I hope everyone is catching the nod to the outstanding work of The Brothers Chaps and the infinite hilarity of their site Homestar Runner. If not, you need to check them out right now.
I don’t think it’s any big surprise that 2 Fast, 2 Furious pulled in the most bank this weekend. It faced no competition and was geared to that “target demo” that is so frivolous with its cash. And by “target demo”, I mean 15 year old boys.
It’s scary how well marketers know you and your spending habits. Don’t believe me? Look at the formula? Cars, guns, girls in tight clothes. Is that a movie for grandma? Of course not. So who goes? Kids with cash. If they have girlfriends, odds are they are dragging them along with ’em. It’s a double-whammy.
I would hope this scourge would be wiped off the face of movie screens everywhere after a week, but this weekends competition doesn’t look too strong. Dumb and Dumberer? Uh-oh.
Anyway, enough about money and marketing and all that boring crap. Let’s talk about the strip.
I was really shocked when I found out John Singleton was the director on 2F2F. It doesn’t really fit within his range of style. I mean, even when he’s pitching more toward the mainstream, he usually sticks closer to an urban theme – like he did in Shaft.
I just think it’s a damn waste that one of the most promising directors of the early 90’s – a guy who gave a very clear view into gang culture and violence in Boyz in tha Hood – could turn around and do something like 2F2F. Maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised. He DID direct Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time” video. I think Wacko Jacko must have warped him.
I had a chance this weekend to sit down and watch The Animatrix. As expected, Cami wasn’t into it. I started watching it while she was reading a book. Protesting, she wondered why I didn’t wait to watch it until Wednesday night when she would be out of the house. No such luck, sweetcheeks!
For what it was worth, I thought it was okay. An interesting experiment more than anything. Some of them I had already seen online, so I kind of knew the score.
Of those I hadn’t seen, I really enjoyed “A Detective Story” and “Beyond” the most. The former more for its visual style and pacing and the latter for it’s taken on The Matrix and how it works.
If you haven’t seen it, “Beyond” sets up the premise where a house in The Matrix is “glitching” so the laws of gravity, physics, environment, et al don’t apply. Yet all the kids in the neighborhood are oblivious and just think it’s haunted. Very clever. If you’re at all interested in the mythology of the franchise, you should at least rent it.
I’m growing concerned that poster sales have stagnated. I’m curious as to why this is. I have an inkling that many of you are biding your time until the print run begins to dwindle and plan on snatching one up then. I’ve received a few e-mails to that effect.
So I’m trying to figure out a way to spur sales. Should I have Jared and Cami sign a poster, too? Should I drop the price? What are your thoughts. Hit me up in the forum and let me know.
Lastly, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who e-mailed me in regard to the whole Top Web Comics episode I spoke of on Friday. Many of you were very supportive and said nice things about the comic to boot. I appreciate that.
I still don’t know what I’m going to do in regard to the reminders (i.e. frequence, discontinuation), but it’s good to know you guys are out there reading this. It’s nice to know someone is listening.
I’m kind of in a weird place right now. Summer is around the corner and always at this time of year I step back and take stock of things. I feel like I’ve been sitting still for too long. I need to start moving again. Just to know I can. I need to do more – be more. Make things better.
Thanks for putting up with any “glitches” of my own during this period. I should be back to normal in a little while.
Well, that’s pretty final, don’t you think?
I know it’s kind of a contrivance to have Charlie go nuclear in the overreaction department, but there are two things to consider here:
- Plot efficiency.
- The honest assessment that some girls have a zero-tolerance policy on screwing around.
On the second point I would like to reinforce that there is certainly nothing wrong with having standards. And who knows? Maybe Charlie has been jerked around by womanizers before? As we learned from her introduction story line, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
But we’re not going to explore that here.
As I mentioned on Wednesday, next week will take us out of flashbacks and we will learn how Jimmy ended up working at the theater that was ground zero for his greatest heartbreak. One week after that, I should have everything wrapped up.
Thanks, by the way, for indulging me these last few weeks. I know Theater Hopper is traditionally about bringing you the funny, but it’s good to flex a different set of muscles from time to time. Hopefully I’ve been able to compensate with enough dramatic tension to hold your interest.
Thanks, also, for the outpouring of support on the whole transcription effort. I posted a blog entry late Wednesday night and woke up Thursday morning with e-mails from a dozen people write in offering their services. I’ve assigned coverage up to January 2005 and still have more e-mails to sort through. I feel confident that we’ll not only have coverage for the entire archive of comics, but we’ll have them transcribed in short order. I honestly wasn’t expecting that this would be something you guys would be excited about, but I’m glad you proved me wrong!
If you’d like to see which months are still available – along with the items I am offering in compensation for your help – you can read about it here.
Not much for me to talk about movie-wise this weekend. Nothing new in theaters except Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li – both of which look like a couple of turds on wheels to me.
I’m sure the Jonas Brothers movies will rake in significant box office by attracting the tweener crowds, but I saw some footage of Street Fighter and WOW, was it bad. Wire-Fu was nakedly evident and the fight choreography was stilted and tired. To add insult to injury, the editing was atrocious. Pulling wide on shots that revealed too much of the wire work and claustrophobic, “eat the camera” close-ups that kept you from seeing what was even happening.
It’s probably not getting worked up over. If it doesn’t star Raul Julia and Jean-Claude Van Damme, why bother, AMIRITE?!
I was thinking this would have been the weekend for a more ambitious movie to try and get in front of Watchmen before it lands in theaters next week – some middling Sandra Bullock or Kate Hudson comedy that didn’t stand a chance of making a ton of money in the first place. But I guess the studios look at Watchmen like it’s the 800-pound gorilla. Make way.
I kind of wish I could have wrapped up this story line sooner so I could get hip-dip in the hype surrounding Watchmen because – like it or not – after two weeks, I think it will be over. I don’t think Watchmen has legs. Advance reviews have been too polarizing and it doesn’t sound like fanboys are going to be happy with it beyond a pure visual interpretation. At this point, the burden of proof is on Watchmen to impress me. I’m not turning over on this one as readily as I did Iron Man. I am cautiously optimistic.
What about the rest of you? Are you ready to submit to Watchmen? Have you read any of the reviews online? Have they influenced you at all or is Watchmen critic-proof? What’s your impression? Leave your comments below.
Not to sound like a complete prude, but it does kind of amaze me that Hollywood has released a movie called Kick-Ass. I ran a search for “ass” on the Internet Movie Database and while there are certainly films that have used that word as part of their title, I can’t think of a single movie as high profile as Kick-Ass to promote the colloquialism so prominently.
Even though I never read the original graphic novel on which the movie is based, I’m looking forward to the movie a great deal. The trailers make it look like colorful, sadistic fun. How ironic that the use of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” for the marketing campaign is so much more effective than “Cherry Bomb” was for The Runaways.
Aaron Johnson plays the film’s hero. I have no idea who he is. He has a fairly extensive resume, so I assume his performance will be pretty good. Although, honestly, I’m surprised the role didn’t go to Jesse Eisenberg. I guess there wasn’t enough sensitive longing in the character.
I’ll be doing comics about Kick-Ass all week, so I don’t want to say everything I have to say about the movie right now. Right now I’m getting ready to leave for C2E2 on Thursday, so I’m also trying to work ahead on the comics a little bit.
Usually I run guest comics when I go to a convention. But I thought, for once, maybe it would be a good idea to have some of my OWN work on display for people who see me at the convention and later check out the site. First impressions and all that. I’m sure you understand.
So, needless to say, it’s going to be a busy week.
If you’re going to be in Chicago this weekend and would like to say “Hi” you can find me here using C2E2’s interactive floor map. I will be at table WC-N in Webcomics Pavilion. I’m sharing the same area as Brat-halla, Shortpacked!, Erika Moen and Lucy Knisley. So if you see any of those artists, you’re in the right neighborhood!
My friends Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex will be there as well and I’m really looking forward to seeing them. You should be sure to stop by their booths and say “Hi” as well.
That’s it for now. If you’re going to be at C2E2 this weekend, let me know! If you plan on seeing Kick-Ass this weekend, leave some comments and let’s talk about it!
Cheers!