Posts Tagged ‘protest’
5 items.
Today’s buzzComix incentive sketch really has nothing to do with today’s comic. It’s just a bit of still life I did while watching Truman sleep. Click here to view it.
I don’t know why I was compelled to draw it. I guess I’m trying to evolve my style a little bit. Looking at stuff like the Sketch Dump over at Penny Arcade is pretty good motivation. Incidentally, congratulations to Mike and his wife on the birth of their son Gabriel. The pictures are great and I thought Jerry’s introduction was very heartfelt and mature.
But back to the comic at hand…
We’re in the middle of a storyline right now. If you’d like to go back to the beginning of the arc, just click here and it will whisk you a way to a week ago when all this tomfoolery first started. Do you have any opinions on the story so far? You know you can always leave your comments in the THorum. I hang out there quite regularly, so I’m pretty sure to see them.
As things are shaping up, I don’t think I’ll be able to cap off this arc by Friday. So it’s likely that the story will extend into next week. I know that might divert my coverage of up-and-coming movies, but I’ll still talk about the new releases in the blog. So watch this space for updates.
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If you’re noticing a slight refinement in the look of the strip, that’s intentional. Over the weekend, I bought Ben Caldwell’s Action! Cartooning and I’ve been putting some of his tips to good use.
If you’re an artist working in this medium (web comics, print comics, napkin doodles, what have you) I strongly suggest picking up this book. Unlike most “How-to’s”, Ben’s book actually SHOWS you how to with some very helpful instructions. This as opposed to showing a picture and saying “Copy this.” He really does a good job walking you through it. The book is less than ten bucks, so it’s well worth the money.
I originally had my eye on the book over at Amazon.com, but came across it at my local Barne’s and Noble, so you should be able to find it there in case you’re the immanent type and can’t wait for something to be shipped to you.
I guess I picked up Ben’s book to try and introduce a little more polish to my artwork. My overall goal is to start getting the characters to look a little less like each other and more like individuals. I think it’s going to be a slow transition. Partially because I’m still learning and partially because I don’t want to make any design changes so jarring that it sours your taste for Theater Hopper. I’ll leave that to the clumsy writing and occasional political grandstanding.
At any rate, it’s the direction that I’m going…
In slightly movie related news, Cami was channel surfing last night and came across a documentary on A&E called Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. Incidentally, this is the same documentary that will be appearing on the supplemental disc when the Star Wars trilogy is released to DVD on September 21.
I have to admit, the documentary was really good. They spend the first 45 minute detailing the difficulty bringing A New Hope to screens in the summer of 1977 and a little less time on the subsequent movies. But they did a really good job uncovering some facts that I wasn’t already aware of as well as getting interviews with the entire cast and high profile figures on the production side.
I was excited that the original trilogy was finally making its way to DVD, but I wasn’t planning on being the first in line September 21. I mean, I still haven’t picked up the Indiana Jones trilogy yet!
But now I’m kind of rethinking my position. Part of my apprehension was the cost, the hype and the fact that I’ve seen these movies dozens of times. I’m ready to see a cut with better picture and sound of course, but I was in no big hurry.
Seeing this documentary on Sunday night has lead me to believe that the supplemental materials could be worth the price of admission alone. If the other goodies they’ve packed into the boxed set are half as good, I’ll be satisfied.
You should really keep an eye on A&E in the coming weeks and try and catch a repeat Empire of Dreams. If you were a little on the fence about things like I was, it’ll definitely remind you about why you fell in love with Star Wars in the first place.
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Explosions really do make things better.
Are Cami and I really thinking about boycotting Tom Cruise and Stephen Spielberg’s newest sci-fi horror remake The War of the Worlds? Let me tell you – it’s crossed our mind.
This is kind of a weird thing to proclaim. Particularly in the light that I am a fairly large Spielberg fan and had begrudgingly come to respect Cruise as an actor in the last few years. I enjoyed what he did with the character of Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia. I thought the intensity he brought to Vincent in Collateral was layered and made a lot of sense. Hell, I was one of like, FIVE people who really enjoyed The Last Samurai.
But in light of his progressive meltdown taking place in front of any camera he gets in front of, Cruise has repulsed me to the point that I don’t much feel like supporting his latest effort.
I know, big deal, right? As if my paltry 8 bucks is going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things? War of the Worlds is one of THE tent pole flicks of the summer. A sure-fire blockbuster that brings together one of America’s most popular actors and one of its most popular directors.
At this point my disgust really has nothing to do with his laughable “engagement” to Katie Holmes. It has nothing to do with his beliefs as a Scientologist. It has nothing to do with the highly misinformed sparring matches he’s having with the press over the practice of psychiatry. At the end of the day, it comes down to one thing: Cruise is a smug bastard who DESERVES to be taken down a few pegs.
There seem to be very few people who can break the meniscus of Cruise’s very small world and let him know what everyday people think about him. His level of denial is deeper than a Nuremberg war criminal. It doesn’t help much that most people in the media continue to kiss his ass because he’s “Mr. Hollywood” and is good for ratings.
I think the other shoe dropped when Cruise appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman last week and Dave crawled so far up his ass I could barely see that gap-toothed grin.
It all had to do with the recent events in London where Cruise was squirted with water from a disguised microphone while at the UK premiere of War of the Worlds. Letterman applauded Cruise for not beating the crap out of the offending prankster and showing true composure.
Okay, points there. Because if he had taken a swing at the guy, it would have looked bad. But in all honesty, I got a real kick out watching it all go down. In turn, watching Letterman effuse his admiration of Cruise resulted in me losing a lot of respect for him. This was the guy who is ALL ABOUT taking celebrities down a few pegs with a few cutting remarks when they’re sitting right in front of him. All of a sudden he goes soft?
Then I realized it wasn’t Letterman’s fault. It’s the Culture of Celebrity. Cruise is high-profile right now and not just because of the movie. If you can snag him while he’s on his promotional rounds, that’s gonna bring great ratings because you don’t know what he’ll say or do next. Don’t piss him off or else he might not come back next time. NBC should FTD Cruise a basket of flowers for all the attention he brought to The Today Show after his spat with Matt Lauer.
But kissing Cruise’s ass doesn’t solve the problem, it makes it worse. Because it continues the notion that his public outbursts are acceptable. Getting sprayed in the face with water was the public saying “No it’s not.”
Don’t get me wrong. The implications of the water-squirting incident are really scary for a public figure. Because if someone can get that close to you and humiliate you that thoroughly, what are the odds the next guy will be a real nut who might try to take you out?
By no means do I wish any harm to befall the guy. Because despite how loony tunes he appears in public, no one deserves to have their safety threatened.
But at the same time, you can’t jump on couches, deride psychiatry, get engaged to someone after 10 weeks under questionable circumstances and not expect some kind of backlash.
The water-squirting incident was benign enough as to not frighten people while simultaneously being the utmost effectiveness tactic in knocking Cruise down a few pegs. It’s like throwing a cream pie at Ann Coulter or Bill Gates. It clearly communicates, “We don’t like what you’re doing. You’re abusing your status as a celebrity/commentator/entrepreneur/whatever.” It’s a way to punctuate the contrary opinion that isn’t being absorbed within the target’s circle of influence.
And, in its own way, reserving my entertainment dollar and saving it for something other than War of the Worlds is my cream pie in the face of Tom Cruise.
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I don’t think I’m making any kind of particularly witty statement with today’s comic. Anyone who has seen the trailer for Perfect Stranger probably came up with the same joke 5 seconds after they learned what the title of the movie was. But I’ll ask you to stick with me on this one. The follow-up comic I have for Friday is going to be the real pay-off.
Considering that today’s comic doesn’t exactly have a lot going on in it’s brain, I thought I would talk for a moment about the comic creation itself. Mostly because you guys seem to get a kick out of it when I have a joke that’s a bit of a dog.
Originally I was going to have Bronson Pinchot himself appear to protest the movie. But I thought that highly unlikely since isn’t he dead, or something? I kid. I know he was on The Surreal Life not to long ago. But actually, I avoided using him simply because if I was going to burn brain cells trying to figure out an appropriate caricature, it was NOT going to be on Bronson Pinchot. Instead, I decided to make the protester someone who vaguely LOOKS like Bronson Pinchot and make him the president of his fan club. Subtle, no?
When I told Cami that I was going to make fun of Perfect Stranger by pulling a reference to the television show Perfect Strangers, Cami asked me “Are your readers even going to understand it?” I think she’s under the impression that everyone who comes to the site must be 12. If it just so happens that you’re NOT a child of the 80’s like I am, what can I tell you? YouTube it.
“Standin’ TAAALLLLLLL! On the wiiings of my dreams!”
Man, whatever happened to the inspirational feel-good sitcom theme songs? For that matter, whatever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paperboy, evening TV? How did I get delivered here – someone tell me, please!
All the 12 year-old’s are scratching their heads right now.
At any rate, if you’d like to download something that DOESN’T make you feel incredibly old, grab a copy of The Triple Feature broadcast from Monday night. Gordon, Joe and I talked about Grindhouse for a full hour and I think we hit upon some really juicy topics of discussion. Pull it down to your machine and listen to it in the background as you contemplate the fate of television stars of the 80’s. It’ll be an interesting juxtaposition – trust me.
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Happy Friday the 13th, everyone? Doing a good job of avoiding black cats, ladders and Jason Voorhees? Good for you!
As you can see, this is the continuation of my Perfect Strangers comic from Wednesday. I don’t know why, but I just thought it would be funny to cast Victor as a being from a village small enough in the Ukraine that they might actually worship a character from a 1980’s sitcom. No offense to anyone of Ukrainian heritage. Call it the Borat effect. People don’t really think Kazakhstan is like that. It’s all in good fun.
I’ll fess up and admit that Wednesday’s comic was pretty much the exposition needed to get to today’s punchline. I came up with “Thou shalt not be ridiculous” and worked backwards from there. Yeah, it’s kind of the same joke. But there’s humor in repetition sometimes. Give me a break. It’s a slow week!
Here’s some good news: I learned this week that my local comic book shop will be playing host to a 24 Hour Comic Day event next Saturday and I’m going to participate! I’ve always read the exploits of my contemporaries who do the 24 Hour Comic thing and I was always jealous. Finally, someone has taken the steps to organize our own event and I’m not going to miss it.
Originally I was planning on putting together the Theater Hopper origin story that’s been bouncing around in my head for a few years. But after consulting a few good friends, they talked me out of it. The catch in participating in this thing is to have 24 sheets of 11 x 17″ paper drawn, inked and lettered. I don’t want to hand-letter this story. It’s too important. Plus, there’s a strong likelihood that I’m going to run out of gas around hour 22 and I don’t want the last two pages looking like I was asleep at the wheel.
So, anyway, I tried to come up with a few other options. I had an idea for a story about Jimmy getting the day off. Except he doesn’t want the day off and keeps trying to sneak back into work. Not really original, but it’s a start.
Then I had an idea about Tom literally theater hopping into another dimension or into the movies themselves. He would take on the characteristics of people in the films he “jumps” into like Quantum Leap before going into another one. I couldn’t figure out what the point of that one would be, though.
So I talked to Cami about it and she suggested doing something completely different – a comic about our lives in 2006. A more personal story. Cami getting her Master’s Degree, our trip to Europe, our pregnancy and end it with Henry being born. I’m really warming up to that idea. I think it would be something special.
I don’t know. What do you guys think? Want to brainstorm with me a while? Leave your ideas in the comments field. Tell me what you think!
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Something I noticed after I had produced this comic… I draw my characters throwing their hands up in the air an awful lot. Someone should start a meme.
Onto more serious news.
I was talking about Machete on the Theater Hopper Facebook page (more specifically, that star Danny Trejo was 66 years-old – What the WHAT?!) and someone shared with me a link to a group that was planning on protesting Machete for being “anti-white.” This group’s claim is the the film was released to “green light” violence against white Americans.
I won’t share the link with you here. I’m not particularly interested in validating this specific group with your time or attention. But, needless to say, I found the whole thing pretty disgusting. Not just for the misguided protest effort they were trying to organize but for the truly horrible, racist comments posted along with it. The less said about it, the better.
I haven’t see Machete and I’m not exactly running out the door to do so. I figure any feature-length movie sprung from a joke trailer released with Grindhouse three years ago is probably going to be a little light on plot and characterization. And, well, it’s a Robert Rodriguez movie. So, same goes.
But reading about this hate campaign disguised as a protest makes me want to see Machete for no other reason than to turn their crank.
From everything I’ve read the movie is violent and cheesy and everything you’d come to expect from a Rodriguez movie. I’m aware that they tried to make the film somewhat topical by tying it to the immigration debate going on in Arizona at the moment and that perhaps their execution was sloppy. Considering Machete’s somewhat incomplete origin, that sounds like a reasonable criticism to me. I don’t think anyone is seeing this movie for political moralizing. They just wanna see Danny Trejo slap a Gatling gun onto a motorcycle and launch that bad boy 50 feet in the air.
But protesting Machete’s for being anti-white? I just don’t see it. In fact, I don’t even see a point in pretending like it’s a reasonable complaint and formulating an argument against it.
If these paranoid loons see a bunch of white guys getting carved up by a six foot tall Mexican and think it’s anti-white, they need to put themselves in the shoes of every black person who has watched the token black actor be the first to die in EVERY SINGLE HORROR MOVIE of the last 30 years. I can’t imagine that’s been very encouraging to them.
I have to stop while I’m ahead. Having an argument about this is a losing proposition. You can never reason with people who see issues like this where there is none. It’s like yelling at a wall.
So, for brevity’s sake, can we all agree that the assertion that Machete is “anti-white” is a ridiculous notion and move on with our lives? Thanks.
Even if you want to debate it with me in the comments, I’ll tell you right now that I’m going to make an executive decision to delete those comments. Because I don’t care how well-reasoned you think you’re being, protesting Machete for being “anti-white” is just a fancy way of dressing up your racism and marching it down the street.
I try to be accommodating to different points of view, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on.
I have to apologize for the comic being a day late. Unfortunately the reason is because Cami and I spent the majority of the Labor Day weekend packing up our house in preparation for the move to our NEW house in less than 3 weeks. Henry and Pearl stayed with my in-laws and we worked all weekend. We got a lot done, but by Sunday night we were exhausted. We went to pick up the kids on Monday so we could at least have ONE day this week where we – y’know – get to SEE them. And, well, that’s why the comic was late.
I have most of my office packed up, but I’m getting kind of freaked out about boxing up my merchandise to move to the new house. The shirts aren’t that much of a hassle to move. But the books are very heavy and you can only box so many of them together before you risk throwing your back out trying to pick them up. That means a lot of boxes and a lot of trips up and down stairs.
That’s where you guys come in.
As you may or may not know, I’m running a sale in my store on ALL my merchandise now through September 19. Right now all of my books are being sold for $11.00. All of my shirts are being sold for $7.00 or less. These are great deals. After the 19th, books go back to $15.00 and shirts go back to $10.00. If you were ever thinking about buying something from me, now is the time to do it.
Incidentally, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll see references to discount codes up to 30% to help drive incentive a little more. With these codes, you can order from the store and essentially get shipping for FREE.
I’m very serious about selling as much of my merchandise as possible before the movie. I’m practically selling it to you at-cost. I can’t go any lower. So help me out. Get something for yourself. Get something for a friend or a loved on that you can give them for their birthday or the holidays. Let’s get this stuff out my office before I have to move it!
I’m trying not to be overbearing about it, but I’m getting a little more panicked as our move date approaches. Some of you have written me and expressed regret than you can’t take part and I totally understand that. But even if aren’t able to make a purchase, you can still help by telling others about the sale.
Share links to the store or to Theater Hopper on Facebook or Twitter. Mention us in the comments section of blogs you read or forums you visit. Submit the comic to social networking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon or the /r/comics section of reddit.
Tell them about our Spoiler shirt and ask people if they can guess all the movies being spoiled. Tell them about our books and how you get commentary with each strip plus tons of bonus features – over 200 pages of content in full color in every book for $11.00! It’s a steal!
It sounds cheesy, but every little bit helps. If you’re out there raising awareness, that’s one more person who wasn’t aware of Theater Hopper previously. That’s a good deed and karma points in my book!
I’m sorry to do the full-court press on you with this blog post. But since I’m only updating once a week, I have to hit with as much impact as I can before I run up against the September 19 deadline!
So again, if you’re thinking about buying anything from the Theater Hopper store, please do so today! And if you can’t make a purchase for whatever reason (totally understandable), please help by spreading the word about the site and sale among your friends and the communities you visit.
One more time, here’s the link to our store:
http://theaterhopper.storenvy.com/
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ORDERED SO FAR AND THANKS TO EVERYONE READING THIS FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
If you saw Machete or The American this weekend and feel like chatting it up in the comments below, please feel free. I know I gave The American a free pass without much discussion in the blog and I’ve heard wildly different reactions to the film. Some people I know were really into it and others thought it was a depressing waste of time. Did you see it? Where do you stand? Let us know!
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