Posts Tagged ‘love’
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Since today has become “Publicly Announce Your Love For Everything” Day, I thought it would be fun to post another picture of my beagle Truman.
Some of you might remember the strip I did a while ago and the blog that featured a picture of him as a pup. Well, here he is. All grown up. A robust 8 months old.
Truman has an ear infection right now, so he’s a little cranky. I’m a little cranky too after paying the vet bill. But I would never ask for a handout. That would be tacky.
Some might accuse me to pandering to their cute receptors by publishing an adorable picture of my dog, but I say he’s deserved the recognition. He’s been very good this week and has stopped chewing on the couch. Truman is a pretty smart dog. Just look how discreetly he covers up his “business” in the picture above.
So, anyway. I love my dog! He’s cool!
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I just want to make it clear that nothing of this nature has actually ever happened to Cami. She’s not known for cracking skulls at the concession stand.
However, that’s not to say the theater staff wouldn’t try to make a pass at her. Cami is hot. I mean, like, totally hot. Part of your brain stem would have to be missing not to make a pass at her.
As I write this, she is sleeping. She cleaned the bathrooms tonight while I dinked around with today’s strip. For that, and so much more, she is awesome. She is beautiful. I love her.
Now, collectively… “AWWWWW…”
But it’s true.
By the way, did you know that you’ll actually get a chance to SEE what she looks like in the Theater Hopper Documentary? This is what we call “building suspense”. I know you’ll all be very pleased when you have a copy of the film in your hot, little hands. Soon, young Padawan Learner. Soon. Stay tuned here for more.
I was hoping to have my review of Punch-Drunk Love up and ready to look at today, but I was putting up shelves in the basement earlier this evening. I guess it’ll just have to wait.
I’ll see ya’ when I see ya’.
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First things first. Yes, today’s strip is a Valentine to my lovely wife Cami. I was going to go into a big, detailed explanation about how I decided to do this for her, but I think it stands on it’s own two legs.
If that doesn’t cut the mustard for you, let’s just say that I really like making a public spectacle out of myself. Sometimes it can come out in very bad ways that may embarrass Cami (she knows what I’m talking about). But in other ways, it is a powerful tool I can use to let the whole world know how much I love and appreciate her.
I have a web site. I have an audience. I followed my heart to the ultimate conclusion. I love you, Cami. Happy Valentine’s Day.
That being said, my Valentine’s Day got off to an excellent start Thursday night while I was preparing today’s strip. Checking the site statistics on a whim, I decided to look at my referral logs. Lo should my eyes damn near pop out of my head to discover that I had been linked from the main page of NEWS ASKEW!!!
For those of you not in the loop, News Askew is the web site for all things relating to Kevin Smith. Yes, that Kevin Smith. The writer/director of such favorites as Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy.
It’s a great place to go to get the inside scoop on all the projects he’s working on as well as have a little fun with the View Askew cannon of films. It’s a great community and I’ve been trolling around the site for years. That, and his new site Movie Poop Shoot are two stops on my daily web rounds. I’m totally bugging out just being recognized because I’m a big fan of Kevin’s. Just getting the link is like a brush with greatness!
So to all of the new readers coming in from News Askew, WELCOME! Please feel free to take a look around. You may need to start here to get a handle on the current story line and figure out why Ben Affleck is even hanging around in the first place.
If you like, you can start from the beginning and work yourself up to the present day. Ours is a fairly green operation. We’ve only 87 strips under our belt since opening in August of 2002. But hopefully Theater Hopper will be a place you check in on from time to time. If you can manage to swing by every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when we post new strips, that would be even better!
For any Ben Affleck fans out there, I hope you know that the last two strips where he is featured have all been in good fun. Of course, having him make a pass at one of my main characters probably doesn’t do much to dilute the “Ben’s gay!” perception among those who like to slag our resident Daredevil. But what are you going to do with a guy who played a character named Chesty Smith in School Ties? If that isn’t a gay porn name straight out of 1976, then I don’t know what is! 🙂
To all of my regular readers, I hope you have enjoyed the week of strips I’ve put together for you. I had a lot of fun doing them.
This whole week has been a real trip. Even before getting this link from News Askew, I was getting lots of positive feedback which is something I don’t get that often. Hell, I hardly get any feedback! So when I get an e-mail from one of you out there is a great validation. To know that you took time out of your day to pass along a compliment is very humbling to me. I want you to know I print off every one of those suckers. So then I can show them to my kids one day and say, “See?! Daddy WAS a success back in his day!”
Of course, they’ll be, like really young and won’t know the difference. But still…
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. Here’s hoping you have someone warm to share it with.
And because I’m in such a lovey-dovey mood, I’ve posted a new review written by my friend Nick. It covered How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. A very fitting romantic film for the occasion.
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Even though the man is closing in on three-quarters of a century, there is just something undeniably cool about Sean Connery. How cool is he? I’m willing to plunk down $8 dollars on what my better senses tell me will be the HORRIBLE League of Extraordinary Gentlemen just so I can listen to the man talk for 2 hours. Think people. There is finite amount of time left for us to enjoy this privlege.
Hell, even if the movie sucks, at least it will give me more fodder to use in my Sean Connery impression.
“That was naughty.”
The League or LXG or whatever you want to call it isn’t going to do very well at the box office this weekend. I imagine it’ll take quit a drubbing from the press as well.
Connery’s difficulties with director Stephen Norrington (who also directed Blade) have been pretty well documented. So strong was their animosity for each other, Norrington didn’t even show up for the films’ premiere a week ago in Hollywood.
When someone asked Connery about working with Norrington, he reportedly replied “Why don’t you ask me a question about someone I like?” Ouch. This usually isn’t the kind of conflict that creates a comfortable viewing experience for an audience.
Another strike against The League is that it’s an adaptation of a comic book written by Alan Moore during a summer where each comic book license seems to be doing worse than the last.
Moore is an extremely compitent writer and if you’ve ever read Watchmen, there’s your proof. I’m not worried about a faulty concept. That much I know is gold. Basically, Connery’s character (Allan Quartermain, the world’s greatest adventurer) has been called on to assemble a team of indivduals with extraordinary powers to stop a lunatic. A vampire, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo – all of these turn-of-the-century literary characters. Essentially the concept is that this is the first team of super heroes – even before the term has been introduced.
As for the execution, well… we’ll have to wait until Friday to find out. My hopes aren’t very high. But who knows? It may surprise me. It’ll probably be recieved as well as Moore’s last adaptation which was From Hell with Johnny Depp from a few years ago. I think it mostly struck a nerve with fans familar with the visual pacing of graphic novels, but it didn’t do much business in theaters. I still thought it was good.
To tide you over, click here for an example of the pure brilliance of Sean Connery.
…or not.
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Man, how cool would it be to have a remote control you could use to flip over secret panels and open hidden rooms? It would be REALLY COOL! Although something tells me that one might incur hidden expenses, too!
Not much to say about today’s comic except that it carries on the fine, recent tradition of burning the third panel to deliver no dialogue and not action. Just a simple beat in pacing to help deliver the punchline. I’ve been doing that a lot lately.
I’ve keep my eyes so close to The Corpse Bride coming out this weekend that I’ve totally forgotten about some of the other films hitting the multiplex. Flightplan, for example.
This new Jodie Foster movie is not one I am excited about. If you’ve seen the trailers, you can confirm that it basically looks like Panic Room on a plane. I want to start a betting pool to see if her missing child even existed. The last thing I want to do is see the film for myself and remove all doubt. Call me stubborn. Anyone going to see this movie Friday? Bite the bullet for me? E-mail me and tell me how it turns out.
What’s up with Jodie Foster only taking roles these last few years where she is either in shock, in awe, or in terror. Always standing there slack-jawed. Can she not perform anything else? Between Contact and Panic Room, I’m beginning to think not.
Sure, she played Anna in Anna and the King and had a small role in The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys, but those films weren’t as high profile as the others.
Nell was a pretty freaky movie by most accounts and that character was really far out there, but at least there was some effort made. I think everyone remembers Silence of the Lambs, but people forget how totally disarming she can be. I mean, have you seen The Accused? Go rent it. Now.
Or maybe I’m just being nit-picky.
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Mar17
GUEST STRIP – BRANDON J CARR
March 17th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(8 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Do you have any idea how tempted I was to title this guest strip "Brokeback Victor?" But I guess Brokeback Mountain jokes aren’t cool anymore since the Oscars are over… Oh, well.
Quick question. Did you know that this guest strip done by my good Boxcar buddy and creator of web comic The Kenmore – Brandon J Carr – is, IN FACT, awesome? Cuz, guess what? It is!
I love the lead in panel with the strip name between the characters. I adore that there is no dialogue and everything is communicated crystal clear. And I am jealous with envy that Brandon uncovered a facet of Victor’s character that I might have to steal for future installments! This is a Grade A guest strip.
But really, should we consider anything less from the genius behind The Kenmore? Brandon’s comic is on hiatus for the moment as our good man moves into a new place. But don’t be sullen. Don’t be downtrodden. Instead, look at this as an opportunity to check out Brandon’s work from the very begining and read all of his stuff before he goes back to producing new material. You won’t regret it!
Thanks again, Brandon! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
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Mar24
GUEST STRIP – MITCH CLEM
March 24th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 8.40 out of 10)
Give it up to my good buddy Mitch Clem for closing out this period of guest strips on a high note. He took the happy accident that occured when Brandon J. Carr and Fred Grisolm reached the same conclusion with their strips and turned it into a great running gag! I’m thinking this is probably something worth running with when I hop back into the saddle on Monday. At the very least to kind of prime the pump before I launch back into full movie commentary mode.
I must give sincere props to the others who helped me out while I was away. That includes Ali Graham, Joe Dunn, MadMup and Mike Morgan. These are all guys who have gone to bat for me before and I feel especially lucky and humbled that I have reliable friends such as these. Be sure to check out each of their web sites for a concentrated dose of their talents! Thanks, guys!
Being on vacation in Walt Disney World is sort of like being on another planet… or Texas. You feel totally severed from the modern world and the events that occur in it. Crap, even the TV stations piped into the hotel rooms are all Disney-owned. No cable except for The Disney Channel, Lifetime, ESPN and so on.
So shamefully, I didn’t have an opportunity to see V for Vendetta when it came out last Friday. I’ve been begging Cami to see it since we got back in town Tuesday night, but she’s been reluctant. Now she’s telling me she has no interest in seeing it at all and I can see it by myself when she returns to her night classes next week. Grr.
Oh, well. At any rate, Inside Man comes out today and she’s more in step with seeing that. I like to think it’s because she’s REALLY into Christopher Plummer, but I have a feeling it might have more to do with Clive Owen playing the heavy. Really, how can you NOT love Clive Owen.
Tossing in Densel Washington and Jodie Foster into the mix doesn’t hurt. What really surprised me, though was learning that Spike Lee was behind the lens on this one. You totally wouldn’t have guessed it from the trailer. That’s probably a good thing. The film looks like a straight-up-the-middle urban crime thriller. But I think we all know that Lee is a little bit smarter than that and reviews seem to indicate some really intelligent twists on the genre. So I’m looking forward to a good time.
I’ve felt way behind on movies all year. It’s not atypical for January and February to be slow. But now that we’re almost done with March, I feel almost starved. I think seeing these two movies will go a long way toward correcting that.
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I’ve taken a few self-portraits. Yes, I have. Yes, I have.
I know today’s comic isn’t exactly movie-related. Maybe you were looking for something a little more on-point, genre-wise this morning. But after all the homo-erotic goodness of the last two weeks, I had to take the joke and run with it.
Coming up with the punchline was kind of weird. Since the comic is a autobiographical exaggeration, I kind of resisted the idea of casting myself as vain or being more concerned with myself than Cami. I didn’t want to give you guys the wrong idea about out relationship because the joke is kind of at her expense. Truthfuly, I would rather stare at Cami for 100 hours that catch a passing glimpse of myself in the reflection of a storefront window.
But upon realizing that I didn’t want to portray myself as being vain, I realized… I was being vain. So I ran with the joke. More movie stuff later in the week. Cross m’ heart.
Cami and I saw Inside Man over the weekend and I really liked it. I mean REALLY liked it. As in, "Hey, maybe the situation at the multiplex isn’t as dire as the evidence would have led me to believe three weeks ago! There’s hope!"
I think we can all agree that there hasn’t been very many good movies in the theater since the end of the holiday season. It’s okay. It’s low tide on cinema. Happens every year.
But watching the crafty Inside Man was like a beacon saying "The salmon are returning to spawn!" With spring brings renewal.
The movie is as tense as you might expect and there’s always some kind of new twist being thrown into the mix. Each of the four leads – Densel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer – all sink their teeth into their roles and bounce off each other well without being too showy. Densel didn’t launch in to Training Day level histronics. He actually milks a lot of comedy out of the tension just by being his usual, charming self. If anything, I thought Jodie Foster’s performance was possibly the weak link in the film, but that’s only if you’re going out of your way to complain about something.
The film was directed by Spike Lee, which I think made it even more impressive. A mainstream movie like this was something he needed to do a LONG time ago because I think the unfortunate truth is that people are more familiar with his politics than his considerable talent. There’s no reason he couldn’t tranition between these realms of Hollywood effectively. A movie like this might wake people up to his cannon of work.
If you’re dragging your feet on Inside Man for whatever reason, stop screwing around and go see it. I haven’t enjoyed a movie as smart as this one in what felt like an eternity!
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Dec23
GUEST STRIP – JOSH ANDERSON
December 23rd, 2009 |- 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!
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I had a lot of fun drawing Tom’s wild mood swings in today’s comic. Always fun to do a little cartoon-y over exaggeration.
Cami and I didn’t see Valentine’s Day over the weekend and our lives were no less the richer for it. But I must admit that I was surprised by it’s $52 million haul at the box office.
This goes back to what I was talking about on Friday. I think people were pre-disposed to seeing this movie by virtue of it’s branding. They felt compelled to see a movie CALLED Valentine’s Day ON Valentine’s Day. It’s the laziest, easiest response to “Hey, we need something to do for our Valentine’s Day together. I know what we should do!”
I’m certain the large cast had something to do with it as well. The producers basically played the odds and gambled that at least ONE of those actors would get you to buy a ticket. It looks like their gamble paid off.
I hope the success of Valentine’s Day doesn’t spur a bunch of copycat movies that stack the deck with 2 dozen different well-known actors. Having so many big names to feature makes it sound like the story doesn’t support them. I mean, you can’t really develop that many characters at once and be successful. Even Love, Actually – which has built up a lot of good will over the years – falls down on this point.
My sister-in-law saw Valentine’s Day with friends and my wife asked her a lot of questions about it. I think it reflects the “car crash” interest in this movie. People want to watch it because they want to see if they can pull it off. According to my sister-in-law, they don’t.
I won’t spoil anything for you in case you want to see it, but she referenced two different points in the script where the audience audibly groaned at the contrivance on screen. So, buyer beware.
I will say this… For those of you thinking about going to see this movie for Julia Roberts, my sister-in-law warns that she is on screen for about 6 minutes. But, again, considering there are 19 different actors in this thing and the movie is 125 minutes long… an appearance of about 6 minutes is pretty much on the nose. Do the math. It shakes out right.
I’m curious if anyone here saw Valentine’s Day this weekend. If so, what were your thoughts? Feel free to leave your comments below!
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