Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’
11 items.
A few months ago I created a Facebook account and I’ve been very cautious about who I accept as a member of my group of friends. My MySpace account was overrun fairly quickly. Not just by fans, but by spambots – and I didn’t want to repeat that with Facebook. I wanted the social interaction element to shine through.
So instead of accepting everyone to my personal account, I created a Facebook group for Theater Hopper where everyone can get together and shoot the breeze.
If you have a Facebook account and you’re interested, you can join up here!
Thanks and see you on Facebook!
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I don’t know how much The Fourth Kind is on anyone else’s radar (maybe you’ve seen/heard the ads playing right now on Theater Hopper – sorry about that). Regardless, the execution of this film has me interested.
Basically, the film sets itself up as a dramatic retelling of actual events that were said to transpire in Alaska in the 1970s. Several people have been abudcted for years without any clues to their disappearances. Several years later, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (played by Milla Jovovich) is video taping disturbed patients who are subjects in a sleep study. Under hypnosis, they reveal that they have been subjected to alien encounters and experimentation.
What the film does next, I think is genius. It splices in some of Dr. Tyler’s “real” videotaped footage of the hypnotized patients in with the Hollywood version and it creates a layer of fear and doubt that starts to mess with you a little.
If you do a little digging, you’ll find some controversy around The Fourth Kind, but I think it’s the appropriate amount of controversy to stir interest in the film and get the audience to ask sincere questions about the veracity of what they’re watching.
When you think about movies like Paranormal Activity, Rec. or The Blair Witch Project and what they’ve done with “found” footage, The Fourth Kind is playing on another level. It’s presenting to you the “real” footage – framing it in an almost truthful, documentary context – and then contrasts it with the “pretend” version, Hollywood’s dramaticization and leaves it up to the audience to decide.
Smart stuff.
I don’t have much more to say about The Fourth Kind except to talk it up a little bit. I’ve seen ads for it here and there, but I’m not really hearing any buzz. So, if you haven’t heard about it until now, consider yourself informed.
Something else you should consider yourself informed about is the fund raising project I have going on over at Kickstarter to raise money for Theater Hopper: Year Three. I talked about it a little bit on Friday and explained what I’m doing to try and raise money and I’m bringing it up again today. There have been a few pledges over the weekend, but we’re going to need a lot more if we’re going to make goal by December 31. The holiday’s are hectic. Don’t let them get in the way of preventing you from pledging to the cause!
Visit the campaign page at Kickstarter to read more about the project, including details on the rewards you can receive by pledging at different levels!
Incidentally, I just got a copy of Adobe Premiere Effects over the weekend and I’m excited to record a little promo video explaining the project that I can post to the campaign page. I’ll let you know when that’s edited together and ready to view.
I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to put together the video tonight because I still need to watch the 1941 original Wolf Man for The Triple Feature. Since we were kind of rudderless on last week’s show, Gordon, Joe and I agreed that we needed to get back on track and the easiest way to do that was by having all three of us watch the same movie.
So, in a fit of post-Halloween examination, we’re going to discuss the classic versoin of The Wolf Man and use it as a foundation to discuss the 2010 remake starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins when it comes out. I can’t afford to be dead weight on this one.
It’s was a little difficult for me to run down a copy of The Wolf Man to watch before tonight’s show. Cami and I canceled our Netflix account because we were terrible about making time to watch the movies we rented. I think we need the threat of a late fee to make that kind of activity a priority anymore. Either that or I need to buy an X-Box 360 so I can download movies directly from Netflix to my console and watch them when I want to watch them. I don’t know if that would improve my odds of watching these kinds of movies or not?…
Anyway, Gordon pointed out that I can “rent” The Wolf Man online through Amazon On Demand, which I totally didn’t know you could do. It’ll kind of suck being forced to watch it on a computer monitor, but it’s the best option I have right now.
Anyway, be sure to listen to the final outcome tonight at 9:00 PM at TalkShoe.com. It’s always a good time.
That’s about it for me. Feel free to leave your thoughts about The Wolf Man (original or remake), The Fourth Kind or our new Kickstarter fund raising campaign in the comments below!
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I wanted to let everyone know I have a new Facebook page and you can check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/theaterhopper
The new profile page more effectively pushes updates to you news feed as opposed to the old Facebook group we had on there. Joining the new Facebbok page is a great way to be notified about site updates, news and random thoughts related to the site.
Check it out!
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Back in the day (which was about two years ago on the internet time-line) I had a Facebook fan page. It was great, but I recently decided that I should take the Facebook thing a little more seriously. So I established a Facebook “business” page instead…
http://www.facebook.com/theaterhopper/
I’m still trying to kind of figure out the difference between the two. But the biggest difference I can determine is that status updates from this page will appear in your feed if you make yourself a fan. So it’s a really great way to stay connected to the comic and reminded of it when it updates.
I’ve been investing some time into making my new Facebook page a little more than just a bookmark on the site. So I’ve added tabs for Cast information as well as popular Story lines. I’ve gotten great feedback on these – people have been asking how I added them, so I assume people are looking at them.
The Cast information is a rehash of what’s already on the site. But the Story lines page is all new content. In fact, I plan on adding to it in the near future! So if you have any suggestions as to what story lines represent Theater Hopper the best, I would love to hear your suggestions! Feel free to leave them in the comments area below.
Of course, if you’d like to become a fan of the new Theater Hopper Facebook page, that would be cool, too.
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Hey, guys. Real quick – I wanted to make you guys aware of a new promotion I’m running.
If you are the proud owner of ANY piece of Theater Hopper merchandise – and that can be shirts, books, posters, whatever (past and present) – take a picture of yourself and send it to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com. If you do, I will give you a coupon code good for 25% off your next purchase in the Theater Hopper store.
I want to take the pictures and build a gallery of satisfied customers on the Theater Hopper Facebook page. I believe that if people see others enjoying their purchases, it might encourage them to shop in our store as well. Also, the 25% discount is a nice way to say “thank you” to the people who have supported the site over the years.
Incidentally, you can post your pictures directly to our Facebook page and save me a step. But either way is fine.
Thanks again for your support!
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First things first: The last week has been crazy and I want to thank you guys for putting up with it. I feel bad about there not being a comic on Monday and, frankly, I should have tried to work ahead. I don’t really have the latitude to screw around with the update schedule now that I’m down to one comic a week.
I dunno. I guess I’m just paranoid that if I give you guys an excuse to stop reading the comic, you’re going to take it. But after 8 years in the game, I think Theater Hopper is at a point where the people who love it kind of love it no matter what. I’m a little long in the tooth to be attracting new readers.
That doesn’t give me the right to abuse your patience. I’m just saying maybe it’s time I stop abusing myself, too.
Anyway, THANK YOU for being patient! Now that we’re moved into the new house, hopefully we’ll be settling into a routine soon. I got my office set up earlier in the week and there’s enough room in there that I was able to drag out my old drawing table.
I’ve probably had this drawing table for close to 20 years. It was given to me by my Dad’s cousin, who used to draft topographical maps for the Iowa Association of County Conservation Boards. He gave it to me when I was in high school and I spent a lot of time with my chair pulled up to it drawing comic book characters and large-scale compositions.
When I went to college, the drawing board stayed behind in my room. I’d use it every now and again over the summers, but not like I used to.
I think we moved the drawing table to our first apartment after Cami and I got married and I used it for about a year there, but this was probably a year before Theater Hopper. We had moved to a new house in that time and there was never a good place for the drawing table. So it went into storage.
Anyway, the drawing table is back. It sits right next to my desk in my new office and I LOVE IT. Drawing on it again felt like I was reconnecting with a prolific period of my artistic past. It felt like coming home. It was SO much easier to draw on that table than it has been drawing on kitchen table and portable laptop desks over the years. My back wasn’t hurting and it was much easier to concentrate on what I was doing! I’m really looking forward to doing more work in this new environment.
Enough about my fabulous drawing table! Can we talk about The Social Network for a minute?
Reviews for this thing are through the roof (Armond White excluded) and frankly, I’m chomping at the bit to see it.
Normally, I take reviews with a grain of salt. But consensus on this thing seems to be so strong, it’s hard to ignore.
I’m not particularly interested in Mark Zuckerberg’s story. Although I am an avid Facebook user, I find him to be a detestable human being and the worst kind of hypocrite. That’s not entirely his fault. But an introvert shouldn’t be leading the charge on the largest wave of social interaction in the 21st century.
That said, I don’t think it’s important that Zuckerberg be a likable or even a relatable character for the movie to be successful. It just seems like a revolutionary concept because American audiences have been conditioned to expect clear heroes and villains in their mainstream entertainment. If anyone can subvert that notion, it’s director David Fincher.
The pedigree behind The Social Network reads like a laundry list of Things I Love. David Fincher? Check. Script from Aaron Sorkin? Check. Score by Trent Reznor? Check. Jesse Eisenberg? Ehhhh… well, three out of four ain’t bad.
All I know is that I think The Social Network looks great and I can wait to see it. Fingers crossed that my in-laws can watch the kids tomorrow so Cami and I can see it together. After living among boxes for the last week, sorting out the collected flotsam of a decade shared together (plus kids!), we could use a reprieve.
What does everyone else thing about The Social Network? Are you planning on seeing it this weekend? Are you excited? What’s the main draw for you? Fincher’s direction? Sorkin’s script? The secret origins of Facebook? Leave your comments below!
Oh, and expect a new comic on Monday. I promise!
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X-Men First Class is doing something interesting to generate attention in the release of it’s first trailer – they want you to become their Facebook friend!
By clicking the handy “LIKE!” button (potential) fans of the movie will be able to check out the trailer literally SECONDS before the rest of the internet does. The trailer will be released sometime today, Thursday, February 10.
But wait! There’s more!
According to the press release, “As the number of fans who share the trailer grows, a specially designed X-App will subsequently unlock special content. The X-App gives users the power to evolve their Facebook experience and customize their profile pictures.”
So, basically, I guess you’ll be able to change your avatar like everyone one their Mom did last year when they came out with that Mad Men avatar generator?
Oh, well. What can it hurt? I’m already a fan of “Sleep” on Facebook. This can’t be much worse…
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As promise, Fox released the trailer for X-Men: First Class on Facebook yesterday. Although, considering the speed at which it proliferated the internet, I feel a little dirty and used for agreeing to “Like” the movie on Facebook in the first place.
Oh, 20th Century Fox. Will you still respect me in the morning?
If you haven’t yet seen it, here’s the trailer for your eyeball consumption.
Here’s my take… The trailer is very well crafted. I like the fact that they’re staging the action within the context of the 1960’s and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I think they’re doing the right thing by placing the focus on the ideological differences between Professor X and Magneto. In other words, this trailer was very effective at making me anticipate the movie much more so than I have been previously.
But I still can’t help but feel like there is something sinister lurking in the background – something they’re not showing us. The fact that January Jones shows up as Emma Frost when she was presented as a teenager in X-Men Origins: Wolverine trouble me. That Beast shows up in full furball mode is another glaring continuity error.
If the movie can keep these characters in the background, then I can overlook them. But Fox has always had a problem when it comes to anticipating what it is that fans of the comic books are actually looking for. In their minds, the more mutants, the merrier. Because by the law of averages, your BOUND to include a character that happens to be someones favorite. In my opinion, too many mutants ruin the broth. I’m still very much wait-and-see on this one.
What was your reaction to the X-Men: First Class trailer? Leave your comments below!
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As part of a promotional effort for X-Men: First Class, 20th Century Fox is making available the cast and filmmakers of the movie to answer questions submitted by fans on Facebook and Twitter.
The campaign officially kicks off on Tuesday, March 1 and fans can direct questions on Twitter to @XMenMovies or post them on the film’s Facebook wall at Facebook.com/XMenMovies
Done right, this could be an excellent opportunity to show a little transparency and resolve any skepticism among fans about the franchise’s odd, continuity adverse direction. Done wrong, this could be another shallow, micro-managed and insincere publicity game that ignores the concerns long-time fans have about the silver screen versions of their favorite characters.
If you were to pose a question to the cast and filmmakers of X-Men: First Class, what would it be?
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Oct24
I really don’t have anything to say about this week’s comic except that I decided to take the themes explored in last week’s comic and ran with them.
I guess as I thought more and more about a horror movie with social media elements, I figured that there had to be some kind of boogeyman to really stoke audience’s fears. Y’know, like Jason Vorhees or Freddy Krueger. Facebook’s Privacy Policy seemed as logical a choice as any to depict the embodiment of walking evil. So, there you go.
That said, if you’re not following Theater Hopper on Facebook, what’s wrong with you?
Oh, and also, please use the ShareThis plugin below to spread the comic around to all your friends – preferably the Facebook share button.
Y’see… that’s what evil DOES. It creeps into your heart and becomes commonplace. You come to depend on it for strength. Before you realize it, the evil has consumed you… FROM WITHIN!!!
Happy Halloween, everyone!
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