I was surfing the other day and hitting up all the usual spots I visit as part of my weekly movie-research web ring and had the thought to give a shout out to some of these sites that help keep me informed.
It’s not an easy task because most of these sites don’t have a mascot of sorts to pin that kind of recognition on visually. C.H.U.D. doesn’t have one. Counting Down doesn’t have one. Box Office Mojo doesn’t have one. Who is left?
Harry Knowles has always been kind of a mascot for Ain’t It Cool News, but there’s a problem. I don’t like Ain’t It Cool News. The best candidate to use as the avatar of these kind of sites had to be JoBlo from JoBlo.com.
If you don’t visit JoBlo.com, I strongly encourage it. It’s like Ain’t It Cool News for people who appreciate competent site design. It’s written by regular pepeople with an encyclopedia knowledge of film. You can sense their excitement about the news and behind-the-scenes goodies that they post, but it doesn’t really teeter over into complete fanboy frothing that makes you wonder if they’re on the studio payroll or not.
Incidentally, they recently launched a new social networking site for movie fans called MyJoBlo.com. It’s kind of like MySpace or Friendster, but with the movie fan in mind. You can leave comments on people’s profile pages and it has options for quick lists of your favorite movies, actors, fight scenes… whatever. I thought it was pretty cool and worth sharing.
All of these sites are worth sharing. If for anything else but to open a small window into my world and the tools I use to keep me informed and rolling in new material for the comic!
Two quick items:
I just got a call from Josten’s Commercial Printing and they notified me that my order of "Theater Hopper: Year Two" was completed early and they’re shipping them to me today! That’s great news because that means those of you who pre-ordered will be getting your copies early! Lucky you!
I would say the pre-order process has gone a lot smoother this time compared to the first book. Now the problem is coming up with the money to pay the printer!
I haven’t updated the Sales Drive tool bar at the top of the page, but we’ve made some great progress in the last few days. At this point, I would say we’re about $600 away from our goal. I’m expecting a few set backs because I have to restock my inventory of Spoiler shirts to take to Wizard World Texas on November 10 -12. And, of course, there is the expense of traveling to Texas – gas prices, hotel room, food, etc.
So if you want to help out at all by purchasing "Theater Hopper: Year One," "Theater Hopper: Year Two" or the bundle that puts both books together for $25.00 (plus shipping and handling), I would be most appreciative. Don’t forget that we have shirts on sale for $7.99, baby doll tees for $9.99 and hand-made Truman dolls available for sale, too!
Last, but not least, today is the last day where you can bid on my eBay auction for original custom artwork. Winning bidder gets to decide what I draw. No reproductions will be made! Take this opportunity to bid on something totally unique. Get creative with it! Want me to draw a portrait of your dog? I’ll do it! Want me to design a logo for your web site? I’m all yours! As of this writing, bidding was up to $74.00. Those are some great bids, but I know you can do better than that! Remember what this money is going to and start bidding! Time is running out!
That’s all for today. Cami and I are seeing The Prestige on Saturday and I can’t wait. Now if I can do my best to avoid any advance reviews, perhaps I can keep the mystery in tact!
Take care!
