Posts Tagged ‘Chicago’
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If you didn’t have a chance to stop by the site yesterday, be sure to hit the “Previous” button under today’s strip. There’s a treat waiting for you! An extra comic!
Kind of on a whim I decided to do a full week of strips, so I want to be sure everyone is caught up. Be sure to visit again tomorrow for another thrilling installment!
Well, on Tuesday the Oscar nominations were announced. You can go here to read the full list of nominees.
I don’t know how far into things I want to go. Certainly there will be a lot of media hoopla until the ceremony telecast in March.
I guess I can say that I was more than a little disappointed that Chicago walked away with the most nominations. Although I haven’t seen the movie yet, I just get this sinking feeling that everyone has resigned themselves to the fact it will win Best Picture. They’re treating it like some consolation prize for Moulin Rouge not winning last year. I’m not a big fan of musicals to begin with and I think the film will coast to the finish more on the merits of Miramax’s marketing power than the artistic effort of the film itself.
The Best Animated Feature category saw its nominees expand from three to five films this year. Among the chosen were Ice Age, Lilo & Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Spirited Away and Treasure Planet. Regrettably, I’ve only seen the two Disney flicks. If I had to choose between them Lilo & Stitch would have to get my vote. Of course I’ve heard great things about Spirited Away, but I’ll have to wait for it on video.
I guess I was pretty shocked to learn that Treasure Planet was even considered for this award. For starters, it wasn’t that great of a movie. Just a “re-imaging” of a classic book – Treasure Island – with futuristic gadgets and cyborgs. It was executed well, but not nearly as inventive of heart-warming as Lilo & Stitch.
Secondly, Treasure Planet took about an $80 million dollar loss at the box office. Reportedly it cost over $120M to make, but only raked in $40M at ticket booths. The impact of its failure was so severe, Disney actually had to scale back their animation department this year. And they’re rewarding it with a nomination?!
I have to say I’m most happy for Jullianne Moore and her double nominations – Best Actress for Far From Heaven and Best Supporting for The Hours. I saw both films. I didn’t care much for Far From Heaven, but I wasn’t really in the mood for it at the time. I can appreciate what it was doing, but I need a fresh head to see it again. Regardless, certainly the fact that Moore received two nominations tells you she’s doing something right. I certainly hope she gets it for Best Actress and not Supporting. That one will probably go to Meryl Streep in Adaptation (her 13th, I might add – beating Katharine Hepburn’s record).
I was happy to see Daniel Day Lewis nominated for Best Actor in Gangs of New York. I cannot think of another performance this year more deserving. Of course, voters will probably hand it over to Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt because everyone loves to watch him do his “cool thing” when he’s up on stage. This is his 12th nomination, by the way — matchin Heapburn’s record.
If anything, Martin Scorsese should win Best Director for Gangs. The Academy has been jerking him around for too long. They should give him the award now before he dries up and they’re forced to give him one of those gold watch “Lifetime Achievement” awards.
I would have liked to have seen Marty win for Goodfellas or The Last Temptation of Christ, but Gangs was an epic in every sense. A win could serve double duty recognizing the efforts of that film as well as giving the nod to the immeasurable contribution he’s given to American cinema over the last 40 years.
I think that about does it for my opinions on the Oscars. Cami and I plan on seeing the two Best Picture nominees we didn’t get to yet – Chicago and The Pianist. If we can get to it, we’ll probably see all the films with Best Actor and Actress nominees as well. A few of them like Frida and The Quiet American we probably won’t see. But Adaptation and About Schmidt are definitely on our list.
What do you think of the nominations this year? Drop me a line and we can chat about it. I don’t get a lot of e-mails, so I’m usually pretty good about responding. Just wait. Now I’ll get a ton of mail and won’t be able to get to them all. Oh, well.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for another new comic!
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Well, another Oscar ceremony has come and gone, and what’s to make of it? I wish I knew.
I know that the telecast was not as painful a viewing experience as I had braced myself for. I spent a lot of time before the show making sure my eye-sockets were in peak physical condition because I was planning on doing a lot of eye-rolling at bloated, self-important celebrities who derided the current war with Iraq.
But much to my chagrin, there was very little political boasting and what little there was, I couldn’t disagree with. By the end, I was practically begging someone to say something half-baked. Thank goodness for Michael Moore. If you didn’t see it, his anti-war rant and personal attacks against Bush after winning Best Documentary for Bowling for Columbine were not very well received by the audience. I would expect nothing less.
Truthfully, I felt the show, for the most part, was a tepid affair. Things were pretty much going to plan until about the last fifth of the show unraveled. Adrain Brody winning Best Actor and Roman Polanski winning Best Director both for their work in The Pianist floored me. It’s not often that I emit audible gasps, let a lone multiple gasps, but such was the case tonight.
Perhaps I was more blind-sided from their respective victories because I’ve not yet made it out to the theater to see The Pianist. This must be remedied quickly.
Cami and I have had several discussions about our reluctance to see the movie. We’ve conjured several excuses. Think of all the dozens of films you’ve seen about World War II or the Holocaust. These aren’t pleasant periods in history to visit. Given the current climate where we are experiencing these horrors in real-time, why would we subject ourselves to it as a form of “entertainment”.
Another issue in particular that bothers us is Polanski’s sorted history as a nearly-convicted rapist. The story is to convoluted to go into here, but you should investigate it if you’re not familiar with it.
Sometimes it is difficult to separate art from the artist. Considering the results are often such personal reflections of the creator, if you condemn a man for his actions, how can you not condemn his final product of expression?
That seems black and white, but I don’t feel like supporting the work of a rapist, do you?
But on the other hand, several great artists – those we would call the grand masters – were more often than not, especially horrible people during their living years. How many artists can you think of who abused their wives, were drug addicts or alcoholics. The list is nearly infinite. But if their work was sound and still capable to inspire, we look past these transgressions and even go so far to put the artists on a pedestal. Why do we need to wait for Polanski to be dead and his crimes erased from our collective memory before we can appreciate his work?
Despite the moral quandary we find ourselves in, I cannot resign myself from the fact that I will always support the arts more than the artists. And if a community of his peers felt his film was worthy enough to recognize, then I owe it myself to learn more about it. When that will be, I cannot say.
/switching gears/
Another shocker of the evening was Eminem winning Best Original Song for “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile. I thought there was no greater long-shot in the category – especially when you consider the rapper’s notorious history and his unwillingness to perform the song at the ceremony. It was even more shocking to see the Academy actually honor the song that WAS the best, rather than some emotional clap-trap that rang false. I would have looked to U2’s “The Hands That Built America” for that one.
Beyond that, what’s left to say? I know that I wasn’t pleased to see Chicago walk away with Best Picture. It was never anything more than glossy, yet well-executed fluff to me. I think I’ll have to lobotomize that part of my brain that can’t stop replaying “All That Jazz” over and over again.
I was disappointed that Martin Scorsese didn’t walk away with something for Gangs of New York. From the looks of things, it was shut out completely. I could be wrong on that, though. I think the boat has sailed for old Marty. I’m the reasoning behind most Academy voters is, “If he didn’t win for Goodfellas, why should he win for this?” The best he can hope for at this point is Lifetime Achievement.
I was especially pleased to see Conrad Hall be awarded for Best Cinematography for Road to Perdition as well as Chris Cooper winning Best Supporting Actor for Adaptation. Both were richly deserved.
And lastly, I was especially pleased to see that Spirited Away won Best Animated Picture. This is something I can use as leverage to introduce Cami to the wonderful world of anime! Actually, I would have been please just as long as they didn’t give the damn thing to Ice Age or Treasure Planet. Blech!
That’s a lot for now. I’m certain there will be more to reflect on later. If you have any thoughts about last night’s show, feel free to share your thoughts.
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I promised you guys a recap of my time at C2E2 – The Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. It’s really long, so bring a sandwich.
After scrambling to get out of town Thursday morning, I pulled into Chicago around 3:30 in the afternoon. I was a little bit stressed because load-in time at the convention center closed at 4:30 and my Google Map instructions were crap!
The driving directions the show promoters gave me didn’t help much, either. I literally spent 45 minutes driving around and around the convention center, unable to find the loading dock. It turns out, I had to go UP some crazy ramp. The docks weren’t at street level! That was a first for me!
But I made it into the convention center on time and dropped off my stuff in Webcomics Pavilion. I was too tired after driving all day to bother setting up, so I walked over to the next aisle and introduced myself to Joel Watson from HiJinks Ensue. Joel was nice enough to split a hotel room with me to help save on costs, so it seemed appropriate to at least say “hello.”
Joel was a really cool guy and we had great conversations throughout the weekend. He is very serious about his career as a cartoonist and on top of his game. I learned a lot from him over the course of the next few days.
After meeting up and making introductions with a few people from Topatoco, including David Malki from Wondermark, we decided to check in to the hotel. Later, we had dinner before I dragged Joel to Millennium Park to visit the sculpture “Cloud Gate”.
We had a hilarious interaction with some high school kid that was trying to give us grief. As we approached the sculpture, this kid – part of some kind of tour group – yells to us, “Hey, guyyys! How do you like Seattle?” We both looked at him like an idiot and just kept walking.
We inspected the sculpture for a little while and as we were leaving, Joel tried to snap a picture. Again, the same kid yelled at us “What do you think of Seattle, man?” Meanwhile, his chubby friend behind him yelled “You’re gonna get mugged, tourist!”
At that point. Joel stepped up on the kid and said “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I’m taking a picture of a sculpture – just like 4 dozen other people standing around here? Are you trying to be funny, or something?”
The kid immediately folded up, shuffled his feet like a 5 year-old and with his head down muttered “I don’t know. I was just kiddin’ around…” It was awesome.
Later in the evening, we met up with the crew from Topatoco and this time Jeffery Rowland from Wigu, Jeph Jacques from Questionable Content and Matt, Rob and Chris from Cyanide and Happiness came along for the ride. We spent the rest of Thursday evening bar-hopping through downtown Chicago. We’d go to one bar that closed at 11:00 before being directed to another bar that closed at 1:00, before being directed to ANOTHER bar that closed at 2:00. I had a blast.
“But Tom,” you whine. “Stop name-dropping. Tell us about the convention!”
Okay, okay. I get you. Well, let me say this: The first sale I made was just after the doors opened. I sold a copy of Theater Hopper: Year Three to Steve Sansweet.
Now if you don’t know who Steve Sansweet is, that’s alright. But as it turns out, he is the Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm!
I totally didn’t recognize him because he was wearing a beard and, frankly, because I wasn’t on the lookout for anyone from Lucasfilm while I was there. But I talked to him for a little while and he said he decided to pick up my book after seeing one of my comics with George Lucas in my sampler booklet. I just hope it wasn’t this one.
I pointed out that I made 9 comics about Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith by pointing to the index in the back of the book – which he labeled “brilliant” – and said that I hoped that they wouldn’t get me in trouble. “No, no,” he said. “This is clearly parody.”
So there you have it! Theater Hopper: Year Three is approved by Lucasfilm!
I wish I had been smart enough to ask Mr. Sansweet for his picture while he was at my booth, but I was so gobsmacked by the exchange, I didn’t think of it until 2 hours later. If someone knows how I can get in touch with the guy, please let me know! I’d love to get a shot of him holding up the book for the site!
Needless to say, it was a GREAT way to start the convention.
I don’t know if my contemporaries felt quite as optimistic after Friday, though. A lot of people commented that they thought traffic was a little too light for a Friday and worried what kind of impact that would have for their show.
Personally, I talked to a bunch of people. Although, I will admit, I didn’t make a lot of sales. I chalked it up to the convention simply being so VAST that attendees were just trying to get the lay of the land and figure out what the show had to offer. Everyone I made a sale to that day was wearing a “Friday Only” badge. So I was still holding on to hope.
Friday evening, I attended the Webcomics Town Hall Panel. Since Joel was sitting on stage with David Malki from Wondermark Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza from Least I Could Do, Erika Moen from DAR, Lucy Knisley from Stop Paying Attention and Danielle Corsetto from Girls With Slingshots. There were also two guys with Zuda comics, but for the life of me I can’t remember them. Sorry.
Actually, I was kind of tuned-out for most of panel. Largely because the moderator (who I also don’t recall) was as boring as a bowl of oatmeal. He talked at length about his own webcomic credentials and then introduced each individual artist by reading lengthy bio information from a Powerpoint presentation that was being displayed on a screen behind him. He would have been better off just asking the panelists to introduce themselves and gotten on with the Q&A.
David Malki basically took the whole thing over, even calling on members of the audience who had questions. He practically muscled the moderator out completely. Kind of rude. But at the same time, completely necessary to keep the panel from becoming a total snore-fest.
There was also some minor controversy when apparently Malki called out Ryan Sohmer on some practice or another. Again, I wasn’t paying close attention. Someone from the audience also asked a question that took a shot at the Zuda guys, which most people on the panel thought was off sides. Truthfully, there wasn’t much for me to learn from listening the panel. I was just there to support the scene.
I attended the panel with my good buddy Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex. After it was over, we kind of tried to sneak in next to the group of webcomic artists also in attendance to see what their plans were for dinner. I was overjoyed when, after saying “hello” to Danielle Corsetto, she immediately recognized me and gave me a hug! I wasn’t sure she’d remember me, but we were on the Business of Webcomics panel together at Emerald City Comic Con last year. She is OFFICIALLY the sweetest person in webcomics!
Eventually, 15 of decided to get dinner together at Giordanos for pizza, but didn’t know that it is a world-renown restaurant. The wait was something like 2 hours. So we ended up going across the street to Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap for some hot wings.
There were more webcomic people there than you could shake a stick at! I met Phil Khan, Erica Henderson and T. Campbell from Guilded Age David Willis from Shortpacked! and Randy Milholland from Something Positive.
A bunch of other webcomics guys also wandered in off the street just by accident. I think Zach Weiner from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Alina Pete from Weregeek were there, too (among many others – the Cyanide and Happiness guys showed up, too), but I didn’t get to say “hi.” There were so many of us, they had to split us up into different tables! We were half the restaurant at one point!
What was craziest about all of this interaction with different webcomic people was how many of them were already familiar with Theater Hopper. My social circle among webcomic artists is pretty small and, like most artists with social anxiety, it’s sometimes difficult for me to go up to a stranger and strike up a conversation.
But this time, I made an effort to change things and I made sure to be friendly and up front. When I walked up to Randy Milholland and said, “Hi, my name’s Tom Brazelton,” he responded “Oh, yeah! From Theater Hopper!” and that was crazy validating.
By the way, if you ever end up at Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap, get their Poncho Wings. A local recommended me to them and they were excellent. Garlic and cayenne pepper! Oh, yeah!
After dinner, pretty much everyone agreed to call it a night. Which was probably for the best.
The next day at the convention was noticeably busier and again I talked to a bunch of really cool fans. One guy came up to the booth wearing my “Junkie” t-shirt. A little later, a different guy came up wearing my Sean Bean shirt. Seeing fans wearing my shirts always brings a smile to my face.
Later in the day, a girl that I had given a sampler book to came back to let me know that she was laughing out loud while reading it. She brought her friend to my booth to show her what the fuss was about. That’s pretty awesome.
On Saturday, I was asked to pinch hit at the Reading With Pictures Iron Artist Tournament. Basically, they put me on stage with a couple of other artists and we were given a bizarre theme and asked to draw the first thing that came to our minds.
The first theme was “Superheros When They Were Young.” So, of course, I drew Iron Man as a baby. The second theme was Escape from New York meets The Princess Bride. So I drew Snake Plissken as Inigo Montoya. I got lucky on that second drawing because someone asked me to draw them as Inigo Montoya earlier in the day!
Gordon McAlpin was also part of the tournament and I have to say that his Baby Blue Beetle was adorable. I don’t know how much it was auctioned off for, but I bet it fetched a pretty penny.
I had a great time on stage drawing and helping contribute to a worthwhile cause. If you want to see pictures of the event, a bunch of them have been uploaded to Flickr here.
After we wrapped things up at the tournament, Joe Dunn and Phil Chan from Another Videogame Comic came with us to met up with the guys from Guilded Age and Cyanide and Happiness at the World’s Worst Pizza restaurant. It was so bad, I don’t even remember the name. All I remember is that someone ordered a deep dish BBQ pizza and was repulsed by it. That pizza was only mentioned in hushed tones after that.
From there, the 10 of us met up with yet ANOTHER group of webcomic artists across town at a karaoke bar called Brando’s at an event organized by Abby L, who draws The Green Avenger and The Rose Deli Project. It almost didn’t happen. The bar was very small and there was already a large, obnoxious bachelorette party taking up most of the seats.
The club owner saw we were about to leave and offered us one free round of drinks just as soon as the bachelorette party left – which turned out to be about 10 minutes after we arrived. Unable to refuse free drinks, we all spilled in to the club.
I’ve only done karaoke once in my life. Drunkenly, I tried to sing AC/DC’s “You Shook Me.” I tried to do the Brian Johnson voice and everything. It was terrible.
However, I like to sing in the car and I think I have a pretty good voice. The only problem is, I don’t know the lyrics to a lot of songs that aren’t 90’s hip-hop.
After a few rounds, I started to entertain the idea that I would sing “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground. Those of you familiar with Mitch Clem’s work might recognize my affinity for the song and how thoroughly it annoys others.
Joe Dunn tried to talk me out of performing the song, but when I mentioned it to Spike from Templar, AZ, she insisted I do it and promised to back me up. When my time came to grab the mic, not only did Spike join me on stage, but her husband Mike Sheridan and Joel from HiJinks Ensue joined me on stage as well. I’m proud to report that we killed it.
Or, at least I think we did. In my estimation, everyone who steps on stage to perform karaoke has to convince themselves they’re killing it or they would fold under the weight of their own embarrassment.
Two LEGITIMATELY awesome performances can be attributed to Joel’s rendition of Styx’s “Mr. Roboto.” Also, Dave Reiley from Dead Winter did a thundering version of Metallica’s “Fuel.” Needless to say, a fun time was had by all.
After karaoke, Spike was nice enough to invite everyone back to her apartment for an after party. I’m always amazed how quickly webcomic people – who are otherwise strangers – can fall into passionate, well-informed conversations so easily. Before I knew it, we were there for two hours. I could have kept talking with these people for another six.
The last day of the convention was mild compared to the previous two. I did better with sales than I did on Friday, but not as well as I did on Saturday.
One exchange I had, however, was “100% WIN” (as the L33T kids say). Near the end of the show, one of the event volunteers approached me and asked for a custom sketch. What was sweet about it was that he didn’t want a sketch of himself, but one of his wife. He identified himself as a fan of Theater Hopper, but it was his wife that introduced him to the comic. She had been on board since the early days and “shared my hatred for Ben Affleck,” he said.
He asked that I reproduce the last panel of this comic where Ben Affleck opens a package from Jared filled with bees featuring her instead of Affleck. According to this guy, his wife has been using that image as her desktop background for the last 4 years.
I happily drew the picture and turned it over to him. “Tell your wife to send me an e-mail after she receives it,” I told him. “I’d love to hear her reaction.”
I didn’t have to wait that long. Five minutes before the show was over, the man’s wife approached my table. I misunderstood the situation thinking that the husband was volunteering and the wife was somewhere else. But it turns out she was volunteering as well, just in a different area of the show! She wasn’t able to leave her post.
She was so effusive and thankful for the sketch, it was utterly heart warming. Both her and her husband were so friendly and appreciative, it was really the best way to end the convention. I left on such a high note.
For her, I decided to produce a 1280 x 1024 desktop wallpaper from the last panel of that comic. I just couldn’t let her continue about her work without something that was a little better in quality.
I talked to a lot of people about the success (or lack thereof) of C2E2. A lot of my contemporaries didn’t do as well with sales as they had hoped. Some people I talked to said they didn’t think they were coming back next year.
While I would have liked to have sold a little more than I did, I can’t look at the weekend as anything less than a complete success for me.
I got to talk to talk to a myriad of different webcomic creators for the first time. I shook hands with fans who were so supportive and thankful. Fans who told me they think my comics are getting better and how much they enjoy reading the movie reviews. One guy told me mine were the one reviews he trusted. I mean, how can you NOT feel great after a weekend like that?
I had a blast and I hope I can go back next year.
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First things first. What I’m suggesting in the last three panels is true.
While this comic marks the LAST APPEARANCE of Jimmy and Charlie in Theater Hopper, it does NOT mark their last appearance in webcomics.
Jimmy and Charlie are moving to Multiplex.
This was an idea that I had started to kick around probably sometime this summer. It’s taken this long to move the chess pieces around to get us there.
I talked with Multiplex creator Gordon McAlpin several months ago. I followed up with him last week to see if he still might be interested in adopting Jimmy and Charlie once Theater Hopper ended.
As fortune would have it, he was still interested! So I went ahead and drew Jimmy and Charlie’s last Theater Hopper comic, knowing that I was sending them off into an unknown future. But a future where I at least knew they would be in good hands.
Not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I like this idea of handing Jimmy and Charlie over to Gordon for use in Multiplex for several reasons.
First of all, Gordon’s a hell of a writer and relationships are his specialty. Jimmy and Charlie have a rich background – one I invested a lot of time into. Their lengthy back story was not something I had really tried before as a writer. Turning these characters over to a writer as competent as Gordon ensures their story will continue in some form.
I also like the idea because – from what I’ve gathered – it’s somewhat unprecedented.
Now, web comics as a genre run pretty far and wide. So I could be completely off-base, but I’ve never heard of one creator handing over a set of characters to another creator like this.
Sure, characters change hands between writers and artists all the time. But usually they stay confined within the universe they were created in. How often has it occurred that a creator establishes characters in one universe and hands them over to a creator with their own established universe? It would be like Marvel turning to DC Comics and saying “Here. You can have Spider-Man from now on. Have fun with him!”
I don’t know. I could be completely wrong. If I am, I take it all back. I didn’t intend to offend. But I haven’t come across it in the last 10 years I’ve made web comics.
Lastly, the reason I like this idea is because it gives the people who supported Theater Hopper a place to land once the comic ends next week. My comic and Gordon’s comic have always had a close affiliation. I’m certain there is a lot of overlap between our fans. But in case there isn’t, Jimmy and Charlie showing up in Gordon’s comic gives my fans a conduit through which to explore one hell of a great comic in Multiplex. If you like Theater Hopper, I know you’ll find a lot to enjoy there.
Whatever happens, I told Gordon he’s free to do with the characters whatever he wants. If he decides to make Jimmy a serial killer and Charlie a lesbian, that’s his choice. The characters are his now to do with as he pleases. I don’t want Gordon to write the characters as I would have. I want to witness with everyone else the new places he takes them.
I don’t know for sure when Jimmy or Charlie will first appear in Multiplex, but Gordon indicated it would be sometime early next year – as soon as his current story line concludes. So help me keep an eye out for them, will you?
I’m very excited about this step forward. I think it’s unique and a lot of fun. I hope you guys feel the same way about it as I do.
If you could help spread the word about this comic, I would greatly appreciate it. I originally intended to upload it last Friday. But a blizzard that whipped through town last Wednesday left our home without power for over 24 hours. We were kind of scrambling to get things back together on the homefront and the Friday update didn’t happen.
A change like this is a blockbuster and I’m worried that not a lot of people are going to see it due to the holiday. If you’re reading this right now, MAKE SURE OTHERS SEE IT. Share it on Facebook or Twitter. Let your web comic reading friends know. Even if they don’t read Theater Hopper or Multiplex, the might get a kick out of what we’re doing. Who knows?
I have another comic that I intend to work on and update for Christmas. We’re doing another small leap forward in time so the comic I’m posting on Christmas actually takes place on Christmas. So be on the lookout for that.
After the Christmas comic, there will be one more comic this week. After that, the VERY LAST THEATER HOPPER WILL BE PUBLISHED MONDAY, DECEMBER 31.
Be there, guys. I can’t imagine it without you.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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