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Theater Hopper - March 12: Books Need An A.V. Output

by Tom Brazelton
March 12, 2008

Theater Hopper is a webcomic about all things movies written and illustrated by Tom Brazelton. Starring Tom, his wife Cami, and friend Jared, Theater Hopper perfectly captures Tom's own feelings and reactions to recent and upcoming movies in a way that will easily have you laughing out loud. Updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and featuring a blog post written by Tom, this is the comic that every movie-lover out there won't want to miss. The latest comic and blog has been posted below.

#798 - Books Need An A.V. Output

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Some of you aren't going to like this comic because it doesn't reference anything specifically movie-related. Some of you will be annoyed that you have to read Monday's comic to even understand the reason why Tom is in a library in the first place.

I say, "I don't care. This one is for me." Sometimes it's just fun to do something random and paint Tom as more stupid than usual. "Too stupid to live," I believe is the phrase.

Hey, if the writers of The Office can have Michael drive into a lake because a GPS in a rental car told him to, I can get away with having Tom insist literature come with an A.V. option.

Face facts, there aren't that many interesting movies hitting the multiplex in the next few weeks. March looks like an unusal dry spell. We talked about this curious fact during Monday night's broadcast of The Triple Feature podcast. Yet, we were still able to fill an hour full of rich, buttery movie discussion. You should download it and give it a listen if you haven't already. It was a good show. We didn't have a lot to talk about in terms of new movie releases, but we had fun talking about some of the latest DVD releases and the new Speed Racer international trailers. Fun times!

Not much else to report from Casa de Brazelton except today is my last day at my 9 to 5 job. I performed as a web designer for an insurance agency for the last 5 and a half years. I found another opportunity doing web work for a larger insurance company and I start that job on the 24th.

What does this mean to you? Maybe not as much as it does to me. Admittedly, I've been stressed the last week. But I'm taking some time off before starting the new gig and that means a site redesign I've been kicking around since last October might finally see the light of day before the end of the month. Theater Hopper will become my 9 to 5 for the next week. So in addition to dedicating myself to the redesign (which includes integration with WordPress, I might add), I'll also be working on a few DVD reviews to post here to the front page. So keep your eyes peeled for those!

In the meantime, I'm wrapping up my job duties today, celebrating with my soon-to-be-former co-workers tonight, swinging by the comic book shop to pick up a few books on the way home and getting ready to see Henry Rollins perform a spoken word show here in Des Moines tomorrow night. Did I mention the first wave of Iron Man toys that tie in to the movie hit shelves today?

The next few days are going to be sweet.

See you here Friday!

If you're new to Theater Hopper, you can visit the archives to catch up on all of the past comics. New updates will run here on FS.net every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The official site for Theater Hopper is located at: theaterhopper.com.

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Mrbobbyboy

I thoroughly adore FS.N. It's my one-stop shop for all celluloid developments. As a comic book writer and film lover however, I find it hard to enjoy Theatre Hopper. It's not big. It's not clever. It's not well drawn. That said Tom, you're probably a fine web designer and I wish you the very best with your new position.
http://www.theaterhopper.com Tom Brazelton

I don't really know why you feel the need to point this out? "It's not big?" What does that even mean? If you don't like it, I'm sure you can overlook the entries, just as you might overlook the entries about films you're not interested in. Is it really screwing things up for you that much?
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Tom's right, there's no need for you to make a negative statement like that. You can certainly choose not to read Theater Hopper, but it's a comic I love and one that I love to feature here on the site. We're glad to have you as a reader, but please keep negative comments like this to yourself.
Jon

I have no problem with the comics themselves, but I don't understand the need for the huge essay after each one explaining why you wrote what you did, why it's relevant, and why it's funny. Ultimately, a comic should work within the frames, and not need some prologue to explain it. The thing that I find so odd, is that your comic does work within the frames, it's never confusing and doesn't need the explanation. You don't need to make excuses for why you've written something, you're the artist, just be confident with what you're saying. And never preface anything with "Some of you aren't going to like this comic". If you truly "don't care", you wouldn't be writing about it.
d

amen Jon. I think the explanation lessens the artfulness of the comic. it should speak for itself. and to some extent the volume of text scares me off. I feel like I'll only get the strip if I read the entire post, and at that point I turn away. just my two cents. but I like it being a part of FS.net
Mrbobbyboy

Jon nails it on the head. This is not a strip that requires a preface or a suffix. There are no bones to which you'll ever need to add meat. And not understanding my remark "It's not big" (even when connected, by the proximity of a fullstop, to the line "It's not clever") only serves to further highlight the issues present. I'm no hater, never have been, and I'm glad you guys are all one big happy family. But can you really argue with any of the points I made? Honestly?
http://www.theaterhopper.com Tom Brazelton

The blogs here on FS are reflections of what I post at my site at TheaterHopper.com. I'm not writing original content for FS. Alex and I have simply worked out a bit of cross-promotion. If I'm over-explaining the joke, it's not for a lack of confidence. It's basically to fill space if I don't have something specifically movie-related to talk about. If it's not a feature that's needed on FS, then perhaps that's something Alex and I need to discuss. There is a near 5 and a half year history behind Theater Hopper and over that time I have developed a one-on-one relationship with my audience. So these blogs may feel out of context to FS readers. As to whether or not I can argue with Mrbobbyboy's comments - I think I can. As mentioned, Theater Hopper has been online for nearly 5 and a half years. My site currently averages over half a million page views a month. I've self-published and successfully sold two collections of my comic in print and am in talks with Dark Horse Comics to produce a third book. I've been featured in local newspapers, been interviewed by webcomic media and continue to attract new readers daily - as evident with my partnership with First Showing. Mrbobbyboy's contention that my comic is not "big," "clever," or "well drawn" puts him at odds against those facts. The points he wishes to argue are purely subjective. And if anyone wishes to argue the subjective merits of what is/is not art or what is/is not funny, they will face an uphill climb. If my comic is not your cup of tea, that's fine. But one should not position themselves as an authority by arguing *an opinion* and one should not presume they speak for the majority without all the facts present.
http://filmnew.ru Felix

Friend show, art simply super