Archive for September, 2007
17 items.
Sometimes you just want to do something childish and random, you know?
Incidentally, Tom’s anti-dragon (or pro-unicorn) stance (depending on your politics) has come up before. Call me selfish, but if I have the opportunity to insert a violent and crude demon-spawned unicorn into my comic, I’m taking it. I’m really starting to like the idea that Hillstryder is, like, a bastard unicorn. He probably leaves the seat up.
All this silliness (I feel) is perfectly justified in reference to a steaming turd burger like Dragon Wars – or D-War, or whatever. The movie is so crappy, they can’t even keep the title straight!
We talked a little big about Dragon Wars on Monday’s Triple Feature broadcast. I guess Gordon was in New York, had a chance to visit Joe and somehow they ended up watching it – in a theater! Joe kept lamenting that he couldn’t believe he was dragged to see it.
Note to the producers: When there is a guy on the internet with a public forum called "JOE LOVES CRAPPY MOVIES" dissing your production, you’ve got a problem.
At any rate, if you have some time to kill, download the latest Triple Feature. It was perfectly aimless. Kind of like this blog post!
Thanks again to Ryan Estrada for giving me the day off Monday. If you made the rounds at all in webcomic circles, you know that Ryan left his thumbprint on A LOT of different comics on Monday. Personally, I was happy to be among such good company. Hats off to Ryan for thinking of an excellent kick-off for his new Cartoon Commune service. His dedication to webcomics continues to inspire.
Not much more to say except I’ve been spending a lot of time on StumbleUpon lately. I think I love it. Have you guys tried it? It’s not as invasive as you guys think and it’s a great way to find new web sites. It’s like channel surfing the internet.
If you want to help your fellow internet traveler and help Theater Hopper to boot, download the toolbar plugin and rank Theater Hopper among your favorites. Rank the individual comics, too. The more Theater Hopper links are passed around and ranked, the more popular the site will become. And that will benefit everyone. Trust me. If you already have an account, friend me, would ya?
Only a handful of people had any comments about the "Explosion" t-shirt from Monday, which kind of bummed me out. I thought it was a fun design. I don’t know if I’m going to invest anything in producing it for the site if there isn’t demand. I might submit it to Threadless instead.
Still working on a site redesign and receiving free consultation from a local design firm called Red 5 Interactive here in town. Bonus points for the Star Wars reference. My goal is to have a brand new site for you by 2008 with all the bells and whistles. I was inspired by Scott Kurtz’s transformation of PvP earlier in the year and the outside help he procrued to do it. Granted, I don’t have the bankroll Kurtz does. But I figure after 5 years in the game, it’s put up or shut up time.
I’m blathering.
Okay, I’m done! Have a great Wednesday!
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I suppose if you were to dissect the marketing for Good Luck Chuck, you could technically categorize it as a success. I mean, for as infantile and unfunny as the movie posters are, they are eye-catching. Eye-catching in the sense that you can’t believe the hint of felatio is considered acceptable advertising.
I don’t mean to get all puritanical on you, but I fail to see how the posters have anything to do with the movie they’re schilling for. Nevermind the B.J. posters. Have you seen the completely non-sensical “parody of the famous John Lennon/Yoko Ono Rolling Stone cover? It doesn’t even look like Dane Cook and Jessica Alba were in the same room together, let alone Cook cradled on top of her. I can smell a Photoshop job a mile away.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. The television advertising can’t seem to get the message straight, either.
If you look up the plot synopsis over at IMDB, Good Luck Chuck is about a guy (Cook) who is unlucky in love. That is until he finds out that a string of ex-girlfriends ended up finding the men they ended up marrying shortly after breaking up with him. Word spreads and women are knocking down his door for casual sex so they can get on with their lives and find the man of their dreams. In essense, he becomes their “good luck charm.” Hence, Good Luck Chuck.
A real charmer of a plot, isn’t it? It’s like a modern update of The Philadelphia Story.
The movie’s B-plot has to do with a woman Cook’s character meets (Alba) who is the walking epitome of Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong with this woman will. But Chuck falls for her and doesn’t want to sleep with her out of fear that she’ll leave and marry the next guy she meets.
Okay, points for setting up an unique conflict. Although I’m sure the movie will betray it’s tawdriness with a sugar coated ending – “I’m such bad luck, the curse must not affecft me! Tee hee!” End credits.
So that’s the story in a nutshell, right? You wouldn’t know it by looking at the ads. Watch closely. Every one of them is either about making fun of fat girls, “hilarious” prat falls or Jessica Alba’s skirt being torn off in a car door. *GASP!* To me it comes off a much more mean and derivitive version of The Wedding Crashers. Take a goofball premise, sex it up, but leave out all the charm.
I know I’m being snotty about this, but I’m making a stand. Look, I’m all for boob jokes, I’m all for Jessica Alba in tiny underwear. I’m all for an honest-to-goodness R-rated comedy that doesn’t pull any punches.
But at the same time, I’m not an idiot and that’s what I feel like the ads and posters for this movie treat me as. Be ribald – go for it! But don’t shove it in my face. Don’t make the core of your marketing effort all about that. It makes you look desperate… and sad. It makes me think there isn’t a brain in this thing. Maybe there doesn’t need to be. But if you’re going to entice me to shell out my hard-earned dough, don’t lob me softballs. Pretend for a minute that I’m not a dumb as you think I am. I appreciate wit, not smut. Or even witty smut. If I wanted that, I’d read Maxim Magazine. It’d be a hell of a lot cheaper and I wouldn’t have to embarass myself in public.
So, yeah. I’m not seeing Good Luck Chuck this weekend.
That’s about all I’ve got for you. Keep your eyes and ears open next week. I’ve got a stack of free DVDs I’m going to be giving away and not just on Monday’s Triple Feature talkcast. I’ve got so many, I’m going to be giving them away THROUGHOUT the week and I’m coming up will all sorts of fun activities for you that can put you in the running.
Hey, who doesn’t love free crap?
That’s all for now. Have a great weekend!
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I always get nervous whenever a comic requires me to do some kind of caricature for multiple reasons. I always have trouble blending my style with something that makes the person in question recognizable. Also, I’m not very good at it. I’ve bought a few books to try and teach my technique. I’m sure if I spent a whole month doing nothing but caricatures, I would improve. It’s just difficult to determine what your need will be based off of the jokes you come up with.
Okay, that’s no excuse. I mean, after five years, I should at least have a Ben Affleck caricature in the bag by now!
The Kingdom comes out this weekend and the trailers have led me to believe it’s a by-the-numbers potboiler about the conflict in the Middle East. Even if it wasn’t attempting to be topical by referencing The War on Terror, I would have categorized it as rote based solely on that shot of the SUV furiously backing out of a secluded alley when fired upon by an terrorist with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. That whole sequence looks like it came straight out of Patriot Games to me.
However, there are a few twists to the formula that have captured my attention. First, actor/director Peter Berg is behind the lens. I know his list of directing credits isn’t setting the world on fire, but I’ve always liked the guy and I view him as a straight shooter that isn’t interested in being pigeon holed by Hollywood.
Another interesting twist is the addition to Jason Bateman to the cast. Bateman is one of those actors who is going to do great no matter where you stick him. He has a very natural style and will be a nice yang to Jamie Foxx’s hammy, over-the-top yin. As good as he is, he’s not the first actor you think of in a movie like this. Jamie Foxx, sure. Chris Cooper, of course. Jennifer Garner, you’re stretching it a bit, but okay. Jason Bateman? Wha?
My good friend Joe Dunn had a chance to see the movie at a sneak preview last week and he said Bateman was perfectly cast and adds a lot of comic relief. As for the movie itself, he said the last half hour is riveting and totally worth the price of admission. At lot of action that really makes you feel like you’re in the thick of it.
I’m curious about The Kingdom, but I’m going to wait and read a couple more reviews to see what the concensus is. Still, it’s got to be better than seeing The Rock in The Game Plan this weekend.
Speaking of The Kingdom, I’m running a contest this week for a few giveaway items in advance of it’s opening in theaters this weekend.
Be sure to listen to The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST for your chance to win a prize package that includes a full-sized poster, hat, t-shirt, mini notepad, and jacket!
One half of a code will be given during the broadcast and the second half will be given right here at Theater Hopper on Wednesday. You’ll need both clues to be eligible for the contest! Of the correct entries, one winner will be chosen at random! So be sure to listen in!
As a matter of fact, I have a bunch of free DVDs that I’m giving away this week. So you guys should be sure to check back every day for your chance to win.
Tomorrow I will have a DVD review for the recent release of 30 Rock: Season One up on the site. 30 Rock was probably my favorite new show last season and I was thrilled to see they won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series last week. Check back to read my review as well as information for more free DVD goodies!
See you then!
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In what has to be one of the most agregious oversights in pop culture last year, Tina Fey’s excellent freshman sitcom 30 Rock languished at the bottom of the ratings while brain dead reality shows and game shows involving no skill dominated. America – If you’re complaining that there is nothing good on TV, you have no one to blame but yourself. Hopefully, with the first season now on DVD, you can get caught up before the second season premiers on October 4.
30 Rock was one of two behind-the-scenes-at-a-sketch-comedy-show offerings NBC had on its schedule last year. The other was the now-canceled Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perhaps confusion kept people away from 30 Rock or perhaps its poor scheduling against powerhouses like Survivor and Grey’s Anatomy led to it being overlooked. But it doesn’t subtract from the often witty, topical and sometimes absurd story lines. Whatever shape it takes, it’s always funny.
Fey, as the series producer, head writer and star, does an excellent job portraying the beleaguered Liz Lemon as a kind of post-modern Mary Tyler Moore. Things start to come off the rails when a brash network executive played by Alec Baldwin forces Lemon to hire an out-of-control movie star played by Tracy Morgan to spice up the show.
The initial premise of the show causes some interesting conflict from which comedy is mined, but it begins to drag somewhat when you realize that Tracy Morgan’s antics are best in small doses.
Some flashes of brilliance are seen in the series third episode “Blind Date” when Baldwin’s character sits in with the shows writers and is drawn into their weekly poker game. Cleaning everyone out thanks to his shark-like ability to “read” people. But when he is confronted with the eternally upbeat Kenneth, the studio page (Jack McBrayer) who he cannot “read”, he sets out to mentally destroy him.
However, it isn’t until the shows’ seventh episode that it really hits its lunatic stride. When Baldwin’s character puts Tracy Morgan on Conan O’Brien, it’s a race against the clock to put Tracy back on his medication before he repeats an unfortunately near-stabbing like he did the last time he was on Conan. Between executive producer Pete’s new-found self-confidence through wearing a wig, Tracy’s hallucination of a little blue man and the introduction of Dr. Spaceman (that’s pronounced “Spa-chem-in”), the series cements it’s stance in finding absurd laughs in everyday occurrences.
DVD extras in the collection are somewhat paltry. There’s your standard deleted scenes and blooper reel, but they just kind of sit there. The blooper real is wrapped up in a kind of fake “E! Hollywood Story,” which would have been better if they had seen the concept of the parody all the way through.
“An Evening with Kenneth” are a series of shorts that the actors made while in character featuring Jack McBrayer as Kenneth the page hosting his own late-night comedy show. A few chuckles, but nothing more.
What I was curious to see was the original pilot of the series that featured Rachel Dratch as Fey’s best friend and star of the show-within-the-show. But she was bumped by network executives and replaced by the acceptable Jane Krakowski. What’s the matter, NBC? Afraid we’d see the folly of your mistake?
It should go without saying that the extras are not the reason to buy this collection. Buy it for some excellent original comedy. Disciples of Arrested Development and The Office will find plenty to like here. With any luck, Baldwin’s Golden Glove for Best Actor and the series Emmy win for Best Comedy Series will help drag it out of the ratings quagmire for season two.
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Apologies to anyone who tried to participate in or download last night’s Triple Feature talkcast. Gordon and I ran into some technical difficulties around the 15 minute mark and decided to scrap the show after neither of us could log back in. You wouldn’t have missed much. Joe was M.I.A. because he got to attend an early screening of American Gangster and neither Gordon or I had much to talk about. We were pretty much going to wing it. There weren’t that many people in the chat field, either. I think everyone was off watching the premiere of Heroes, or something.
We might try and do another show later in the week to make up for it. Possibly Thursday. Joe is game. We’re still waiting for confirmation from Gordon. So stay tuned for that one. Either way you slice it, don’t worry about getting the first half of The Kingdom prize package giveaway code. I’m going to give you the whole thing on Wednesday and you can enter the contest then.
Speaking of contests, I’ve got another one for you!
I have two copies of Stargate Atlantis: Season Three to give away and I’m going to make you work a little bit to be eligible to win.
All I need you to do is pick your favorite three Theater Hopper strips and submit them to your favorite social bookmarking site. It could be StumbleUpon, it could be Reddit, it could be Digg. Whatever works best for you.
If you’re new to social bookmarking, you can use the handy little drop down at the bottom of this post. Be sure you’re on the individual page you want to bookmark before tagging it.
Once you’ve bookmarked your three favorite strips to the social bookmarking site of your choice, send a screen shot or a link to your profile page so I can see your entries to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com along with your name and mailing address. You have until this Friday to enter. From the entries, two winners will be chosen at random.
Hopefully you guys appreciate that I’m just trying to drum up some interest in the site and it’s really not that much effort for a chance to win something cool. Your efforts help promote the site and ,when that happens, everyone wins!
Get bookmarking and good luck!
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Today’s comic takes a complicated issue and forces it through a prisim where things are black and white. I suppose those are the limitations of a four panel strip. Concordantly, I know the punchline isn’t exactly “LMAO.”
But sometimes an issue kind of sticks in your brain and you tackle it the best way you know how. Thank goodness there is a blog to accompany things. Otherwise, I fear you might be left adrift.
I was thinking about The Kingdom being released on Friday and how it’s one of only a handful of post 9/11 movies that treats the conflict in the middle east as action movie fodder. More often than not, movies about the war on terror have centered around the politics that got us there like Syriana, the misgivings of war through parabal like Jarhead or the aftermath and heartbreak of war like A Mighty Heart or The Valley of Eljah. That’s fine. I understand where these films are coming from. They’re holding up a mirror to our times. I get it.
That’s why it’s interesting to me that director Peter Berg is approaching this powder keg with guns blazing and as pure action movie entertainment. I can hardly recall any movie that has put the crosshairs so squarely on “the enemy” in the middle east. No movie leaps to mind with a “Give ’em hell!” gung ho spirit in this regard. It’s like when John Wayne made the only pro-Vietnam movie with The Green Berets, or something. Granted, I haven’t seen The Kingdom yet. It’s very possible that the first two acts are a thoughtful dissertation of our presence in the region and what a quagmire it’s become.
But I’ve also read enough advanced reviews to know that there is supposedly a “kick ass” shootout at the end of the movie. One so poetic in it’s violence, that will be the reason people go to see it because that will be the last impression that’s been made on the people leaving the theaters. I can almost promise anything that comes before the third act will blow away like sand over a dune.
I’m not trying to make a political statement. I’m not trying to make a statement about art. But I am asking questions about us – the audience – and our taste for these sorts of things. As far as I know, the war on terror is still happening. Is it right to digest this kind of thing as entertainment when there are men and women dying in another country? I mean, I never really got over the fact that Medal of Honor was such a popular video game because it allowed you to recreate The Battle of Normandy in shocking, realistic detail. That was a historical event. It actually happened. Tens of thousands died. And it’s entertainment?
Maybe I’m not one to talk. After all, I’m running a contest where I’m giving away prizes to help promote The Kingdom. Am I being completely hypocritical? Possibly.
But I’m not here to solve the problem. I’m just posing the question.
Speaking of which…
First of all apologies to anyone who tried to participate in or download last night’s Triple Feature talkcast. Gordon and I ran into some technical difficulties around the 15 minute mark and decided to scrap the show after neither of us could log back in. You wouldn’t have missed much. Joe was M.I.A. because he got to attend an early screening of American Gangster and neither Gordon or I had much to talk about. We were pretty much going to wing it. There weren’t that many people in the chat field, either. I think everyone was off watching the premiere of Heroes, or something.
At any rate, you don’t have to worry about getting one half of the code from the talkcast and the other here today. I’m just going to give you the whole thing right now: “KING’S RANSOM”
So now all you have to do is e-mail me the code along with your name and mailing address and you’ll be enterted for a chance to win a prize package for The Kingdom that includes full-sized poster, hat, t-shirt, mini notepad, and jacket. Winners will be chosen at random. Good luck everyone!
I also have another contest running at the moment. I posted it yesterday along with my 30 Rock: Season One DVD review, but I’m worried a few of you missed it – so I’m posting it again.
I have two copies of Stargate Atlantis: Season Three to give away and I’m going to make you work a little bit to be eligible to win.
All I need you to do is pick your favorite three Theater Hopper strips (use the archive to help you find them) and submit them to your favorite social bookmarking site. It could be StumbleUpon, it could be Reddit, it could be Digg. Whatever works best for you.
If you’re new to social bookmarking, you can use the handy little drop down at the bottom of this post. Be sure you’re on the individual page you want to bookmark before tagging it.
Once you’ve bookmarked your three favorite strips to the social bookmarking site of your choice, send a screen shot or a link to your profile page so I can see your entries to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com along with your name and mailing address. You have until this Friday to enter. From the entries, two winners will be chosen at random.
Hopefully you guys appreciate that I’m just trying to drum up some interest in the site and it’s really not that much effort for a chance to win something cool. Your efforts help promote the site and ,when that happens, everyone wins!
Get bookmarking and good luck!
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I’m not as adverse to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson making kids movies as I depict myself in this comic. But I have to admit scratching my head in puzzlement when I first saw the trailer for The Game Plan. THIS was the guy that was supposed to replace Schwarzenegger? It might be a moot point. Truthfully, I don’t think we’ll ever see another era in action movies quite like what we had in the early 80’s. To that end, The Rock is smart for doing a kids movie – if it’s well crafted. As my good friend Joe pointed out, “one needs only say The Pacifier to know that even a successful family vehicle can stall an action heroes career.”
I think The Rock will emerge unscathed. I think that he moves quickly enough from role to role that audiences aren’t associating him with any one chracter – and that’s good. Plus, the guy has enough natural charisma, he won’t have trouble finding work.
People hold up Schwarzenegger as the pinnacle of action movie heroism but they kind of overlook the fact that action movies were all he was good for until he became bankable on name-recognition alone. Let’s face it – there’s not a lot of work for a near-mute, extremely musclebound guy in leading man roles. In many respects, Schwarzenegger had to pay his dues first.
Not much else going on at the moment. Although I want to remind you about the DVD giveaway I have happening right now. Two copies of Stargate Atlantis: Season Three. All you have to do is bookmark you three favorite Theater Hopper strips using the social bookmarking network of your choice and then e-mail me either a screen cap or a link to your profile page for the proof along with your name and mailing address to be entered. I can tell you right now that so far only FOUR people have entered the contest. So if you want some free stuff, your odds are pretty good. It’s a small way to help promote Theater Hopper and get something for yourself to boot.
I realize that Stargate Atlantis is probably a niche interest for some of you. But the next opportunity I get, I’m going to try this with a more popular selection and see if it sticks. Stay tuned.
I kind of got some bad news this week in regard to a site redesign I had been planning. I was trying to work with a local web design firm to help me impliment some air-tight comic archiving, blogging and content systems as well as helping me more fully integrate the site with social bookmarking networks. We had a few conversations over the phone, I met with them in person and outlined my thoughts, even the president of the company got involved to oversee things.
Then I get a note from them this week saying that they really aren’t equipped to partner with me in this way. Typically they design a site from concept to completion and don’t do much in terms of consulting. I was kind of pissed. I spent a month waiting for them to steer the ship in a certain direction and they totally bailed.
I’m very interested in taking Theater Hopper to the next level and I think a lot of that will rest of me elevating the design and interactive elements of the site to a competitive level. I need outside help to do this because I’ve been stewing in my own juices for too long.
Does anyone have suggestions? I want to work with a company. Not a freelancer. I need someone who will be accountable and on the clock if something breaks.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have some great people help me keep things running around here for a long time. I’m not discounting their efforts. But I want to build on their foundation and I don’t know where to go.
Part of me wonders if I should just switch everything over to WordPress and use the ComicSpace mod. I know a few people who have tried it and liked it. But the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced I need a customized buisness solution to meet my needs.
If you have any suggestions, please e-mail them to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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