Posts Tagged ‘Charlie’
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Five days of straight updates and where do I lead you? Right into the gaping maw of a cliffhanger! MU-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Everything that’s been going on this week has led up to this moment. The change of scenery. The carefully timed positioning. A culmination that pits Cami against Charlie in a situation where neither one can walk away from each other. There’s gonna be some CONFLICT RESOLUTION, kiddies. Next week, it’s goin’ DOWN!
All the way down… to Chinatown.
Okay, maybe not Chinatown. But they’re gonna clear the air. That’s what happens next, okay?
Hey, everyone! Thanks for voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix yesterday when I asked so politely. You guys got us over the hump! We’re in the number two spot! We’re only about 30,000 votes away from The Order of the Stick, but I think we can close the gap!
Sheesh. The numbers that dude puts up. You’d think he had a small country voting for him!
Anyway, not much to report. Pretty thin weekend for new films and I’m pretty much caught up on all the Oscar-bait films released over the holiday.
I’ve been hearing good things about Assault on Precinct 13. Mostly, I think, because people are going in with pretty low expectations. But I doubt I’ll see this one in the theater. Action flicks just aren’t my thing, man.
Then, of course, there’s that whole Ethan Hawke problem. Specifically, I don’t like him. Or that rat fart across his face that he calls a goatee. Sorry. Just a personal preference.
I don’t really think I can top the “rat fart/goatee” comparison, so I’m gonna wrap things up there. I can walk away from this blog with a sense of accomplishment.
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I know a lot of you are looking at this latest situation with Cami and Charlie and thinking to yourself “Why couldn’t they just use their cell phones to call for help?”
Well, hold your horses, smarty-pants! I’ll answer that question in a future strip!
In the meantime, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that in the telling of the story, I sometimes feel it appropriate to call on the mystical powers of “artistic license”. In other words, blurring the edges around reality a little bit to help progress the narrative.
Trust me, people. The only way I could force Cami and Charlie to confront one another was to stick them in a bathroom with a broken doorknob. YES, I know most movie theater bathrooms don’t have doorknobs. Hence, “artistic license”! See how that works?
Real quick note of movie business before I move on to site business. Does anyone know how the hell Are We There Yet? snagged the number one spot in the box office this weekend? Is Ice Cube REALLY that big of a draw? I don’t know, but any popularity points he racked up with those Barbershop movies have to be spent by now!
Sheesh, America. I mean, I know it was a slow week, but C’MON!…
Anyway, onto site business. I wanted to announce a cool little program I’m introducing that COULD put original Theater Hopper artwork into your hot little hands!
The concept is very simple. If you check The Walk of Fame and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you’ll see that I’ve posted a new desktop wallpaper as incentive for people who donate.
For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re very lazy and just want me to post the picture of the new wallpaper here. Well said:
As you can see, it’s a picture of Cami posed as Jennifer Garner from this month’s Elektra!
The situation is this: You stand a chance of WINNING THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK by giving money to Theater Hopper. Everyone who has given ANY money to Theater Hopper in the month of January will have their name thrown into a hat. One winner will be selected and they will be sent the original artwork, painstakingly drawn and finished with inks on a heavy-duty 11″ x 17″ piece of Bristol board – suitable for framing.
To be eligible for the drawing, donations are not the only method that will put your name in the raffle. Any purchases in the store will also open up the contest to you. Also, anyone who has advertised with the site will also be eligible.
I’m talking ALL forms of payment received by Theater Hopper — the payees are eligible.
Oh, and for those of you who may have bought something or donated to the site this month, don’t worry. This offer is retroactive, so you are currently in the running!
Multiple donations, store or advertising purchases are equivalent to ONE raffle ticket. So if you bought a shirt the first week of January then donated the last week of January, you would have TWO chances to win.
Basically the way I’m running things is by looking at my PayPal records for the month of January and writing down every name I see from January 1st to the 31st.
More succinct rules will be posted to a new page soon, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this right now since there is only a week left in the month. Y’see, I wanted to make sure there was artwork for January because this is something I plan on doing EVERY MONTH! So if you don’t win January’s raffle, you still have 11 chances left in the year to take home some ORIGINAL ARTWORK. At the end of the year, I plan on collecting all the color versions for a calendar or some kind of print retrospective for others to purchase. But the original artwork will be yours, all yours!
So anyway, that’s where things stand. If you want your chance to win, donate to the site, purchase something in the store, or buy advertising. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
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Jan26
I’ll preface today’s comic by saying “No, Cami doesn’t really have me ‘trained'”. Truthfully, she would probably resent the categorization if Theater Hopper were a work of non-fiction. But as it turns out, this little detail is for entertainment purposes only.
The point of this week in the story arc is to fill in any loopholes that might provide Cami and Charlie and easy escape from the women’s restroom. The cell phone doesn’t work and Tom is inept, so what’s left? Could Jimmy possibly be coming to save the day? Well, don’t count on it. You’ll see what I mean Friday.
I’m learning that one of the drawbacks to telling a larger story with a more dramatic bend is that people start to treat it like it’s really happening. As such, they start asking questions like “Why would the women’s bathroom go unchecked for two years? We thought Jimmy was so professional?” So now I find myself in the position of having to answer these questions before getting into the chewy center of the story. Y’know, the one where Charlie finally tells her secret for being back home.
The experience is teaching me a lot, but I can’t help but feel like this gauntlet I’m running is kind of like that episode of The Simpsons where all the nerds are grilling Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless about the inconsistencies in her show.
“Um… Whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it!”
“Uh, yes but…”
“WIZARD!”
The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday and looking over the field of candidates, I can’t help but reflect that 2004 was not a particularly good year for movies. Frankly, I was surprised that The Aviator walked away with 11 nominations. But I suppose through the Academy’s filter of “ONLY EPICS SHALL WIN BIG AWARDS!!!” it’s not so surprising.
Sure, smaller films like Sideways and Vera Drake are up for Best Picture, but that feels like lip service to me. It’s just a way for the Academy to show that they’re not out of touch with smaller productions on independent cinema. A token gesture to prove they’re not completely out of touch. You know – kind of like the guy who’s been a hard core Def Leppard fan all his life, but buys then buys a White Stripes record in a feeble attempt to look cool. He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand it. But dammit, it’s in his record collection, so he must be onto something!
When it comes to the nominations, I usually pay less attention to who receives the accolade than who ∗didn’t∗. People really seemed to notice that neither Fahrenheit 9/11 nor The Passion of The Christ received major category nominations. They were probably two of the most successful and controversial films of the year. But I think it’s that controversy that kept them out of Oscar contention. The Academy isn’t the type of organization with the conviction to endorse anything controversial. They just want to huddle their membership into the Kodak Theater, pat themselves on the back for 4 hours and then drink ’til sunup.
Really, it’s probably moot – at least in F9/11’s case. I think Michael Moore ran himself out of contention by refusing to submit the film for Best Documentary or perhaps broadcasting it on television before December 31 (which neuters his eligibility in the Academy’s eyes) or some such nonsense.
When it comes to snubs, what I can’t understand is why Paul Giamatti wasn’t nominated for Best Actor, while his movie Sideways gets a Best Picture, Director and Writing nominations. It even racked up two Best Supporting Actor nods for Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen.
Man, THAT’S a twist of the knife. The guy who played a half-retarded airplane mechanic in a lousy sitcom and the woman who starred not only in Candyman, but Highlander II: The Quickening are being recognized ahead of the man who has been recognized as one of the best character actors of the last 10 years. Then again, he DOES have Big Fat Liar on his resume…
Another snub I thought was noteworthy was the exclusion of The Polar Express from the Best Animated Feature Film category. Don’t get me wrong. I think the film looked horrible, saccharine and soulless. But despite its failings, the film WAS a technical achievement. Especially in regard to the motion capture technology director Robert Zemeckis probably advanced by five years with his work.
But to be bested by Shark Tale? Ouch! Don’t try to tell me that box office didn’t influence the Academy’s decision in that regard.
Any another thing, I’ve always harbored a little grudge against the Shrek franchise for stealing the very first Best Animated Film Oscar away from Monsters, Inc. in 2002. If Shrek 2 wins out over the VASTLY superior The Incredibles in 2005, then there is no justice in the world.
Some odds and ends…
What’s up with Alan Alda being nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Aviator. Honestly, I saw nothing outstanding from the performance. Really nothing more noteworthy than what Alec Baldwin did with the same amount of screen time in the same movie.
I was pleased to see Natalie Portman and Clive Owen getting Best Supporting recognition for their work in Closer. I thought it was one of the best movies of the year. It was probably too mean-spirited or too much like a play for the Academy’s taste, but it’s nice to see actors who shined in their supporting roles be recognized over their lead actor contemporaries.
Very surprised to see Kate Winslet be nominated for Best Actress in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She won’t win because the movie came out almost a year ago and most voters probably won’t remember it. But it’s a nice tip of the hat to another wondrous film from ’04.
Beyond that, I don’t know what more to say. I guess I need to study the nominations a little closer. I’m just pointing out the things that really set off alarms in my head.
What are your thoughts about the Academy Award nominations? Y’know, we’re talking about it in the THorum…
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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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Happy Groundhog’s Day, everyone! “Don’t drive angry! DON’T drive angry!”
Why don’t we celebrate the special occasion by voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix. The list reset on Tuesday and now with Order of the Stick out of the way, we can make a real push for the top spot. Wouldn’t that be a great way to celebrate 6 more weeks of winter?
Speaking of winter, is the chill surrounding Cami and Charlie’s relationship begining to thaw? (Ooo! Nice transition!) Charlie’s slowly letting Cami in on what happened to her in Tinsletown. The ultimate secret will shock you! Sure, moral erosion as a reason to move back home is as good as any you’ll hear, but what was the straw that broke the camel’s back? What caused Charlie to pack it in. What… or WHO was the cataylst for this life-change? You WILL find out on Friday! That’s a promise!
I know some of you are probably anxious to figure out who the winner is of the original artwork I used to create this awesome desktop wallpaper:
If you recalled, I recently announced that everyone who made a purchase from or a donation to the site in the month of January would have their name tossed into a hat for a chance to win the artwork in a raffle.
Well, I haven’t drawn a name yet. First I need to finish designing a few more buttons. Once those go up for sale, I need to draw Februrary’s raffle artwork, color it and place the new desktop wallpaper in the Walk of Fame for people to preview. Once that’s ready to go, I can do the January raffle and make the happy announcement here. So hold on to your hats, it’s coming.
Things have been so hectic at work lately that I’m parsing back my social schedule to give me time to recover. I’ve intentially left this Saturday free from errands or socail obligations. I should have some free time to get these things done then.
In the meantime, are you checking out Nothing Nice to Say since Mitch started it up again on Monday? And I hope you’re not neglecting Joe and Monkey since Zach took the reigns back from Mitch starting today!
I love promoting my partners in crime…
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I don’t have a lot of commentary right now because it’s late and I’m pretty tired. I want to make sure that when I post something about today’s comic that it makes a little sense because, obviously, this is a pretty big turn of events.
So now that Charlie’s secret is out of the bag, I’m going to let all of you marinate that idea in your head’s for a while. If you want to talk about it in The THorum, you’re more than welcome to.
If you’re looking to kill a little time in the interm, you can always vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix. Today’s incentive sketch poses the question, “If Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were better known as ‘Bennifer’, what would Ben and Charlie be nicknamed by the tabloiid media?”
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I guess it probably would have been a better idea to have written something about Charlie’s big secret on Friday when it was more at the front of my mind rather than waiting. Now it’s kind of slipped my mind what I wanted to say. Exposure to the reaction that could be found in the THorum probably didn’t help me to find a concise statement to make because now I feel like I’m being REactive rather than PROactive. But let’s see if I can squeeze one out anyway.
Pretty much everything about Charlie’s introduction has let up to this point. I knew from the beginning that she would have a shady past and that she was returning to Iowa to escape it.
In the original drafts, Charlie was coming back from Hollywood divorced from a man she met while she was there. It would become her intention to keep it a secret from Cami and wall herself off from her out of shame that she could not be successful in an area that Cami had succeeded. Namely – a happy marriage.
Thank goodness for “real-life” Cami who suggested that her lost love become Theater Hopper antagonist extraordinaire Ben Affleck.
I felt the original idea was good. A bit melodramatic, perhaps a little uninspired, but serviceable. Cami came along and knocked it out of the park by suggesting Affleck be Charlie’s foil. So many brilliant story concepts sprang from that simple suggestion. I imagine the rest of you can envision what Jared might do with that information once he got a hold of it.
I don’t want to tip too much of my hand, but I’ll share that we’re nearing the end stretch of the arc. The immediate future calls for the retelling of Charlie’s relationship with Affleck and the eventual escape of Charlie and Cami from the women’s restroom. After that, I’ll probably begin to steer the comic back into more topical and timely humor centered on current releases and entertainment news. Subsequent storylines have been born from this experiment, but I can wait to tell them.
At any rate, for those of you who were having a hard time adapting to the new format or those of you who were getting annoyed with how long it was taking me to tell Charlie’s secret are satisfied with the payoff.
I think I’ve learned a lesson in economical storytelling, but I don’t regret any of the decisions I’ve made up until this point. Good, bad or ugly – the feedback I’m getting shows a genuine investment in Charlie as a character and ultimately, that was my goal. To introduce a new voice to the comic and to have you guys adopt her and believe in her as readily as you do Tom, Cami, Jared or Jimmy. So far, so good.
Hmm. Looks like I found what I was going to say after all!
With that out of the way, I think everyone needs to check out or new sponsor Nothing Nice to Say!
You’d have to be living under a rock not to know that Mitch Clem made one of the best comic strips around for a while and he had a good run. I don’t think I’ve met another creator whose fans have anticipated his return of for so long. People who were kind of aware that Mitch and I ran in the same circles quasi-professionally/quasi-socially would write me e-mails asking when he was bringing NN2S back. I would tell them I didn’t know, but I was in the same boat, just as anxious to see him put pen to paper again.
Some people are reacting to Mitch’s return with skepticism, which disappoints me. Personally, I know Mitch is going to knock it out of the park this time around. We’ve had conversations and his enthusiasm for this work is palpable. He’s ready to rock and he doesn’t need doubt bringing him down.
Three cheers for the return of Nothing Nice to Say! And, hell. Check out Mitch’s other comic, The Coffee Achievers, too – while you’re at it!
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Although I worked on today’s comic in advance, I did not prepare a Monday morning blog. Currently, I am suffering the after-effects of a Super Bowl party and the over-consumption of too many libations, meat and cheese. As such, my comments will be brief.
But real quick: Was it just me, or were the advertisements during this year’s game some of the lamest you’ve ever seen? Not a lick of creativity between any of them.
That aside, anyone looking for commentary regarding the revelation of Charlie’s big secret last Friday need only click the “BACK” link located directly below the comic. I added some words of not-so-much wisdom over the weekend.
Today’s buzzComix incentive sketch has nothing to do with today’s comic (as is typically the tradition). But instead the rough pencils for February’s raffle artwork. It’s a scene from the upcoming Keanu Reeves’ Constantine. Don’t ask me what it is with all the comic book inspired drawings (last month was Elektra). I guess it must be the season for obscure sequential art caricatures.
At any rate, I provided a scene still from the movie that I’m using as my frame of reference. It’s been showing up in all the television advertisements and the trailer, so I gather it must be a “signature scene”. I think the artwork is coming along very nicely. I was excited about it and wanted to share it. Vote for Theater Hopper if you want to see it.
I had some thoughts about Constantine the movie – mostly relating to how fans of the original Vertigo comic book are upset that the character has been taken out of his London setting and his trademark blonde hair replaced by Reeves’ jet black dye job. But ultimately I conceded to the fact that once Reeves’ was cast, so was a limited range for the adaptation.
Will the movie be any good? Hard to tell. It clearly won’t be as good as the comic books. But maybe they’ll take things in a direction we don’t expect.
Something else unexpected… Cami said she was interested in seeing the movie. The ads led her to believe it’s about talking to the dead – a subject that fascinates her. Not entirely correct, but not entirely incorrect. Maybe it’ll be something to see. Goodness knows there hasn’t been much else worth watching these last few months…
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Feb09
Part of me wonders if it’s okay to write this bizarre re-telling of recent pop culture history to fit the mold of my storyline. I mean, celebrity or not, these are ∗REAL∗ people and conceivable ∗REAL∗ emotions were involved.
But then I think about the little perks the come with celebrity. Any time I read an article about an actor who is presenting the Best Supporting Actor trophy at the Golden Globe Awards and then talk about a $37,890 gift basket the receive for doing so, I start to think that this kind of dissection of their personal lives is a fair, Faustian bargain.
I watched The Matrix Revolutions tonight while drawing the strip. Like many, I remember being thoroughly let down when it came out in October of 2003. I didn’t buy it on DVD and I hadn’t watched it since that time. Tonight it popped up on HBO, so I decided to leave it on as background noise while I worked.
I don’t know why, but it played much better for me the second time on the small screen. I don’t know if that’s because my television did a better job of hiding the CGI (especially in the final airborne battle between Smith and Neo) or if because the “story” had time to permeate my brain in the near year and a half since I last viewed it.
More than likely the story didn’t miraculously achieve cohesion. More than likely it was a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.
Even though the last two movies landed with an incredible THUD! compared to the first, there is no disputing that The Wachowski’s created a visual style that will be referenced for the next 50 years. It’s just too bad they decided on putting the sizzle before the steak in the latter chapters.
I won’t pontificate beyond that. Too much has already been made about the subject and by more dedicated observers than I.
In other Keanu related news, his new movie Constantine opens this weekend. It’s the story of irreverent supernatural detective who has literally been to hell and back. And just in time for Valentine’s Day!
Today’s buzzComix incentive sketch (and future Donator’s exclusive desktop wallpaper) pays tribute to the upcoming film. I know I already showed you this drawing, but that was the ROUGH PENCILS! Since reaction to the piece was really positive, I thought everyone might get a kick out of seeing the final inks. Plus, the image in its entirety, not the close-up I took of the pencils. I don’t know. Maybe you’ll enjoy watching the artwork progress.
Later.
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Feb11
If it seems like it’s coming out of left field for Ben Affleck to suddenly want to become a professional poker player, remember that he won $356,400 in a poker tournament last June. That achievement also earned him a spot at the World Poker Tour Championship in Las Vegas this April.
That’s a lot of scratch. Who knows? It could seriously be a profitable alternative to being a movie star. Certainly seems that way with the line of turkeys he’s pinched off into theaters.
Oh, and so you know I’m not making it up, Affleck ∗did∗ win an Oscar for Best Screenwriting in 1998 for Good Will Hunting. I know most movie fans are already hip to this. I just thought it seemed so long ago and he hasn’t done anything as worth-while since, it’s kind of hard to believe…
I was really pleased with how the last splash panel turned out. In fact, I was pleased with it before I drew it. I had a vision in my head and it was GLORIOUS!
That’s why I planned ahead and drew the last panel large-scale. 11″ x 17″, to be exact. On a sheet of heavy-duty Bristol board.
In fact, I’m auctioning off the original artwork to the highest bidder.
Here’s the deal: I’m about to reserve a table in Artist’s Alley at the Planet Comicon comic book convention being held in Kansas City April 2-3. Tables cost $125 and I need a little bit of cash to cover the bases. I figured an art auction was a quick means to that end.
Kansas City is going to be my first stop on my slightly more ambitious convention tour this year. I’ll be visiting K.C. in April, Chicago in August and Minneapolis in October. Sorry I can’t make it anywhere on the East or West coast this year. The only conventions I can afford to go to are within driving distance. But since last year I only did Chicago, it’s important to me that this larger ground assult get off on the right foot.
Think about it. This is a totally unique opportunity for you to own a piece of Theater Hopper history. Our newsest character Charlie beating the snot out of Ben Affleck with his own Best Screenwriting Oscar. It doesn’t get much more specific than that.
If you love Theater Hopper (or maybe just hate Ben Affleck) this is an original piece of art well worth owning.
It will be signed by me and mailed First Class in a heavy cardboard tube to prevent bending or creasing. And because I’m such a good guy, I’m won’t even charge for shipping! Hell, I’ll even throw in some stickers and a set of 1″ buttons to the lucky winner. THAT’S HOW NICE I AM!
The auction ends one week from today. So, what are you waiting for? GET BIDDING
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