Viking Zombie Boyfriend, By Jeremy Rizza (12-16-10)

Why is it that we can march in the streets of  Washington, wear outrageous outfits to publicly show our pride every year, call, email and text our elected representatives to demand our writes, but we still have to de-gay the house when our folks visit? 

Jeremy writes: "Just to get it out of the way: Dill’s lump is on his arm, and it will turn out to be a harmless cyst.  An older version of the script had that information but I figured it was funnier if I had DeLugg interrupt Dill while his condition still sounded serious.  But I still wanted to explain what was going on with the lump, since I won’t be following up on it in the strip.  This isn’t going to turn into a gay 'Funky Winkerbean.'

DeLugg’s exorcisin’ mom is based on the mother of a friend of mine.  The poor guy."

More from Jeremy: "Oh, and since I didn’t really have room to show it in the strip, here is DeLugg’s whole winter ensemble."

Click on the images to enlarge. Visit VikingZombieBoyfriend.com for past strips, character back stories and cool VZB merchandise. Posted with the permission of the artist.

Georgie Jessup Concert at Backstreet Cafe Saturday Night (music video)

Georgie Jessup performs at Roanoke's 2nd Annual Rally For GLBT Equality.

Had enough turkey, travel and family drama? Then get downtown to the Backstreet Cafe tomorrow night to blow off some steam with some incredible music by a truly unique performer. Georgie Jessup makes her return to the Star City for two sets at the historic Salem Ave. bar. The show starts around 9pm. There's a $2 cover at the door.

Many of you had the opportunity to hear Georgie when she was the featured entertainer at last summer's Rally For GLBT Equality in Roanoke's Elmwood Park. The rest of you really missed out on some first class entertainment. Come on down 

I'll be meeting up with Georgie in Floyd on Saturday afternoon to check out some potential performance venues. Georgie is psyched about the possibility of performing at FloydFest X next summer. Here's a sample of Georgie's music, with "Road to Trinidad" from her album, "Woman in a Man's Suit". This soulful Native American/Transgender singer/songwriter runs the full musical spectrum. The lady knows how to rock the house!

"Prayers For Bobby" (Video)

Religious-based intolerance on the LGBT community is nothing new. What is relatively new is the increase in anti-gay rhetoric that has escalated over the last four decades that the religious right has infiltrated and taken control of the Republican Party.

What is also new is the gradual understanding in this country about the damage that hate speech disguised as God's love does to a society. Bigotry kills, it's just that simple. While the Maggie Gallaghers and Fred Phelpses of the world may not be the ones throwing the punches or pulling the triggers, they and all of those who think like them and follow them have blood on their hands every time a desperate and lonely queer kid endures another beating from a bully or ends their own life.

The 2009 Lifetime movie, "Prayers for Bobby" is based on the true story of a gay teen who took his own life because of his mother's closed mindedness. Sigourney Weaver stars as a grieving mother who waits until it's too late to confront her own faith-based bigotry.

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A Message from Cyndi Lauper, The Give a Damn Campaign and The Trevor Project (video)

Image via Wikipedia

Long time LGBT rights activist and veteran pop diva, Cyndi Lauper talks about the recent rash of suicides of young gay men.

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"Try a Little Tenderness", from The Commitments soundtrack (music video)

Image via Wikipedia

Here's a clip from one of my all time favorite movies about a rag-tag bunch of Irish kids struggling to raise their expectations and sing their way out of the Dublin slums. From the 1991 film The Commitments, "Try a Little Tenderness". It's well worth the rental, if just for the music.

 Band manager Jimmy Rabbit explains why he wants his band to sing soul music with the best line from the movie, "Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud."

Try A Little Tenderness @ Yahoo! Video

New Wave Wednesday: "Big Country" by Big Country (Music Video)

Yes, kids, it's time to step into the Way-Back Machine again for a trip back to the 80's, to the days when big hair and bad fashion were cool. It's New Wave Wednesday!

This week's music video comes from the Scottish band Big Country, with their 1983 hit "Big Country". Wikipedia describes the highland quintet, calling them "notable for music heavily accented with traditional Scottish folk and martial music styles, as well as for playing and engineering their guitar sound to resemble the bagpipes, fiddles and other traditional folk instruments."

The band had a few hits in the UK, but stateside they only achieved one-hit-wonder status.

Roanoke Equality's Community Film Series Begins Tonight

Image via WikipediaIn the lead up top this weekend's Roanoke Pride celebration, Roanoke Equality is presenting a three-day documentary series at the Shadow Box Cinema on Kirk Ave. The first film in the series will be "For the Bible Tells Me So". The award-winning 2007 documentary explores the way in which the religious right has exploited the Bible to fight against LGBT equality.

The film starts Thursday night at 7 pm. Admission for tonight's show is free. Rev. Joe Cobb of MCC of the Blue Ridge will be on hand for a post-viewing discussion.

Visit The Shaddowbox Cinema website for details about other films in the series, starting times, pricing and other info. 

Actor Steven Collins To Play Uncle Saul's Boyfriend on "Brothers and Sisters"

If you're of a certain age (well, my age) you've seen actor Steven Collins in a variety of rolls over the years on TV and in movies. I personally fell in lust with the TV dad from the long-running series, "Seventh Heaven" when I first saw him as Commander Decker in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" back in 1979 (I told you I was old).

Well it seems one of my dreams is almost about to come true, as Collins returns to series TV playing the love interest of Uncle Saul (played by Ron Rifkin) on ABC's "Brothers and Sisters". I say "almost" because, after all, it's only acting. Collins is not actually gay, so far.

To be truthful, I gave up on watching BS in it's second season. I also come from a large annoying family that is constantly looking for reasons to fight with each other and I found the show just too unrealistic. While it's true that big families are always in each others' business and have no personal boundaries, they never -- and I mean N-E-V-E-R -- apologize for it. There are no heartfelt, teary-eyed scenes where one family member tells the other, "I'm sorry. I should have minded my own business." It just doesn't happen.

On the other hand, BS is to be commended for taking on the subject of gays coming out later in life through Uncle Saul. Most shows with gay characters are so PC about it that they don't really dig down deep enough to come up with a decent, original or realistic story line. There is even talk that Uncle Saul will find out he's HIV positive this season. So kudos to the show's writers and/or producers for bringing one of my favorite silver daddies back to TV. Now if they could just work on making Sally Field a little less whiny and let the characters hold long, nasty, self-destructive grudges that eat away at their souls for years on end, I might watch the show again.

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Viking Zombie Boyfriend, by Jeremy Rizza 07-06-10

Has the internet replaced good old fashioned cruising at the local gay bar? This week Rorik and his work buddy Paco talk about getting back to basics.

Jeremy Rizza writes: "This week starts a BIG Paco story! This year is about getting shy, self-conscious Paco to socialize more, and Rorik is gonna help him do that... Viking style!"

In case you haven't noticed by now, "Viking Zombie Boyfriend" is not your daddy's Sunday Funnies. VZB is a web comic created for adults and talks about adult themes using adult language. Keep that in mind before you pull it up at work. If you find any of the content offensive, well, that's your business. 

On a personal note, a big shout out to my buddy, VZB creator, Jeremy Rizza and his partner Chris, who got engaged over the July 4th weekend. They are such a cute couple. The happy bear pair are planning a ceremony for some time next year in the historic old movie theater where Chris works. Congratulations, guys!

Visit VikingZombieBoyfriend.com for previous strips, character back stories and cool merchandise. Posted with the permission of the artist.

Sundance Channel Celebrates Pride Month (video)

I was reminded last night that the Sundance Channel is once again celebrating Pride month with thirty days of LGBT programming.

Last night we watched the documentary "Pageant", a behind the scenes look at the goings on at the Miss Gay America Pageant. It was very entertaining and insightful. If you've ever attended any of the pageants at The Park in Roanoke, you'll see some familiar, fabulous faces, such as Victoria "Porkchop" Parker. It will be airing throughout the month, so check local listings if you missed it last night.

Other programming highlights for the month include, "For the Bible Tells me So", "Prodigal Sons" and "Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement". All month long Sundance will be airing my new favorite animated short,  "Lizzy the Lezzy". Lizzy is an animated British, lesbian stand-up comic. Here's a sample of her work. (Possibly NSFW, due to language.)

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Viking Zombie Boyfriend, by Jeremy Rizza 3-23-10

"...it’s fun to write Sticky going on a rant.  And I finally got to use the phrase from his character description -- “so over” -- in his dialogue! The character descriptions for some of my secondary characters (like Sticky) had a lot more detail than I had bothered putting in their actual comic strip appearances.  I’m not sure why that is.  I think I had meant to use the supporting characters more than I initially did.  At any rate, this year will be chock-full of character development, so that characters like Sticky will finally seem like they actually merit a description!" -- Jeremy Rizza

Click the image to emgiggen.

Published with the permission of the artist. Visit VikingZombieBoyfriend.com for past strips, character back stories and cool merchandise.

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Hot Video: Tracy Ullman does Rachel Maddow

Thursday night's Rachel Maddow show featured some very hot girl-on-girl as Tracy Ullman showed up to do Rachel... and Ariana Huffington and Barney Frank. The comic chameleon showed up to talk about her new season of "State of the Union" on Showtime, dual citizenship, how she came up with the idea to do Maddow.

IMHO, Tracy's version of our favorite newsbian is very good and so is her Barney Frank, but her Ariana is spot on.

Viking Zombie Boyfriend, by Jeremy Rizza 12-29-09

Occasionally, Jeremy will provide some commentary or explanation about the characters appearing in the strip. When available, I'll include them here.

"It’s Kagami! Hooray! Kagami started out as a one-joke character, but I always liked her positivity.  That’s probably because I’m a reformed pessimist, and I see a lot of myself in her.  I think she has a lot of potential, and so I’ll be developing her quite a bit this year.  Her upbeat nature makes her a good foil for my grumpy daddy-bear, Rorik.  This strip also serves as my official attempt at rehabilitating Cinnamon.  Formerly a joke character who appeared as the punchline of the 11/17/08 strip, Cinnamon’s resemblance to Dill now has a darned good excuse: she’s family! She’s not dating Kagami anymore, but she can still show up in the strip now and then.  The bar is inspired by one I’ve been going to with my kick-ass boyfriend, Chris.  We went there on our first date, last July 4th! Although semi-officially a lesbian bar, there are usually a handful of gay dudes there as well.  It’s laid-back and a lot of fun! (“Cookie”, you know who you are.)" -- Jeremy Rizza


Vistit vikingzombieboyfriend.com for more.