Archive for January, 2006
19 items.
Here it is, the fist comic of 2006, and I’m late with the blog. Not a good way to kick things off, is it? Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel torn up inside about it. Check out my Webcomics List incentive sketch if you don’t believe me!
Incidentally, after being asleep at the switch throughout the month of December, it looks like they finally reset the vote counts. We’re at number three as of the authoring of this blog. Let’s see if we can’t reclaim the top spot with totalitarian fury!
I haven’t had a chance to see Brokeback Mountain yet, but I’ve seen the trailer. I’ve mentioned it before – that line that Jake Gyllenhall’s character yells to Heath Ledger – "I wish I knew how to quit you!" Totally removed from context like that, it’s one of the greatest, most quotable, unintentionally hilarious line deliveries next to James Van Der Beek’s twangy "I don’t want… yer life!" from Varsity Blues. At any rate, I’ve been struggling to find a way to incorporate it into the strip and I think I finally found a situation where it made sense. I’m happy with how this comic turned out.
I’ve read articles about the line. I guess they say people have been laughing about it in theaters. But, at the same time, if people are talking about it – that’s a good thing, right? At least they aren’t ignoring it completely.
Cami and I both have an interest in the film. I want to see what all the hub-bub is about. It looks as though it’s been positioned as the big Oscar contender in a year rife with lightweights. I think Cami wants to watch it for hot man-on-man action.
Yes, I am being sarcastic.
We were hoping to see the movie today, but it doesn’t look like it’s showing yet in our area. We’ll probably see The Producers instead – despite the fact that we’ve already seen the Broadway show and heard the filmed version is as if they took a camera and pointed it at the stage. No one I know is talking about The Producers. I think it was a big mistake for them to open on Christmas Day. Apparently that was Mel Brooks decision. He didn’t want to compete with King Kong. Yeah… ‘cuz, you know… they’re like EXACTLY the same movie. I love Mel Brooks, but sometimes I feel like he doesn’t know when to quit. I was watching History of the World: Part I on AMC over the weekend and I was laughing my ass off. I don’t know if the filmed version of a musical that was a film 30 years ago is going to do the trick. I mean, I enjoyed the stage version when I saw it. But isn’t it kind of like Xeroxing a Xerox?
I guess my parents saw it a week ago and really liked it. But they go to about 5 movies a year, so their rating scale is skewed a little differently. Oh, well. It has Will Ferrell in it. And that’s like throwing in catnip when it comes to my comedic sensibilities. What can I say? Ferrell is my kryptonite!
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Wednesday’s comic will be delayed because I am a moron and forgot to upload it to the server.
I have a doctor’s appointment at 5:00 PM, so don’t expect to see it until early this evening.
Sorry for the screw up, guys. But it’ll be worth the wait. I’m really happy with how the artwork turned out on this one!
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Why the thought of Mary Poppins being bitten in half by a ferocious Tyrannasourous Rex would bring a smile to a sleeping Tom’s face, we may never know. Maybe he dreams of dinosaurs?
For what it’s worth, I think today’s incentive sketch turned out really sharp. Almost like a textbook reference, isn’t it? I’m also really pleased with how the Tyrannasourous Rex turned out in the third panel. I was a little scared to attempt a rendering that was an action shot. It’s been a while since I’ve try to draw something like that.
Honestly, though… what up and coming artist didn’t cut their teeth drawing a million dinosaurs growing up? I don’t know you about you, but I was facinated by the beasties. I used to love the Stegosaurous. And when Transformers came out with the Dinobots, I wasn’t in love with Grimlock like everyone else. Snarl was my man! Stego-Powah!
So is Steven Spielberg really chomping at the bit to do a remake of Mary Poppins? Would I lie to you? Apparently there has been a West End revival of the original musical in London and it’s been selling out since it opened in December of 2004. Spielberg wants to remake THIS version. Not the Disney version with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and the dancing animated penguins.
Having not seen the London revival, I can’t judge whether this is a good idea or not. The plan is to bring the stage show to Broadway sometime this year. But I think it’s become newsworthy because Spielberg appears to be an unlikely fit. Especially when he dipped into similar territory with Hook and the Peter Pan mythos and came up empty handed.
Some people are impressed by Spielberg’s ability to alternate popcorn blockbusters with personal and poignant films. For every Jurassic Park, there is a Schindler’s List. For every War of the Worlds, there is a Munich.
I suppose it’s a smart strategy, but I count myself in the vocal minority that wishes sometimes that Spielberg would hang up the childish trappings and deliver more art. He obviously has the chops for it. Maybe he finds it displeasing. Maybe a film like Saving Priviate Ryan is made for guilty reasons. Or perhaps he makes films like Minority Report to retain clout in Hollywood. The further he goes, the more I wonder "Which filmmaker is the REAL Steven Spielberg?"
Or maybe at this stage of the game, keeping us guessing is his next deft move.
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With 2005 come and gone, there have be a lot of "Best of…" and Top 10 lists.
…and Theater Hopper didn’t earn a spot on any of them.
But I don’t care about that! Because, my friends, I earned a spot on the only webcomic-related list that really matters. The Top 15 Most Hot Webcomic Artists of 2005!
Clark Gable? Oh, yea! Suck on that, you critically acclaimed posers! I’M HAWT!
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Wouldn’t you know it? Just as soon as I sit down and invest a bunch of time into drawing a strip about Steven Spielberg directing a remake of Mary Poppins, a spokesperson for the director has to come forward and squash the rumor.
Here’s how it all went down according to the Internet Movie Database’s Movie News page:
Spielberg Quashes ‘Mary Poppins’ Rumors
Steven Spielberg has played down rumours he is planning to remake Mary Poppins. The Saving Private Ryan director was linked to the project by Sir Richard Eyre, the director of the London stage show of Mary Poppins. He said, "Spielberg wants to make a new film of Mary Poppins and we’ve talked about it a lot. "It will be hard to outdo the original but kids love the story and I’m sure that the remake will be a real success." But Spielberg’s representative Marvin Levy counters, "I never heard of this and couldn’t imagine Steven ever doing a remake of a classic – and a (Walt Disney) classic at that. "There’s a Broadway show from Disney but nothing involving us in any way."
This always happens. Go to the trouble of spoofing a Wizard of Oz sequel starring Drew Barrymore? Talks fizzle out. Quentin Tarantino might direct the next installment in the Friday the 13th franchise? Nope. He says that was never going to happen.
So, are there any projects in the pipeline that you guys want me to put a stop to? Because I’ll do a comic about it and that’ll be all she wrote!
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Jan06
I like the idea for today’s comic, but I’m not really happy with the execution (if you’ll pardon the pun). I dunno. I felt Wednesday’s comic was probably one of the better ones I’ve produced in a while. Doing the follow up is kind of like a reverse adrenaline high.
It’s 2006 and I feel a distinct need to improve the level of my artwork this year. I think I’ve gotten to the point where I can at least draw the characters and maintain a consistent look. My backgrounds still need a lot of help. Detail stuff is still kind of hard for me. But I think the major goal I want to accomplish is to learn how to color and shade better. Flesh things out a little bit more.
I think if you look at the work Joe is doing with Joe Love Crappy Movies or troll through the archives of Butternut Squash, their stuff really jumps off the page and I can’t figure out how they do it! Heck, even when Kurtz does color over at PvP, it looks sharp.
It’s like watching some dude on a souped up motorcycle launch himself off a dirt ramp. They make it look so easy when they glide through the air, but you know they had to take a lot of spills before they learned how to stick that landing.
I don’t know why I’m using motorcross analagies, but therer you have it.
Does anyone out there know about any online resources for comic coloring and shading? Any tutorials or walkthroughs? I’d be very interested to read them to learn some new techniques. E-mail me if you have any suggestions.
Much to no one’s surprise, Cami and I will NOT be seeing Hostel this weekend. Gore and torture for the sake of it? Not interested. I don’t care if Quentin Tarantino’s name is attached to it… as what? Producer? I know they’re billing it as "Quentin Tarantino Presents…"
I’m trying to understand why there has been this shift in horror movies where people are being tortured for prolonged periods of time. Used to be movie-sickos would straight up murder you (albeit in creative ways) and move on to the next nubile young thing to slaughter. Nowadays they’ll clip of your middle toe with bolt cutters and scoop out your eye with a mellon baller first. To what end? To show we’re not in control? To push the boundries of taste?
I don’t mean to position myself as some kind of elitist, but horror is a genre that I never understood. Despite the abundance of violence in mainstream American entertainment (action movies for the most part) the horror genre unto itself seems to make this it’s sole focus. In a world where real life horror surrounds us every day, it seems pointless to me to accentuate it in art. It seems redundant. The only way to make it interesting is to go so far over the top – the levels of mayhem being beyond anything you can imagine – it almost becomes a parody of death. What’s the point?
At least with the slasher flicks of the 80’s there was this kind of supernatural boogeyman element that you could tap into. A sort of background narative that begged you to ask "Who is this guy with the knife-tipped glove? Why is he so horribly burned? How is he able to kill kids through their dreams?" I could understand getting wrapped up in the novelty of that.
But some Slovakian dude that wears a bondage mask and likes to slice off fingertips? That’s just cruel and sadistic for the sake of it.
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Does Tom get what he deserves for calling an old lady a "battle axe?" You bet your sweet bippy he does! Kids… respect your elders.
An event not unsimilar to this one unfolded Friday night when I went with Cami and my sister-in-law Tara to see Brokeback Mountain. The critically acclaimed movie just opened here in Des Moines, but judging by the crowds, you’d think it was the Second Coming.
The lines were insane and the vibe in the place was just short of frantic. I’ve never seen so many people in our tiny art-house cinema. They were all there to see Brokeback Mountain.
We showed up maybe 20 minutes early, but we still had to sit in the 4th row. Pray for the poor souls who arrived in large parties trying to seat everyone together when only empty seats dotted the theater. Some patchuli dude with the sensitive-man pony tail had to flip on the lights at the front of the stage and ask everyone to scootch together. They had sold out that evening show.
As annoying as it was to be crammed into a tiny art house, I really enjoyed the fact that the movie was being so well recieved out here in the sticks. It felt like an event. Not quite a cultural watershed, but something thereabouts. I’ve read artcles by famous film reviewers who claimed that the "flyover" states would hate this movie on moral principles. We’re a lot more enlightened then the coasts give us credit for.
At any rate, before being asked to scootch together, Cami and my sister-in-law had left their seats to get popcorn. This left me alone with their coats on either side of me. I am now defenseless against the dumb-dumbs who want to claim the seats for their own. I had an interaction with an older woman almost verbatim to what happened in the strip.
"Are those seats taken?"
"Yes, the seats with coats on them are taken."
"And the one on the other side of you?" There is only one unoccupied seat and it’s my wife’s. Her coat is on it. The other seats are taken.
"Yes. That one, too."
The lady then rolled her eyes and kind of glared at me before stomping off.
Hey, I understand you’re frustrated that you can’t find a seat. But it’s not my problem, is it? Get here earlier next time and we won’t have that problem.
What I found so ridiculous is that she kept pushing the issue as if to say "Are you SURE those coats mean the seats are taken?" It’s not as if I walk into public places with extra coats so I can avoid human interaction. Although now I’m starting to think that’s not a bad idea.
Anyway, I just decided to take that real-world frustration and make fun of it. I don’t know if the bigger joke in today’s strip is all that great, so I decided to throw in extra smaller jokes like Jared being so excited to go to the bathroom and the fact that the old lady in the comic chooses to confront Tom over seats when there are several other empty seats available. More bang for your buck, I say!
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Something I forgot to mention that Theater Hopper is involved with is the new comics-for-your-video-iPod service Clickwheel.
A few of my contemporaries are involved, but I’ve been slow to get on the horse. The process is simple. All you need to do is go to the site and choose your favorite comic. Check out the episodes they have available and download it. The best part about it? IT’S TOTALLY FREE!
Even if you don’t have a video iPod, it’s worth it for you to check out. Any time there’s the opportunity for web comics to cross over into another medium, I think we should be there to support it.
Right now Theater Hopper only has one episode uploaded to the site. It’s a version of comic #500 and the introduction of evil movie theater floor manager Victor Kresh. I plan on uploading the other two strips in that story arc soon.
Bookmark Clickwheel now and keep checking back for new episodes uploaded to the site. If it proves popular, I might start uploading Clickwheel-exclusive content. Not full strips, or anything. Maybe additional sketches or small one-panel jokes. It’s my hope to eventually work forward enough on the comic that you can go out there and download a strip before it posts to the site. But in three and a half years I’ve never worked ahead on anything, so the odds of that are probably small.
At any rate, check out Clickwheel!
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I’ll say one thing about the NAACP – they’re very prompt in regard to the answering of correspondence.
Today’s comic is ripped from the headlines! Did Wal-Mart.com totally botch it when their online DVD recommendation service (ala Netflix, Amazon) blew up in their faces by suggesting Planet of the Apes as a "similar interest" to films about Malcom X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Dandridge, Tina Turner and other notable African Americans? Oooh, you betcha! Their excuse? "Human error." They don’t mention if the human wears a bed sheet and a pointy white hat.
Okay, that’s a little mean. It could have been an honest mistake. But seriously? How many bad public relations hits can Wal-Mart take before the Colussus topples over?
I’m not a fan of Wal-Mart, let’s put it that way.
I was very surprised by the interest you guys have shown in Clickwheel and being able to download comics for your video iPods. Do that many of you actually own video iPods? LUCKY!
At any rate, I feel kind of guilty that there’s just one comic out there right now, so I’m going to try and diversify the choices. I mean, there are over 500 comics to choose from, right? I should be able to dig something up! I’m kind of thinking of adding every single incentive sketch I’ve ever drawn to the site and break it out by month or maybe year. I’m not sure which. I’ve saved every drawing I’ve done and it might be a neet retrospective. Not as rich content-wise, but a fun little slideshow for you to scroll through. That is, if I can tear myself away from playing Guitar Hero with all my spare time. Let me know if the incentive sketch collections sound interesting to you!
If you guys enjoy a feature like Clickwheel, I’d love to see you invest some time in the Theater Hopper Movie Review Database. I’m trying to build something community-based for the site where your voice can really be heard. I know it might seem daunting to log into the system and leave a review, but it’s not supposed to be a formal thing! Be casual with it. Not *too* casual. We’d like to avoid "the swears" if possible. But this is something fun for you guys to use and participate in. I’m adding new movies all the time. In fact, there’s a new feature that lets you know what the last 10 movies added to the database were. Pretty handy! Give it a shot!
Not much else on my mind today. Thank goodness it’s Wednesday. I feel like I’ve been running around all week.
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Probably a more effecitve incentive sketch would have been to draw Cami actually kicking Chuck Norris in the nuts. I wanted to do it, but Thursday was just crazy and I didn’t get started on the strip until late. So I went for some juvenile photo manipulation. I dunno. It’s kind of growing on me! NO I AM NOT ON DRUGS!
I guess Cami was watching Ebert & Roeper last week and they gave a glowing review to Queen Latifah’s new movie Last Holiday. I didn’t see it, but I guess they were going on and on about what a great movie it was. Funny and light and restores your faith in confident comedies that aren’t trying so hard. Neither of us cared dime-one about this movie until a week ago. Now Cami is all hepped up to see it. Let’s just say I’m not putting a lot of confidence into a director named Wayne Wang, okay?
I suppose one could do much worse. Bloodrayne, anyone? But I’m more interested in seeing the 1950 original than I am of this remake. It stars Alex Guinness. And although I already know how it ends, I have to think it’s a more satisfying rental. We’ll see. Cami and I are also talking about seeing Capote this weekend in an attempt to stay ahead of Oscar nominations. I suppose if we really wanted to stay ahead, we would have gone to see it when it came out back in September.
Not much else to report except to direct your attention to the Bonus Materials section. I recently added some long-lost Fan Art from some very talented individuals. Included in the works is a VERY SPICY rendition of our very own Charlie by Aikida’s Josh Meinzer. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see it. Check it out along with the other great contributions!
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