Well, this wraps up the week of Spider-Man references. Too bad. I was having fun drawing the mask.

For some reason, I’m always at a loss on Friday’s when it comes to writing up the blog. Ideas float in and out, but nothing seems to stick. I should be writing this stuff down and refer to the notes.

I guess I might be seeing 8 Mile this weekend as it appears to be the only viable new release out there. Nevermind I haven’t gotten around to seeing Red Dragon or The Ring – two flicks I was really geared up for, but slacked off on seeing.

When I first heard about 8 Mile, I thought it was just going to be a hip-hop version of Glitter – another movie vehicle for a pop star. When I heard Curtis Hanson of LA Confidential and Wonder Boys was directing, I gave it pause for consideration.

My willingness to go has waned, but the generally positive reviews I’m hearing have piqued my interest again. Words like “intense”, “charismatic”, “powerful” and “inspirational” are being lobbed about. Your don’t use those words for things you hate.

The most interesting notices I’ve read have pegged Eminem for an Oscar nomination next year. I don’t know if it’s in the cards, but nobody thought Frank Sinatra would ever win an Oscar, either. The people at G.L.A.D.D. must be chewing the corners off the walls by now.

I was going to go into a thing about Eminem as an artist, but it’s been done to death. Let’s just say I own all three of his albums and think he is a talented voice. He’s got balls to make the leap to film so shortly after his introduction to mainstream America. Good luck to him.

I’m slowly creeping up on 50 strips and I’m beginning to panic. Part of me would like to celebrate. It’s really a milestone and I think I’ve shown my willingness to celebrate considering I was the guy who did a week of strips for getting 5,000 unique hits.

Obviously things have changed since then. Lots more people are coming to the site and I’m finding it brought up in conversation is some of the weirdest places. Someone is linking to me from the Barenaked Ladies message board? Site logs can be interesting sometimes.

In terms of the big five-oh, I’ve had some plans swirling around as to how to celebrate. I’ve been threatening to add a bonus section for a while now, but I don’t know. I guess I’ll just take this time to announce that if the milestone passes without a lot of hoopla, it’s not a disservice to the readers, I just don’t want to build up the possibility of some big change or addition to the site and then come up lame.

I’ve been noticing a few other sites like No Pants Tuesday and Mall Monkeys have really exploded lately. Both have given a lot of credit to Top Web Comics for bringing new readers to their sites.

We’ve been around the block on the TWC issue a few times. I think my stance is pretty clear. I think it’s a good promotional tool that has been bastardized along the way.

But now, watching these strips that came up around the same time I did finding success makes me second-guess myself.

I still think there’s a lot of negativity surrounding the methods sites use to generate hits. (Movie Comics – I’m looking in your direction) So in that respect, I’m glad I’m not involved. But sometimes I dream what I would be like to have my work exposed to more people.

I talked to Zach about it on AIM a couple of days ago. He told me I really painted myself into a corner with what I said about the TWC. He was right. But ultimately, good work is its own reward. If more and more people find the site through the links of other sites, the word of mouth will spread and more people will come. It’s up to me to keep the quality consistent. I trust the rest will take care of itself. Thanks to you guys, it looks like it will.

Don’t think for a second I’m going to cave and align myself with TWC. I’ve gone to far on my word to turn back now. It’s just good to think out loud sometimes.

At any rate, I’m glad I don’t have to slap those ugly TWC banners everywhere. They’d really clash with the design. There’s an upside to everything, it seems.

Have a great weekend. We’ve all earned it.