The punchline to this comic probably isn’t going to make a lot of sense if you aren’t a long-time reader of Theater Hopper. It actually references these comics from back in the day.

The Geek Truama Center was always a concept I wanted to explore further. It seems people are always doing stupid things to injure themselves. It stood to reason that geeks – being more devoted – would go to further and more bizarre lengths to do so. Plus, the character of "Mad-Eye" Moody from Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is already so visually striking, it would seem a shame to cover the movie and not mention him. Plus, I thought it sounded really funny to have Tom try to extract his eye with a toilet plunger.

Incidentally, the hospital staff at the Geek Trauma Center is VERY happy that Tom is up to his old monkey shines…

I don’t have a lot to say about the fourth movie in the Harry Potter cannon. I haven’t read any of the books, so I don’t know what to expect. Cami has read them all and says this one is her favorite.

I guess I’ve been doing SOME digging around on-line and it sounds like there were a lot of sub-plots they had to let go. For example, Hermione’s efforts to liberate the indentured house elves was totally cut. I don’t know if that kind of political strike – if you can call it that – would have fit that well into a holiday blockbuster anyway. Oh, well…

A funny thing happened in regard to my esteem for this franchise. The first couple of movies I kind of begrudgingly liked. I say "begrudgingly" because it was erstwhile Home Alone director Chris Columbus who lensed the first two installments. His predeliction is to make movies with kids sacchrine-sweet, but I felt he did an okay job reigning that instinct in.

Relenquishing the directors seat to Alfonso Curon for Harry Potter and The Prisioner of Azkaban, I was very impressed by the overall shift of the mood into darker territory as the children entered their tumultuous teenage years. Hearing that director Mike Newell plans to continue in that direction with Goblet of Fire gives me hope that the franchise will mature alongside the audiences expectations.

Piecing it all together now, I can more clearly see the tonal arc of the films and I’ve actually come to appreciate the first two more.

So, yeah. I’m excited to see this on Friday. There will be more Harry Potter goodness in the coming week here on the site.

Two links to mention:

Don’t forget to sign up for the Theater Hopper map. Don’t worry, we’re not collecting information to spam you with. All it does is plot your position based on your zip code. You don’t have to give your real name and you don’t have to give your address. But feel free to add a fun message or picture.

I stole the idea from DJ over at  Yirmumah! and Joe from Joe Love Crappy Movies took off with his own version. I gotta stay competitive with these guys! If you used our map to judge the readership, you’d be led to believe there are only 80 of you who come back every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I know for a fact things are a little more robust than that. Raise your voice! Let me know you’re out there!

Secondly, Threadless is having a $10 on a large variety of their designs. You might remember that I designed a shirt for sale there called "Ask Me How I Became A Pirate." It’s out of stock at the moment – or at least at the time I wrote this message. But there are several other designs to choose from and ten bucks is a steal for some of these original tees.

If you plan on buying any, just be sure to use this link when you do:

http://www.threadless.com/?streetteam=Tom%20Brazelton

I get referral points for everyone one of you I send over there who buys a shirt. I wouldn’t mind stocking up on a few items myself this time around!

Talk to you all soon!