GUEST STRIP – RYAN ESTRADA
September 17th, 2007 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(9 votes, average: 7.78 out of 10)
Here’s the thing: If you have a web comic and Ryan Estrada one day contacts you and says “Hey, I want to do a guest strip for you!” you’re answer will be an ethusiastic "Okay!’
So there you have it. Kind of random but no less welcome. Gotta give him props for the reference to The Gods Must Be Crazy. Dig that zany sight gag in the background of the first panel, too. Ryan, you scamp!
Be sure to show Ryan your appreciation by checking out his blog site as well as new site, Cartoon Commune. The later is a very interesting project that he’s working on. Well worth your time.
Thanks, Ryan!
Not much to report from the movie front this weekend. It looks like The Brave One grabbed the top spot, but a few hard hits from critics low-balled it’s box office take by about $5 million. Early estimates put it around $20 million.
I stayed at home for the most part. Cami went with friends to see Finding Jane (the fictionalized upbringing of Jane Austen starring Anne Hathaway) and hated it. She couldn’t even quantify her distaste for it except to say that the recent remake of Pride & Prejudice with Keira Nightley was better. Uh… okay.
Meanwhile, I was at home with Henry this weekend and, after putting him to bed, I sat down to watch Army of Darkness and Accepted.
Army of Darkness needs no introduction. Most people are on the same page with me there. But it’s a weird movie for me because it’s kind of an echo of an echo after Evil Dead 1 and Evil Dead 2. It’s also the kind of movie where the action pieces are so indelible everything else seems mundane. As such, I tend to forget the boring parts and somehow trick myself into thinking I haven’t seen the movie for a while. I dunno it’s hard to explain. All the same, Bruce Campbell rocks my world. They need to get him in a movie with Kurt Russell quick.
Accepted was that dumb "let’s invent a fake college" movie with Justin Long that came out last year. I kind of wanted to see it when it was in theaters, but I’m glad I didn’t. It was awful. Long pretty much spends the entire movie immidating Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill as his sidekick is stuck playing it at about a 5 when I want to see him play it at a 10. I kept wanting to see their roles reversed. I think Long is much funnier when he’s kind of stumbling around and self-concious, not Mr. Cool Lookitme. It’s the same reason I don’t like him in those Mac Vs. PC ads. And I’m sorry, but after seeing Hill in Superbad and Knocked Up – that’s prettty much how I want him to play every character all the time from here on out.
These are issues I will likely address in this weeks Triple Feature broadcast. Since we’re pretty much stuck in a post-summer slow down at the theater, Joe, Gordon, Brian and I agreed to open up the topic of conversation to the movies we’re watching on TV and DVD as well. I mean, why not? You can’t be topical all the time. And besides, the strength of our show is that it’s basically a bunch of friends mouthing off about movies like any other group of friends would. It’s not serious film criticism. It’s fun!
If it sounds like your kind of fun, swing on over to our page over at Talkshoe about 8:45 PM CST tonight and listen in. It’s always a good time!
That’s all I have for the time being. Although I’m, like 85% complete with a t-shirt design based off the poster design I made for the fake movie "EXPLOSIONS!" from last Wednesday strip. I might be back soon with another post to show it off. If the reponse is encouraging, expect a pre-sale on new shirts this week!
Talk to you soon!
GUEST STRIP – RYAN ESTRADA
September 17th, 2008 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(7 votes, average: 6.71 out of 10)
Do not adjust the internet. Ryan Estrada has taken over. Your regularly scheduled Theater Hopper will resume on Friday.
Hat’s off to Ryan Estrada and his wholesale hijacking of this comic and every other. I always get a kick out of seeing Ryan make his mark in this way and am more than happy to play along. Hey, it gives a night off!
So what have I been doing with my night off? Well, I was watching Speed Racer, which came out on DVD yesterday (expect a full review in the near future). I’m kind of kicking myself that I didn’t see this in the theater because I’m now a big fan of the visual style. But you know how it goes… They bungled the advertising on this thing – couldn’t decide if it was supposed to be a blockbuster or a kid’s movie (for the record, it’s for kids). Plus, The Wachowski’s kind of pissed away their cred after the third Matrix movie.
But, yeah… the movie is a visual feast.
Then again, I’m only half way through it… which was actually going to be my next complaint. For a movie that’s supposed to be all about speed, it’s ponderously slow with it’s pacing. So we’ll see how the second act turns out. I don’t want to give up too much of my review just yet!
Short and sweet today, guys. That’s all I have for you. I’ll see you here on Friday with a brand new comic!
Have a great day!
GUEST STRIP – RYAN ESTRADA
December 11th, 2009 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(43 votes, average: 8.86 out of 10)
Today’s guest strip comes from Ryan Estrada. If you’re not familiar with Ryan’s work, you need to make yourself familiar.
Because this guy is gooooood…
How good? He references a complete throw away detail (The Ha-Ha Hut from this comic) in the first line of his guest strip. Attention to detail like that is the kind of professionalism that intimidates me from ever doing a guest strip for anyone else ever again. I’ll just refer all inquiries to Ryan. Because, clearly, he has his bases covered.
I also gotta give it up to Ryan for the joke he came up with for his comic. The career arc he developed for comedians was right on the money and probably applies to more comedians than not. Eddie Murphy was the first one to spring to my mind. Maybe Adam Sandler or a touch of Mike Myers. Who else do you think Ryan’s formula applies to?
Mull that over for a while, leave some comments and then go check out Ryan’s web site. Thanks again to Ryan for providing an excellent guest strip. I loved it!
Switching gears… A quick Kickstarter update.
You guys have been doing great pledging to the Kickstarter fund raising campaign for Theater Hopper: Year Three. We’re now 52% funded and roughly $1,500 away from goal.
But we have 20 days left to meet that goal – less than 3 weeks – so I’m still on pins and needles! When you think about the holidays coming up and the distraction that causes, we really have LESS than 3 weeks to meet our goal!
Please pledge to the fund raising campaign today. As of this posting, we’re $74 away from $2,000. I think if we could top $2,000 today, that would be excellent.
I am trying to push us toward “the tipping point” – that moment where people look at the campaign and say to themselves “Hey, this is really happening! I think I’m going to make a pledge myself” and the whole thing takes off.
I watched it happen with Gordon’s fund raising campaign for the first Multiplex book. He pushed and pushed for weeks. Then, one day, I think he was 70% to goal and I told him “That was the tipping point, man. You’re going to fund this thing no problem.” Within 3 days, the rest of the campaign was funded. It was pretty cool to watch.
Help us get to the tipping point. Pledge today.
Last bit of news… You’ve probably seen it already, but Iron Man 2 released another poster. This time featuring Mikey Rourke as the villain Whiplash.
Please keep in mind that this guy is 57 years-old. Looks pretty good for his age, if you ask me.
Well, you know, except the face that looks like hamburger.
By the way, does anyone else think that it’s AWESOME that we have a superhero movie where the lead actor is 44 years-old and going toe-to-toe with a 57 year-old?
I love Iron Man for several reasons. But I think the filmmakers rejection of youth culture is in my Top 10 “Reasons to love Iron Man” list. Just awesome.
That’s it for today! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!