This comic is a little bit mean. I don’t think it’s exactly fair to bust on Cami for wanting to see Twilight with the argument it’s for teenage girls. Look at all the dumb crap I’m into! I really just wanted an excuse to show Gary Oldman in that crazy wig from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Man, that was a messed up movie.

In real life, Cami doesn’t have an interest in seeing Twilight. Although she has read the book for her book club. Incidentally, they’re talking about it tonight, I think! Small world. But she is not swayed by Edward Cullen’s charms (or his off-putting trapezoidal head). She’s taking the day off work Friday, so I asked her if she planned on seeing the film. She described such activity as “a waste of time.” Ouch.

My wife’s indifference to the movie aside, Twilight is one of those phenomenon like Pokemon or Queer Eye For The Straight Guy that caught me completely off guard because I’m not the target demographic. I had no idea how popular the books were or even that a movie was being produced because I am not – as pointed out in the second panel – a teenage girl. That’s fine. I’m just saying that I’m a little bit ashamed of myself for being so unaware. Call it willful ignorance, I suppose.

We were talking about a recent crop of videos that popped up on YouTube featuring a bunch of screaming girls losing their minds in Philadelphia last Thursday when Cullen showed up to promote the film in a mall appearance. I don’t understand this. They can’t be going so crazy for Cullen? What has he done. Nothing. The movie isn’t out yet. He could be totally awful in it. I guess they could be responding to his looks or maybe just excited that the lead character from their favorite book now has a physical form they can direct that energy toward. Whatever it is, it’s scary.

Joe made the point on Monday’s Triple Feature that Twilight is posed to become the next Harry Potter. That makes sense considering the supernatural aspects of their stories. But at the same time, I kind of doubt it’ll be around that long because Twlight doesn’t appear to work on the myriad of different levels that the Harry Potter movies do. I feel they touch on more universal themes and the more complicate politics of the adult world as much as they do on budding teenage romance and fantasy elements. I guess we have to wait and see.

Quick sidebar, today is the 900th Theater Hopper strip. Nine hundred. I say that out loud and I hear Jeffery Jones as Principal Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in my head. “Nine tyyyyyymes.”

I’m not going to make a big fuss about it beyond the fact that I appreciate a nice, round number like 900 and that it makes me excited to cross that 1,000th strip milestone. It’s not far off now. After that, I’ll really feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Then, nothing. Not until Theater Hopper celebrates its 10 year anniversary. Speaking of which, congrats to Mike and Jerry for reaching the big 10 over at Penny Arcade yesterday!

One last thing before I forget: To celebrate the release on Wall-E on DVD yesterday (c’mon – how many of you bought the film and ran home to watch it last night?!), I’m passing along all kinds of fun stuff from the movie that you can check out online.

Today it’s Space Fun Facts!

Just who is this Wall-E? And what is an Axiom? The Character Guide gives the low-down on all of the bots and even the human Captain! Wall-E and Eve take an adventure across the galaxy. Go beyond the Earth’s atmosphere with these Space Fun Facts!

I’m linking to the document as a PDF, so you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. Click here to check it out!

That’s all for now. Have a great Wednesday!