Posts Tagged ‘voting’
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This is something I forgot to write about, but then thought that it was worth its own little news post. I’m talking about voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix.
As you guys probably know, we’ve be showing a strong placement in the number two spot for a couple of weeks now. I couldn’t be more proud. This is the highest ranking we’ve sustained in a quite a while. It’s noteworthy.
Of course, it’s been a little difficult to get around the current number one comic Order of the Stick. They’re about… oh, 40,000 ahead of us at the moment.
But the good news is this: After this month, OotS will be retired and placed in the Hall of Fame over at buzzComix, thus clearing the path for new comics to make it to the top. I figure we’ve been doing so well at number two for the last few weeks, why not make a push for number one?
This isn’t a “have to” situation and I know we were certainly helped by the hits we were getting from PvP earlier in the month, but it’s a nice goal to have. It’s just a bug I want to put in your ear when the buzzComix database resets at the first of the month.
Thanks everyone for your continued support!
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I know I should probably be talking about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Chest’s incredibly record-shattering $132 million weekend, but I saw this press release about Dakota Fanning being offered membership into The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and had to comment on it before it was no longer news-worthy.
Clearly, this is a move by the A.M.P.A.S. to counteract criticisms that it’s an old-fogey club. If you check the roster of other invitees, you’ll see younger actors such as Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley and Joaquin Phoenix we extended membership. But it’s Fanning’s name that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Dakota Fanning is 12 YEARS OLD. She can’t vote in an acutual election, but she can throw in her two cents on next year’s Best Picture nominees. Granted, helping to figure out who 2007’s Best Sound Effects award should go to is less imperitive than choosing who should be the next person to sit in the Oval Office, but can a 12 year-old objectively judge this kind of stuff? Or, more likely, was Fanning’s name tossed into the mix as a shrewd publicity move to get the media outlets to notice their larger initiative of proving that the Oscars are young! The Oscars are hip!
Truthfully, the name on the membership invitation list that REALLY caught my eye was Werner Herzog. If you need ANY proof that the A.M.P.A.S. is out of touch – even with their own constituents – you need look no futher than Herzog’s name on the invitation list. Outside of perhaps Tony Kaye, I can think of no other director who is more PURPOSEFULLY outside of the mainstream than Herzog. Obviously, it’s either some kind of makeup gesture for excluding Grizzly Man from the Best Documentary category last year or – barring that – Herzog’s more public profile as of late probably woke someone up and they said "Hey, that guy makes movies arty people like! Let’s invite him."
It’s my hope that Herzog tells them to take a long walk off a short pier. But that’s just me.
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I kind of painted myself into a corner with today’s comic because, originally, the set up required there to be some kind of massive upset at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony. The only problem, there were no real upsets! Pretty much everyone who was supposed to win, did. There weren’t really any awards handed out that I was upset with. I didn’t finish watching the show thinking anyone was snubbed or robbed. So I had to reconfigure the point I was making a little bit, but I think it comes off well.
Discussing today’s comic with Cami, I actually hit up a little mini-arc that addresses some of the politics behind the Oscar voting as well as attempt reveal some truth about persona biases.
That sounds pretty lofty. It’s not high-concept, or anything. I’m just trying to give you the head’s up that there will be a mini-arc this week. So if that gives you an excuse to come back to the site on Wednesday and Friday, feel free to use it.
Thinking back on last night’s show, the only real upset I can recall is French actress Marion Cotillard winng her first Academy Award for her portrayal of singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. Then again, Best Actress is always a crap shoot anyway. And – not to be xenophobic – the award hardly ever goes to an American actress, so I just kind of ignore it.
I was pleased beyond reason that “Falling Slowly” from Once won Best Original Song. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s performance made me want to stop what I was doing and watch Once all over again – easily my favorite movie last year.
Beyond that, nothing much to get excited about. Certainly it was obvious that there weren’t any huge blockbusters or A-level celebritires like Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts being celebrated. I’ll be curious to read about the ratings sometime today.
But when your Best Picture nominees include downers like There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, it’s likely to ostrisize the casual movie goer. Maybe that’s a good thing? More left over for the die-hard fans?
We discussed these issues and more on a special Sunday night recording of The Triple Feature over at TalkShoe. Gordon, Joe and I hopped on the line immediately after the Oscar telecast wrapped up and we shared our immediate impressions. You should really think about downloading a copy of the show. We kept it brief – 30 minutes since we recorded on a day we don’t typically record. It’s a good introduction to what we do. If you have a chance, give us a listen!
That said, we still have ANOTHER broadcast going on this evening. The three of us will be talking about NEW movies tonight including Be Kind, Rewind, Vantage Point and the recent multiple cast announcements for the upcoming Wolverine: Origins.
So be sure to tune in tonight at 9:00 PM CST for another episode of The Triple Feature! See you there!
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Feb27
For the record, Julie Christie is a total G.I.L.F.
Then again, maybe some thoughts are better kept to yourself.
I don’t know how today’s comic became a commentary on the overabundance of opinions in the digital age, but I don’t think the observation is any less true.
You can’t swing a USB mouse online without being confronted by someone else’s opinion about something. Truthfully, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We seek it out. When we buy a new camera, we want to learn about someone else’s experience with it. When we hear about the latest celebrity scandal, we check our favorite blogs to have our disgust validated by someone with a more erudite sense of humor.
The downside to all of this is that it creates a Critic Culture. Just like I pointed out in the comic, everyone has an opinion and no one can be wrong.
It may be a moot point when it comes to something like the Oscars since winners have always been chosen by industry people – members of the Academy or Motion Arts and Sciences.
Still with the annual cottage industry set up around the Oscars, all of the articles written, the handicapping, the predictions, the red carpet coverage, the dissection of fashion – it’s become more than recognizing achievement in film. And between the internet and cable television, there are a lot of hours to fill with opinions about all of it. Audiences asorb it and become part of the process. They start spouting off their own opinions. Is anyone an expert on anything anymore? Would you trust them if they claimed they were? Probably not. It won’t be long until every awards ceremony basically becomes a blown up version of the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards.
Maybe that’s not such a bad thing? Certainly no one is taking them seriously now. I mean, the lowest rated telecast in Oscar history? Yikes. Either people are starting to see through the charade the Oscars have become (do we really need so many montages during the show?) or true movie fans are a dying breed.
The Academy made some interesting choices this year. A lot of indie fare that most people didn’t get to see. So blame the Academy or blame the audience. Me – I blame the Critic Culture.
The one I proudly represent.
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I realized this morning that I forgot to upload today’s Top Web Comics incentive sketch.
So, if it’s not too late and you want to know what’s up with the old guy in today’s comic, vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics to find out!
Thanks!
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I’ve gone a little blog crazy today. Sorry about that. But I wanted to tell you about a new/old feature I’ve added back to the site. I say “old,” because this is something we had before we brought the site into WordPress earlier in the year. I’ve been shopping around for just the right plugin and I think I’ve found it.
What am I talking about? Why, comic ranking of course!
Now you can let us know how you feel about any comic in the archive by ranking it on a handy scale of 1 to 10. Some of my web comic buddies told me “Tom, you’re nuts! You should never let your readers pass judgment on you in this way!”
But I say “Hooey!” We did it once before and it worked out great! Were there a few comics that I liked that were poorly ranked? Sure! But it didn’t diminish the reasons *I* found them funny. And besides, why shouldn’t you have a say?
The previous ranking application bore unexpected fruit. It helped me to pick which comics to put into our Top 25 Sampler Booklet which is something I use to introduce people to Theater Hopper at conventions every year!
By the way, did you know you can now purchase a copy of the booklet? I put it up in the store a few weeks ago and it’s only $3.00! It’s a great way to introduce new readers to the comic and it includes a brief paragraph with commentary for each strip – just to frame it in context a little.
Who knows… Now that we have the ranking system back, I might have to do a second edition of the booklet!
If you’ve got nothing better going on, take a little time to comb through the archives and pick out your favorite strips. Rank them to get the ball rolling. The search bar is returning more robust results every day. Just type in a few search terms to find your favorite strips!
Enjoy!
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Something I’ve found very interesting since instituting it last week are the comic ranking results that are being returned for the individual strips.
I know a lot of comic creators who don’t feel comfortable opening up their work to this kind of scrutiny, but I appreciate it because it let’s me know how you guys feel in an environment where you might otherwise be uncomfortable telling me directly.
For instance, Monday’s comic about how they changed Cyclops’s optic blasts in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It’s the highest ranked comic on the site with the 3rd largest number of votes. That tells me a lot, so I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been voting.
Incidentally, if Monday’s comic was something you enjoyed, feel free to share it with others by using the ShareThis application that’s linked directly above the voting tool.
And if you’re interested to see how some of the other comics stack up, I’ve created a ratings page that shows you the 25 most popular comics, the 10 least popular comics and the 10 comics with the most votes.
If you think a comic is being represented either fairly or unfairly, feel free to vote and change things! The more people who vote, the more valuable the ratings become!
Thanks again!
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As I posted yesterday on the Theater Hopper Facebook page, I kind of keep forgetting that the Oscars are this Sunday. I don’t know why I’m not more excited about them. I guess because the field of nominations this year feels so… safe.
In my head, it’s between The King’s Speech and The Social Network to walk away with the big prizes Sunday night. It all depends on whether or not Academy voters buy the hype behind The Social Network being the “first important film of this generation.” Considering the voters tend to skew older and that they value more traditional forms of entertainment, my money is on The King’s Speech winning them over.
At any rate, here’s my 2011 Oscar ballot – complete with who I think WILL will and who I think SHOULD win.
What do you think? Am I way off base with my predictions? Who do you think will walk away with Top Honors from this year’s Academy awards? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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