Posts Tagged ‘crash’
9 items.
Apr26
GUEST STRIP – CHRIS CANTRELL
April 26th, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(8 votes, average: 5.50 out of 10)
Chris is maybe jumping the gun just a little with his Dukes of Hazzard comic – The movie starring Johnny Knoxville, Sean Williams Scott, Jessica Simpson, and Willie Nelson (!) doesn’t launch itself into theaters until August 5 – but I don’t care for two reasons:
1. Any Dukes of Hazzard joke is okay in my book. The television show was high camp at its finest. Just thinking about it brings a grin to my ear.
2. Chris’s writing and illustration is so sharp, it’s like someone delicately painted my eyes with some sort of liquid happiness. Possibly LSD. I can’t be sure. Just look at that rendering of the General Lee. But a beauty to behold!
I think it’s criminal that Please Rewind does not get the recognition it deserves – especially considering Chris’s pedigree with The Asylumantics.
If you’re already reading his comics, then you are extremely switched on and I am preaching to the choir. But if you’re not, then you are doing yourself a grand disservice. Anyone who likes Theater Hopper will find more than enough to love in Please Rewind. The characterization is top notch.
That said, I hope you enjoy my rendering of his characters in my buzzComix incentive sketch. Vote for Theater Hopper to view it.
Beyond pimping Chris’s work and thanking him profusely, I have little else to say. You might want to click back one day and read the second blog I posted late yesterday afternoon. It has a lot of details you shouldn’t mix.
For example, I’m doing 5 guest comics this week in preparation of unveiling the new site design and marking my return to the comic on Monday, May 2!
Set your watches!
[ No Comments ]
Remember on Monday when I was talking about that comic that PvP’s Scott Kurtz originally drew and how I was going to tie it back to something fun today? I keeps my promises!
Okay, maybe it plays a little “inside.” Some of you won’t be getting that big a kick out of it if you haven’t been following PvP. But to me, the idea of Tom and Jared colliding mid-air with Cole and Brent in their respective fantasy world General Lee’s was too hilarious to pass up. If today’s comic left you Poker-faced, you can always go back and read Scott’s original comic for reference.
Nothing much clever to add today. I actually wrote this blog on Wednesday and time stamped it so it would appear with today’s comic. I’ll be back from Wizard World Chicago on Sunday night.
Have a great weekend!
[ No Comments ]
Okay, the Academy Awards start in about 20 minutes and I said I would come back to make my picks, so here they are.
Originally I was going to do a huge write up about who I thought would win and why, but I don’t think there’s enough time for that now.
Anyway, here’s who I think will win:
BEST PICTURE: Brokeback Mountain. I don’t know if it was the best movie of the year, but considering it’s origins, the difficulty the writers and producers had bringing it to screen and it’s overall cultual signifigance, I think it should be rewarded. Crash looks like it might upset, though. Especially considering the complexity of the storyline, the large and tallented cast and the fact that it’s set in L.A. – where the majoirty of Academy voters live. If any film could pull an upset, it would be this one.
BEST ACTOR: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. If the Academy could nominate and award Jamie Foxx for his performance in Ray, then they most certainly need to recognized Hoffman. His performance transcends pure imitation. You really get to see the person beneath the public facade of Truman Capote, warts and all. Again, considering the difficulty Hoffman and his writing partners faced bringing this production to film, he’s a sure bet.
BEST ACTRESS: Reese Witherspon. It’s her time. Public opinion is with her and there’s rumor that she’s being paid $29 million for her next movie. It’s safe to say she’s assumed the mantle from Julia Roberts. Is there any other actress out there right now that generates this much attention? Okay, Legally Blonde 2 was a turkey. She might not technically be a great actress, but she’s a certified movie star. Moreso than the other nominees. Except for Charlize Theron and she’s already won.
I give points to Felicity Huffman for taking a more challenging, "actorly" role. But tonight, Reese walks home with Oscar.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: George Clooney. I don’t know if his performance deserves it. I haven’t seen Syriana. But, like Reese, he has good buzz around him. Especailly considering his other film Good Night, and Good Luck has him nominated in the Best Original Screenplay and Best Director categories. He won’t win in either of those, so this is his gold watch. I think mosty voters will have his name on the ballot to see what kind of speech he delivers.
If I had my druthers, I would give it to Paul Giamatti – one of the strongest character actors working today, bar none. But I think the negative press around Russell Crowe during the period Cinderella Man was in theaters has hurt his chances. Poor box office of that film also to blame.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Rachel Weisz. I have no basis for opinon here. It just seems to be where everyone else is going. Some people are talking about Michelle Williams, but I really didn’t see anything in her performance that made me stand up and say "Wow!" From what I’ve heard, Weisz’s character is the lynchpin of The Constant Gardner and she delivers on all fronts.
BEST DIRECTOR: Ang Lee. I think this one is a landslide. None of the other nominees lensed anything quite so peaceful, beautiful and poetic as Brokeback Mountain. As the director of Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and even Hulk, his versitility should be recognized. Right film, right time to give him the nod.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Brokeback Mountain. It says more with less. Again, cultural signifigance pulls rank here.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Crash. The complexity. The characterization. The multiple angles on the same story. It’s the most ambitious of the nominees.
Anyway, those are my choices. Really, a lot of the media outlets I’ve been keeping up with predict it the same. Really the only nailbiter is Best Supporting Actor. It could go in any direction. But the rest seem like locks. I think it’ll be a pretty standard affair for Oscar tonight. That is, unless Crash was able to perform some kind of last-minute rally. I view it as the dark horse. We’ll see!
[ No Comments ]
I made a promise to come in and talk about the controversy over Crash upsetting Brokeback Mountain for the Best Picture Oscar.
But I gotta be truthful: I’m not as upset about it as I was before.
I haven’t seen Crash, so I can’t vouch for it’s worthiness or unworthiness. But at the time when Jack Nicholson read the name of the winning film from that card, I was shocked. To me, Brokeback seemed like the more culturally relevant film. Just in terms of the awareness it brought to homosexual relationships as fully realized partnerships. Not a gimmick. Not a flamboyant supporting plot device. But just as rich and detailed as any straight love story.
I’ve heard from some people that Brokeback wouldn’t have gotten the same amount of attention if it weren’t about gay cowboys. There might be some truth to that, but I don’t think so. I think audiences are interested in well-crafted stories regardless of the main character’s sexual orientation. To me, the fact that Brokeback was about a gay couple was secondary. It’s about cowardace and not standing up for the most important things in life. It’s about caving to self-imposed and societal expectations and not having the strength to question them. You could swap out two gay characters with two straight ones and it wouldn’t have changed the overall theme of the movie – That love is hard-earned and not for the weak. The characters could be a Muslim and a Jew, a black man and a white woman or your next door neighbors. The whole "gay issue" is a non-point to me.
That said, and presuming that both Brokeback and Crash are equally well-made films (represented by their equal share of earned Oscars in technical categories), at one point I questioned if there was perhaps some kind of bias against Brokeback because Academy voters couldn’t see past the "gay issue."
I think Crash may have also had a "home-field" advantage in and of that it is a movie set and filmed in L.A. and that’s where 80% of the voting block resides. Also considering the location of the shoot was probably a touch point for voters considering that most productions are being farmed out to Canada, Australia and Prague to cut costs. Filming in their own backyard was something the voters wanted to reward perhaps as a means to encourage production to stay in Tinsletown.
But overall, you have to question if perhaps the homosexual aspect of the film was not something voters wanted to appear to endorse. It was tackled at the top of the show that Hollywood was out of touch with mainstream America. A win for Brokeback would have been a strong confirmation of that point to those critics. Why give them more ammunition?
Jeffery Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere made an interesting point about the whole thing. I quote,
"Is anyone besides me seeing the irony here…the irony that howled and flooded the skies above Los Angeles last night? The very thing that Crash laments — prejudice against people of different stripes and persuasions — is what tipped the vote and delivered the Big Prize."
It’s food for thought.
I shared that thought for a while, but I think it’s since worked it’s way out of my system. Friday’s comic will reflect that and, I think, from there we can all move forward.
[ No Comments ]
From the way some people were talking about Crash’s Best Picture upset over Brokeback Mountain, looting and rioting were only moments away!
I have a deeper meditation about all of the controversy/non-controversy wrought by this ruling, but since it is late on a Tuesday night, I do not have the mental capacity to share those thoughts at the moment. I’ll be back later with some more well-composed thoughts.
A brief artistic summary of today’s comic might include the declaritive statement that it was fun to draw Tom throwing over tables. That’s something that needs to happen more often. Me likely.
Y’see? There’s that lake of mental capacity I was talking about earlier.
Something that takes ABSOLUTELY no brain power is schilling my cheesy wares. And by that I mean the t-shirts I currently have for sale in the store. TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY TO PLACE YOUR ORDER. At midnight tonight, I am ending the pre-orders and sending everything off to the printer. Hopefully, I’ll have your shirts in stock a few weeks after that and I can ship them out to you.
I know you guys are probably strapped for cash, but if you enjoyed ANY of these designs, I strongly encourage you to order yours today. A couple of them didn’t sell as strongly as I had hoped and I’m not wholly encouraged to do another run of them in the future. I might try something different instead. So the underlying message here is "Don’t expect these designs to be around forever."
Because they won’t.
Additionally, once I conclude this run of shirts, I’m going to start focusing on a pre-sale of the Theater Hopper: Year One book. I’m collecting bids from printers at the moment and hope to have them in production soon.
Something to keep in mind on those; You get a price break the more you order and in order to make it worthwhile, you have to order a lot. Like 500 to 1,000 (and actually, that’s a very small run in the book world). As such, I’m going to have to do pre-orders until I can meet costs for the entire run and that might mean needing anywhere from 200 to 300 pre-orders in the bag before I can send the whole thing to production.
Just something to keep in mind if you’re on a budget and pinching pennies. I’m going to need everyone’s support in a big way when this goes full steam. But I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished so far and I think you guys are going to see the value of the extra effort I put into this book.
Back on the subject of shirts, many thanks to those of you who have already placed orders. I appreciate your support!
[ No Comments ]
Jared throws a mean uppercut. Ask someone who knows.
Okay, this time I swear I’m done with all the stuff about the Oscars. More on that later.
You know what I think is most ironic about today’s strip? Shortly after finishing it, I got an e-mail from the author of Weekly Webcomic Reviews that I was voted on of "The Cool Dudes of Web Comics" under the nomination heading "Nicest Guy in Web Comics." Yes, I have achieved this despite the fact that my characters pummel each other on a fairly consistent basis.
You should check out the article. A couple of my friends – Joe Dunn, Mitch Clem and Sam Logan – were also awarded under less subjective criteria. Still, it’s nice to be recognized.
I don’t know how to bring this up without sounding like a totally pompous idiot, but I’ve heard about my reputation for being a nice guy in other corners of the scene. I know a few people that would disagree with that, so it’s curious to me how I’ve subconciously cultivated this outward perception. It’s not like I’m giving backrubs to people who read the comic. But I totally would. I’m one of those "huggy guys." It’s what happens when your parents leave you in a crib from the age of 4 months to 2 years. You end up overcompensating later in life.
Just kidding, Mom and Dad! I love ya!
I probably need to mention that I won’t be posting any updates for the next two weeks. I have a couple of events going on right now that are going to draw my attention away from the comic. But don’t worry. I got a couple of really great babysitters that are going to take care of you.
The first event that I’m attending is kind of a long story. I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version here.
Have you guys heard of The World Series of Pop Culture? It’s a game show that’s going to be on VH1 later this summer. I know that you haven’t heard about it yet because it hasn’t been filmed! How do I know that? Because I’m auditioning for the show in Chicago this weekend!
Like I said, it’s kind of a long story. But essentially, a friend of Cami and I sent me an e-mail about the show and said "Tom, this is PERFECT for you!" I said "Why not?" and signed us up. We filled out an application and the casting people liked what they saw. After that, they sent us an essay to fill out and we sent that on. After that, we were told we have an audition!
This isn’t like American Idol or some nonsense like that. It’s not a cattle call. Not just anyone can go. They’re only doing this for two days and you have to have an invitation. So we’re pretty psyched about it.
Basically, the producers are doing auditions in 5 cities and will eventually cast 16 teams of 3 to compete in New York in late April. The audition on Saturday consists of a timed written test. If we pass, they sit down the three team members and interview us individually. If they like what they see in the interviews, they’ll call us Saturday night and have us come back to the hotel where we’re auditioning to do a dry run of the game on Sunday. They’re calling back 8 teams. The team that wins AUTOMATICALLY gets to go on the show. The remaining 7 teams will have their names thrown into a hat and 4 will be drawn at random to compete.
Anyway, there’s a little more to the story you can read about in the THorum here if you’re interested. It’s been an interesting journey so far. I’ll be sure to let everyone know how things turn out after this weekend. Posting pictures and whatnot.
Anyway, since there’s a possibility that we might be competing on Sunday and they may need us there until 5:00, it’s possible I won’t be home in time to do a strip for Monday. It’s a 6 hour drive from Chicago to Des Moines, so it looks like a strip from me is off the schedule.
Additionally, I will be going on vacation next Thursday the 16th through Tuesday the 21st. So instead of having a guest strip on Monday, a strip from me on Wednesday and three more guest strips after that – I decided to give myself a well earned vacation and just take the next two weeks off. After all, it’s a lot easier to relax when you aren’t worried about posting new comics.
But as I said, I have a bunch of great stuff lined up for you guys. If you need an indication of quality, chew on this – All of the guest strips are coming from artists from Boxcar Comics. Oh, yeah!
So, this is the last comic you’ll see from me until March 27th, but I’ll still be poking around and saying "Hi." Hopefully by the time I get back I’ll have some concrete news about the Theater Hopper: Year One book. Until then, have a great weekend!
[ No Comments ]
Is today’s comic a little bit of a cheat? Yeah, but I needed a break after drawing all that cray-zay coaster action on Wednesday. Plus, I thought it worked really well for the pacing. Really, I just like the idea of being a participant of a disaster, being stuck upside down and then casually suggesting Poseidon as an entertainment option.
From what I’ve read, Wolfgang Peterson’s remake moves along at a fairly brisk clip. The boat gets turned over somewhere around the 20 minute mark.. Some people have complained that the film doesn’t give you enough time to get to know the characters and therefore you’re not invested in their peril. I think that’s hogwash. I’m tired of bloated action pictures giving you every boring detail about a character to get you to care about them more. "She’s a mother of three AND she goes to night school! Will she make it home in time to protect her kids before the alien invasion!" Please. You know most of them are as good as dead anyway.
Peterson’s decision to forego the pleasantries is a good one. His directing style is less about people anyway. But the bigger reason is that the goal of these disaster movies is to put you beside the people in danger as you wrack you brain trying to figure out what YOU would do. At least, that’s my theory.
There was a strong outpouring of support from people after I announced the pre-order deadline of June 11 on Wednesday. Sincere thanks to all of you that placed an order. As you can see, the little meter below the comic has been updated. We’re getting close, but we still have a ways to go! As the bold, circled date on my calendar communicates, today is payday. So if you think you have a little money to spare, please pre-order the book. And remember – the faster we get your order, the faster you get your book!
There’s some great stuff happening in the Theater Hopper universe lately. I recently did an interview with Comixpedia – which was a big deal for me. Comixpedia sometimes gets flack for only being interesting to other web comics creators. I don’t think that’s true. I think they’ve made great strides – especially in the last 4 months – to make their magazine an essential resource for fans and creators alike. That’s why I was more than pleased to have been contacted by them to do an interview for their "movies issue." If you’d like to read it, click here for the full article.
Movies seem to be the topic-de-jour right now because I also have an interview in Zoinks Magazine that is coming out in June. I love Zoinks Magazine. These guys do a great job of promoting the web comic scene and doing it through a print magazine is an excellent way to spread the word to potential audiences who haven’t gotten into online comics yet. I should mention that my contribution to the issue besides the interview includes a sidebar about the movies I’m looking forward to seeing in ’06, a brand new illustration of the Theater Hopper cast, and I also contributed to the cover artwork along with Chris Cantrell from Please Rewind.
If you want to get your hands on this issue, you need to pre-order now. You don’t have get a full subscription (although I would highly recommend it). You can order one issue at a time if you want. If you haven’t read Zoinks, I suggest picking it up. It’s a really great publication.
A couple of more things I need to mention:
Today will be the last comic you see from me in a while. Cami and I will be going on vacation on Thursday and we won’t be back until May 30. I have a bunch of great guest comics lined up for you over the next three weeks. I haven’t lined up the itinerary yet, so be sure to come back on Monday to see if your favorite web comic artist is contributing the the mayhem. A lot of very talented artists sent in some GREAT work, so you’ll want to be sure and check it out.
Once I get back from vacation, I will be attending the Iowa I-Con comic book convetion on June 10 at the Polk County Convention Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Incidentally, one day before the book pre-order deadline! It’s $5.00 at the door and they’ll be open from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.I will have a bunch of shirts and posters for sale and will be doing sketches for anyone who wants one.
I’ve been trying to go to I-Con for the last two years. But it seems like every time it’s going on, I have to be out of town for one reason or another! It’s nice to finally be able to attend a convention in my own backyard.
By the way, if any of you out there have exhibited at conventions before, I’m looking to upgrade the quality of my booth presentation. I want to build some kind of PVC display area that can go behind the table. Stuff I can hang banners and t-shirts from. If you guys have any insight on how I could assemble something like that, let me know!
At any rate, that’s the news that’s fit to print. Thanks again to everyone who has pre-ordered a book. Keep ’em comin’! We’ll make it to our goal in no time!
Have a great weekend!
[ No Comments ]
I got a lot of really good feedback from Wednesday’s Back to the Future twist, so I thought I would press on with the mini-arc that unfolded in front of my eyes after hearing about the Universal Studios backlot fire from last Sunday.
I was pretty confident that I was in safe waters making a Back to the Future reference. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love at least one of those movies.
It’s funny, though… Considering the current spoiler-drenched, I-have-a-LiveJournal-account-so-my-opinion-counts-more-than-yours culture the internet has spawned, I wonder how well the Back to the Future franchise would have fared with movie fans today.
As far as I can remember, they were one of the first franchises to film their second and third installments back-to-back. Something that the last two Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean movies did as well. I suppose you could say the same about the Lord of the Rings films, but they knew out of the gate there was too much story to film for one movie.
Would fans have been patient with the several paradoxes in the second movie? Would they appreciate the hard left turn the franchise takes when it skips into 1885 and the old west? Part of me thinks fans would not be as kind today… and that kind of depresses me.
I was thinking some more about the studio fire and how the Clocktower Square set had been damaged. Immiediately my mind went to business and I mocked up this t-shirt:
It’s nothing special. I doubt I would put it into production. Nevermind that Snorg Tees has one of their own – one that didn’t outright steal the design and layout from the flyer prop in the movie.
But it made me feel better to make it.
Now, if you want to talk REALLY geeky, check out what the fine folks at ThinkGeek.com have put together for you – Your OWN Flux Capacitor!
Only $249.99 – a giveaway!
Man, I seriously gotta watch these movies this weekend!
That’s about it for me. I’ll see you back here on Monday with more Back to the Future action!
[ No Comments ]
Well, here it is. Friday’s exceptionally late comic. Again, I feel terrible about the delay and I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding. If you could help spread the word about the new comic being online, I’d greatly appreciate it.
As you know from my last post, things have been stressful the last week. But I think things are leveling off. Pearl turned one month old a few days ago and I keep telling myself that it will only be a matter of time before she starts sleeping through the night.
I remember that Henry started sleeping through the night when he was 8 weeks old. At the time, it felt like an eternity. This time, I know what I’m in for a little bit more.
Of course, every child is different. So, who knows? Pearl might be completely upside-down on her days and nights! Let’s hope not, though.
Nothing movie related to talk about in this blog post. But I want to remind everyone to check out the last live recording of The Triple Feature this Monday, January 11 at 9:00 PM CST. It will be our Best of ’09 show and also our last show ever. It would be a real treat if as many of you as possible could call in live during the show and help send us off in style. It’s been a fun ride these last 3 years and we want to go out with a bang.
In the meantime, thanks again for your patience and enjoy the rest of your weekend. A new comic will be here Monday morning! I promise!
[ 7 Comments ]
