I gotta lot of stuff I wanna get through in this post, so get comfy.
First off, the strip. Basically it’s an answer to Wednesday strip over at Zach Miller’s No Pants Tuesday. Zach was cool enough to stick me into his “Auditions” storyline in a little cameo. You can view it here. I’m the guy in the orange shirt. Anyway, I was so flabbergasted (and I think that’s the right word), it was only fair to return the favor.
Wait. Lemme take the back. Fair? The Gods DEMANDED it! So there you go.
Thanks to Zach for the plug and thanks for letting me portray his character as a bitch-slapping loud mouth. If you’re not visiting his comic at least once every day, then you offend me personally. I wish I could draw his strip every day. For some reason, I found drawing his character easier than drawing my own! Some stiffs have all the luck…
Thursday was such a good day for me personally, I can’t help but gloat a little bit.
I got home after a particularly long day at work to find a certain package from Sony waiting for me. To my delight, it was my own personal Network Adapter for the Playstation 2. Cost to me? Jack squat!
How did I land such a sweet deal? I was one of the lucky bastards this summer to beta test the adapter. My reward was a free unit hot off the assembly line. Joy! Needless to say, I’m waving it all inches from your face taunting “Nah na-na boo boo!”
Now if I could only get an internet connection fast enough to let me use it…
Second order of business. I nuzzled into my La-Z-Boy this evening to watch the MTV Video Music Awards. I had popped a bag of corn and settled in expecting to be disappointed like I am every year. But I watch anyway because I’m an optimist at heart.
The proceedings were got off on the right foot when James Brown came out to wrap the opening number, but things were on their way to Hell in a hand basket right-quick with that extremely forced and odd birthday ode to Michael Jackson shortly after. Things weren’t a total wash, though. The back-to-back performances of The Hives and The Vines restored my faith. Plus seeing The White Stripes walk away with a few awards was justified. Have you even SEEN “Fell In Love With A Girl”? I mean, C’MON! Moooooving… Legooooo’s…
But to top it all off, GUNS AND ROSES CLOSED OUT THE SHOW!!! Did anyone else see this? I practically shat my colon when they came on stage. Axl is looking a little beefy and the voice was a bit creaky, but WOW! It was so good to see them in the flesh and blood again, words can’t describe. Of course, only Axl and Izzy are left from the original lineup, but like Jimmy Fallon said after their set, “Buckethead did his job”.
In my opinion, their performance will be what people look back on and say “This was it. THIS is what ended Britney Spears, N’Sync and all their crappy imitators. G ‘n’ R came back and showed them how it was done. Rock has returned.”
I am giddy. Giddy, giddy, giddy.
More later, but for now, visit No Pants Tuesday and also Nothing Nice to Say. Mitch was cool enough to add me to his links so I want to be sure everyone is visiting his site. Go now! (but come back later!)
For those of you who didn’t make it to the site this weekend, I informed everyone that the buzzComix top web comics list has reset. If you’d like to lend a little support to Theater Hopper, please vote for us on buzzComix every day. As a little extra incentive, you’ll get to see a special Halloween image drawn by yours truly for you effort. Over the weekend, we climbed up to number 11 on the list – no small feat. But I know your support can push us over the top! Be sure to get your vote on now if you haven’t seen the Halloween message. It’ll be replaced by another piece of art on Wednesday – Matrix related.
Speaking about that… Boy, November kind of snuck up on us, didn’t it? Can you believe that The Matrix Revolutions will be in theaters this Wednesday?
I figured the marketing blitz would have been in full effect by now, but my television has been conspicuously silent. Nary an advertisement in sight.
I don’t want to be a killjoy, but the buzz around the final chapter in The Matrix trilogy isn’t particularly strong. People are saying it’s much more SATISFYING than Reloaded, but not as significant as the original. Basically, they’re turning up the volume and are gonna blow stuff up GOOD.
None of this will dissuade me from seeing the picture, of course. More than anything, I just need to know how it ends. I think the critics comments on this one are essentially useless.
I tried my hand at a different inking method for today’s strip. I don’t know what persuaded me to do it. I guess I just wanted to experiment a little. Try to establish more mood. Do you like it? Hate it? Let me know what you think in the forums. I don’t know if it’ll become a permanent addition to my style. Like I said, I’m just toying around. But I’m curious to hear what you think.
I mentioned on Friday that I would have the opportunity to meet Scott Kurtz of PVP at a local comic shop on Saturday. Well, I’m pleased to report that I got a little face time with the man.
It’s always weird meeting people who’ve inspired you. It’s really difficult to tell them what their work has meant to you beyond saying it changed your outlook on things and you just wanted to say “Thanks.” At least, that was the position I found myself in.
I thought Scott was really gracious with his time. He signed my copy of PVP #1 and took care to flip through my book of samples. He read a lot of them and really looked them over. He told me to keep up the good work and that there was some really funny stuff I had done. I don’t think he was blowing smoke up my ass. He seemed very supportive – and that means a lot.
I wanted to ask him for a link to the site, but I thought that would be kind of pushy. I’ve been going back and forth on it thinking maybe I missed a good opportunity to market the site. But in the end, I’d rather have him link me because he likes what I do, not because I was looking for a handout. Would I be happy if it turns out he links me? Of course! Over the moon happy. But I’d rather earn it then beg for it.
Anyway, great experience all around. He was a really good guy. More later.