I'm listening to the worst OTR (old time radio) show I've heard in a while. It's about a typewriter begging to be brought to life.
It dings insistently when ignored.
"Quiet, Please" has always been a little goofy, but come on. Really.
Y'know what I like? "Dragnet" and "Broadway Is My Beat." They're both cop shows. One's this no-nonsense, reality based pseudo-documentary, lots of dry humor and music stings that sound like the neighbors moving furniture. The other's a melodramatic swell of pulpy nonsense. They're best when they're played back-to-back.
First half-hour, Joe Friday apprehends a teenage car thief. Second half-hour, Detective Danny Clover slogs down "The gaudiest. The most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world."
He's like a Tom Waits album with a badge.
You can listen to 64 different episodes of "Broadway Is My Beat" here. Alternate 'em with these for best effect.
Gotta get back t'work. Later.
I love OTR. My favourites were always superman (just because of the RIDICULOUS sound effect they used whenever he was flying), and The Shadow--one of those private-eye shows. WHO KNOWS what lurks deep in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! Oh man, so fantastic.
I loves me some OTR. They had some really awesome horror shows, including one about a mist that turned people inside out. FTW!
About the comic... I don't think you can light a cigarette just from a heat source, although I could be wrong. During my wilder youth, when I occasionally smoked Clove cigarettes (feel free to mock me, yes) I could only light them when 1) I sucked on 'em while lighting them or 2) I put my finger over the mouth end, applied flame to the ash end, and removed my finger quickly. The cig has to draw oxygen. I could be wrong, however, because I think I smoked a total of five cigarettes, and most of them had been lit and half smoked by someone else before I started on 'em.
Also, the pickle Ben is holding looks like some kind of sex toy.
Brigid, I don't think it's a pickle. My money's on "phone shaped exactly and precisely like a sanitary napkin." But you're right, it is eerily reminiscent of a sex toy!
Oh, Spike, so much terrible slash is in your future. I can see it from here. Keep up the good stuff, tho, this is getting deliciously interesting.
shadefell: Don't worry, I know. It's not really lit, just smoking. Which is to say, burning. Like, it's not smoke-able, right? But some sort of incendiary action is going on at the tip. Keep in mind, Ben doesn't know what he's doing. It goes out on the next page. (OMG SPOILER!!)
And damn you to HELL, Ainsley, cuz now a pad-phone IS ALL I CAN FRIGGIN SEE. ;___;
As someone who has lit many a cigarette on the stove (and lost some eyelashes when using a gas range), if Ben took a draw right before he got startled, then he'd be in business.
I don't think the phone looks too feminine-producty. It just looks like one of those 'moderne' designs, that you see next to the clear light-up ones at department stores.
"You like OTR, too? Man, we GOTTA fuck now!"
Sidenote: check out www.otr.net.
I highly recommend The Saint. The crummy movie remake with Val Kilmer is just a different kind of horrible. And has nothing to do with the radio show, which rocks and has Vincent Price.
This is the first time I've commented so I just better say how much I love this comic and everything about it. The dialogue, the style you've got going on, everything. I get a real kick out of reading the dialogue out loud and hearing the unique voices you give each of the characters in it. It's totally awesome.
Congratulations on the Webcomic Choice Awards, you totally deserve them!