by Brian Gott
News Archives
April-June, 2005
April 21, 2005
MAHALO!
I'd like to welcome those of you who are linking here from ComicStripFan.com! Pardon our dust -- things are still kind of a mess following the recent change in the strip's look. Nose around a bit and enjoy!
And to the rest of you: have you visited ComicStripFan.com lately? Why not? Go on! I'll still be here when you get back.
Eric Agena's cartoon gallery is growing like gangbusters! He's got separate sections set up for webcomics, newspaper strips and comic books. And he's adding new material almost daily, so it's worth keeping an eye on this site.
Speaking of adding new material -- what's this? (I may have to go get to work on that cast picture I promised him!)
May 2, 2005 (Not "April 21" as was posted for the better part of a day)
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY MOVIE: MOSTLY HARMLESS
I saw the long-awaited movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Saturday. To quote from Abraham Lincoln's pre-lawyer days as a theater critic, "People who like this sort of thing will find this to be the sort of thing they like."
Seriously, I enjoyed it. Very funny in a Monty Python/Doctor Who sort of way. The movie's "look" took a little getting used to, but in my opinion it fit the irreverent tone of Hitchhiker's well -- particularly the Improbability Drive effect.
And what can I say about the casting except, "Ford, you're turning into a penguin, stop it?" No, seriously. Martin Freeman makes a suitably clueless, nebbishy Arthur Dent, as Mos Def does an eccentric Ford Prefect. Zooey Deschanel as Trillian looks great and brings just the right personality to the part. Sam Rockwell is way over the top as Zaphod, but then Zaphod is supposed to be over the top.
All in all, I highly recommend the film -- IF you're already familiar with Hitchhiker's in its other incarnations.
There were a few elements from the books and the original radio series (still the definitive version, as far as I'm concerned) that I would have liked to see in the movie. Gag Halfrunt appears in one brief clip, but there is no mention of the consortium of psychiatrists or the real reason for the Earth's demolition. Similarly, it would have been pretty easy to miss the reason why the mice needed Arthur's brain, if you didn't already know that as a last-generation product of the Earth's computer matrix, he was quite possibly carrying the Question around in his brainwaves! (Just thought I'd give your memory a little refresher!)
And I'm kind of split on the Vogons' appearance. The science fiction fan in me chafes at the thought of aliens that dress like Earth bureaucrats. But the British-comedy fan in me got a kick out of the satire. (It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the Vogons' Replacement Light Bulb Requisition Form is 42 pages long!)
But every version of Hitchhiker's is different from every other version. And the movie offered its own set of surprises along the way that more than made up for the absence of a few things.
There are also a few little treats for the sharp-eyed Hitchhiker's fan. In a scene where our heroes come face to face with Vogon bureaucracy, watch for a cameo appearance by the TV series version of Marvin. Simon Jones (who played Arthur in the radio and TV series) has a small part. Douglas Adams' face also makes a couple of appearances.
In short, Hitchhiker's fans can relax and be assured of a fun trip. Just remember to bring your towel.
May 7, 2005
UPDATE ON THE UPDATES
EDIT: Reading back over this, I feel that it might look like I'm just being lazy. It isn't that. It's partly that other things besides Dodo have been chewing up large portions of my time, and partly that getting the hang of Illustrator has been slow going -- because I've gotten away from working on the strip. Hopefully, I'll be able to streamline the process as I get back into this.
There was a time when updating on time, on a regular schedule, was important to me. I mean, really important. I would sit here until 11:00 or later on Tuesday night if necessary, scrambling so there'd be something to post on Wednesday morning. Occasionally, I even managed to get ahead of schedule somewhat, building up a buffer of a week or more.
Since the transition to Dodo 2.0, however, I seem to have adopted a different attitude. Now it's, "I'll finish it when I finish it, and if you don't like waiting for your free comic strip, well, you need to learn to be patient!"
But as you've surely noticed, this Guilt-Free Update Slacking(tm) isn't getting me very far in terms of having finished strips. It seems that if I don't have a deadline hanging over my head, I'm likely to find any excuse to put off working on it.
Now, I have to say that it's been nice not stressing out over my update schedule. But I think it's high time I got back to something resembling regular updates. So here's the deal. Starting May 17, the Official Update Schedule is going to be Tuesday and Thursday, with maybe a 50-ish percent chance of something on Saturday (possibly a Way of the Dodo strip, possibly something else.)
I'm also going to stop back-dating the strips. So yeah, there's going to be a gap in the archives. Oh well.
June 9, 2005
"TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPIN', SLIPPIN', SLIPPIN',
INTO THE FUTURE ... "
INTO THE FUTURE ... "
Yesterday was my birthday. As my twin brother put it, we're no longer in our early thirties.
I was going to complain about the fact that I'm losing my hair at an alarming rate while my twin is not. But my brother is under the weather right now, so I didn't feel right complaining while I'm enjoying basically good health. The hair loss is no surprise. I've known for a long time that it was going to go going.