Posts Tagged ‘cameo’
9 items.
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!)
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I need to get this out of the way before I forget about it for the weekend and look like a total ass.
Dave over at Snafu Comics was nice enough to stick one of my characters in a cameo in Friday’s strip. It’s pretty funny and accurately reflects some opinions I had about Final Fantasy X. I remember vividly thinking “Okay, now when is the game going to start?” after, oh, about 2 hours into the game. All things equal, I still think it’s pretty fun. It goes even faster the second time through.
At some point, I need to make some space on the Bonus Materials page for strips where my characters have made cameos. It’s really a pretty awesome compliment that another artist would think highly enough of your work to sit down and tryin their hand at a rendition of your characters. Gotta get on that…
While we’re speaking of jaw-dropping compliments, I totally forgot to give a shout-out to Aric over at Fish Strips for making it to the big five-oh – 50 strips. Aric included some very nice messages to artists in the community to commemorate the event. Our humble operation was one he gave the nod to.
You can check out his comments, here and here. Thanks, Aric! And keep rockin’ the booty smooth!
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If you guys are interested in seeing Tom, Jared and Cami drawn under the influence of another artist’s pen, then you need to check out Brian Caroll’s excellent web comic Instant Classic. Our Theater Hopper trio has a prominent cameo that induces a giggle-fit from yours truly every time I look at it.
Go now and be sure to vote for Instant Classic on TWC. We’re trying to bump him up the list so we can group TH, Movie Comics and his strip together in the list! (Hey! I never said anything about helping OTHER comics climb the list!)
Watch out, gamer comics! Movie-themed strips are on the rise!
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Jul16
I’m a sensible guy. In the real world, you wouldn’t catch me dead at Michael Bay’s latest “my-wang-is-too-small-so-I-blow-stuff-up” opus, Bad Boys II.
But if you’ve seen the trailer, then you know Half-Animal/Half-Machine Henry Rollins has a cameo. I know I’ll catch flack for it, but I’m a big fan of ALL things Rollins. I have all his CD’s, most of his books and I have some stuff signed. I’ve seen him do a handful of spoken word shows and am generally captivated by the man, his ingenutity and his ambition.
For a lot of people, Rollins is a polarizing character. Born out of the hardcore D.C. scene of the late 70’s and early 80’s, people still try to pin the “sell-out” tag on him – if only for the symbolic nature of what a label represents in those circles.
The man is tireless. Over 40, he does more in a single month than most artists can muster to produce in a year. I think if you can look past the burly exterior, the tattoos, muscles and veins like ripcord, you’ll find an extremely intelligent indivdual with several valuable opinions about our cultural state of mind.
Skip over the music if you’re so inclinded and check out his spoken word albums. The Boxed Life is a personal favorite. For more information on Rollins, visit 21361.com.
Okay, I know hardly any of that was movie releated. So, pressing on.
Yes. Bad Boys II. I don’t plan on seeing it. Probably never will. I never saw the first one based on my firm observation that Martin Lawrence is a jackass I cannot tolerate. Sad to say, but Will Smith has been creeping into that category in the last couple of years. That’s a shame. I used to really like him. Whatever happened to our Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
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I don’t have a lot to say in today’s blog other than it’s been one hell of a week and I’m glad it’s almost over.
I’m not planning on seeing any of this week’s new releases. Despite my never-ending admiration for all things Rollins, I actually WON’T be seeing Bad Boys II.
I have pretty strong opinion about Michael Bay movies. While you can’t deny they man has a keen visual sense, each one of his films pitches to the lowest common denominator. I won’t support that with my movie-going dollar. I doubt I could even enjoy it on an ironic level.
And besides, like I said, this week has been hell. I could stand for a more quiet, introspective affair. I need to see if Whale Rider is playing at any of the local art houses. I’ve heard good things.
I was surprised at the amount of positive mail I received regarding my Rollins affliction. Apparently there are a lot of other people out there suffering in the same way. It’s good to know I’m not alone. 😉
Real quick: You might notice that the number of posters are dwindling. Slowly, but surely my stock of posters is ebbing away. You really need to put your order in now. Do it before it’s too late – cuz once they’re gone, they’re gone.
As always, if you want to pay by check, cash or money order, fire off an e-mail to theaterhopper@hotmail.com and I’ll tell you where to send your payment by snail mail.
I’ll cap the blog here for now, but maybe Jared will log in with more anecdotes about his new house. I enjoy our small exchanges about the commonwealth status of states on the Eastern seaboard, don’t you?
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Quick note: Everyone head over to Taking the Bi-Pass to see a great Theater Hopper cameo!
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To help commemorate the movie I’ve been poking fun at all week, vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix to see a special incentive sketch – TOM HELSING!
So today’s the big day. The kick off to the summer blockbuster season. Van Helsing is in theaters today. And I’m really torn because that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie comes out today, too!
Of course I’m kidding.
Practically everyone I’ve talked to says they’re going to see Van Helsing this weekend, which tells me that marketing did their job of bombarding us with advertisements. Good job, Madison Avenue!
But although I know a lot of people are going, not many of them seem to be excited about it. People are really holding their breath on this one, hoping it doesn’t suck. There’s a lot of weight on Hugh Jackman’s shoulders here. This is his first lead role.
I think we all recognize that Van Helsing will be a loud, abrasive, CG-heavy big, dumb action movie. And while the promise of seeing Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and The Wolfman in one picture at the same time is daring enough premise to grab our attention, I think the real reason butts will be in seats this weekend is to decide if Jackman’s charisma is large enough to carry this picture.
My odds are split down the middle – 50/50.
By the way, you might be wondering who that grinning buffoon is in the background of panel one? Well, that is our good friend MadMup who is a forum regular. He asked to be put in the comic, so I decided to oblige him!
Mup’s a great guy and a fantastic supporter of the comic. It was really the least I could do.
* THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST WAS LOST WHEN THEATER HOPPER MOVED TO WORDPRESS IN 2009 *
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Hey, guys. Dave from Taking the Bi-Pass gave me a head’s up that he’s got a storyline going on at the moment where Tom meets up with the TtB-P gang at the movie theater.
It’s always fun to see these kind of cameo’s. It’s like the Laff-O-Lympics, or something!
Check out Taking the Bi-Pass today for all that cameo goodness!
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In the life of a web comic, there is typically a time where an artist or writer will call on high to Gods that sit atop Mount Olympus in a futile attempt to gain their favor. Some of them fashion crude duplicates of their image in order to invoke their power. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail.
Yes, at some point in the career of many web comic artists, they will toss in an unsolicited Penny Arcade cameo.
Truthfully, with nearly 700 comics to my credit, I’m surprised it’s taken this long. But, y’know… ever since Tycho wrote that wonderful essay about fatherhood for the site a few months ago… him and I are like “this.”
You can’t see it, but I’ve crossed my fingers to represent closeness.
I suppose I can’t say that I’ve gone completely without referencing Penny Arcade in the past. I borrowed Div for a couple of strips where I was lampooning the trend of anthropomorphic appliances. At any rate, it’s all in good fun. If anyone takes exception to my characterization of Gabe and Tycho as violent hooligans, I don’t think they’ll mind if Monday’s Penny Arcade is any indication.
Speaking of Monday, I mentioned that Cami and I had an opportunity to see Reign Over Me this weekend. Kind of an odd choice for our first movie-going experience since Henry was born, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. Writer/director Mike Binder did a very good job of dissecting grief and the responsibilities of men in the modern age. He side-steps the whole 9/11 issue very carefully and doesn’t exploit the memory of that day in the least.
Adam Sandler is getting high praise for his work in this film and I think it’s deserved. He’s done a good job of picking dramatic roles that don’t announce “I’M DOING DRAMATIC ROLES NOW! TAKE ME SERIOUSLY!” like Jim Carrey has in the past.
That said, I think Don Cheadle steals the show with his performance. Cheadle has much less to hide behind in his portrayal of a man burdened by his responsibilities. In the movie, he ends up spending a lot of time with Sandler’s character trying to draw him out of his shell at the expense of those responsibilities. In one scene, his wife calls him out on his behavior and accuses him of coveting the freedom Sandler’s character has after losing his entire family in the 9/11 attacks. It’s a sick and twisted accusation and Cheadle’s character addresses it as such. But if you let the idea sink in, it’s kind of true.
In the hands of a less competent actor, Cheadle’s character could have been GROSSLY unlikable. But I think Cheadle deftly brings to the surface dark taboos about the conflict between the responsibility of a father and husband versus man’s almost innate need for freedom and independence. It adds a dimension to the movie that enriches it beyond “Adam Sandler wrestles with grief.”
At any rate, I go into my opinions of Reign Over Me with greater detail in this week’s Triple Feature broadcast. If you missed the show on Monday night, you missed a doozy. Not only did we talk about Reign Over Me, but we also talked about TMNT, rumors surrounding Netflix distributing through local libraries, the death of the traditional movie-going experience in the face of streaming movie downloads and more. We actually drew Scott Kurtz from PvP into the fray and he had some great observations about the movie-going experience. It was a real treat to have him participate in the show.
Man, I’m just name-checking the A-listers left and right today, aren’t I?
Download this week’s show and savor in it’s glory.
Another big reason you’ll want to download this week’s show is so you can get the first half of the two-part clue you’ll need to submit along with your full name, age and mailing address to participate in the Copying Beethoven DVD giveaway. I’m not going to tell you what the first half of the clue is here, but I will give you the second half for those of you participating.
The second half of the clue is “OUT.”
Again, you’ll need the whole clue to be in the running for the giveaway. Send the clue along with your information to theaterhopper@hotmail.com with the subject line “Beethoven” by NEXT MONDAY to be part of the raffle. Winners will be chosen at random!
We really want to get a lot of people to participate in this because the more people we have who put their name into the hat, the more likely we’ll be able to do bigger and better promotions like this in the future!
Remember that Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris comes out on DVD next Tuesday, April 3 and thanks again to 20th Century Fox for helping us set this up!
That’ll do it for me. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday. I’ll see you here again on Friday!
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