If you guys are wondering what's up with today's strip, then I invite you to take a trip in The Wayback Machine to precisely a week ago to check out where this story arc began. All caught up? Good!

Today's strip reintroduces a long-lost fan favorite character - Scurvy Joe: the local transient in Tom and Jared's neighborhood. He helped scare the pimp juice out of Tom in this comic from earlier in the year.

I don't know why I'm dusting off these old characters. First Goth Jared. Now Scurvy Joe. It must be a bug I've caught from all those year-end, top 10 list programs I've been seeing so much of on TV.

Went to see Ocean's Twelve on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. I think my expectations were low because advance reviews were saying, while fun, the movie carries little heft.

While essentially true, you'll still have a damn good time in this movie. It's just good entertainment, even if it doesn't add up to much.

Fans who loved the heist aspect of Ocean's Eleven will probably be disappointed here. The majority of the crew spends the movie in a European prison. Bernie Mac is almost completely wasted as he's one of the first to get pinched.

In any case, it's less about the heist and the "How'd they DO that?!" and more about the twists and turns. The fake-outs. The red herrings. A few of them you can see coming a mile away. Actually, after the fact, they all seem pretty obvious. But the movie zips along at such a steady clip, you feel like you're two steps behind the crooks.

Julie Roberts still annoys as the most gaunt-looking pregnant woman in film history, but props to Catherine Zeta-Jones. She gives a very confident performance and one of her least condescending in years. It's almost enough to make me forget those T-Mobile advertisements and rekindle the same kind of interest she sparked with her turn in The Mask of Zorro so many years ago.

...almost.

Those of you who ordered t-shirts, baby doll tees or hoodies the last few weeks will be happy to know that I've placed the order with the printer. No E.T.A. on when I'll receive them, but once I know, you'll know. Check this space for updates. Previous experience indicates it could be anywhere between two to three weeks before they're in your hot, little hands. So nothing by Christmas, sorry. Then again, I never promised that, did I? ;-D

If you missed the boat on this last round of orders, I'm taking pre-orders for a whole other batch. Everything we sell, you can find in the store.

One last bit of fun. I know I promised not to bug you guys about it, but Theater Hopper has been hovering around number 11 on the buzzComix list for about a week now and I've playfully laid down the gauntlet to Anime Arcadia that I will usurp their position on the list. We're about 60 votes away from achieving that goal, so if you want to lend a hand, it would be pretty cool. Just to say we could do it.

More later. Sleep now.