Posts Tagged ‘coffee’
3 items.
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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Your ability to understand or appreciate today’s comic relies entirely on whether or not you watched Saturday Night Live this weekend with host Sigourney Weaver.
If you’re at all confused by the punchline, watch this video to be brought up to speed.
As you can see, I’m really aiming for jokes that will stand the test of time after this video’s viral status has faded.
I think I may have accomplished making this comic both topical and obscure at the same time.
Of course, last night was The Golden Globes. Usually I don’t pay too much attention to the Golden Globes because I don’t really care what the Hollywood Foreign Press has to say about, well… anything! But I was interested to see how Ricky Gervais would handle himself as host and was also looking for some kind of trend in terms of what movies might be nominated for Oscars this year. I was particularly interested in the latter considering that the Academy has opened up the field for Best Picture to 10 nominees. Could The Hangover’s win for Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical have any bearings on Oscar nominations? We have to wait and see, I guess.
Incidentally, I live-blogged the event last night and you can read the entire transcript here. I’m using an application called Cover It Live which allows readers to participate in the conversation. I think it went really well. We had a really strong turn out despite very little advance notice. So I will definitely have to promote the fact that I’m live blogging for the Oscars.
If you don’t want to read two hours of snark, here are some of my highlights and lowlights from last night’s show.
- Mo’Nique’s acceptance speech – Maybe I’m just over the hype Precious has generated for itself, but the speech that others found uplifting, I found self-important and a pretentious way to start the evening.
- Martin Scorsese wins the Cecil B. DeMille Award – I kind of thought Hollywood was finished giving Scorsese gold watch awards after The Departed, but their montage of his films made me want to sit down and watch every single one of them in order – even Kundun. Of course, then they had to ruin it by making it a big advertisement for Shutter Island. Aw, who am I kidding? I’ll still go see it. It looks like a great Hitchcockian thriller and I was smitten listening to Scorsese talking about film preservation. Seriously!
- Glee wins Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical – Sorry, I’m not a fan and you’re not going to convince me that Glee was any better than 30 Rock this season or any other. Where was all the love for prime-time musicals when Cop Rock was on the air?
- Ricky Gervais as host – I thought he got in a good dig on Mel Gibson as someone who “likes to have a drink from time to time,” but found him classless for plugging his HBO series at the end of the show before dashing away from the podium.
- Up wins Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score – Motion Picture – I was legitimately thrilled when I saw Up win for Best Animated Feature… until I remembered Fantastic Mr. Fox was up for the same role. (Maybe I should flip my last two picks for the Top 10 of 2009…) There was no disputing Michael Giacchino’s win for Best Original Score – one of the most emotional and effective of the year.
- Christoph Waltz wins Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role for Inglourious Basterds – Another gimme. If Waltz doesn’t win a Best Supporting Oscar, I’ll be shocked. The man speaks 4 languages in his performance!
- Jason Reitman looked pissed when he lost Best Picture to Avatar – Go back and watch the tape. He looked livid.
- James Cameron speaks in Na’vi – During his acceptance speech for Best Director, Cameron came precariously close to the pretentiousness that killed any remaining good will I had for Titanic after his boastful “I’m the king of the world” Oscar acceptance speech in 1998. Also note that he didn’t thank any of the fans who helped push Avatar to nearly half a billion dollars in box office domestically.
- Robert Downey Jr. wins Best Actor – Comedy or Musical – I was convinced Matt Damon would win for his work in The Informant! That’ll teach me to bet against RDJ, who delivered one of the most entertaining speeches of the night.
- Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor – Drama – Another upset, as I was sure George Clooney would win for Up In The Air. I had a cursory interest in seeing Crazy Heart. Now it’s at the top of my “must see” list.
- Beards – Between Jon Hamm, Christoph Waltz sporting beards and William Hurt looking like Rutherford B. Hayes, what was up with all the facial hair last night?
Anyway, that’s my take on the Golden Globes. Did any of you watch last night? What did you think about the broadcast? What were your favorite moments? What were your least favorite moments. Leave your comments below!
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I was getting kind of tired of drawing profiles of characters for the Top Web Comics incentive image, so I did something a little different today. Jimmy’s trials at the movie theater kind of reminded me of Atlas, so I went that direction with the incentive sketch. Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics if you want to see it.
I realized while plotting this week’s comic that it didn’t contain a joke. It sent me into a miniature panic. I’m not exactly known for writing drama and – to me – writing a comic without a joke feels… unfinished.
Ultimately I determined that cramming in the joke for the sake of one really didn’t benefit things. So maybe today’s comic isn’t funny, but it moves the ball up the field.
Incidentally, is everyone able to follow along with the changes in scenery? I’ve been doing a lot of jumping around from location to location – sometimes flipping back and forth between different sets of characters. I know you guys are smart and are probably following along just fine. I’m just self-conscious about it.
Like I said, I don’t write drama. Most of my comics are fairly self-contained. I really haven’t had to think of my story telling in terms of “What’s happening over here while these characters over here are talking about something else?” It’s kind of weird.
Something interesting that’s been happening in the last few weeks is that people have complimented me for allowing the characters to “grow up” a little bit. I can say with all honestly that it has not been intentional. But, with what I know about where I want the characters to end up when I end the comic in August, I would have to admit the transition has been almost subliminal.
Since announcing the comic’s end, I’ve made clear my intentions to let readers know that the characters will be “okay.” Perhaps some of this maturation is the unintended byproduct of that?
Sometimes I feel like it’s best to get out of my own way and kind of let the characters write themselves. I know that sounds pretentious. But in this case, I feel like its an honest assessment of how things are playing out.
On that note…
I NEED YOUR HELP
I’ve been presented the opportunity to attend and exhibit at Emerald City Comiccon in Seattle this March 31 – April 1 and I would really, really, REALLY like to go.
However, this was not a convention I had originally planned on attending. That there is now an opportunity is a complete fluke. As such, I don’t really have the money to secure a plane ticket, a hotel room, cab fare and the rest.
This isn’t really your problem. If I don’t have the money, I shouldn’t go, right? Buuuuuuut… if you have it in your heart to make a purchase from the Theater Hopper store or perhaps donate to my “Farewell Tour,” it would be really, really, REALLY helpful right now. That’s all I’m saying.
If you can help, great. If you can’t help, well, that’s how the cookie crumbles. Even if I don’t end up going to ECCC this year, I will be going to C2E2 in Chicago two weeks later. So, there’s that!
That’s all I have for right now. Thanks for checking out the comic and I’ll see you next week!
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