Posts Tagged ‘high school’
4 items.
I’m sure to most of you, today’s comic is an ugly swipe at the American Pie movies. But I can attest that everything said in the 3rd panel rings very true to my ears. This is my honest-to-God interpretation of these movies, and I’m sticking by it.
I won’t deny that the original American Pie had something going for it. The amount of teenage sex they threw up onto the screen wasn’t anything audiences had seen since the hey-days of Porky’s.
But I still can’t hide my resentment.
I’m not a prude and I’m not uptight, but watching these movies makes me feel like I missed something in high school. And, high school being a touchy subject for me, I don’t like being asked to drudge up those memories for the sake of “entertainment”.
For me, and like a lot of you, high school was a daily battle and a boring chore all rolled into one. I had my share of friends and many varied interests. I wasn’t a shut in, picked on or angry at anyone.
But after four years, I was sick of navigating the sea of morons that surrounded me and found the experience without challenge, and worse, a total waste of time.
I don’t miss any of the people I went to high school with. The ones I still want to see, I make a point to see on a regular basis. The rest of them can go back to their lousy waitress jobs at Applebee’s. You won’t see me at any reunion.
I suppose in it’s own way, it’s sad that my high school experience still takes up this kind of real estate in my brain. At 25, I should probably be past it. But, well… here we are.
To that end, the makers of American Pie can rightly jump off the nearst cliff. I have no interest in seeing the third installment – American Wedding – when it comes out on Friday. I think it’s a cheap grab at more money by forcing these “BIG LIFE EVENTS” into the plot. I have more to say about it, but I’m saving it for Friday. I have another American Pie diss on deck.
Never the less, I’m sure Cami will drag me to see it. She’ll claim it’s curiosity, but why lie? Her high school experience was much more enlightened and satisfying than mine.
I can’t complain too much about high school. After all, it is where I met Cami. But so much of high school was just mental debris. I wish I could brush away the bad stuff and focus on the good, but I’m much more effective at that in the present.
Some parts of your past should remain ignored.
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So Cami and Charlie were once rivals in high school, eh? Now that Charlie has moved in across the street, will they rekindle their competition? What does Charlie think about this strange turn of events? Check back Friday to find out!
Before posting today’s comic, I showed Cami a rough draft. She was very concerned about being portrayed as “another jealous female”, so once again I need to make the distinction to the audience that the “REAL” Cami is nothing like what you see in the comic.
This little public relations campaign is a two-pronged assault. While on the one hand, I’m being asked by my wife to educate my audience about her true nature, I am also trying to convince my wife that this is non-fiction. An entertaining story that requires a set-up, conflict and resolution. All-in-all however, she’s being a very good sport as her character takes the Theater Hopper spotlight for the time being.
Feedback to Charlie’s introduction and the new direction in the writing has been kind of wait-and-see, but I think I’ll win over the doubters yet. If you liked some of the more emotional aspects of the story arc where Jimmy lost his job, then I have a couple of doozies on deck. We just need to get past this obligatory exposition first.
I want to point out a new advertiser – one that’s been with us for a while. O’Deer Comics. A very funny black and white comic about Santa’s reindeer and what they do when they’re not working. Seeing it’s the post-holiday season, it might be time to check up on them!
If you’re thinking about advertising with Theater Hopper, there are still spots available. Now would be a good time to do it. Since being linked from PvP earlier in the weeks, our traffic is seeing record highs. Check out the advertising page for all the information you’ll need, pricing, as well as an ad calendar that lets you know what spots are available and when.
I should probably mention that I plan on capitalizing on the recent PvP exposure and I will be extending pre-sales on all apparel past Friday, January 7 out another week to Friday, January 14.
I mention this partially for those who have already pre-ordered shirts. You will be getting an e-mail from me with details. But I mention it also because after the 14th, I plan to pull the shirts, baby-dolls and hoodies off the site for a while to give me some time to recoup. So this may be your last chance to get a Spoiler hoodie in the next few months. I’m also planning on offering some new merchandise soon and want to get that off the ground.
I recently purchased a 1″ button maker and will be producing buttons for the site. Basically, all the main characters will get a button treatment as well as some of the fan-favorite secondary characters as well. I anticipate adding new buttons all the time, so odds are your favorite Theater Hopper character, scenario or catchphrase will get the button treatment at some point.
I don’t know about you, but I really like 1″ buttons. They’re inexpensive to buy and they’re fun to collect. There’s no reason you couldn’t buy more than one and just switch them out from time to time. I actually plan on selling some of the buttons in sets of 5 at a reduced cost. Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for that!
That’s all for now. See you Friday!
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Jul29
THE SWIRLIES ARE ANOTHER TERRIFYING MATTER ALTOGETHER
July 29th, 2005 |
(7 votes, average: 7.29 out of 10)
Fusion Lad probably wouldn’t have an open-casket funeral, but he’d save you the expense of cremating him because that’s just the kind of guy he is.
More thoughts on Sky High (which still sounds like a Method Man and Redman movie to me) later in the day.
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Cami’s comments about the original Clerks comes from real-life around the time we were first dating in high school. With the resurgence of Clerks II, this seemed like the best opportunity to share it with you.
Our relationship was just starting out, but I was totally about sharing my passion for film with her. We didn’t get Clerks in any of the movie theaters here when it first came out in theaters. But I had become familiar with it by reputation and decided to rent it so that we could watch it together. We sat in her parents basement, watched it all the way to the end and when I asked her "What did you think?" she said "Eh, I don’t really like movies about guys who do nothing."
Okay, so I twisted the quote around a little to fit in with the joke of today’s comic. But the spirit is still the same.
Afterwords, I went home and left the video at Cami’s house asking if she could return it (since she lived closer to the video store and was going to run errands the next day). Before she could return the video, her DAD got a hold of it looking for some kind of entertainment on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Cami came home from her errands and he gave her the old 20 Questions about this boyfriend of hers and what kind of entertainment I’m picking out for her.
My now Father-in-Law never confronted me about it, but Cami told me the story once and it made me pucker, that’s for sure!
The moral of the story? Don’t leave rented copies of Clerks laying around the house for your future Father-in-Law to find! Incidentally, Clerks is the only Kevin Smith movie I don’t own. I mean, I own Clerks: The Animated Series, but I don’t own the original movie that bears it’s name. Oh, and one of Cami’s favorite comedies is Mallrats. Go figure.
Judgemental Father-in-Law’s absent from our shoulders, Cami and I went to see Clerks II this weekend and loved it. I’m glad that it turned out as well as it did. I think the movie had a real capacity to be horrible. Combined with the failure of Jersey Girl, if Kevin Smith couldn’t get Clerks II to sell to audiences, I think it would have put his career as a filmmaker in serious jeopardy.
Is he returning to the well? Sure, but as Smith has freely admitted, these are the kind of stories he’s best adept to tell. Let him tell them!
There were parts of the movie that I felt were very stagey, blocked awkwardly by the actors and very talky. But after a while, it occurred to me how much in love I am with Smith’s sense of dialogue. By the end, the subtle commentaries the film makes about arrested development and "starting your life" in your 30’s kind of hit home for me.
Personally, I never suffered from the same wage-slave malaise as Dante and Randal, but I empathize with their situation. I think all of us are concerned with leaving some kind of legacy in one form or another. But sometimes if you stop to really take stock of what you have, things aren’t that bad.
On a subject related to that of making a mark, I mentioned on friday that copies of my first book "Theater Hopper: Year One" are in stock. If you haven’t ordered on yet, I strongly encourage you to do so soon!
That is all!
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