Posts Tagged ‘age’
6 items.
I didn’t get an opportunity to see Hollywood Homicide as I had predicted in a previous blog. Mostly due to the fact this this was Father’s Day weekend and a lot of family-time took presidence. Any free time I had was spent sleeping. I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many naps in a two-day period.
My excessive sleepiness was probably due to one of the most stressful weeks I’ve had on record. Being the crazy, compulsive person that I am, a lot of things remained bottled up until Saturday. When the cork came off, I was exhausted.
I won’t get into all of the details of my hell week, but I’m prepared to share the tale of one of the contributing factors – which has everything to do with Theater Hopper.
If you came to the site at all Wednesday night, Thursday or Friday morning, you might have noticed that the site was down. It is natural preference that the site not go down at all, but if I ever find myself in the situation, I would have at least hoped it was because the site was “too popular” or perhaps a massive demand that my hosting provider could not compensate for.
No such luck.
As it happened, I received an e-mail from my hosting provider informing me that my account had be CANCELED(!!!) for “lack of payment”. The final notice also made me aware that several attempts had been made to contact me and that I should have received warning both before and after payment was due. I could reinstate the account, but only after paying for that month’s hosting as well as a $25 “processing fee”.
Immediately I knew this was B.S. because all of my hosting costs are automatically charged to my credit card. Well aware of my credit’s good standing, I contact my hosting provider and asked what was up.
As is usual, I received a reply within minutes. They informed me that my credit card information did not carry over after I had converted TheaterHopper.com from a “resold” account (or an account I received at a discounted price) to a regular-priced, full account. Totally an accounting error on their part. They said I could have the account back if I paid for the month of hosting that I missed up front.
Cognisent of the previous cancelation notice, I replied that I would gladly pay the one month of missed hosting, but would the $25 “processing fee” be waved. I stated firmly that I would not pay for their error and wanted this confirmed.
At this point, I did not hear from my hosting provider for 2 DAYS!
As you can imagine, I was freaking out. Having the site down on a Thursday (while still unacceptable) at least gave me some time to right the situation before the comic day on Friday.
Feverishly, I wrote to my hosting provider at regular intervals throughout the day. Accustomed to receiving prompt attention in the past, I became more paniced as Thursday ebbed into Friday.
Still no word.
By the time Friday came into view, I was in full freak-out mode. It wasn’t until about 1:00 that day that I finally heard back from them. I won’t bore you with what was said, but rest assured there was a little back and forth. I expressed my frustration over their delay, my confusion on what I owed and what I did not. Ultimately, the site came back on-line around 2:00 CST Friday.
I prepared a strip in case such a miracle took place, but admit it’s not the best. I was so preoccupied with worry, every line I drew felt muted by distraction.
In the aftermath, my host followed up with me to explain that the suddenly stopped receiving e-mail from certain providers (I use Hotmail) and that is why I went so long without hearing from them.
And while I swore up and down that I would move my hosting the minute I was able to download everything off of their servers, I now find myself much more complacent. After all, it was an honest error. Why uproot the entire operation?
Still, it was a scary two days. I’m glad it’s over.
I want to send a shout-out to Carrington from Movie Punks who offered excellent support and friendship. He was definately a calming influence and was kind enough to pass along information to his readers about the status of my situation.
Also, big-ups to Tim from Bug & Slug who checked in with support.
To the rest of you who sent e-mail while the site was down and even after it returned with your positive comments, thanks. It really means a lot to know that, in some capacity, Theater Hopper would be missed if ever the plug was pulled.
If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is. Thanks again.
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Aug25
Looking at the ads and trailers for The Medallion makes me wonder “How long can Jackie Chan keep doing this?”
Over the course of our lives, we’ve probably all seen a Jackie Chan film at one point or another. They’re kind of like the Bond movies. Don’t they say at least one fourth of the world has seen one? Jackie is the same way. And if you haven’t seen one, I strongly recommend Legend of Drunken Master II. Brilliant.
But I digress. What I’m trying to say is, by now, we all kind of know the routine. The infinite chase sequences, the unbelievable stunts, the running up walls. How long can Jackie keep this up?
As Jackie has gotten older, his films have relied more and more on stunt doubles and CGI. That would have been sacrilege a few years ago, seeing as Jackie has ALWAYS done his own stunts.
But I guess insurance companies won’t write policies for Jackie anymore in the case of an accident. Either that or they cost incredibly amounts of money.
I just think it’s one of those cruel twists of fate that, at half a century, Jackie Chan has really become well-known in America… just as things are starting to slide down the other end of the bell curve.
Just a thought.
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I had a very rich and fulfilling weekend on Saturday and Sunday. So stupendous was this passage in time, I’m left virtually without anything to complain or comment on!
I can say that Cami and I went see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Saturday evening and it’s easily the best film I’ve seen so far this year. It’s very smart and doesn’t compromise. It has Charlie Kaufman’s signature all over it. And while Jon Brion’s score was a little loopy/creepy at times, the film was balanced by several moments of levity and true, human emotions.
Kaufman is brilliant in terms of placing his characters in outlandish situations while still grounding them in a realistic environment. Everything from the everyday clothes they wear, how they haphazardly decorate their apartments – even the non-Hollywood, unflattering lighting and lack of make-up create a very credible universe.
Great performances all around. Director Michel Gondry was able to extract something very innocent and pure from Jim Carrey. Is this the kind of person Carrey really is? Mellow, unassuming… LIKEABLE – when he’s not performing? Remember when Robin Williams finally realized he should tone it down a notch and how much easier it became to watch him? Same with Carrey here.
I left the theater with a lot of hope. I think at it’s core, Eternal Sunshine is a very optimistic film – probably one of the most romantic pictures I’ve seen in a long time. I like it message that, essentially, all the little idiosyncracies about your partner that annoy you are fundamentally meaningless in the big picture. The fact that people would be so willing to throw away love over such trifles is one of humanities great follies.
Of course, compounded with the central message of nurturing love are several great ethical debates about emerging technologies and their applications without testing. In many respects, Eternal Sunshine could be seen as a cautionary tale! The movie works on so many levels – comedy, romance… even horror in some parts. I can’t wait to start talking about it with other people who have seen it.
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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!
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Ryan Reynolds isn’t the only one who can grate cheese off his abs. Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics to see what I’m talking about.
I think we can all agree that Ryan Reynolds is a very attractive person. I have no shame in admitting this. In fact, I’m certain that were I disciplined enough, having abs like Ryan Reynolds would clear up roughly 43% of my self-esteem issues. If this acting thing doesn’t shake out, he could be a full-time Men’s Health cover model.
Cami’s line about me nursing a crush on Reynolds since Van Wilder wasn’t an exaggeration. In addition to his physical appearance, there’s just something about his delivery I’ve always enjoyed – even when he’s playing it broad. Van Wilder is an infinitely more enjoyable film because of what Reynolds brings to the role. For proof, watch the Reynolds-less Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj. It’s basically the same movie set in a different location and putting Kal Penn in the lead role.
Although can someone please explain to me how National Lampoon got away with calling the film “Van Wilder 2” when Van Wilder is nowhere in that movie?
The Proposal comes out this weekend and it looks like a boilerplate Sandra Bullock rom-com piffle. I didn’t mean to be harsh with the punchline of today’s comic by pointing out Bullock’s age (she’s actually 45). But it really sticks out to me in the commercials and trailers for this movie when she’s been paired with an actor roughly 15 years her junior.
Of course, with leading men, this is never an issue and sometimes even MORE prominent. Actors in their 50’s being paired up with actresses in their 20’s you see it all the time. Don’t misjudge me and assume that I don’t think Bullock is allowed to do the same.
But look back at Bullock’s career. She’s usually been paired with actors roughly her same age or older. And Bullock is nothing if not a creature of habit. She’s been acting in the same kind of movies for roughly a decade now. So even if the formula changes a little bit, it’s note-worthy.
I know I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but I kind of hope they work it into the script somehow. It would be an opportunity to make it funny.
Switching gears, I wanted to talk about some of the issues we’ve been having with the site for the last week and a half. By now you pretty much know what’s going on with the malware errors, Google Chrome, Safari and the like.
I can tell you that we’re doing everything we can to scrub the site at every opportunity, but we’ve been compromised in a way that we can not immediately fix. Someone shared with me a link to this article that will hopefully shed some light on the situation and give you some insight as to the problems we’re dealing with.
I can only hope at some point someone will develop some kind of defense for this thing because every time I locate and strip the malicious code, it’s back on the site a few hours later. Until then, I feel like I’m twiddling my thumbs.
On top of this hacker problem, I’m also experiencing difficulties with the recent upgrade to WordPress 2.8. As you can see, the comic ranking system is frozen and the calendar and search functions normally to the right of the blog are missing.
Behind the scenes, the post tagging system does not work and I cannot edit the status of my posts. It’s a real drag.
Combing the internet, I can see there are several unhappy customers. People are pretty much saying it’s completely bungled on WordPress’s part.
I was thinking I would roll back the site to 2.7, but I guess I didn’t make a backup. I thought I did, but now I can’t find it. Maybe I e-mailed to myself and deleted it before I realized the problems 2.8 was having. But it’s a mess.
Anyway, that’s my problem, not your problem. But I just wanted to give everyone a status update.
Let’s talk about the weekend! In addition to The Proposal, Year One is also coming out and it looks like it’s getting trashed in the reviews. It’s a shame, because I really respect and admire Harold Ramis. But you could kind of tell from the trailers that the movie didn’t have a clear direction. What’s up with Jack Black and Michael Cera skipping through time? It looks confusing.
Is anyone still planning on seeing Year One? What about The Proposal? Or is everyone waiting for Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen to come along next week and step on everything? Leave your comments below!
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Jan13
People are kind of losing their minds about Sony announcing plans to cancel Spider-Man 4 and going with a straight up reboot instead. But as much as I love the first two Spider-Man movies, I’m not really bothered by it.
I mean, it kind of sucks that Raimi won’t have a chance to redeem himself after Spider-Man 4. But watching a 37 year-old Tobey Maguire run around as Peter Parker seems kind of disingenuous to me. Maguire still has his baby face, so maybe he could pull it off. But that little factoid would be gnawing at the back of my brain.
I certainly won’t miss Kristen Dunst as Mary Jane – one of the worst casting decisions I’ve ever seen. The less said about her, the better.
What I find kind of annoying is Sony’s emphasis on “rebooting” the franchise. The first film came out in 2001. It doesn’t really NEED a reboot. It’s not like any of us forgot Spider-Man’s origin story, or anything. It just seems like a waste of film to go through ALL of that exposition of the origin story again.
Frankly, I wish they would just recast the part and go about telling NEW Spider-Man stories. I hope they just go full-bore into the story like Superman Returns did and not bother telling us about Peter Parker, his Uncle Ben, power and responsibility all over again.
Similarly, I hope they cast an unknown to play Spider-Man like they did with Brandon Routh and Superman. I don’t think the Spider-Man needs a “name” actor like it did in 2001 to help get the franchise off the ground. Experiment a little bit. Just don’t cast Zak Efron or else I’ll have to torch my collection of Spider-Man comics and never look back.
What do you guys think about Sony’s decision to reboot Spider-Man? Leave your comments below!
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