Archive for July, 2003
30 items.
I just wanted to remind everyone that today is July 1st, which means all the votes at Top Web Comics have been wiped clean.
Be sure to vote for Theater Hopper every day and we might have a chance at cracking the Top 10! We’ve been really close the last two months, so let’s see if we can get over the hump!
Thanks to everyone for their support!
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An order of business to take care of:
Please vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics. It’s the start of a new month, so all vote counts restart at zero. I know I mentioned this yesterday, but this reminder is in case you didn’t see it.
Please remember to VOTE EVERY DAY! That’s the only way we can crack into the Top 10. We’ve been really close the last two months – even hitting #11 at one point. Let’s try and get over the hump!
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog already in progress…
I know the little number at the top right hand corner of the comic says this is the 150th comic, but it’s not. Remember that I had 7 guest strips a little while back and they’re built into the living archive. Technically, this is the 143rd strip – at least by my hand. Kind of takes the edge off, doesn’t it?
Not that I would probably celebrate 150 strips, anyway. Too much looking backwards and not forwards can’t be healthy, you know? If I want punch and pie, I’ll go to the grocery store.
Huh?
I think I’ve gone over the fact that Cami is seeing Legally Blonde 2 tonight with out me at least a dozen times, so I won’t reiterate it. Or have I already? Uh-oh!
I have a feeling Cami will love the film so dearly she’ll be more than game to see it a second time. That’s fine with me. This is a chick-flick I wouldn’t mind seeing. Reese Witherspoon is an actress I enjoy. Yup – all 3 feet 4 inches of her. She’s TINY!
…you could put her in your pocket!
I’m seeing the Deftones live in concert tonight. I believe in l33t, the proper response is “woot!”
Beyond that, nothing to report. I guess I’m kind of antsy because I’m taking Thursday off which gives me, you know it – FOUR DAY WEEKEND!
If I were Dennis Miller, I’d be scribbling on a pad of paper right about now mumbling “That’s the news and I… am… outta here!”
Nooch!
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This may be tedious, but it is my duty to talk about the movies I have recently watched. It has been awhile, but here it goes!
Bend It Like Beckham I was in a great mood when I saw this film in Uptown Minneapolis while visiting some friends. The movie kept me in a great mood. At first it teetered on the edge of becoming another Big Fat Ethnic Farse, but the movie turned out to be enjoyable. There were a few moments and concepts that I couldn’t quite believe, but my wife explained my questions with a simple answer it’s because they were in love. Whatever. Anyway, Keira Knightley should be enough for any guy to want to watch this film.
Finding Nemo Great film. Go see it. Great for the whole family, even if your whole family consists of two twenty somethings.
One Hour Photo Cool film. Good story and a nice visual style. I was really uncomfortable during the trespassing scenes, which is good. I like it when I can become involved in a movie.
Serendipity I did not want to watch this. I thought it was a girl movie. Either I was wrong or I am a girl, because I really enjoyed this. Kate Beckinsale was great, as well as the rest of the cast.
Down with Love Clever. I liked this movie, and thought Ewan McGregor was great. It was interesting how they picked up the style of the early 60’s and roasted them at the same time. Like the movies of the time, it is light and carefree. Definitely not a thinker.
Men in Black 2 Fun. I found this Blockbuster to be quite you guessed it enjoyable. (I’ll try to stop saying that about every movie.)
Joe’s Apartment I didn’t see it before and now I remember why. The House of Large Sizes T-shirt was the highlight of the movie. House is a band from my college town that I have seen maybe 11 or 12 times.
To Die For Someone should tell me what happens at the end, because I fell asleep. It wasn’t bad, just past my bedtime.
Just Married Great movie. Being just married myself, (less than a year ago) I found many of the situations very familiar. Ashton Kutcher is awesome and Brittany Murphy actually looked good.
Punch Drunk Love I hated this movie while watching it. I keep randomly thinking about it though, and now I have convinced myself that it is a really good film.
Pinero If I had watched this film two years ago, I would have loved it. My life has changed enough to not feel the empathy I used to with the type of characters in this film.
They Pretty scary. The alternate ending is the one I prefer.
Darkness Falls Very similar to They. It was only 75 minutes long. What’s up with that? I thought the story should have been more developed. The documentary on the dvd about the real story is spooky.
That’s all for now. To all the Americans out there have a great holiday. I’d like to thank the Brits for yet another day off from work. Cheers!
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For what it’s worth, I finally got off my kiester and fixed the archive. Now you can go back through all of the archives by looking at one page instead of clicking forever to get to your favorite strip.
Big-ups to Comrade F of The Misc for help with the script!
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In an attempt to head off any questions:
1. Yes, that picture of Ah-nuld DID appear in a recent issue of People Magazine.
2. No, it is not his head super-imposed onto the body of some fat European on holiday.
3. No, I did not steal it from Something Awful.
4. Did Cami actually use this image in an attempt to dissuede me from seeing Terminator 3? Yes, oh yes – sly minx that she is.
As I write this, I am miserably hot. I just spent the evening helping Cami pick up trash at Yankee Doodle Pops – an orchestral event set to fireworks that my wife helps to organize every year.
Thursday was the hottest day we had all year. It was 94 degrees, but the humidity (or “heat index”, as they like to call it) makes it feel like 112. And this isn’t a “Oh, it’s a dry heat” kind of feeling like you get in Arizona. Oh, no. It’s more of a muggy, my-underwear-is-sticking-to-my-kidney kind of feeling.
And by-the-by, if you think picking up the garbage of over 85,000 people who came crawling out of the woodwork for a free show is fun… think again.
This has been the second night in a row where I have lost a few pounds just by sweating them off. The other night was at the Deftones show. GREAT concert. Somehow I wormed my way up to the front and against the barricade and now I have the bruises to prove it.
Again, if you think having 1,000 people smoosh you up against an immovable gate while burly security men glare at you is fun… well, it is! I could have done without all of the crowd surfers clocking me in the back of the head, but that’s the nature of the beast.
At the end of the show, Chino took a stage dive and I got to catch him. Well, not me ALONE – but you know how it works. He was the only crowd surfer I didn’t mind gouging my eye out with his thumb.
Other than that, I plan on having a kick-ass 4th of July. I can only hope the same for you as well.
I apologize this blog didn’t have anything specific to say about movies, but I haven’t gotten a chance to get out and see the new releases. Maybe on Saturday I’ll have an opinion on the new offerings.
Until then, have a fun and safe holiday!
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I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July weekend. I would say mine was memorable… but, well… let’s just say I’ll share that story when you’re older.
I have to admit that I’m feeling slight pains of geek-guilt for not yet having seen Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Word of mouth has been very strong. And it’s first place $44 million dollar at the box office this weekend was a bit of a surprise to me.
I think part of the apprehension stems directly from what the strip addresses – while at first glance, this year has been a bumper crop movie-wise for the fanboys, the results have been lackluster. I don’t need another nail in the coffin of one of my favorite franchise anti-heroes.
But now that notices are coming back positive, I feel a little guilty for not having more faith. Hopefully I can reverse the situation and check things out tonight. If that’s the case, I’ll let you know my thoughts.
I think I’ll leave it at that. I guess I’m not feeling super talkative for a Monday. Maybe later.
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You may or may not have noticed, but I’ve added a new little banner-thingee at the bottom of the page to promote the new webcomic network I belong to – Dayfree Press.
It’s a great opportunity for Theater Hopper to hob-knob with some artists who really know what they’re doing and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
If you’d like to take a look at some of the other sites that are part of our posse, you can view the recently restructured links page.
Signing up with Dayfree has got me thinking more about making Theater Hopper a self-sustaining venture financially. What that means, I’m not sure. I’m thinking about selling some advertising space. With 1,000 to 1,500 unique hits per day, I think we can support that. I’d probably keep the rates cheap, if anyone is interested. Hit me up with an e-mail or say something in the forums if you think it’s an interesting idea.
The posters have sold okay – I’ve recouped my upfront costs – but I’m nervous because not all of them have sold. Or, more specifically, did not sell at the speed I would have expected. Obviously, this makes me gun-shy in terms of offering more future merchandise. Maybe my expectations were just set to high.
I’ll admit that somewhere down the road I would like to do another poster. I have the idea and the treatment all ready to go. I’ll probably do a smaller run, so automatically that increase the value due to rarity. But I would be going all out on this one – so you know the quality will be exceptional, even over what I already offer.
If you haven’t bought a poster yet, please do so. We’re almost to the point where 75% of the run is depleted. Remember, you don’t have to order through PayPal. Just e-mail me and I will tell you where you can send check, cash, or money order. I can’t do the second poster until I sell out of the first.
I don’t know. These are just thoughts floating around in my head. In a month, Theater Hopper will have been around a year. If I’m going to keep going, I need to raise my game.
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I thought I might take a second and point out the two new banners I’ve laid out for link exchanges:
If any of you have web sites and wanna use ’em, feel free. I was getting a little tired of the old ones. These don’t give you much more information, but at least it gives you a peek at the character designs…
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Even though the man is closing in on three-quarters of a century, there is just something undeniably cool about Sean Connery. How cool is he? I’m willing to plunk down $8 dollars on what my better senses tell me will be the HORRIBLE League of Extraordinary Gentlemen just so I can listen to the man talk for 2 hours. Think people. There is finite amount of time left for us to enjoy this privlege.
Hell, even if the movie sucks, at least it will give me more fodder to use in my Sean Connery impression.
“That was naughty.”
The League or LXG or whatever you want to call it isn’t going to do very well at the box office this weekend. I imagine it’ll take quit a drubbing from the press as well.
Connery’s difficulties with director Stephen Norrington (who also directed Blade) have been pretty well documented. So strong was their animosity for each other, Norrington didn’t even show up for the films’ premiere a week ago in Hollywood.
When someone asked Connery about working with Norrington, he reportedly replied “Why don’t you ask me a question about someone I like?” Ouch. This usually isn’t the kind of conflict that creates a comfortable viewing experience for an audience.
Another strike against The League is that it’s an adaptation of a comic book written by Alan Moore during a summer where each comic book license seems to be doing worse than the last.
Moore is an extremely compitent writer and if you’ve ever read Watchmen, there’s your proof. I’m not worried about a faulty concept. That much I know is gold. Basically, Connery’s character (Allan Quartermain, the world’s greatest adventurer) has been called on to assemble a team of indivduals with extraordinary powers to stop a lunatic. A vampire, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo – all of these turn-of-the-century literary characters. Essentially the concept is that this is the first team of super heroes – even before the term has been introduced.
As for the execution, well… we’ll have to wait until Friday to find out. My hopes aren’t very high. But who knows? It may surprise me. It’ll probably be recieved as well as Moore’s last adaptation which was From Hell with Johnny Depp from a few years ago. I think it mostly struck a nerve with fans familar with the visual pacing of graphic novels, but it didn’t do much business in theaters. I still thought it was good.
To tide you over, click here for an example of the pure brilliance of Sean Connery.
…or not.
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For those of you who are confused by the appearance of the dude in the blue shirt up above, don’t freak out. He’s not some random dude I just stuck in there for kicks.
That’s my good friend Nick! He’s appeared in a couple of other strips in the past, but I use him sparingly because, y’know… he lives in Minnesota.
But, yeah. Comb through the archives for more Nick-tacular action.
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