Posts Tagged ‘Oscar’
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Kind of funny that I’m taking pot-shots at Mel Gibson for The Passion of The Christ, then turn around and pen a comic where my character is attempting futile correspondence with God, eh?
Looks like ol’ Melly-Mel is going to make back that $30 million of his own money he sunk into The Passion. It did something like $26 million in it’s first day of release. Some people have said that tackling this heady material (in conjunction with the increasing bizarre interviews he’s been giving) are enough to bury Mel’s movie career. That’s a load of bull. Hollywood will forgive any amount of weird behavior as long as they’re taking your cash at the box office. Mel will be fine.
I don’t think Cami and I are going to get around to seeing The Passion this weekend. It looks like we’re about to undertake some massive home-improvement projects. We’re going to paint a couple rooms two different colors and install laminate wood flooring into one of them. I must have a hole in my head because we went through this exact same routine about this time last year and Cami and I nearly murdered each other.
Let’s get one thing straight. I am NOT Bob Vila.
The Oscar ceremony is this Sunday and I’m actually looking forward to it this year! I’ve said it before, but I think the nominations were sublime. Positive buzz has been surrounding Bill Murray. for Best Actor since Sean Penn. has been hinting he won’t make an appearance. If Bill won, it would be a victory for Midwestern smart-asses everywhere. Go, Bill, Go!
Other than that, not much to report. I guess if you’re interested you can check out a couple of t-shirt designs I submitted over at Threadless.com. It’s a cool little art/commerce community. You can view my designs here and here.
Take it easy!
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Still playing around with the Ten Commandments of Movie Watching. I hope you’re enjoying it. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the conclusion of that arc. Don’t fret, though. I’ll have ANOTHER extra comic for you on Thursday!
Don’t have a lot to say, mostly because I’m still adjusting from the two hour time change from my Vegas vacation. It probably doesn’t help that I’m staying up late again to finish the comic. Cami and I went to see Henry Rollins do a spoken word gig in our hometown last night and he performed a set that went on from 8 P.M. to 11 P.M. It was a good show. He gave some stupid drunks in the front row a hard time when they wouldn’t stop talking. One of the dumb girls was even on her cell phone at one point. He called them out pretty well, but sometimes you can’t cut through a drunken fog with a flame-thrower.
I didn’t find out about the Rollins show until late Monday morning. It’s ironic, because when we were in Vegas, Cami and I were wandering around the Mandalay Bay Resort. They have a House of Blues inside and Rollins was going to perform there April 18th. I lamented we didn’t take our vacation one week later. We come home, and guess who’s waiting for us?!
I want to mention again that I’m doing pre-orders for t-shirts through the month of April. Things have kind of tapered off – probably because I’m not reminding you that they’re available. Well, THEY’RE AVAILABLE! Check out the store for all the details. Remember, I need a certain amount of pre-orders or else I can’t submit an order. These are really good shirts. You can thank the good people at Brunetto for their quality screen-printing for that.
More later if I can get to it. Right now, I’m bushed. If not, see you here Wednesday!
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Feb11
If it seems like it’s coming out of left field for Ben Affleck to suddenly want to become a professional poker player, remember that he won $356,400 in a poker tournament last June. That achievement also earned him a spot at the World Poker Tour Championship in Las Vegas this April.
That’s a lot of scratch. Who knows? It could seriously be a profitable alternative to being a movie star. Certainly seems that way with the line of turkeys he’s pinched off into theaters.
Oh, and so you know I’m not making it up, Affleck ∗did∗ win an Oscar for Best Screenwriting in 1998 for Good Will Hunting. I know most movie fans are already hip to this. I just thought it seemed so long ago and he hasn’t done anything as worth-while since, it’s kind of hard to believe…
I was really pleased with how the last splash panel turned out. In fact, I was pleased with it before I drew it. I had a vision in my head and it was GLORIOUS!
That’s why I planned ahead and drew the last panel large-scale. 11″ x 17″, to be exact. On a sheet of heavy-duty Bristol board.
In fact, I’m auctioning off the original artwork to the highest bidder.
Here’s the deal: I’m about to reserve a table in Artist’s Alley at the Planet Comicon comic book convention being held in Kansas City April 2-3. Tables cost $125 and I need a little bit of cash to cover the bases. I figured an art auction was a quick means to that end.
Kansas City is going to be my first stop on my slightly more ambitious convention tour this year. I’ll be visiting K.C. in April, Chicago in August and Minneapolis in October. Sorry I can’t make it anywhere on the East or West coast this year. The only conventions I can afford to go to are within driving distance. But since last year I only did Chicago, it’s important to me that this larger ground assult get off on the right foot.
Think about it. This is a totally unique opportunity for you to own a piece of Theater Hopper history. Our newsest character Charlie beating the snot out of Ben Affleck with his own Best Screenwriting Oscar. It doesn’t get much more specific than that.
If you love Theater Hopper (or maybe just hate Ben Affleck) this is an original piece of art well worth owning.
It will be signed by me and mailed First Class in a heavy cardboard tube to prevent bending or creasing. And because I’m such a good guy, I’m won’t even charge for shipping! Hell, I’ll even throw in some stickers and a set of 1″ buttons to the lucky winner. THAT’S HOW NICE I AM!
The auction ends one week from today. So, what are you waiting for? GET BIDDING
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So in case you’re not familiar with The Razzies, it’s essentially the anti-Oscars. Every year they announce their nominees for Worst Actor, Worst Movie and so on the day before the Oscars make their announcements and, in turn, hand out their awards the day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hand out theirs
It’s kind of a hack thing to do because it’s totally leeching off something larger and serves no greater purpose other than to be mean-spirited. Maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me, but if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Sure, there are a lot of crap movies out there, but why go to the effort and expense of pointing it out? Especially when movie critics do most of the work for you? It’s an attention getting scheme, nothing more.
That’s why it’s kind of a shock that erstwhile A-level talent like Halle Berry would grace the proceedings with an appearance to pick up her Worst Actress award for her performance in Catwoman last year.
It sounds to me like her publicist thought it would be a good idea for Halle to pretend to be humble for 15 minutes in an act of contrition for her crimes again cinema. Berry herself alludes to as such when she was quoted as saying “When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there’s no way you could be a good winner.” But I don’t know. The whole idea just seems really forced, kind of staged and very insincere.
I can’t attribute the quote I gave Halle directly in the third panel of today’s comic, but the fact remains true
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I had written a big blog about today’s comic, but it appears that my comments system at it.
Here’s the long and short of it.
- 1. I’ve never done a big storyline revolving around the Oscars and I’m really excited about what I have put together.
- 2. I’m selling shirts in the store (pre-sale ends March 8).
- 3. I have a new sponsorship system (check out No Offense Taken)
- 4. I’m doing a full week of comics.
Hopefully all of you will come back to the site onTuesday where I will go more in-depth to all of this. The post here for Monday’s comic has now become filler since the original post has gone AWOL.
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Take a close look at an Oscar sometime. That’s not a letter opener he’s carrying!
Seriously, why does the mascot that represents the pinnacle of American motion picture achievement carry an implement of destruction? We truly are a violent society, aren’t we?
Hopefully you guys are checking the site for the second installment of our week-long story line. I had a big blog post explaining things on Monday, but apparently the message was devoured by the commenting system and I lost it. I feel like I’m saying this twice, but if you didn’t see it – It’s New To You!
The story behind this generous bit of extra comicry goes back to the inception of the site. Even though I take very little personal satisfaction from the annual Academy Award presentation, it’s pretty much the Super Bowl of the film genre. As such, I don’t feel I’ve ever written a joke or told a story that could somehow mirror the enormity (culturally) of the event. I was categorize previous attempts as sub par.
So I decided to sit down and really concentrate my efforts into doing an Oscar story line that had a little more meat on it’s bones. The result was yesterday and today’s comic and will continue into Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I’m really excited about it, so I want to get it out there and share it with you.
Honestly, I’m psyched about the last panel in today’s strip. It’s been a lot of fun playing with the chrome effects and shading. Li’l ole Oscar looks shiny and deadly!
I want to remind everyone of the two new shirt designs that are on sale in the store as well as the return of the fan-favorite "Spoiler" design. Pre-orders are being collected right now and will continue to be collected until Wednesday, March 8. That means you have a week and a day to get your order in! Don’t forget!
I also wanted to clue you guys in on the new front page layout we have going on. I went into more detail about it on Friday, but the big news is our new month-long sponsorships for $10. It’s a sweet deal. You give me $10 and I promote you for a month. If you want more specifics about the arrangement, you can read about them here.
You have to give props to No Offense Taken for being the first to take advantage of it. Of course, how can you be surprised when their business acumen is as intelligent as their comic. They had a really great Nothing Nice To Say cameo in the last few strips that I know fans of Theater Hopper will appreciate.
Not much news beyond that. I’m a little tired. It’s been a while since I’ve done a week’s worth of strips. Actually, not since January of last year – when I tried to jump start the Charlie-introduction storyline. Yikes!
But I think this one is going to be a good one. I’m really proud of the twists and turns I’ve written into it. I hope you guys enjoy it.
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If you’re offended by Oscar’s nudity, you really shouldn’t be. There is a perfectly good reason for it.
I hope you guys are enjoying this arc. From the feedback I’ve gotten, you seem to be. People have told me that they hope Oscar becomes a permanent addition to the cast. It seems so obvious! I wish I would have thought of him sooner!
Today’s comic has more of an action squence vibe going for it. I don’t get to do that very often in a gag-a-day set up. But since the storyline is little longer on this one, I’m free to play around. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how that overhead swing was going to look in the last panel. Tricky!
A few people have written me encouraging me to go see Munich. "It isn’t boring. It’s very well done." And so on, and so forth…
In the back of my head, I know this. Speilberg is at the top of his game. Even if he heaps on the sugar toward the endings, he is a master director and will always deliver something composed beautifully in an easy-to-swallow entertainment package.
But it’s just… I can’t. I can’t muster the enthusiasm to go see it. I don’t know what I’m waiting for. Will I see it when it comes out on video? Maybe, but probably not.
Even though I know this would be a clensing cinematic enema, I just can’t buy in.
It’s frustrating, because I can understand the frustration YOU guys must have trying to explain to me why I need to see this movie. I do that with my friends all the time. When you get the brick wall treatment, you wonder why you bothered in the first place.
I guess I’ll say… Thank you for your concern. I know you want what’s best for me. But, for me, avoiding Munich is like avoiding vegetables. I know they’re good for me, but I’m not going to eat them unless I’m really, really hungry. I think I’m just too busy right now to make it a priority.
Hey, today is an important date. Today marks ONE WEEK LEFT on the shirt pre-sale going on in the store. The clock is winding down! Better submit your order soon!
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I love Pepsi. It’s so much better than Coke. You can take that to the bank. You know, it does SO much more than just soften your teeth.
I don’t have a lot of blog in me this morning. I stayed up late last night trying to get the spraying cola effect right. Ugh!
Honestly, it’s starting to wear on me a little bit – doing 5 days of strips. Things at my 9 to 5 have been hectic so coming home and night to do strips without a day off is starting to wear on me a little. But that’s probably not what you’re interested in reading about, are you? I’ll get through it! Just one more comic before the arc is concluded!
I’ll say this. It’s been a hoot drawing Oscar’s sword and tring to figure out how to draw him swinging it like Casey Jones at bat (look it up, junior).
I’ll probably be back later. I need to talk to you guys about a couple of our new sponosrs and I want to dole out praise when I’ve put on a fresh head.
Also, I want to talk about Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. This has been the first movie in several weeks that I’ve been very interested in seeing!
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Johnny Rotten once asked his audience "Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?" I hope you don’t feel that way in response to the conclusion of this arc. Admittedly, the whole "It was only a dream!" plot device is as old as the hills, but I feel that it ties things up nicely and has a little fun referencing the previous comics. Actually, I would be proud to bundle this week’s strips together and give them to someone that I was trying to explain Theater Hopper to. In my mind, the arc just feels right.
I keep promising to come back and blog more, but I haven’t had the time. Work has been crazy and I come home at night exhausted.
Tell you what, a quick plug and it’s off to bed for me. Check out Multiplex and Banana Chips– two of our new monthly sponsors. They’re both great comics. I’ve been reading Multiplex for a while and love it. Banana Clips is something new for me, but I really dig the artwork.
I’ll try to come back later and give them the proper write-up they deserve. It would also be fun if I could give your my Oscar picks before the show this weekend. You’re maybe a little curious about that, right?
Talk to you soon. Keep your fingers crossed.
I hope you enjoyed this arc as much as I enjoyed creating it!
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Soda is precious nectar. Don’t waste a single solitary drop.
Well, the Oscars were last night. Maybe you heard about it? In case you missed it, I posted my picks for the winners about 20 minutes before the telecast aired. You can read them if you check Friday’s comic.
I was on the money for the most part. Of course, like most everyone else, I was shocked by Crash pulling an upset and winning Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain. I want to say more about it, but it’s actually going to be the subject of Wednesday comic, so I don’t want to ruin it.
I enjoyed this year’s show. I think Jon Stewart did a good job and set the right tone. All of those people who worried he would be to overtly political can go suck it. In a year where nearly all the nominated films contained political or social messages, he performed a tightrope act that should be applauded.
One thing the next telecast can do without – montages. Seriously. I’m all for celebrating the history of film, but these little clip shows slow everything down to a snail’s pace and really don’t add much value. I started to freak out a little bit when Lauren Bacall introducing the film noir segment. Leave the poor woman alone! Never would have happened if the producers came up with something better.
Still, if I had to choose montages or musical numbers… I’ll take the montages.
I thought George Clooney made the best acceptance speech of the night. Relaxed, confident-yet-humbled and funny.
Worst speech? AMPAS President Sid Ganis practically beating the audience over the head with his non-too-subtle plea for people to see movies as God! (TM) intended – in a movie theater (Re: Stop pirating our crap, you little snot-nosed suburbanites!)
Not much else to say about Oscar at the moment. Have to keep this short this morning. More thoughts if time.
Oh, two quick site-related things!
First, I’m almost finished with my book, Theater Hopper – Year One. All of the comics and commentary are laid out and proofed. I’ve got the introduction, guest strips and crossovers laid in as well. Pretty much all that is left is for me to finish coloring the cover and we’ll be good to go! I still have to get a few bids from printers, but I’m hoping to start offering it for pre-sale by the time I come back from my upcoming vacation. I’ll be gone between the 16 and the 21, incidentally.
Also, you only have three more days to buy a Theater Hopper shirt! Pre-sale on these items end Wendesday and then I will be sending on the orders to my printer. Get yours now! Once I put the gears in motion on the book, it might be a while before I sell shirts again!
That’s all for now! Talk to you soon!
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