Posts Tagged ‘reassurance’
2 items.
I’ve taken a few self-portraits. Yes, I have. Yes, I have.
I know today’s comic isn’t exactly movie-related. Maybe you were looking for something a little more on-point, genre-wise this morning. But after all the homo-erotic goodness of the last two weeks, I had to take the joke and run with it.
Coming up with the punchline was kind of weird. Since the comic is a autobiographical exaggeration, I kind of resisted the idea of casting myself as vain or being more concerned with myself than Cami. I didn’t want to give you guys the wrong idea about out relationship because the joke is kind of at her expense. Truthfuly, I would rather stare at Cami for 100 hours that catch a passing glimpse of myself in the reflection of a storefront window.
But upon realizing that I didn’t want to portray myself as being vain, I realized… I was being vain. So I ran with the joke. More movie stuff later in the week. Cross m’ heart.
Cami and I saw Inside Man over the weekend and I really liked it. I mean REALLY liked it. As in, "Hey, maybe the situation at the multiplex isn’t as dire as the evidence would have led me to believe three weeks ago! There’s hope!"
I think we can all agree that there hasn’t been very many good movies in the theater since the end of the holiday season. It’s okay. It’s low tide on cinema. Happens every year.
But watching the crafty Inside Man was like a beacon saying "The salmon are returning to spawn!" With spring brings renewal.
The movie is as tense as you might expect and there’s always some kind of new twist being thrown into the mix. Each of the four leads – Densel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer – all sink their teeth into their roles and bounce off each other well without being too showy. Densel didn’t launch in to Training Day level histronics. He actually milks a lot of comedy out of the tension just by being his usual, charming self. If anything, I thought Jodie Foster’s performance was possibly the weak link in the film, but that’s only if you’re going out of your way to complain about something.
The film was directed by Spike Lee, which I think made it even more impressive. A mainstream movie like this was something he needed to do a LONG time ago because I think the unfortunate truth is that people are more familiar with his politics than his considerable talent. There’s no reason he couldn’t tranition between these realms of Hollywood effectively. A movie like this might wake people up to his cannon of work.
If you’re dragging your feet on Inside Man for whatever reason, stop screwing around and go see it. I haven’t enjoyed a movie as smart as this one in what felt like an eternity!
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So here’s the comic from Wednesday that I owe you. If you were keeping up with the blog, you’ll know the reason the comic was delayed was due to a job interview I wanted to prepare for. I also wanted to make sure I got the proper amount of sleep.
I’m pretty sure most of you don’t know what my schedule is like. Frankly, you don’t need to know because it’s boring and self-serving to share it. But in this case, I’ll make an exception because I want you to understand.
Typically, I produce the comic the evening before it goes live on the site. Sometimes I’ll be able to get ahead of it a little by doing the pencils and inks over my lunch hour at my day job. But when I get home, it usually isn’t until after 8:00 that we manage to get Henry and Pearl settled down for the night. When you consider the everyday household chores that need to be done after that, there’s actually a very small window that I can work on the comic.
On Tuesday nights, I have night classes, so that window is even smaller. Instead of beating myself up trying to get a comic done for Wednesday, I thought it made more sense to prepare for my interview and get a good night’s sleep.
I didn’t receive any complaints and you guys have been more than supportive, so thank you. I just wanted to explain because, well, I felt like I owed you at least that much.
As for the job interview… How did it go? Frankly, I thought it went great. It really couldn’t have gone any better.
I don’t want to get into details because I don’t want to jinx it. Plus, as a rule, I don’t like to talk about work-related things online. You can’t be too careful.
Let’s just say it went very well and I’ll let you know how things turn out. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Now, let’s talk about the comic!
I was really pounding my head against the wall on this one because I didn’t know how to build on what I had established with Monday’s comic. Complicating matters, I came up with a great idea for a comic that I could use on Friday. So I was kind of caught between and a hard place.
I have to admit I was surprised by the feedback I received on Monday’s comic in the comments area. I expected some push back from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp fans. That’s fine. What I didn’t expect where the people who were saying “Thank you! I’ve felt this way about Burton and Depp for years, but couldn’t find the words.” That’s kind of a weird feeling.
I try to address certain truths with my humor. After all, what generally makes something funny is when several people recognize the same truth that they don’t typically address. The ol’ “He’s saying what we’re all thinking!” formula. I aim for that, but it manifests itself in the relationship humor I explore with Tom and Cami. Usually it doesn’t crop up in this kind of commentary about actors or directors. So it caught me a little off guard.
It sparked a debate, though – which I like. But I felt like if Tom was going to take the “anti” Burton/Depp stance, Jared needed to be the counter balance.
And, so, I did some research.
Check out this Wiki of director/actor collaborations. It’s mind-boggling. Some of them get tossed out because the pairings worked together on a string of sequels. Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, for example. But some of these partnerships appear very genuine.
Of course, my complaint with Burton and Depp isn’t that they’ve collaborated so many times. Just that there is a sameness to what they’ve produced. But, being fair, can I really argue that John Ford and John Wayne didn’t do the same thing? Or Scorsese and DeNiro, for that matter. It’s food for thought.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed today’s comic. If you have anything you’d like to add, feel free to leave your comments below.
Until then, be sure to come back tomorrow for a brand new comic!
Thanks again!
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