Posts Tagged ‘talking’

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GUEST STRIP – JOSH ANDERSON

by Tom on February 26, 2007 at 12:00 am
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(11 votes, average: 8.18 out of 10)
gues strip, Josh Anderson, Man In A Box Comics, construction, talking, Ghost Rider, Nicholas Cage, Donald Logue, Oscars, live blog

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!

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THE TIME?

by Tom on January 29, 2007 at 12:00 am
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(16 votes, average: 8.25 out of 10)
Timothy Olyphant, Catch and Release, yelling, talking, shut up

I'm not going to lie to you - this is one of those times where I just had the hardest time putting the comic together. Everything from the set up, to the punchline to sitting down and drawing the characters. I actually had to sit down and draw this one twice because I wasn't liking how it turned out. I think I must have written the punchline five times. Truthfully, the only panel I'm happy with is the third one. I just like the idea of time looking over the back of his chair earnestly and then WHAMMO!

Cami and I went to see Catch and Release on Friday night and this confrontation actually happened. We were sitting near the back of the theater and there were a group of teenage girls - probably no less than 10 - taking up most of the back row. They chatted INCESSANTLY. I had to say something. So, I flipped around in my chair and very loudly said "Are you guys going to talk through the whole movie or are you going to shut the hell up." I wish I could have been a little more witty in the moment, but it's hard to be clever when you're blood is boiling. I got the end result I wanted. Cami said the girls looked pretty shocked. It was kind of funny, actually. She actually had to touch my arm in an attempt to try and "reel me in." I got the "Okay, honey. That's enough." tap on the shoulder.

Look, a little cross-talk is fine. I can handle that. But I'm not exaggerating when I say they were having full-on conversations for more than 20 minutes. I'm talking like leaning over two or three chairs to talk to someone down the row. Take it outside! My attitude is, if you buy a ticket to see a movie in a theater, you have entered into a social contract that dictates you NOT act like an idiot! I have to wonder what must have been going through the heads of the couple sitting next to these girls. They didn't appear to be with them. Why didn't they say something? You have FULL clearance! If someone is being loud in a crowded theater, shame them into behaving! I would expect no less in return!

I know I'm kind of mining the same territory as a previous comic (even using the same character designs for the chatty girls). But I feel like every time this occurs to me in real-life, I need to address it in the comic. I know the people I admonished in the theater will never read this, but I want it to serve as a reminder. Or maybe a warning to someone else. If I'm in your theater, WATCH OUT!

I gotta wrap this up because I've stayed up way too late. But before I forget, I want to remind everyone to check out our weekly installment of The Triple Feature talkcast with Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies, Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex and myself at 9:00 pm CST. This week we'll be talking about the recently announced Oscar nominations. Tune in and participate! We'd love to get your feedback! Quick shout-out to Joe, by the way, for referencing Theater Hopper and my Sean Bean Death Theory in his January 22 comic. Thanks, Joe!

Talk to you soon!

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MOVE ALONG NOW

by Tom on January 14, 2005 at 12:00 am
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(5 votes, average: 8.40 out of 10)
Charlie, insulted, talking, fourth wall

Sometimes Tom has trouble gauging the passage of time. Sometimes I wonder if "real life" Tom doesn't suffer the same affliction. Have we been talking about Charlie for two weeks?

Today's comic brushes up against the 4th wall a little bit, but only if you were paying attention. It's actually a subtle commentary on some of the feedback I requested in Wednesday's blog.

This isn't me poking fun at anyone who took the time and care to write. I actually agree with a lot of what I was hearing.

While some people said they were enjoying Charlie's introduction just fine, some people commented that they felt it was being drawn out too long. I actually received a couple of notices that the last two weeks of strips simply weren't funny.

It's cool. I take it in stride. I wouldn't have asked for criticism if I couldn't handle the negative stuff. I want to publicly thank everyone who was thoughtful enough to write in and let me know what they felt was working at what wasn't.

I mean, on the one hand, I feel that I've committed myself to the story that I want to tell and there probably isn't a lot that anyone can say or do that's going to change that. Besides, it would be pretty lame of me to change course on the comment based on the suggestions of a vocal few. It would be creatively fraudulent of me to kowtow to someone else's vision when it's my own artistic satisfaction that has been propping this up for the last 2 and half years.

But on the other hand, the internet is a marvelous tool that allows me to receive very specific feedback very quickly and it would be foolish not to take advantage of that.

Basically what those e-mails did for me was put into focus my own doubts about this new direction. While I believe strongly that some things are working, it puts into focus the issues I was concerned about. Basically, it answered the question, "Does this seem weird to anyone else, or is it just me?"

I should note that although I've strongly trumpeted the "NEW DIRECTION" of Theater Hopper through basically ever media outlet I could uncover, what's been happening for the last two weeks won't be a permanent shift in tone away from comedy and toward the dramatic.

Some of you said that while introducing Charlie, I've strayed away from the meat and potatoes of the site - topical reflections on movies and pop culture. I agree. But I FULLY INTEND to come back to that. The objective here is to lay the groundwork for a new character so when I do return to that format, there will be a fully-realized creation through which I can filter my opinions. Bringing Charlie into the fold adds a whole new layer to what I can say about movies. She brings a new voice and a fresh perspective.

However, in order to do that, I need to make her prominent. While readers have become familiar with Tom, Cami and Jared over the last 2 and half years, I have to establish A LOT of exposition in a short amount of time if I'm going to make Charlie their contemporary. In other words, so that the audience will recognize that the words coming out of her mouth are coming from an honest place in terms of characterization. That there is motive. That there is a background story which is the prism through which she interprets her situation.

This sounds heady, I know. But I've put a lot of thought into. Maybe too much thought. Maybe what's important is that people come to the site to be ENTERTAINED and they don't need to be bogged down by the drama of FICTIONAL characters.

Whatever the situation, one thing has become clear. While undertaking what I want to achieve with the comic and the characters in 2005, there's no reason it can't be funny. This weekend I am going to reassert my focus and strive toward that.

Goodness, that was quite the little manifesto, wasn't it? If you have any response to what I'm putting out there, I am always available.

That said, I want to remind everyone that TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO PRE-ORDER A T-SHIRT, BABY DOLL TEE OR HOODIE! After today, I'm going to shut down that portion of the store probably for the next few months. So if you were thinking about getting a Spoiler t-shirt any time soon, now's the time to do it.

Actually, if you were thinking about getting a "Professional Movie Goer" shirt, now would be THE BEST time to do it. The design hasn't been a strong seller, so I'll probably discontinue it after today.

I have some other site-related thoughts bouncing around in my head. I might come back and share them later if I have time.

Honestly, are there any other web comics out there that pull the curtain back as far as I do in regards to process? I mean, it's not like I'm showing you the penciled artwork before I ink and color it, or anything. I'm affording you frigging real estate IN MY BRAIN. You totally get a glimpse of all my little hang-ups bringing this thing to you 3 times a week, don't you?

Ho, boy. Life in the Digital Age...

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