GUEST STRIP – JOSH ANDERSON
June 3rd, 2006 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(10 votes, average: 5.10 out of 10)
And the guest strips just keep on coming!
What can I say, I figured if I’m out of commisssion, then it’s just good manners to give you as many great guest strips as I can.
Give thanks to Josh Anderson for his contribution. I loved the Indiana Jones reference in the second panel as – in real life – I tend to invoke that quote whenever there is an obstacle that impedes me from doing whatever it is I wanted to do.
Mowing the lawn, for example. "Dandelions. Why’d it have to be dandelions."
I don’t know.
Be sure to check out Josh’s web site L.A.P. Dance Productions. In addition to comics, they have some great digital shorts, reviews and all-out rants. Lots of quality content to be found there.
I have one more guest strip for you tomorrow and then it’s back to work on Monday. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Cami and I were threatening to see The Break-Up on Friday night, but the negative reviews kept us away. We’ll see what the word of mouth is. I dunno, is it just me or is Jennifer Aniston incapible of playing anything above Rachel 2.0? She needs to do something like The Good Girl again and quick. If we see this movie at all, it’ll be for Vince Vaughn.
Chances are we’ll catch a matinee of X-Men 3 on Sunday. We actually saw it in France on May 26 – one whole day before you! Booyah! Downside was that (even though were had our fingers crossed for English with French subtitles) it was completely in French. We did a pretty good job following along, though. Big, dumb action movies like that… you’re only job is watching things explode. But like I said, we’ll catch the matinee in English to pick up on the more subtle points.
See you tomorrow!
Well, Henry is a week old, he lost his umbilical cord and I’m going back to work today after a week off. Will I live to tell about it? Who knows.
This is probably the last week of guest strips before I return to a regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I question if I’ll be able to do them in color. It’s not so much finding the time to draw and ink the comics. It’s the coloring that takes the most time. So, if push comes to shove, you’ll get the comics in black and white. I just have to play it by ear.
At any rate, sincere thanks to Josh Anderson for his guest strip. Josh does his own work with Man in a Box Comics. Go check it out. I really liked his treatment of the “gabbing girls” in his comic. I miss the Tex Avery level of cartoon violence I used to have in Theater Hopper. I need to get back to my roots.
A quick programming note – I’m going to try and participate in our weekly talkcast The Triple Feature tonight at 9:00 p.m. over at TalkShoe. I wasn’t able to make it last week for obvious reasons. I’d really like to be there tonight so I can talk with my good budies Joe and Gordon about The Oscars. If I can’t make it, Gordon will be running the show. I guess he ran into technical difficulties last week – NOT HIS FAULT – so hopefully this week will go a little smoother for him if I can’t make it. Anyway, check it out!
Speaking of the Oscars, I decided to try something a little different – LIVE BLOGGING DURING THE TELECAST. The concept is simple. I jot down whatever comes to mind during the show. Without further ado, here they are. I hope you get a kick out of them!
LIVE BLOGGING – OSCAR’s 2007
7:34 p.m. – Kind of interesting opening montage of nominees from the acting and technical categories – even though I keep waiting for the guy from the Macintosh ads to show up.
7:38 p.m. – Henry just had a massive poop. Thank goodness for TiVo.
7:43 p.m. – Nice suit, Ellen. *cough*
7:47: p.m. – Alright, I’ll give Ellen points for the J-Hud / Al Gore “America voted” joke…
7:51 p.m. – First award goes to Art Direction? What happened to the Best Supporting Actor leading off the ceremony?
7:56 p.m. – Will Ferrell with a giant ‘fro smelling a rose. He had me laughing right away. Add Jack Black and make it a musical? Brilliant. “Ryan Gosling. He’re hip and now. I’m going to break your hip, NOW!” “Mark Wahlberg? Actually, I’m not going to mess with you. You’re pretty bad ass.”
Wait! John C. Reily? Aw, yeah.
8:01 p.m. – Pan’s Labyrinth is sweeping the Oscars! I know that won’t be the case a few minutes from now. I just wanted to say that.
8:03 p.m. – Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith presenting an Oscar? Say what? At least their line flubbing is an authentic moment.
8:08 p.m. – Henry needs a diaper change and to be put down to bed. TiVo to the rescue again.
8:22 p.m. – I’m back. I’m going to have to fast forward to catch up! Sorry Best Live-Action Short Film!
8:23 p.m. – Holy crap! Pause that! Is Jack Nicholson bald during the Best Live-Action Short Film acceptance speech? He pulled a Britney!
8:24 p.m. – Back from commercial. Still fast forwarding. Sorry Sound Effects Film Choir!
8:27 p.m. – Best Sound Editing falls under the digital blade of TiVo’s fast-forward technology. Best Sound Mixing, too.
8:28 p.m. – Alan Arkin wins Best Supporting Actor! The Movie Gods have spoken and they hate Norbit.
8:34 p.m. – Can someone please explain why Randy Neuman’s song from Cars was nominated instead of Sheryl Crow’s? Fast forward. All caught up now!
8:44 p.m. – Happy Feet wins Best Animated Feature Film? Booooo!
Look, I know Cars wasn’t the best movie Pixar ever produced, but giving Happy Feet the Oscar awards it’s box office take and nothing else. I would have been happier if Monster House had won.
8:45 p.m. – “Academy award winner for Best Screenplay Ben Affleck.” Uh oh.
8:53 p.m. – William Monahan wins Best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed! Are things shaping up for a Best Picture win? Maybe too early to tell…
8:56 p.m. – Chris Connelly is a complete tool with that Parcheesi board he’s trotting around. Tom Hanks responded in absolutely the right way.
8:57 p.m. – Man, I love that Wes Anderson American Express commercial…
8:59 p.m. – Ellen’s Oscar Bjorn. I probably wouldn’t have found that as funny a week ago and if I weren’t walking around the house in Henry’s Baby Bjorn earlier in the day.
9:05 p.m. – Apparently it’s a big deal that Tom Cruise is presenting Sherri Lansing with the Oscar’s Humanitarian Award. Both she and Cruise were ousted from Paramount by Sumner Redstone last year. I heard it’s supposed to be kind of a thumbing of the nose that industry people are supposed to get excited about.
9:11 p.m. – Clint Eastwood came off a little senile at first, but he’s doing a good job keeping up with Ellen’s request for a photo from her MySpace page. Asking Steven Spielberg to take it? Great timing!
9:20 p.m. – Nice bit of self-deprecation from Robert Downey Jr. In the Best Special Effects introduction. Dead Man’s Chest wins and rightly so. Davy Jones is probably the most startling CG creation put to film.
9:31 p.m. – Whoa! Pan’s Labyrinth LOSES Best Foreign Language Film to Germany’s The Lives of Others? SHOCKER!
9:33 p.m. – I thought those dancers making the shadow puppets were pretty lame until they busted out the Snakes on a Plane logo. Nice.
9:35 p.m. – Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress. The upstaging of Beyonce is now complete.
Hudson climbing from the American Idol reject pile to Academy Award winner is an impressive story. But that’s all it is: A story. Let’s be honest. We’ll never hear from her again. Can you really say she’s a better actress than Kate Blanchet?
8:46 p.m. – Jerry Seinfeld is delivering an excellent bit during the Best Documentary Feature introduction about movie theaters wanting you to pick up to yourself and I desperately wish I had thought of it.
9:52 p.m. – Clint Eastwood having a little trouble reading the prompter during the tribute to Morricone. Kinda shameful, Clint.
10:17 p.m. – I feel like I haven’t commented in a dog’s age. A lot of awards in technical categories, I guess. Interesting that Little Miss Sunshine won for Best Original Screenplay. So, at this point, I’m thinking it’s got to be between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed for Best Picture – which is how I would prefer it. If Babel wins at this point, I would be shocked. But there have been lots of nice little twists tonight!
10:37 p.m. – Henry needed another diaper change during the Best Original Song award. What did I miss? Melissa Etheridge? Hmm! Not feeling so bad about missing Dreamgirls in theaters now.
10:46 p.m. – And now the sad portion of our evening, remembering those who have died. I had forgotten about Bruno Kirby and Don Knotts passing away last year. Joe Barbarra, James Doohan, Peter Boyle, Jack Pallance (although I already thought he was dead). Of course Robert Altman. A sad year.
10:54 p.m. – The show is running long. Helen Mirren wins Best Actress for The Queen. Very much deserved. An elegant woman to be sure and an excellent performance.
11:04 p.m. – Forest Whitaker wins Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland. Expect a lot of “King and Queen” headlines on Monday morning.
11:06 p.m. – “The Original Three Amigos” George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola presenting Best Director… and Martin Scorsese FINALLY WINS! YES!
Man, I was going to say – if you pool those three icons of 70’s film making together to hand over the award to Best Director, it better go to one of their contemporaries! Standing ovation? HELL YEAH!
Funny that Lucas was relegated to the bitch seat for being the only one never to have taken home an Oscar. I don’t think too many people are crying into their Cheerio’s about that.
11:14 p.m. – The Departed wins Best Picture. I will sleep soundly tonight.
So that’s my Oscar’s ’07 live blog. What did you guys think of the broadcast? I thought Ellen DeGeneres did a pretty good job as host . Better than I anticipated. Were there any surprises for you guys? Anyone you think was robbed? We you entertained by the show? Who had the best speech? Who was the worst dressed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
I would have been content to let the message I posted about my illness on Wednesday run throughout next week, but this guest strip from Josh Anderson was too timely – and too funny – to pass up. I love how he tossed Gordon and Joe into the mix. And, frankly, the hundred-yard-stare he gave Tom was pretty much how I was feeling for the last two days. Only clammier. Also, a chance to infect Shia LaBeouf? Priceless!
I got a couple of e-mail from people who were spooked when I said I was dying on Wednesday. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to put the fear of God into you, or anything like that. Sometimes I forget the impact words have.
So, to clarify – NOT dying. Just felt like death.
I went to the doctor yesterday and it turns out I have acute tonsillitis. That sounds bad, like I have to have my tonsils removed, or something. Not the case. It’s basically an upper respiratory infection that causes white spots on the tonsils – and they’re filled with pus! Yum!
The good news is I’m no longer contagious and he has me on a steroid to reduce the swelling an antibiotic to kill the infection. As of this writing, I’ve already taken two doses and I feel much better. Not 100%, but not wincing from the back pain and migraines my body was delivering as part of the fever that was trying to get rid of the infection. So, yeah. Better.
I still plan on going to Wizard World Chicago this weekend. So if you’re in attendance, look me up at table #4308 on Artist’s Alley.
Oh, and be sure to send thanks to Josh Anderson for his guest comic by visiting his site Game U. I think you’ll like what you find there.
Thanks again for the well wishes and concern. I’ll see you all here on Monday!
GUEST STRIP – JOSH ANDERSON
December 23rd, 2009 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(20 votes, average: 7.45 out of 10)
I gotta give it up to Josh Anderson from Game U and his excellent guest strip. When I put out the call for guest strips, Josh was the first to answer. I’ve been sitting on this strip since October 27 – which is even more amazing when you consider Josh had the presence of mind to reference both Avatar and It’s Complicated. I wanted to publish Josh’s comic earlier to reward him, but he made it so darn timely! Plus, he found the sweet spot when it comes to the relationship stuff I like to hit on from time to time with Tom and Cami. All around excellent work that needs to be rewarded by everyone visiting Josh’s site, Game U. Let Josh know what a great job he did!
Not much of a status update for me to talk about except that we’re just trying to get ourselves organized for Christmas and visiting family.
Apparently, Iowa is supposed to be slammed with freezing drizzle, ice covered roads and blowing snow over the holidays. So even though we don’t have to travel far, it’s making everyone anxious. We’ll see what happens.
It would be nice if we could get away for a couple of hours to see a movie. Cami is very interested in seeing It’s Complicated and I have to admit – despite the fact that it’s another piece of affluent copper kettle fluff from director Nancy Meyers – I’m interested in seeing it, too.
I’m sorry, but you can’t bring together a cast like Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin and just disavow it. That’s some A-level talent right there. All of them are actors I admire.
I’m also very interested in seeing Sherlock Holmes. Although I imagine it to be the exact opposite of It’s Complicated in nearly every way. Guy Ritchie’s films are all about unchecked, sweaty machismo. Meyer’s films are all about women with authority and fabulous kitchens with unchecked square footage.
I think Ritchie is a director that has never really lived up to his potential. He delivered something unique with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but he’s never been able to match it. I don’t expect Sherlock Holmes to reverse that trend for him.
Still, it’s got Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law and – from the trailers – they look like they have some really interesting chemistry. So even if the film looks like the sloppy backwash of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I think we’ll still be treated to some good performances.
Last thing I’ll leave you with for today – we’ve been making some AMAZING strides on the fund raising campaign for Theater Hopper: Year Three. There were some big pledges over the last couple of days and want to extend my SINCERE THANKS to those of you who have lent your support.
As of this posting we are 87% funded with a measly $460 left to go! I’m feeling confident that we can raise the few remaining dollars, but I don’t want to rest on my laurels. We have only ONE WEEK LEFT to make goal. If we don’t, then I won’t see ANY of the money and the book will likely never be published.
If you haven’t pledged to the fund raising campaign yet, please pledge today. With the holidays approaching, I’m concerned that we’ll lose momentum or that people might forget about the campaign. Even if it’s only a dollar, it gets us that much closer to goal and will hopefully inspire others to put us over the top!
In the meantime, expect another guest comic here on Friday. If you’d like to leave your thoughts about It’s Complicated or Sherlock Holmes below, I’d love to hear them! What movies are you planning to see over the Christmas holiday? Will you cross the gender aisle and see both films? Let’s talk about it!
GUEST STRIP – JOSH ANDERSON
June 7th, 2012 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 9.80 out of 10)
Wow! When I announced on Tuesday that I was looking for guest strips to help flesh out the last few weeks of Theater Hopper, I didn’t think I would receive a comic the very same day.
But that’s exactly what Josh Anderson from Worsted for Wear pulled off – and it’s hilarious!
If you’re kind of new to the site and don’t remember David, I encourage you to check out his first appearance from back in 2006.
What follows is a short story arc that takes to task the interesting phenomenon in webcomics at the time where household appliances were gaining sentience and becoming full-fledged cast members. I always thought the idea was kind of dumb, so I wanted to poke at it a little bit. I did that by quickly killing David off four strips later.
I wrote David back into the strip briefly in a story line where Shia LaBeouf used him to attack Tom. It was a case of mistaken identity.
The story line was actually a fabrication on Tom’s part to explain how he had damaged his hand and had to go to the emergency room. That was my funny way of incorporating a real-life injury I had inflicted on myself back in 2009. So David’s appearance was more of a cameo than an actual reappearance. I assure you, he’s still dead.
So, now that we’re all up to speed on David, take a minute to thank Josh for his excellent work and check out his comic Worsted for Wear!
Thanks, Josh!