Dave at a Con getting his sketch on... sorta

Last weekend was the ever-impressive San Diego Comic Con, and if you don’t have the pleasure of following webcomic people who frequent such an awesome event then you won’t realize what your missing.  So, let me tell you what you’re missing.  Most of the time you’re missing inside jokes between creators, but there are also great pictures including the fan arts the creator is drawing.  There’ll also tell you about the panels and after parties so you get an idea of what’s going on and who’s having all the fun.

I’ve gone to one SDCC myself, and the event was amazing.  Every year after that I had to rely on blog posts that typically recapped the whole weekend days after it was over.  Now, thanks to Twitter, I’m able to feel in a small way like I’m still out there by following celebrities and webcomicers who actually ARE out there.  It’s actually pretty fun.

That said, I thought I’d suggest an artist for you this week, and though there are a lot of great people to follow I decided on Dave Kellett for a few reasons.  First, Dave is one of the first people I started following and one of the few I’ve never stopped following.  Since I follow Dave, I also know for a fact he really is one of the more entertaining follows – especially at cons.  Lots of pictures, jokes, sketches and such in his feed.

There is an alterieror motive I admit.  Just a few days before SDCC, Dave actually posted his 3000th Sheldon Comic!!  That’s a huge feet, and there aren’t a lot of comic people out there that have been doing such high-quality comics for so long.  Sheldon is one of the first webcomics I found, and it’s still one of the ones that can make me laugh almost every day.  After 3000 comics, that’s really impressive.

Plus, Dave’s started dipping his feet into Sci-Fi now with his new comic Drive which updates on Saturdays.   Both comics are great, and I fully recommend both to anyone who loves webcomics – which, hopefully all of you visiting this site do.  Love webcomics.

Anyway, jump over to Twitter and check out Dave’s awesome feed and then add him to your follow list.  You can thank me later.

Quick reminder:  James recorded Cody on his phone trying to ask Tessa out then emailed everyone the file.

This weekend Rob and I were invited to an early screening of the new movie Dinner for Schmucks starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.  It’s the first movie the two have done together since The 40 Year Old Virgin when they were both still earning their fame.  Obviously, since then, they’ve risen the ranks quickly.   Steve’s been headlining a little show called The Office and been in a few movies like Little Miss Sunshine, Get Smart, and Date Night.  Paul stared in movies like Role Models and I Love You, Man.  If you’ve seen at least one movie from each of these guys, then you probably have no doubt the two could carry a movie together.

Oh, and also, that new up-and-comer Zach Galifianakisarscosamoosekaneenisesaos is also in the movie.  You know, the goofy guy from Hangover?  Yeah.  He’s in this too.

To start with, this movie is a comedy about a normal guy (Rudd) trying to get a promotion by impressing his boss with the best ‘idiot’ (Carell) at a dinner where the guests make fun of the losers.  My concern going into this movie was that with an idiot dinner as the basis of the comedy the humor would be nonsensical and over-the-top.  To my great surprise it was the absolute opposite.  The writers did a great job of keeping the story in a zone of plausible – instead of a bunch of people being stupid simply for stupid’s sake, most everything that happened in the movie felt like something that actually could happen.  Carell’s idiot was far more a naive, good-hearted simpleton and less a crazy person.  That has a really endearing effect, allowing the audience to become sympathetic for the character while still appreciating the humor in the stupid things he does.

As good as Carell’s character is – and lets be fair, it’s a mix of the script and the actor – Rudd’s character never really blossoms.  This time I’m gonna blame the script, cause there is no doubt in my mind that Paul Rudd can play a normal, everyday guy.  His entire career is based on playing that guy.  He’s the Sandra Bullock of guys.  He still manages to be that normal guy in this movie.  The problem is that the writers forgot to give him a clear motivation.  The character is just kind of a mix of internal struggles, bouncing between conflicts without a lot of clarity to what drives him.  At the end of the movie there’s a nice little summary, but at that point you’ve lost any chance to understand him or why he’s so conflicted.  Still, even with that lacking Rudd does a great job playing counter to Carell’s antics and his acting actually makes you forget (for the most part) what a poorly fleshed out character he’s playing.

Now, I don’t want that criticism to carry too heavy.  Overall the movie is fantastic and that one flaw was really an after-thought I had while talking with Rob about the movie.  It certainly didn’t hurt the movie while I was watching itl.  Especially since I spent 90% of my time in the theater laughing.  The humor is mostly one liners that are well written and tend to build on themselves, and they’re crafted so well they never feel tired.  There are also some great ‘goofy’ moments, and the best part about those is that the director sells out for them.  What I mean is that when a goofy moment is about to happen you know before it starts and I found myself laughing in anticipation of what was going to happen and then laughing harder when it did.  No tricks, no sucker punches, no bait and switch, no spit takes.  What you think is going to happen does, and when it does you can’t stop laughing cause Carell and Rudd sell it perfectly.  Simple but so very effective.

The movie is rated PG-13 and I think that’s exactly right.  Mostly it’s pretty tame.  The language is never too foul.  There are some sexual conversations and jokes, but the content of those conversations is about on par with an episode of Family Guy or South Park.  In my opinion it was pretty mild and not really very offensive.

I’d highly recommend the movie to anyone who’s a fan of smart comedy.  Ironic to call a movie about idiots smart, but that’s really what it is.  In a packed theater, the entire crowd was laughing out loud almost from beginning to end.  For me, it was the best comedy since Hangover.

When you get to see it, let me know what you think with a comment or a tweet!  Enjoy the movie!

Back on Earth to start off Chapter 2.  Just a quick reminder of names:  Tessa and Devon and the guy in orange is James.

This is the final comic for Chapter 1: Be A Man – but Monday starts off Chapter 2: Who Your Friends Are!

Kristin was the original Glinda the Good for Wicked when it was on Broadway.  Before that she won a Tony Award as Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  She’s also done some television, having won an Emmy Award for her role as Olive Snook on the show Pushing Daisies, and also playing a role on West Wing and most recently the reoccurring April Rhodes on Glee.  Obviously to have won a Tony OR an Emmy would be great, but Kristin has proven her talent by winning both.

If that’s not enough, and really it should be but you know… just in case, Kristin has also done voice work for the new Tinkerbell movies and Robot Chicken, made a few Funny or Die videos, written her own memoir, starred in the made for TV movie The Music Man with Matthew Broderick, has appeared three different times as a part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, been a guest judge for American Idol, toured with international pop sensation Il Divo, and done a few small movies like Bewitched, Stranger Than Fiction, and Four Christmases.

Oh, and then there’s her music!  Three of her own albums with a fourth slated for later this year.  If you’ve heard the soundtrack to Wicked or seen her episodes on Glee then you know she’s got talent, but if you don’t let me point out that she’s classically trained with a range of four octaves.  That’s a lot of octaves.  It’s actually a shame that Twitter is a text program, cause if they could let you share singing I think most everyone would have put Kristin on their follow list by now.

Even without a vocal system on Twitter I highly recommend following Kristin because, lets face it, the woman is a star in every sense of the word!  Stage, film, musical, written word, national tours, and on and on.  The bottom line:  she’s Popular.