For those of you who are regular readers to the site, the name David Buist should be a familiar one to you. In addition to writing and drawing the excellent web comic Taking the Bi-Pass, David is also the author of several of the ultra-cool applications running on this very site. The Top 50 list, the blog comments and the movie review database (currently being refurbished to fit the new design scheme). David has a generous spirit beyond compare and I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s given to Theater Hopper. Help me return the favor to David by bookmarking Taking the Bi-Pass and checking his site every day. It’s worth it. Trust me.

Incidentally, David will be a parent as well in a few months. So, in addition to returning the favor on the guest comic rounds, we’ll probably be up IM’ing each other late at night trading child-rearing tips and figuring out how we can get our respective tots off to sleep. Congrats, David!

In addition to David’s strip today, you guys will want to take a break from your Valentine’s Day activities on Wednesday to check the site for a guest essay written by none other than Jerry Holkins from Penny Arcade.

I’ve been teasing Jerry’s contribution for about a week now, but it’s time to come clean. I don’t want to lay all the cards out on the table just yet. I need something to talk about on Wednesday! But I think you’ll all get a real kick out of Jerry’s work. It speaks directly toward the themes of fatherhood, responsibility and – yes – even movies. And isn’t that what this whole month has been about?

Of course, on Friday, there will be another original strip from me (about Ghost Rider, natch) but I have a feeling it’s going to be a pretty hard act to follow.

What’s up in movie land? Well, Eddie Murphy’s Norbit was number one at the box office this weekend blowing away it’s nearest competition Hannibal Rising by more than double it’s take. $33 million in three days? Seriously – what’s wrong with America?

All I can say is that I hope the payday was worth it for Murphy. Despite Roger Ebert’s endorsement for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, there is palpable public sentiment that he doesn’t deserve it (NSFW!). Couple this with the projects he’s lining up post-Norbit (like a FOURTH Beverly Hills Cop) and you can pretty much categorize Murphy as artistically bankrupt.

In other more… depressing news?… Cami and I watched Half Nelson last night. I was able to get my hands on a screener copy before it comes out on DVD Tuesday. We were both curious to see it because it was a blip on our radar when it was in theaters last year and because Ryan Gosling is the dark horse contender in the Best Actor race this year. It was well worth the viewing, I must share. The subject matter appears to be both rote and bleak when read from the page. It’s the story of a inner-city history teacher (Gosling) who through his own unique perspective gets his students to think for themselves. This sounds like territory previously mined from Dangerous Minds or more recently Freedom Writers. But there’s a twist. Gosling has a dingy apartment and a nasty drug habit and one of his students finds out.

Everything that happens from there completely deviates from every other inner city education movie cliche you can imagine and it’s very interesting to watch it unfold. Without giving too much away, there is a reason Gosling was nominated in a performance that hardly anyone saw. For those that have witnessed it, his performance is very nuanced and empathetic. Well worth the rent when it comes out on Tuesday. Check it out.

Incidentally, we’ll be talking about Half Nelson along with The Bicycle Thief in the first half hour of The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 pm CST. If that sounds too cerebral for your tastes, we’ll be talking about romantic comedies in the second half hour in honor of Valentine’s Day this week. Join us tonight at 9:00 pm CST when Gordon, Joe and myself talk about all the sappiest, gooiest movies ever to ham-handedly yank a heartstrings. It should be a lot of fun.

That’s all for now. See you guys here on Wednesday!