The Penguin

 That's right, folks! I know you've all been waiting with bated (and slightly puzzled) breath for the next installment of Blind Alley Comics' nutso tale of two demented con artist siblings...so here it is! On June 20th, you will witness the most recent exploits of our ne'er-do-well brothers as they...well, not do well! In this outing, Jerry has an organic vegetable scam all lined up, having roped in his hapless younger brother, Derry. Unfortunately for our Boys, a small magical garden sprite is looking for the perfect host for his diabolical schemes! It's pure chaos once again as we bumble our way through yet another pulchritudinously pitiful plot full of perfidious perpetrators! Tune in to mustardbrothers.com to watch the debacle unfold, twice a week! (You may want to head back and read Season 1...I know I did! Seriously, it's all a blur. Jump back and check out the First Installment , if you dare!) Our heroes, introduced! A typical brotherly interaction...

 You've seen them all along the roadside as you drive down Midwestern country lanes in late June, big tussocks of bright green, grasslike leaves; out of these shoot straight stalks, topped with orange or yellow lily-like flowers. Colloquially called "Ditch-Lilies", these plants are so ubiquitous as to elicit little comment; though colorful, their blooms aren't especially noteworthy, and just seem part of the landscape. You'd be forgiven for thinking they've always been here. But in environmental circles, ditch-lilies have a more sinister reputation: native to East Asia, they were planted for their flowers and ground cover, and then - as they are today - mostly forgotten. This allowed them to steadily proliferate wherever they were planted, quietly pushing up shoots every spring until, with little notice, whole hillsides are covered with the weeds. They grow virtually anywhere, crowding out native plants and compacting soil with their tubers. One eerie aspect o...

I saw Infinity Pool  with my fiancée for Valentine's Day, and we spent the rest of the car ride home discussing it. It's certainly a thinker. I love movies that operate like intricate layered puzzles that can be picked apart for their themes - movies like Jordan Peele's  Nope come to mind. While Peele likes to wear his themes on his sleeve (not necessarily a bad thing), Brandon Cronenburg is subtler, more willing to obfuscate and play games with his audience. I really wanted to take some time and analyze this film.     I haven't seen any of Brandon Cronenburg's previous films, so I'm a bit fresh in terms of his recurring motifs; obviously I'm quite familiar with the work of his body horror-obsessed father. Brandon takes a much more cerebral tack that's still quite terrifying in its implications. **Spoiler Alert!** for the entire film - so if you haven't seen it, go out and see it! I. Synopsis Writer James Foster and his wife Em are vacationing at a ...

( A brief word on the illustrations I used here - the main "plates" are lightboxed from Google image results; the reference photos are linked below each image. I point this out to ensure that none of my readers say, "Wow! These are incredible renderings!" since I essentially traced them. I used this technique because I felt just using the original photos was a bit lazy, and also to isolate the bugs from the backgrounds and make their characteristics stand out). Let me spin you a nightmare scenario: you and your friend are enjoying a beautiful summer day, when suddenly your friend gets stung. Immediately he begins to swell, showing clear signs of deadly anaphylaxis. You quickly spring into action and inject him with an EpiPen, saving his life. But one aspect of the incident continues to haunt you, sending your life into a downward spiral of shame. One question that, had you brushed up on your entomological knowledge, wouldn't make you sit bolt upright in a cold ...