Archive for October, 2003
33 items.
Well, they may not be much to look at, but the forums are up and running again.
I pretty much had to start from scratch since we moved servers, so if you had registered in the past – I’m sorry – you’ll have to register again. For those of you who never got around to it… Well, now’s a great opportunity!
I can’t tell you everything I tried to make this work out better the first time around, but it just didn’t happen that way. In the meantime, you can expect more features and styles to be added to the forum in the coming weeks and months. Get in on the ground floor and your suggestions could help to shape how things develop!
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** THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN JANUARY 2009. **
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Just for fun, I thought I would mention that Ryan Sias, author and creator of a jounral comic called Urban Transmission Project was the character designer for the animated sequence in the middle of Bowling For Columbine. It’s a fun fact and I wanted to throw a little traffic Ryan’s way since I’m a fan of his comic. Check it out! He has a whole page decided to his experience with the production of the film!
And for those of you who are critics of Michael Moore, I thought I would post this link so you can read his response to those who claim contextual and historical inaccuracies in his documentary. Best to let the man defend himself than for me to do it for him.
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Oct22
SPARING YOURSELF FROM GOD’S WRATH WAS NEVER SO EASY!
October 22nd, 2003 |
(8 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Okay, the dialogue isn’t exact, but if you can accept the liberties Raiders of the Lost Ark takes in regard to protecting yourself from God’s fury, you can accept a little fudging on my end.
I mean, seriously. You can avoid a good ol’ fashioned supernatural face melting simply by not looking at it? That’s kind of like those kids who figured out they could still copy those specially protected music CD’s just by inking some black marker over a portion of the inside rim of the disk…
I’m still a little on my Indiana Jones riff, but you can expect a return to more current film analysis on Friday.
Be sure to check back on the site a little later. I want to discuss a few new options the site has to offer.
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Since I’ve been working on reorganizing the site, I wanted to take a minute or two to outline some of the new features and general changes that are going on around the site.
The first thing I want to mention is the forum. It’s up and running again and charging at full steam. It’s got a ton of great new features and new ones are being added all the time. We’ve got some great conversation going on in there right now, so please join!
I also want to talk about the newly created store. I never really took the time to chat this up, so I’m going to correct that now.
** THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN JANUARY 2009 **
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I receieved an interesting e-mail from Shane “Smikwily” McWilliams in regard to Raiders of the Lost Ark and why one should not look into The Ark of the Covenant. Apparently, it’s actually mentioned in The Bible! Not being a Christian scholar, I always figured it to be Hollywood tacking on a solution that seemed to fit the situation a little too easily, but I guess I was wrong. Here’s Steve’s e-mail:
I did a little digging for something to back this up. I remember hearing this when I was younger, but had a hard time finding an actual page to back it up. I did understand the reasoning for looking away from the ark as it was opened.
1 Samuel 6:19
But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.
2 Samuel 2:6-7 (also 1 Chr 13:7-10)
He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord , with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/touch_ark.html
Remember, most of the Trilogy deals with Christian artifacts, so I’m sure Indy knew all the details going in.
I never was one to doubt Indiana Jones and his level of research. He always seemed like of of the most competent, composed and, most importantly HUMAN action hero in modern cinema. I guess I just underestimated Hollywood’s ability to inject secular history into mainstream cinema and retain some level of truth.
Show Shane your appreciation for his research by visiting his site http://www.playmoreconsoles.com/
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Oct24
FIRE UP THE MOVIE-MOBILE! I MEAN THE HONDA CIVIC!
October 24th, 2003 |(8 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
I was telling a friend over e-mail that I was happy the fall was here and that I was looking forward to seeing more “adult” movies like Mystic River and Runaway Jury. But as it turns out, I’ll probably end up seeing Scary Movie 3 instead.
Is this such a bad thing? Well, if there was a Wayans anywhere near it, yes. I saw the first movie and thought it was okay but there were too many cheap jokes about gay people and certain parts of the male anatomy. I just find that kind of humor mean and unintelligent. There were maybe only one or two jokes I laughed at in the whole thing. Frankly, I remember very little of it. I downloaded it from my brain immediately upon exiting the theater.
The bad taste left in my mouth from the first film convinced me not to see the second. This, despite the appearance of Andy Richter, Chris Elliott and David Cross – some of my favorite comedians (even if only appearing in cameos). Maybe I’ll rent it just to make sure avoiding it was a good decision. Wait… What?
But along comes Scary Movie 3 and it’s a whole new ballgame. David Zucker is in the director…
*THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN JANUARY 2009*
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Oct27
THE QUESTION REMAINS – IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING?
October 27th, 2003 |
(8 votes, average: 8.25 out of 10)
Did everyone remember to set their clocks back an hour? Remember, it’s that time of year where we “fall back” into fall! Ugh.
It’d been a while since I had done one of these. I thought it would be funny to do something a little more random – especially since I could think of nothing to spoof.
I didn’t get a chance to see Scary Movie 3 this weekend, but I guess the producers aren’t missing my absence. Did you hear this movie pulled in nearly $50 million this weekend? That’s a pretty obscene amount of money for a toss-off film like this one. For what it’s worth, I don’t think they’re lining up around the block for Eddie Griffin.
I was able to sneak in watching both Cube and Identity this weekend – two films I rented last Sunday and needed to put away before I got caught in a situation similar to the second panel of today’s comic.
I thought Cube was an interesting premise, but a little thin on plot to stretch out over the span of a feature-length movie. There’s a lot of math in this movie, too. This is usually a turn off for me (re: A Beautiful Mind). But with all the calculations of prime numbers and permutations, I found myself intrigued. I also liked the “Big Brother is a vapor” overtones of the movie and the suggestion that the creation of the cube was essentially the work of idle hands.
Apparently there is a sequel to Cube called Hypercube and it takes place in another six-sided deathtrap that introduces the 4th dimension into its catalog of lethal traps. Sounds complicated. I guess they’re working on a prequel to the series called Cube-Zero, which explains the origins of the cube. Bad idea. Half the fun of the original was just trying to figure out what the hell is going on!
Identity was a good flick. It had a very fun twist at the end. Not as violent or scary as I thought. It was really more suspenseful – a good mystery. The ending wraps things up fairly quickly, but it’s a fun ride. If you like John Cusack in the rain, this movie features him dry in maybe one or two scenes.
I forgot to mention last week that Jared and I watched a bootleg copy of the Japanese film Battle Royale. He picked up his copy at the Minnesota FallCon we attended not long ago. What a screwed up movie.
I guess the popular myth is that this film was banned in America due to its extreme violence and residual Columbine wariness due to the film’s concept – kids killing kids on a deserted island until only one is left. In truth, the production company, Toei, refuses to license the movie for North American distribution and has already rejected offers from several North American companies. Thanks, Toei.
The movie’s violence really isn’t that shocking. Well, at least it’s not any more graphic than anything you would see in Kill Bill. I think what’s disturbing about it is trying to figure out how you would react in that situation. Would you try to survive? Would you freak out and commit suicide like some of the students in the film? What are your odds of making it? It’s like looking at a room of your friends and trying to figure out if you could take them in a fight.
Anyway, that’s been my movie-watching schedule as of late.
Say, have you noticed Theater Hopper’s latest feature – The Walk of Fame? It’s a brand new donation system I devised that will allow those of you with PayPal access and opportunity to help support the site, while immortalizing you name for all to see.
The concept is simple. Donate to the site any amount you think is fair. It could be a dollar. It could be twenty dollars. Once I receive your donation, I place your name on The Walk of Fame! Exclusive content like wallpaper or portraits commissioned in the Theater Hopper style are possibilities for the future. But for now, you can feel confident that your donation will help Theater Hopper operating in the face of a growing need for bandwidth and fending off the cost of hosting. Certainly you aren’t obligated to donate, but if you can find it in your heart to do so, it would be most appreciated!
Thanks to everyone who continues to support Theater Hopper. I haven’t stopped to take stock of how lucky I am in a little while. I’m still amazed that you guys keep coming back here week after week and I appreciate it.
Again, thanks. And don’t forget to vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix!
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Last weekend was nothing short of a movie-watching frenzy for my wife and me. On Friday, we saw School of Rock which she kept calling School House Rock. However you’d like to refer to it, it was good. It’s refreshing to know that Richard Linklater can make another fun movie after such heady fare as Waking Life. Not that I didn’t like that movie, it’s just that I get migraines whenever I think about it.
On Saturday, we saw Intolerable Cruelty. Although I liked it, I stopped thinking about it by the time I got home. The movie was full of close-ups of George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones. Their beauty only reminded us in the audience how unattractive we really are, except my wife; she’s hot.
Saturday nights are meant for parties, bar mitzvahs, and discos. So of course it would make sense that we watched Philadelphia. The movie was an early birthday gift from my mother-in-law. I’m not exactly sure what it is about me that made her think of Philadelphia, but it was a very sweet gesture and she’s one of the sweetest people I know. The movie made me want to buy those action figures that they advertised on SNL. Where can I get those?
And yesterday we saw Kill Bill. Tom’s description did it justice so I won’t go into it. I just want to say that I’m glad Erin, the love of my life, is cool enough to see that movie with me. Not only that, she didn’t want to leave in the middle, when the going got bloody, like the female half of the couple next to us did. Yes, I picked a good one.
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Guess who totally forgot to name check our most recent sponsor last Friday. If you guessed Tom Brazelton, you’d be right.
Everyone needs to drop their pencils and head over to Least I Could Do. It’s a great comic with sharp storytelling and fun art. Plus, for the fellahs… Babe of the Day! Rwar! They’re in the middle of a fun Halloween story right now. Check it out!
Also, don’t forget to visit our other sponsor Quad Boy Presents: Rants of a Madman. Quad Boy keeps churnin’ out the hits. You gotta check his site every day just to keep up with him!
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