Posts Tagged ‘Geek Trauma Center’
4 items.
May14
I have to admit I was a bit nervous trying to come up with an idea to follow Monday’s strip. I had received so much positive feedback for what I felt was a relatively simple notion, I felt pressure to one-up my previous effort. If today’s strip is a case of over-kill, I wouldn’t know it. I’ve been stressing too much to see past it.
All things the same, I think it turned out pretty well. Can you figure out all the geek-related material I’m spoofing? They’re all pretty easy to identify. I was going to label them in the blog, but then I realized my audience isn’t a gaggle of dum-dums. Thank God for that!
Like everyone else, when seeing The Matrix Reloaded, the question isn’t “If” but “When”? I’m trying to figure it out. Part of me would like to be in line Thursday night – to experience that anticipation like the event it is. Then I step back and realize that I’m supposed to be responsible and go to work on Friday. That, coupled with the fact I would draw Friday’s strip Thursday night all but nix the option to see it opening day.
Fortunately, one of the side-effects of being responsible is being patient. I can wait – barely.
I’d like to point out that posters are still for sale and that if you would like to support the site, PLEASE BUY ONE! We’re nearly reached the half way point, now let’s finish strong!
I’ve received several orders through the mail – checks, money orders and cash. So if you’re not comfortable mailing a payment through PayPal, e-mail me and we can make other arrangements!
Last thing I’ll mention: I know I’ve talked about it a million times before. But I am very close to bringing back the forum.
Early fans of the site might remember I had one for a month or two, then put the kibosh on it when I decided the readership wasn’t large enough to support it. I’ve always maintained that I would bring it back if I felt it could stand on it’s own two legs. It looks like that time is rapidly approaching. So get ready for that.
Oh, I almost forgot. If you’re not too busy, could you be sure to Montana Hills and would love to settle in to the number 13 spot on the list sometime soon. Lucky 13!
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Is everyone understanding the Planet of the Apes reference in today’s strip? Just making sure. It’s a pretty old movie, y’know.
Man, who would have thought that a storyline that started out making fun of The Matrix would end up here? Sometimes you gotta go where the muse takes you… kicking and screaming…
As far as The Matrix Reloaded is concerned, I think I’m seeing it tonight. At least, I hope that’s the case. I don’t know how crazy the lines will be. I gotta squeeze in Down With Love at some point as well. I’m a big fan of those old Rock Hudson/Doris Day romantic comedies. Pillow Talk is a great flick.
But I digress. Back to The Matrix. It’s been getting some mixed reviews. Some critics are complaining that the film is hollow, that there is no human element and that it’s drowning in special effects.
I can’t decide if I’m going to give two squirts of piss over this or not. I mean, I’ll be honest. The first movie didn’t really clobber me over the head with it’s philosophical ramblings and peppering of Eastern mysticism. I thought it was cool they were aware of it, but audiences acted like The Wachowski Brothers (TM) freakin’ invented it!
In my opinion, it’s the concept that propels The Matrix. And granted, it’s probably lost a little bit of its power since the Y2K heebie-jeebies everyone was worried about in 1999 proved to be nothing but a technical boogeyman. The climate has changed. Perhaps our reaction to this material will change as well.
I also have to give the benefit of the doubt that the movie I see this weekend is only PART of the finished whole. I feel like most negative reactions should be put on pause until The Matrix Revolutions comes out in November. Until then, the jury is out.
Whatever the outcome may be, it’s evident that these movies have tapped in to a “trust no one” facet of the youth zeitgeist that has not had an outlet up to this point. I foresee The Matrix spawning all sorts of extra multimedia to support the mythology. They’re already off to a rousing start with The Animatrix and the video game Enter the Matrix which both expound deeply into the lore of the series. Pretty soon you’re going to start seeing cheap-ass novelizations. R.A. Salvatore, I’m looking at you!
If you haven’t already checked it out, we now have a forum and it’s off to a strong start. I encourage you to sign up. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
You may also notice that I stripped the images from the navigation bar up top and replaced them with text links. As the site progresses, I’m becoming more and more conservative when it comes to bandwidth consumption. I’m starting to dump some of the frills and setting my sights on more fluid design and download times. We’ll see what emerges.
I’ll be back later if I can think of more garbage to spout…
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The punchline to this comic probably isn’t going to make a lot of sense if you aren’t a long-time reader of Theater Hopper. It actually references these comics from back in the day.
The Geek Truama Center was always a concept I wanted to explore further. It seems people are always doing stupid things to injure themselves. It stood to reason that geeks – being more devoted – would go to further and more bizarre lengths to do so. Plus, the character of "Mad-Eye" Moody from Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is already so visually striking, it would seem a shame to cover the movie and not mention him. Plus, I thought it sounded really funny to have Tom try to extract his eye with a toilet plunger.
Incidentally, the hospital staff at the Geek Trauma Center is VERY happy that Tom is up to his old monkey shines…
I don’t have a lot to say about the fourth movie in the Harry Potter cannon. I haven’t read any of the books, so I don’t know what to expect. Cami has read them all and says this one is her favorite.
I guess I’ve been doing SOME digging around on-line and it sounds like there were a lot of sub-plots they had to let go. For example, Hermione’s efforts to liberate the indentured house elves was totally cut. I don’t know if that kind of political strike – if you can call it that – would have fit that well into a holiday blockbuster anyway. Oh, well…
A funny thing happened in regard to my esteem for this franchise. The first couple of movies I kind of begrudgingly liked. I say "begrudgingly" because it was erstwhile Home Alone director Chris Columbus who lensed the first two installments. His predeliction is to make movies with kids sacchrine-sweet, but I felt he did an okay job reigning that instinct in.
Relenquishing the directors seat to Alfonso Curon for Harry Potter and The Prisioner of Azkaban, I was very impressed by the overall shift of the mood into darker territory as the children entered their tumultuous teenage years. Hearing that director Mike Newell plans to continue in that direction with Goblet of Fire gives me hope that the franchise will mature alongside the audiences expectations.
Piecing it all together now, I can more clearly see the tonal arc of the films and I’ve actually come to appreciate the first two more.
So, yeah. I’m excited to see this on Friday. There will be more Harry Potter goodness in the coming week here on the site.
Two links to mention:
Don’t forget to sign up for the Theater Hopper map. Don’t worry, we’re not collecting information to spam you with. All it does is plot your position based on your zip code. You don’t have to give your real name and you don’t have to give your address. But feel free to add a fun message or picture.
I stole the idea from DJ over at Yirmumah! and Joe from Joe Love Crappy Movies took off with his own version. I gotta stay competitive with these guys! If you used our map to judge the readership, you’d be led to believe there are only 80 of you who come back every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I know for a fact things are a little more robust than that. Raise your voice! Let me know you’re out there!
Secondly, Threadless is having a $10 on a large variety of their designs. You might remember that I designed a shirt for sale there called "Ask Me How I Became A Pirate." It’s out of stock at the moment – or at least at the time I wrote this message. But there are several other designs to choose from and ten bucks is a steal for some of these original tees.
If you plan on buying any, just be sure to use this link when you do:
http://www.threadless.com/?streetteam=Tom%20Brazelton
I get referral points for everyone one of you I send over there who buys a shirt. I wouldn’t mind stocking up on a few items myself this time around!
Talk to you all soon!
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I find it interesting that this arc had less and less to say about Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire the closer we got to the release date. I think I ended up saying more about Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan than I did about the franchise film I set out to review in the first place.
But aren’t you glad I didn’t make the more obnoxious Khan reference?
"KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!"
Whoops. Spoke too soon. Oh, well.
Does everyone remeber the earwig scene where Khan puts that creepy-crawling in Chekov’s head in order to get him to tell the truth? I don’t remember it exaclty. I haven’t watched the movie in a while. But for some reason I seem to recall a distinct crunching sound. That freaked me out. A lot.
At any rate, don’t forget to vote for Theater Hopper at Web Comics List and you can see the incentive sketch that recreates Dr. Marcato’s childhood interpretation of that scene.
I don’t have a lot to say today, so I thought I would remind everyone to post their location on the Theater Hopper map!
Remember, we’re not using this to collect information about you. Leave your name if you like. Leave your handle if you’re more comfortable. The only thing the map needs is your zip code to plot your location. It use’s Google Maps technology and it’s pretty cool. Attach a picture and a personal message, if you like!
I don’t know why I’m so facinated with this thing, but I think it’s really interesting to see where people are reading the comic from. I have to admit that I was really surprised to learn we had fans in Mexico and Singapore. Add your name to the list!
Also, since I’m in a linky mood, be sure to check out The Asylumantics by my good friend Chris Cooper. He’s got some good storylines going on over there right now that you should really catch up on.
That’s about it for me today. I think Cami and I are going to dodge the opening night swell of kiddies who will no doubt be out in force to see Harry Potter tonight. Instead, we’re going to see Walk The Line and catch a matinee of HP sometime over the weekend.
I’m really looking forward to Walk The Line. Not only because I’m a huge Johnny Cash fan, but because I’ve also been to Sun Records in Memphis where he started his career. I’m interested to see how much of Memphis in the 50’s and 60’s they capture in the movie.
You wouldn’t really peg Memphis as a vacation destination, but I would say it’s probably one of my favorite cities. A lot of cool stories in that town. If you haven’t been or explored its history, I strongly suggest you do so. Y’know, now that I think about it, I have pictures from my trip to Memphis in the THorum that you can check out here if you want to. That trip was over a year ago, but I think it’s a strong indicator of the spell it cast over this Yankee.
See you on Monday!
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