Posts Tagged ‘Thanksgiving’
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Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I wasn’t able to get my 5th and final contribution to the Theater Hopper/Movie Punks Crossover ready to go first thing today. I feel terrible about it, but nothing can be done. After so much turkey, alcohol and family, it was a struggle to get just the regular strip done.
Also, since this will be my last shot with the crossover, I wanted to make sure the quality was up to snuff. I didn’t want to hand out a crap product and expect you to take it on the chin. I’m already feeling crappy enough that I haven’t been able to do the proper highlighting on my colors the last two days.
Anyway, I apologize for the lateness of the strip, but it WILL be posted later this afternoon, so be sure to check back.
I hope everyone had a very safe and happy holiday. Thanksgiving at the Brazelton home was one of the best ever. We had all of our family over. It was our first time hosting, too. I’m proud to say it went off without a hitch. Props to Cami for being the best wife ever.
Be back later. Thanks.
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Sorry, guys. Due to Cami and I hosting Thanksgiving at our house yesterday, there was no time for me to prepare a comic for today. But don’t worry! You’ll still get your recommended dose of Theater Hopper goodness today! Just a little later than usual.
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Y’see. I TOLD you there would be a comic today. Just… a little later than I had planned.
Sorry for the delay, guys. But there was some sort of screw up with my server. I couldn’t upload the strip to the site! Never mind the POST Thanksgiving lay about attitude I’ve been carrying. Woke up late, ate some leftover turkey, slipped into a turkey-coma on the couch in the early afternoon, and woke up to start decorating the tree for Christmas.
My, how the day does fly by!
Anyway, here’s your holiday-themed comic. If you’re not picking up the reference I’m throwing down, it’s homage to the great Mr. Creosote scene in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. I love that movie.
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Yeah, I know it’s kind of lame to keep taking pot-shots at Gigli in our post-Bennifer world climate, but Ishtar and Waterworld jokes are even staler. Bear with me.
Lame jokes aside, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. If you’re traveling, I hope you make it to and from your destinations safely.
Thanksgiving kind of gets a bad rap because of the whole “My Crazy Family!” syndrome. But I find that the older you get, the less you interpret your family’s quirks as annoying. Somewhere in your 20’s they start to become endearing. I know some people who dread Thanksgiving because they don’t want to be around their families. But even if it’s a bad experience, you know these gatherings spawn the events you’ll be talking about for the rest of the year.
Anyway, happy Turkey Day, all.
Something I neglected to mention in Monday’s blog was actually pretty big news. After taking last Friday off from work, I labored tirelessly at home to bring the store up to speed. If you were to check it out now, you’d notice that the posters page is up and running. You’d also be aware that there are only 14 copies of the original Theater Hopper poster left! If you remember, only 100 were produced, all signed and numbered by yours truly. So they’re a real unique piece of web comic history and a pretty exclusive club to belong to!
The apparel section of the site has been updated as well. For starters, the “Spoiler” tee shirt and hoodie are back up for sale. If you missed it the first time around, now is the chance to place your order. I’m getting feedback and pictures from people who have received their shirts and they love them!
If you visit the shirt and hoodie pages, you’ll also notice that I added a NEW item called “Professional Movie Goer”. The inspiration for this design came from this strip when Jimmy flashed one of Tom’s “Professional Movie Goer” business cards back at him. Now you can let everyone at the multiplex know that you are the only one in attendance QUALIFIED enough to be called a professional!
I think the shirt that I’m most proud of is our new baby doll exclusive – “Truman in a Purse”. Taken directly from this comic where Cami celebrates Legally Blonde 2, now all the ladies can have Truman for their very own! We’re offering this in a TON of colors. 11, to be exact. So everyone should find something that fits their style!
I am currently taking pre-orders for all clothing items through December 10th, so place your order now to reserve your shirt! Due to the time it will take to get these back from the printer, I’m afraid I will NOT be able to meet any orders for holiday delivery. It’s a rough estimate at the moment, but I envision these shirts shipping sometime before the end of the year.
That’s pretty much all I have for the moment. Thanks again for everyone’s support. Best wishes and happy holidays!
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Nov23
Our good buddy Leatherface wants you to enjoy his holiday feast. No, it’s not what you think. He’s honestly turned over a new leaf! Isn’t he the happy host!
For our international readers, tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States. A holiday born from the symbolic brotherhood between the indigenous people of the Americas and their future white oppressors from across the ocean. But no one talks about small pox blankets anymore.
Perhaps I’m being glib. Really Thanksgiving is a good excuse to get together with family and eat a big meal. I’ve been looking forward to this year’s festivities since about September.
Coming up with a comic that was both holiday-related and movie-related is no small order. I’ve managed to pull it off in years gone by. But it’s getting tougher and tougher to conceptualize something. Seems like every Hollywood offering that has to do with this time of year centers around an excentric family that someone just can’t manage to get along with! Darn!
Take the upcoming The Family Stone, for example. Sarah Jessica Parker (or SJP to her fans) plays an uptight urban dweller brought home to meet the quirky family of the favorite son. There are several awkward exchanges, terse glances, and wacky hijinks ensure. I’m sure there will be a food fight in there somewhere. And, in the end, grand reconsiliation. Because, hey! We’re FAMILY, right?!
:: fade to black ::
At any rate, when I do a Thanksgiving strip, it’s my goal to reach a few steps beyond the whole "families are crazy!" cliche. But then again, if Tom stomping around in a Leatherface costume isn’t crazy, I don’t know what is!
To our America readers, if I don’t catch up with you sooner, have a safe and happy holiday. More wacky hijinks in this spot on Friday!
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Nov25
If you’re going to go to the trouble of sneaking in an entire pumpkin pie, you should at least be prepared when it comes to the other condiments.
Not much to say about today’s comic except I’m really happy with the joke. In fact, I’m pretty pleased with both of my Thanksgiving-themed comics this year. Both writing and art. I don’t pat myself on the back very often, but I think these two strips deserve it. Disagree if you want. My opinion is pretty much fully-formed at this point.
I don’t know if Cami and I are going to head out into the screaming mobs today and try to brave Black Friday. We were up for it earlier in the week. We were going to go with my sister-in-law Tara. It was kind of a mini-tradition between the three of us.
But Cami ran herself ragged yesterday preparing a Thanksgiving meal for both families and she’s pretty much shot. She did a great job, though. Best Thanksgiving we’ve had together, I think. The first one in our new house, too. We’re off to a good start!
We might see Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire this weekend. We both feel kind of bad that we weren’t able to get to it last week. (We saw Walk the Line instead). I keep hearing that it’s the best of the Potter movies so far, but I’m trying to stay away from spoilers. I want to be surprised. I haven’t read any of the books, so I guess I’ll be doubly surprised!
Hey, did you notice that today is comic #499? Do you know what that means? It means on Monday we’ll be celebrating comic #500! Can you believe it? I know I can’t. I know I’ve been at this for three years, but 500 comics is a real milestone to me. Wild.
There’s been some behind-the-scenes planning going on that I think you guys are really going to like. It’s going to make navigating the archive SOOOOO much easier, you don’t even know. But there’s an extra surprise waiting in the wings, so be sure to check in on Monday for the full scoop!
Have a safe holiday weekend!
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Some quick words about the Kickstarter fund raising campaign for Theater Hopper: Year Three before launching into the blog…
The project received a couple more pledges since Monday and I wanted to say thanks. We’re now up to 37% funded, but I need to keep pushing forward. I keep looking for that magical “tipping point” that sends pledges into overdrive, but it hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully, I will have some time over the holidays to draw that Monsters, Inc. drawing I was talking about earlier that I was planning to give away in a random drawing once we reach $1,500 in pledges. I was also planning on recording myself as I create the drawing and posting that on the updates page, so look for that in the future.
In the meantime, I know there are several of you that are in a situation where you can’t pledge to the project – either because of financial reasons or because (for some weird reason) Kickstarter doesn’t allow international credit cards. But there is still a way you can help!
If you currently own a copy of Theater Hopper: Year One or Theater Hopper: Year Two, please go to the project’s comments page and leave feedback about those books. It’s hard for me to ask you to do this without sounding completely narcissistic, but the previous books are probably the best evidence I have to help me justify a third book. I’m hoping that personal testimonies regarding the content and quality of the first two books will help to convince potential pledge candidates that this is a worthwhile project to lend their support to.
Additionally, you can also use the social media links under the video on the project homepage to help spread the word – Email, Facebook, Delicious, MySpace, Twitter and Digg. They’re all there for you to help you tell your online social networks about this project.
Okay, that went on a little longer than I thought. So let’s get to the blog, shall we?
When I first saw the posters for Ninja Assassin earlier this fall, I didn’t pay much attention. It looked a little generic to me.
But I started to turn around on that idea when I saw the trailer and watched some of the commercials that cropped up. My favorite commercial is this one. Before they launch into the action, the voice over guy darkly informs us that “WARNING: Only one ninja was harmed during the making of this film. The rest of them… were killed!”
Guess what, buddy? You just earned my $8.00.
Incidentally, I should warn you that the commercial is pretty graphic and bloody. They say it’s a red-band commercial, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. I couldn’t find the “clean” version that used the warning message, but I swear I’ve seen it on television in the last couple of weeks.
In my rational mind, I know that Ninja Assassin is going to be pure, bombastic cheese. But I think it’s going to be a nice cathartic release after the Thanksgiving holiday. To put it another way, I don’t think sitting through a thematically dense film like Precious is the antidote to a day spent overeating with your family. Ninja Assassin seems like an appropriate “switch off your brain and relax” kind of movie.
Plus, like Shoot ‘Em Up a couple of years ago, I’m totally on board with the title. You know exactly what you’re going to get with this movie. You will see ninjas. You will see assassinations. Case closed.
Okay, fine. Does it help you to know that it was produced by The Wachowski Brothers and directed by the guy that did V For Vendetta? Because it is. To that end, I think you can expect a certain level of polish to the visuals, even if the standard revenge plot and dialogue leave something to be desired.
So there you have it. That’s what I’m doing with my weekend. I’m going to watch acrobatic Asians pretend to slice each other up like so much turkey. For the Americans in the audience, what’s your plan post-holiday? Is anyone going to brave the Black Friday sales or have you guys been making your purchases online this year? What about Ninja Assassin? Any interest or does it look like schlock to you?
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!
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I think everyone was left scratching their heads when The Hollywood Foreign Press nominated The Tourist, Burlesque and Red for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. But, for me, it was the final revelation that the Emperor TRULY wears no clothes.
I mean, the Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical category has always been a bit off a goof. Especially considering that the two genres have very little (if anything) to do with each other. And besides, how many musicals does Hollywood produce a year? One? Maybe two?
When you look at the nominees in this category, you begin to understand why comedic actors are rarely nominated for Oscars. Because, apparently, what counts as “comedy” in that town is REALLY friggin’ subjective.
I missed the first hour of the Golden Globes because I was busy being a parent (or some such nonsense) and was reading Henry stories before putting him to bed. I kind of wish I had caught the first hour because I heard Trent Reznor won Best Score for his work in The Social Network, went on stage to collect his award and that would have been very surreal to see.
But I started watching in the second hour and after about :30 minutes, thought to myself, “I’d really rather be playing video games right now.”
I managed to stick it out for the rest of the show. Chalk it up to exhaustion and not wanting to get up off the couch. But as I laid there, I asked myself “How do I get sucked into this every year? How does The Hollywood Foreign Press manage to convince me that this is important? That they’re not plying all of these celebrities with booze so the can take pictures with them later? Why does this matter?”
I still haven’t come up with a good answer for you on that one, but I’ll be sure to get back to you when I do.
More than the nominees or the winners, it seems like people are talking about Ricky Gervais as the event’s host. I guess his opening monologue was pretty incendiary and Robert Downey Jr. shot back at one point. I missed that stuff.
The stuff I did manage to see I thought was a little mean-spirited. Not that I’m against knocking celebrities off their high horses (obviously), but I’ve always kind of found Gervais to be insufferable. It’s that snarky, know-it-all tone and ridiculous grin, I think.
No doubt that Gervais is devastatingly smart, but Gervais’s put downs are never about getting the target to laugh at themselves. It’s straight up insults – “You’re a drunk! You can’t get work! You’re stupid!” – and it’s not entertaining to watch.
As I pointed out on the Theater Hopper Facebook page, I was left with the distinct impression that Gervais was doing everything in his power NOT to be asked back as host next year. Mission accomplished, bro.
If you’re curious, I’ve posted all of the Golden Globe winners in the new Theater Hopper blog – Bonus Materials. Be sure to check that out. I float a lot of odds and ends in there, so be sure to check back often. Or, feel free to subscribe to the Theater Hopper RSS feed. The blog posts show up there as well.
In the meantime, did you watch the Golden Globes last night? Were you as flummoxed as I was? What is your reaction to the nominees and the winners? Leave your comments below!
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