Posts Tagged ‘shower’
4 items.
Apr16
I’m going to take a minute to pat myself on the back because I think there’s a fair bit of emotion and “acting” going on in the illustration of today’s strip that I’m proud of.
* pat, pat *
Vacancy comes out this weekend and I am very much creeped out by the premise of a backwoods motel that traps two stranded travelers in a web of murder. I don’t need it compounded with the twist that the couple happens upon a video tape that recorded a murder that took place in their very room OR by the idea that the entire motel is wired with video cameras and creepy hillbillies are watching their every move before they slit their throats.
I’ll be staying at Best Western’s from now on.
The fact that the movie stars Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsdale makes me wonder if the lead characters are really in any danger. Seems reckless to kill off the only two people in the movie audience care to see. Reckless or artistically stunning. After all, Hitchcock killed off Janet Leigh in the first 30 minutes of Psycho and no one saw it coming.
Of course, these days, studios don’t take risks like that. And Vacancy’s director Nimród Antal… is no Hitchcock.
It would be interesting to me if there was some kind of Twilight Zone twist in Vacancy. Maybe the who murder-on-videotape and chasing the couple around the motel thing is just a way for the rednecks to have a little fun with the two lead characters. Maybe teach them something valuable about life before letting them go along their way. At least… I HOPE there’s a twist like that. Otherwise, to me, it looks like a paint-by-numbers slasher. We’ll see.
Quick question…. What do you guys think about Hillbilly Jeff? Do you like him? Because I’m thinking about doing two more strips that feature him. We already have a Scurvy Joe in the Theater Hopper universe. But the fact that Hillbilly Jeff just kind of materialized our of the ether makes me wonder what his back story is. If you’re curious yourself, let me know in the comments…
Big new regarding tonight’s episode of The Triple Feature and you’re not going to want to miss it!
Tonight Gordon, Joe and myself will be interviewing none other than JoBlo himself!
If you’re not familiar with JoBlo or his fantastic movie review and news web site JoBlo.com, then you’r missing out. It’s a great resource for movie fans, fun to read and informative as all get out. We were lucky enough to get JoBlo on the show and we want to make sure we have a TON of listeners. So be sure to check out The Triple Feature talkcast page over at TalkShoe tonight at 9:00 CST. Log in and leave your questions! We’ll be asking JoBlo all sorts of stuff! If you want to leave your questions in the comments here on the site, that’ll work, too. But whatever you do, DON’T MISS TONIGHT’S SHOW! It’s going to be great!
Okay, fine. You need another reason to check out the show tonight? How about another DVD giveaway?
The good people at Bunea Vista Home Entertainment have hooked us up with a few giveaway copies of the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu. Washington play an ATF agent who travels back into the recent past to save the life a woman murdered in the present. If you guys saw this in the theater, you know it was intense! Of course, what do you expect from Tony Scott – the guy who directed Man on Fire and True Romance? This is high-action, folks. You won’t want to miss your chance to win.
All you have to do is listen to tonight’s Triple Feature broadcast either live or downloaded later. Wait until the end of the show when one half of a clue will be read. Come back to Theater Hopper this Wednesday for the other half of the clue. Send your name, age and mailing address along with the clue to theaterhopper@hotmail.com with “DEJA VU” in the subject line and you’ll be entered to win. Easy, right?
To learn more about the contest rules and Deja Vu, click here. If you guys want to check out a trailer for the movie, I’ve got one of those as well. Just click here. Deja Vu will be available on DVD Tuesday, April 24.
So, there you have it – a big name interview and an opportunity to win some free stuff? What more can you want! Remember – The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST! Be there!
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I’ve pretty much abandoned movie commentary for the week. Hillbilly Jeff seems to have struck a nerve with the readership, so I’ve committed myself to telling his story. As to exactly why Tom needs someone to watch him while showering?… Well, the world may never know.
If you missed The Triple Feature talkcast on Monday night, you missed a doozie. If I were you, I would download it right away. We interviewed JoBlo from JoBlo.com and it went great! We got into a really good discussion about the nature of online journalism, objectivity, web site management and standards. Good stuff, really. My thanks once again to JoBlo for taking the time to speak with us. This was easily one of my favorite broadcasts.
Another reason you should download Monday’s show is because we’re giving away free copies of the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu which is coming out on DVD next week, Tuesday, April 24. The first half of the two part clue was given at the end of Monday’s show. Now is the time in the blog where I give you the second half.
The second half of the clue is “OUT”.
So all you need to do is combine the two clues and send them to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com along with your name, age and mailing address and you’ll be eligible for the random drawing!
I spent Tuesday home from work. I took a sick day, which is something I never do. Today we have a big meeting that I have to take photos for and if I was under the weather, it would have really put my department in a tight spot. So, instead of going to work sick like I usually do, I stayed home and recovered.
I felt totally useless, though because I couldn’t do anything to help Cami with Henry. I didn’t want to touch him and get him sick. Henry is actually going in for his first round of shots today at the pediatrician, so it would have been really lame if he had gotten sick the day before.
I rarely ever take sick days because I’m typically in denial about any illness I may succumb to. I don’t know why, but for the first part of the morning Tuesday, I had it in my head that I was doing the right thing by preventing those at work from getting sick and that I wasn’t sick myself. For some reason I thought I would be able to get a lot of work done while I was home. Maybe even get ahead on some of the comics!
Of course, I am a moron. Between slipping in and out of consciousness for most of the day, I was barely able to get this comic done. Oh, well.
I started feeling better around 6:00 or 7:00 last night, so Cami and I sat down to watch Smokin’ Aces, which had just come out on DVD and the good people at Universal decided to send me a copy of. I think when the movie first came out, I slagged it for trying to be a Pulp Fiction clone. In hindsight, I didn’t know what I was talking about. I was really attacking more how the film was being marketed and not the film itself.
While Smokin’ Aces certainly has it’s own kinetic style, it’s not a Pulp Fiction clone. It’s actually a little bit more comedic than I expected and there are a fistful of cameos in this thing.
I still think I made the right decision to skip it when it was in the theater, but this thing plays great on the small screen. The DVD extras were pretty cool, too. There’s a whole piece on the stunt work, which rarely is highlighted these days. So that was nice to see.
If you’re looking for a fun rental this weekend, I strongly suggest Smokin’ Aces. If you’re looking to kill a little time until then, check out this game – the Smokin Aces Card Killer Game. I found it an interesting diversion.
That about does it for me. I’ll talk to you guys soon!
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So this was the comic that I conceived over a week okay in coordination with last Monday’s comic. Admittedly, it would have worked better as the one-two punch I envisioned it to be, but real life just got in the way.
Man, I gotta build up a buffer of some kind. I feel like I’ve squandered the good will built up from that Monday comic. People really seemed to like it.
*sigh*
The good news, however, is that I found some great new light-effect brushes for Photoshop last night! See the light coming from behind Tom’s head? Nice, huh? Thanks, Internet!
I guess since I’m in the mood for full disclosure, I have to fess up to some Mike Myers level self-plagiarism. I stole the last panel of today’s comic from one of my previous comics. I suppose I could call it an “homage” but I don’t know if that would be entirely truthful. I actually tried drawing something different, but it came out too disturbing. Originally, it was going to be an overhead shot, almost behind the shower head. You were going to see Tom’s side butt – or haunch – entirely. Believe me, I’m saving you a lot of trauma. The panel from the previous comic was just too choice not to reuse. So, there you have it.
Don’t worry. Tomorrow’s comic will have completely original art. I’m finally starting to level out a little bit after coming home from Wizard World Chicago. Seriously – you almost need a day or two just to recover from these things. A lot of talking with people, loosing your voice, heavy lifting and extended driving. I’m always glad to do it. I’m just not as young as I used to be!
Be sure to check back on the site tomorrow. I have a great comic on Wanted ready for you. Followed by a comic about Hancock on Friday.
See you then!
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Apologies for the cut and paste job on today’s comic. But to be completely truthful, I spent most of the day in front of my computer writing my final paper for my Master’s research class. In fact, I took the day off from work to do it. By the time I was supposed to start working on the comic, I had a little trouble with the thought of sitting there for too much longer.
I don’t know how that’s any different than me sitting in front of a computer monitor at work for 8 hours and then coming home to do a comic. But maybe it has something to do with the location. Too much time in a tiny room ends up with you approaching Jack Torrence levels of crazy.
To make it up to you, I drew a pretty picture of Tom firing a phaser from Star Trek. To see it, vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics. And in case you’re not catching the reference Tom is making to the slinky dress and the green body paint, that was a sexual escapade introduced in last Friday’s comic.
Incidentally, regarding my research project, you guys knocked it out of the park when you came to bat for me by filling out those surveys. When all was said and done, almost 700 of you completed the survey! To keep that in perspective, during a round table discussion our class had about our research projects, many people were coming back with about 10 to 20 respondents for their surveys. You guys blew them out of the water. Even my professor was impressed!
So, at this point, I have to wait and see if she finds the paper that explains the research compelling. I felt like I wrote a pretty good paper. 9 pages, 3,000 words… respectable. Cami read it and she thought it made sense. Of course, by that point, it was due in an hour. I wasn’t going to be making any changes then!
I think what I found most interesting in the results is that the overwhelming majority of you – 82% – did not believe a background in film or journalism was a requirement to be a “legitimate” film critic. 81% of you felt that online reviews were no more or less credible than their print counter parts. In fact, nearly 8% of you felt that online reviews were MORE credible than print reviews.
That’s good news for me, but it makes me think about the traditional film critics who complain that online film criticism has devalued the art form. Turns out, education or background isn’t something the audience cares about.
The battle between traditional and online critics, to me, is very similar to the battle between syndicated cartoonists and web cartoonists. There’s all this finger pointing going on. One side says the other is devaluing the art form and if they had and “real” talent, they would have been able to make a name for themselves through traditional, “legitimate” print media. The other side points fingers back saying those in traditional media are behind the times and are clutching too tightly to their meal ticket instead of figuring out a way to monetize their talents in new media.
Less face it: Print is on it’s last legs right now. But of all the people losing their jobs, I would think film critics would have the easiest time cultivating an audience online. They’re afraid of starting over. That’s justifiable. But if their position is that only “legitimate” critics are good enough to make it in the world of print, let’s throw them into the global melting pot that is the internet and see the cream rise to the top.
Either you’re very talented and can attract your own audience or you’re a big fish in a little pond screaming bloody murder when the pond starts drying up. Better swim downstream into bigger waters before you get caught at the bottom of a dried up pond. That’s my advice.
Is there any interest from you guys in reading “The Value of Film Criticism Compared to the Decline of Print and the Rise of Online Publishing?” If so, let me know in the comments. Maybe I can upload it to the server later tonight and you guys can look it over for fun. That is, if your idea of reading a research paper is “fun.”
Not much else for discussion today. I pretty much exhausted all there was to say about Star Trek on Monday’s The Triple Feature.
In case you didn’t have a chance to listen to the show, I strongly encourage you to download it. We had a really good conversation about Star Trek as well as the teaser trailer for District 9 that was floating around last week. We didn’t completely see eye-to-eye on Star Trek, but I thought we got some interesting discussion out of it.
Just as a reminder, you can subscribe to The Triple Feature through iTunes. You can either search for us by name on through the iTunes store, or you can use this link. You can also subscribe to The Triple Feature’s RSS feed.
Just making things easier for you!
That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you here again on Friday!
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