It’s been a while since we’ve seen Charlie in a comic, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to reintroduce to the strip.

Y’know, for a while I’ve wanted to get back to telling longer story arcs and I’m sitting on a doozy that focuses on the ancillary players of the Theater Hopper universe. One of these days I’m going to have to get around to telling it and tighten things up a little bit in terms of how everyone relates to each other.

Just like in the comic, both Cami and I have the day off today because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Being the whitest white guy who every whited, I always felt a little guilty for being given the day off. What am I supposed to do with it? Practice my speech-writing skills? Participate in a sit-in of some kind?

I don’t mean to diminish Martin Luther King, Jr. or his accomplishments in any way. But getting the day off for his birthday is something new to me. The corporation I work for only recently enacted a policy giving employees time off for it. So I’m kind of at a loss.

I’m probably dating myself a little bit here, but I’m reminded of a skit from Saturday Night Live in the early to mid-90’s with Tim Meadows and Ellen Cleghorn as two office workers exchanging gifts on Marting Luther King, Jr. day. All of the white people in the office start to get very worried and start to ask each other “Were we supposed to get them gifts?” Eventually the two parties end up in conflict over the matter and all the white people scurry to get the African American co-workers gifts. When they leave the break room, Meadows and Cleghorn laugh about it all being a scam. I dunno. I guess I’m saying I relate to that confusion.

I didn’t get a chance to see 27 Dresses this weekend. Just didn’t shake out that way. But I did see Cloverfield on Friday night. Very intense film, but it lived up to the hype for me. I loved it and apparently so did a lot of you. The film broke all box office records for January.

It’s been interesting to monitor the reaction to this film. I’ve talked to some people who absolutely hated it and thought it was dumb. A lingering taste of Blair Witch still left in their mouths? The couple next to me at the showing I attended left with about 20 minutes to go. I have no idea what set them off.

At any rate, I’ll reserve the majority of my comments in this space and instead encourage you to tune in to The Triple Feature podcast being recorded LIVE at 9:00 PM CST this evening over at TalkShoe. I know that both Joe and Gordon saw the film and I’m positive there will be some strong opinions about it from all three of us.

If you saw the movie this weekend, I strongly encourage you to call in with your questions or leave your comments in the real-time chat filed during the broadcast. I’d love to gather a little more concensus around the film. I honestly think it’ll be a film people will still be talking about 5 years from now.

That’s all from me. Enjoy the day off if you’ve been lucky enough to have been granted it so. Otherwise, I hope this l’il old comic will help get you over the Monday blah’s.

Talk to you soon!