Posts Tagged ‘argument’
6 items.
It’s amazing what one little apology can do to stop someone dead in their tracks, isn’t it? Now that Cami got the two little words she wanted from Charlie, have her defenses fallen? Will we learn the reason she’s back in town? Yes, we will! And sooner than later, I might add. Keep a close watch this week kids. We’re entering the third act!
Regrettably, I didn’t get a chance to see any of the movies that I wanted to see this weekend. So I suppose that means Sideways and Million Dollar Baby will have to wait for another day.
I can’t explain it. My Sunday was wide open. I didn’t even have chores to do. The weather was fair. No obstacles. I guess I was just plain lazy. But everyone needs a day where they don’t do anything, right? I just wish I hadn’t sat around watching all those back-to-back episodes of I Love the 90’s: Part Deux and The Surreal Life on VH1. My brain feels like mush.
I’m not sure if it’s all the time I’ve been spending indoors lately or if this is just a defense mechanism to fight of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I’m getting the itch to redesign the site.
There are a lot of things about the site that I like and that are working well from the front end. On the back end, however, it’s a totally different story. Most of the changes involve me organizing files to they’re easier to locate when I want to make changes. Right now it’s like that ball of Christmas lights from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s a little unwieldy.
Recognizing that what I want to do isn’t a face lift, but reconstructive surgery. I’m tempted to strike the design we have now in favor of something new. And as much as I feel that the site is mine and I can do with it whatever will satisfy me creatively, I have to admit that I’m curious as to what you guys think.
So my idea is this – a little market research. I want to know what you guys think, but I want to organize the feedback in some way. I’m looking for a good third party FREE survey organization that I can use to create a brief Q&A survey for the site. I’m interested in your thoughts on design just as much as I’m interested in our demographics and what monitor resolution you’re viewing the site at.
So if you have any in-roads to such a program or vendor, let me know. I’m interested in getting this off the ground pretty soon. It will help me determine if the sketches I have for the new site design will be worth bringing to digital fruition or not!
Thanks!
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Apr18
GUEST STRIP – MIGHTY MITCH CLEM
April 18th, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 8.20 out of 10)
You’d have to be blind not to notice the distinct style of today’s guest comic author. It’s the one and only Mitch Clem of Nothing Nice to Say!
I love his strip today. Not only because it’s the first full-color strip he’s done since coming back to the web comics fold, but because it does a great job of capturing the playful, sometimes elitist bend to my characters.
Thanks muchly, kind sir. You comic doth rocketh my world.
Hopefully you guys are aware that today is the last day for you to bid on the Sin City-inspired original artwork I’m auction off on eBay. You should scroll down a little ways if you want to learn more about it.
I’ll actually be back from Texas at some point tonight. So if you’ve been sending me e-mails, or anything, I will try to get to a few of them this evening.
Guest strips will continue even though I’m back from vacation. I’m taking a little well-deserved time off to work on a site redesign and opening up the store again with new merchandise. I haven’t taken any time off since last July, so I feel it’s a little deserved.
Be sure to come back on Wednesday for another excellent guest strip!
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Does Tom get what he deserves for calling an old lady a "battle axe?" You bet your sweet bippy he does! Kids… respect your elders.
An event not unsimilar to this one unfolded Friday night when I went with Cami and my sister-in-law Tara to see Brokeback Mountain. The critically acclaimed movie just opened here in Des Moines, but judging by the crowds, you’d think it was the Second Coming.
The lines were insane and the vibe in the place was just short of frantic. I’ve never seen so many people in our tiny art-house cinema. They were all there to see Brokeback Mountain.
We showed up maybe 20 minutes early, but we still had to sit in the 4th row. Pray for the poor souls who arrived in large parties trying to seat everyone together when only empty seats dotted the theater. Some patchuli dude with the sensitive-man pony tail had to flip on the lights at the front of the stage and ask everyone to scootch together. They had sold out that evening show.
As annoying as it was to be crammed into a tiny art house, I really enjoyed the fact that the movie was being so well recieved out here in the sticks. It felt like an event. Not quite a cultural watershed, but something thereabouts. I’ve read artcles by famous film reviewers who claimed that the "flyover" states would hate this movie on moral principles. We’re a lot more enlightened then the coasts give us credit for.
At any rate, before being asked to scootch together, Cami and my sister-in-law had left their seats to get popcorn. This left me alone with their coats on either side of me. I am now defenseless against the dumb-dumbs who want to claim the seats for their own. I had an interaction with an older woman almost verbatim to what happened in the strip.
"Are those seats taken?"
"Yes, the seats with coats on them are taken."
"And the one on the other side of you?" There is only one unoccupied seat and it’s my wife’s. Her coat is on it. The other seats are taken.
"Yes. That one, too."
The lady then rolled her eyes and kind of glared at me before stomping off.
Hey, I understand you’re frustrated that you can’t find a seat. But it’s not my problem, is it? Get here earlier next time and we won’t have that problem.
What I found so ridiculous is that she kept pushing the issue as if to say "Are you SURE those coats mean the seats are taken?" It’s not as if I walk into public places with extra coats so I can avoid human interaction. Although now I’m starting to think that’s not a bad idea.
Anyway, I just decided to take that real-world frustration and make fun of it. I don’t know if the bigger joke in today’s strip is all that great, so I decided to throw in extra smaller jokes like Jared being so excited to go to the bathroom and the fact that the old lady in the comic chooses to confront Tom over seats when there are several other empty seats available. More bang for your buck, I say!
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Real-life Tom would love nothing more than a trip to the former Soviet Union. Comic-strip Tom just doesn’t get it.
I don’t have a lot to say about today’s comic, so I’m just going to blow over that fact and direct your attention to something very important.
If you visit the store, you’ll see that I’ve put all t-shirts, hoodies and baby-doll tees back on the site. But more importantly, EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!
In an attempt to burn through the last of my inventory and raise money to cover the up-front production costs of the Theater Hopper – Year One book, I have cut costs on everything. T-shirts are now $9.99. Hoodies are $24.99 and baby-doll tees are $14.99. The best part of all? FREE SHIPPING!
Now I have to forewarn you: There are a limited number of sizes in the available designs. So if you’re thinking about placing an order, don’t wait. It’s very likely that your shirt could be snapped up by someone else!
This sale will continue for the next two weeks through February 6th. I don’t think prices can go much lower. So if you want a good deal on Theater Hopper shirts, hoodies or baby-doll tees – now is the time!
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It’s been interesting to read some of the e-mails and reactions to today’s comic. I must say, I don’t think there’s anything I’ve ever done that’s generated as much response as the "Not Gay" seat.
I’m not complaining, mind you. The fact that people are talking about it and e-mailing me shows that you care!
A lot of people have written in to tell me that I am only exposing one side of the story. "There is another reason men aren’t sitting next to each other!" they say. Over the course of the day, these arguments have formed into what I like to call "The Double Armrest Theory."
Some people say that if they go to a movie with their buddies and the theater is packed, they have no problem pulling up a chair next to them. But if there is room to spread out, why not take advantage of it? You get two armrests and you’re not squished together.
I can understand this line of logic. I certainly wouldn’t begrudge anyone their personal space. But, like everything in life, it’s all about context. Through m y particular filter – and based partially off the experience I shared earlier – if one was to go to the effort of going to a movie with a friend and then sitting away from that person during said activity… Well, it just seems kind of rude to me. Sort of like going to lunch with somone, but sitting at another table. In the "Not Gay" movie theater example, I think the fact that it’s only one chair that separates people who clearly arrived together only further emphasises the situation. If you REALLY valued your personal space, you’d sit two or three rows back. Or, more resourcefully, not arrived with anyone at all.
Some of the feedback I’ve gotten has been somewhat defensive. I should probably mention that all of it has come from guys. Look, fellas. I didn’t mean to put any of you on the spot. I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that because you appreciate a little elbow room that you might be a homophobe. So if it makes you feel any better, look at my explaination as a critique on manners and not on the paranoia of sexual orientation. Tossing in the whole "Not Gay" moniker was just a clever spin on what seems to be an otherwise everyday occurance in movie theaters around the globe. Maybe if you framed it within the context of Dave Barry’s essay about the Every Other Urinal Rule will the concept come into clearer focus.
Whatever your opinion, it’s clear that I’ve touched a nerve with today’s comic and of that I’m proud. If I can find universal themes within the context of the movie-going experience for you guys to enjoy, then I feel I’ve really done my job. Thanks for your letters and keep sending them in!
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In honor of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse opening in theaters this Friday, I’m doing a series of strips detailing the advantages and disadvantages of having a girlfriend with a high-powered machine gun for a leg. I hope you find it enlightening.
Not much to say about Grindhouse right now except that I’ve heard Rodriguez’s first half – the zombie romp called “Planet Terror” – is a hyper-violent, ultra-gory disorganized mess. Apparently production was thrown into upheaval when the crew reported back to Rodriguez’s wife of 14 years that he was having an affair with Rose McGowan. On-set flings happen all the time and it’s probably not the business of the crew to tattle on the director. That is, except when the director’s wife is PRODUCING THE FILM! That’s 15 kinds of stupid. Talk about don’t poop where you eat!
At any rate, I didn’t have high hopes for “Planet Terror” anyway. I’m not a big zombie fan. Never was. I don’t think people have to belong to a group of the walking damned to show great inhumanity to another man. Sure, they weren’t eating brains on the sands of Iwa Jima, but comb through history sometime and you’ll find a few close seconds.
Pretty much at this point Rodriguez’s contribution to Grindhouse is the striking visual of Rose McGowan’s leg having been replaced with a machine gun. I don’t care how much the movie sucks – it’s wormed it’s way into geekdom’s heart with that brilliant juxtaposition. Say all you want about these guys regurgitating content from the obscure recesses of pop culture’s dark corners… You’ve never seen a girl with a machine gun leg before.
Tonight is another Triple Feature talk cast and I hope all of you who came to check us out last week as part of our Copying Beethoven DVD giveaway will come back to check us out tonight. This week we’ll be talking about Blades of Glory, The Lookout and a funny little tale of woe from Joe Love’s Crappy Movies’s Joe Dunn about seeing movies for free. Oh, and Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex will be there, too.
Log in to TalkShoe tonight at 9:00 PM CST and we’ll be taking your calls!
Oh, and don’t forget – Copying Beethoven comes out on DVD tomorrow, April 3. I haven’t received copies from Fox Entertainment yet, so I guess we’re still accepting submissions! Just download last week’s Triple Feature for the first half of the clue and then check out last Wednesday’s blog for the second half!
By the way, you guys might have noticed that I’ve switched up my advertising options through Project Wonderful on the right hand side of the blog. I decided to give a little more prominence to the ads since there is usually a lot of empty space to the right. If you want to get your ad on Theater Hopper for the cheap, check us out through Project Wonderful!
That’s about it for me tonight. Sorry, but I’m kind of dragging today. I spent pretty much all day Sunday cleaning out my basement and juggling Henry.
I’ll catch up with you soon!
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