Well, I’m back from the holiday and thoroughly exhausted. But it’s always good to be with family. No qualms about falling asleep on the couch with a pool of drool under your chin. Here’s hoping your break is treating you just as well.

Got to see Gangs of New York over the holiday and really liked it. DiCaprio and Diaz were passable, but dropped their accents too often for my liking – the lazy, pampered fops. Daniel Day-Lewis, on the other hand, is a revelation. His turn as Bill the Butcher isn’t just a good performance in this movie, but a great performance across the span of the history of film.

He is entirely convincing as the violent and corrupt Butcher. You’d never know it was an Irishman under all that grease and grime. He locks on to this flat Noo-Yawk accent and never lets go. His fervor is palpable. He did an excellent job.

Hopefully I can write up a review for it, but right now, I’m pounding out my two cents on Star Trek: Nemesis. The die-hard Trekkers won’t be happy. I plan on giving it a drubbing. With luck, the review will be up later today. Come back later for a heaping helping.

I’m been having some serious problems with my local theater lately – The Wynnsong 16. The last few times I’ve been there, I’ve encountered screw up after screw up. Tickets issued for the wrong time, being charged full price for a matinee, down right snide concession workers. When we went to see Gangs, the sound was off and we were listening to Movie Tunes for the first 15 minutes. I’ve got a list of stories as long as my arm and I’m pissed about it.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m a realist. I know they don’t pay these kids squat. They’re motivated by little else than moving your dead weight out of line and wrestling with the next moron. I should know. I’ve worked in movie theaters. But never in my years would I be bald-faced rude to customers. I may dismiss you, but I never went out of my way to harm you. It’s a whole new ball game now.

I thought about writing an essay for the site and really going into detail about my disappointment. I’m sure everyone else has run into these characters. I felt it would surely strike a universal chord.

Then I realized that I have the ultimate soapbox – the strip! So expect next week to detail some of my true-life adventures butting heads with the dimwits at Wynnsong 16. When it’s all over, maybe someone from the theater will have read it and some change will take place. Or maybe I’ll get some free tickets just to shut me up. Who knows?

Major respect to Mark over at Jayhoo & Jawhoo. He put together a killer strip where Tom and Jared cameo along with Dexter and Seethe of Movie Punks, Zach from No Pants Tuesday, Dave of Snafu, Aric and Mike of Fish Strips and Blake and Fletcher of Nothing Nice to Say. I’m practically wetting myself that an artist of Mark’s caliber has lumped me in with these web comic all-stars. I barely feel in their league.

So as due and proper, I want everyone to visit Jayhoo & Jawhoo right now and comb through the archives. I feel strongly that Mark makes one of the best comics out there and is modestly kicking our asses in the art department all under our noses.

Plus, he’s a really great guy to boot. Merry Christmas to you too, ya hoser!