Archive for September, 2004
22 items.
This blog was lost when Theater Hopper converted to WordPress in January of 2009.
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I just wanted to send a quick shout out to my friend (and fellow Dayfree Press cohort) Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content for making it into The Hall of Fame over at buzzComix. It’s quite an achievement considering the short amount of time he’s been on the scene. I believe in some circles, that kind of meteoric rise is also known as “kicking ass and taking names.” Congrats, Jeph! (now if I can only figure out a way to get his readers to vote for me!)
Theater Hopper is currently in third over at buzzComix. If you’d like to vote to show your support, I’d appreciate it.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when Scary Go Round and WIGU joined buzzComix and everyone was all a-titter? Let’s just say that the irony does not escape me that they currently hold the number one and number two spot respectively. Oh, well. Such is life! I’m sure I’ll find a comfortable spot somewhere in the middle of the Top 10. RStevens just threw his hat into the ring with Diesel Sweeties. So I have that going for me… which is nice.
Actually, it’s really hard to pretend to be upset about this sort of thing. Simple science tells you that whenever any well-known creator joins a group you belong to, it raises the profile of everyone previously affiliated. Being so close to the top spot, I’m basking in some pretty sweet indirect attention! Why bother going to the trouble of making yourself distinctive when you can just quietly leech off the success of others!
Speaking of which, my good buddy Zach over at Joe and Monkey told his readers to vote for Theater Hopper this week. I’m inclined to return the favor. If you’re not reading Zach’s comic (and voting for it), then you’re really missing out!
Give a brother a hand!
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Since today’s comic is (in part) about shadowy deception (and getting slapped crosswise), I decided to take a more stylistic approach to the buzzComix incentive sketch. Click here to see it!
I don’t really have a lot to say about today’s comic or really anything to say about Vanity Fair, for that matter. I guess some people are saying this performance could net Reese Witherspoon an Oscar nomination, but I find that hard to believe. Costumer dramas are SO 15 years ago. Yeah, Reese? 1989 called. It wants its copy of Dangerous Liaisons back.
Doesn’t Reese know the only way for actresses to win Oscars these days is to ugly themselves up? Charlize Theron in Monster, for example. Or Nicole Kidman in The Hours. For the men, playing a mentally challenged person is still the quickest way toward Oscar gold.
In any case, we’ve found ourselves in that dire cultural limbo that is the end of summer. Studios are coming off the blockbuster season and tossing nothing but garbage into the theaters as kids go back to school. The end result is very little for me to make fun of during the course of a week. Such is life!
The only movie I’m holding my breath for is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. With its 1940’s adventure serial looks, it’s right up my ally. I don’t even care that it has Gwyneth Paltrow in it!
A few notes of business. Cami wanted to thank everyone who sent her birthday wishes on Wednesday. She sincerely appreciates it and she had a wonderful day.
Also be sure to check out our latest advertiser Beefyness. They’ve got lots of great comics for you to look at.
See you here next week!
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Sep06
Since today’s comic feature Jimmy the theater employee so prominently, I thought it was only fair to dedicate a buzzComix incentive sketch to him. If you’ve been saving your vote for a new sketch, well, now’s the time to cash in! Click here to vote!
Sorry for the delay in todays strip. There were a lot of obstacles standing in the way of a timely delivery. Most notably the Labor Day holiday and doing things with family.
But I also needed to take a step back creatively when I was in the middle of today’s strip and didn’t like the direction it was going. Like I mentioned on Friday, the end of summer is a real sucky time for movies. It makes my job that much more difficult.
So instead of trying to make fun of some B-grade tripe like Paparazzi, I would try to do another storyline. Buckle your seat belts, kids – Because I think this one will be a doozy. I have it plotted out in my head and I can either end it next week or two weeks from Friday. I have a lot of story to tell!
I know taking time out to tell a longer story might distract from some of the more timely aspects of the comic, but truthfully, I haven’t been pleased with the comics since the ones I made making fun of Aliens VS. Predator. It was time to try something else.
I hate to think that the quality of the comics are so closely tied to the quality of films that make it into theaters, but when a movie like The Cookout comes to theaters, it seems redundant to crack wise on it. The movies are so poor to begin with, it’s like placing a turd on a pile of garbage – You’re really not making that much difference.
So anyway… I have a storyline in the bin for the next couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy it.
Onto site news, everyone please visit our two new sponsors, Security’s Finest and ZeStuff. Security’s Finest is a web comic written by David Hinkle. Dave’s done a guest strip for Theater Hopper in the past and he’s a prominent member of the THorum community, going by the name RX King. Most importantly, he’s a good guy, so support his work.
Our second sponsor, ZeStuff was formerly Hyperion Press and home to some great web comic and gamer related merchandise. These guys handle the shirts for 8-Bit Theater and VG Cats, so you know they’re doing something right! They have a few designs of their own that a really good, too. Well worth a visit!
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Last thing I’ll mention is that I have a t-shirt design in competition over at Threadless.com. If you’re not familiar with how Threadless works, it’s pretty simple. Artists like me create t-shirt designs and the community votes on which designs they would like put into production so later they can buy one for themselves.
If you’re not a member of the Threadless community, sign up here. Then you can locate my shirt by clicking here. If you’d like to help me out, please vote a “5” for the shirt and also check the “I’d Buy This” box. Clicking that box doesn’t commit you to anything. It just helps the people who run the site get a better idea of what people want to buy. Leaving positive feedback in the comments area doesn’t hurt either!
Just so you know what you’re voting for, I’ve attached an image of the design here. I’m really proud of it and I want it to do well.
What’s in it for me? Well, aside from people walking around wearing a design I created, I would win $400 cash and $100 in Threadless credit. I’m pretty much telling you that in the interest of full-disclosure. Let’s just say that cash would come in pretty handy right now since we recently had to put Cami’s car in the shop. Darn unplanned expenses!
Of course, if you’d rather circumvent the whole Threadless routine, you can always donate directly to the site. Click here to read about the extra benefits and incentives donators receive. You could always buy a poster or a t-shirt, too!
That’s about it for now. Thanks again for your patience and supporting Theater Hopper! I sincerely appreciate it!
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Oh, if Tom had only come prepared. He could have caught a tasty wave (literally!) and gone popcorn surfing! Ah, buzzComix incentive sketches… how I love the fanciful universe you portray. Click here to watch Tom hang ten Orville Redenbacher style!
So today is part two of our new storyline. What will this kernel catastrophe mean for our intrepid heroes? I don’t know, but someone is going to have to get that push broom out of the utility closet and sweep up this mess.
It ∗is∗ true that I used to work at a movie theater. I think this much I’ve made clear in the past. But I would never violate the sanctity of the concessions counter and get all up in someone’s business like that. Mostly because I wouldn’t want to clean the popcorn popper after words. There is no job more foul.
Sometimes I think back to my tenure as a popcorn jockey and it makes me wonder at what point did I slip and hit my head for it to be okay to eat movie theater concession foods. I won’t get graphic, but let’s just say the sponge we used to clean out the popcorn popper wasn’t exactly the cleanest.
The stuff we added to the popcorn to add flavor to the corn wasn’t exactly the most savory, either. Our theater claimed to use “real butter”. Well, I’ve seen that butter up close and it looked like a brick of lard. It was particularly disturbing after it had an opportunity to set up overnight.
And you know that orange powder they pour over the unpopped kernels? Pure salt. I think we used it to petrify rats at one point. There was a girl I worked with that would take individual popped pieces of popcorn and dip it in the stuff. No surprise she was over 300 pounds.
Sometimes I think it would have been fun to do a web comic about the trials and tribulations of working at a movie theater. But then I remember I only served about 6 months in the trenches. Not really enough experiences to stretch over the span of Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule.
Of course, there ARE comics out there that are able to make this set up work. And because I’m feelin’ frisky today, I’m linking to them. Be sure to check out both Del Mar 8 and Brainwrap Comics. Del Mar 8 has a kind of lighter style, but it’s more rooted in the real-life events of the characters. Brainwrap takes a little more liberties with how the story is told, but the artwork is highly detailed and very rich. Just scroll back through the archives and you’ll see what I mean. I plan on adding them to my list of regular reads once I redesign the links page.
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I think a cast page would be supercool!
I’m really just posting to see if I have a new Avatar, but while I’m at it I’ll give you a quick movie update.
My Boss’s Daughter “2” Avoid Avoid Avoid!
City of God (Cidade de Deus) “4” Excellent! Like Goodfellas without any R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music “4” Important time capsule.
Matchstick Men “3” Good film, the first time at least.
Open Water “3” The trailer is better.
Powaqqasti “3” Movies without dialogue? Cool. I like the first one better though.
Les Vampires “3” 399 minute silent French film = summer project.
Highlander 3: The Final Dimension “3” Gains points for ignoring Highlander 2, loses points for not being Highlander 1. Mario Van Stupid Voice sucked.
Tierra (Earth) “3” Arty. Spanish. Too long.
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry met Lloyd “3” I expected this to be a “1.” Eric Christian Olsen played Lloyd well.
Empire “3” Normal drug dealer/con movie. Enjoyable but predictable.
Sniper 2 “3” Don’t go out of your way.
Out of Time “3” Should this be a “2”? A few good moments saved (almost) this predictable piece of Hollywood fluff.
Runaway Jury “4” See this.
All the President’s Men “4” 70’s movies rule.
Starsky & Hutch “3” Modern versions of 70’s TV shows rule not so much. See it for the Dragon bit.
That’s all for now. Happy Thursday.
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When Jared posts these movies reviews of his, it makes me feel like I’m totally slouching when it comes to my movie habit.
Goodness, there was a lot of formatting in that post of his…
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So since today’s comic was about unemployment and also since the season premier of The Apprentice 2 was broadcast last night, I decided to do a little homage to that narcissist we all love to hate – Donald Trump! It’s today’s buzzComix incentive sketch. Click here to view it.
So Jimmy has lost his job. This is part three of the potentially 9 part story. Depends how well it’s being received I suppose. It’ll go on at least until next Friday. If you have thoughts about it, you can always share them in the THorum.
Jimmy’s always been the optimistic one of the bunch. You can see it reflected in Monday’s strip and the third panel of today’s comic. Kinda sucks that he’s getting the short end of the stick, don’t you think? All he wanted to do was work hard!
Where will Jimmy go? What will he do next? Check back on Monday for the exciting… continuation!
Still not much to talk about movie-wise. The theaters aren’t serving up much that I’m interested in. Pretty much the only new films of interest this weekend are Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Cellular.
I know a lot of people are probably going to hate me for this, but I think the RE franchise looks pretty stupid. I haven’t seen the first one all the way through. I caught part of it on cable and had to turn it off because it was so dumb. The sequel doesn’t look that much better to me. I’m not bolstered by the fact that the original’s director and writer Paul W.S. Anderson came back and wrote the sequel (it’s being lensed by first-time director Alexander Witt). Anderson should just have the work “HACK” tattooed across his forehead and be done with it.
I don’t really care much for star Milla Jovovich, either. Model-turned-actress isn’t one of the more inspiring job transitions in my book. I think she’s pretty effective in comedies like Zoolander and Dazed and Confused. Maybe because her screen time is limited to a few minutes.
But for most of you, it won’t matter. She’s hot, right? And it’s all about hot babes killing zombies with big explosions. I’ve never been a fan of zombie flicks (Romero’s Night of the Living Dead notwithstanding, of course) and the whole Eastern Block, sunken-eyed model look of Jovovich doesn’t light my fire, either.
The only other new movie to mention this week is Cellular. I think the advertisements for this flick make it look incredibly dumb, but I guess it’s been getting good reviews. Both Ebert & Roeper seemed to like it, although I don’t know how much faith to put in them. Supposedly they keep that action moving at a fast enough clip that you don’t stop to think about the glaring plot holes.
I just find it funny that writer Larry Cohen’s last writing credit was the Colin Farrell thriller Phone Booth. I’m beginning to think this guy must be on the payroll of the telecommunications industry…
So, anyway. That’s what the weekend looks like. I’m probably going to avoid the theaters altogether this weekend. I’m just pretending that the same world-ending zombie virus has infected all the movie houses in town. It makes them easier to avoid and dulls the heartache just a little bit.
See you here on Monday!
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I disagree with you Tom. I think zombie movies rule. Though I wasn’t too impressed with Milla’s latest photo spread in Maxim (eat a cookie already,) I think she rules too.
RE was a bit dumb, but if you view it with your B movie goggles on, it fairs better than most thriller/horror movies. It’s campy, but it’s fun and I enjoyed it.
I used to hate horror movies, but I think that changed somewhere over the span of six summers when I worked at Wal-Mart. I guess fantasizing that something like Dawn of the Dead or even Red Dawn would happen, sending me to sporting goods to tear things up made the time pass by more quickly. For that I have movies like this to thank.
I will be seeing Resident Evil: Apocalypse this weekend if I can.
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Today’s buzzComix incentive sketch really has nothing to do with today’s comic. It’s just a bit of still life I did while watching Truman sleep. Click here to view it.
I don’t know why I was compelled to draw it. I guess I’m trying to evolve my style a little bit. Looking at stuff like the Sketch Dump over at Penny Arcade is pretty good motivation. Incidentally, congratulations to Mike and his wife on the birth of their son Gabriel. The pictures are great and I thought Jerry’s introduction was very heartfelt and mature.
But back to the comic at hand…
We’re in the middle of a storyline right now. If you’d like to go back to the beginning of the arc, just click here and it will whisk you a way to a week ago when all this tomfoolery first started. Do you have any opinions on the story so far? You know you can always leave your comments in the THorum. I hang out there quite regularly, so I’m pretty sure to see them.
As things are shaping up, I don’t think I’ll be able to cap off this arc by Friday. So it’s likely that the story will extend into next week. I know that might divert my coverage of up-and-coming movies, but I’ll still talk about the new releases in the blog. So watch this space for updates.
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If you’re noticing a slight refinement in the look of the strip, that’s intentional. Over the weekend, I bought Ben Caldwell’s Action! Cartooning and I’ve been putting some of his tips to good use.
If you’re an artist working in this medium (web comics, print comics, napkin doodles, what have you) I strongly suggest picking up this book. Unlike most “How-to’s”, Ben’s book actually SHOWS you how to with some very helpful instructions. This as opposed to showing a picture and saying “Copy this.” He really does a good job walking you through it. The book is less than ten bucks, so it’s well worth the money.
I originally had my eye on the book over at Amazon.com, but came across it at my local Barne’s and Noble, so you should be able to find it there in case you’re the immanent type and can’t wait for something to be shipped to you.
I guess I picked up Ben’s book to try and introduce a little more polish to my artwork. My overall goal is to start getting the characters to look a little less like each other and more like individuals. I think it’s going to be a slow transition. Partially because I’m still learning and partially because I don’t want to make any design changes so jarring that it sours your taste for Theater Hopper. I’ll leave that to the clumsy writing and occasional political grandstanding.
At any rate, it’s the direction that I’m going…
In slightly movie related news, Cami was channel surfing last night and came across a documentary on A&E called Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. Incidentally, this is the same documentary that will be appearing on the supplemental disc when the Star Wars trilogy is released to DVD on September 21.
I have to admit, the documentary was really good. They spend the first 45 minute detailing the difficulty bringing A New Hope to screens in the summer of 1977 and a little less time on the subsequent movies. But they did a really good job uncovering some facts that I wasn’t already aware of as well as getting interviews with the entire cast and high profile figures on the production side.
I was excited that the original trilogy was finally making its way to DVD, but I wasn’t planning on being the first in line September 21. I mean, I still haven’t picked up the Indiana Jones trilogy yet!
But now I’m kind of rethinking my position. Part of my apprehension was the cost, the hype and the fact that I’ve seen these movies dozens of times. I’m ready to see a cut with better picture and sound of course, but I was in no big hurry.
Seeing this documentary on Sunday night has lead me to believe that the supplemental materials could be worth the price of admission alone. If the other goodies they’ve packed into the boxed set are half as good, I’ll be satisfied.
You should really keep an eye on A&E in the coming weeks and try and catch a repeat Empire of Dreams. If you were a little on the fence about things like I was, it’ll definitely remind you about why you fell in love with Star Wars in the first place.
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