Posts Tagged ‘Pimp Tom’
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I called the Witch Doctor, he told me what to do… Vote for Theater Hopper at BuzzComix!
Not much for me to comment on today other than I’m excited to see Starsky & Hutch. Cami and I are going with a bunch of friends. I’m really looking forward to seeing it with a crowd.
The movie has been getting good reviews so far. From the sound of it, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson aren’t making fun of the franchise so much as playing it straight and letting the laughs evolve from the situations. That’s good to know. That means they’re not being cheap with it.
Of course, in full pimp attire in today’s strip, I have to pay homage to the brilliant casting of Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear. I mean, can you think of anyone better for the role? Maybe Chris Tucker before he wanted everyone to think he was the second coming of Eddie Murphy.
Long live Tha Doggfather.
It’s been a long week for me personally. The home improvement projects we started last weekend, we’re still mired in today. We’ve finished painting our living room and dining room and made some progress on the flooring we’re installing – but after working an 8 hour day, the last thing I want to do is more manual labor. I need a nice Saturday morning where I can wake up kinda late, then lean right into this and get it done. Of course, I have to meet my CPA to work on my taxes Saturday morning. Oh bitter irony!
Hopefully your weekend will be more restful than mine. Take it easy, yo.
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Let’s head on down to the ranch, partner and round up some votes for Theater Hopper at BuzzComix!
“Pimp Tom” seemed to go over so well on Friday, I decided to bring him back one last time today. But now I’ve created another problem. Who the heck is “Scurvy Joe” and what is he doing hanging out with Jared?
I picture “Scurvy Joe” as the town derelict who will do favors for people in exchange for sandwiches. He can’t handle the 9 to 5, but he’ll do anything for a pastrami on rye!
…that’s his slogan. He has it printed on his business cards…
Sorry if I seem a little disconnected. Cami and I finished up all of our home projects this weekend. Well… almost. We still have to nail in all the quarter-round over the baseboards on the floor we installed. You younger kids down care about this stuff, I’m sure. But when your weekend is composed of multiple trips to Lowe’s, tunnel vision starts to set in.
I’m glad that most of the labor is complete, but now we’re facing the task of getting rid of all the garbage we produced and cleaning everything up. Not fun.
Something that WAS fun, however (hey, remember when I used to talk about movies?!) was Starsky & Hutch, which I went to see on Friday. I really enjoyed this movie. It’s not as gut-bustingly (is that a word?) funny as Todd Phillips last movie Old School, but it has a very friendly charm about it and I can see it growing on me after repeat viewings.
You can really tell that both Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have an affinity for the material. They’re not so much as spoofing it as paying homage to it. Will Ferrell’s cameo was nice. Probably the funniest part of the movie. I can’t wait to see him in more leading roles.
I remember reading somewhere that there were several shots in the movie composed to be exact recreations of scenes from the television show. Not being old enough to have seen the program when it was originally on the air, I couldn’t pick out which ones were which, so I guess I wasn’t meant to enjoy it on that level. Conversely, when they brought back the original Starsky & Hutch – Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul – it didn’t resonate with me. I knew I was watching something supposedly “important”, but kept thinking to myself “Who are these old guys supposed to be?”
The end credits are a real treat. There are some out takes including footage of a couple of the Ford Torinos they wrecked during a couple of the stunts.
Oh, yeah. And Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear is off the hizzle fo’ shizzle. I had no idea a man that tall could be that skinny. Snoop needs to put some meat on his bones! You’d think with all the dope he smokes, he would have consumed enough munchies-inspired Twinkies to have earned that extra “G” in Dogg.
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You know you’ve really “made it” in web comics when your merchandise starts showing up on fictional characters like in today’s Aikida. You’ll notice that the lead character is wearing the ever-classy “Pimp Tom” t-shirt. And believe me, there isn’t any more valuable real estate in web comics.
If “Pimp Tom” is good enough for Aikida, isn’t it good enough for you?
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It took me two and a half years, but finally – TRIUMPHANTLY! – Pimp Tom returns!
Long time readers might remember Pimp Tom’s first (and previously last) appearance in March of 2004. Fan reaction was strong at the time and Theater Hopper’s first t-shirt we made bearing his image. Puzzled strangers the world over asked in unison “What’s ‘Ten Bucks’?” Old time fans? This one is for you.
After the holiday and the conclusion of the eligible awards period, you can’t help but feel a little used. Studios are all about unloading their “best” films at the end of the year for two reasons. Box office gold (because everyone has some extra free time to spend in the theater when they’re on vacation) and Oscar gold (it’s the latest studios can have their films in theaters and the greater likelyhood that voters will remember their offerings come nomination time). Then the first of the new year rolls around and you’re treated to such winners as Code Name: The Cleaner. Seriously – why does Cedric The Entertainer still get work?
There is such a vast ocean of garbage being dumped into theaters at this time, I feel like I have to hold my breath until Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth surfaces somewhere in a theater near me. Rescue me, Guillermo!
It’s day three since the big redesign and people seem to really like the new design. Most people either seem to be reacting to the over-abundance of red, the tiny type or portions of the site being cut off. I’ve enlarged the type a little bit. You’ll have to tell me if it’s easier to read. I’m still toying with the color scheme a little. I’ll probably try to weigh it down a little more. As far as pieces of the site being cut off, I think I know what’s causing it. Something to do with how the site has been centered using the style sheets. But I haven’t quite figured out how to fix it.
In the meantime, my priority is finding time to update the store and I’m adding content back to the site as fast as I can. A few people commented that some of the navigation on the top of the page doesn’t work. That’s because I haven’t created the content for those pages yet. But it’s coming soon and I’ll notify you when it’s live.
Many thanks to those of you who have been playing with the comic ranking system. If you’re curious, we have a page that lists the Top 50 strips that can be found here. We’ll give it a permanent home soon enough – once we’ve collected enough votes to make the list a little more rounded out. I’m thinking of going back to my good friend Dave Buist from Taking the Bi-Pass who wrote the application and seeing if we can also list the number of votes an individual strip has received. What else would you like to see on this page? Let me know in the comments section of this blog!
The list has a good mix so far, but I think people have mostly been ranking the most recent comics and they haven’t been searching through the archives and ranking their favorites. If you don’t see your favorite strip on that list anywhere, type in a few keywords in the archive search field, dig it out and have your voice be heard!
By the way – thanks, too, for all of you who tested out the commenting system in Monday’s blog. It was very rewarding to see 23 comments on the very first blog! Let’s keep it up! I invite you to give it another whirl! Tell me which films you’re looking forward to in 2007! There’s gotta be some good news after the requisite drought of the first few months of ’07, right?
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Today’s guest comic comes to us from none other than Michael Lalonde of Ornerboy. It’s an alternate ending to the most recent Pimp Tom strip and I laughed out loud after reading it! Michael was a worried it was a little too dark. I thought it was the perfect way to get your attention on a Monday morning! It’s also the perfect blend of bright colors and macabre humor that is Ornerboy’s trademark. If you aren’t reading Michael’s excellent comic, check it out now!
As I mentioned in Friday’s blog, I will be running guest strips on Monday’s and Wednesday through the month of February as Cami and I prepare for the birth of Baby B. He’s due on the 15th, so I’m trying to free up my schedule as much as possible in case Cami goes early. Plus, maintaining this schedule through February will give me time to be with my son after the fact.
You can expect new comics from me every Friday as well as blogs throughout the week.
Posting today’s guest strip and recognizing what it means for the future of the site leaves me feeling a little untethered. I have no idea how this baby is going to impact the site. Obviously, my family is my priority so my attention will go to them first. The question is how much free time will be left over to work on the site. I can’t say for certain if I’ll still be able to keep up with three full-color comics a week or if I’ll have to cut back.
I find myself flip-flopping on the issue a lot. Sometimes I think I can draw the comic at work over my lunch break and take in my laptop to color it. That way, I’m not taking any time away from Cami and the baby at home. Other times I think I shouldn’t take on more than I can handle and maybe I should just do one full color comic a week. Other times still I think I should hang up Theater Hopper completely and do a black and white journal comic. Who knows? Maybe it’s time to go in another direction?
I don’t think the last option is all that likely. The thing I think about most is maintaining the momentum I’ve managed to build up over the last year. I would hate to lose what I’ve worked so hard at. So, I have to cross my fingers and hope you guys stick around during this transitional phase.
Oh! I wanted to tell you guys something that I’m super excited about! I did some work on the store this weekend and I am proud to announce MERCHANDISE BUNDLES!
The concept is very simple: The more you buy, the more you save. I am currently offering six different combination of shirts and books. I really want to start selling off some of this inventory – especially the books, which are taking up A TON of room in the house – so that I can introduce some new and different items. So take advantage of these deals! I introduced bundling at some of the conventions I went to last year and it was a hit. I’m hoping it’ll translate here.
By the way, don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list. Because the next feature I introduce in the store will be coupon discounts and the ONLY way you’re going to get the code is if you’re signed up on the mailing list. One e-mail a week to tell you what’s going on with the site. That’s all you have to put up with in return.
Last bit of site news – Don’t forget to check out tonight’s Triple Feature talkcast featuring myself, Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex. Since there really aren’t any good movies to talk about lately, I think we’re going to be discussing movies that changed our lives. So there will probably be a good opportunity to get on the line and talk to us while we’re broadcasting live. Remember – that’s TONIGHT at 9:00 pm CST. Join us!
By the way, I started a thread in the THorum about the future of Theater Hopper. If you guys are interested, you can leave your two cents there or here in the comments section of the blog. I appreciate your feedback!
Talk to you soon!
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Back in 2004, I created a comic that introduced an alter ego for Tom who went by the name “Pimp Tom.” Reaction to the character was so positive, I created a shirt in his honor.
As part of the massive fire sale I have going on now in the store, I sold the very last shirt christened with his image. It seems unlikely to me that I will ever produce another Pimp Tom shirt again.
I was thinking about the character, though and I don’t know why I haven’t used him more often. I break out Jared’s alter ego “Goth Jared” usually two or three times a year. He even has his own entry on the Cast page!
I don’t know. I don’t have anything especially insightful to say. Maybe I’m just feeling a little nostalgic. I could bring back Pimp Tom any time I suppose. Maybe have Pimp Tom meet Goth Jared! Who knows?
I’m just making observations, I suppose.
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