the many I read, I do think this is one of her most well written and I hope you’ll find time to enjoy it yourself.  If you have enjoyed the book, please share why or name your favorite character/scene in the comments.  I love knowing how others feel about the things I enjoy.

In the meantime, happy reading!

All right, I admit it; I’m a closet Pauly Shore fan.  *watches the subscription rate plummet* I happen to think that the series of films he did in the early 1990s were laugh out loud funny, particularly Encino Man and Son-in-Law.

I think Encino Man was the first thing I ever saw Sean Astin do outside of The Goonies.  I know that it was the first thing I ever saw Brendan Fraser in.  There is only one word for that man, even when he’s a new thawed out ice man – YUM!

So what is Encino Man?  The movie is about two high school outcasts, Dave and Stoney (Astin & Shore) who find an ice man, Link (Fraser) in Dave’s empty pool after an earthquake.  Link thaws out and joins Dave and Stoney at school, quickly becoming the most popular male on campus even with a communication barrier.  Dave and Stoney learn to enjoy life more as they bask in Link’s popularity as they teach him how to live in the modern era.

The story is silly, but most films in the early 90s were.  Silly, but totally fun!  Shore is easily at his best and Astin proves an excellent straight man that mellows Shore out.  Fraser, however, is simply the cream of the crop in this film, his first “starring” role, and it lead him to a profitable career of corny, but sexy, characters.

Don’t let the fact that Pauly Shore is in the movie detract you from seeing it.  It’s great for a few hours time and a big bowl of buttery popcorn.  You get to see Brendan half naked for a part of it, so what’s the harm in that?  Give it a shot, I think you’ll enjoy it, and maybe you’ll see that Pauly isn’t as bad as people make him out to be.

Rating:

With a name like “The Devil’s Panties” I’m sure many of you are wondering where the porn is, but Jennie Breeden’s tag line says it the best “Not Satanic Porn…Honest.”  Instead what you get is a semi autobiographical webcomic jam packed with humor.  You get to wonder through Jennie’s life and mind as she works her way through life, family and …dun dun dun… Conventions!

Unfortunately, while at DragonCon ’07, even knowing who she was I walked right passed her booth.  Why?  Because at that time I hadn’t read enough of her comics to know that I should have been on hands and knees kissing her flaming leather boots.

Aside from having a wonderful sense of humor, Jennie is also a brilliant artist.  She places a lot of sketches up for filler when need be and the pieces look like they should be breathing.  Additionally she’s designed her own deck of playing cards using characters in various poses and clothing to adorn the faces.

Judging by her photo galleries from various Cons, she is a very approachable person who enjoys meeting her fans.  Even so, I’m not so sure I’d want to be near her were I male and kilted.  I’ve seen, and heard, that she’s got a mean hand with a leaf blower.  Some of the men certainly don’t seem to mind, they even signed a waver for a calendar.  But, she was nice and actually posted a warning as to when the kilt blowing party would be at this year’s DragonCon.

The Devil’s Panties has been around since 2001 and she’s swiftly approaching her 7th anniversary with the comic.  WOOT!  Her skill has grown in leaps and bounds with both humor and artistic style since it premiered.  I do advise that you take a peek, I think you’ll find it worth the time as she, and the comic, are all around awesome.

Already a reader?  Share your thoughts on The Devil’s Panties in the comments.

We’re taking a break from the usual entertainment mediums to discuss something more along the lines of live action.  Well, aren’t most forms of entertainment live action, you might ask.  Television, music, movies, there’s plenty of entertainment outlets that aren’t animated.  But how much of it can you lead around on a string or play cat fishing with?

I have three of these at home, and have to admit they’re the most entertaining things I have.  Even when they’re sleeping they can provide enjoyment from the sheer cuteness factor.  Got cat nip and you have a dazed, drugged cat that’s almost as malleable as Choo-Choo Bear from Something*Positive.

Sloane and I have a bamboo rod with a piece of rope tied to it, we play cat fishing.  We’ll sometimes go as far as to bait the rope with a rattle mouse.  The youngest of the feline brood, Dashiel, devours these things.  She’ll chase them around the house once she gets it off the rope and the next thing I know I’m stepping on pieces of mouse leather and finding plastic and cloth mouse halves in different rooms.  I keep trying to convince her that leaving a catnip mouse in the water bowl will not make catnip tea.  She still doesn’t believe me.

Bastian is the middle child, he’s roughly twelve years old and his favorite toy is laser pointer.  There’s nothing funnier than watching a twenty-five pound cat run across the floor or try to scale the walls to reach a tiny red dot.  He and Dashiel war over this thing sometimes, and they both pout when you turn it off.  Keep their attentions long enough with the pointer and sometimes you’ve got them turning circles to catch it.  It’s rather amusing to watch them sway off dizzily when you’ve finished.

Max is the eldest at nearly fourteen, and knows how to throw his weight around.  He’s about twenty pounds and spoiled rotten, he won’t chase the string, you have to drag it over his ginger body to even get his attention, but whip out the oven mitts and you have a game on your hands.  He lets you know when he’s fed up though, it’s fastest you’ll ever see him move, just to get away from you and your attention.  He went rounds with one of Sloane’s friends for clipping a clothes pin to the end of his tail once.

As simple as it may sound, being a cat slave is often more enjoyable than the tripe they show on television these days.  They make great entertainment during half time of a football game, but then you get ones like Dashiel who try and play with the football as it’s arcing across the screen.

From watching Twitter I know that there are a lot of cat slaves who know what I’m talking about.  I’ve seen pictures of a pair of kittens, Beatrice and Benedict, who are trying to steal their slave, Tee Morris’, podcast!  Even JC Hutchins has tweeted coos of feline appreciation because someone decided it was cuddle in the lap time.

While I’m a cat person myself, there’s nothing more rewarding and entertaining than being a pet owner.  Whether you prefer the lazy swim of a fish tank or the happy wag of a puppy’s tail, no matter how you divide it the experience is heart warming.  And if all that fails, there’s I Can Haz Cheezburger and I Has Hot Dog for the ultimate in feline and fido humiliation.

Being a loving cat slave I will remind you of three things regarding pets:

1.    Do not give pets to people as a surprise gift.  More animals wind up on the streets or in shelters because someone said “Oh I just know so-n-so will love this puppy for her birthday!”
2.    Get your pet fixed!  There is a severe pet overpopulation problem, please don’t add to it.
3.    Some people don’t think of pets as pets, they think of them as little furry children with four feet that speak a different language, and will treat them as such.

So, go out and play with your pet.  They need your love and attention as much as everyone else in your life does and they will provide you with love and entertainment as long as they are happy and healthy.

And if anyone has fun pet stories, ideas for entertaining your pet or even want to discuss your favorite kind of pet, the comments are open, and not just for cat lovers.

It’s 2008 and in the cinematic world we’ve had five different men play Batman.  Everyone has their favorite, from the all time classic antics of Adam West to the newest Dark Knight Christian Bale.  And between them we’ve seen Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney don the batsuit.  Of these five, only Bale and Keaton have been able to bring Batman’s raw, hard edged, half insanity to the screen and kept him dark, foreboding and down right creepy.  Narrowing it down even further, Bale seems to have taken the lead for the favorite under the mask.

We have certainly seen the best and the worst of the Caped Crusader.  Directors Tim Burton and Christopher Nolen have done best by the franchise while I’m of the opinion Joel Schumacher should have been drawn and quartered for what he did to the films in the 90’s.  Still it was Leslie H. Martinson who delivered Batman to the big screen in 1966 with pure comic campiness.

But what makes Batman so popular in the end that after having the series destroyed by Schumacher people flocked to Batman Begins and then helped The Dark Knight shatter box office records?  I like to think its accessibility.  Let me explain…

Bruce Wayne is human.  He’s not from another planet, he doesn’t have godly or alien blood, and he has no super powers.  He doesn’t have any powers at all.  He is simply a flawed human being.

All be it, a very rich one, where in lies some of his strength.  He can afford anything, from high tech costumes with sonar detection to an awesome utility belt.  What was it Nicholson’s Joker said “Where does he get those wonderful toys?”  Which does remind me that the only better than Batman’s gear is his villains.

Let’s take Joker for instance; he is the chaotic opposite of Batman.  He has money, else he wouldn’t have some of the stuff he has, but it’s the choices he made that make him Batman’s arch-nemesis.  Where Batman would do anything to prevent death, destruction and evil, Joker throws it around like confetti.  Bruce Wayne became Batman as a result of the tragic hand life dealt him and chose to ensure that what happened to him never happened to anyone else.  Joker decided to take what he was given in life and make everyone pay for any single wrong that was done to him.  The pure psychology behind Batman and his foes is mind boggling and insanely fascinating, no pun intended.

Cesar Romero embodied the more playful and less harmless Joker in the original series and film.  Jack Nicholson gave him more bite and venom in Tim Burton’s revival of Batman in 1989.  I have yet to see Dark Knight, but my understanding is that the late (and very much missed) Heath Ledger epitomized the role.  That he brought the true spirit of Joker’s mayhem to life and perfected it.

I could go on and on about Joker and he wasn’t even my favorite villain.  That would be Harley Quinn, whom I’m hoping to see eventually.  And still there’s so many villains left to choose from, including Catwoman, whom its been reported that Julie Newmar (the original Catwoman) would like to see Angelina Jolie in the roll should Christopher Nolen decide to bring in that villainess.

But, I digress and we’re discussing Batman here…

Batman endures through the ages because he’s normal.  He can be looked up to because he’s human, because he took a tragedy and did something good with it.  He’s a hero to be admired because he’s obtainable, not that I’m saying you should go disperse vigilante justice.  You don’t have to go through a personal tragedy to do good in your life, you only have to choose to do it.  He’s a role model if you will, even if he is a bit of an odd one.

He’s also in very good hands.  So let’s hope that the Batman franchise can continue to flourish under Nolen and Bale, because as thrilling as they have made the series, it’s certainly time well wasted.  And it’s one of my personal favorite ways to waste it.

Share your favorite things about the franchise with us in the comments.  Let’s hear it for Batman, long may he freak us all the hell out.

Update (1:15 pm)  It has been pointed out to me by Tony Mast of The Backseat Producers that I missed a pair of big screen Batmans.  In 1943 there was a 15 chapter serial with Lewis Wilson under the mask and in 1949 there was a Batman and Robin 15 chapter serial where we had Robert Lowery as the Caped Crusader.  These I would love to see.   Thanks Tony for letting us know.

Anne strikes me as a name synonymous with entertainment - actresses, writers, musicians, and more.  Through the decades there seems to have always been a woman named Anne providing entertainment.  Hellfire, just go back the 1500’s and you have Anne Boleyn, she may not have been an actress or entertainer per se, but she certainly entertained the Tudor Court by refusing to give into Henry VIII until a proposal of marriage was given.  More so, the entertainment at her expense with her trial for treason and subsequent beheading.

Today, however, we’re focusing on an actress, two authors and - with a slight deviation of the name - a singer.

Anne Hathaway made her mark in Disney’s “The Princess Diaries” films.  Under the guidance of Garry Marshall for the first film he is said to have likened her to “a combination Julia Roberts, Audrey Hepburn and Judy Garland.”  She is certainly as versatile as the three actresses, going from family films for the House of Mouse to a role in the controversial film Brokeback Mountain.  At 26 she has acted along side Julie Andrews, Meryl Streep, Maggie Smith, James McAvoy and the late Heath Ledger to massive success.  Anne has shown growth and versatility in her roles the like of which will continue her launch into stardom and make her a memorable actress for years to come.  Currently she is staring with Get Smart with Steven Carell, Dwayne Johnson and Alan Arkin.

Anne Rice is, without doubt, a legendary writer, even if half her fan base abandoned her when she came out with Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.  Having been one of her fans for years, I lived out the days of Lestat de Lioncourt , had all the books, watched the movies and like many desperately wanted to strangle the people who ruined two of Anne’s books to make Queen of the Damned.  But, that digresses from discussing Anne Rice. She has always created memorable characters and stories, its rare for someone not to know who Lestat, Louis, Claudia and Armand are, but the Vampire Chronicles were a gateway series into her better books.  While I am not the avid fan I was, I still keep on hand three of, what I consider, her best books – Cry to Heaven, The Mummy (Ramses the Damned) and The Witching Hour.  I confess to have outgrown the Vampire Chronicles at the turn of the century, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t recommend them to people who enjoy vampire stories, as they are still some of the best.

Remaining in the realm of writers I bring back into the light a name familiar to people who have been with the site for some time – Anne Bishop.  She is the author behind the Black Jewels Trilogy (Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, Queen of the Darkness), three of the best books I’ve ever read.  She spins worlds that turn your expectations on their heads and only gets better with each book published.  Her fan base grows by leaps and bounds to the point that I actually saw some cos-playing at last year’s DragonCon.  There are currently six books in the realms of the Black Jewels with more coming out each year.  Additionally she has a series called The World of the Fae that delves into the connection of earthly bound witches and the Fae; how they must work together to survive.  There is also the duology The Landscapes of Ephemera where a incubus and his cousin must save the world from a living nightmare.  Anne Bishop is the first name that springs forth from my lips when someone asks for a recommendation in novelists.

Finally we deviate a touch from Anne by adding a letter, in which you’ll get Annie.  Now the Annie I’m speaking of in particular is Annie Lennox, perhaps best known as being part of the Eurythmics, I think everyone has heard Sweet Dreams are Made of This.  Annie is a solo artist now, having come out with songs like Walking on Broken Glass and Into the West.  The later of which she received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2004 for.  She has received a number of other musical awards over the years she’s been performing and is not only an outstanding musician but humanitarian as well.  If you haven’t heard of her, I recommend this and this.  I think you’ll enjoy them.

There are many more Anne’s in the world of entertainment.  Another that springs to mind is Anne McCaffrey, and while I can’t personally recommend her, Jenn has been singing her praises for the Dragonriders of Pern, along with other books, for years.  While I’ve had many people urge me to read more of McCaffrey’s books I’m afraid to confess that I see more of my eyelids than I do the novels.  But don’t let my reaction to them spoil your chance at reading highly acclaimed novels.  Last I heard she would be attending DragonCon this fall and if you’re a fan I would recommend trying to get there, she doesn’t leave Ireland often.

Did I miss your favorite Anne or variation there of?  Share your favorites in the comments.