Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. and that means we get to celebrate our national passtime – eating! We’re really good at it, too. Have you seen to obesity rates in the kids these days. Lookin’ good!

Thanksgiving also means I get to bust out a special holiday-themed comic as I have been known to do in the past. This one is my personal favorite…

At any rate, today’s comic hits close to me because I certainly feel a time pinch with all the new releases this week. I suppose I could be equally concerned about spending time with family or fighting the crowds at the mall, but really all I want to do is watch movies. For Your Consideration and Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny are high on my list. But I admit being attracted to The Fountain and Bobby, too. Perhaps the latter are a little to heavy for post Thankgiving consumption, but they have my attention none the less. I think we’re going to try and see Tenacious D: tonight so we can scratch at least one off our list. I’m looking forward to all of them.

I mentioned in Monday’s blog that I was planning on have a $10 one-day sale in the near future. I’ve decided to go ahead and make that day next Wednesday, November 29. So that means all day next Wednesday, everything in the store will be $10 (plus shupping and handling) That includes both books, our remaining inventory of t-shirts and the forthcoming sequel to the popular Spoiler shirt. It’ll be a great opportunity to pick up a few things for yourselves or to get the jump on presents for the movie-lover in your family this holiday season.

I’m cutting things short tonight. Friday’s comic might be a little late due to the holiday. But I hope to have something whipped up for you as soon as possible.

If you’re celebrating Turkey Day – all the best to you and yours. Travel safe and say "Hi" to Grandma for me!

 I’m aware that Emilio Estevez has been in a few things since last being upstaged by a pre-Dawson’s Creek Joshua Jackson in D3: The Mighty Ducks 10 years ago. But I think if you polled a sampling of the American public, most people would be hard-pressed to remember any of them. The fact of the matter is that it’s just plain weird to see the guy who played the coach in the Mighty Ducks make the creative leap into historical drama. It makes me question if Estevez thought he has some kind of unique perspective on the subject of democracy because his Dad played The President on The West Wing for nearly a decade. It’s like C. Thomas Howell writing and directing a docu-drama about Martin Luther King because he played a college kid in blackface when he starred in Soul Man.

Cami and I didn’t get to see Bobby this holiday weekend. I think we were too burnt out after seeing Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny and For Your Consideration. Cami had low expections for the Tenacious D movie and still left underwhelmed. I didn’t think it was the best movie, but I thought it was goofy fun. For die-hard fans of the group, this movie will hit them right between the eyes. The climatic battle between The D and Dave Grohl as Satan is worth the price of admission even if there are a lot of fart jokes and pot references you have to waft through first.

Being big fans Christopher Guest’s previous "mockumentaries," both of us had high hopes when we went to see For Your Consideration on Saturday. I hate to report that it was a bit of a let down. I like to think I’m pretty hip, but the movie-within-a-movie concept of "Home For Purim" doesn’t really sell. Basically, the joke is that they family of this production is from the deep, DEEP South and oh-so Jewish. It’s funny when Catherine O’Hara says "Oy gevalt, whut have I duhhhn?" in a deep Southern accent. But it’s pretty much the only punchline for that set up and the keep trying to wring comedy out of it that isn’t there.

Beyond that, there are far too many characters to keep up with and you don’t end up caring about any of them. Sandra Oh and Richard Kind have cameos as a pair of marketers, but you see them once and that’s it. You wonder why they were even in the film. Guest would be better served by going back-to-basics and parsing down his cast to his core players. He keeps tacking on actors in nothing roles that kind of hints at the desperate search for credibility that being in a Guest picture lends comedically.

I didn’t laugh very much in this film and had a hard time remembering any of the funny lines afterwords – a bad sign. Fred Willard and Jane Lynch get laughs for their portrayal of  a pair of ridiculous "entertainment journalists." But that’s like shooting fish in a barrel and really not the best use of their talents. Jennifer Coolidge gets a few laughs as a ditzy producer. But again, she’s done the same thing better in other movies.

I will give credit to Catherine O’Hara who manages to extract some real pathos out of her character who starts out as an actor very much in love with her craft and how she copes after being chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood hype machine post-Oscar season. There is some wry commentary on how films are produced and mangled by "the suits" to capitolize on that buzz.

Overall, the movie is very cute and a nice diversion. It just doesn’t deliver in the way that previous Guest movies have in the comedy department. I can’t decide if it’s because Guest seems to be shedding the "mockumentary" format (less phony interview segments, more straight narrative) or if it’s something else.

One thing I can say for sure is that the ending is just clumsy. The screen fades to black and you ask yourself "That’s it?" It just… ends.

And it’s a dissapointment.

Some site news… I want to call everyone’s attention to the new sponsorship buttons below the comic and above the blog. I’ve wanted to let everyone know that I’ve stopped managing these ads and am no longer offering the $10 for 30 days deal that previously occupied that space. Instead, I’ve turned things over to Project Wonderful and things have switched to auction-style ad sale model.

I think this is going to work out better in the long run. People pay what they are comfortable paying and if they’re outbid, then there’s no bad feelings. It’s good for Theater Hopper because I think you’ll see a greater variety of ads in this space and I’ll sleep a little better at night knowing that I’ll be promoting a wider variety of comics. I’m excited because some of these comics I don’t think I would have come across otherwise! More to read! Yay!

At any rate, if you’re interested in advertising in this space, it’s very easy to participate. Just sign up for an account, place your bid and the length of time you’d like to advertise and let the chips fall where they may!

Also, don’t feel that you need a web comic exclusively to advertise in this area. If you have another kind of web site or maybe even want to send someone a birthday message, this is an easy and affordable option.

Bidding started at $0 and some people are really taking advantage of it! You could swoop in there right now and offer to pay .10 cents a day and win the spot. See how it works?

If you have any questions, let me know. In the meantime, don’t forget that Wednesday is our $10 Sale. Everything in the store will be $10 for one day only! A great chance to buy a few items for loved one’s this holiday season!

Talk to you soon!