Archive for February, 2007
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Ghost Rider comes out today and I’m excited for it. I would go so far to say that I’m looking forward to it.
I know that this is the unpopular opinion. People have been ragging on this movie for months now and who can blame them? Everything about it seems to have been bungled in some way. It was originally slated to be a big summer tent pole release in 2006. Then it was pushed back to the studio dumping ground during the latter part of February.
Bad sign.
There were rumors that star (and unrepentant comic book nerd) Nicholas Cage was doing bizarre improvisations on set, even adding sections to the script he wrote himself. People complained he was too old or too much of a fanatic for the material. Don’t get me started about that IMDB item that reported that it took 3 hours every day to apply Cage’s hair piece.
There was a botched marketing campaign that inexplicably centered around an overweight goth girl being interviewed about the Ghost Rider and a movie poster that showed a burning motorcycle tire tread and nothing else. What’s this movie about again?
And, of course, there is fanboy punching bag director Mark Steven Johnson at the helm. The man who ruined Daredevil. The critics were licking their chops.
I recognize all of these incredible missteps, but here’s the thing: I don’t care. I am genuinely excited for this movie.
You know me. I’m a comic book nerd. So right there, this movie gets a pass. But added to that, Ghost Rider was one of my favorite comic book characters when I was coming up in the world. I didn’t read Ghost Rider in the ’70’s when Marvel was trying to capitalize on Evel Kinevel’s cool factor. I read it in the ’90’s when it was all angst and supernatural doing’s. Trust me – when you’re 12 or 13 and still carving out a niche for a personality, an authentic biker from hell leaves an impression. Skull on fire, bad-ass motorcycle, spiked leather jacket and gauntlets, sentient chains swirling around – Ghost Rider looked like a prison tattoo come to life. Visually, I always he looked as cool as Spider-Man, The Punisher or Iron Man. I was infatuated.
Fast forward about 15 years or so and I still don’t have a motorcycle, or any tattoos or even a length of chain lying around my garage. But I still think Ghost Rider is awesome and I can’t wait to see this movie.
The only thing that matters to me is that they got the look of the character right. And, from the stills I’ve been seeing, it appears pretty spot on. The look of his new “hellcycle” leaves a little bit to be desired. It looks like a left-over from Spawn’s garage sale. But so long as they keep G.R. on screen, they’ll be fine. I know Nic Cage is the star, but I don’t care. This is a film where I don’t mind looking at CG effects for the majority of the running time. If Nicholas Cage is on screen more than 40% of the time, THEN we can call the movie a failure!
I want to give a quick shout out this week to David Buist for his guest strip on Monday and Jerry Holkins for his guest essay on Wednesday. From the sound of it, you guys got a kick out of both of their efforts this week. It means a lot to me that they would both take the time to contribute, so thanks guys!
By the way, how is this working out for everyone so far? Two guest strips and then a new comic from me on Friday? I think it’s been a good compromise. Let me know you’re thoughts in the comments! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! You guys remember those 5 samples of a new t-shirt design I was working on from earlier in the week, right? Well, I made a decision and there is a new shirt available in the store:
The shirt is currently available for pre-order through February 28 and all current bundling discounts apply. So if you want to pick up this shirt with one of our other shirts or maybe one of our books, you can!
To place your pre-order for “Junkie” click here!
Oh, and for those of you who are on “Baby Watch ’07,” no news for you yet. Cami is extremely uncomfortable, but that’s about all. We have our fingers crossed for a baby this weekend! I’ll be sure to let you know if it happens!
Have a great weekend, everyone. SEE GHOST RIDER! Piss off one of your movie snob friends!
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Henry Finn Brazelton was born at 1:27 PM on Sunday, February 18, 2007 weighing 9 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 20.5″ inches.
Incidentally, his head measured a little more than 14″ inches around. A “normal” baby has a head circumference of about 11″ or 12″. – victim of the famed “Brazelton Head Syndrome” or B.H.S. A condition in which you a born with a friggin’ huge noggin. Seriously – it has it’s own weather system!
Subsequently, medical professionals in attendance concur – THAT’S a big baby.
For those of you monitoring “Brazelbaby Watch 2007,” the wait is over. Cami performed like a gladiator through 30 hours of labor including 5 hours of pushing before Henry was delivered by C-section on Sunday afternoon. I am beside myself with pride. Never once did she complain and she gave to me a beautiful baby boy. Both Mother and baby are doing great.
I know you may have been looking forward to a new comic here (and there will be one on Wednesday). But since this has been a moment that I’ve been building up toward and involving you guys in for several months, I thought it would be a nice thing to take this time and celebrate it with all of you as well.
Many thanks for your previous messages of support. We’ve saved every one of them and it means the world to us.
It’s been a long ride for the three of us. I think we both got about 4 hours of sleep between us in the last 48 hours. Stay tuned, though. It’s a great story and we’re looking forward to telling it!
With love,
Tom, Cami and Henry
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Apologies to Joe Dunn for not publishing his guest strip earlier. The reason for which is two-fold:
1.) Uhh… having a newborn is time consuming. I have recently learned this.
2. Tycho from Penny Arcade linked to the site on Monday and TH was on the receiving end of a proper”wanging.” I’m not complaining. It’s a good problem to have. Service is spotty right now and we’re looking at opening up a little more bandwidth, but I’m kind of on the periphery of those changes at the moment.
Be that as it may, I wanted to get Joe’s comic in front of the new influx of readers because his web comic Joe Loves Crappy Movies is quite wonderful and I want all of you to know about it.
It may have been the lack of sleep, but when Joe sent me his comic not long after Henry had been born, I teared up a little. I found it to be very personal and touching, which is always appreciated. Love that Iron Man reference, Joe!
Thanks also to Tycho for his link. Not for what it means for the site, but so I could share my joy not only with my readers but with Penny Arcade’s readers as well. What a privilege. Not everyone can say they can share the news of their son’s birth around the globe to tens of thousands of people. It sounds like a cool story to tell him when he’s older. “They celebrated your birth around the planet, little guy.”
At any rate, if you’re new to the site, WELCOME! I hope you keep us in your bookmarks and come back to visit us when things have settled down a little.
Thanks to everyone who left their well wishes in the comments section of Monday’s blog before the site went ker-flooey. I read all of them to Cami in the hospital. Both she and Henry are doing great. He was sleeping about 3 hours at a stretch while we were in the hospital, so that gives us hope.
We brought him home today. It’s been a little rough because he’s been very gassy and nearly inconsolable. But as I was typing this, he let out the biggest gurgle of a fart you can imagine and I almost started crying. It sucks when you know what the problem is with your child and you can’t help him. So, just as he was relieved, so was I.
Pictures and whatnot are still forthcoming. We just have to find some gaps in the day when we aren’t sleeping to do it. It’s nice being home. All three of us were getting a little annoyed at how often people were coming into the room for one reason or another. I’m not talking about the friends and family that came to visit us. We were always thankful to see them. I’m really not even talking about the doctors or nurses. They provided us with EXCELLENT care and we were thoroughly impressed.
It’s just that… after a while… it all becomes a little overwhelming and you need a quiet moment. Coming home with Henry today was all about having that quiet time together. Phones were unhooked, televisions were turned off and we spent all of our time just staring at him.
Oh – for anyone who was wondering, Truman took to Henry immediately and their introduction couldn’t have gone smoother. We put him down in his car seat and Truman stuck his nose in under the blanket we were using to cover him up. We took the blanket away and Truman sniffed him all over, wagging his tale happily. He didn’t lick or bark or do anything to startle him. I think he was happy to see Cami and I after three days and really happy to meet the newest member of the family. He’s been great all day. He can certainly sense that Cami is a little tender from her surgery and that’s she’s recovering. He’s not as rough as he sometimes can be. He’s curling up at the foot of our bed and sometimes giving us our space by sleeping on his floor pillow – which he NEVER does.
Anyway, we were thrilled that he took to Henry so well. We were a little worried he’d get too excited and would be careless.
As for me? What can I say? I’m happy and that sums things up perfectly.
Come back to the site again on Friday. I’ll have a whole new comic from yours-truly posted on the site. Hopefully on time.
Thanks for your patience and support as we sort things out around here. Cami, Henry and I appreciate all the kind words!
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By the way, I almost forgot to point you to another one of guest artist Joe Dunn’s excellent comics – Turtle Vs. Bunny.
You guys are familiar of the fable of The Tortoise and The Hare, right? Same idea, except with rocket launchers and various levels of Spy vs. Spy-like subterfuge.
What’s great about T-V-B is that you can effect it’s outcome by either buying merchandise or sending in pin-up artwork in support of your favorite four-legged critter, so it’s very interactive. I can’t think of another web comic doing anything like that.
Anyway, it’s all good fun and you should really check it out!
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Hey, gang. Sorry for the lateness of the comic. I’ve totally lost track of time since we brought Henry home on Wednesday. We actually had an early-morning doctor’s appointment to have Henry weighed. He was down to 8 lbs. 4 oz. when we left the hospital, but this morning we learned he’s now up to 10 lbs. 5 oz. He’s a growing boy!
Sorry, sorry, sorry. Too much baby talk? I’ll try to reign that in a little.
So, Reno 911!: Miami comes out this weekend. Obviously, I won’t be the first one at the theater – but I’m a big fan of the series. Despite the fact that the marketing for the film makes it look like the eighth installment of the Police Academy franchise, I feel confident that it will excel at sending up those kind of movies.
I feel a strange point of pride that Reno 911! has made it to the big screen. Fans of comedy recognize many members of the cast from their heyday as members of the MTV sketch comedy show The State. I’ve been a fan of those guys for a LOOOONG time (still waiting for the DVD collection MTV!) so seeing this kind of validation is very exciting. Those of you going to see the movie this weekend need to report back to me and let me know how it goes!
The 79th Annual Oscar ceremony is this weekend and we’re excited. Cami and I saw the majority of the nominated films and performances, so I think we’ll get a lot out of watching the ceremony. I think, to a certain extent, that there won’t be very many surprises, which is a little disappointing. But you never know. Little Miss Sunshine might walk away with Best Picture. What a thrill that would be!
The bigger thrill – it’ll be Henry’s first exposure to the superficiality and spectacle of Hollywood. You got to get to them early!
Just a quick note of thank to Joe Dunn for his fabulous guest strip on Wednesday. Be sure to check out all of Joe’s comics over at Digital Pimp Online. He has several to choose from!
Also, don’t forget that I’m running a pre-order on my latest t-shirt design: Junkie – now through February 28. All bundled discounts apply. Get your order in now so I make sure to get your size in stock!
Thanks again for checking in and being patient with me this week. Two more guest strips next week and another original from me next Friday. Talk to you soon!
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Well, Henry is a week old, he lost his umbilical cord and I’m going back to work today after a week off. Will I live to tell about it? Who knows.
This is probably the last week of guest strips before I return to a regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I question if I’ll be able to do them in color. It’s not so much finding the time to draw and ink the comics. It’s the coloring that takes the most time. So, if push comes to shove, you’ll get the comics in black and white. I just have to play it by ear.
At any rate, sincere thanks to Josh Anderson for his guest strip. Josh does his own work with Man in a Box Comics. Go check it out. I really liked his treatment of the “gabbing girls” in his comic. I miss the Tex Avery level of cartoon violence I used to have in Theater Hopper. I need to get back to my roots.
A quick programming note – I’m going to try and participate in our weekly talkcast The Triple Feature tonight at 9:00 p.m. over at TalkShoe. I wasn’t able to make it last week for obvious reasons. I’d really like to be there tonight so I can talk with my good budies Joe and Gordon about The Oscars. If I can’t make it, Gordon will be running the show. I guess he ran into technical difficulties last week – NOT HIS FAULT – so hopefully this week will go a little smoother for him if I can’t make it. Anyway, check it out!
Speaking of the Oscars, I decided to try something a little different – LIVE BLOGGING DURING THE TELECAST. The concept is simple. I jot down whatever comes to mind during the show. Without further ado, here they are. I hope you get a kick out of them!
LIVE BLOGGING – OSCAR’s 2007
7:34 p.m. – Kind of interesting opening montage of nominees from the acting and technical categories – even though I keep waiting for the guy from the Macintosh ads to show up.
7:38 p.m. – Henry just had a massive poop. Thank goodness for TiVo.
7:43 p.m. – Nice suit, Ellen. *cough*
7:47: p.m. – Alright, I’ll give Ellen points for the J-Hud / Al Gore “America voted” joke…
7:51 p.m. – First award goes to Art Direction? What happened to the Best Supporting Actor leading off the ceremony?
7:56 p.m. – Will Ferrell with a giant ‘fro smelling a rose. He had me laughing right away. Add Jack Black and make it a musical? Brilliant. “Ryan Gosling. He’re hip and now. I’m going to break your hip, NOW!” “Mark Wahlberg? Actually, I’m not going to mess with you. You’re pretty bad ass.”
Wait! John C. Reily? Aw, yeah.
8:01 p.m. – Pan’s Labyrinth is sweeping the Oscars! I know that won’t be the case a few minutes from now. I just wanted to say that.
8:03 p.m. – Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith presenting an Oscar? Say what? At least their line flubbing is an authentic moment.
8:08 p.m. – Henry needs a diaper change and to be put down to bed. TiVo to the rescue again.
8:22 p.m. – I’m back. I’m going to have to fast forward to catch up! Sorry Best Live-Action Short Film!
8:23 p.m. – Holy crap! Pause that! Is Jack Nicholson bald during the Best Live-Action Short Film acceptance speech? He pulled a Britney!
8:24 p.m. – Back from commercial. Still fast forwarding. Sorry Sound Effects Film Choir!
8:27 p.m. – Best Sound Editing falls under the digital blade of TiVo’s fast-forward technology. Best Sound Mixing, too.
8:28 p.m. – Alan Arkin wins Best Supporting Actor! The Movie Gods have spoken and they hate Norbit.
8:34 p.m. – Can someone please explain why Randy Neuman’s song from Cars was nominated instead of Sheryl Crow’s? Fast forward. All caught up now!
8:44 p.m. – Happy Feet wins Best Animated Feature Film? Booooo!
Look, I know Cars wasn’t the best movie Pixar ever produced, but giving Happy Feet the Oscar awards it’s box office take and nothing else. I would have been happier if Monster House had won.
8:45 p.m. – “Academy award winner for Best Screenplay Ben Affleck.” Uh oh.
8:53 p.m. – William Monahan wins Best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed! Are things shaping up for a Best Picture win? Maybe too early to tell…
8:56 p.m. – Chris Connelly is a complete tool with that Parcheesi board he’s trotting around. Tom Hanks responded in absolutely the right way.
8:57 p.m. – Man, I love that Wes Anderson American Express commercial…
8:59 p.m. – Ellen’s Oscar Bjorn. I probably wouldn’t have found that as funny a week ago and if I weren’t walking around the house in Henry’s Baby Bjorn earlier in the day.
9:05 p.m. – Apparently it’s a big deal that Tom Cruise is presenting Sherri Lansing with the Oscar’s Humanitarian Award. Both she and Cruise were ousted from Paramount by Sumner Redstone last year. I heard it’s supposed to be kind of a thumbing of the nose that industry people are supposed to get excited about.
9:11 p.m. – Clint Eastwood came off a little senile at first, but he’s doing a good job keeping up with Ellen’s request for a photo from her MySpace page. Asking Steven Spielberg to take it? Great timing!
9:20 p.m. – Nice bit of self-deprecation from Robert Downey Jr. In the Best Special Effects introduction. Dead Man’s Chest wins and rightly so. Davy Jones is probably the most startling CG creation put to film.
9:31 p.m. – Whoa! Pan’s Labyrinth LOSES Best Foreign Language Film to Germany’s The Lives of Others? SHOCKER!
9:33 p.m. – I thought those dancers making the shadow puppets were pretty lame until they busted out the Snakes on a Plane logo. Nice.
9:35 p.m. – Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress. The upstaging of Beyonce is now complete.
Hudson climbing from the American Idol reject pile to Academy Award winner is an impressive story. But that’s all it is: A story. Let’s be honest. We’ll never hear from her again. Can you really say she’s a better actress than Kate Blanchet?
8:46 p.m. – Jerry Seinfeld is delivering an excellent bit during the Best Documentary Feature introduction about movie theaters wanting you to pick up to yourself and I desperately wish I had thought of it.
9:52 p.m. – Clint Eastwood having a little trouble reading the prompter during the tribute to Morricone. Kinda shameful, Clint.
10:17 p.m. – I feel like I haven’t commented in a dog’s age. A lot of awards in technical categories, I guess. Interesting that Little Miss Sunshine won for Best Original Screenplay. So, at this point, I’m thinking it’s got to be between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed for Best Picture – which is how I would prefer it. If Babel wins at this point, I would be shocked. But there have been lots of nice little twists tonight!
10:37 p.m. – Henry needed another diaper change during the Best Original Song award. What did I miss? Melissa Etheridge? Hmm! Not feeling so bad about missing Dreamgirls in theaters now.
10:46 p.m. – And now the sad portion of our evening, remembering those who have died. I had forgotten about Bruno Kirby and Don Knotts passing away last year. Joe Barbarra, James Doohan, Peter Boyle, Jack Pallance (although I already thought he was dead). Of course Robert Altman. A sad year.
10:54 p.m. – The show is running long. Helen Mirren wins Best Actress for The Queen. Very much deserved. An elegant woman to be sure and an excellent performance.
11:04 p.m. – Forest Whitaker wins Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland. Expect a lot of “King and Queen” headlines on Monday morning.
11:06 p.m. – “The Original Three Amigos” George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola presenting Best Director… and Martin Scorsese FINALLY WINS! YES!
Man, I was going to say – if you pool those three icons of 70’s film making together to hand over the award to Best Director, it better go to one of their contemporaries! Standing ovation? HELL YEAH!
Funny that Lucas was relegated to the bitch seat for being the only one never to have taken home an Oscar. I don’t think too many people are crying into their Cheerio’s about that.
11:14 p.m. – The Departed wins Best Picture. I will sleep soundly tonight.
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So that’s my Oscar’s ’07 live blog. What did you guys think of the broadcast? I thought Ellen DeGeneres did a pretty good job as host . Better than I anticipated. Were there any surprises for you guys? Anyone you think was robbed? We you entertained by the show? Who had the best speech? Who was the worst dressed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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Today’s guest strip comes courtesy of Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex. You might not immediately recognize his style in this piece since it was hand drawn. Gordon puts together Multiplex completely in Adobe Illustrator. Personally, I get a real kick out of his hand drawn style. It shows Gordon has the artistic fundamentals that make the vector output of Multiplex that much more satisfying.
If you haven’t read Multiplex, now is a good time. I know you guys would love it. Just as Theater Hopper focuses on the fan experience of going to the movies, Multiplex covers things from the other side of the concessions counter by focusing on the employees of a movie theater. Gordon deftly juggles several characters and their complicated relationships, providing a clear voice for each one.
Incidentally, Gordon (along with Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies) is one of the co-hosts of The Triple Feature talkcast broadcast live every Monday at 9:00 p.m. CST over at TalkShoe. I wasn’t able to participate in this week’s show since I needed to make myself available to Cami and Henry after putting in an 8-hour work day, but I’ve downloaded a copy of the broadcast from iTunes and it was a really good show. Joe called in from a bar! The lush!
Today will be the last guest strip before I return to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I hope you’ve enjoyed all the work submitted by the guest artists. It’s been a crazy month! There will be a new comic from me on Friday and then it’s back to the grind.
I’ve been trying to prepare for my re-insertion back into the site. I’m working ahead and I already have next Monday’s comic done. I’m half way through with Wednesday’s comic. It’s colored and now I’m working on shading. I was lucky last night that we were able to put Henry down for a nap after feeding him and he slept for about 3 hours. You can really get a lot of work done when you don’t know when your kid is about to wake up from a nap! A great motivator! Hopefully I can stay ahead of the curve and produce comics in advance of their deadline so I’m not stressed out during the week. This is a new method of working for me. Typically I produce a comic the day before it’s posted on the site. After nearly 5 years, it’s taking some getting used to working a full week in advance!
All I know is that I hope I can continue to do comics in color. I was tempted to do them in black and white until I got back into the swing of things, but I always think about the books I hope to produce with these comics and how disappointed I would be in myself if I printed up a book that was part color and part black and white. It would be like it was unfinished, or something!
Speaking of which, I’m going to start early chipping away at “Theater Hopper: Year Three.” My plan is to have it finished by Wizard World Chicago in August, so I’m giving myself a lot of rope! By the way, one of those navigation links at the top of the page is finally working. It’s the TOUR page. If you guys want to see what conventions I’ll be attending this year, click here. I’ve got four on my plate for 2007.
One last bit of site news, today is the last day to pre-order the Junkie t-shirt. So if you want to make sure I have your size in stock, order today!
Keep in mind that all bundle discounts apply to this pre-order, so if you’re thinking about getting one of our two books, you can take advantage of that as well.
Anyway, gotta go. See you Friday!
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