Archive for September, 2009
17 items.
I might be squeezing in on Penny Arcade’s territory with this comic a little bit. But if we’re talking about movies, then I say it’s fair game!
I don’t do a lot of online gaming. If I do, it’s on titles where there is very little human interaction. I haven’t bothered to invest in a headset because I’ve seen too many YouTube videos of players screwing around during Halo death matches, humping the corpses of someone they tagged with a headshot from around a blind corner. I’m not interested in trash talking. I just want to play a round of Tetris with some anonymous person from Columbus, Ohio – is that too much to ask?
Gamer comes out this weekend and it looks like more explosive trash fun from Lionsgate. We talked about the movie a little bit during the end of The Triple Feature on Monday. Joe is excited for it because it’s directed by Mark Neveldine – the guy who brought us Crank and Crank: High Voltage.
I was unaware of this fact until Monday and it has increased my interest in the movie substantially. As you might remember, I saw Crank: High Voltage earlier in the year and it left quite an impression. By comparison, Gamer is almost cerebral. So it will be interesting to see what Neveldine can do with a script when the movie isn’t a complete over-exaggeration.
My only concern is that people made many comments to the effect that Crank: High Voltage was like a live-action video game (myself included) – all the way down to cheesy 8-bit graphics and a hero who “respawned” when he ran out of energy. Gamer doesn’t look to be stepping too far outside of the same paradigm in terms of the “movies as video games” conceit.
What has been your impression of the movie? Do you think it’s going to do anything original with the concept? Is anyone expecting any insightful social commentary about our society’s increasing bloodlust and disconnection from each other as individuals, or do you think this will be just another festival of explosions and violence from the studio that brought us Punisher: War Zone?
Are you planning on seeing Gamer this weekend? Leave your comments below!
[ 7 Comments ]
Due to the fact that I am currently suffering from a head cold that makes me feel as if someone has injected my cranium with rubber cement, I had a hard time coming up with a joke for today’s comic.
Having covered Gamer on Wednesday, Extract and Something About Steve were the only new movies left this weekend worth discussing.
Since it would appear from the trailer that Something About Steve is a joke unto itself, I was really only left with Extract. And since I couldn’t think of a good joke to go with it, my mind turned to the most visible piece of marketing for the film – a short video of Beavis and Butthead introducing a clip and then talking about the inequity of prostitution (I.E. no one wants to pay men for sex)
Extract director and Beavis and Butthead creator shared the clip with David Letterman on The Late Show Tuesday night and made the rounds online shortly thereafter.
I worried that the joke in the comic played a little too inside. If you hadn’t seen the video, you would have no idea what Tom was talking about. I also hate to make you read the blog in order to understand the joke.
But then I figured if you weren’t a teenager in the 90’s, you probably wouldn’t get the joke anyway. So let’s have a little fun with things and have Jared pull his shirt over his head and announce “I AM CORNHOLIO!”
You can’t please everyone, so you might as well please yourself, right?
Switching gears for a moment, I wanted to give everyone a head’s up that I’m taking next week off.
As you may or may not know, I’ve been unemployed since June and, frankly, my severance is starting to dry up with no strong job leads.
I’ve made the decision to position myself as a freelance web and graphic designer. To do that, I need to design and build a web site where I can show off my portfolio and attract clients.
So I’m taking next week off partly to get the freelance business off the ground and partly to give myself a break from the grind of the comic. I haven’t taken any time off (I don’t think) since the beginning of the year and I need to recharge my batteries a little bit.
I’ll be sure to point everyone to the new site once it’s up and running. I might actually try a little networking with you guys to see if you know anyone who needs a site designed in the next few weeks. Thank goodness web design is the ultimate telecommuting job.
I have two guest comics already lined up and I’m asking around for one more. If anyone out there is interested in trying their hand at a guest comic, there’s no reason I couldn’t publish it on Tuesday or Thursday. So send me what you have to theaterhopper@hotmail.com and we’ll see what happens.
That’s it for now. Thanks for checking up on me this week and be sure to check out the site next week for some guest comic mayhem!
Have a great weekend!
[ 12 Comments ]
Sep07
GUEST STRIP – JASON SWEARINGEN
September 7th, 2009 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(46 votes, average: 8.93 out of 10)
As I mentioned last week, I’m taking this week off to concentrate on setting up a web site for my web design freelancing business. The job market it tough and getting tougher, so I need a calling card that will help me stand out among my competitors. Once I have the site up and running, I’ll be sure to post a link so you guys can check it out (and hopefully send some business my way!)
In the meantime, please enjoy this guest strip by Jason Swearingen. I really like the pacing Jason developed for this comic. It went from funny, to unfunny, back to funny again. I especially enjoyed how he played up Tom and Cami’s relationship – something not a lot of other artist’s do.
Jason has a comic of his own called Winston’s Oddessy and I strongly encourage you to check it out. He has almost 40 comics in his archive, so it’s a great time to get on board early and add his comic to your bookmarks.
Thanks again, everyone! Check back on Wednesday for another guest strip!
[ 2 Comments ]
Sep09
GUEST STRIP – PAUL SOUTHWORTH
September 9th, 2009 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(20 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10)
Today’s guest comic comes to us from Paul Southworth, formerly of Ugly Hill and currently from You Are Dead over at Crispy Gamer.
Paul was a total rock star putting together this comic. He was quick to respond when I asked if he could help me out and was really excited about it along the way.
Before submitting it to me, he asked if I had anything planned for 9 and I had to admit I did not. Within a couple of hours, he sent the finished comic and I was blown away! I seriously need to pick his brain about how to do backgrounds. He only throws in a couple of details, but does a much better job of giving the characters a believable space to operate in than I do.
Oh, and the joke is funny, too! ;D
Be sure to check out You Are Dead over at Crispy Gamer and don’t forget to look up Ugly Hill while you’re at it. Paul isn’t updating Ugly Hill anymore, but the archives are still online and well worth your time.
If you have a Twitter account, I suggest following him there as well. I find his updates consistently hilarious and a fun addition to my Twitter feed.
Thanks again, Paul, for the excellent guest strip!
As for 9, I keep forgetting it’s in theaters today. I don’t know if it’s because it’s coming out on a Wednesday or because I haven’t seen ads for it or what. But it feels like it’s off my radar.
I want to see 9, but I don’t feel as excited for it as some people seem to. It looks interesting, but it doesn’t look like a must-see to me.
The movie is being billed first as “Produced by” Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov which doesn’t reflect the awesome team-up potential those names together might inspire. Basically all it says is that they liked the source material and put up some money to see the movie made. Shane Acker is the director and is essentially an unknown quantity with a handful of credits to his name.
I would say that I was impressed by the voice talent in this movie – Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly and Elijah Wood all star – but, truthfully, voice over work is such an easy paycheck for these actors, it’s hard to get excited about the movie on name recognition alone.
Basically I’m expecting to see a movie unlike anything visually put to screen before. But in terms of story and plot… well, the jury is still out.
What are your thoughts about 9? Are you going to try to see it today, or is everyone staying indoors to play Rock Band: The Beatles?
Happy 9.9.09, everyone! Remember: this will never happen again! Well, until 10.10.10 – which is basically the same thing.
Cheers!
[ 14 Comments ]
Sep11
I know this was supposed to be a week of guest strips. But, well, I couldn’t really round one up for today. Chalk it up to poor planning. I decided late last week to take this week off and that’s not time enough for most artists with already busy schedules to drop what they’re doing and produce something for me.
Hats off, however, to Jason Swearingen and Paul Southworth for their time and consideration. It is much appreciated.
I took time off this week partially to give myself a break from the comic and partially to work on some other projects that needed my attention. Primarily on a freelancing web site that I intend to use to attract clients and provide a temporary revenue stream while I look for more permanent work.
I have to admit I did not make much progress on that front. However, I kept busy this week applying for jobs and sending out resumes. I took a few meetings and had a few interviews. Fortunately, my experience is such that I attract the interest of most employers. At this point, it’s finding one who is willing to compensate fairly for that experience.
My freelance site aside, I did accomplish something else this week that actually benefits both of us and not just myself. I took some time this week to prepare the Theater Hopper store for a massive fire sale that I’m going to start promoting next week. I have a little bit of money saved up thanks to Project Wonderful and I plan on spreading it around a little bit in hopes of attracting people to my store and helping me clear out some inventory.
As of now, everything in the store is on sale. All books are $9.99. All shirts are $7.99. I’ve even dug out some old inventory I haven’t had on the site for a while in hopes of selling that as well – mostly baby doll tees in limited inventory for $4.99.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the main page in the store, you’ll see I’m selling the Iron Man parody poster I designed for Chicago Comic Con in early September. I have 49 left in stock and I’m selling them for $3.00 a piece.
The sale ends at Midnight on Sunday, September 20. I am motivated to get rid of as much inventory as possible, but I don’t know if I’ll do something like this again. So if you see something you want, now is the time to grab it.
Thanks and have a great weekend.
[ 13 Comments ]
In terms of location, not to many “whodunnits” are staged in Antarctica. Really the only other movie that even comes close in my mind is John Carpenter’s The Thing or maybe 30 Days of Night. So I’ll give Whiteout style points for the interesting location.
Still, when I read the plot synopsis, I couldn’t help but wonder about the title. True, blizzard conditions result in a blinding “whiteout” as Kate Beckinsale’s character attempts to solve a murder. But she’s also under the added pressure of finding a murderer in three days before the last plane leaves the continent and those who are left behind are plunged into six months of night.
It’s kind of like Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia, but in reverse. Or maybe like Pitch Black. But, y’know… without all the space monsters. But why so many “race-against-time” plot devices?
I realize that Whiteout is based on a comic mini-series of the same name released by Oni Press in 1998. So, for all intents and purposes, this is a “comic book movie” and perhaps such compounding dilemmas don’t have to make sense.
Still, I think you could do so much with the isolation and the paranoia of such a remote location that multiple “race-against-time” elements aren’t needed.
Certainly something that CAN’T be explained is casting Kate Beckinsale – arguably one of the most attractive women in film right now – in a role that requires her to wear bulky parkas and heavy boots all over the place. Next time, Kate, try to solve a murder on Bikini Island, or something.
SEXISM! WOO!
With that out of the way, I want to remind everyone that there is a fire sale in the store right now. All of the books are $9.99, all of the t-shirts are $7.99 and I’m also selling some remainder inventory for much, much less. Baby doll tees for $4.99, a poster and a sample booklet at reduced prices as well.
The sale runs through the weekend, but I encourage you to place your orders now. I got a bunch of orders of the weekend and I hope to have them sent out by tomorrow. So if you want your merchandise included in that mailing, place your order today.
In the meantime, I will be adding a special graphic to the top of the page to remind you of the sale. But if you guys can help me out by mentioning the sale through your Twitter or Facebook accounts, that would help me out a great deal.
I’m selling off this inventory at dramatically low prices to hopefully raise enough money to produce the third Theater Hopper book. Although yesterday, my good friend Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex launched Book 1 Club of Awesome and is giving rewards to people who contribute funding to the production of his first print collection. I’m thinking I might have to steal his idea.
I’m sure we’ll be talking about Gordon’s forthcoming book as well as catch up on other topics tonight on The Triple Feature at TalkShoe. Remember: We record live at 9:00 PM CST and would love it if you could join us.
See you then!
[ 16 Comments ]
First things first – I want to say “Welcome!” to everyone coming here from PVP!
I was thrilled to see that Scott used my guest strip. Originally, I wasn’t going to do one for him because I figured he was probably swamped with submissions. But I started thinking about how he was trapped in Seattle, sweating it out in a hotel room, unable to fly home as he fought off a case of the flu he contracted at PAX and how much that had to suck. Being sick is one thing. Being sick so far away from home is something else entirely. The very least I could do to show a little solidarity is put together a guest strip for him. I’m just glad to know he liked it enough to share with everyone else!
If you’re new to Theater Hopper, it would probably benefit you to know a little bit about the comic. Theater Hopper is a semi-autobiographical comic about movies that I update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Basically I target whatever new movies are in theaters and make fun of them. But sometimes I do longer story lines, too.
In August, Theater Hopper celebrated it’s 7th anniversary and publishing our 1,000th comic. So if you plan on checking out the archives at all, I encourage you to use the little bookmark feature beneath the comic navigation so you don’t lose your place! Or, if you want a sample of the best the archives have to offer, check out the Top Rated page where Theater Hopper readers have voted for the comics they like the best.
Everything else you ever wanted to know about the comic can be found under the About section – including details about the cast and links to popular story lines.
One last thing I’ll mention… If you’re new to the site, you came at a very good time. I’m running a fire sale in my store right now and I’ve slashed prices on all my merchandise. Books are $9.99 and shirts are $7.99. I also have a few odds and ends – baby doll tees, posters and sampler booklets. The sale runs until Sunday, so be sure to check it out today!
Let’s switch gears…
When I heard Patrick Swayze had died on Monday at the age of 57, I can’t say it came as a complete shock. Anyone who has every passed by a super market check out knows that he had been battling pancreatic cancer for the last few years.
Still, his passing is sad. Just like the untimely passing of anyone is sad. Admittedly, I hadn’t given much thought to Swayze as an actor in the last few years. But watching some of his old footage, I’m struck by how much he reminds me of Tommy Lee Jones. Maybe it’s that Texas accent. But I think a lot of it has to do with how Swayze carried himself. Very confident, but gentle. Maybe if things were different, Swayze could have had a career like Tommy Lee Jones later in life.
Swayze has been eulogized as a rare mix of masculinity and grace. When you look over his body of work, the two competing elements are prominently displayed.
Take, for example, my favorite Patrick Swayze movie Road House. That movie came out two years after his big break in Dirty Dancing. Alternatively, Road House was followed by Ghost, which was followed by Point Break. The man knew his audience. He was certainly no dummy.
Road House was a total B movie, complete with terrible dialogue and cheesy, over the top sound effects that punctuated the fight scenes. But Swayze is totally believable as a bar room brawler. He makes the movie better just by being in it.
I talked about this a little bit on The Triple Feature on Monday, but Road House was a movie that always seemed to be on in my grandparents house. Mind you, my grandparents were not the apple pie and afghan sweater set. They were the kind of grandparents who would hang out at the Legion Hall and bet on horse races – just to give you a little bit of context.
But Road House always seemed to be on. Whether it was just one of those scenarios where HBO was just playing it over and over again to fill time or if my grandparents were genuinely into it and sought the movie out, the film left an impression on me in my pre-pubescent years.
Specifically, the last fight sequence (as referenced in the comic). Patrick Swayze – the man America fell in love with two summers prior as he romanced Jennifer Grey and danced the night away in Dirty Dancing – fighting to the death with some guy and ripping his throat out. A move so pimp, I’m pretty sure the developers of Mortal Kombat stole it from him as one of their finishing moves.
For your enjoyment (?) I’ve embedded a clip of this great scene. Aside from the violence of seeing a man rip out another man’s esophagus, the language is a little salty as well. So it’s probably safe to say this is NSFW and the little one’s should abstain from viewing.
You remember Patrick Swayze however you like. This is how I prefer to remember and how I will always remember him.
R.I.P. Patrick Swayze.
What’s your favorite Swayze memory? Leave your comments below!
[ 17 Comments ]
Jennifer’s Body comes out today and it is Diablo Cody’s follow up to 2007’s indie sensation Juno.
Everything I’ve read about the movie insists that it’s some kind of horror/comedy. But the advertisements for this film leave me with the impression that it’s not very effective in either genre.
It doesn’t help that Diablo Cody’s “too clever by half” reputation as a screenwriter kind of labeled her a one-hit wonder after Juno. Personally, I’m kind of on the fence in regard to how she writes dialogue.
For as many things as Juno gets right, there is no teenager on Earth that would use the phrase “Honest to blog.” That kind of ridiculous phrasing sounds like something an ad executive would come up with for a McDonald’s commercial in an effort to sound hip.
Limp-noodle catchphrases aside, the biggest strike against this film for me is Megan Fox. I’ve never liked her. I didn’t like her in either of the Transformers movies and she has an incredible knack for saying some of the most stupid things in public. She comes off as shallow and self-centered in interviews, she cakes on more makeup than Charro and she does that parting of the mouth thing that makes her look like a porn star.
I know if you’re a 15 year-old boy, you don’t care about any of these things because she’s hot, right? But take it from me – she’s not attractive. I’m talking about more than the superficial exterior.
I just get a bad vibe from her. All she has going for her are her looks – which I find harsh to begin with. Once those fade (along with the most ridiculous tattoos I’ve ever seen), what’s left? Where’s her substance? She seems completely humorless and – worst of all – lacking in intellectual curiosity. She has nothing of value to say. Nothing artistic to contribute. In other words, she’s boring.
So go ahead, Megan. Vamp it up in Jennifer’s Body. Because by the time you turn 25, it’s all going to be over.
QUICK REMINDER: The Theater Hopper Fire Sale is still going on in the store and I’ve posted a little reminder at the top of the page so you don’t forget that prices go back to normal at midnight, Sunday, September 18.
If you want to buy a shirt for $7.99, now is the time to do it. And if you want to pre-order Theater Hopper: Year Three, this is the last time you’re ever going to see a deal like this.
Sales have been good, but I would like to finish strong. So be sure to tell everyone you know about the big sale. Talk about it on Twitter or Facebook. Help me spread the word. Funds raised from this sale will go toward the production of pre-order Theater Hopper: Year Three and I need every dime I can scrape together.
Many thanks to those of you who have lent your support and taken advantage of these great deals. I sincerely appreciate it!
In the meantime, are you planning on seeing Jennifer’s Body this weekend? What’s your motivation? Diablo Cody’s script? Megan Fox’s assets? Are you some kind of horror junkie? What’s the appeal?
If you’re not going, why are you staying away? Is there something else coming out this weekend that looks better to you or are you a contentious Megan Fox objector like myself?
Leave your comments below and have a great weekend!
[ 41 Comments ]
I was reading a tweet from Joel Watson – creator of HijiNKS Ensue – and he was talking about how he enjoyed watching new readers plow through the archives, commenting in reverse as they go.
It got me thinking about how that’s not something you can do on Theater Hopper because, in a fit of paranoia, I instructed WordPress to shut off the commenting feature after 14 days. I guess I don’t remember what I was afraid of. Probably spammers. But truth be told, we haven’t had a problem with spammers in months (knock on wood). So I decided it was time to let go of the leash.
Starting today, anyone can comment on any comic in the archive. That might not appealing to those of you who have been with the site for a while. But who knows?
I guess I’d rather leave the option open for conversation rather than put a cap on it before it can start.
Just thought I would let you know!
[ 1 Comment ]
Back in 2004, I created a comic that introduced an alter ego for Tom who went by the name “Pimp Tom.” Reaction to the character was so positive, I created a shirt in his honor.
As part of the massive fire sale I have going on now in the store, I sold the very last shirt christened with his image. It seems unlikely to me that I will ever produce another Pimp Tom shirt again.
I was thinking about the character, though and I don’t know why I haven’t used him more often. I break out Jared’s alter ego “Goth Jared” usually two or three times a year. He even has his own entry on the Cast page!
I don’t know. I don’t have anything especially insightful to say. Maybe I’m just feeling a little nostalgic. I could bring back Pimp Tom any time I suppose. Maybe have Pimp Tom meet Goth Jared! Who knows?
I’m just making observations, I suppose.
[ 2 Comments ]
