RSS HELP

June 15th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Does anyone out there know anything about RSS feeds? I’d like to change up how the one for Theater Hopper functions.

If you check out how our feed is being displayed over at LiveJournal, you’ll see that there is an entry for every blog post along with a link back to the site. There is also a second entry for each comic, but with no image. Just the same link back to the site.

What I would like to do is somehow marry the two. I would like the first blog post to have the comic in it. So the order of the information would be the comic at the top followed by the first blog post all contained in one entry. Subsequent blog posts would be given their own entry without the comic image. Maybe if we added a link back to the site at the bottom of the post or somehow made a hotlink of the comic image back to the site, that would be a nice thing to include.

If you have any experience with this, please contact me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com.

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NEW TRIPLE FEATURE TONIGHT – WE WANT YOU TO PARTICIPATE!

June 11th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Sorry, it took me a while to post this information. But I’ve been sick today after a round of serious vomiting earlier in the morning. Today’s been spent mostly sleeping.

I just wanted to remind everyone that The Triple Feature talkcast is happening tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe. It’s a big occasion for us – our 25th episode. Can you believe we’ve been doing this a little more than half a year!

Tonight we’ll be talking about Ocean’s Thirteen and Paris Je T’Amie. We’re also saving the last half hour for our picks of the best movies of 2007… so far.

We want to strongly encourage everyone to participate in real time and to call in with your opinions. Seeing as how much flack I catch for posting reviews lately, a few of you seem to think you can do it better. Well, here’s your chance!

That’s not fair. I’m setting this up to be a confrontational thing and that’s not what we’re about. I seriously want to include everyone, so please, call in and tell us your thoughts.

Or, listen to the show and see if I flip out in a Robitussin-induced rage! A good time any way you slice it!

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THE TRIPLE FEATURE – TONIGHT 9:00 PM CST

June 4th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Hey, guys. I just wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone about The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at Talkshoe.com. Tonight Gordon, Joe and I will be discussing Knocked Up and taking your calls LIVE!

I haven’t really given T.T.F. the red carpet treatment in a while, so I really want to call your attention to it. Gordon, Joe and I have put almost two dozen shows under our belt and I think we’re really hitting our stride. We’ve been getting lots of compliments not only for our film criticism, but also for our individual sense of humor. I think tonight’s show is going to be particularly good because we have one guy who’s dating, one guy who’s recently married and one guy hitched up for the last seven years with a new baby in tow. We cover the entire demographic spread for Knocked Up and I think it’s going to be really interesting to listen to how each of us applied our personal filters when watching this movie.

Any way you slice it, you’re going to be entertained – so why not give us a try? If you miss tonight’s live broadcast, you can always download it later – which we encourage! – but golly, it sure would be nice if you could join us in real time!

See you tonight!

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DARTH VADER IS A PIMP

May 30th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

This has nothing to do with anything, but I wanted to share it.

On paper, the idea of replacing Darth Vader’s dialogue from Star Wars with other random lines from James Earl Jones’s career sounds inventive, but not profoundly humorous.

Then you watch the video mash-up and realize how wrong you were.

For a generation that grew up knowing James Earl Jones from his roles in movies like Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America and Field of Dreams, you forget there was a period in the 70’s where he played a lot of tough talking soul bruthahs that are played to hilarious effect here.

Check it out!

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MORE REVIEWS

May 7th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Hey, guys. I hope you liked the first formal, main page review for the site for Spider-Man 3. I still kind of have my training wheels on, so hopefully it’s not too out of place.

If you guys are at all interested in reading more reviews, be sure to check out my recent concert review of Stone Sour that I did for The Des Moines Register. They posted it on their web site yesterday and readers have already left a few comments.

It was a good show. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed their music. I guess it’s just not cool for a hipster like myself to admit I like Stone Sour now. But what can I say? I appreciate their lack of irony. It’s just straight to the gut rock. Nothin’ wrong with that.

Be sure to tune in to The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at Talkshoe. Gordon, Joe and I will be discussing Spider-Man 3 for the full hour and taking your calls. If you’re a hard-core comic book nerd like me, I’m sure you have opinions. So don’t be afraid to call in and voice ’em!

Oh, and one more thing: I’m staying home from work this week to spend time with Cami and Henry before Cami’s maternity leave is up. If I have some free time, I have an idea for an extra strip related to Spider-Man 3 that I’d like to put together this week while it’s still timely. You’ll still get the Wednesday strip. I’m just giving you the head’s up there might be a little bonus comic action coming soon! Check the site again on Tuesday!

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A SNARK I FORGOT

May 7th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I was coming across my notes for my review this morning and I remembered a bitchy little comment I wanted to make that I didn’t add to the final review.

“Spider-Man is without his mask so often in this movie, the should have called it ‘Peter Parker 3’ instead of Spider-Man 3.”

Look, I realize that the first movie was raked over the coals for the totally Power Rangers-esque dialogue delivery between Green Goblin and Spider-Man during that scene on the rooftop. Lots of overexaggerated head bobs to indicate words were being spoken. I also realize that Tobey Maguire is a big star now and probably pushed for more face time. For an actor, it makes sense. But it just bugged the hell of out of me. Put on your damn mask! Staple it to your neck if you need to!

Also, can anyone explain to me what Captain Stacy and Gwen Stacy were doing at a certain someone’s funeral at the end of the movie? Were these characters ever introduced to each other? Sorry, stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

Also, total waste of James Cromwell as Captain Stacy and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. They were hardly in it at all. Another example of how this movie was stuffed to the gills, in my opinion – and in a bad way.

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IRON MAN

May 4th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Iron ManSince we’re on a super-hero movie kick (sorry, high-minded movie fans) I was wondering if you guys caught the first image of the armor from the forthcoming 2008 Iron Man movie over at EW.com?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HARD CORE Iron Man fan. As I type this, no less than 13 different Iron Man figures are staring at me from atop a nearby shelf. I would even go so far to say that I’m a bigger fan of Iron Man than Spider-Man. I mean, Spider-Man will always be my first love. But I have a thing for the second-tier characters. Of course, that’s less and less the case with Iron Man these days.

There is something I’ve always found very visually appealing about Iron Man and I think it’s because the technology he utilizes allows artists to create variations on a theme for his signature look. That’s a lot of fun. Even the crap armor designs I love because they’re trying something new and it fits within the motivations of the character.

I mean, you can slap Spider-Man into a dark suit to make him more “moody” and it looks cool. But we all know that’s not who Peter Parker is. Iron Man, on the other hand, is constantly upgrading and improving his armor and the look progresses because of it. The only thing non-progressive about the character is his origin story. In the comics, he was wounded by a piece of shrapnel selling arms and munitions during the Vietnam War. He was held captive and forced to design a chest plate to keep his heart beating. He built the armor around it and escaped. Timely when the character was introduced, sure. But a little stale 40-plus years later.

In recent years they’ve tried to update the conflict placing him in Afghanistan. But in another 40 years, it’ll be the same problem.

At any rate, the topic I really wanted to address was the armor design for the movie. Stan Winston is doing visual effects. He’s the guy who created the Alien, Robocop, the Predator, the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park and the Terminator. So you know you’re in good hands. I just want to breathe a huge sigh of relief that they’re staying faithful to the armor design from the comics. The smartest thing director Jon Favreau did was hire artist Adi Granov as a technical adviser. Granov was the last artist to update Iron Man’s look and it’s probably one of my favorite interpretations yet. To me it says they’re taking it seriously.

Anyway, I could geek out for hours. But I didn’t want to let this slip by without saying something about it.

Is anyone else excited for Iron Man in 2008?

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ODDS AND ENDS

May 4th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

This has nothing to do with anything, but since it’s the weekend, I thought you guys might enjoy a little linkage to kick things off.

Cracked.com runs down comparisons between some of the most obviously similar movies released in the same year. Dante’s Peak and Volcano, for example. Or A Bug’s Life and Antz. It’s pretty amazing to see how long stuff like this has been going on and how often it happens.

Incidentally, this was something we touched on by total happenstance during this Monday’s Triple Feature talkcast. So I was pretty psyched when I ran across it later in the week. What’s your favorite pair of suspiciously similar movies?

Speaking of The Triple Feautre talkcast, don’t forget that’s where you need to go to get the first clue in our Dreamgirls and Diggers free DVD giveaway. You can get the second half of the clue here. Send in the complete clue for each giveaway to theaterhopper@hotmail.com with your name, age and mailing address to have your entry submitted into a random drawing. My free copies of Dreamgirls were delivered earlier in the week, so I’m picking winners on Monday. I haven’t gotten a lot of entries, so your odds are good if you throw your hat into the ring now!

Good luck and have a great weekend!

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NOT A COMMUNITY MOVIE REVIEWER

May 2nd, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Okay, I know I said to come back later in the day for this story, but I couldn’t wait to tell it. At least this way, it’s kept away from the main site-related stuff and is organized.

Remember about a month ago when I told you I was applying to be part of The Des Moines Register’s newly formed team of community reviewers? Well, I got word back yesterday that I was NOT one of the 30 finalists selected from the field of 150 who participated. Incidentally, from that group of 30, 10 will be chosen by a reader vote to be a part of the team.

I’m kind of bummed because I’ve been informally reviewing movies for five years and I thought that would be great experience for them to tap into. I mean, who better than me, right?

I went through this weird analytical cycle. At first I thought they turned me down because they were aware of Theater Hopper and the freelancing I do for their sister publication Juice. The must have figured my legion of fans would skew the voting round.

Then I got kind of suspicious. The editor who made the decision as to what contestants made it to the voting round is the same editor I worked for a couple of years ago when I did freelance concert reviews for The Register. Interestingly enough, he contacted me out of the blue a few days before I got the notice about the movie reviewer thing when he asked me if I would be interested in reviewing a Stone Sour contest this Friday and an all day metal festival called LazerFest going on May 13. I accepted the Stone Sour gig. I’m not available for LazerFest. Was this meant to soften the blow?

Then I entered into acceptance. Well, obviously they can’t pay me freelancing fees for BOTH my contributions to Juice and for my concert reviews. It’s just not fair! Spread the love.

And then I felt superior because I had “let it go.”

At one point early on I thought I would contest my rejection and give a laundry list of reasons as to why I would rock the community movie review team the hardest. But I stopped when I realized that I didn’t know if the community movie review team paid well (if at all) and that I might be shooting myself in the foot if I said “I don’t want to do paid concert reviews! Put me into the voting round for the community movie review team where I may or may not be voted in as a finalist!” Seemed kind of like a dumb gamble.

All the same, I would have rocked it hard. I just know I would have….

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THE TRIPLE FEATURE – DOUBLE CONTESTS!

April 30th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

 Hey, guys. I wanted to be sure and create a second blog post for this because I’ve got an awesome opportunity for you that I don’t want you to miss.

Be sure to tune in and listen to The Triple Feature talkcast tonight at 9:00 PM. In addition to the awesome hour-long content about movies you’ll be getting from yours truly, Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex will be in the house to add to the mayhem. Tonight’s topic of discussion will be… well, I don’t know what tonight’s topic of discussion will be. I’ll have to check with Joe and Gordon! Luckily, I downloaded last week’s episode, so I know that Joe planned on seeing Kickin’ It Old School. There’s also a possibility we’ll be talking about Nic Cage’s latest bomb Next and The Invisible.

But I won’t lie. I just wanna talk about Spider-Man 3.

That uncertainty aside, there are TWO big reasons to listen to the show tonight because we’ll be giving away copies of TWO big movies.

Our first contest is for the Academy Award winning Dreamgirls. This was a big hit last December and I loved it for the opportunity it gave Jennifer Hudson to upstage Beyonce Knowles and Jamie Foxx – two entertainers that could stand to be knocked down a few pegs. Dreamgirls is available on DVD this Tuesday, May 1 so be sure to check out the performance that catapulted a cast off from American Idol into Oscar history! Either that, or you can listen tonight’s episode of The Triple Feature for a chance to win a FREE copy for yourself!

The other big movie we’re giving away is Diggers. Okay, it’s not that big of a movie. In fact, it’s being relased on DVD and in theaters on the exact same day. But it has pedigree! Diggers is written by Ken Marino, who you may or may not remember from the sketch comedy group The State. It stars Paul Rudd as a Long Island clam digger who tries to maintain is small town way of life in the face of social change in the 1970s. I know it doesn’t sound like a laugh riot, but this film has a lot of heart to it and some great character moments along the way. It’s kind of like Wet Hot American Summer, but with a brain. It has that same nostalgia feel, but with some more drama to it. It’s a really unique film and it has a ton cool actors in it. A few of Marino’s buddies from The State show up and it also features performances from Maura Tierney and Lauren Ambrose.

Again, you can win your free copy of either one of these movies by listening to The Triple Feature, tonight at 9:00 PM CST. All you have to do is listen to the program and wait for the secret clue. Since we’re giving away two movies this week, there will be two individual clues. Hold on to those clues and then come back to Theater Hopper on Wednesday for the second half of the clues. E-mail the complete clue along with your name, age and mailing address to theaterhopper@hotmail.com and winners will be selected at random.

Most importantly, since we’re doing two giveaways this week, it will help me to keep things straight if you send in your submissions independent of each other. I know that makes you guys jump through hoops, but it will improve your odds of winning if you send one e-mail for Dreamgirls and one for Diggers. I take all the submissions I get and organize them in a folder. If you’re entering both contests with one e-mail, I’m going to have to toss out your entry. Sorry.

Remember, if you’re unable to listen to tonight’s broadcast live, you can always download completed recordings from The Triple Feature page over at Talkshoe. We have almost 20 shows under our belts and there’s a lot of good stuff there. So if you’ve never listened in before and want to get a sense of what we do, download a couple of episodes and get familiar. They’re only an hour long a piece, so they won’t take up a lot of your time. Besides, they’re a lot of fun.

Incidentally, our contests for Copying Beethoven, Deja Vu and The Queen are still running because we haven’t received the giveaway copies from the distributors yet. I’ve been reassured they’re coming soon, but technically, that still leaves a window open for you guys to win free stuff! Download the April 2 broadcast for the first half of the clue to Copying Beethoven and the April 16 broadcast for the first half of the clue to Deja Vu. Access the April 4 blog and April 18 blog respectively for the second half of the clues to those two contests. The complete clue for The Queen was given in the April 25 blog.

Hope to hear from you guys during tonight’s broadcast and thanks again for supporting The Triple Feature!

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