Archive for January, 2005
21 items.
Something that I forgot to mention yesterday was that our online community – that place we lovingly refer to as the THorum – celebrated its one year anniversary yesterday. Finally, I fell like we’re over the hump when it comes to providing a place for Theater Hopper fans to communicate with one another.
The history of the THorum is a long and complicated one. Marred by gross ineptitude on my part, this is actually the third incarnation of the community. Those who have been with me from the start know the story I am about to tell.
When I started Theater Hopper in August of 2002, one of the first things I made sure to have was a forum. I believed strongly that developing a community was key to getting the site off the ground. Initial fans would congregate and then spread word of Theater Hopper to all corners of the internet.
When only 20 or so people signed up after 3 months online, I grew impatient and shut it down.
Hey, don’t blame me! I’m a moron, remember? I was totally naive to the fact that having 500 unique visitors per month wouldn’t necessarily translate into an online community. Remember, I’m the same guy who tried raking in donations and advertisements when I was barely a blip on the radar screen. At that time, Theater Hopper was a pimple on the ass of web comics. I’m happy to say we’ve since moved up to “boil” status.
About 6 months after voluntarily closing the first forum and steadily watching our readership grow, I decided to take another swing at establishing a community. Another forum was forged.
Things went well for a while. We had gathered a little clique and we were online without and problems for a good length of time. That is until a catastrophic server failure totally crippled the site. The database that ran the forum was lost and I nearly lost a year’s worth of blogs. Of course, like a fool, I had never made a back-up of the forum. So it was gone, baby. REAL gone. Strike two in forum world.
Desperate to reconnect with the community that was lost, the third version of the forum was brought to life January 17, 2004 and we’ve been plugging along ever since.
It hasn’t been easy, though. Luckily with the help of my team of administrators and moderators, we’ve been able to keep it up and running without much data loss or obnoxious post whores ruining it for everyone. So my thanks to AdSquirrel, Brian, JClark and MadMup. You’re help has been invaluable.
In the course of our existence, we’ve even been able to implement custom features to make ours a totally unique environment. A web cam portal, The Friday Five, The Danza and The Urkle. Even our own dictionary – or THictionary for the unenlightened – of THorum-specific vernacular! Did you know we did a holiday gift exchange last Decemeber that went off with flying colors? We did, and it was great!
Now before you start thinking that the THorum is some sort of secret society or members only cabal, know that there has never been a more welcoming group of people online ANYWHERE. Friendly and bright. Gracious and insightful. And several of them more hilarious than anyone you will ever meet. My thanks to these THorumites who make our community one that I have looked forward to posting to every day since its inception. Thank you.
If you think that sounds good, sign up in the THorum today. You won’t be sorry.
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Jan19
MAYBE HE DIDN’T WANT YOU TO LOOK TO THE RIGHT
January 19th, 2005 |
(6 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)
In case you missed it, there was an extra comic yesterday. Expect another one tomorrow.
Today’s comic is something real-life Cami probably wouldn’t be very happy with. She doesn’t tend to appreciate the strips where I depict her as physically abusive. But it’s a light slap, honest! I just thought it seemed like one of those opportunities where the husband does something well-meaning and the wife flips it around on them like in some kind of family-friendly sitcom. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Everybody Loves Raymond.
In any case, you should really check out the buzzComix incentive sketch I put together. I think it really compliments today’s comic well. I’m really happy with it.
Not much to report at the moment. Oh, hey. The Fantastic Four trailer is online. You should check it out. It’s better than I thought it would be, but I’m still firmly planted in the “wait and see” camp. The Thing still doesn’t look quite right to me. They’re going to have to do something really impressive to wash off the stink of that direct-to-video Roger Corman version from 1994.
Did you notice that I have a few ad spots available? Don’t you think now would be a good time to fill them? I do. Check the advertisements page for all the info you’ll need to place a banner on the site. Pricing, availability, the works.
By the way, you should think about buying some buttons. They’re a lot of fun and I’m getting kind of antsy looking for an excuse to make some more!
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I don’t know if I have a lot to say about today’s comic, so if you want to vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix while you’re waiting for me to conjure up some text, it would be much appreciated. We’re pretty much within striking distance of the number two spot. It would be pretty keen if we could snag it. Like yesterday’s incentive sketch, I’m really proud of today’s offering. I could easily see this design on a t-shirt, I’m that proud of it.
So what about today’s, extra-special Thursday comic? It would seem things are starting to come to a head, eh? Charlie seems to be everywhere Cami doesn’t want her to be. And is it possible she overheard her outburst in Wednesday’s comic? Seems like something is going to break pretty soon. You’ll have to come back tomorrow to see what!
I’m starting to have a lot of fun with the storyline now. Although at this point I kind of feel like I’ve been rushing them around like pawns on a chess table. It’s all been an exercise in moving the action into different locations before setting the stage for a big showdown. But first someone needs to say this so someone else can say this and everyone winds up here. Get the gist?
Really at a loss for words beyond that. It’s kind of late and I’m kind of feeling burned out right now. Think I’ll hit the hay.
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Five days of straight updates and where do I lead you? Right into the gaping maw of a cliffhanger! MU-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Everything that’s been going on this week has led up to this moment. The change of scenery. The carefully timed positioning. A culmination that pits Cami against Charlie in a situation where neither one can walk away from each other. There’s gonna be some CONFLICT RESOLUTION, kiddies. Next week, it’s goin’ DOWN!
All the way down… to Chinatown.
Okay, maybe not Chinatown. But they’re gonna clear the air. That’s what happens next, okay?
Hey, everyone! Thanks for voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix yesterday when I asked so politely. You guys got us over the hump! We’re in the number two spot! We’re only about 30,000 votes away from The Order of the Stick, but I think we can close the gap!
Sheesh. The numbers that dude puts up. You’d think he had a small country voting for him!
Anyway, not much to report. Pretty thin weekend for new films and I’m pretty much caught up on all the Oscar-bait films released over the holiday.
I’ve been hearing good things about Assault on Precinct 13. Mostly, I think, because people are going in with pretty low expectations. But I doubt I’ll see this one in the theater. Action flicks just aren’t my thing, man.
Then, of course, there’s that whole Ethan Hawke problem. Specifically, I don’t like him. Or that rat fart across his face that he calls a goatee. Sorry. Just a personal preference.
I don’t really think I can top the “rat fart/goatee” comparison, so I’m gonna wrap things up there. I can walk away from this blog with a sense of accomplishment.
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I know a lot of you are looking at this latest situation with Cami and Charlie and thinking to yourself “Why couldn’t they just use their cell phones to call for help?”
Well, hold your horses, smarty-pants! I’ll answer that question in a future strip!
In the meantime, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that in the telling of the story, I sometimes feel it appropriate to call on the mystical powers of “artistic license”. In other words, blurring the edges around reality a little bit to help progress the narrative.
Trust me, people. The only way I could force Cami and Charlie to confront one another was to stick them in a bathroom with a broken doorknob. YES, I know most movie theater bathrooms don’t have doorknobs. Hence, “artistic license”! See how that works?
Real quick note of movie business before I move on to site business. Does anyone know how the hell Are We There Yet? snagged the number one spot in the box office this weekend? Is Ice Cube REALLY that big of a draw? I don’t know, but any popularity points he racked up with those Barbershop movies have to be spent by now!
Sheesh, America. I mean, I know it was a slow week, but C’MON!…
Anyway, onto site business. I wanted to announce a cool little program I’m introducing that COULD put original Theater Hopper artwork into your hot little hands!
The concept is very simple. If you check The Walk of Fame and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you’ll see that I’ve posted a new desktop wallpaper as incentive for people who donate.
For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re very lazy and just want me to post the picture of the new wallpaper here. Well said:
As you can see, it’s a picture of Cami posed as Jennifer Garner from this month’s Elektra!
The situation is this: You stand a chance of WINNING THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK by giving money to Theater Hopper. Everyone who has given ANY money to Theater Hopper in the month of January will have their name thrown into a hat. One winner will be selected and they will be sent the original artwork, painstakingly drawn and finished with inks on a heavy-duty 11″ x 17″ piece of Bristol board – suitable for framing.
To be eligible for the drawing, donations are not the only method that will put your name in the raffle. Any purchases in the store will also open up the contest to you. Also, anyone who has advertised with the site will also be eligible.
I’m talking ALL forms of payment received by Theater Hopper — the payees are eligible.
Oh, and for those of you who may have bought something or donated to the site this month, don’t worry. This offer is retroactive, so you are currently in the running!
Multiple donations, store or advertising purchases are equivalent to ONE raffle ticket. So if you bought a shirt the first week of January then donated the last week of January, you would have TWO chances to win.
Basically the way I’m running things is by looking at my PayPal records for the month of January and writing down every name I see from January 1st to the 31st.
More succinct rules will be posted to a new page soon, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this right now since there is only a week left in the month. Y’see, I wanted to make sure there was artwork for January because this is something I plan on doing EVERY MONTH! So if you don’t win January’s raffle, you still have 11 chances left in the year to take home some ORIGINAL ARTWORK. At the end of the year, I plan on collecting all the color versions for a calendar or some kind of print retrospective for others to purchase. But the original artwork will be yours, all yours!
So anyway, that’s where things stand. If you want your chance to win, donate to the site, purchase something in the store, or buy advertising. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
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Jan26
I’ll preface today’s comic by saying “No, Cami doesn’t really have me ‘trained'”. Truthfully, she would probably resent the categorization if Theater Hopper were a work of non-fiction. But as it turns out, this little detail is for entertainment purposes only.
The point of this week in the story arc is to fill in any loopholes that might provide Cami and Charlie and easy escape from the women’s restroom. The cell phone doesn’t work and Tom is inept, so what’s left? Could Jimmy possibly be coming to save the day? Well, don’t count on it. You’ll see what I mean Friday.
I’m learning that one of the drawbacks to telling a larger story with a more dramatic bend is that people start to treat it like it’s really happening. As such, they start asking questions like “Why would the women’s bathroom go unchecked for two years? We thought Jimmy was so professional?” So now I find myself in the position of having to answer these questions before getting into the chewy center of the story. Y’know, the one where Charlie finally tells her secret for being back home.
The experience is teaching me a lot, but I can’t help but feel like this gauntlet I’m running is kind of like that episode of The Simpsons where all the nerds are grilling Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless about the inconsistencies in her show.
“Um… Whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it!”
“Uh, yes but…”
“WIZARD!”
The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday and looking over the field of candidates, I can’t help but reflect that 2004 was not a particularly good year for movies. Frankly, I was surprised that The Aviator walked away with 11 nominations. But I suppose through the Academy’s filter of “ONLY EPICS SHALL WIN BIG AWARDS!!!” it’s not so surprising.
Sure, smaller films like Sideways and Vera Drake are up for Best Picture, but that feels like lip service to me. It’s just a way for the Academy to show that they’re not out of touch with smaller productions on independent cinema. A token gesture to prove they’re not completely out of touch. You know – kind of like the guy who’s been a hard core Def Leppard fan all his life, but buys then buys a White Stripes record in a feeble attempt to look cool. He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand it. But dammit, it’s in his record collection, so he must be onto something!
When it comes to the nominations, I usually pay less attention to who receives the accolade than who ∗didn’t∗. People really seemed to notice that neither Fahrenheit 9/11 nor The Passion of The Christ received major category nominations. They were probably two of the most successful and controversial films of the year. But I think it’s that controversy that kept them out of Oscar contention. The Academy isn’t the type of organization with the conviction to endorse anything controversial. They just want to huddle their membership into the Kodak Theater, pat themselves on the back for 4 hours and then drink ’til sunup.
Really, it’s probably moot – at least in F9/11’s case. I think Michael Moore ran himself out of contention by refusing to submit the film for Best Documentary or perhaps broadcasting it on television before December 31 (which neuters his eligibility in the Academy’s eyes) or some such nonsense.
When it comes to snubs, what I can’t understand is why Paul Giamatti wasn’t nominated for Best Actor, while his movie Sideways gets a Best Picture, Director and Writing nominations. It even racked up two Best Supporting Actor nods for Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen.
Man, THAT’S a twist of the knife. The guy who played a half-retarded airplane mechanic in a lousy sitcom and the woman who starred not only in Candyman, but Highlander II: The Quickening are being recognized ahead of the man who has been recognized as one of the best character actors of the last 10 years. Then again, he DOES have Big Fat Liar on his resume…
Another snub I thought was noteworthy was the exclusion of The Polar Express from the Best Animated Feature Film category. Don’t get me wrong. I think the film looked horrible, saccharine and soulless. But despite its failings, the film WAS a technical achievement. Especially in regard to the motion capture technology director Robert Zemeckis probably advanced by five years with his work.
But to be bested by Shark Tale? Ouch! Don’t try to tell me that box office didn’t influence the Academy’s decision in that regard.
Any another thing, I’ve always harbored a little grudge against the Shrek franchise for stealing the very first Best Animated Film Oscar away from Monsters, Inc. in 2002. If Shrek 2 wins out over the VASTLY superior The Incredibles in 2005, then there is no justice in the world.
Some odds and ends…
What’s up with Alan Alda being nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Aviator. Honestly, I saw nothing outstanding from the performance. Really nothing more noteworthy than what Alec Baldwin did with the same amount of screen time in the same movie.
I was pleased to see Natalie Portman and Clive Owen getting Best Supporting recognition for their work in Closer. I thought it was one of the best movies of the year. It was probably too mean-spirited or too much like a play for the Academy’s taste, but it’s nice to see actors who shined in their supporting roles be recognized over their lead actor contemporaries.
Very surprised to see Kate Winslet be nominated for Best Actress in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She won’t win because the movie came out almost a year ago and most voters probably won’t remember it. But it’s a nice tip of the hat to another wondrous film from ’04.
Beyond that, I don’t know what more to say. I guess I need to study the nominations a little closer. I’m just pointing out the things that really set off alarms in my head.
What are your thoughts about the Academy Award nominations? Y’know, we’re talking about it in the THorum…
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I think if I just… try… a little HARDER! – I could have gotten more panels and more text in today’s comic.
I don’t know where this recent influx of married humor is coming from. It’s kinda developing organically. I say roll with it!
You guys should really check out our latest sponsor – The Asylumantics. It’s a wonderfully illustrated comic about a bunch of mental patients and they recently updated their schedule to an aggressive (but satisfying!) 5 times a week!
By the by, why not vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix too? It’s good for the soul.
Since there really aren’t any interesting movies coming out this weekend that I can talk about, I’m going to shift focus for a minute.
Way back in September when I embarked on the aforementioned large story arc about Jimmy losing his job, my good friend Joe Dunn – illustrator at Digital Pimp Online sent me this awesome artwork:
I clutched it to my chest and held it close for the longest time because I thought that I would use the artwork in book collecting the Jimmy arc that I would later sell on the site.
As I get further and further away from that period in the strip, the collected book feels less likely. So to make amends for my selfish sins, I wanted to share this artwork with the world. Frankly, it’s too good NOT to share.
Of course, the fact that Joe recently sent me another piece of fan art to commemorate Charlie’s introduction certainly pushed my hand to a degree:
What can I say about Joe’s talent that isn’t blatantly obvious? All I can say is that he draws my characters better than I could ever hope to. The real turn of the screw is that Joe’s versions are how I envision them in my head. I just can’t get my brain and my right hand to agree in that regard.
So many thanks to Joe Dunn for all his hard work and support. I appreciate it. Everyone needs to check out Digital Pimp Online right this very minute and soak up as much of Joe’s work as possible. You won’t regret it!
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It’s amazing what one little apology can do to stop someone dead in their tracks, isn’t it? Now that Cami got the two little words she wanted from Charlie, have her defenses fallen? Will we learn the reason she’s back in town? Yes, we will! And sooner than later, I might add. Keep a close watch this week kids. We’re entering the third act!
Regrettably, I didn’t get a chance to see any of the movies that I wanted to see this weekend. So I suppose that means Sideways and Million Dollar Baby will have to wait for another day.
I can’t explain it. My Sunday was wide open. I didn’t even have chores to do. The weather was fair. No obstacles. I guess I was just plain lazy. But everyone needs a day where they don’t do anything, right? I just wish I hadn’t sat around watching all those back-to-back episodes of I Love the 90’s: Part Deux and The Surreal Life on VH1. My brain feels like mush.
I’m not sure if it’s all the time I’ve been spending indoors lately or if this is just a defense mechanism to fight of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I’m getting the itch to redesign the site.
There are a lot of things about the site that I like and that are working well from the front end. On the back end, however, it’s a totally different story. Most of the changes involve me organizing files to they’re easier to locate when I want to make changes. Right now it’s like that ball of Christmas lights from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s a little unwieldy.
Recognizing that what I want to do isn’t a face lift, but reconstructive surgery. I’m tempted to strike the design we have now in favor of something new. And as much as I feel that the site is mine and I can do with it whatever will satisfy me creatively, I have to admit that I’m curious as to what you guys think.
So my idea is this – a little market research. I want to know what you guys think, but I want to organize the feedback in some way. I’m looking for a good third party FREE survey organization that I can use to create a brief Q&A survey for the site. I’m interested in your thoughts on design just as much as I’m interested in our demographics and what monitor resolution you’re viewing the site at.
So if you have any in-roads to such a program or vendor, let me know. I’m interested in getting this off the ground pretty soon. It will help me determine if the sketches I have for the new site design will be worth bringing to digital fruition or not!
Thanks!
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This is something I forgot to write about, but then thought that it was worth its own little news post. I’m talking about voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix.
As you guys probably know, we’ve be showing a strong placement in the number two spot for a couple of weeks now. I couldn’t be more proud. This is the highest ranking we’ve sustained in a quite a while. It’s noteworthy.
Of course, it’s been a little difficult to get around the current number one comic Order of the Stick. They’re about… oh, 40,000 ahead of us at the moment.
But the good news is this: After this month, OotS will be retired and placed in the Hall of Fame over at buzzComix, thus clearing the path for new comics to make it to the top. I figure we’ve been doing so well at number two for the last few weeks, why not make a push for number one?
This isn’t a “have to” situation and I know we were certainly helped by the hits we were getting from PvP earlier in the month, but it’s a nice goal to have. It’s just a bug I want to put in your ear when the buzzComix database resets at the first of the month.
Thanks everyone for your continued support!
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Don’t avert your eyes from the animated nose-picking on the front page. That’s the ad for our latest sponsor Pathetisad. Go check it out for more animated goodness?
Let me sweeten the pot for you: Pathetisad create Derek Rose was also the brawn behind the excellent Theater Hopper dress-up game in the Bonus Materials section.
I should also mention that his Abe gave him the idea for the dress-up game. It’s been a point of contention in the THorum for the past couple weeks!
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