Archive for October, 2005
24 items.
Tom asks the question that all intellectuals have sought the answer to for generations.
I recently switched out the style on my incentive sketches so that they actually looked more like sketches. Novel idea, I know. But things were starting to get a little too polished. Plus, I had a few requests in the THorum to leave the pencil lines in. Some people were curious as to my technique. Yup. Really pulling back the veil here. Check it out, if you’re interested.
I wanted today’s comic to be more of a commentary on the lack of any quality film this year akin to the message delivered last Wednesday. Instead it turned into a larger commentary on media at-large.
The monkey smoking on "tee-vee" was literally something I was watching as I drew the strip last night. Cami had America’s Funniest Home Videos on in the background (now in it’s 16th season!) I failed to see the humor in a many training a monkey to grip a cigarette and pursing it between its lips. Yet the canned laughter coming from the audience seemed to find it uproarious!
I dunno. Things are getting better. Cami and I are actually looking at the docket of films to be released this week and are excited again. In Her Shoes is very much at the top of our list. Waiting… and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit seem like fun matine diversions. Big weekend ahead. We’re both chomping at the bit to see Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown on the 14th.
We didn’t get a chance to see A History of Violence, which I am still pressing for. But both of us have our radar up for Capote, which I hear delivers a phenomenal performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Gotta see that before it slides out of the art houses.
I will claim a major victory this weekend in that I got Cami to watch Citizen Kane on Friday night. I know it was a successful initiative when she was talking about it two days later. She even brought it up to her parents when we had lunch with them today!
I know it sounds like hyperbole to categorize Citizen Kane as the best movie ever. Certainly enough critics have adorned it with that title. But if you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself. Admire the direction and how almost every movie since then has stolen from it. If you enjoy the film and dig deeper, it’s history is fascinating.
For example, most people know that Orson Welles was taking aim at media mogul William Randolph Hearst by mirroring his life as a scoundrel. Did you know that Hearst banned any review of the film in any of his papers and that blacklisting remained in effect until the 1970’s until finally the Los Angeles Times reviewed it?
Did you know at the time of its release in 1940, the film was a commercial and critical flop. Even when its name was read at that year’s Academy Awards, it was booed by the audience. It wasn’t until it was re-released 9 years later in 1950 that it began to gain critical acclaim.
Appreciate some of the finer nuances of the direction like how all the important characters are shot from low angles to give them a looming presence and how all the secondary characters are shot from up high to make them look diminished.
Also note the ceilings on most of the sets. This was totally unheard of in the 1940’s when most movies were filmed on sound stages. Or how Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland pioneered "deep focus", a technique that keeps every object in the foreground, center, and background in simultaneous focus.
It’s a watershed film in every sense of the word. Go rent it. Hell – BUY it now.
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Eagle-eyed regulars to the site will have noticed that I’m adjusting a few things in the space between the comic and the blog.
Those whose senses are keener will notice that I have forgone my membership with Dayfree Press and joined forces with the good people at Boxcar Comics.
If you tend to make the rounds in web comics circles, this is already old news. I just made the switch today and already word has traveled fast. Feels like I’m playing catch-up to my own decisions. It’s flatting, I suppose. It means you guys are still interested.
>Why the big move? It’s nothing against Dayfree. I’ve been with those guys since the beginning and I think they are all wonderful, creative, hard-working people. I have learned from them in a myriad of ways. How to communicate with you guys better, for example. How to set up a store. How to set up a forum. What resources to explore. Basically every question I ever had about publishing on-line, odds were strong that someone over there had the answer to your problem.
Boxcar offers a very similar community environment, similar traffic-sharing opportunities and support. What makes this group more appealing when they’ve been around less than 6 months versus Dayfree which has been around for two years?
It wasn’t an easy decision, I can tell you that. I knew about Boxcar from the very beginning. Zach from Joe and Monkey would talk to me about it all the time. I kept it at arm’s-length because nothing had materialized yet and I didn’t like the idea of turning my back on the creators at Dayfree.
But as the months progressed and things took shape, I knew it was a matter of time before I switched sides. It’s not because Boxcar was able to assemble a stronger roster of comics. Not that at all. In fact, I think both Dayfree and Boxcar are equally strong. What turned the tide was really quite simple.
After nearly three and a half years of making this web comic, I wouldn’t have gotten twice as far without friends. Zach from Joe and Monkey, Mitch from Nothing Nice to Say and Joe Dunn from The Coffee Achievers. These are all guys I know personally. We’ve been to comic book conventions together. Shared meals and had drinks. Laughed our asses off and told stories. Some of them I’ve been e-mailing since we started this crazy racket. We came up together. They’re close friends. People I never thought I would meet in my lifetime and they’re some of the most sincere confidants one could wish for. I tore me up to see these guys ∗over here∗ and there I was ∗over there∗
So I had to make the switch.
My leaving Dayfree is not and indicator of their quality. I have come to know and love each of the comics that are stabled there and plan to continue supporting them through words and deeds. Like I said before, they all do great work. I plan to keep reading every one of their comics.
But sometimes opportunity knocks and you have to answer.
Godspeed to Dayfree. Thanks for all you’ve done.
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While I was doing today’s comic I kept thinking about how cool it would be if I could make a little stop-motion animated film for real and post it on the site.
Then I realized I don’t have a camera that I can use to capture images one frame at a time or a program to string them altogether. Hell, I don’t even have clay!
But here’s the next best thing. I think you guys will get a little kick out of it.
I actually think Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit looks really good and I’m kind of amped to see it this weekend. I don’t know where we’re going to squeeze it in between In Her Shoes and Waiting…, but I’ve really enjoyed the previous Wallace & Grommit adventures (Academy Award winning adventures, I might add!) I also really liked Chicken Run when that came out a few years ago. Really anything that Aardman Studios puts out has just this wonderful spirit to it that just tickles me. Maybe because it’s a British important and this kind of thing just seems so… I dunno – quaint in their hands.
I don’t have a lot of insight about the film other than I’m sure it will be an impressive technical accomplishment and I’ve pretty much convinced myself that I’ll have a great time sight unseen.
Still messing around with the site layout in the aftermath of the Dayfree-to-Boxcar switcheroo (which is getting all kinds of press in our circles, much to my surprise). You’ll see the mailing list form is kind of competing with the Webcomics List information. If you guys have any design suggestions, I’m all ears. Just thought I would let you know I’m in a receptive mood.
That’s it for now. Happy Wednesday!
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Does anyone know how to reduce the height of a form input field? Maybe through cascading style sheets or other means? The default is too high and I need to squeeze everything down in the little mailing list section to a height of 75 pixels.
E-mail me if you have the answer.
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Oct07
Tom is all man, baby. Borderline offensively so!
I was going to do a comic today about the new Ryan Reynolds movie Wating… but the news of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes pregnancy was too good to pass out. Odd, isn’t it that Tom and Cami can only seemingly have discussion about Tom-Kat’s love life in public?
That aside, I know that I’m kind of skirting the line of good taste with today’s comic, but felt the need to shake things up a little bit.
I also want to make it clear that today’s comic is not a swipe against homosexuals. So it’s understood, I do not consider the relationships of consenting adults any of my business.
What today’s comic is really about is nothing more than outrageous reactions based on rumors. The whole "Tom Cruise is gay" thing isn’t anything new. It’s been floating around Hollywood for years. Don’t ask me why.
I can see why maybe Cruise was defensive to the insinuation back in the 80’s when the spectre of AIDS was looming about. After Rock Hudson died, people weren’t very sympathetic to gay people in the public spotlight.
And even though I think we live in (slightly) more enlightened times, I can kind of understand why Cruise would take to suing each and every person or publication that says he’s gay because now that the lie has gotten so big, coming out of the closet now would significantly damage his reputation as an action star. Plus any good will he’s racked up with audiences over the years.
For the record, I don’t even know if he ∗IS∗ gay. Really, it’s not my business. But ever since that awkward "love" scene he did with his then wife Nicole Kidman in 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut and there were rumors Cruise had to hire a coach to learn how to be passionate on screen with his real-life spouse, the din of speculation is getting louder and louder. All the suing he did didn’t help, either.
Fast forward to the middle of the first decade in the 21st century and he’s engaged to an actress 16 years his junior after 4 months of courtship. She now pregnant with his child – something not accomplished with Kidman as the two children from that relationship are adopted – and the delivery date coinciding with the release of Mission Impossible III on May 17, 2006… Well, excuse me if it all looks a little suspicious.
Maybe it’s just a run-of-the-mill string of publicity stunts. Maybe it has nothing to do with Cruise being gay or not gay. Honestly, it doesn’t make any difference to me. I wouldn’t care if Cruise were gay any more than if you were gay or my cousin were gay.
What I ∗don’t∗ like is the idea that being labeled "gay" to Cruise is as defamitory as being called a murderer or a kidnapper. His proclivity to sue represents the notion that there is something inherently wrong with homosexuality which I do not agree with.
Don’t bother arguing me on this point. With all sincerity, you could talk to me until you’re blue in the face about why homosexuality is wrong or why racism or sexism or ageism are acceptable modes of thinking and I would do my best to listen and to understand where you’re coming from. But no amount of conviction on your part would get me to change my mind about the immutable, simple human rights that I believe everyone should be afforded. You have your beliefes, I have mine. We don’t have to be on the same page, but we can at least respect each other’s ability to come to our own conclusions.
This has been an old-school rant brought to you by the letter "R." I hope you enjoyed it. If you have thoughts about the controversy or lack thereof, please take it into the THorum rather than e-mail me. I’m putting some pretty strong views out in public and would prefer the chance to address them publicly should the need arise.
Come back later today for some important news about the future of the Theater Hopper store.
Thanx.
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So you know, today’s comic is also not supposed to be any kind of commentary about myself and Cami not having kids in real life.
Since there are no kids in the comic, I thought this would be a funny, sarcastic way to address that. It’s not indicative of anything going on in our personal lives.
I ran today’s punchline past Cami first and she’s cool with it. Where kids fit into our future is something we’ve discussed and are secure with. No lame-ass Tom Cruise rumor is going to change that!
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Okay, I mentioned in the earlier rant-heavy blog that there was some important news regarding the store. No reason to beat around the bush, so here it is:
At midnight Monday, October 31 I will remove t-shirts, hoodies and baby doll tees from the store. At which time "Truman in a Purse," "Under Construction" and "Emerging" will be discontinued, never to be printed again. Sales on the remaining designs will be suspended for an undetermined amount of time. When these areas of the store are re-opened, the remaining shirts might end up redesigned, so if you want a shirt in this style, now is the time to buy. Sales of posters, buttons, and the DVD will continue during this time.
The motivation for this is two fold. The first reason is because I am currently behind on fulfilling orders. Of the items I have in stock, everything has been sent out. However, there are still many orders left over where I do not have the right size in the right design or what have you.
I am in the situation where I have these several orders left over, but not enough to warrant a complete restock from the printer. It is my hope that with this final push I will accumulate enough orders to raise my position so I can meet the printer’s minimum order requirements.
The second reason is because I want to burn through what inventory I have left and start fresh with the store. That means retiring some designs and coming out with new ones. So if you ever wanted "Truman in a Purse," you have until October 31 to order it. After that, it will be gone forever.
I realise that there are many of you who are perhaps younger and don’t have access to PayPal or a credit card. If that is the case, please send me an e-mail and we can discuss alternate methods of payment. I’m fairly receptive to whatever works for you and want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to get the shirt they want.
That’s pretty much the long and short of it. Hopefully this will generate some interest and we can get these shirts out the door!
As always, thanks for your support. I never expected that I would be able to sell t-shirts that featured my ideas or my artwork and it has been a certain joy to bring this to you.
Best wishes, all.
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It’s this kind of crazed feminine logic that can put weaker men in a tailspin!
I know today’s comic isn’t gut-busting hilarious, but they can’t call be Showtime at the Apollo.
Personally, I find it ∗very∗ funny because it – in fact – happens to be very true.
Cami was more than excited about seeing In Her Shoes for about the last week or so. I don’t know what caught her eye about it, exactly. Maybe an errant commercial flickered across the screen during a Lifetime Intimate Portrait.
And if that sounds slightly condescending, well… I point the finger at Lifetime Intimate Portrait. They started it.
At any rate, I wasn’t particularly bothered by the idea of seeing the movie for two reasons:
1. It was directed by Curtis Hanson. He’s the same guy that made one of my all-time favorite movies L.A. Confidential and the equally enjoyable Wonder Boys. He also lensed 8 Mile for those of you of the hip-hop persuasion.
2. Jeffery Wells – a critic and columnist I tend to take pretty seriously… my "guardo camino" (as it were) in all matters tending to film – endorsed this movie up and down. I’ve come to know Welles as a highly cynical chap, so if he was able to find something life affirming among the "chick flick" trappings, there must be hope.
Then, on Friday, Cami read a pretty negative review by Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum and that was it. The movie was off our radar.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to swap it out with Wallace & Gromit which I feel kind of badly about. But maybe we can see it Wednesday night.
Wait. Oh, no. Shoot. Can’t do that. Lost is on Wednesday night and we can’t leave the house.
Oh, well. At any rate, I got my Curtis Hanson fix in this weekend and watched L.A. Confidential on my own. Amazing how well the film holds up. Russell Crowe is still tolerable! Can you believe that film is almost 10 years old? Either I know the film so well it feels like yesterday, or I’m seriously dipping into "Old Man" territory.
Or, perhaps there hasn’t been anything WORTH remembering in the last 10 years? I like to believe it’s the latter.
As a sidebar, I also sat down to watch Raging Bull with Cami this weekend. No real reason motivated that choice, but it felt good to see it again. Felt like we accomplished something. Cami had never seen the film before and say afterwords that while she enjoyed it, she probably didn’t want to watch it again any time soon. Jake LaMotta is just a really unlikeable guy.
But I’m thinking there will come a time she’ll want to watch it again soon. She used to not like Goodfellas, but now it’s become one of those movies to her where, if it’s on, you have to stop what you’re doing and watch it.
I rib Cami about the chick-flick stuff, but she has good taste. Don’t doubt it. Her and chick-flicks are like me and super-hero movies. Something to get excited about, but not the barometer for our taste in cinema.
If you aren’t already aware, I’m going to stop selling t-shirts, hoodies and baby doll tees on October 31. It’s a semi-permanent solution to a problem I’ve had for a while. I’ll sell these items again someday, I’m just not sure when. So if you’ve been on the fence about buying any of these designs, now is the time to do it. Actually, a handful of them are going to be retired, so you should really look into it if you’re interested.
There’s a much lengthier blog about the subject that I posted on Friday. Here’s a handy link for reference. Scroll down for all the details.
Thanks to everyone for their support.
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Do you guys remember last Wednesday’s comic where I was talking about Wallace & Gromit and how cool it would have been if I could have made a short stop-motion animation film for you guys to enjoy?
Well, I didn’t have the resources at my disposal, but I’m lucky to have well-connected and creative friends.
After reading my blog on Wednesday, my good buddy Jared took it upon himself to create his own stop-motion picture for you guys and it’s totally awesome. I didn’t ask him to do it. He just had the itch to do something really cool for you guys.
It must be seen to be believed. Ladies and gentlemen, "A Clay In The Life" by Jared Brinkmeyer.
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Due to the technical difficulties that prevented me from doing a strip on Wednesday, I haven’t really picked up a pencil since completing Monday’s strip. I feel a little rusty! Remember kids, that’s why it’s important to draw every day.
Anyway, feeling like I tried to put a lot into today’s comic and I have stayed up well past my bed time, this won’t be much of a blog. Just take heart in the fact that I have my new 19" flat screen LCD Samsung monitor and I love it. I love it enough to post pictures of it on the internet for you to ogle at:
I always get really self-conscious drawing celebrities. You’d think for a comic about movies and pop-culture, I would have a more refined sense of caricature. Nope, not really. I maintain that pretty much all of my character designs are the same, I just give them different haircuts.
I ∗do∗ think my rendition of Cameron Crowe turned out pretty well. But does that play to anyone who isn’t a cinephile? I mean, how familiar is the general population with the physically appearance of a director? I mean if he isn’t Spielberg, Scorsese or Hitchcock?
At any rate, I’ll be back later with a more thorough blog. In the meantime, why don’t you vote for Theater Hopper at Webcomics List to see my sketch of Legolas from The Lord of the Rings trilogy? I think that one came out pretty nice. Legolas of course being the filter through which I view all of Orlando Bloom’s subsequent roles.
Enjoy!
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