Archive for ‘Blog’
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I was looking at my map overlay statistics from Google Analytics recently. It tells me roughly how many visits are coming from individual countries around the world. You can then narrow the focus down to states and even cities.
Anyway, I was looking at my map overlay stats from February and was a little disappointed to see that Iowa ranked 24th on the list of states that visit Theater Hopper most often. Where’s the love from my home state heroes? I know there’s only, like, 30 of us with an internet connection, but c’mon!
Interestingly enough, the most traffic I receive comes from California. By a wide margin, actually. Almost double that of it’s closest competitor, New York.
So that means I’m really big on the coasts in the two largest entertainment markets, apparently.
How am I supposed to interpret that? Am I seeing this traffic from California and New York because they are states with very high populations? Or are these industry people checking out what I do? Individuals that could possibly open the door to a little networking and help me circulate the comic among more industry professionals?
People who follow web comics know that if your comic is about video games, it’s almost a certainty that it will become a success. Lots of gamers spend time online and media for them is geared toward that.
To that end, I never understood why movie comics hasn’t reached the same kind of instant appreciation. There are just as many movie fans online and all of them have strong opinions that they like to share. Is it quality that’s keeping them away or something else? Have movie comics failed to capture the imagination of media professionals in the industry that could help get the word out?
That’s why I’m throwing down the gauntlet. If you work in the movie industry, I want you to contact me. If you work for the media that covers movies, I want you to contact me. I want to start establishing connections, networking – even if it doesn’t lead to anything. How well known is Theater Hopper in the circles you travel in – if at all? I’m more curious than anything else at this point. Let’s start a dialogue!
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I’m probably going to make this worse, but here it goes.
I got into a pretty intense argument with someone in my LiveJournal feed regarding Friday’s comic and the entire issue of whether or not Tropic Thunder and Robert Downey Jr. in make up is racist.
I guess I can say it’s given me a lot to think about. As a white guy from the Midwest, I’ll fully own up to the fact that I am not the most well-versed person there is in regards to the subtleties and politics of racism. I just try to treat others as I’d want to be treated and go about my daily life.
Looking over Friday’s comic and the blog post, I realize that I may not have made the best case for myself. I already explained that, obviously, White Chicks doesn’t make up for minstrel shows, institutionalized racism and 400 years of oppression. But I was making an exaggeration for comedic effect and sometimes that doesn’t always work out the way you planned it.
So, if anyone was offended, all I can say is that I’m sorry.
It’s probably best if I leave it at that.
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So I was combing through LiveJournal’s list of syndicated feeds looking for the RSS feed for LifeHacker to add to my friends list.
Imagine my glee when I discovered the Theater Hopper RSS feed is the 232nd most popular feed listed! Take THAT, Scary Go Round!
I don’t know why I’m so invested in the Theater Hopper RSS feed lately. I just am.
Maybe if you have a LiveJournal account, you’ll add us to your friends list?
C’mon! Let’s see if we can be 231 by the end of the month! ;-D
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So today’s comic and blog generated a lot of feedback in my in-box as well as on the LiveJournal syndication feed and everyone pretty much said the same thing: That The Ten Commandments isn’t an Easter movie, it’s a Passover movie.
At which point I slapped my forehead like Bull from Night Court and then buried myself in three feet of sand from embarrassment. It all feels kind of obvious now.
Still, it kind of proves my point. There aren’t really any good Easter movies. Some people tossed out ideas like Ben Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Last Temptation of Christ. One guy even suggested The Passion of The Christ – a cheery holiday movie if there ever was one!
But just because those movies are religious or about Jesus specifically doesn’t mean they have anything to do with the Easter holiday.
Do you see the manor in which I’m splitting hairs? Easter as a gathering, as a family tradition… and no one has anything to say about it from a cinematic perspective? Why does Thanksgiving get all the love? What’s so magical about Christmas?
I guess I just don’t understand Easter and maybe never will. I’m trying, though – fumbling and stumbling toward glory.
Apologies to those of you who wrote e-mails. I probably won’t be able to answer you individually. But since I figured there was this outpouring of response (and people were generally responding with the same thing) this was an appropriate venue.
Thanks for attempting to enlighten a heathen!
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Turns out we’re going to be one man down fo The Triple Feature this evening. Gordon has to bow out for tonight. So, since I wasn’t able to get out of the house this weekend to see Run Fatboy Run like I had hoped (I blame a mutant head cold), I think we’re going to steer the topic of conversation down a different path than usual with this week’s show.
Joe and I would like to take this opportunity to field your personal questions. So if you have any, please e-mail them to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com. They can be about movies, our web comics or what the weather is like in Des Moines versus New York. We don’t care what you ask, we just want to get you involved!
Of course, it would be more of a thrill if you could join us LIVE during the broadcast at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe.com tonight. I mean, how awesome would that be? You could log on to the chat field and leave your question where we can make fun of your spelling or you could call in and talk to us in person where we can make fun of your accent!
That’s not very enticing, is it? Okay, I promise we won’t make fun. But call in all the same! It’ll be a blast!
See you there!
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I just wanted to make a quick clarification about my post this morning because I don’t want people to be confused.
I didn’t mean to imply that Charlton Heston’s “…from my cold dead hands” speech occurred at any point near or around his appearance at the NRA rally held a few days after the Columbine massacre. I’m aware that those were two completely different events. I was just kind of lumping all of Heston’s involvement with the NRA into one paragraph.
I had a reader remind me of the scene in Bowling For Columbine where Michael Moore made it look like it was the same event and I just want to reiterate that I am aware that it wasn’t. I’m aware that the NRA rally was a previously planned event and a victim of circumstance as much as anyone. It probably would have been a logistical nightmare to cancel or reschedule and I appreciate the situation they were in at the time. All the same, it would have been nice for them to have displayed a little discretion and cancel the event anyway – but that’s just me. It’s in the past.
I actually wanted to talk about Bowling For Columbine a little bit, but couldn’t find a way to fit it in to my previous post.
I really think Moore gave Heston a raw deal in his interview and how he chose to portray him. When everyone else heard Moore’s name and ran the other direction, Heston accommodated him and invited him into his home. I like Michael Moore, but what he did to Heston I thought was insulting and it’s probably why Bowling For Columbine is my least favorite of his movies. I was agreeing with most of it up until the end with Heston and then I walked out of the theater with a bad taste in my mouth.
Ultimately, I just felt bad for Heston. Here’s a guy with certain convictions – maybe convictions you don’t agree with – but convictions none the less. Because of those convictions, he’s propped up by a powerful gun lobby to appeal to the macho segment of the population that identifies with his roles as a tough guy in movies like Ben Hur and The Omega Man. He’s a puppet for this organization. A friendly face to slap onto a complicated issue.
On the other hand, you have Moore, coming at Heston with his own agenda and using Heston’s own convictions against him to make him look like a doddering old fool.
Say what you will about the politics, but conviction and character are something to be admired, not to be used as weapons against those who possess them. For me, Moore’s treatment of Heston came down to a simple matter of respect. Or, more accurately, the lack of it.
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Holy crap! I almost forgot!
There’s an interview I did with Xaviar Xerxes up and running over at ComixTalk that I want all of you to check out!
http://comixtalk.com/an_interview_with_tom_brazelton
Xaviar asked me some really thoughtful questions and I think the final product turned our really good.
40 lashes with a wet noodle for me, though, because we literally started this interview by e-mail months ago. But then I got sidetracked by my father’s open heart surgery, then started prepping for Wizard World Chicago and everything else fell to the wayside.
At any rate, Xaviar was more than patient and you should reward him by visiting the site and reading the interview! Leave some comments if you like!
Later!
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A few quick odds and ends to close out the day:
- There was a little bit of a problem with the blog commenting and THorum registrations, but I think we have that ironed out. So if you want to join the conversation, it should be easier to do.
- I completely forgot to tell you guys about my guest strip at Dueling Analogs. Please go check it out.
I’m doing my good friend Steve a solid because things are a little hectic in his life right now. The holidays were weighing heavily on his mind, he just got a new job and – most importantly – he’ll be having a baby soon!
I was reminded of how kind everyone was to me when Henry was born by chipping in with guest comics and well-wishes, I couldn’t say no when Steve made the call. Congrats, buddy!
- Last, but not least, we’ll be recording our first episode of The Triple Feature of 2009 tonight at 9:00 PM CST at http://www.thetriplefeature.com. Be sure to listen to us live and join in the fun. I think we’re going to take the evening to reconnect with each other after the holidays and share with everyone the movies we’ve been watching. It should be a casual evening before our big Best of 2008 show coming up soon. Be sure to tune in!
That’s pretty much all for now, but I have much more to talk about. Be sure to visit the site tomorrow for more news and updates. You won’t want to miss it!
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I feel like since I relaunched the site, there are a million and one things I want to call your attention to. But I also want to be careful not to overwhelm you with too much stuff at once. So I’m trying to parse things out a little bit.
This afternoon, why not consider joining the Theater Hopper THorum>? It’s a great place for fans of the comic and movies in general to come in and get to know each other!
I’m also using the THorum as a place to help steer the redesign in the right direction. Let me know if you catch any broken links or make suggestions for new features to add! Or, if you’re looking for a more light-hearted diversion, I’m taking suggestions for movie quotes to add to the randomizer that displays them at the bottom of every page here on the site!
Hope to see you there!
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So there are rumors flying that Mickey Rourke is in talks to star in Iron Man 2 as the Crimson Dynamo. I don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand, Rourke is a fine actor who does a good job of playing meat heads. But I think anyone piloting a multi-billion dollar suit of nuclear-powered armor shouldn’t be a meat head. He should be intelligent and a little bit menacing.
I like the idea of using Rourke and his comeback story (courtesy of the critical praise he’s earned from The Wrestler) as a mirror to Robert Downey Jr.’s own career resurrection. But beyond that, it feels like a novelty.
I guess there’s also been reports saying that Rourke could end up playing Whiplash and not the Crimson Dynamo. I see that as a better fit because Whiplash was always a more garish villian. But I think the odds of putting the character in the sequel are slim-to-none. Whiplash was always a second-stringer and the visual appeal of the Dynamo armor is much more interesting.
I’m also not sure what to make of the talk that Sam Rockwell is in talks to play Justin Hammer, a corporate rival to Stark Industries. I like Rockwell in nearly everything he’s been in. He can play a great villain. But I always imagined Justin Hammer to be older. Someone who was jealous of Stark for his genius and his youth. Hammer is the kind of character that felt he should be the bigger fish because he’s been around longer. He doesn’t like Stark because he’s an upstart.
Of course, if you had asked me who I would have cast for Obadiah Stane, I wouldn’t have picked Jeff Bridges, either. So maybe they know what they’re doing.
What do you think about this casting news? Does it get you excited or do you think it’s a gimmick? Or maybe you’re still trying to figure out who Whiplash is. Let me know in the comments!
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