Archive for March, 2005
21 items.
So in case you’re not familiar with The Razzies, it’s essentially the anti-Oscars. Every year they announce their nominees for Worst Actor, Worst Movie and so on the day before the Oscars make their announcements and, in turn, hand out their awards the day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hand out theirs
It’s kind of a hack thing to do because it’s totally leeching off something larger and serves no greater purpose other than to be mean-spirited. Maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me, but if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Sure, there are a lot of crap movies out there, but why go to the effort and expense of pointing it out? Especially when movie critics do most of the work for you? It’s an attention getting scheme, nothing more.
That’s why it’s kind of a shock that erstwhile A-level talent like Halle Berry would grace the proceedings with an appearance to pick up her Worst Actress award for her performance in Catwoman last year.
It sounds to me like her publicist thought it would be a good idea for Halle to pretend to be humble for 15 minutes in an act of contrition for her crimes again cinema. Berry herself alludes to as such when she was quoted as saying “When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there’s no way you could be a good winner.” But I don’t know. The whole idea just seems really forced, kind of staged and very insincere.
I can’t attribute the quote I gave Halle directly in the third panel of today’s comic, but the fact remains true
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I’m trying to figure out the best way to frame my commentary about today’s comic. I’m aware that it’s slightly obtuse in it’s delivery.
So in the meantime, while I’m trying to figure that out – Why don’t you vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix. The top 10 list recently reset and I hate to see the strip out of contention.
As a reward, you’ll be treated to one of the weirdest/cutest incentive sketches I’ve ever drawn! Oh, and I have a new banner up over at buzz. If the comic gets into the top 10, you’ll get to see it.
Thanks, y’all!
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Mar04
You know, I had planned to come in here Friday morning to post a little extra commentary and totally spaced it off. It’s now early Friday evening and I feel like a total moron.
Indulge me, won’t you, as I fill in some copy before I go out with my wife for a riotous night of pizza, beer and bowling?
I’ll be up front and admit that, yeah – Be Cool looked kind of good to me. Of course, the reviews coming back haven’t been very kind. I guess I don’t know why that surprises me. As much as I often enjoy watch John Travolta smear his charm across the screen, he’s been in a steady decline for a while now.
I think I was probably less interested in watching Travolta this time around than I was at watching some of the secondary characters. Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Harvey Keitel, Steven Tyler…
*THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN JANUARY 2009*
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Ten points to the first person who guesses the movie that today’s comic title is referencing.
Before I commence with the blogging, I gotta warn you, today’s buzzComix incentive sketch is probably the most disturbing thing you’ve seen from me in a while. If you don’t want to start your Monday on a sour note, DON’T CLICK THIS LINK!
I think today’s estrogen-inspired comic is funnier to me considering that Jared and I had a genuine guys-night-out on Saturday. We went to see a regional hockey game, had a whole lot of beer, then went to a sports bar and had a whole lot more beer and didn’t go home until close to 2 in the morning. So monly!
It’s sweet when the wives let us get away for a while…
Big burly action guys doing soft and fuzzy family comedies is nothing new. Schwarzenegger did it first with Kindergarten Cop. Stallone followed suit with a lesser degree with Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. Heck, even old-school action guy Burt Reynolds did Cop and A Half. So I guess it should be no surprise when action guys with a sagging career like Vin Diesel follow the same formula.
For my money, Vin should stick to doing voice-overs for giant robots.
And by the way, what narcotic was America collectively under the spell of to give The Pacifier a $30 million opening weekend? Geeze, people!
Something that I got a big kick out of was seeing Aikida back in action. I don’t know where Fenris learned his new coloring technique, but I want to steal a page from that book!
Also, I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Bernie over at Alien Loves Predator who recently announced that he and his wife will be having twins! Congrats, Bernie!
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In the THorum, I have a friend who posts under the handle “Beefy”. Beefy is a good guy. Beefy is musically talented. Beefy has a website. Beefy has just released an album.
It’s called “The Whitesican EP” and it’s available – FOR FREE – on Beefy’s site, right here.
Beefy wants you to know that while you can download 8 songs for free (!!!), he appreciates donations. If you donate $5, you get a 9th song added to your queue, and you get that warm ember glowing in your soul that says, “Hey, you just supported someone’s art. Good for you.”
If you’re fans at all of Albino Blacksheep, you might have seen a Flash version of “Whitesican” appears on the site. I’ll tell you right now that I have the MP3 version of this song as well as the others on my iPod right now. Another stand-out is “David’s Sister”
Why don’t you check out Beefy’s album and give it a download?
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Mar09
Before I started working on today’s strip, buzzComix was apparently having some kind of server glitch. As a result, I thought I didn’t have to prepare an incentive sketch for you guys to check out by voting for Theater Hopper.
Right before I posted today’s comic, it looks like the site came back up, which left me scrambling for something for you guys to check out.
Whoops!
Anyway, I didn’t want to post this image because I didn’t want to jinx it, but my back was against the wall. It’s a t-shirt design I did for a company called OMG Clothing. It’s called “Ask Me How I Became a Pirate” and it’s pretty straight forward. If you want the whole story behind how I was commissioned for the design, you can read all about it in the THorum, here.
Anyway, vote for TH at buzzComix if you want to check it out.
As far as the comic goes – Yes, there is a rumor circulating that Quentin Tarantino might direct the next installment in the Friday the 13th franchise. This after plans for the oft-discussed Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash crossover movie fell through. Apparently Sam Raimi wanted to make his own Evil Dead sequel. Who knew he had time to throw Bruce Campbell a bone between Spider-Man movies?
New Line studio executives are taking preventive measures not to get the horror fanboys too worked up just yet. They confess to taking a meeting with Tarantino, but it hasn’t moved beyond the talking stage.
Still, this is the furthest Tarantino has gotten promoting a cockamamie franchise reboot through the media thus far. His lobbying to direct the next James Bond picture Casino Royale got the thumbs up from Pierce Brosnan before being shot down by producers.
What’s my take on the whole affair? At first glance, it would seem that Tarantino was wildly grasping at straws and potentially putting his career in jeopardy – Especially after the critical success of Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2.
But then you let the idea marinate for a while, and it starts to sound okay to you. I mean, honestly – Why not? How cool would it be if all sorts of A-list directors started helming Z-level franchises? Personally, I can’t wait to see what Spielberg would do with Hellraiser! He’d probably turn pinhead into a tortured soul with childhood abandonment issues and who regressed into his own world to escape. Of course, that world involves torture and S&M outfits, but you have to stay true to the source material…
I think ever since Pulp Fiction cracked the field wide open for indie fare to make it to a mainstream audience, Tarantino has been riding a wave of publicity where-in he casts himself as the maverick Hollywood outsider. For him, no suggestion is too “out there”. And, who knows? – Some studio might decide to take a chance on his offbeat ideas. After all, “This was the mind that created Pulp Fiction,” the might think to themselves.
Still, I believe it’s only a matter of time before the post-Pulp Fiction blank check that was handed over to Tarantino creatively will expire if he continues to whore himself out to whatever fanboy flight of fancy flutters into his frame.
It’ll be interesting to see where this one goes.
More blogging later today. I want to welcome back an old friend that’s returned to the fold…
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Something I think everyone needs to know about is that Brian Carroll has returned to his web comic roots with a brand new Instant Classic story. It’s called “Brothers Donathan” and it takes place one year after the events of the Prologue and about four years before the events to take place in the “Union Forever” storyline Carroll has yet to share with us.
Brian’s been kind of having a rough time of things lately, so it’s good to see him pouring his energy into his art. I’ve always enjoyed his style and know for a fact he can run circles around the majority of web comic writers out there when it comes to plot and characterization.
All you have to do is look at the home page of the Instant Classic web site to know that Brian has some pretty lofty, long-term ambitions. There is a story with a far-reaching scope just waiting to be told. You can tell he’s thought it all out. I wish I could plan that well in advance.
Anyway, welcome back, Brian Carroll. The movie-themed web comic genre is a little less lonesome with you in it.
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Most kids grow up totally enamored by the concept of robots. Not Tom. He’s convinced they’re out to destroy us. His mind has been poisoned by one too many bad sci-fi movies.
I was trying to think of some other kids movies with cuddly robots, but the first that came to mind were Short Circuit and The Iron Giant. Both do a very good job of depicting the lead… appliances – as relatable, gentle characters. Then it’s ultimately revealed that both of their existences were to be an unstoppable killing machine and that whole notion of “A robot you can trust!” gets thrown out the window.
I’m sure I’m forgetting literally DOZENS of other movies where the robots are helpful, but it seems to me the scales tip in favor of my “CRUSH PUNY HU-MANS!” theory. I’m sure Red Robot would probably agree.
I was kind of bummed to see that Theater Hopper dropped a couple of spots over at buzzComix. We were at number two for a while, now we’re down to number 5. I can’t begrudge getting beat out by Alien Loves Predator, but it would be cool if we could place a little higher on the list.
If you vote for Theater Hopper, remember that you get to see an exclusive incentive sketch! I really liked the way today’s turned out. It’s kind of violent, but it’s all in good fun. Check it out!
Regarding the movie Robots, I have to admit – I’m not that excited to see it. I think it’s Robin Williams that’s keeping me away. The way the trailers are cut, you’re lead to believe it’ll be 90 minutes of Robin Williams screaming the whole time.
Hey, I saw Aladdin back in 1992 and when he played The Genie, it was really clever. Why do the same thing twice? You’re not going to top it. The fact that his character is named “Fender” only serves to remind me of Futurama’s “Bender”. And when I start thinking about Bender, I start thinking about how much MORE I would rather be watching that.
Seriously, if my arm got sliced off during an episode of Futurama, I would wait to go to the hospital until the show was over first. I don’t care if I’ve seen it a dozen times.
When I learned Ewan McGregor was the lead voice actor in the movie, I was forced to take pause and re-assess my opinion of him. I mean, I’m sure he did it for his kids, but an actor of his talents couldn’t have held out a little longer for Pixar?
Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh. After all, this is the same man who acted out FULL SCENES against a nonexistent, digital Stephen Fetchit.
The only reason I would go to see Robots is because a good friend of the site (and creator of current advertised site Silent Kimbly) Ryan Sias had a hand in creating it. Apparently he wrote a few jokes for the movie, which he has detailed on his site. So, if for some reason the dogs are unable to keep you away from Robots this weekend, visit Ryan’s site first and become familiar with the scenes he describes. When the flash across the screen, you can show “I KNOW THE GUY WHO WROTE THAT JOKE!” I know it would make Ryan happy.
Something that’s made ME really happy is reserving my hotel room for the Kansas City Planet Comicon comic book convention on April 2 and 3. I made it official today. No backing out now!
Of course, why would I want to back out when I’m sharing a booth with my good buddies Zach and Mitch? We’ll all be crammed together at one table promoting Theater Hopper, Joe and Monkey and Nothing Nice to Say, respectively. I’m really looking forward to it.
Something fun that you guys might not know, but real-life Jared is also coming with me on this trip. He’ll be taking footage of our journey in hopes that we can compile it along with footage we plan to take at other conventions throughout the year for A DOCUMENTARY we’re making! Pretty exciting, huh? We’re taking footage from Planet Comicon as well as Wizard World Chicago in August and the Minneapolis FallCon in October. We hope to have the documentary edited and on DVD by Christmas. If you stop by our booth in Kansas City or our other two stops, there’s a good chance you’ll be in the movie! Something to look forward to!
By the way, did you know that Jerry over at Secret of Mana Theater was trying to organize a blockade of web comics in Artist Alley for Wizard World Chicago? Yeah, he’s thinking that we can all request to sit by each other when we submit our forms so that way we can present a unified front! I think it’s a great idea – a real show of solidarity. Plus, I think it will send the message home that we’re ONLINE comics, not print comics. Which, admittedly, people aren’t expecting when they go to one of these things. I remember last year telling people the comic was online and they were like, “Really? Wow, man! That’s wild!” It’s humbling to be confronted with the fact that our medium is still relatively young.
Anyway, that about does it for now. I hope all of you have a great weekend! Support Ryan Sias – Go see Robots!
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* THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN 2009 *
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Talking with the good people in the THorum inspired me to make a t-shirt based off of Friday’s robot comic. I thought I would share it with everyone here, in a more visible place.
I want to know what you think. Send me a e-mail and tell me if this is something you would buy.
Don’t underestimate the weight your voice carries in this matter. I am so on the fence when it comes to introducing new merchandise that one negative comment could keep me from doing it altogether.
But on the other hand, I feel the itch to start selling shirts again (including the spoiler shirt and professional movie goer shirt) and when they come back, I want to give you guys another option.
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