Posts Tagged ‘drag’

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A STYLISH CHOICE

by Tom on November 8, 2011 at 12:00 am
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(12 votes, average: 6.58 out of 10)
Jack and Jill, Adam Sandler, drag, dress up

It's been a little while since we last talked. Two and a half weeks, to be exact.

Let me tell you what happened.

On Monday, October 24, I posted my comic about Halloween and social media-themed horror costumes. The very next day, my family and I went on a little vacation. Where'd we go? Walt Disney World! It was Henry's first trip out of state and - as you can imagine - it was a pretty big deal.

We had a great time going on all the rides and doing all the touristy stuff. Coming back to reality, however, proved a little more difficult.

We came back on Sunday, October 30 - which also happens to be our town's night for trick or treating. I know, I know. Halloween is on the 31st. But around here, they do trick or treating the day before. It's a regional tradition that started in the 1930s by women's magazines as an anti-vandalism campaign and it just kind of stuck.

The point is, that morning, we were up at 4:00 AM EST to make our flight, we got off the plane at 2:00 PM CST and we basically had very little time before we suited up in our Halloween costumes to canvas the neighborhood for free candy that evening.

Naturally, everyone was exhausted and we were in bed by 8:00 PM that evening. That explains why there was no new comic on Monday, October 31.

NOW... should I have anticipated this and created a comic in advance for the 31st? Yes, I should have.

Could I have tried to play catch up that week and produce a comic for Wednesday or Thursday. Yes, I could have.

Neither of those things happened.

You know how it is with vacations - especially if you work a full time job. You go away for a while to decompress and you come back more stressed out than ever trying to play catch up with the life you put on hold.

That's what happened to me, so I decided to take a mulligan on last week's comic.

Fast forward to this week... why no comic on Monday? Well, the story is a little less dramatic but basically it involved some personal matters that needed to be attended to over the weekend. I was planning to finish the comic Monday night and post it Tuesday morning, but instead I got a call from a friend who was in town and I hadn't seen in 10 years. He wanted to grab a drink and catch up. I mean, the dude was in my wedding. I couldn't really say "no." So Monday night kind of got thrown out the window.

Anyway, that brings us to the present. I worked on the comic last night and here it is.

Shamefully, I can't take full credit. My good buddy Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey gave me the idea to dress Tom up like a woman for this comic. But the suspicion surrounding Tom's choice was all mine.

Looking at the trailer for Jack and Jill, I think Adam Sandler is pretty much daring us to hate him completely now. Either that, or he's so insulated by money that he doesn't care. It basically looks like the kind of low-rent movie Sandler's cynical Hollywood comedian character from Funny People would star in. In fact, the first time I saw this trailer, I thought it was a striaght up parody.

I'm a Sandler fan, to some degree. I've probably seen more of his movies than I care to admit. But it's clear from the outset that Jack and Jill is a one-joke premise and, frankly, there's not very much that's charming about a 45 year-old man running around in drag.

To me, Jack and Jill looks about as desperate as Eddie Murphy in Norbit or Martin Lawrence in Big Momma's House 2.

Actually, when I think about it, Jack and Jill is worse.

With Murphy and Lawrence, you could at least argue that they're trying to create distinctive characters. With Jack and Jill, it's pretty much Sandler running around in a wig, delivering lines in a pinched-off voice. No one is really going to look at Sandler and give him credit for his character work. He's basically been playing the same characters since his days at SNL. Keep in mind, this is the man who created "About To Sneeze Man" as a cheap Halloween costume idea on Weekend Update.

I wanted my comic to be more of a take-down piece of Jack and Jill, but I realized that disparaging the movie was not unlike beating a dead horse with a barrel of fish recently shot at.

Man, I seriously can't wait until The Muppets comes out and rescues us from this nightmare.

Anyway, that's all I have for you on the comic/movie front. But I did want to share one last thing with you as a kind of reward for being so patient the last two and half weeks.

You remember that I said that the family and I went to Walt Disney World, right? Well, they have this event at the Magic Kingdom on select nights called Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party. They have a specially themed parade and fireworks and you get to run around the park trick-or-treating and collecting candy at all the attractions.

They encourage you to dress us, so we did.

Tom, Henry, Thor, Captain America, Halloween, costume, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, Disney World, Vacation

I enjoy dressing up with my kids for Halloween only because I like to think that it makes things a little more special for them. I want to demonstrate to them that it's okay to have fun and be silly. That said, I was a little nervous about walking around Magic Kingdom dressed up like Thor. It didn't occur to me until we were on the bus on our way to the park, "What if I'm the only adult in costume?"

I'm pleased to report that's not the case. There were several adults in costumes and I received many compliments and high-fives.

Incidentally, I take my cues from Henry when it comes to costume choices. Last year, he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear. So I dressed up as Woody. This year, he wanted to be Captain America. So it was only natural that I go as Thor. They're best buddies! "Avengers Assemble!" and whatnot.

Plus, now I have my very on Mjölnir. That's something you can enjoy year-round.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the photo. Sorry again about the delay. Incidentally, when I'm off-schedule like this, it might be beneficial for you to subscribe to Theater Hopper by e-mail.

WAAAAAYYYY back at the top of the page, there's a form field where you can input your e-mail address. When the site updates, you'll receive automatic notification. It's very handy when I flake out. But I promise to better next week.

Since I haven't updated for a while, I'd sincerely appreciate it if you used the ShareThis application below to let people know that there is a new Theater Hopper comic up on the site. Facebook it, Google+ is, Twitter that bad boy... whatever your comfortable with. You guys have been doing a great job spreading the word and it really helps. C'mon... It only takes a second, right?

Thanks again and have a great week!

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WILLEM DAFOE IS A SEXY CHICK

by Tom on October 30, 2009 at 12:00 am
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(18 votes, average: 7.56 out of 10)
Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day, Willem Dafoe, drag, costume, Halloween

I was beating my head against the wall yesterday trying to come up with an idea for today's strip and was really strained for ideas. Between This Is It (which I covered Wednesday) and Boondoock Saints 2: All Saints Day, Gentlemen Broncos and The House of the Devil were the only other new releases this week.

Feeling those last two movies were too thoroughly obscure to reference, I decided to settle on Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day.

Of course, your enjoyment of today's comic is completely reliant on whether or not you've seen the first Boondock Saints. So, if you haven't... sorry about that.

If it helps you at all, here's a picture of Willem Dafoe running around in drag. I won't spoil the reason why. You should probably see it for yourself.

Dafoe in Drag

Check out this link as well to help further paint the picture. There's audio, but don't worry. It's safe for work.

The Boondock Saints was a movie that people have told me for years to check out. But by the time it had really taken off as a cult picture, I kind of stopped renting movies. I finally got around to watching it earlier this summer, and while I enjoyed it, I didn't find it to be the cultural phenomenon that others have.

I think it's a question of timing. I wasn't really there when the movie took off on DVD, so I didn't experience that sense of discovery that is so key to making something like this feel like it was "mine."

Does that make sense? I don't mean to sound like a jerk about it. Think of it like being the last one to hear the story behind a particularly delicious inside joke your friends are all sharing. By the time you get clued in, everyone is on to something else and looks at you like an idiot for making any references to it. That's what The Boondock Saints is to me.

I think if I were a freshman or sophomore in college in 1999 and not graduating from school that year, I probably would have been all over this. As one with Irish heritage, I instantly felt a kinship with The MacManus Brothers. But the depravity, gunplay and violence liberally sprinkled throughout the movie kind of made it feel like a Pulp Fiction knockoff to me.

Ironically, I had seen Overnight, the documentary about the making-of The Boondock Saints long before I saw the actual movie. If you haven't seen Overnight, I strongly suggest you check it out. The movie is about writer-director Troy Duffy who came from nowhere, sold his script to Miramax and then promptly imploded in a nuclear blast of egotism and arrogance.

Watching that film makes you wonder how Boondock Saints 2: All Saint's Day ever got made. But Duffy himself explains the situation quite well in this interview with Movieline (thanks to Mike Russell at Culture Pulp for the link). As always, it boils down to money.

"The fans made Boondock I successful. Whether they know it or not, they got the sequel made, because at a certain point these [studios] are like, 'It’s financially irresponsible not to make this movie.' Boondock I has been a financial juggernaut since Day... One, and it’s put up numbers every single year for a decade. How many films are even viable after 10 years to make a sequel at all? Boondock just never... died. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And finally the powers that be went, 'We gotta make this thing.'”

So, on the one hand, it's pretty cool that the support of a dedicated fan base over the course of a decade led to a sequel being made. But on the other hand, if money is the primary motivator for everyone involved, can it be a genuine experience.

Granted, the movie has reassembled its principal cast and the majority of it's crew who - according to Duffy - are working for very little money. But like I said, in the end, it all comes down to money and I'm curious if the fans who made the original film a cult sensation are going to pick up on that. I imagine it would be a real turn-off.

If you're excited to see Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day, I don't mean to be a buzzkill. All I'm saying is keep your expectations in check.

That's it for me today. I'm looking forward to tonight. We're taking Henry out for trick or treating. Wanna know what he's going as? Lightning McQueen from Cars and it was totally his idea.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it's a Disney thing, but Cars is a movie, by George. So I can't help but feel like I'm putting him on the right track toward a proper pop culture obsession.

Leave your thoughts about The Boondock Saints, Overnight, Troy Duffy or anything else that might be on your mind in the comments below.

Cheers!

Dafoe in Drag
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IS IT ODD?

by Tom on August 24, 2007 at 12:00 am
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(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
The Invasion, bizarro, fight, make up, drag, creepy

So this marks the end of the week-long story sprung from The Invasion of The Body Snatchers remake - The Invasion. I hope you liked it. Any opportunity I can take to throw in Victor acting weird, I'll take.

Not much new in theaters this weekend to get excited about. I guess since all the kids are going back to school, it's going to be slim pickin's until fall. That's when all of the sensitive indie movies I love so much start cropping up.

Early box office projections are pitting War against The Nanny Diaries for the top spot this weekend. My money is on War (and I have a comic about that coming up on Monday!) Despite the fact that The Nanny Diaries has a strong cast, to me it looks like a warmed over reinterpretation of Raising Helen - and no, that's not a compliment.

Plus, I think you have to fess up to the fact that Scarlett Johansson is not a big enough star to open movies on the strength of her name alone. I think she's a serviceable actress and the 22 movies to her credit in her short time as an actress are impressive. But no one sees a movie she's in strictly for her performances. She's not Sandra Bullock, or whatever.

And no, that's not a compliment.

This weekend looks like Cami and I will finally get around to seeing Superbad, which I've been looking forward to ever since I watched the red band trailer online a few months ago. If the red band trailer is any indication, the commercials and TV spots aren't doing the movie justice.

As excited as I was to see the movie, there's certainly been a lot of hype surrounding it. So I was pleased somewhat when I was talking to friends this week about it. They love the film, but couldn't get into specifics. That's a good sign. It means the majority of the movie is so funny, they're not going to be able to pick their favorite lines until it comes out on DVD.

Of course, that doesn't stop people from trying. I've already seen five or six different web sites peddling their own McLovin t-shirt designs. Everyone has appeared to latch onto that as a comedic touch point for the film.

All the same, I'm expecting to have a good time.

Real quick - I made a change in the store over the weekend where all items are now $15 and I am now providing discounts on shipping for bundled purchases. Save 50% on shipping on any two purchase, 65% off on any three purchase or 75% off on any four purchases. This system was a lot easier than the bundling system I had previously installed. Plus, since I'm planning on adding more t-shirt designs in the future, it'll be easier to maintain.

I've also recently talked to the 3rd party vendor that wrote the code for the shopping cart I use for my site and they're coming out with a discount code option in the next few weeks. So that means if you input a special code at checkout, you can save extra money. I plan on running promotions every so often to people who sign up to the mailing list. So if you want to be ready when that comes around, sign up now.

Since Wizard World Chicago, I've gotten the itch to make some changes to the site. I'm meeting with a web design company here in Des Moines on Monday for a consultation on some more air-tight features for the site. Hopefully I can bring back the comments section soon plus do a better job of integrating the Top 50 voting, social bookmarking, "share this comic with a friend" and so on.

Something that's been bugging me a lot lately are the banner ads. I'm sure they're no favorite of yours, either. I'd like to get rid of them, but frankly, I've come to rely on them. The revenue I make with them helps cover hosting fees as well as afford me the opportunity to do things like t-shirts, books and make convention appearances. All of this feeds into the site and either helps maintain it or helps it grow.

If you look at any of the big guys, they have advertising to help support them. So, in my instance, I don't think ads will be going away any time soon. I just need to find a better way to make them harmonious with the site.

What is your opinion about advertising? Do you find the ads I'm running now intrusive? Excessive? How would you feel if they were removed and replaced with in-context text advertisements? Links that appear over key phrases in the blog copy that lead you somewhere off site? I have a strong lead on the latter option and I'm thinking it's a viable solution moving forward.

This is an instance where the comments field would come in really handy for some quick and dirty feedback. But as such, you'll have to e-mail me with your thoughts. I'm soliciting your feedback. If you have strong opinions either way, I would like to hear from you!

That's about it for me. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday!

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