Archive for August, 2002
15 items.
So this is the first Theater Hopper strip, eh? God, I had hoped it would be funnier. But, what are you gonna do?…
Thanks for taking time out of your busy work day to waste a few quick seconds at my site. This is something I’ve wanted to take a swing at for a really long time. Hopefully, with your help I’ll improve.
If you like what you see so far, please tell more people about the site. I also encourage everyone to visit the forum and register. It’ll be a cool place to hang out and talk smack about movies.
As far as today’s strip goes, it’s a pretty common scenario for me. I’ve been known to drop impersonations of Dr. Evil randomly into many conversations. I think the more intellectual friends of mine are a little tired of it, but afraid to tell me to knock it off for fear I may call them “frickin’ eediots”. Or maybe not.
I’d love to get some suggestions on how to make the site better, but unfortunately, I’m having trouble setting up my e-mail through Microsoft Outlook. Eventually it will be tom@theaterhopper.com. But in the meantime, if you have suggestions, take them to the forum and I can pick them up there.
Thanks again and I’ll see you here soon!
[ 2 Comments ]
It’s Wednesday, so that can only mean one thing: new strip!
I’m going to try and work a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule, so be sure to check back to the site on those days for new content. I may try to sneak in even fresher content like movie reviews later, so you might want to hedge your bets and check in EVERY day! (I’m so sly…)
I decided to go with a 4 panel strip because I was finding it difficult to squeeze in all of the art and dialogue I wanted to in a 3 panel strip. It’s a little bigger, but I think it looks better. Let me know what you think.
I’ve been pimping the site out to a lot of other artists in the online comic strip community as well as a few forums. I know I only had the one strip when I was soliciting you, but thanks for the positive feedback. It’s helped to re-enforce the idea I can really make a go of this.
If you haven’t already, you should sign up for the forum. We already have a few members and it’s shaping up nicely. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the simple interface — even if you’re not a regular forum junkie.
That’s all for now. Be sure to check back Friday for a new strip!
[ No Comments ]
So the first week of Theater Hopper has come to a close. I have to say it’s been a moderate success. Thanks to everyone who has visited the site. Here’s to many more hits in my counter. Er, I mean… laughs and ever-loving friendship! Yea, that’s the ticket!
Today’s strip is basically an indication of how badly my wife doesn’t want to see XXX.
That’s right, I said wife. I really haven’t made any attempt to explain it in the past, but like most strips, the characters are representative of real people in my life. The blond haired fella is supposed to be me, the woman (obviously) is my wife Cami. She asked to be in a strip and she got her wish.
The brown haired dude you saw in the last two strips was the toon alter-ego of my good friend Jared. As far as I know, he never asked to be immortalized in four-color glory, but sometimes life throws us curve balls, y’know?
Whether or not these are the names of the characters, I’ll leave that up to you to decide. I may end up giving them different names down the line – I may just leave them nameless. If you have an opinion in the matter, post it in the forums. Better still, you can now e-mail me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com. I finally got Microsoft Outlook to work, so I can now receive all your comments.
Speaking of which, if you have any suggestions on how to make the site better, I’m more than willing to listen. I’m thinking about adding a section underneath the blog area for movie news. If you can think of any other features I can add, send them in.
One last bit of business and then I’ll let you go about your merry way.
I’ve got to give major shout-outs to a few people who linked to me in their news blogs and for whom I would like to return the favor. Each of them run awesome strips and you need to check them out immediately.
Muchos gracias to:
Zach Miller of No Pants Tuesday
Zach of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Mike and Aric of Fish Strips
Sean of Force Monkeys
Regular gracias to these fellas for being such extra nice guys:
Eric Drobile of Mall Monkeys
David Stanworth of Snafu
Carrington Vanston of Movie Punks
[ No Comments ]
I’ll be up front and admit that I haven’t seen Blood Work and really don’t plan to. I don’t know. Something about watching Clint Eastwood run around after serial killers at 72 years old seems a little off. It strikes me that I am not the intended demo for this picture.
All things the same however, and having read a few reviews of the film, I discovered that ol’ Leatherface gets a love scene in the flick. And I’m not talking a kiss and a peck. I’m talkin’ full-on “If this van’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin'” type action. Yeah. Please do you best not to blow chunks onto your keyboards.
But what do I do with this information now that I have it? The same thing any responsible young adult would do! Make fun of it mercilessly! With that, have decided to make this BLOOD WORK WEEK!
That’s right! All of the strips this week will revolve around Blood Work and the ultra-grody concept that Clint gets his swerve on in the flick. Let’s hope he doesn’t throw out a hip!
It may seem like a cheap-out, but seriously, within moments of reading these reviews and learning of the bedroom antics, a flood of concepts for the strip flooded into my brain. Gotta strike while the iron is hot, you know!
Fun Game: The punchline of today’s strip alludes to a classic cult 80’s movie. E-mail me if you think you know what I’m referencing and you’ll… be mentioned in Wednesday’s blog. Hey, I’m just starting out here! Did you think you were going to snag free gear, or something?
Gotta give shout-outs to everyone visiting the site. We had over 150 hits on Friday which I think is pretty good for only being an active site for five days. So thank you!
I’m thinking of adding more features to the site to ratchet up those numbers. Here’s a short list of ideas. Write me and let me know what you would like to see!
Movie reviews
Updated movie news on the front page
Free for all links
If there’s something not on this list you can suggest, I’m very willing to hear your thoughts.
Here’s hoping you like today’s strip. Come back Wednesday for Part II in the Blood Work saga!
[ 1 Comment ]
If you’re visiting the site, that means you were curious to find out what happens in part 2 of BLOOD WORK WEEK! Good for you.
For those of you just being introduced to this story arc, let me provide a quick summary:
Blood Work: Haven’t seen it, don’t plan to. Read review. Review mentioned sex scene for star Clint Eastwood. Creative epiphany occurred. Milking it for all it’s worth.
Something quick I’d like to vent about in today’s news blog. What the hell is this crap?
For years we’ve been teased that a Superman vs. Batman movie could be in the works. Nick Cage, Kevin Smith and Tim Burton were all attached to various incarnations of the project at some point.
Then, a few weeks ago, Wolfgang Peterson comes out and confirms, yes, he is directing this clash of the titans for Warner Bros.
Geek hearts a-flutter, rumors spilled all over the Internet hot sheets. Who would play the heroes? Colin Ferrell, Jude Law and Josh Harnett were all names lobbed about. Peterson was talking it up in the press, expunging greatly on how excited he was to be associated with the project and the cool thematic elements he was developing for the story.
Now we come to learn Peterson is shelving the project to concentrate on the Greek epic Troy!?! Gimme a friggin break! Hey, Wolfie! I already saw Gladiator — twice! We don’t need another luke-warm rehash of the swords and sandals genre!
The whole ordeal is such a tease. What could be a really fun opportunity is brushed aside for a project Peterson is clearly using as Oscar bait. It just pisses me off because now the odds of Bats vs. Supe movie getting shelved entirely have just tripled in my eyes.
That aside, I wanted to take a second to divert your attention to a less-controversial, but more entertaining Troy — Troy’s Bucket!
For those of you who read PvP regularly, you might have already found their link in Scott’s last newspost. I wanted to do the same because, like myself, the Troy’s Bucket crew are denizens of West Des Moines, Iowa. I wrote Beaner to say “Hi” and he’s ultra-suade. Go visit the site. The strip is funny as hell and the backgrounds are some of the most beautifully rendered and detailed in all web-comicdom.
Beaner and I are talking cross-over somewhere down the line, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, quick shout out to Carrington Vanston of Movie Punks for guessing Monday’s trivia question correctly. The movie I was referencing in the strip was the 80’s comedy Real Genius. I guess when all else fails, default to the guy who also runs a movie-themed web comic! 🙂
Hey! When you’re done visiting the sites I’ve been plugging, but sure to come back here and dive into the forums! We need some good people to get things going in there!
[ No Comments ]
I’m having too much trouble with Microsoft Outlook to continue messing around with it anymore. From now on, instead of sending e-mails to tom@theaterhopper.com, please forward all correspondence to theaterhopper@hotmail.com. All of the other mailto: links on the site should reflect this change.
I know trading in one Microsoft product for another really isn’t an improvement, but I’ve been using hotmail since, like 1996. It’s what I’m used to and it’s too late to change.
Also, for those of your having trouble with the forums, I tweaked the permissions and hopefully it will clear up and roadblocks you were running into.
Last thing I’ll mention, I’m looking for a good FREE news service that I can post to the front page. I was thinking something like Moreover, but apparently, they don’t give out their scripting for free anymore. If you have any suggestions, e-mail me.
[ No Comments ]
Aug16
Well, here we are. At the end of Blood Work Week. You know, it’s funny. I given this movie a lot more coverage then the average movie-goer. I think it was all but dismissed by most critics, and here I am spending a week on it while the rest of the nation is awaiting the release of The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
I don’t know who among us has our priorities more twisted.
I hope you notice a difference in quality in this strip compared to Wednesdays. I wasn’t very happy with the way that one came out, so I asked around for tips and got some good advice. I spent a little more time on this one. Hopefully you can detect the effort. Nevermind Jared looks like he’s screaming like a little girl meeting N’Sync in the last panel.
I’m finding it difficult to find consistency between the strips, but most of the people I talk to assure me that it will develop in time. I’m so impatient about these things. Working as a web designer, I’m used to my results being much cleaner. It’s been a while since I’ve worked in a more “organic” format.
I wish I had reason to sound off on some of the new releases this week, but truthfully, I’m not excited about any of them.
The Adventures of Pluto Nash is an Eddie Murphy sci-fi comedy that was shelved for two years. Producers say it was to complete complicated CGI work. I say the American public can smell fear. Castle Rock was wise to dump it August.
Positive buzz to the contrary, Blue Crush looks like nothing more than a brain-dead jock fantasy featuring rail thin actresses in bikinis. If I wanted to have my intelligence stunted, I’d watch The Anna Nicole Show on E!
I doubt I would have much time for movies this weekend anyway. It’s a big wedding weekend for those around us. I’m going to a shower tonight, and a wedding in Kansas City tomorrow. We’re all over the map pledging support to the sanctity of an institution.
I’m working on installing a blog that will allow for both myself and Jared (the guy with the brown hair above) to post to this area. This whole area feels so one-sided to me.
I’ve also moved around some of the links and cleared out the “VOTE FOR ME” boxes. Using those sites to promote myself made me feel kinda shady. Plus, the whole voting system is subjective and I don’t have the energy to beg for your validation. Cream floats to the top. If my work suffers and no one comes, that’s my fault, not yours because you didn’t vote on some site.
Anyway, enough ranting. Here’s hoping everyone has a good weekend. Why don’t you let us know what’s going down in your life by joining the forums? They’re really shaping up nicely!
[ No Comments ]
Now before anyone gets their knickers in a twist over today’s strip, keep in mind that I ran this joke by my wife first and she thought it was hilarious. Just goes to show how awesome she is. If you’ve got a problem, write Dear Abby.
I’m exhausted right now from spending several hours in the car. I was in Kansas City over the weekend for a wedding. That was fine. Just the drive down and back sucked. Cold and cloudy both ways. I had trouble staying awake. It makes a long drive that much more insufferable no matter how many games of I Spy you play.
I’m sad to say I haven’t been to many movies recently. August is always a dumping ground to me. Don’t believe me? Look in the paper? Does anyone want to see Pluto Nash? I didn’t think so.
So I sat and thought about some of the movies I’m looking forward to seeing this year. I just got my Entertainment Weekly with the Fall preview inside. Thumbing through it, I can see there is hope.
For some reason, Moonlight Mile has captured my attention. I don’t know if it’s because I hold great faith for Jake Gyllenhaal after Donnie Darko, or if it’s because of the trailer. Granted, it’s not shy about it’s ambitions to yank your heartstrings right out of your chest, but any role that will corers an earnest performance from Dustin Hoffman (instead of the loudmouth wankers he’s been playing lately) is a plus in my book.
Red Dragon has piqued my interest as well. From what I’ve heard, Anthony Hopkin’s Lecter isn’t in the movie much, so it might not be an greedy attempt to cash in on the brand. Plus, it’s written by Ted Tally (who won an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs) and his script stays closer to the book than Manhunter did. Throw in Ed Norton and Ralph Fiennes for good measure and I think it will work. My only reservation? Brett Ratner from the Rush Hour franchise is in the directors seat.
Other films I’m interested in:
The Ring, Bowling for Columbine, Die Another Day, Solaris, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Catch Me if You Can, About Schmidt, Star Trek: Nemesis, Punch-Drunk Love, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
Those are the films I HAVE to see. There are a few others that I’m kinda interested in seeing, but those are more likely peer-pressure movies — movies you see so you can have something to talk about with everyone else who saw them. Harry Potter?… I’m looking in your direction.
Last thing I’ll mention, I’m having trouble logging into the forums. I don’t know if any of you are having the same problem, but when I enter my username and password, this is the information I get:
Ikonboard CGI Error
————————————————————————————-
Ikonboard has exited with the following error:
Undefined subroutine &BoardsView::birthday called
This error was reported at: Sources/Boards.pm line 153.
Please note that your ‘real’ paths have been removed to protect your information.
If any of you are having the same problem, please let me know. If not, and this phenomenon is completely unique to me, please point me in the right direction toward getting it fixed. I’d really like to get back into the fray. We’ve had a lot of new people register and things are starting to pick up in there.
Thanks and see you Wednesday!
[ 4 Comments ]
Ignore the science of today’s strip. I don’t know if jaundice causes your hair to fall out or eyes to bulge, but I do know it will color you skin. It’s a visual joke, so just roll with the punches.
Really all I know about jaundice is that baby’s get it sometimes because they don’t have enough iron in their blood, right? They give them pills for that, I think?
…reason #1024 I didn’t go to med school.
All things the same, it should be known I’m a hard-core Simpsons fan. Before they started putting out complete seasons on DVD, I was taping episodes from syndication. I think by the time the first season had been release, I had accumulated about ten 6-hour tapes. I had a lot of friends borrow and dub those tapes. I could have made a killing selling my episodes commercial-free and burned to DVD-R if I were a little more quick on the uptake.
…reason #563 I didn’t become a small-time hustler.
To those who were unaware, I was finally able to get back into the forums. What quark of fate allowed this to happen I can’t isolate, but it’s good to be back.
Right now I’m working on integrating the look of the forums a little closer to the rest of the site. So this means if you start seeing similar graphics, colors or fonts from what you’re used to, you aren’t hallucinating. It’s intentional.
I’m also working on incorporating Blogger to the main page so that Jared can make updates just as I do. If you go to any other comic site, you’ll know what I’m attempting to do.
The snare I’m caught on at the moment is getting the archived blogs to sync up with prior toons. I want to make it so you can read these posts with the appropriate strip. If you have any tips, send them my way.
Things with the site are going pretty well. We’re into our third week of production and have accumulated over 1,100 unique hits. I think that’s pretty good for coming out of nowhere. Of course, I have you to thank.
Keep coming back to the site. Jared and I are working out a plan to post some of our old “battle comics” from when we were in junior high. It’ll probably be tied to a donation objective – i.e. Users donate “x” amount of money and we post the old toons for all to see. So anyway, start loosening those wallets.
I’ll be back here soon…
[ No Comments ]
Today’s strip makes me laugh. If I’m a dork for admitting that, then crown me King Dork of The Land of Dork.
I’ve always been a fan of Tex Avery-style slapstick violence. I get a good chuckle out of the idea putting someone in a situation they are completely oblivious to, and nonsensical violence is their comeuppance.
Regardless, Al Pacino’s new flick Simone left the door wide open to a strip like this one. At least in my brain — where “one + B = elephant.”
I don’t know if any of you have seen the trailers or commercials for Simone, but basically, Pacino creates a computer-generated movie star when his flesh and blood lead walks out of the picture he’s directing. Of course, Simone goes on to super-stardom and is internationally loved. Pacino is then left to deal with the repercussions of his lie which that grown beyond his control.
This movie doesn’t just wear its intentions on it’s sleeve, it shoves them in your fucking face. “ARE YOU LEARNING ANYTHING FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?! DO YOU HEED OUR WARNING?!” It should have the words “A MORAL DRAMA” printed out in big, bold letters at the base of the poster.
Maybe I’m jumping the gun. After all, I haven’t actually seen the film. But once my B.S. alarm sounds, it’s a loud li’l bugger and hard to ignore. I’d rather a film sneak in the back door with it’s message rather than beat me over the head with it. As pretentious as it was American Beauty did a good job of this.
Maybe I’m just too sensitive.
[ No Comments ]
