Archive for August, 2003
26 items.
Last night I watched Repulsion, a Roman Polanski film about a young girl who cracks up. She is a virgin who is intrigued by men but also utterly repulsed by them. I planned to watch this in two parts, but was unable to stop watching after I began. This strange movie is worth a gander.
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Aug22
I think the more savvy among us are aware that the DVD market is often ledden with scams designed to extract your last home-entertainment dollar. Movies are released then re-released with “extra bonus footage!” and “double secret extra hidden footage!” that keeps you coming back for more. By now, I think there are at least 94 different editions of the American Pie movies.
That said, you have no one to blame but yourself if you wind up purchasing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when it comes out on DVD this coming Tuesday. They might as well call that the “Sucker Edition” when you consider all the cool extra stuff they’ll insert with the Platinum Series Extended Edition in November.
Honestly, I’ll probably stay away from even that and wait until after Return of the King since they’ll probably bundle all of the Platinum Series together with a special collectors edition hollow bust of Sean Astin’s head that you’ll be able to carry around like a thermos.
I’m looking forward to that…
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Aug25
Looking at the ads and trailers for The Medallion makes me wonder “How long can Jackie Chan keep doing this?”
Over the course of our lives, we’ve probably all seen a Jackie Chan film at one point or another. They’re kind of like the Bond movies. Don’t they say at least one fourth of the world has seen one? Jackie is the same way. And if you haven’t seen one, I strongly recommend Legend of Drunken Master II. Brilliant.
But I digress. What I’m trying to say is, by now, we all kind of know the routine. The infinite chase sequences, the unbelievable stunts, the running up walls. How long can Jackie keep this up?
As Jackie has gotten older, his films have relied more and more on stunt doubles and CGI. That would have been sacrilege a few years ago, seeing as Jackie has ALWAYS done his own stunts.
But I guess insurance companies won’t write policies for Jackie anymore in the case of an accident. Either that or they cost incredibly amounts of money.
I just think it’s one of those cruel twists of fate that, at half a century, Jackie Chan has really become well-known in America… just as things are starting to slide down the other end of the bell curve.
Just a thought.
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Aug27
THIS IS AS WILD AS WE GET ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT
August 27th, 2003 |
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
There’s been a lot of fuss made about the 25th anniversary of Animal House – commemorated this week with a new Dolby-quality output of the seminal 1978 gross-out comedy on DVD this last Tuesday.
I admire Animal House less for what it is and more for the path it paved. Up until that point, erection jokes really weren’t getting their play in American cinema. It just goes to show, all of the most awesome movies were made in the 1970’s.
I was thinking about Animal House and its level of raunchiness. Not only the “gross-out” stuff, but the general sneering attitude toward women and minorities. I sincerely doubt the movie would ever be made in these P.C. times.
I was never in a fraternity in college. Blissfully, my alma mater was host to a fairly anemic Greek system. But my Dad was a frat guy and he swears by Animal House. It’s probably his favorite movie. He loves to tell me stories about initiation pranks where they would cover a banana in chunky peanut butter, drop it in a toilet and force blindfolded pledges to retrieve it. That’s exactly the level of sophomoric hi-jinks Animal House pitches. I find it more roguishly charming than truly outrageous. Almost cute.
If you compare hazing rituals like that one to the 24-hour keg stand most fraternities pass off as tradition these days, it makes me think my Dad rode the crest of the wave. I envy him in that respect.
Why such a goofball movie makes me think these things is beyond me. But it must have something to do with the enduring legacy of the film. Thanks to Animal House, every college guys aims for a similar experience…
…or at least wish they had.
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I just wanted to point out that we’ve fallen off the Top Ten at Top Web Comics. So this is just a little reminder to get everyone in gear and VOTE EVERY DAY!!!
Although, if I’m going to fall off the list, I don’t have a problem losing out to Instant Classic, I was getting so used to seeing our banner there…
The other bit of site news is that I am now selling advertising space (click on the link for more information). So if you have a site you would like to promote, please keep Theater Hopper in mind as an advertising option. More spots will probably become available on the left and right hand sides of the comic in the near future. So, look out for that, too.
I know there was some talk in the past about me redesigning the site, but that looks less likely now. Every layout I came up with just looked weird. Especially since I didn’t want to lose the curtains.
So what I’ll probably end up doing is ditching the links on the sides and replace those with advertising. Any specialty site news like merchandise or reviews will be placed directly below the comic but before the blog in a handy rotating banner set up. I’ll probably expand the width of the blog space as well so you won’t have to scroll so far to read it.
These are just minor touch-ups. But I thought you would like to be aware of them.
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Part of me feels like I should apologize for today’s strip, while the other part of me can’t stop giggling at its absurdity.
Hey, if nothing else – I sent you into the weekend with an endearing image!
You’ve probably heard by now that New Line is planning on re-releasing the first two installments of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy before the release of Return of the King – the final installment.
The butt-numb-a-thon won’t happen everywhere – just a handful of markets and it is generally considered more of a publicity stunt to generate buzz about RotK than anything else.
That’s a damn shame. I wish more theaters were getting the trilogy in one fell swoop. Sure, it would take endurance. But if there was ever a group of people who could tolerate staring into space, stewing in their own butt juices, it’s Tolkien fans.
That, or Deadheads.
Ooo… I’m gonna get some mail for that one! Just kidding, my little Cherry Garcias!
I’m really looking forward to the Labor Day weekend. Tomorrow I have an afternoon wedding to attend and a bachelor party immediately following!
On Sunday I’m going out to lunch with my parents and dinner with a bunch of friends. Why? Because on Monday, it will be CAMI’S BIRTHDAY! I’m sure I will repeat it on the first, but it never hurts to send birthday greetings ahead of time!
There will also be a few layout changes when you come back to the site on Monday, so get ready for that!
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Sorry about all the ass in today’s comic…
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