Posts Tagged ‘thong’
3 items.
Sorry today’s comic was so late. I kind of had a bad day Tuesday and by the time it came to putting together today’s comic, I had a headache, was kind of dispirited and not into it.
You’d think since I’m not working full time now that I would be more available to work on comics or watch movies, but I don’t do either of those things.
I apply for jobs, I’ve been on a few interviews and the rest of the time I spend either cleaning the house or waiting for someone to send me an e-mail with a job offer.
I don’t mean to bum you guys out or burden you with my problems. Like I said, I had a bad day yesterday. That doesn’t mean today is going to be a bad day. In fact, sometimes, you need a bad day before you can have a good day.
Let’s talk about the comic, shall we?
We talked about Bruno a little bit on Monday’s episode of The Triple Feature (which, by the way, was PACKED with listeners during the live show – thanks everybody!) I addressed my concerns about Sacha Baron Cohen using “GOTCHA!” tactics to get unwilling participants to expose their homophobia. Joe and Gordon thought I was making a big deal about nothing and that homophobes SHOULD be made fun of whether their wear their bias on their sleeve or not.
On the one hand I agree with them. But on the other, I look at a character like Bruno who provokes and provokes and provokes with outrageous behavior until Sacha Baron Cohen gets the results he wants. Then, when people throw up their arms in disgust or frustration, points at them and says, “See! See! These backwoods hicks aren’t tolerant!”
People are entitled to their opinion – however wrong it may be. But I feel like if you’re going to ridicule them for it, they should at least be on a level playing field. I mean, what’s entertaining about watching someone like Cohen shoot fish in a barrel?
I don’t interpret a character like Bruno as tool of social satire. I don’t think Cohen is using him to expose homophobes in a way that makes their fear or intolerance unjustifiable. To these people, Bruno is the embodiment of those fears. Bruno is a gross caricature of the worst stereotypical traits of gay man.
If I were gay, I would hate to think that I could be so humorless that I couldn’t appreciate Bruno making fun of gay/fashion “culture.” But at the same time, considering the social struggle of homosexuals in America, I don’t think you can look at a character like Bruno and say “This is advancing our cause.”
To put it another way, what if you had Jerry Lewis running around in blackface during the Civil Rights era making fun of racist Southerns. Do you think it would help or hurt?
Fundamentally, I think Sacha Baron Cohen is an intelligent, committed and utterly fearless performer. The fact that he attracts this kind of controversy through comedy and sets the stage for this kind of introspection is proof that he’s doing something right.
But at the same time, I get this vibe off him that he thinks everything is ridiculous and everyone is stupid and it makes it kind of hard for me to respect the guy. For that reason, I’m not especially looking forward to seeing Bruno.
Will I still see Bruno? Of course. If for no other reason than because, invariably, the film will be treated like a cultural event. It’s the ultimate in water cooler conversation (except I don’t have a water cooler to hang around these days).
Gordon accused me of only wanting to see the film so I could discuss it through Theater Hopper. He’s not wrong. A certain amount of this is homework. But I think, too, when you walk in with lowered expectations, there is the opportunity for walking out of the movie surprised.
What about the rest of you? Do you think Cohen will be able to catch you off-guard with Bruno as well as he did with Borat? How long can Cohen’s shock tactics last? How do you feel about generating comedy from awkward or provocative social situations? Are Cohen’s films effective social satire or a 2 hour version of Candid Camera? Leave your comments below!
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I have to apologize for two things.
First, apologies for the comic being posted later this evening on Monday.
Second, my apologies for the random violence in today’s strip. I’m of the firm belief that violence for the sake of violence is usually an indicator of poor writing. This might be the case with this strip. It certainly turned out a lot darker in tone than I originally envisioned.
Fortunately, there’s an excuse for both of these issues!
Last week, a link to Lackadaisy’s tutorial for drawing expressions made the rounds in webcomic circles. It. Is. Phenomenal. If you’re an illustrator of any capacity, you need to check it out. It’s very thorough and very informative.
Anyway, I spent the week digesting the information and really wanted to put what I learned into practice. So I grabbed a small hand mirror and started making goofy faces to use as reference in today’s comic. That’s why the strip is late.
As for the violence… I dunno. I was trying for extreme emotion and I guess I’m just an angry dude?
As for Natalie Portman, I do think it’s funny that she follows the most wildly heralded performance of her career in Black Swan with an Aston Kutcher romantic comedy. It kind of reminds me when Eddie Murphy followed his Oscar-nominated performance in Dreamgirls with Norbit.
I don’t think the bloom is off the rose for Portman, though. No Strings Attached opened in first place with tepid, but not toxic reviews. Even if the movie tanked, she’d be the last one to take the blame. They’d lay it at the feet of Ashton Kutcher or director Ivan Reitman before they ever thought about pointing fingers at Portman.
Besides, Portman’s long been championed as a lock for a Best Actress Oscar and we all know the Academy loves giving those awards to Americans. The field could be choked with Tilda Swinton, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett playing some kind of Elizabith I Super Beast. They’d still give the award to Sandra Bullock for playing a no-nonsense Mom with three kids.
I guess we’ll know what the field looks like tomorrow when nominations for the 83 Annual Academy Awards are announced tomorrow.
I plan on posting the nominees on the new Bonus Materials blog here on the site, for what it’s worth. I mean, it’s not like you can get that information anywhere else, right? But maybe you want to check in tomorrow and we can talk shop. Share with others your opinions of the nominations and who you think will win.
Should we put together some kind of Oscar betting pool?
Have you guys had a chance to check out the Bonus Materials blog yet? I only ask because I’ve been linking to some of the articles I’ve writing through the Theater Hopper Facebook account and one person asked me if I could add the articles to the site somewhere. They were having trouble finding them.
That’s why I slapped that “NEW BLOG!” graphic up there with the arrow pointing to the new navigation link. I don’t want you guys to miss out.
I’ve been trying to post at least one article daily, depending on what’s going on in the world of movies. Sometimes I post trailers or photos from upcoming films. Sometimes I talk about what’s going on right now.
For example, earlier today I posted an article about all the flack Kevin Smith has been catching from the blogger community after his new film Red State premiered at Sundance last night. It’s provoking some interesting responses.
My hope is that you guys check the blog often. But more importantly, I hope you contribute. I know more comics is always better. But until I can figure out a way to bump up production without killing myself, these blog posts are a way to create content and it isn’t much skin off my back.
So, anyway. Check it out and enjoy.
Oh, and if you didn’t notice, I added some social media links under the navigation to Theater Hopper’s Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds. If you want to check those out, that would be a real ego boost for me.
In the meantime, if you want to chat up Natalie Portman’s new sexy-time phase of her career, you can do that here, in the comments below.
HAVE AT IT, QUEEN AMIDALA FANBOYS!
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I had a hard time deciding what today’s comic should be about. I weighed my options and considered doing a comic either about Your Highness or Arthur. I also tried to decide if I would do a comic about the four minutes of footage from Green Lantern that was shown at Wondercon this weekend…
…but it didn’t really elicit a strong reaction from me one way or the other.
Even though I had somewhat swam in these waters before, I decided to do a comic about Your Highness only because it’s the only film even peripherally on my radar.
That said, the fact that Natalie Portman wearing a thong is the only thing from the marketing of this movie that I can remember doesn’t speak well of it’s overall entertainment value.
It’s kind of easy to make a joke at the expense of fanboys that are interested in seeing Queen Amidala’s butt. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, “Y’know, guys. There are MUCH better opportunities to see this kind of thing and in MUCH better movies.” Both Closer and Hotel Chevalier came to mind.
Of course Hotel Chevalier is a short film, not a feature. But I’m willing to be it’s about four times as sexy as Your Highness. Danny McBride’s involvement in ANY film cuts it’s potential for sexiness by half.
Then again… Zooey Deschanel is in Your Highness. Ooo! Conflicted!
While conversationally honest, I am aware that today’s comic lacks the pizazz of my last few efforts. I was also a little worried that references to Mike Nichols and Wes Anderson might go over the heads of some. I was feeling bad about that.
But every time I underestimate you guys, I always end up surprised. So let’s all pretend that this is the funniest comic I’ve ever written and laugh heartily together as brothers and sisters!
Or not.
Let’s talk about Your Highness. Are you making plans to see it this weekend? How do you feel about Danny McBride? Is his cocky loser persona starting to wear thin, or is it just me? Leave your comments below!
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