Monthly Archives: October 2011

Digital Strips Podcast 264 – Book Club – Order of the Stick – 5th Edition

Posted on by
Reply

Jason here, back in the editor’s seat. Sure, I sit in on all of Steve’s posts to make sure they’re Internet-approved (and not regular Internet, but intelligent Internet), but now I’m here to make sure you get nothing but high-quality podcasting delivered directly to your earholes. And outside of the audio quality issues on Steve’s side towards the end of this episode (again I stress, on Steve’s side), I think this one fits the bill.

We kick things off by hearing about how awesome Steve’s life has been in his return to bachelorhood since his wife and kid went on vacation without him (listen in for a few minutes and trust me, you’ll need the same for yourself). D0 you like hearing about Motown on your webcomics podcasts? Hope so, ’cause we’ve got that, too! From there, it’s a hop, skip, and jump away from discussions about Trunk or Treat and an actual webcomic…

I love PvP, and I love Penny Arcade (I believe I’ve mentioned before that these two comics formed the tag-team tandem of my introduction to webcomics) but the team-up on the century just isn’t doing anything to blow up my skirt. It’s still really early in the life of this pre-destined-to-be-amazing comic, but I have yet to be impressed. The stories that accompany each update, however, serve as a great (and hopefully truthful) window into the truly horrific life of a game tester. Remember when you were young and you couldn’t imagine any job cooler than that? Read a few of these and you’ll quickly smarten up.

Rolling us into the main discussion, I hope you like Super Mario RPG and dubstep, because… well, that’s what I’ve got for you.

Rerecorded for your amusement (and because the first version sucked), this Book Club installment represents our deepest inspection upon any given section of Order of the Stick yet. Blame this on the fact that we decided to double the amount of comics included in each section from here to the end of the comic, but we encourage you to listen in so you can offer your own opinions based on this, what I consider to be the best storyline of the comic thus far. Of course, my final position as to the comicky comicness of this story might drive some to chime in as well. The more the merrier!

Some parting thoughts: the status of Steve’s bachelor pad, McRib , the variety of douches in any given high school, the genius of Google + Circles, and remembering fondly MTV’s Daria.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 263 – Review – Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman

Posted on by
Reply

It’s times like this that I really wish I still had my old trench coat. It was the best coat ever. It kept me warm, it kept me dry. It would billow in the wind in just the right way. It had a slit in the pocket so I could scratch my junk without any one knowing. It was the perfect coat. The problem with a trench coat like that is the only people who can get away with wearing them are hard-drinking, chain-smoking private investigators and flasher perverts.

While not directly featuring any rockin’ trench coats, this week’s comic will have you wishing they were more fashionable, too. It’s Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman by Terry Leban. And it’s as noir as you can get without heavily featuring my current favorite article of clothing, and this is only because it takes place in primitive Siberia.

This blue and white-tinted tale gives us plenty to talk about, although as usual, our conversation revolves about how wrong the other person is about it. If you like the shows where both sides present their arguments without resulting to name calling, this isn’t the one for you although you probably already knew that by now.

We also talk about the following comics, but I forgot to mark the time we did so for some. I hope you can forgive me.

Chainsawsuit, Buttock Safety – 6:00
Red Light Properties (Act-I-Vate ) 7:00
Bug 9:00
Maliki 9:45
Dresden Codak 10:00
Cucuc, Dawn of Time, Charles Christopher

Our middle music was Go Balls Deep by Kazuo Sawa. How could I not use a song with that title?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 262 – Review – Three Word Phrase (Sometimes You Must Sound Douchey)

Posted on by
1

This show is going out to everyone who thought we were too gushy or well spoken in the last episode. This week we’re mean and can’t seem to make a sentence worth saying. It still makes for good listening though, just for different reasons.

This week we’re taking a look a Three Word Phrase by Ryan Pequin. Specifically, but more in general, we’re digging into the very nature of humor and what makes us laugh. Jason and I go deep into what makes this sub-genre of comics, those based solely on non-sequiturs work and why it works so much more for some people than it does for us.

We talk about how humor is different for different people, and how that affects things. We talk about the quickfire nature of today’s society and the effect that it has on jokes. We talk about poop jokes.

It’s a very special episode, that’s for sure, but it’s got plenty of our usual commentary of the world of webcomics in general and on each other’s hygiene habits.

We also mention the following:

Hijinks Ensure – 5:15
XKCD – 6:15
PVP – 7:00
Edmund Finney – 8:15
League of Super Redundant Heroes – 8:30
Happle Tea (I should have said Two Guys and Guy though, I was confused, sorry) – 8:45
SMBC, KC Green, Medium Large, Kate Beaton – 15:45
Achewood 19:30
Pictures for Sad Children – 25:45

Our middle music was Digital Memories by LukHash.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 261 – Review – Ellie on Planet X (Jason Sure Thinks He Can Dance)

Posted on by
2

Well the snow has already come and gone to the Rocky Mountains, giving us either our shortest winter ever, or a totally normal October, we’ll have to wait and see. But in any case I’ve decided to celebrate by posting another fun-filled episode of Digital Strips, this week reviewing the very cute Ellie on Planet X by James Anderson.

We don’t just review comics round these parts, nah, that’s too easy. Those who know us know we feel the need to ramble first and ramble we do. This week we talk about dancing. We learn that Jason is way too proud of his dance skills for a guy who just jumps and sticks his butt in the air. Keeping in the theme, Steve tells a story that proves he really is a horrible person, then he doubles on the proof by demonstrating what he will do to you if you happen to have the same name as him.

We then get into a recent post full of Web comics advice from Dresden Codak creator, Aaron Diaz, and Steve and Jason weigh in on his advice. During which Steve teaches us all how to speak Chinglish and look stupid at the same time. We get into some harsh talk about people’s motives when getting into Web comics and what they should be.

Over Clocked Remix dot com is the source of our middle music again this time with Origami Robots by k-wix. I drizzled in a sort of NSFW story from Jason to the mix, jump ahead about 90 seconds if you don’t want to explain to anyone listening with you what genitals are.

We then get into the comic, talking about how much whimsy you can cram into a comic, how a comic can be the nice guy in your class and how sometimes orange and blue do go together outside of a grade school context.

And just when you think we’re done with you, we tangent off into the realms of Pan’s Labyrinth, old school fairy tales and how kids today can’t handle a good dismemberment.

This weeks rambletron topic, what do you do when the Hulk shows up to your barbeque.

Show notes

Indistinguishable from Magic – 7:00
Modest Medusa – 9:00
Rice Boy, Order of Tales, Vaatu– 9:15
Copper – 13:00
Cucumber Quest – 21:30
Tiny Kitten Teeth – 25:00
Dawn of Time, Laugh Out load Cats, Silent Kimbly– 25:45

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share

Digital Strips Podcast 260 – Review – Fortune’s Fools

Posted on by
Reply

I’ll be the first to admit that this show is an odd one. Not only is it the second of a two show recording session but it’s also a review of a comic that has long since stopped updating. The former means our A material is all used up, but fortunately our B material is also a bunch of wiener/boob jokes and ad hominum attacks. The latter makes this an interesting look back through time at what could have been, rather than what is. Which is a little trippy and a lot of fun.

We start by pinning for the the new Muppets Movie which is still over a month away. We then discuss why Jason has gone through his beloved RSS feed witha scythe and cut almost all of the story-based strips found within. It turns out, stories are hard for Jason.

The middle music is American Dream Man by Leslie Hunt.

We then get into Fortune’s Fools by Mel Olm and MJ ALmon. Like I mentioned this black and white comic set in medieval France has long since given up the ghost leaving us to only wonder what might have been. I don’t know about you guys but finding fun comics that gave up a long time ago is always bitter sweet for me. On the one hand, I get to see what could have been and imagine my own ending, one the other hand, there’s a strange sense of loss over something I never knew there was. I’m probably over thinking this.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share