Archive for April, 2008
14 items.
Baby Mama comes out this weekend and I think I’m more attracted to the talent in the movie than I am to the unfortunate title and premise.
Or maybe I’m just attracted to Tina Fey.
But you know what I’m saying. Tiny Fey is funny. Amy Poehler is funny. They were funny together when they did Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. This should be a good thing, right?
And then there are all those cameos! Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver. I like both of them tons! I should be excited for this movie!
…shouldn’t I?
But I’m not and I can’t put my finger on it. I think it’s just too much premise for one movie. 30-something career woman waits to long to have a baby, so she hires an immature surrogate to carry one to term. Wacky hi-jinks ensue. It’s like Baby Boom or Three Men and a Baby or She’s Having A Baby or any number of 80’s comedies that tried to mine comedy out of working professionals trying to have it all. I know we’re a generation removed from those films now, but do we really need to revisit them. Why not remake Weekend at Bernie’s while we’re at it?
I’m remiss to slander the film too much considering the pedigree of comedic talent. I’m completely hooked on 30 Rock and I think Poehler is probably the most reliable and versatile cast member currently on SNL. Plus there’s the whole idea that I haven’t even SEEN the film yet. But has that stopped me before?
Let’s just say I’ll be willing to look the other way if the movie turns out to be a dud.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for some diversion to pass the time, check out the movie’s web site at BabyMamaMovie.net. They have a bunch of clips from 30 Rock and SNL and the typical movie background information.
The marketers behind the movie also created a fun photo morph site at BabyMamaMaker.com. It plays kind of like Late Nite with Conan O’Brien’s classic “If They Mated…” sketch where you can combine two photos and see what the genetic result might look like.
For laughs, I tried combining my photo and Cami’s. The result was pretty terrifying…
Oh, well. Go to the site and try it yourself. If you don’t have a love one to repulse with a morphed photos, there are pictures of the cast you can merge your image with. Good luck!
That about does it for me. Have a great Wednesday everyone!
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Originally, I was going to try and pinch off a comic about Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, but I couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm for it. It wasn’t until a friend e-mailed me the other day asking if I was excited for Iron Man a week from today that I decided to throw caution to the wind and kick off my Iron Man arc a little early.
Incidentally, I didn’t notice that my cardboard Iron Man looked anything like a MiniMate until I finished coloring it.
At any rate, the plan was to do a week of Iron Man comics starting next Monday. I’m so ridiculously excited for this movie, it’s offensive. It’s literally suffocating all of my relationships. People are BEGGING me to stop talking about it. So why not extend that into the digital realm as well.
Fans might remember that Tom owned a much more convincing Iron Man costume around Halloween 2006 and could possibly be wondering what happened to it. Don’t worry. An explaination is forthcoming. You’ll just have to check out the site next week!
Being a fan of all things Iron Man, people have been sending me links left and right about Iron Man related news items. It’s very cool, actually. For example, this parody news video created by The Onion that reports on the outrage and skepticism fans expressed when it was announced Hollywood would adapt the popular 90 second Iron Man trailer into a full-blown movie. It hits close to home, but damn if it isn’t funny
Another reader sent me something a little more obscure when he delivered this link to an AWESOME poster designed designed by Jesse Phillips for a special advanced screening of Iron Man April 28 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lamar in Austin, Texas.
The poster is 24 x 36 and printed with glow-in-the-dark ink! They’re only selling 100 and what I wouldn’t do to get my hands on one of them! I don’t know that Cami would be particularly understanding about the purchase, though. She puts up with a lot regarding my Iron Man obsession. I think this would be crossing the line.
That is unless one of YOU would like to buy me a copy! Then it might be okay! ;D
Actually, that’s not a bad idea. If you’re feeling generous. Let me know. I’d be more than happy to return the favor with a little original artwork of my own, if that motivates you…
Something a little closer to my price range are the new Iron Man toys being sold with Burger King kids meals. The same friend that wrote me asking if I was excited to see the movie was the one who gave me the head’s up on this. Yeah… guess where I went for lunch today? Sadly, it looks like I’ll be eating at Burger King almost exclusively until I collect the rest of the figures or the promotion is over.
Even though I have access to the Burger King promotion, I’m not completely happy. Have you guys heard about the Iron Man promotion they have going on over at 7-11?
YOU CAN DRINK A SLURPEE OUT OF IRON MAN’S EMPTY HEAD!
Some of you are probably saying “So what’s the big deal, Tom? Just go to 7-11 and buy one!” Well, here’s the rub. I CAN’T! Iowa doesn’t have any 7-11’s! Unbelievable, I know – but it’s the truth. In 1998, all of the 7-11 stores in Iowa were sold off and converted into Kum & Go stores. And if you’re asking what kind of idiot marketer names their store “Kum & Go,” it’s obviously one that has no sense for double entendres. Around here, we call it the “Spooge & Split”
At any rate, I’m dispirited because I can’t get those cool collectors cups. I was similarly cheesed when they had that awesome promotion for The Simpsons Movie last year and they converted a bunch of 7-11’s into Kwik-E-Marts. I was lucky enough to meet a fan at a convention who traveled to one and brought me back a couple cans of Buzz Cola. That was really cool.
Is there anyone out there with access to a 7-11 willing to send me some of these collector cups? Man, that would be wild! E-mail me and we can iron (HA!) out the details. PUN INTENDED!
Do you guys understand how important Iron Man is to me? Do you? If not, I will soon have photographic evidence for you to pour over next week that will actually align quite nicely with the crux of the storyline I’ve prepared. So stay tuned for that!
It’s completely possible that I’m setting myself up for the most monumental disappointment ever. I’m pinning a lot of my hopes and dreams of the quality of this movie and, frankly, if it turns out as badly as Spider-Man 3 did, I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.
But this movie is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. More so than Spider-Man or the Hulk or any of my other heroes. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this movie my whole life.
Stay tuned next week for more Iron Man inspired insanity! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Since slapping Tom into a crudely made homemade Iron Man costume, I felt obligated to return to a one-off comic I did two years ago when the Iron Man movie was first announced. It lined up well with the Halloween holiday and I thought, eventually, I might return to it. Then I thought it would be funnier to have Tom in a cardboard outfit than a fully functional piece of high-tech armor.
Plus, have you seen how much those Iron Man movie action figures cost? Stuff gets expensive!
Of course, that hasn’t stopped me from snapping up nearly every figure from the first wave of the series…
So you see, it’s a sickness. And that’s really not the worst of it…
I was going to take a picture of all of the Iron Man comic books I own, but I wasn’t feeling very well yesterday and it slipped my mind. Let’s just say that they number in the 200 – 300 range.
While we’re on the subject of collectibles, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of the people that immediately contacted me last week offering to purchase that awesome Jesse Phillips poster for the advanced screening of Iron Man at the Austin Drafthouse Cinema Lamar. Also a big THANK YOU to those who have offered to send me all the cool Iron Man promotional items from 7-11.
I have to admit, I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the response and I haven’t gotten back to any of you yet. I feel terrible about that. So I’m going to collect all of the e-mails and sort through them this evening and try to get back to all of you tonight or tomorrow. I honestly didn’t think anyone even read this blog stuff anymore! So it was really cool to see that not only do you guys read my entries, but you’re so willing to enable my addiction to all things Iron Man!
THANK YOU!
I found out last week that my local theater is selling advanced tickets to Iron Man starting at 8:00 PM Thursday night. I was flirting with the idea of doing the midnight showing on Friday (and even going so far to call in sick to work the next day so I could watch the movie over and over!), but then I decided not to push my luck.
An 8:00 PM showing of Iron Man would be handy, but I also have Friday’s strip to finish. So I’m trying to decide if I’ll attempt to work in advance and have the strip done before Thursday so I can see through the storyline OR if I’ll take advantage of the early showing, come home and do a REACTION strip for Friday?
Or, there’s a possibility that I won’t go to Iron Man at all on Thursday. *GASP!* I KNOW!!! The reason for that is because I really want Cami to see the movie and it kind of ruins the experience a little bit if I’ve already seen it and then start jabbing her with my elbow every five minutes saying "Check it out, check it out, check it out!"
Decisions, decisions…
At any rate, that’s about all I have to share this morning. But don’t forget to carve out some time this evening to listen to The Triple Feature talkcast at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe.com. Tonight we’ll be talking about Baby Mama and Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Meanwhile, both Joe and Gordon will attempt to steer me away from all topics related to Iron Man – since I have a one-track mind.
Be there!
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I don’t have a lot to say about this strip except that I was really psyched to deliver the punchline and extremely psyched out about how I would illustrate it.
It seems like every time I do one of these little story lines, I end up plotting something out that I’ve either A.) Never drawn before or B.) Have drawn, but suck at drawing correctly. In this case, it’s option B. and the offending item is the car. I SUCK at drawing cars.
Do you remember being in middle school, sitting in home room next to the guy that was drawing, like, A PERFECT Ferrari Testarossa? Yeah, I was never that guy. I don’t have an engineer’s mind. Nine times out of ten, if you ask me to draw a car, I’ll draw a bubble with wheels and happy people inside, laughing.
Also, the sun will have visible rays and a smiley face.
That said, I’m pretty happy with how the car turned out in today’s comic. Didn’t use a picture for reference or nuthin’! I suppose I should do arcs like these more often. It forces me to develop in different ways.
I’m starting to get REALLY pumped up about Iron Man. Reviews are starting to come in and I’m doing my best to resist them. But the headlines I’ve been reading at least have been VERY positive.
I bought tickets the other night to the 8:00 PM screening Thursday night and here’s the evidence…
…and before you say it, I agree that $8.75 for a movie is frakking ree-donk-u-lous. And, yes, I do think my glasses make me look like a sexy nerd.
Probably the thing that has me most excited about seeing the film tomorrow is that I got Cami to go along with me. I mean, it was pretty much inevitable that she would see the movie with me at some point, but I thought she would take a pass on an early screening because… I don’t know… because she would have work the next day? Because it’s hard to find a babysitter for Henry on a Thursday night? There was literally any number of acceptable excuses she could have used.
But she didn’t! My sister-in-law is coming by the house Thursday night to hang out and watch Henry while Cami and I wade in up to our elbows in nerd juice. It’ll be great!
With any luck, I’ll get to see the movie a few times before the end of the week is up. Cami is leaving for DC on a business trip Sunday, so I won’t have any free time next week to see it on my own. Either way, I’ll be back here on Friday with my reactions. I promise to try not and spoil it for anyone.
Wish me luck!
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