Posts Tagged ‘internet’
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Oct25
Because I know I’m going to get a lot of questions from people asking “Does Iowa really look like that?” I took the time to draw an incentive sketch that really gives you a sense of scale and space here on the open prairie. You can view it by voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix.
So, in case you hadn’t heard, the new Superman starring in Bryan Singer’s addition to the franchise is Iowa native Brandon Routh. He’s been a virtual unknown up to this point, which I believe was Singer’s intention. I imagine he’ll be fine in the role. After all, no one really knew who Christopher Reeve was until he put on the cape.
I dunno. Looking at pictures of Routh, I think he looks too young. I mean, he’s two years younger than I am, for crying out loud. He’s also two years younger than the current, HIGH SCHOOL-AGED Superman Tom Welling from the television show Smallville.
I guess whenever I think of Superman, I think of an older father-figure. Someone in his 30’s AT LEAST. I mean, look at the new Batman movie coming out with Christian Bale. Bale is 30 years old exactly and he’s playing Batman in the first year of his crime fighting career. It still feels more correct than casting a 24 year-old to play Superman.
Maybe it’s the whole authority issue. Superheroes are kind of this alpha-male archetype that we tend to look up to. All I’m saying is that I’m going to have trouble suspending disbelief when I’m supposed to marvel at a Superman that could have been my best friend’s little brother at once point. I could give this guy a noogie, for Pete’s sake… An atomic wedgie, y’know?
Onto today’s comic. The conversation playing out online in the strip pretty much happened word-for-word in my own community, The THorum. As odd as it will be to see Routh in the blue tights, I am proud that a once fellow denizen of The Hawkeye State has gone on to bigger and bolder things.
Sure, some of you might live in states where celebrities have been cropping up left and right. But around here, it’s been less common. Who has Iowa given to entertainment? Well, John Wayne and Donna Reed are good starts. But no one from my generation, really. No. Scratch that. There’s Ashton Kutcher and Elijah Wood (both from Cedar Rapids). But, you know. It’s not common. That’s all I’m saying.
At any rate, it IS a big deal. I mean, after all this is the state whose largest newspaper has an article each week updating Rory’s status on Survivor. That’s right! Rory’s from Iowa, too! We’re taking over your town next!
Speaking of The THorum, I wanted to announce to all potential advertisers that we’re now selling ad space in The THorum. It’s a really good deal. By volume, this is probably the one place on the site that will generate for you the most repeat impressions. But lucky for you, we’re not selling by ad views, but by spans of time! So you can reserve this spot for a week, two weeks or even a month on the cheap and no one else is going to share it will you!
We recently just welcomed our 400th registrant, but there are tons of people reading the THorum who aren’t signed up. This is a good opportunity to get your site in front of a lot of people! If you’re interested, contact me for information about advertising rates and availability!
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First, because I can’t do a strip featuring Truman without showing a real-life picture of the little guy…
There. Does that make your Wednesday or what? He’s a sweetheart, folks.
Drastically pushing the timeline forward in the “Nerd Justice” story arc, I began to contemplate what it would really mean to lose your nerd license, should such a thing exist.
Surely one of the first privileges to go would be the internet. This is not to say that nerds are the only people who use the internet. We just use it so much better than the rest of you.
I don’t know what I would do without the internet. But strapping a satchel to Truman’s back doesn’t seem that far fetched when I really stop to think about my options. It’s either that, or start writing crazed, repetitive notes to myself Jack Nicholson-style.
“All work and no play make Tom a dull boy.”
“All work and no play make Tom a dull boy.”
“All work and no play make Tom a dull boy.”
Because it is obligatory, I want to remind everyone that pre-orders for shirts WILL END next Monday, May 16. So be sure to put your order in now so your purchase will be included in the batch that I send to the printer. We have a lot of really great, new designs to choose from – So choose wisely!
I wanted to quickly call your attention to a review that was handed down to Theater Hopper from the fine web site Journey Into History. You can find it if you follow that link and scroll down a little bit. For the impatient, a link directly to the review can be accessed here.
You might not be familiar with Journey Into History because it’s just getting off the ground. But it’s a very cool idea for a site. Basically, the concept is to take a web comic and use it to review… other web comics! Artist and writer Bob Stevenson then dissects the comic in a follow up blog.
I was very attracted to the site largely because of Bob’s writing style. I think he is very concise and accurate with his opinions. I just got the vibe from reading his stuff that he didn’t tolerate much B.S. – But that any criticisms he would make were fair and delivered with a velvet glove.
While not entirely complimentary to Theater Hopper, I felt Bob has some very strong insights into the mechanics of the comic. Stuff that I hadn’t even considered, but when pointed out to me, rang true.
He had plenty of good things to say about the comic – and that’s always welcome – but it’s the politely worded criticisms one can use to really advance their art.
A lot of other “review” sites could learn a lot by Bob’s example. You can tell he really takes the time to digest the material he’s reviewing – even when the archives are huge.
For example, Bob freely admitted that while he read most of the comics in the archive, he didn’t read all the blogs. He also confessed to not being that familiar with movies from the last 5 years ago, so he wasn’t the best to judge whether my opinions on recent cinematic offerings were on the money or not.
These deficiencies on his part did not color his review at all, I felt. Some people might look at this comic and say “Well, I’m not into movies – so therefore it sucks.” Bob gave it a fair shake and worked with the material he took the time to absorb.
Anyway, I’m ranting a little bit. But it’s just so refreshing to get feedback like this. Do yourself a favor and check our Journey Into History. Read the archives. Odds are Bob has covered another one of your regular reads at some point. It’s good stuff.
In the meantime, everyone should really consider signing up for that mailing list thingee over on the right hand side, below the comic. If you were signed up before hand, you would have already known about the Journey Into History review because it was something I shared with the subscribers Tuesday afternoon.
You never know when I might drop some more knowledge. Wouldn’t you want to be the first to know it?
More later. Maybe some vitriolic missives about the assured suckitude of The Fantastic Four when I have a minute later in the day.
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Mar15
GUEST STRIP – JOERULES AND MADMUP
March 15th, 2006 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(39 votes, average: 8.82 out of 10)
Much respect to Joerules and Mad Mup for bringing another stellar guest strip collaboration to Theater Hopper. Followers of the site know that they’ve displayed their tallents twice before and the comics keep getting better and better and better. This is a nifty little hat trick for them!
I think we all know Joe Dunn is a pretty busy guy. But why my good friend Mup hasn’t found a full-time artist to collaborate with is beyond me. He clearly has a sense of pacing and knows how to tell a joke. That Quidditch line? Can I steal that and put it on a shirt, Mup? It’s classic!
I also have to give BIG points to Joe for tossing in all the litte Iron Man action figures. Joe knows me personally, so he knows my fanboy obcession with all things Iron Man. Once again, Joe proves he’s the master of detail by adding them to the office environment! If you guys want proof of my Iron Man devotion, you should comb through some of my archived web cam images! I think that’s where he might have gotten the inspiration for this personal touch… Great work, Joe!
This will probably be the last real-time post you’ll see from me in a while. Cami and I are going on vacation tomorrow – hopping on a jet plane to "THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!" Walt Disney World.
I always feel this weird compulsion to apologise for going to Walt Disney World. As if it were some kind of childish endulgance that I should have grown past. I think it’s because when I was growing up, I looked at the resort as this very exclusive place that only rich people could afford to go to. That’s not really the case. It’s very affordable. And, actually, Cami and I have shared a lot of happy memories there.
We’ll never be the kind of couple that goes there every year or hosts some big-ass family reunion that clogs up the line of every attraction. But I proposed to her there, we spent our honeymoon there and – six years later – we’re going back to celebrate our anniversary. We’ll be married six years this Saturday, the 18th. We’re going to have a great time.
I’ll be back sometime Tuesday afternoon and I’ll probably be spending most of it catching up on e-mails and other internet happenings. But there will still be guest strips going on while I’m back. You’ll get another dose on Friday and then Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week.
Both Cami and I have been burned out for a long time. We haven’t taken a vacation where it was just the two of us since January of 2004, so this has been a long time coming. I’m excited to go, but I’m also already excited to come back because this will be exactly what I need to recharge my batteries and get me ready for pushing the release of the first Theater Hopper book shortly thereafter!
Things are really looking up!
Thanks to all you guys for giving us a little breathing room, but also for continuing to support the comic and spreading the word about Theater Hopper to all of your friends. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been getting lots of e-mails from people lately saying that they’lve just been introduced to the comic and are loving it. That’s a great feeling, especially after doing this for three and a half years. Don’t think for a minute I don’t appreciate it!
I’ll be back soon enough. Until then, enjoy today’s great comic and the guest strips yet to come!
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Comic Tom doesn’t spend as much time on the internet as I do in real life. Probably because that’s not a very dynamic setting in which to tell the story. Or perhaps it’s because the people he talks to are indifferent to the news he wants to share. I suppose he should give up on relaying any Superman-related missives.
And speaking of related! Yes, it is true that someone I went to high school with is the real-life cousin of the new Superman, Brandon Routh. I’ve changed his name in the comic to protect the innocent. But, as you may have heard, Brandon Routh is from right here in Central Iowa. So there have been many news stories in advance of Superman Returns hitting theaters on Wednesday and every newspaper and local news network is parading out all of his relatives for that local angle.
This, of course, means nothing to no one. Famous people tend to come from all over the country. You don’t hear Toronto bragging about how John Candy came from their town. But then again, that might just be due to the fact that Canadians are so polite.
I don’t know. For Iowa, it’s different. There’s very little going on here and for someone to take the mantle of one of the most recognizable icons in world… well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a twinge of hometown pride.
I’m trying to imagine what it must be like for Routh’s family. That’s weird bragging rights. "Yeah, my cousin? He’s Superman. Wanna go out later?"
Do you suppose Brandon will give them a cut of all that merchandizing action going on right now? Happy Meals and action figures and all that? Do you suppose he’s unloading all this crap on his extended family as a means of taking care of them for the next 10 Christmas holidays?
Imagine what it must be like for the guy. In three days, he’ll have gone from being totally unknown to being tethered to The Man of Steel forever. Kind of funny how this seems to happen with Superman but not with Batman in regards to film. I mean Christopher Reeve was unknown when they cast him in the first Superman movie back in 1978. But for Batman, it’s been a string of "known" actors under the cape and cowl – Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney. The least well known of them all is probably Christian Bale – but only because they were looking to go back to square one with the character.
My point is, chosing unknowns to tackle Superman speaks to the enormity of the character. Even established celebrity can’t overcome it. I think that’s pretty cool.
I guess Routh was in-town today, not five minutes from my house, attending a showing of Superman Returns at the Century Theaters with 300 kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Iowa. It was a private event, so I wasn’t able to get in. And even though the theater expected people to hang around to catch a glimpse of Routh, I didn’t make the effort to check things out. I don’t know if I should feel stupid about that, or not. Quite truthfully, it’s probably the closest Hollywood is ever going to get to my front porch.
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That’s what it feels like to be internet famous sometimes – getting hit in the nuts by a costumed third grader wielding a bo staff.
And it never stops hurting.
I don’t know what it is with me punishing Tom’s junk this week, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from America’s Funniest Home Videos, images of people getting hit in the groin are comedy gold.
Since the advent of shows like Jackass and the immediacy of YouTube, it feels like we’re living in the Renaissance of people getting hit in the groin. It’s been elevated into some kind of competitive performance art. Well, consider my hat in the ring.
Now watch as someone posts a clip of themselves taken a sledgehammer to the nuts.
As you can tell, I’m not particularly full of insights today. But I’m excited none-the-less. My folks have offered to watch Henry this weekend long enough for us to get away and watch a movie. I’m super psyched because Reign Over Me comes out this weekend and both Cami and I have been looking forward to it.
I know, I know. Our first social outing without Henry and what do we choose to do but watch a delightful little movie about 9/11 and coping with grief. Should be a fun time!
Now if we can somehow persuade Cami’s folks into babysitting next week so we can go see Blades of Glory!
Some good news for those of you who ordered Junkie shirts a little while back – they’re FINALLY back from the printer. So this weekend I’m going to sit down and package up all the orders. Hopefully I can get them in the mail over my lunch hour on Monday and you’ll be seeing them in the next few days after that. Sorry for the delay. Apparently my printer had a stick up his butt.
For those of you who haven’t ordered the new Junkie shirt and maybe want to see it modeled before you plunk down your hard-earned money, here’s a glamor shot for you:
Would you buy a used car from this man?If you guys like what you see (and honestly, how could you not?) swing by the store and place your order. Keep in mind that Junkie is also available with all of the special bundling discounts. So if you want to grab a shirt along with a copy of one of our books, you’ll save a little extra dough in the process. Everyone wins!
That’ll do it for me. See you guys next Monday!
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It’s kind of unusual for me to do a comic about a movie that won’t be out for another four months. More unusual still for me to do a comic about the trailer to said movie. But what can I say? I’m excited about this one.
In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and if you want to see the trailer in question, click here.
Be forewarned, however. This is the red-band trailer. That means there is swearing and violence.
Lots and lots of violence.
I was more excited than a kid on Christmas for the first Alien vs. Predator movie back in 2004. In fact, I did a few comics about it. The movie was an all-out disaster. The worst watered-down version of both franchises you can imagine. They took the template of six pulse-pounding R rated action-horror films and somehow ended up with a PG-13 pile of slop. And even though I get suckered into watching the movie whenever it shows up on cable – hopelessly deluding myself into thinking that maybe it magically turned into a better movie with age – I have rallied against this film and held it up as a beacon of what is wrong in Hollywood.
Instead of making a movie for the fans, they made a movie aimed squarely at the disposable income of modern teenagers – an audience that would only know a fraction of the potential awesomeness in this pairing of great movie monsters because anyone who was 13 years old when the movie came out would have 7 years-old when the last Aliens movie was in theaters! PLEASE!
At any rate, it looks like AvP: Requiem is looking to change all that. And judging by the level of violence in the red-band trailer, I would say they are well on their way.
Merry Christmas to me!
In other news, we had a blast recording The Triple Feature last Monday. If you missed it, you missed a good one. Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex was back from vacation and went toe-to-toe with Brian Carroll of Genrevous Point on everything from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the validity of Kaizer Soze from The Usual Suspects as a great movie villain. Meanwhile myself and Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies just sat back and listened. The guys in the live chat were getting a real kick out of it. We also talked at length about action movies and what makes a good action film. It was quite a robust conversation. We actually went a little long with this one. Lots of content to dive into. Visit our profile page at TalkShoe to download a copy of the show and listen to what you missed.
A couple of interviews I did at Wizard World Chicago are starting to show up online, so I thought I would share the links. This article at Comic Book Resources highlights how some of the web comics in attendance butter their bread, earn their scratch so to speak. I’m one of the comics profiled. In this link to YouTube, you can take a look at my ugly mug around the 3:30 mark. I was interviewed by the good guys from Reactor, an anime convention going on in Chicago November 2 – 4. I don’t think I’ll be making out to that one, but the two guys I spoke to were very friendly.
That’s about all I can think of for the moment. Have a great Wednesday!
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Feb01
I wish there was some kind of context for this comic, but there really isn’t. I was checking my LiveJournal friends page the other day and the feed from BestWeekEver.tv posted these images of Shia LaBeouf wearing a cow costume – no explanation provided.
I suppose you could argue their existence in a couple of ways. Maybe some photographer talked Shia into taking a couple of photos to make fun of his name – which loosely translates to “Thank God for the beef.” Maybe he’s trying to reach out to the furry community. Maybe they’re a gag gift. Or maybe Shia has no idea what to do with all the money he made from Transformers.
Whatever the case may be, they fit way too neatly into my anti-Shai campaign to pass up. But instead of mouthing off for the hundredth time about why I find the dude so off-putting, I decided to post both images at a higher resolution and let the images speak for themselves.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Images courtesy of Towerload.com
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I’ve you’ve spent any time on the internet recently, you might have picked up on this story about schlock-meister Uwe Boll – the director of such fine films as Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne and (most recently) In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. If you’re not familiar with the name, he’s generally regarded as one of the worst living directors and is a constant target for movie crtics.
In an interview with Fearnet.com, Boll was asked about the online petition asking him to stop making movies. He laughed it and said if the petition got up to a million, he’d stop.
When the interview was posted on April 4, the petition had 18,000 signatures. As the story of Boll’s challenge spreads, it has since climbed to over 175,000 signatures.
I personally haven’t signed the petition. I don’t see the point. I may not like Boll’s films, but I don’t think I have the right to tell him to stop making them. Besides, he provides more entertainment value to me the longer he stays visible to the public. Not with his movies, but with his outrageous attitude. The guy will literally say anything and doesn’t care what you think. I’ve done two comics about him so far. I think you can see how much I appreciate the comedic value he brings to the table.
That said, it makes it hard to defend Boll when he releases videos like this one – his rebuttal to the online petition – where he basically says that Michael Bay and Eli Roth are hacks who churn out the same movie over and over, that he is a genius and that it is the audience’s fault for not recognizing his talent.
It’s very possible that he’s kidding and trying to have a little fun with it. What else can you do when over 175,000 people say that you suck? Then again, he’s German. So if he’s kidding, it’s kind of hard to tell.
I don’t really see the purpose of dragging Michael Bay or Eli Roth into the situation. That just seems petty. Granted, those guys have their critics, but neither of them are going around challenging them to boxing matches.
I mean, is anyone else catching a professional wrestling vibe off this guy, or is it just me? None of this would be circling the movie news sites if Boll wasn’t out there promoting his latest soul-crusher Postal.
All the same, it’s kind of fun to play the game with him a little bit. When I was thinking about the petition, I wondered how many people are currently using the internet. I looked it up and statistics are anywhere between 1.3 to 1.8 billion world-wide. That’s a fun number to play with. Basically, only one thousandth of the global internet community needs to sign this thing to put Boll away.
Do I really think he’ll walk away from movies forever if one million people sign the petition. No, of course not. But at this point, finding out if he’s good to his word is the only thing keeping me interested. If he flakes, it’ll just be another tally in the “Uwe Boll Is A Jerk” column.
It’s very possible this petition could cross that one million mark. Did you read that story about how the Mets allowed their fans to vote for the song the wanted played at the top of the 8th inning through their web site? They left a field open for “Suggest your own song here” and the internet jumped on it, suggesting Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” as their song of choice. I’m sure you can guess what happened next.
SHEA STADIUM GOT RICK ROLL’D!!!
The Internet: We are The Lizard King. We can do anything.
That’s it for me, folks. Have a great weekend and I’ll talk to you again on Monday!
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I was kind of surprised to read this story about a recently unearthed Marilyn Monroe sex tape sold for $1.5 million. Not so much because Marilyn Monroe had a sex tape. Marilyn Monroe was ALL ABOUT sex. It was her image. She entered into film history with the persona she created.
More shocked because… I don’t know. I guess because celebrities did a better job keeping that stuff under wraps back in the day. Or maybe the media was just more respectful.
I’m also shocked that someone would cough up $1.5 million for 15 minutes of 16mm footage. I thought I was crazy for collecting Iron Man stuff. This guy takes the cake!
Thank goodness she’s not alive anymore. It would be like finding out your grandmother made a sex tape. Blech.
Then again, if she were still alive, the footage probably wouldn’t have found its way into the hands of a wealthy memorabilia collector.
The whole story is quite fascinating to me. The footage was filmed in the 50’s, but wasn’t discovered until the 60’s when an informant turned it over to FBI top brass J. Edgar Hoover. Turns out Hoover was trying to prove that the gentleman on the other end of Ms. Monroe’s… *ahem*… affections was either John F. Kennedy or Robert F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, the informant kept a copy for himself (who wouldn’t?) and this was the copy sold this week.
This completely tweaks the conspiracy theory quadrant of my brain. Think of what a great story you could tell about this footage? I mean, not only for the salacious parts, but for the historical context. I bet you could even do it for laughs. Did you guys ever see Dick with Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams? A very under-appreciated comedy set during the Nixon Watergate scandal. They had a pretty humorous take on Deep Throat and the missing 18 and a half minutes in the Watergate tapes. Netflix it if you haven’t seen it.
What’s really kind of making me think is how the guy who bought the footage came into possession of it. I mean, beyond the monetary transaction. Like, are their weird underground circles for wealthy businessmen who trade in antiquity and obscure pop culture artifacts? Do they have access to some kind of creepy eBay that I haven’t been made aware of? What’s this guy’s story?
The mind boggles.
Not much else for you today. Have a good one! I’ll see you here on Friday!
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I wish I could say that I noticed that the acronym for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen could also mean “Rolling On The Floor (laughing),” but it didn’t dawn on me until I read Howard Taylor’s review of the movie over at Schlock Mercenary.
Then again, Howard is completely awesome and I’m just a part-timer. So, there you go. Credit where credit is due.
I was going to write a review for Transformers: ROTF, but I can’t quite muster the venom for it that I was expressing a few days ago after seeing it in IMAX.
Let me just say this; Basically all the negative reviews you’ve been reading are true. The movie is crass, overlong and impossible to make sense of. Remember when people said that the robots were the best part of the first movie? Well, in the sequel, I didn’t even like the robots.
Much has been written about the racist caricature of African Americans with the inclusion of “The Twins,” Skids and Mudflap. I was peripherally aware of the controversy going in and didn’t think much of it at first. I was willing to give Michael Bay the benefit of the doubt. I mean, I’ve known dopey white guys in college who used Ebonic slang, so maybe he was making fun of that.
But the buck teeth and the gold tooth is hard to ignore. I was particularly amazed when one of the robots said they didn’t read.
In an interview with CHUD, Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have distanced themselves from the characters saying their look and vocal affectations were not their idea, but were the result of a decision made by director Michael Bay.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Bay doesn’t exactly denounce the idea that Skids and Mudflap are racial stereotypes and also does a little bit of passing the buck himself.
“…These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.”
Bay said the parts “were kind of written but not really written, so the voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up with their characters.”
Ultimately, Bay says “I purely did it for kids. Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them.”
So basically what Bay is saying is that Skids and Mudflap are the Jar Jar Binks of the Transformers universe…
Here’s the thing: I can’t remember which review I read that says this, but I have to agree with the sentiment – Bay is simply too egotistical to pitch this movie to it’s intended audience. He’s too bloated with self-esteem to realize this is a movie that SHOULD be for kids.
I was sitting next to a kid watching this movie. Wanna know what he thought every time Skids and Mudflap came on screen? “Every time those robots talk, they use bad words, Mommy.”
Bingo.
I mean, this is the guy that put a pair of testicles on Devastator, for crying out loud. Then again, how else are you going to top Bumblebee “peeing” on John Turturro from the first movie?
Something I find particularly egrigious about this movie is Bay flexing his connections in the Department of Defense. There is so much military hardware in this movie, so lovingly shot and beautifully lit, I can only imagine Bay looking over the footage and rubbing his nipples like Simon Cowell at the thought of it.
When I finished watching this movie on Wednesday, I sent the following update to Twitter: “Transformers 2: Never has a movie so loud been so boring.” The scenes shot in IMAX with Devastator at the pyramids was impressive, but the rest of the film was a twitching bore.
Has anyone else seen the film since it came out on Wednesday or are you waiting for the weekend to check it out? If you saw it, what did you think? If you haven’t seen it, have the bad reviews dissuaded you?
Leave your comments below!
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