Archive for ‘Blog’
644 items.
This is what I get for assuming that no one cares.
Both The Des Moines Register and News-a-rama picked up on I’M A MORON’s homecoming for the premiere of Superman Returns here in Iowa.
I’m not all that surprised that The Des Moines Register would run something on it, but I was really freaked out when News-a-rama had someone at the event and they took a bunch of pictures.
The theater they’re at – Century Theaters? I hang out there every week. That’s my home-away-from-home, kids. I feel like I total idiot for letting this opportunity slip through my fingers. But quite honestly, up to that point, the media described the event as invitation only. Who knew the guy would be glad-handing fans for over an hour on the red carpet!
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!
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A more in-depth post to come later this morning. But for now, I’m keepin’ it short and sweet.
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By the way, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly how bulky Clark Kent’s bubble butt should be in the last panel.
Too much time, if we’re being honest.
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If you’re a die-hard Will Ferrell fan like me, you can’t wait for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby coming out on August 4. It’s the same team that put together Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, so you know it’s going to be good.
Anyway, it’s a little early yet, but I thought I would share with you this game that I found online where you – as Ricky Bobby – have to sign as many objects as you can in Victory Row after winning a big race. It’s pretty funny to check out just for the stuff they put in front of you to sign.
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I don’t know if this will mean all that much to the majority of you, but I wanted to point you to an article I was interviewed for in The Des Moines Business Record. You can read it here.
As you might have guessed by the name of the periodical, it’s a local publication that focuses on the business happenings in the Greater Des Moines area. It’s significant that I was interviewed, however, because it’s a subscription-based publication that a lot of big shots in the city read. They cover a lot of what’s happening with companies like Principal Financial, Allied Insurance and Wells Fargo – who are all headquartered here. So it’s kind of interesting company I keep by being featured in their pages.
The article is about people in the Metro who have hobby web sites and have been able to turn a profit from them. I’m really proud of how it turned out and how I was represented. They even sent a photographer over to my house to take a few shots!
Anyway, I wanted to share it because it was significant to me to be taken seriously at the local level. Hopefully it’ll open a few doors when it comes time to promote the book and this is something I can use in my press kit to help me convince local retailers to pick up copies to sell in their stores.
It’s actually quite serendipitous timing because we were planning on contacting them once we had copies of the completed book in hand (which you can still order here!). We were going to make the rounds with the local media and pitch it to them as a human interest story of exactly this nature. Turns out that the author – through mutual acquaintances – found out about me first and the rest is history!
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Hey, guys. I want to try something really quick. I found this site called TagBlitz. It’s basically a promotion tool for web sites that gathers up links to all the social networking sites out there. I present the Tag Blitz link to you and then you go and catologue Theater Hopper among as many of the social networking sites out there as you please. You don’t have to be a member of TagBlitz or sign up for anything to participate. It’s free to use. But some of the social networking sites in it’s roster require you to have accounts with them before you can tag Theater Hopper in their system. Sites like Technorati, Del.icio.us and Furl are all in the mix.
Anyway, give it a try and see if you can help spread the word about Theater Hopper. I want to give this service a dry run to see how effective it is.
Thanks for your help!
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Big props to reader Brian Skelly for finding that picture of Baby Face Fenster that I was talking about. Maybe if you guys check out this image, it’ll jog your Saturday morning memories:
Incidentally, If you want more screen caps from this classic piece of Warner Bros. animation, you can see it here.
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Hey, guys. Dave from Taking the Bi-Pass gave me a head’s up that he’s got a storyline going on at the moment where Tom meets up with the TtB-P gang at the movie theater.
It’s always fun to see these kind of cameo’s. It’s like the Laff-O-Lympics, or something!
Check out Taking the Bi-Pass today for all that cameo goodness!
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So, I got home from work today and checked my e-mails and there were about a dozen pleasantly-worded missives informing me the reason that Michael Mann is directing the big-screen adaptation on Miami Vice is because he was the co-creator and executive producer of the original series. A fact that was crawling around in the back of my head, but willfully ignored in order to get the comic that I wanted.
That said, get out your rubber stamps and slap a big ‘ol "PWNED!" on my forehead because I totally dropped the ball on this one.
Still doesn’t make it right, though. I’ll stick to my guns on that one. Mann has much better stories he could be telling as opposed to giving Hollywood another opportunity to dip into the well of inter-racial crime fighting partners running down a drug deal. *SNORE!*
At any rate, I thought it would be more effective to mention it here in the blog rather than take the time to answer all the e-mails I received. Although perhaps I *should* have answered them all as some kind of penance. 40 lashes with a wet noodle, and all of that.
Who knows. Judging by the response to my shoddy research, there might be an audience for Miami Vice this weekend after all!
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I have a lot of stuff that I want to talk about today, so be sure to check back to the site often for updates. Right now, I plan on putting messages together as I have time since I’ve had to ramp back up to "real-life" speed in a fairly short amount of time after a 6-hour drive home from Chicago yesterday. I’m wiped out, but I’m excited!
First, let me say that my attendance at the 2006 Wizard World Chicago comic book convention was my best convention EVER! I was really nervous about going because, for me, it was the culmination of an effort that started back in October of 2005 when I first set out to put together "Theater Hopper: Year One." My expectations for Wizard World Chicago were very high and felt that my success or failure there was really going to set the tone for the larger goals I hoped to accomplish with Theater Hopper.
Well, I can say with confidence that "Theater Hopper: Year One" was a resounding SUCCESS! I sold dozens of books and a bunch of t-shirts. I met all kinds of great people and passed out a ton of fliers. If you’re one of the people I talked to who is visiting the site for the first time, welcome! If you like, feel free to start from the begining and work your way through the arcI have a lot of stuff that I want to talk about today, so be sure to check back to the site often for updates. Right now, I plan on putting messages together as I have time since I’ve had to ramp back up to "real-life" speed in a fairly short amount of time after a 6-hour drive home from Chicago yesterday. I’m wiped out, but I’m excited!
First, let me say that my attendance at the 2006 Wizard World Chicago comic book convention was my best convention EVER! I was really nervous about going because, for me, it was the culmination of an effort that started back in October of 2005 when I first set out to put together "Theater Hopper: Year One." My expectations for Wizard World Chicago were very high and felt that my success or failure there was really going to set the tone for the larger goals I hoped to accomplish with Theater Hopper.
Well, I can say with confidence that "Theater Hopper: Year One" was a resounding SUCCESS! I sold dozens of books and a bunch of t-shirts. I met all kinds of great people and passed out a ton of fliers. If you’re one of the people I talked to who is visiting the site for the first time, welcome! If you like, feel free to start from the begining and work your way through the archive. Of course, I’m up to 589 comics counting this one, so that could be a daunting task! If you’d like to skip around a little bit, visit the archive page and pick a date! Or, take advantage of our database search function that allows you to type in the title of nearly any movie you can think of and it will return the comic that spoofs it!
I think what really amazed me most were the fans who came to the convention looking for me. I never expect it. Despite the fact that Saturday marked the beginning of my fifth year doing this comic, I never expect anyone to know who I am or appreciate what I do. So it’s very mind-blowing when someone walks up to the table and says "I’ve been looking for you!" or when they approach you wearing one of the t-shirts you designed. I mean, in a convention hall that’s selling literally everything and that covers so many facets of entertainment – not just comics… For someone to wake up, throw on a Theater Hopper t-shirt, march down to the convention and say "THIS is what I’m into." That’s awesome.
I mean, I had someone come up to me with their cell phone so I could say "Hi" to their friend who was stuck at work. I’m more than happy to do it and it was a really fun conversation, but who the hell am I? I’m just some guy that does a web comic! Who wants to talk to me on their break?
I’m stumbling around. But it’s my way of saying thanks. What an incredible validation.
I think the other thing I was surprised by was the almost instant feedback I was getting about the book. I was actually able to sell a lot more of them to people unfamiliar to the comic than I had anticipated. I’m not complaining! Just surprised. But I had a few people come back to me on Sunday who had either bought the book on Friday or Saturday and told me how much they liked it!
I didn’t really get a chance to get out from behind my table and walk around, but I’m not complaining. That’s a good problem to have. All the same, it kept me away from the members of the press I wanted to talk to about the book. Fortunately, a few of them came down to Artist’s Alley and I was able to hand out a few press releases. I’m gonna follow up with you guys!
I should also mention that Saturday’s book release party was a real success. It was mostly people from the Digital Pimp crew – including the fabulous Joe Dunn, plus Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex, Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey, Mitch Clem from San Antonio Rock City and myself. But there were also a few fans in attendance and we had a great old time. I seriously never laughed so hard in my life!
I feel like I’m leaving out a bunch of details. But, truthfully, the whole convention went by so fast and I think I’m still processing it. 3:00 rolled around yesterday and I had to pack up in order to get home at a reasonable hour. I didn’t want to go!
Sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by my booth and talk to me about Theater Hopper. If you bought a shirt or a copy of the book, extra SPECIAL thanks for giving me a chance. I mean, Wizard World Chicago is HUGE. Maybe the second largest convention of the year after the San Diego ComiCon. For anyone to walk through those doors, past every exhibitor and dealer and to say "This looks good. I want to buy your book." Well – don’t think I don’t take that for the miracle it is.
Come back later in the day. I still have lots to talk about regarding last week’s guest strips, Talladega Nights and the winner of the Fandango mailing list sign-up drawing!hive. Of course, I’m up to 589 comics counting this one, so that could be a daunting task! If you’d like to skip around a little bit, visit the archive page and pick a date! Or, take advantage of our database search function that allows you to type in the title of nearly any movie you can think of and it will return the comic that spoofs it!
I think what really amazed me most were the fans who came to the convention looking for me. I never expect it. Despite the fact that Saturday marked the beginning of my fifth year doing this comic, I never expect anyone to know who I am or appreciate what I do. So it’s very mind-blowing when someone walks up to the table and says "I’ve been looking for you!" or when they approach you wearing one of the t-shirts you designed. I mean, in a convention hall that’s selling literally everything and that covers so many facets of entertainment – not just comics… For someone to wake up, throw on a Theater Hopper t-shirt, march down to the convention and say "THIS is what I’m into." That’s awesome.
I mean, I had someone come up to me with their cell phone so I could say "Hi" to their friend who was stuck at work. I’m more than happy to do it and it was a really fun conversation, but who the hell am I? I’m just some guy that does a web comic! Who wants to talk to me on their break?
I’m stumbling around. But it’s my way of saying thanks. What an incredible validation.
I think the other thing I was surprised by was the almost instant feedback I was getting about the book. I was actually able to sell a lot more of them to people unfamiliar to the comic than I had anticipated. I’m not complaining! Just surprised. But I had a few people come back to me on Sunday who had either bought the book on Friday or Saturday and told me how much they liked it!
I didn’t really get a chance to get out from behind my table and walk around, but I’m not complaining. That’s a good problem to have. All the same, it kept me away from the members of the press I wanted to talk to about the book. Fortunately, a few of them came down to Artist’s Alley and I was able to hand out a few press releases. I’m gonna follow up with you guys!
I should also mention that Saturday’s book release party was a real success. It was mostly people from the Digital Pimp crew – including the fabulous Joe Dunn, plus Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex, Zach Miller from Joe and Monkey, Mitch Clem from San Antonio Rock City and myself. But there were also a few fans in attendance and we had a great old time. I seriously never laughed so hard in my life!
I feel like I’m leaving out a bunch of details. But, truthfully, the whole convention went by so fast and I think I’m still processing it. 3:00 rolled around yesterday and I had to pack up in order to get home at a reasonable hour. I didn’t want to go!
Sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by my booth and talk to me about Theater Hopper. If you bought a shirt or a copy of the book, extra SPECIAL thanks for giving me a chance. I mean, Wizard World Chicago is HUGE. Maybe the second largest convention of the year after the San Diego ComiCon. For anyone to walk through those doors, past every exhibitor and dealer and to say "This looks good. I want to buy your book." Well – don’t think I don’t take that for the miracle it is.
Come back later in the day. I still have lots to talk about regarding last week’s guest strips, Talladega Nights and the winner of the Fandango mailing list sign-up drawing!
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