PENNY ARCADE HEARTS THEATER HOPPER

February 14th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I’ll make this brief because I know you’re not here to read my ramblings. But I wanted to thank Jerry for his time and generosity for writing his guest essay. When I put the wheels in motion for my partial hiatus – my paternity leave, if you will – I took a long shot and asked the guys over at Penny Arcade if they would be interested in participating. I wasn’t expecting anything, but I figured “The worst they could say was ‘no’.” Imagine my surprise when Jerry responded and he offered me this essay.

To be acknowledged (for lack of a better word) by someone who inspires you creatively is an incredible gift. That Jerry went beyond the pale and made his words personal means that much more. What Jerry has shared speaks directly to me. He offers sound advice about fatherhood in a language I understand – movies. Naturally, it’s hilarious to boot.

If you’re new to the site, I encourage you to stick around and thumb through the archives. Chances are if you type a movie title in the search field, I’ve made fun of it. If you’d like a quick sample of my best work, be sure to check out the Top 50 comics as voted on by my readers. They know what’s good better than I do. If you like what you see, I update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday just like Penny Arcade. So add us to your bookmarks and check back every now and again.

Tomorrow is our due date. No baby yet and no plans to induce, but the time is growing close. As you can imagine, we’re really excited. What can I say? It’s been a pretty good week!

Thanks again to Jerry. I hope you enjoy his essay as much as I do.

└ Tags: , , , , , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

DESIGN FEEDBACK

February 12th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Since Dave was good enough to introduce the fancy blog commenting system, I thought I would take this opportunity to utlize it for a little feedback.

You guys might remember a while back when I was trying to develop some new shirt designs for the store. As per usual, the design phase takes me for friggin’ ever because I’ll design, redesign, doubt myself and then hang it up. The reason for this is because you kind of have to have momentum in order to produce these things and it’s a bit of a tightrope walk to keep the right amount of inventory in stock. I feel like I kind of have a good thing going on with the handful of designs I’m currently offering. But at the same time, I’m kind of bored with it and it’s time to branch out.

This time I think I’ve got something on my hands. Something that you will like. It’s a refinement of the "Opening Weekend Junkie"  concept I was floating around before. I have a few variations I would like you to inspect and, when you’re finished, leave your thoughts on the comments page! Easy!

Okay, onto the designs.

1. The first design is pretty literal. Not too far from the first few drafts with the exception of a TORN ticket instead of a ticket coming out of a dispenser;

2. For the second draft, I thought to myself, "If I were really a junkie, my fonts wouldn’t be so need and orderly." So I tried making things a little more askew;

3. Pushing the askew concept a little more. Throwing the fonts around at different sizes and angles;

4. At this point I started to really appreciate the simplicity of the torn ticket and thought about paring back the message a little bit. Showing a torn ticket and simply stating "junkie." pretty much gets across the same idea without throwing in the "Opening Weekend" prefix. Also, what if you’re schedule is too busy to afford you the luxury of seeing movies on their opening weekend? At least this way, you can say you’re a movie junkie in the general sense.

5. Simpifying further, I thought to myself "Maybe it doesn’t need any text at all! Yes… the design is THAT strong." Ah, hubris.

Those are pretty much the designs to choose from. For those of you who want to see the ticket stub in more detail, you can click here.

So, what do you think. Which of these designs would you wear if any?

Be gentle. Remember what I told you about the second-guessing?

└ Tags: , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

ONE MORE POST

February 9th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Before I forget, I want to thank Michael Lalonde from Orneryboy and Wes Molebash from You’ll Have That for their excellent guest strips this week.

Remember that there will be a new strip from yours truly every Friday through the month of February while I free up my schedule to prepare for the birth of our baby boy in a week or so.

Next week we’ll have a guest strip on Monday from a good friend and – something unique for this site – a guest essay from someone that goes by the name of “Tycho” posted on Wednesday. You’ll want to be around for that!

In the meantime, check out the store because I’ve recently started to offer merchandise bundles that have proven very popular! For example, if you haven’t gotten your hands on either of the two books, now you can buy them together and get $5 off! Not a bad deal!

Talk to you soon!

└ Tags: , , , ,
[ No Comments ]

WANNA BRAINSTORM?

February 5th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Do you guys remember when I went to Wizard World Texas last year and they broke into my car? Yeah, well… they stole all of the 1" buttons I had made up as a giveaway at the convention. It was a way to attract people to the booth and it worked pretty well.

Anyway, even though I’m taking a hiatus of sorts, my mind is still in "creative" mode and I was thinking now might be an opportunity to work on some new button designs. I thought I would solicit you guys for a little brainstorming!

The old buttons basically had a movie reel and the site URL laid over it in red and black. Nothing fancy. This time I was thinking of doing some sloganizing. Fun little saying that people who like movies could wear on their jacket, or what have you.

So far I’ve come up with the following:

  • No, I don’t want to upsize my combo.
  • Please take your feet off the back of my seat!

As you can see, neither of these slogans is probably going to set the world on fire.

Do you guys have any thoughts about ways I could twist these slogans into something funnier or maybe a little punchier?

Incidentally, I wouldn’t mind taking this opportunity to brainstorm a few t-shirt ideas as well. I posted a couple of designs in the THorum last year that seemed to get a favorable response. I’m thinking now is the time to put my nose to the grindstone and produce a couple of them.

Are there other designs you would like to see? Maybe we could adapt some of the button slogans for the t-shirts?

└ Tags: , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

AHH THE BEES!! NOT THE BEES!!

January 22nd, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I didn’t see the Nicholas Cage remake of The Wicker Man when it was in theaters last fall, but judging by this out-of-context collection of clips from the film, maybe I should have!

I’m not typically one to link to snarky internet videos, but this one was too hilarious to ignore. I laughed my ass off at it. When you see Nicholas Cage in a bear suit knock out a little girl, you’ll understand why.

└ Tags: , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

OSCAR NOMS

January 22nd, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Nominees for the 79th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning and I was pleased to see that I’ve already seen three of the five films nominated for Best Picture. That means I have less ground to cover before the ceremony on February 25.

I suppose what surprised me most is that Leonard DiCaprio was nominated for his performance in Blood Diamond and not The Departed. I was also shocked to see Alan Arkin nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine. But that’s a pleasant surprise. Marky Mark nominated in the same category for his performance in The Departed? Not sure what to make of that.

All I know is if Martin Scorsese doesn’t walk away with Best Director this year, it’ll be a crying shame. But I think Clint Eastwood is going to give him a run for his money.

└ Tags: , , , , , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

WE’RE DIVING INTO THE LABYRINTH

January 17th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I’m so excited! I just talked Cami into seeing Pan’s Labyrinth this weekend! Originally, she had been resistant to the idea. She doesn’t really care for fantasy movies. But as we’re closing in on our due date (less than a month away!) more and more of our friends who have kids are telling us “Go out now while you still can! Go on dates! Go out to dinner! Because after the baby, IT’S OVER!!!”

So, we’re taking that to heart.

I had to do a bit of bargaining to make this happen. I promised Cami I would see that new Diane-Keaton-gets-laid movie Because I Said So in a couple of weeks. I had to promise not to make any disparaging remarks about the film excluding the idea I had for a comic revolving around the movie I’ve been sitting on for two weeks. Those of you in relationships might recognize this kind of compromise.

The good news is that I got a really good idea for a comic that I can use for tomorrow’s update out of all of this. Gotta keep your eyes peeled for inspiration!

└ Tags: , , ,
[ No Comments ]

MTV MOVIE AWARDS LIVE

January 12th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I was reading this article over at Reality Blurred that reports that Survivor creator and executive producer Mark Burnett will produce a live broadcast of this year’s 16th annual MTV Movie Awards this June.

I’m not exactly sure why I find this significant other than when I was 13 and MTV was still relevant to me, I used to think the MTV Movie Awards was some of the most subversive stuff going on. At the time, there wasn’t the proliferation of superfluous awards shows like there are today (perhaps MTV is to blame for this) but what they were doing at the time with this broadcast was a wonderful way to undercut the seriousness of ceremonies like the Oscars, which were anything but fun to watch.

I loved how MTV spiced things up by doing sketches about the Best Film nominees during the program. The Brady Bunch re-enacting the famous interrogation scene from Basic Instinct and Will Ferrell giving Justin Timberlake and Sean William Scott a run for their money as The Architect from The Matrix Reloaded (“Ergo! Vis a Vis! Concordently!“)were stand-out classics.

But somewhere along the line, the MTV Movie Awards lost their way. They started pre-taping the awards ceremony and by the next day, all the “winners” were online – totally removing any need for me to see it. I never really cared who won the awards. I just liked the spontaneous vibe of it all. The celebrities didn’t care because it was MTV, so they could kind of do what they wanted. Sort of like The Golden Globes, who have since adopted an “anything goes” mantra by allowing alcohol at the tables in the hall to get celebrities good and liquored up before they take the podium.

At any rate, I was pleased to hear Burnett was returning to the live format. I may actually have to watch it this year. But I will have to be discreet. I don’t want to tip off the Cool Police who will no doubt kick my door down and drag me out onto the sidewalk for a beat down using their Blackberry’s. I’m too old to be watching MTV officially.

What’s your favorite MTV Movie Awards moment (if you have one?)

└ Tags: , , ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

THE MAILING LIST

January 8th, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I don’t mean to whine, but I’ve noticed a discouraging occurrence.

I’ve made it my goal in 2007 to keep you guys updated every time I update the site. The way I would prefer to do this is through the mailing list. It’s very handy reminder, especially if you don’t check the site that often.

But since I’ve been keeping up with my resolution, I notice one or two people drop off the mailing list each time I send a message. Don’t get me wrong. There are people signing up, too. But I notice people dropping off IMMEDIATELY after I send the mailing list and, well… it’s hard not to get a little discouraged.

Is there something in my e-mails that is offensive that I don’t know about? I’m really trying to enhance your experience with the site by providing more services, but if this is one that is complicating things and lessening your enjoyment of the site, let me know!

If, on the other hand, this is the first you’ve heard about our mailing list and you want to sign up, you can do so here – as well as learn about other avenues through which you can enjoy Theater Hopper!

Thanks for your support!

└ Tags: ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

BETTER?

January 3rd, 2007 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

I took some advice on how to adjust the CSS that runs the site from the comments section of yesterday’s blog. I’m telling you, I’m in love with this new feature! The instant feedback is great and so helpful!

I believe these suggestions have cleared up the problems people were having with the horizontal scroll bar that shouldn’t be there. Some people were sending messages saying that about an inch of the left side of the site was being cut off completely.

Are things better now? Let me know in the comments!

└ Tags: ,
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬