Posts Tagged ‘anniversary’

9 items.

AT LOVE’S REQUEST

by Tom on March 19, 2010 at 12:00 am
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(33 votes, average: 8.88 out of 10)
announcement, theater, spit, garbage, booing, anniversary, wedding

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably caught my announcement yesterday about celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary with Cami. And, if you didn't, well... you are now!

It's difficult for me to talk about the anniversary without sounding like I'm bragging or too proud. But, darn it... I'm proud! 10 years is a big deal and worth celebrating. I think it's cool that I'm able to share it with so many people.

Cami and I have actually been together a lot longer than 10 years. The wedding anniversary is just the celebration of a legal document. In fact, we've been together for 15 years - almost half our lives. We were high school sweethearts and we married 5 years to the day of our first date. I don't know about you, but I think that's cool.

But, of course, I love it when dates and stuff like that line up neatly. I think it's awesome that Cami and I got married in 2000. Not only because of symbolism of starting a new life together in a new millennium. But it means I can always do some simple math if I ever forget how many years we've been together when I'm old and senile. "Lessee... It's 2056 and we were married in 2000... So that means we've been married... 56 YEARS!"

I'm telling you, fellas, it's a bulletproof plan. Maybe I'm a closeted numerologist, or something. More likely, I suck at math and need all the help I can get!

To celebrate our anniversary last night, Cami and I recruited my parents to babysit Henry and Pearl and we had a very nice meal at a restaurant we love. We had the best time just talking, eating and sharing a bottle of wine. Afterwords, we ran an errand at Target and got a car wash. We joked about it. "What did you do on your 10th wedding anniversary?" "Oh, we got a car wash."

We we were younger, we used to fantasize about our 10th wedding anniversary. We vaguely planned to go to Hawaii to celebrate. Of course, we had kids and I lost my job last summer. Then our oven crapped out on us last month, so we decided to buy a new oven and count that as our anniversary present for each other.

It sounds unglamorous on paper, but it's not. It's representational of how we've built a life together, how sometimes plans change and you go with the flow as best you can. How you grow, adjust and learn. If you're lucky and you've picked the right person, hard times are never really hard. And you become a better person because you have someone to share these things with.

Cami makes me a better person and I'm having a blast being married to her.

Happy 10th anniversary, Cami. Here's to 10 more... and 10 more after that... and 10 more after that.

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DON’T GET CARRIED AWAY

by Tom on November 9, 2009 at 12:00 am
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(34 votes, average: 8.44 out of 10)
Up, Pixar, DVD, celebrate, birthday, anniversary, balloons

I don't know that I have anything specific to say about Monday's comic except that there is a genuine level of excitement for Pixar releases that is mutual between Cami and I in our household. We look forward to them every year - both in the theaters and on DVD. We were fortunate enough to get an extra helping of Pixar a couple of weeks ago when Toy Story was back in theaters. It was kind of like Christmas in July at our house.

Up comes out on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow and I'm excited to talk about it. I have to hold back, however, because I'm reviewing a copy sent to me last week that will be posted to the site on Tuesday.

Without getting too specific, the Blu-ray looks phenomenal and the bonus material is very insightful. I always felt like co-writers/directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson had built layers into Up - some that were obvious and some that were not. So it's very interesting to watch the behind-the-scenes documentaries and the character development that occurred.

There is an excellent alternate scene/animatic called "Married Life" that plays out in great conceptual detail an altogether different montage events in the marriage between Carl Fredricksen and his beloved wife Ellie. That montage delivers an emotional sucker punch in the finished movie and I am pleased to report that even the alternate montage still packs a wallop.

I think it's a testament to the storytelling going on her that allows you to become so invested in these characters early on, without a word of dialogue spoken. Even when the details are changed, it's still fantastic.

We might talk a little bit about Up on tonight's The Triple Feature - I don't know.

I know Joe saw both A Christmas Carol and The Box, so hopefully he has some insights on those two movies that he'd like to share. Otherwise, it's a bit of a crapshoot!

I hope you'll join us as we record the show live, tonight at 9:00 PM over at Talkshoe. Fell free to submit any questions or suggestions for topics of discussion to group@thetriplefeature.com. You can also communicate with us through our Facebook page.

See you later!

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7 YEARS AND 1,000 COMICS

by Tom on August 5, 2009 at 12:00 am
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(28 votes, average: 8.39 out of 10)
anniversary, milestone, balloon, photo, economy, celebration

I thought black was supposed to be slimming. Dear Lord, someone remind me never to insert myself into my own comic ever again! I looked so much better when I pulled this stunt before back in 2004.

I wasn't planning on doing anything special for Theater Hopper's 7th anniversary. But when I found out that I had crossed the 1,000 comic milestone, I thought it made sense to announce both at the same time.

I had actually figured out that I had reached the milestone almost serendipitously. Back when the archive database was being managed by PHP, I knew exactly how many comics were in the archive. It even went so far as to exclude guest comics, movie reviews and other "tagged" entries from the complete tally.

However, since moving the site into WordPress, I kind of lost track of how many comics there actually are on the site. I guess they don't make a plugin for that.

Basically, I was sitting at my computer last week thinking about this and decided to do something about it. So I downloaded all of the comics in the archive and cherry picked all of the guest strips, movies reviews and other non-comic graphic entries from the folder.

Lo and behold, it was actually last Wednesday's comic was our 1,000th! Since there was nothing particularly special about that comic, I decided to bide my time a little bit and come 'atcha with a proper acknowledgment.

And here we are!

I think you guys know what is coming next. I don't mean to preface that in a way that makes it sound trite, but what I'm about to say next I say a lot. Because it's true.

I simply couldn't do this comic without you. I'm amazed that anyone is still interested in what I'm doing 7 years and 1,000 comics later. Some of you have been with me since the beginning. Some of you are just learning about Theater Hopper. It doesn't matter if you've read every comic in the archive or just a handful. Every, single one of you have contributed to the success of Theater Hopper and I thank you for it. You are amazing.

If you have it in your heart, I'd really like to raise the roof on crossing this milestone and promoting it as far and wide into the internet as possible.

Please let as many people as possible know about Theater Hopper's anniversary and 1,000th comic. Use Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg... whatever you use and spread the word.

Let the guys at Fleen and Comixpedia know what's going on. Say something about it in your LiveJournal or in a forum you visit. Anywhere else you happen to frequent, let them know about what's going on here.

I don't promote myself quite as much as I used to (or probably should), but this is a moment where I want to set aside modesty and invite as many people as possible to check out Theater Hopper so they don't miss the next 1,000 comics!

Thanks again for everything you do and be sure to check the site later today for a couple more announcements. I have a few special treats up my sleeve!

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THE OTHER STUFF

by Tom on July 2, 2007 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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A few things I forgot to mention in the first post:

  1. A few people were congratulating me last Friday for reaching my 700th comic. Actually, that was a typo because I accidentally counted Wendesday's "Boo hoo! My computer is FUBAR!" messages as an comic. I've made the correct and TODAY'S comic is my 700th - which is mind-numbing to think about.

    I think the last time I celebrated the number of comics I posted was 400 or probably 500. But anymore, I think I'm just into celebrating anniversaries. You'll hear from me again about it on August 5.

  2. Don't forget to call in and listen to The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at Talkshoe. I pretty much plan on giving the floor to Joe to talk about Live Free or Die Hard because it sounds like he had a blast at that movie and I want him to tell us all about it.

    We'll probably be talking about Transformers, too - if you're interested. Join in and talk to us live!

  3. It's kind of a long story about how it came into my possession, but I'm auctioning off an 8GB iPhone on eBay and the auction ends around 10:00 PM tonight. So if you're interested or know someone that might be interested, bid away!

For the love of God, PLEASE bid. The longer this thing stays in my house, the more I want to love it in unnatural ways.

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THORUM ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

by Tom on January 18, 2005 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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Something that I forgot to mention yesterday was that our online community - that place we lovingly refer to as the THorum - celebrated its one year anniversary yesterday. Finally, I fell like we're over the hump when it comes to providing a place for Theater Hopper fans to communicate with one another.

The history of the THorum is a long and complicated one. Marred by gross ineptitude on my part, this is actually the third incarnation of the community. Those who have been with me from the start know the story I am about to tell.

When I started Theater Hopper in August of 2002, one of the first things I made sure to have was a forum. I believed strongly that developing a community was key to getting the site off the ground. Initial fans would congregate and then spread word of Theater Hopper to all corners of the internet.

When only 20 or so people signed up after 3 months online, I grew impatient and shut it down.

Hey, don't blame me! I'm a moron, remember? I was totally naive to the fact that having 500 unique visitors per month wouldn't necessarily translate into an online community. Remember, I'm the same guy who tried raking in donations and advertisements when I was barely a blip on the radar screen. At that time, Theater Hopper was a pimple on the ass of web comics. I'm happy to say we've since moved up to "boil" status.

About 6 months after voluntarily closing the first forum and steadily watching our readership grow, I decided to take another swing at establishing a community. Another forum was forged.

Things went well for a while. We had gathered a little clique and we were online without and problems for a good length of time. That is until a catastrophic server failure totally crippled the site. The database that ran the forum was lost and I nearly lost a year's worth of blogs. Of course, like a fool, I had never made a back-up of the forum. So it was gone, baby. REAL gone. Strike two in forum world.

Desperate to reconnect with the community that was lost, the third version of the forum was brought to life January 17, 2004 and we've been plugging along ever since.

It hasn't been easy, though. Luckily with the help of my team of administrators and moderators, we've been able to keep it up and running without much data loss or obnoxious post whores ruining it for everyone. So my thanks to AdSquirrel, Brian, JClark and MadMup. You're help has been invaluable.

In the course of our existence, we've even been able to implement custom features to make ours a totally unique environment. A web cam portal, The Friday Five, The Danza and The Urkle. Even our own dictionary - or THictionary for the unenlightened - of THorum-specific vernacular! Did you know we did a holiday gift exchange last Decemeber that went off with flying colors? We did, and it was great!

Now before you start thinking that the THorum is some sort of secret society or members only cabal, know that there has never been a more welcoming group of people online ANYWHERE. Friendly and bright. Gracious and insightful. And several of them more hilarious than anyone you will ever meet. My thanks to these THorumites who make our community one that I have looked forward to posting to every day since its inception. Thank you.

If you think that sounds good, sign up in the THorum today. You won't be sorry.

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MORE ANNIVERSARIES!

by Tom on March 18, 2004 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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While I was mentioning anniversaries in Wednesday's blog, someone pointed out to me one that I missed. Taking the Bi-Pass recently celebrated it's 100th strip, and I feel like a jerk for leaving them out because Dave is a friend of the site. He's done guest strips for us and is an all-around rockin' Canadian. Wish him well on his accomplishment!

And while we're still on the subject of anniversaries, I thought I would mention that today is the 4 year anniversary of my marriage with Cami. I can't believe it's been 4 years. It certainly hasn't felt that long.

We're keeping our celebrations simple for tonight. A quiet dinner for two, staring into each other's eyes and whatnot. The real celebration comes 3 weeks from now when we go to Las Vegas - our anniversary gift to each other.

I love you, Cami!

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RUBBER DUCKIE OF THE HIGH SEAS

by Tom on November 14, 2003 at 12:00 am
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Master and Commander, Captain Aubrey, Russell Crowe, HMS Surprise, rubber duckie, Mister Quackers, anniversary

In case you're not grabbing the reference in today's comic, I'm spoofing Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

[There was more to this blog post because I believe this was my 200th comic, but data was lost when we moved the site into WordPress in Jan. 2009 - Tom]

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THIS IS AS WILD AS WE GET ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT

by Tom on August 27, 2003 at 12:00 am
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THIS IS AS WILD AS WE GET ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT

There's been a lot of fuss made about the 25th anniversary of Animal House - commemorated this week with a new Dolby-quality output of the seminal 1978 gross-out comedy on DVD this last Tuesday.

I admire Animal House less for what it is and more for the path it paved. Up until that point, erection jokes really weren't getting their play in American cinema. It just goes to show, all of the most awesome movies were made in the 1970's.

I was thinking about Animal House and its level of raunchiness. Not only the "gross-out" stuff, but the general sneering attitude toward women and minorities. I sincerely doubt the movie would ever be made in these P.C. times.

I was never in a fraternity in college. Blissfully, my alma mater was host to a fairly anemic Greek system. But my Dad was a frat guy and he swears by Animal House. It's probably his favorite movie. He loves to tell me stories about initiation pranks where they would cover a banana in chunky peanut butter, drop it in a toilet and force blindfolded pledges to retrieve it. That's exactly the level of sophomoric hi-jinks Animal House pitches. I find it more roguishly charming than truly outrageous. Almost cute.

If you compare hazing rituals like that one to the 24-hour keg stand most fraternities pass off as tradition these days, it makes me think my Dad rode the crest of the wave. I envy him in that respect.

Why such a goofball movie makes me think these things is beyond me. But it must have something to do with the enduring legacy of the film. Thanks to Animal House, every college guys aims for a similar experience...

...or at least wish they had.

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ONE MONTH DOWN

by Tom on August 30, 2002 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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I thought it was worth it to mention that today marks the one-month anniversary of Theater Hopper. It may not seem like much of a milestone, but I'm partial to such occasions.

With only 12 strips under my belt, I consider it a freakin' phenomenon that the site has accumulated over 1,700 unique hits and nearly 4,400 page views. This may seem like small potatoes to some people, but it means a lot to me.

I wouldn't have gotten this far without the help of other cartoonists in the community. There are too many names to mention, but if you head over to the links page, those are the strips you should be visiting on a daily basis.

Thanks also to the readers who visit the site and keep coming back. Hopefully I will be able to provide the kind of content you like and look forward to reading.

That's probably enough gushing for now, but I had to let it be known. I'm having too much fun doing this not to say thanks every once in a while.

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