Posts Tagged ‘honesty’
3 items.
Hey, guys. I hate to bother you with this every month, but the top list over at buzzComix has reset for the month of August. If you’d like to see Theater Hopper in the Top Ten, then don’t forget to vote everyday!
As a reward for lending your support today, you’ll be treated to a sketch of Jared treating himself! How? Click the link, lads and lassies!
Sorry for the over-use of photos in the background of today’s comic, but I was running short on time today. I actually produced TWO comics back-to-back today, but unfortunately, the majority of you won’t see the other one. I’m including it as a Wizard World Chicago exclusive in the Theater Hopper sampler booklets I’m handing out for free at the convention. If I have any copies left, I will likely offer them as donation incentives. The booklets are 20 black and white strips from the site – hand picked by me – plus the sampler bonus. Something to consider for down the road.
I didn’t get a chance to see Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle this weekend, mostly because I’m saving my movie-going dollar for when a BRAND NEW 20 SCREEN THEATER opens about 5 minutes from my house this Wednesday.
No one outside of Iowa will give a rat’s ass about this, I realize. But on August 4th, the largest commercial shopping venue in the state will open. Along with that, Century Theaters are opening their first movie house in Iowa. This is a great thing for me, because the majority of theaters are owned by the evil Carmike Cinemas.
20 screens seating anywhere from 150 to 500. REAL butter on the popcorn. No TV commercials before the trailers. For these traits ALONE, the Century 20 has it all over anything Carmike could wish to offer. Plus, it will have that “new theater smell.”
At any rate, I plan on seeing Harold and Kumar, The Village, and Napoleon Dynamite sometime this week. Then, on Friday, when Aliens Vs. Predator opens, I’ll see it there, too.
Bye-bye Wynnsong 16. You really should have done a better job trying to keep me as a customer. I doubt I’ll ever visit you again. Even for nostalgia’s sake.
That’s it for now, but I plan on coming back to talk about some big revelations in web comic circles. Plus, probably reflect on the upcoming Wizard World Comic Convention and my preparation for said event.
Come back soon!
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Did Tom end up getting his post-op lolly pop? Only one way to know for sure.
Not much to say about today’s comic. As you can see, it’s a continuation from Tom’s plunger episode from Monday.
Still excited to see Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire this weekend. That’s probably first on my list. But did you guys know that Walk the Line is also coming out this weekend? That one kind of flew under the radar, but the advance reviews have been great. Probably see it this weekend as well.
I have a lot of things outside of movies to celebrate this weekend. Too much detail to go into here, but people who have been following my LiveJournal know the score. I’m preparing myself to hit a personal milestone on Saturday and I’m pretty excited about it.
In terms of professional (or quasi-professional) milestones, we’re about to hit one here at Theater Hopper as well. Can you believe in less than two weeks we’ll be celebrating the 500th Theater Hopper comic? I have some plans that will be unvieled at that time that will greatly improve your use of the site, so talk it up to your friends and be on the lookout. It’s going to be great.
Oh, and the comic will be funny, too!
Something I mentioned on Monday but didn’t get much feedback on… Do any of you guys know how I can get in touch with the marketing groups that are responsible for placing the ads for movies on web sites? Look at Hollywood Elsewhere or Superhero Hype. See how those guys have big banners for all the upcoming movies? I want something like that.
It’s kind of difficult to talk about with you guys. After all, we’re talking about advertising that clutters up your entertainment experience. But it’s unfortunately a fact of life. Personally, I would rather host ads that are more specific to your interests rather than rely on Chitika ads or Google AdSense to randomly pull something out of a hat. I do notice that during the times that AdSense conjures up something like the ads for A History of Violence or more recently Aeon Flux, click-thrus increase. That is why I am supremely confident that if I can find advertising that speaks to you, you’ll investigate it. Plus, it won’t look like so much digital littering has been going on around here.
Anyway, if you guys have any in-roads as to how to contact these marketing groups – or maybe you work for one, who knows? – drop me a line. I’m interested in working something out.
Talk to you soon!
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Quick bit of business to take care of this morning and then I can tell you the story behind today’s comic.
Remember my Captain America comic last week? I talked about having an alternative punchline in my back pocket and talked about producing a second comic for it?
Well, I was getting ready for Wizard World Chicago last week, so it kind of got away from me. But yesterday evening I had a little extra time to throw something together. So here you go! Check it out and enjoy!
I’m actually kind of shocked that I was able to produce that comic along with today’s comic. I don’t know if in 9 years I’ve ever done two comics on the same day or not.
That’s something to take note of… on Friday, August 5, Theater Hopper will celebrate it’s 9th anniversary. That’s nuts! 9 years? I’ve had this comic longer than any FULL TIME job I’ve ever had.
Kind of says a lot about my generation, doesn’t it?
I don’t know if I have anything special planned to mark the celebration other than I have a script for Cowboys and Aliens kicking around in my head that I would like to get to before it becomes untimely. Considering James Bond and Han Solo broke even with The Smurfs this weekend, I don’t know that it’s going to be around much longer. I haven’t heard very much in terms of word-of-mouth.
One movie I DID see this weekend was Crazy Stupid Love. And the exchange in today’s comic was 100% for real. That’s right. I actually walked up to the ticket booth and asked for two tickets for “Crazy SEXY Love.” Which, when you think about it, kind of sounds like a 1960’s comedy starring Michael Caine.
However, unlike Comic Tom who knew he tripped up and tried to correct himself, I stood in front of the box office confident that “Crazy SEXY Love” was the correct title of the movie. I had to wait for the attendant to correct me. Not embarrassing at all!
Tickets retrieved, Cami threw me a wink and asked me what I was thinking about and – at that point – I figured it was best just to own it.
100% verbatim, folks! Sometimes these things just write themselves!
So… how was the movie? I had several people ask me that question after I tweeted “Am I the only dude here?” shortly before the movie started.
I can tell you this: Crazy Stupid Love certainly has a lot on its mind for the first two act. It’s juggling a lot of characters and has a lot to say about the nature of relationships. Everything from one-night-stands to high school sweethearts with long-term relationships.
As someone who married his high school sweetheart, the movie really spoke to me and gave me an interesting outside perspective from a couple maybe 10 years ahead of us.
I’m not saying Cami and I are anything like the couple played by Steve Carrel and Julianne Moore. I’m just saying that when it comes two couples who kind of started out at the same place, it’s interesting to compare and contrast where things might diverge.
I’m not explaining that very well, so I’ll drop it.
I can say definitively that Ryan Gosling walks away with this movie. A very tight, controlled performance of a character that is by his nature a very loose and improvisational. Watching him on screen, I became convinced of two things: 1.) I need to start lifting weights and 2.) I need to find a reputable tailor.
For some additional insights about Gosling’s performance, read Owen Gleiberman’s article over at Entertainment Weekly. He pretty much hits it right on the head.
Gosling’s scenes with Emma Stone’s are some of the movie’s best and I wish they spent more time exploring their relationship rather than hopping around from couple to couple. I found Gosling and Stone to be very relaxed and authentic around each other and it was a joy to watch.
This said, I will confess that the movie completely falls apart for me in the third act. There’s a dramatic shift in tone near the end and the movie practically becomes an outright farce. Coupled with some truly befuddling choices that force the characters to behave in a manner that no human being would actually behave… well, it left me a little cold.
The film salvages itself slightly in the final scene. But most of that third act is a real dog and borderline insulting considering how much I had invested in the characters up to that point.
I will say that Cami loved the movie outright. Considering I loved roughly 2/3rds of the movie, I still think it’s probably worth your time to check out. Despite its flaws, Crazy Stupid Love feels like the first “adult” movie I’ve seen in ages. It’s certainly the most adult film so far this summer.
Your mileage may vary, of course. Part of me kind of wonders if you have to recognize something in the relationships depicted in the film to get the most out of it. Married 10 years, a father of two, I’m certainly in a different place with my relationship than, say, someone in their 20’s is. But maybe there’s a little something for everyone here.
As long as you have your radar up for the curve ball in the third act, you’ll probably be fine.
Did anyone else see Crazy Stupid Love this weekend? What were your thoughts? Leave your comments below!
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