Posts Tagged ‘television’

3 items.

GONNA RUN OUT OF WINDOWS

by Tom on March 12, 2010 at 12:00 am
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(41 votes, average: 8.90 out of 10)
Iron Man 2, trailer, Oscars, television, window, throw

I don't know how you guys were raised, but when you have a television telling you things you don't want to hear, you toss it out the window.

When you have a friend telling you things you don't want to hear, well, same goes...

I really wish I could have talked about the new Iron Man 2 trailer sooner. I think after my extended run of Iron Man comics in 2008, people have come to associate me with the franchise very closely. People expect that I will have something to say about it. And, well, I do.

But first, here's the trailer in all it's glory (in the unlikely event that you haven't seen it yet.)

Okay, first thoughts? SUITCASE ARMOR?!?!? YESSSSSS!!!

Seriously, folks, if you're not a fan of Iron Man, you don't know what a big deal that is. For years, Tony Stark was known to travel with a briefcase that contained the boots, gauntlets and helmet of his armor. He wore a chest piece under his clothes and his arms and legs would then be covered by a pliable mesh that would then harden when the armor was sealed.

Iron Man, briefcase, armor, Tony Stark

It was totally impractical and goofy considering A.) You'd never be able to fit a helmet, two gauntlet and two boots into a standard-sized briefcase and B.) Wouldn't people see the ridges of the chest piece sticking out through Stark's shirt? But you went with it because, you know, it was a comic book.

The producers of the movie took a somewhat silly concept and made it alarmingly practical. Instead of the armor being inside the briefcase (or, in this instance, suitcase) they made the SUITCASE ITSELF the armor?! Friggin' brilliant. Why someone at Marvel didn't figure that one out years ago is beyond me. You gotta think there are some old school Iron Man scribes slapping their foreheads over that one! I can't wait to see this new armor in action.

I know that geeking out over the suitcase armor seems like a very specific thing to concentrate on. But to me, it's indicative of the care and affection the producers have for the character. They didn't need to throw in the suitcase armor. If they wanted to throw a shout-out to the geeks, they could have thrown in the Stealth Armor or maybe the torso of a Hulkbuster Stark is working on in his garage. Whatever.

Iron Man, Stealth Armor, Hulkbuster armor

But to include the suitcase armor, give it prominence in an action sequence AND make it practical? That's special. And, giving it the red and silver color scheme of the Silver Centurion armor was a nice touch, too.

Iron Man, Silver Centurion

As for the rest of the trailer, I think it's expertly cut together and certainly generates a lot of excitement. But I'm concerned that it establishes too much of a narrative flow. Watching it, I kind of got the sense I knew how the story was going to shake out. I hope they can squeeze in a few more surprises, but I'm starting to become concerned that I might have to enter "lock-down mode" a little early. Iron Man 2 doesn't come out until May 7. That's going to be a long time to wait!

Of course, I have all of the new Iron Man 2 merchandise to keep me company until then. I have a problem, people. How bad is it? I saw a circular for Toys R' Us in the newspaper on Sunday that said new Iron Man 2 toys were on sale and I went over my lunch hour on Tuesday to pick up a bunch of new figures. I'll have to take a picture. They're pretty sweet. In fact, I should take a picture of my office sometime. It's littered with Iron Man figures. Probably 50 or more. It's sick.

I KNOW you guys have an opinion about the new trailer. So let's open up the conversation in the comments area below. Tell me what you think of the Iron Man 2 trailer. Fire away!

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KILL YOUR TELEVISION

by Tom on March 10, 2010 at 12:00 am
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(33 votes, average: 8.21 out of 10)
Oscars, Best Original Score, Michael Giacchino, Up, breakdancers, television

Tom and Cami probably should have thrown that television out the window a decade ago. 2010 and they're still using rabbit ears? Get with the program!

I will admit that today's comic would have had more impact if it were paired with the Oscar recap that I penned on Monday. But you guys know the circumstances of why THAT didn't happen.

That said, I couldn't let the idea of this comic go. I still wanted to go forward with it rather than not leave a record within the comic's continuity that the 82nd Annual Academy Awards had happened.

Although, looking at the media landscape 3 days later, it almost feels like it didn't. I continue to be amazed by how fast the media and our culture synthesize and process these events. By now, Sunday night's broadcast is old, old, OLD news. I'm not seeing anyone talk about them now.

Maybe it's the media. Maybe it's the culture. Maybe it's just that there wasn't anything that memorable about the broadcast. Except that's not true when you consider that crazy lady with the bozo haircut that interrupted Best Documentary Short winner Roger Ross Williams.

People had their fun with it, I guess. The late night hosts ran a couple parodies that I saw. But they're not talking about it any more. I don't know. How could you expect them too and have them still be relevant?

Certainly something no one is talking about 3 days later is Katheryn Bigelow's win for Best Director. Considering she's the first woman to be recognized with the honor, you'd think it would be a bigger deal.

Remember when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won Best Actor and Best Actress? It seems like we were talking about that for a while before the sturm and drang subsided. Maybe Bigelow doesn't want to make as big a deal about it. Maybe she's limiting her accessibility. Or maybe it's just not that big of a deal. It probably shouldn't be. More women should be nominated. More women should win. Heck, more women should be out there directing! Calling attention to the "First Female Director To Win An Oscar" probably makes the idea of the honor less commonplace than it should be.

All I know is that being sidelined with a migraine this week has thrown me off-pace from what I REALLY want to talk about - The new Iron Man 2 trailer.

Believe me - Come Friday, I will have A LOT to say about it. Be sure to be here for that!

Until then, danke schoen.

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THEY SHOULD JUST CHANGE THE NAME

by Tom on January 10, 2003 at 12:00 am
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(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
The Shawshank Redemption, TBS, television

Today's strip was born from an inside joke that has run its course in our household. And so I bring it to you!

Both my wife Cami and I are of the thinking that TBS (AKA "The Superstation") should just go ahead and change it's name to "The Shawshank Network. Because no matter when we flip on the station, day or night, The Shawshank Redemption is always playing.

Don't get me wrong. I love the movie. It's probably up there in my Top 10. Well, Top 25 at least. But the message of the film loses a little bit of it's magic when you've seen it eleventy-billion times.

Maybe that's a long way around for a joke and maybe the payoff wasn't that big, but dammit, I enjoy today's strip. Hey, at least I got to try my hand at drawing the characters actually emoting without dialogue. That doesn't happen very often around here, my friend.

I have something not movie-related that I have to get off of my chest.

Tonight I got a call from a telemarketer. Not uncommon, really. So I wasn't upset. It some some gruff sounding dude who said he represented The Policemen's Association (whatever that is) and that they were raising money for a shelter for kids with cancer who have been abused by priests or something. Could they count on me for my support?

We've gotten several calls from these jokers in the last few months and each time, we tell them "No. I won't be handing over my hard-earned money. Would you please take our phone number off your calling list?"

Tonight was no different. I let the guy read his script then politely told him, "No, we won't be donating. Also, we've received several calls from you in the past and have asked to have our number taken off your list. Could you please..."

- click! -

THAT SON OF A BITCH HUNG UP ON ME!

I don't know why, but this really turned my crank and I flipped out. I tried to star-69 the guy, but his number was busy. I even went as far as to call the operator and asked him to give me the number of the last person who called our house so I could call this guy in the middle of the night and harass him.

And how do I know that he wasn't calling from a cube farm somewhere? Trust me. I used to be a telemarketer. You can tell when it's a local operation and they're calling from their homes. It's usually a side-income deal.

Well, anyway. I eventually decided to let it go because I realized that this is the kind of stress that causes the cancer - and I don't need that in my life. But still. Damn...

Speaking of weird telemarketing calls, Cami received one yesterday while I was out of the house. It was some organization calling for such and such a reason and if we wanted them to take our number off their calling list, they would have to confirm our address and stuff. Naturally, Cami was suspicious of the whole thing, so this kid told her to hold for a manager. The manager gets on the line and asks for PIN number so Cami can check her messages.

What? It was the most schitzo phone experience she ever had. Of course, unlike me, Cami has the common sense to hang up. And she did.

I'm going to try and get out this weekend to see either About Schmidt, Adaptation or Chicago. I really want to see the first two, but am lukewarm on the second. We'll see who wins the box office lottery.

One last note: No Pants Tuesday is up and running again and THANK GOD! I can't tell you how happy I am to see Zach making strips again. I love the art and the humor and he's a really fun guy to talk to. Plus, leaving us dangling with that Satan storyline.. well, that was just cold, man!

Anyhoo, his hiatus probably resulted in a drop off in readership. So I'm doing my part to make sure everyone knows now is the time to jump back on ship. Hey, everyone needs a little time to recharge their batteries every now and again.

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