Archive for March, 2007
18 items.
When I saw the trailers for Pride about a month ago, two thoughts came to mind:
- Terrance Howard lost a bet.
- It’s official: We’ve run out of sports through which to teach modern audiences the values of self-reliance and understanding differences.
I don’t mean to belittle competitive swimmers. I had a few friends in high school who were on the swim team and it was their whole existence. I understand the crazy athleticism and determination it takes to shave tenths of seconds off your lap time. I mean, these were guys who would shave all their hair off their bodies before a meet to reduce drag – and I mean everything. Say goodbye to emoting with your eyebrows for a month!
But let’s face it – laps in a swimming pool isn’t going to keep me glued to my seat. Sure, there’s the possibility someone might drown. But that would be kind of a downer for a supposedly uplifting movie like this one, don’t you think?
And what’s with this movie being centered around the swimming program of The Philadelphia Department of Recreation? What’s so special about it? I’m aware that the film is based on historical events. Apparently the coach that Howard plays is a big deal, but I’ve never heard of him. I guess he’s like a motivational speaker for kids, or something, but he uses swimming instead of obtuse metaphors about climbing ladders and avoiding snakes. Who knows?
This might all come off as very ignorant. Admittedly, I’m probably not the target demo for this movie. But if your trailers have me scratching my head and asking this many questions, then you’re in trouble. That’s one man’s opinions. Am I wrong? Let me know in the comments.
By-the-by, don’t forget to check out this week’s episode of The Triple Feature talkcast at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe. Since no good movies came out last week, Gordon, Joe and I will be discussing the recently DVD release of Casino Royale along with all of our favorite Bond movies. If for no other reason, be sure to tune in tonight to listen to Gordon fake his way through an hour long conversation about James Bond. Is it possible to hear a man sweat over the radio?
Talk to you later!
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If you are a person of a certain age, certainly the specific form of homemade injury depicted in today’s comic will bring wave after wave of painful nostalgia to your mind. When I was a wee tot, there was no bigger phenomenon than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We loved the cartoons, we loved the actions figures, we loved the hastily put together movies. I mean, we put up with Vanilla Ice in The Secret of the Ooze. VANILLA ICE!!! That’s dedication people.
Equal parts dedication could be seen on the faces of little boys who believed they could grow up to be ninjas. Maybe even teenaged ninjas! I can’t tell you how many people I know who tagged themselves in the ol’ beanbag with a pair of nunchucks they built themselves. I could have been their club president, I did it so many times. I’m lucky we were even able to HAVE Henry, let me put it that way.
I remember the day that I figured out how to make my weapon of choice from two lengths of PVC pipe, a short length of chain and several interwoven strips of duct tape. I felt like a civil engineer, like I had accomplished some great feat of constructive prowess. It was easily my favorite toy from the years 1988 to, well… what year is it again?
The producers of the freshly CG animated T.M.N.T. insist that this is a relaunch of the franchise and they have the forthcoming toy line to back it up. But let’s not kid ourselves. This is a nostalgia trip, pure and simple. I like that they stayed withing the cartoon roots of the series. The live-action movies were… interesting, but not exactly faithful – or very joyous. So I appreciate that they’re keeping our boys in green within a certain context.
Beyond that, I’m sure it’s very possible this movie could inspire a whole new generation to cut lengths of broomsticks and fashion them into crude weapons for imaginative playtime. Now that I’m old enough to by my own AUTHENTIC implements of masochism, I’ll be right along side them.
I’m looking forward to paying the hospital bills.
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That’s what it feels like to be internet famous sometimes – getting hit in the nuts by a costumed third grader wielding a bo staff.
And it never stops hurting.
I don’t know what it is with me punishing Tom’s junk this week, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from America’s Funniest Home Videos, images of people getting hit in the groin are comedy gold.
Since the advent of shows like Jackass and the immediacy of YouTube, it feels like we’re living in the Renaissance of people getting hit in the groin. It’s been elevated into some kind of competitive performance art. Well, consider my hat in the ring.
Now watch as someone posts a clip of themselves taken a sledgehammer to the nuts.
As you can tell, I’m not particularly full of insights today. But I’m excited none-the-less. My folks have offered to watch Henry this weekend long enough for us to get away and watch a movie. I’m super psyched because Reign Over Me comes out this weekend and both Cami and I have been looking forward to it.
I know, I know. Our first social outing without Henry and what do we choose to do but watch a delightful little movie about 9/11 and coping with grief. Should be a fun time!
Now if we can somehow persuade Cami’s folks into babysitting next week so we can go see Blades of Glory!
Some good news for those of you who ordered Junkie shirts a little while back – they’re FINALLY back from the printer. So this weekend I’m going to sit down and package up all the orders. Hopefully I can get them in the mail over my lunch hour on Monday and you’ll be seeing them in the next few days after that. Sorry for the delay. Apparently my printer had a stick up his butt.
For those of you who haven’t ordered the new Junkie shirt and maybe want to see it modeled before you plunk down your hard-earned money, here’s a glamor shot for you:
Would you buy a used car from this man?If you guys like what you see (and honestly, how could you not?) swing by the store and place your order. Keep in mind that Junkie is also available with all of the special bundling discounts. So if you want to grab a shirt along with a copy of one of our books, you’ll save a little extra dough in the process. Everyone wins!
That’ll do it for me. See you guys next Monday!
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The Des Moines Register – Iowa’s largest daily newspaper – is looking for applicants for a new team of community movie reviewers.
I am totally gunning for this job.
The initial requirements are kind of tricky. They want you to submit a review of 100 words or less before they select the best reviews and post them online for readers to vote on. The most well-received reviewers get a spot on the team.
Part of me thinks I have the inside track on this. Theater Hopper already appears in Juice – a weekly youth publication put together by members of the The Des Moines Register’s existing staff. Also, I know the guy who is accepting submissions. I actually used to write for him on a freelance basis a few years ago reviewing concerts for The Register. The devil you know, right? How can they overlook me?
But the real ace in the hole is going to be you guys. After Cami and I see Reign Over Me this weekend, I’m going to burn lean tissue putting together a tight review so it’s a lock for the online voting round. When my review is posted, I’m going to call on your support to put me over the top. I know we can do it together.
Keep your eyes peeled!
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Sometimes it’s funny to write a straight up the middle "ba-da-dump-tssh!" kind of joke and let the chips fall where they may. Say what you will, but I had a lot of fun doing the little pieces of character expressions in this one.
Blades of Glory is a movie that I’ve been excited about ever since I saw the early trailers. Will Ferrell in his custom cocky snarl uttering "You’re welcome, Stockholm…" just gets to me for some reason. I think this movie is going to be a real hoot. Ferrell is always at his best when he plays the cock-sure buffoon.
I recognize that Ferrell isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Every time I comment on how much I love his movies, invariably someone comes out of the woodwork to tell me how much he sucks. Obviously humor is probably the most subjective of art forms and the further out on a limb a performer goes, the more likely he is to attract equally forceful detractors. Whoever it shakes out, I’ve thrown my lot in with Ferrell and that’s pretty much all she wrote. Even in his worst movies, I can still find things I like.
Cami and I were able to get away for the house for a little while this weekend and see Reign Over Me and I really liked it. I’ll be doing a short, 100 word review of the movie that I will be submitting to The Des Moines Register as part of an online contest where they are looking to hire a new stable of reviewers. I wrote a post about it on Friday. There’s an online component to this competition. They’re going to select a handful of reviews and let their readers decide which one’s the like best. The reviewers with the most votes get added to the team. I’m going to call you guys in for backup when the time comes. Until then, keep your eyes peeled.
I was going to tell a story about the trials we went through to get there, but I have a comic about Reign Over Me in mind for Wednesday and I think I’ll wait to share it then. We’ll be talking about Reign Over Me during tonight’s Triple Feature talkcast and I might tell the story there, so you might get a little preview. We’ll also be talking about Netflix and the rumor that the company is attempting to make deals with local public libraries to distribute through them. We’re still doing a little bit of research on that one, so it’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out.
If neither of those options interest you, what about the promise of free stuff?
In a partnership with 20th Century Fox, I will be giving away copies of Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris and which will be coming out on DVD next Tuesday, April 3rd. But the only way you can win is if you listen to tonight’s show.
At the end of the broadcast, I will be sharing one half of a secret code. Listen in and write it down. Then, be sure to come back to Theater Hopper on Wednesday for the second half of the secret code that will be right here in the blog. Send in the complete code to theaterhopper@hotmail.com with the subject "Beethoven" along with you name, age and full mailing address and the winners will be selected at random!
It would be great if we could get a lot of participation on this one. The more we generate buzz for this promotion, the greater likelihood that we’ll be able to do bigger and better promotions like this one in the future! So remember The Triple Feature talkcast TONIGHT at 9:00 PM CST.
In the meantime, be sure to check out Copying Beethoven when it comes out on DVD April 3rd!
See you then!
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I was reading this short profile on Mike Binder, writer and director of Reign Over Me on EW.com this morning and I wanted to gouge my eyes out.
In the introductory paragraph, the article’s author Neil Drumming misidentifies Don Cheadle’s character as Alex Johnson (it’s Alan) and says Adam Sandler’s character loses his wife and two children in the 9/11 attack (he had three children). Do these writers even see the movies they’re profiling? Do they have editors? Hell, a quick search over at IMDB would have at least gotten the name of Cheadle’s character right! I thumbed around the site for a little while to see if I could send an e-mail to Drumming to point out his mistakes. I don’t know if that’s anal, obnoxious or both.
I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t complain. After all, I can barely spell. But on the other hand, I don’t have the resources of the mighty Time Warner empire behind me, either.
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In the life of a web comic, there is typically a time where an artist or writer will call on high to Gods that sit atop Mount Olympus in a futile attempt to gain their favor. Some of them fashion crude duplicates of their image in order to invoke their power. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail.
Yes, at some point in the career of many web comic artists, they will toss in an unsolicited Penny Arcade cameo.
Truthfully, with nearly 700 comics to my credit, I’m surprised it’s taken this long. But, y’know… ever since Tycho wrote that wonderful essay about fatherhood for the site a few months ago… him and I are like “this.”
You can’t see it, but I’ve crossed my fingers to represent closeness.
I suppose I can’t say that I’ve gone completely without referencing Penny Arcade in the past. I borrowed Div for a couple of strips where I was lampooning the trend of anthropomorphic appliances. At any rate, it’s all in good fun. If anyone takes exception to my characterization of Gabe and Tycho as violent hooligans, I don’t think they’ll mind if Monday’s Penny Arcade is any indication.
Speaking of Monday, I mentioned that Cami and I had an opportunity to see Reign Over Me this weekend. Kind of an odd choice for our first movie-going experience since Henry was born, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. Writer/director Mike Binder did a very good job of dissecting grief and the responsibilities of men in the modern age. He side-steps the whole 9/11 issue very carefully and doesn’t exploit the memory of that day in the least.
Adam Sandler is getting high praise for his work in this film and I think it’s deserved. He’s done a good job of picking dramatic roles that don’t announce “I’M DOING DRAMATIC ROLES NOW! TAKE ME SERIOUSLY!” like Jim Carrey has in the past.
That said, I think Don Cheadle steals the show with his performance. Cheadle has much less to hide behind in his portrayal of a man burdened by his responsibilities. In the movie, he ends up spending a lot of time with Sandler’s character trying to draw him out of his shell at the expense of those responsibilities. In one scene, his wife calls him out on his behavior and accuses him of coveting the freedom Sandler’s character has after losing his entire family in the 9/11 attacks. It’s a sick and twisted accusation and Cheadle’s character addresses it as such. But if you let the idea sink in, it’s kind of true.
In the hands of a less competent actor, Cheadle’s character could have been GROSSLY unlikable. But I think Cheadle deftly brings to the surface dark taboos about the conflict between the responsibility of a father and husband versus man’s almost innate need for freedom and independence. It adds a dimension to the movie that enriches it beyond “Adam Sandler wrestles with grief.”
At any rate, I go into my opinions of Reign Over Me with greater detail in this week’s Triple Feature broadcast. If you missed the show on Monday night, you missed a doozy. Not only did we talk about Reign Over Me, but we also talked about TMNT, rumors surrounding Netflix distributing through local libraries, the death of the traditional movie-going experience in the face of streaming movie downloads and more. We actually drew Scott Kurtz from PvP into the fray and he had some great observations about the movie-going experience. It was a real treat to have him participate in the show.
Man, I’m just name-checking the A-listers left and right today, aren’t I?
Download this week’s show and savor in it’s glory.
Another big reason you’ll want to download this week’s show is so you can get the first half of the two-part clue you’ll need to submit along with your full name, age and mailing address to participate in the Copying Beethoven DVD giveaway. I’m not going to tell you what the first half of the clue is here, but I will give you the second half for those of you participating.
The second half of the clue is “OUT.”
Again, you’ll need the whole clue to be in the running for the giveaway. Send the clue along with your information to theaterhopper@hotmail.com with the subject line “Beethoven” by NEXT MONDAY to be part of the raffle. Winners will be chosen at random!
We really want to get a lot of people to participate in this because the more people we have who put their name into the hat, the more likely we’ll be able to do bigger and better promotions like this in the future!
Remember that Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris comes out on DVD next Tuesday, April 3 and thanks again to 20th Century Fox for helping us set this up!
That’ll do it for me. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday. I’ll see you here again on Friday!
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I know Grindhouse doesn’t come out for another week, but I pretty much backed myself into a corner by doing my Blade of Glory comic on Monday. There really wasn’t much after that I wanted to make fun of.
I actually have a whole week of Grindhouse strips ready to go for next week. So, at first, I thought this one might be overkill. But as Cami and I were gathered around the dinner table tonight, Henry resting atop the table in his bouncy chair, we discussed Grindhouse and Rose McGowan’s almost instantly iconic look as a stripper with a machine gun for a leg. Our conversation turned to how we could make fun of it.
This comic was originally more complicated. First having Tom and Cami wax poetic about the prosthesis. But the more we discussed it, the more we thought it sounded like "industry conversation." So I decided to turn it over to the hapless (and so far nameless) production lackeys of the Hollywood Hills. I’m really starting to like these characters. They pull through in a pinch.
Not much else to say for now, I’m afraid. I had a meeting that lasted through my lunch hour on Thursday, so I wasn’t able to get away and draw today’s comic while I ate. Instead, I had to put it together when I got home and only after we put Henry down for the night. For once, I’m kind of glad he didn’t sleep very well last night because he’s sleeping like wood tonight!
In any case, I’m tired and will need to close soon.
Quick word about the Copying Beethoven DVD giveaway contest. A lot of you have sent in your entries but a few of you aren’t following instructions all the way. Along with the completed code, I need your full name, age and mailing address. Some people are just sending in their name and address. Some people are just sending in the clue. I know a few of you are put of that I’m asking for your age. But I have to ask because Copying Beethoven is rated PG-13 and I can’t award a 12 year-old with the movie. That may sound unlikely, but it’s also important that I establish the prescident for when I might be giving away a movie that’s rated R.
So here’s the deal. Under normal circumstances, I would be forced to throw these incomplete entries out. But since is the first contest we’re doing, I’ll give those of you who only sent in a portion of your information a second chance. If you want to send a revised entry to theaterhopper@hotmail.com, I will accept them. Response has been strong to this initial offering, so you’ll want to make sure your name is in the running! Thanks again.
One last question – since t-shirt sales are starting to pick up again and a few of you seemed to respond positively to seeing me modeling the designs, I was thinking it might be cool if I posted pictures of YOU guys wearing the shirts on the store pages! Interested? Send in pictures of yourself wearing any of our shirt designs currently in stock to theaterhopper@hotmail.com. Or, if you want to send in a picture of yourself reading one of our books, we’ll take those, too!
One thing I need help with: Does anyone know how to write a custom script that will allow me to post thumbnails of these pictures under the main image on the product listing page? Then, when you rollover them, a larger version of the thumbnail appears where the closeup image of the shirt design displays at the default? Once again, fire a message to theaterhopper@hotmail.com if you have any experience with that kind of development!
That will do it for me today. Cami and I are seeing Blades of Glory tonight. Her Mom insisted that we go so she could babysit. It’s been a blessing to have our family so close by as we’re bringing up Henry. It’s been a real treat for him to get to know both sets of grandparents better.
Oh, well! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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