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.

That sounds like it has to do with swine doesn’t it?  You’re right, it does.  Sort of.  Swine, and a lot of other animal species, only in anthropomorphic style.

Piggy Moto is the brainchild of our own Nicholas “FlippantMoniker” McRae.  The story is about a small, starting sounder who travels half way across the world to enter a musical talent contest.

What do you mean that sounds boaring?  Believe me when I tell you that boredom is the last thing you’ll be contending with when you experience Piggy Moto.  The story is enthralling and very difficult to put down.

But how can I enjoy something I’ve never heard of?  Like many other really good stories, All Star Boar Band is another tale that got passed up by the publishers and could have easily gone the way of “I Give Up.”  Instead, Nick is publishing the story podcast style.  He’s recording chapters now, with yours truly providing a few of the female voices, but he’s working on an all star and new comer cast as well.

As I’ve always felt that stories should be summarized by their writer’s words, I’ll give you the blurb for Piggy Moto:

It ain’t easy being small, and being a pig is no cakewalk, either.  For Cecil “Eberhard” Berringer – dwarf, porcine musician – life’s just one pain-in-the-butt after another.  He and his friends can’t even participate in a simple, foreign music competition without things going to the Hells in a haversack.  Hope and ambition rapidly turn to paranoia and dread as Eberhard and his friends are thrust into an investigation to bring down a deranged saboteur before mere pranks turn deadly.  As opening night draws close, the swine find themselves reconsidering whether social equality is worth dying for.

So, ya hooked yet?  If not you can find out more about Piggy Moto – All Star Boar Band by visiting the website.  You can pick up a trailer there, read more from Nick and see that this story is kicking off on the next full moon, September 15, 2008.

I think you’ll enjoy Piggy Moto, and I hope you’ll give it a listen.

So, it’s pretty hard to go anywhere on the internet without bumping into a Weebl animation.  You know:  Badger, badger, badger, badger, Es Tee Eff You!

It’s quite easy to spend all day in front of the computer, liquefying your brains with various creations of genius as Owls, Pork, and CatFace.  However, lots of Weebl’s stuff is not quite suitable for *ahem* family viewing-

Not that *I* care.  No!  I like the weird, wacky, off color and borderline psychotic / prawn-o-graphic.  I’m a dragon, after all.  We don’t have such silly social taboos as you mammals do.  *We* are awesomest!

Anyway, Let’s just say (hypothetically) that you have a basketful of hairy hatchlings that -

[to off-screen] What?  No?  No hatchlings?  Then how-?  How do-?  Yeah.  How do mammals-?  But- But where-?  H-?  No way.  No WAY!  That’s – Noooo! That’s a- you’re a liar.  No way!  Prove it!  Yeah.  Pro-

[is handed a portable DVD player from off screen]

o.o   o.O    O.O    *.*  *hurk*
[hands it back - is now a pale shade of lavender]

Okay!  so, you have a bunch of little pooplings, and you want to start them early melting their own brains.  What do you show THEM?  Well.. You can plop them down in front of the Scaredofbees website.  There are some.. weird little dittied that are a bit less grown-up, but nonetheless fun.

There’s a video about waffles, which will infect your littluns’ brains with its infectious tune.  and there’s one about scary aminals that – I dunno, MIGHT educate them a bit.. or mess them up some- one or the other.  Either way, it’s fun to watch their little worlds implode a bit.

So, go ahead.  Check them out   You won’t regret it much.  honestly!

(well, not for long anyway.  Once the gray trickle begins, you won’t care about much of anything any more)

Rating:

Super107 is ROCKING Seventh City!  This awesome little radio bit is brought to you by Radio Isopod and SciFi Surplus.

Super107 is a short piece from a radio station set in the Playing for Keeps universe.  It has some awesome music by Sherby and the Futuristic Sex Robots intermixed with ads from Seventh City businesses.  The whole thing is maybe ten minutes long, fifteen tops, and sounds like all I did was turn a radio dial.

It’s also introduced me to more music, and more podcasts, that I need to look into.  Entertainment in compact packages, gotta love it!

Rating:

Episode 4 is brought to you by the Geek Survival Guide, another podcast that was instantly added to my rotations.  Man I should have found a job that would let me listen to these at work.  Oh well, I digress…

Geek Survival Guide did a special episode for the Mightiest of Murs and discusses how to recognize villainous lairs.  If you’re living in a crime riddled city, near a dormant volcano or old dark castle I would suggest you don’t go out at night.

Also in the discussion are how to design your hideout, how to install death traps and why heroes have sidekicks.  It had me in stitches and it’s not even a full fifteen minutes long.  There are D&D game masters who would benefit from this episode.  So hang up that herophone, why do you have that thing anyway?, and take a listen.  It’s well worth the time.

Rating:

Anything that opens with the Bangle’s Manic Monday is good in my book.  And Manic Mondays meets Seventh City was just awesome.

Manic Mondays is a podcast by Tom Rockwell of Sudden Death.  The show is similar to that of a shock jock’s radio morning program made to ease you into the work week.  He kicks the show off with a song from Sudden Death dedicated to White Lightning which is just absolutely hilarious.

Like any good shock jock he brings on some poor sap to be made fun of and in this case the victim is a Third Waver who excretes water.  Then there’s the News of the Stupid.  These had me rolling on the floor and howling but I have to wonder if they were real or does Tom just have that awesome of an imagination.

There’s more music in the cast, which leaves me hunting down URLs and band names so I can find and enjoy more of this.  Plus it’s another podcast I’m going to have to look into, satirical fun for all is a good thing.

Rating:

It takes a certain something to stir up emotions in me.

Joy, love, hope, sadness..

Hmm… which one am I forgetting? There’s an emotion in there – one I’m overlooking -

Oh yeah! Frothing, draconic rage.

Okay, So I got this friend, Reno, and she’s pretty damn groovy. We share lots of tastes in movies, TV, drinks, etc. Anyway. So far, she’s been pretty astute about what kinds of movies I’d like and stuff. So, when she handed me her copy of “If These Walls Could Talk II,”

I was all like, “Uh, Hmm.. Errrr? This is like – Chic Flic ^ 39. Can’t wait.” *shudder*

So, I’m watching it while I write this.

OH MY GOD Sharon Stone’s hair is Awesome-!

And is Ellen Ad-libbing? Or did she write her own script?

‘Cause, it’s like I’m watching the show.

That [horse whinny] and her adlibs made me cry.

I can’t speak for chics. And other dudes- well, y’all may or may not like it. I mean, heck there’s a few romantic scenes to get your – adolescent, Howard Sternesque -

The inside of Sharon’s robe matches Ellen’s pants!!

Ooh and I know that lady from that one witch movie! She’s awesome.

Erf.. almost cried again. -

NOPE! There it went. [glass break]es- making me cry.

Good song choice, though. Take that discrimination dating service.

Okay, movie over. Emotions off. WHEW! Almost blew a feeling fuse.

Them are ‘spensive!

Okay, So.. in review. This emotional roller coaster started me off on the great hate plunge -

Oh wait, let me start by saying that is movie is no “Brokeback Mountain” No, that one was an exploitive turd burger. “If These Walls Could Talk II” Is a series of rapid blows to the emotional breadbox.

I was pissed at first. Freakin’ Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Perkins made FLAWLESS slimebags. OOOH my GOD I wanted to strangle them both! You see, in the first chapter (1961) you really are given a look at the paranoia, isolation and inequality faced by the couple (Marian Seldes and Vanessa Redgrave). This is no over the top, people shooting at them and calling them names, but every freakin time they think the world’s back is turned, knickers fly off. They are real; they are human, and the frustration they feel just makes you .. hate the whole, sickening world.

Okay, chapter two, 1972. gGGGRGRRRRrrRrRrrrRRRR The *duck quack*ing Hypocrisy! The protagonist in this chapter (Michelle Williams) not only deals with alienation from the straight and so-called normal world, but she and her lesbian friends are outcast from the Woman’s Lib group that they helped found. As if that wasn’t enough two-faced, self-serving judgment, our heroine’s friends turn cold and try to sabotage the relationship she forges with a new, cross-dressing flame ( Chloë Sevigny).

You know what sucks the most about this? It’s too *car honk*ing real! Look at ANY equal rights movement, and look at who’s protesting. You WILL see, standing in the ranks of those admonishing the demonstrators, members of the previous minority – who’ve already WON their freedom.

We got ours! Screw everybody else!

But again. No rocks, no burning pitchforks. No Molotov cocktails. Just humans and the hurtful things that friends are capable of saying to friends.

No tears yet, though. Just a lot of anger. Just – biting my tongue against all the juvenile idiocy we’re shown in this film and all I had to endure growing up. Just remembering not to express myself when I go out in public.

“Act normal, cause you never know who has a weapon.”

Thank GOODNESS for chapter three. (Sharon Stone and Ellen DeGeneres) are trying to get pregnant. Sounds simple and happy and silly and goofy. And it is. But they are two people in love, and they can never give each other children -

And don’t you *foghorn blow*ing DARE say anything about “That’s what comes with being gay.” If those words are anywhere NEAR your lips, then you -

*sigh* Then you just-

You’ll never understand. It’s one thing to be told that there is something fundamentally wrong with you. And it’s another to know that you will never, under any circumstances, share your genes with the one you love. Well, maybe some day, when SciFi is real. But, not today.

You know, there are people out there who can’t conceive or impregnate. People who’ll never – I digress. Who is any mortal to scoff at that?

“Just be straight.”

I’ll have you *dog bark*ing know that the last chapter has a happy ending. So there!

{addendum}

ON my way in to work this morning, I was telling my buddy about this flic, and he pretty eloquently pointed something out. He stopped me at the whole pregnancy thing, and reminded me that there are LOTS of things that people will never get to do.

“You’ll never be the star quarterback on your high school football team,” he said. “Because you can’t go back. You’ll never grow up in China. You’ll never be the world’s best, Black basketball player, ’cause you’re white and can’t play basketball.”

“You just gotta be good with what you have,”

It was perfect. That’s what it’s all about. Just – be good with what you have. Anyway, back to the review proper.

{/addendum}

Replay value? Naah. I mean, what are you gonna miss the first time around?

“You mean they’re GAY?!”

Do I suggest it for viewing? Hell, I don’t know. Do you care? I mean, if you’re a member of this movie’s target audience, then you’ve probably already watched it. If you don’t already care about these issues, then what do I think this is gonna do? Wake you up? Open your eyes? No.

If your eyes are shut in this world, then you’re blind forever. Just crawl back into your bomb shelter, don your tinfoil hat and tell yourself it’s all gonna be okay.

So, who’s this movie good for? Hell, I don’t know. If you have an empathetic bone in your body and like a good catharsis then this one SURE is for you. If you have know clue how women on this side of the fence feel, and you really wanna understand, when sure. Pop a squat and watch. Maybe it’ll light a candle in your mind.

If you think you might be a two-faced, double speaking little hypocrite twit and wanna be sure, then yeah. Watch this one. Maybe you’ll see how you hurt those people who trust you and grow up a bit.

And if you feel like you’re all alone in the world – like a freak that nobody wants. Well, take a look.

If there’s one thing you ain’t, it’s alone.

Rating:

The crew over at Joystiq got to attend the I am 8-bit art showing and posted a gallery of photos from the show.  It’s got some interesting views of the old 8-bit games.  I think my favorite so far is the one of ROB that reads “And on the seventh day” across the bottom.  Though, it is good or bad that I can name most the games?

Go check it out.

Originally published: 2/29/2008
Repost Value: Please note that you can order Playing for Keeps in novel form from Amazon.com on August 25th.  Click the banner in “You Gotta See This” for more information.

What do you get when you mix super villains with corrupt heroes and a smattering of worthless wannabes? You get Seventh City and the world of Playing for Keeps that’s what.

What good is having a talent that prevents people from stealing from you? Is being able to lug around a bar tray actually worth anything? And whoever heard of knowing something about another person by scent?

Apparently the Grand Dame of speculative podcast fiction, Mur Lafferty, thought those were interesting powers considering she wrote about them. As the author of Playing for Keeps, Mur has once again grabbed her fans by the neck and pulled them into her world. Immersion into Seventh City is so complete that by the time it’s over you want to wail and scream for more, so very much more.

In Playing for Keeps, we follow Keepsie, who’s superpower is that she can’t be stolen from, as she is harried by hero and villain alike. In just a handful of her days we’re kidnapped by Doodad, aggravated by White Lightning, and just plan harassed by the leader of the Super Hero Academy, Dr. Timson. Poor Keepsie has to deal with all of that just in the first few hours of her day.

As she and the rest of her friends find out that the heroes are just as nasty, and maybe even worse, than the villains, it’s time to decide who they want to help in the battle for Seventh City. Either way they could lose the battle and their own lives in this harrowing adventure.

That’s just the battle for the city itself, intermixed with all of this is where the heroes even came from. What’s the difference is between First Wave, Third Wave and Hero and why this close knit group that frequents Keepsie’s Bar was rejected by the Academy to begin with.

Action and adventure with just a smidgen of mystery will hook you at the navel and tug you deeper into the world of Playing for Keeps. Go take a listen at the Playing for Keeps homepage.

Strap yourselves in; it’s a wild ride, and perfect for wasting time with.

Rating: