Film Strip

I have a confession to make. I love Pixar, but I do not like Cars.

There, I said it.

I just don’t like the movie, and I’ll tell you why. 1) Because I’m not much of a NASCAR fan. (Sidenote: That is also the reason I don’t like Talladega Nights.) My oldest brother brought me up on open-wheele racing, so I like Indy-car and F-1 much better. 2) It’s the same exact movie as Disney’s Home on the Range staring Roseanne Bar. And I despised that movie.

Home on the Range, for those of you who understandably don’t remember, was a forgotten Disney movie released in 2004. Still don’t remember it. Good, you’re better off. It was Disney’s last traditionally animated film when they decided to go all CGI, that is before The Princess and the Frog. I saw it because some friends were in town and the only choices at the theater were that, and The Punisher. Even as a die-hard comics fan, I knew better than to see The Punisher. So we saw this Disney atrocity.

It’s about a prized dairy cow who gets sent to a regular farm where she has to learn what it’s like in the real world where you have to care for others and not be the center of attention. Sound like a certain race-car champion who get’s stuck in a small town where he has to learn to care for others and not be the center of attention? Now I know there are only something like 11 – 23 different story plots in all of history, but just the fact that I could equate a Pixar movie released in 2006 with a bad Disney movie released in 2004 was enough to annoy me.

And now there’s a Cars 2 set for release! Arrggg!

Don’t get me wrong. I know why there’s a Cars 2. Little boys love race-cars. I know this. I have a 5-year-old nephew, and he LOVES Cars. I got him a Cars race-track for Christmas. I just can’t get over not liking it.

So why am I ranting about kids movies? Well, Toy Story 3 just came out, and it got me thinking about kids movies, but I also watched Bolt on the plane home from Japan last week.

Bolt was that Disney (not Pixar) CGI movie that came out two years ago. I wanted to see it at the time, but I never got around to it. It looked good. It was about a dog who has super powers on a TV show, but the dog really believes he has super powers in real life. It sounded like a fun concept.

Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t that good.

The story was lacking a lot of substance, and the hamster character that was supposed to provide comic relief was really annoying. It’s basically The Incredible Journey with a twist. Oh, and the cliches that this hamster threw out were appalling. (Yes, I know he was supposed to be quoting all the TV he watched, but still–arrggg!)

Sheesh! And I was afraid this blog would be filled with too many positive reviews since I like most things. Sorry about that.

At any rate, I’m looking forward to Toy Story 3, since I love all the Pixar movies, except Cars. Just between you and me, Toy Story 2 slipped through the cracks for me, so I’m going to have to catch that first. Anyone with kids or any kids-at-heart like me, want to loan me Toy Story 2 before this weekend? Thanks

To infinity, and beyond!

Hello loyal Film Strippers! (Ha! I kinda like that.) I am back from Japan and hoping to be better than ever. Though not just yet due to the fact that I’m trying to get on a better sleep schedule. Going to the other side of the world will do that to you.

Before getting into a little recap of my trip, I wanted to send out a big thanks to my wife’s friends, and now my friends, Chris and Gizelle who hosted us for our entire 10-day trip. I don’t know how we would’ve gotten along without some American locals showing us all the ropes. I also want to thank the people of Japan for being such a nice culture to help me feel welcome in a foreign land. I’d recommend anyone and everyone take a trip to Japan just to experience the generosity and overall friendliness of this great land. And finally I want to thank my wife for not only putting up with me, but for being such a great traveling companion. Yes, I think this marriage is going to work out quite nicely.

Now on to the trip!

We flew Continental on a direct flight to Tokyo. I was fully prepared for a 13 hour flight with 3 books, my sketchbook, 6 or 7 magazines, a copy of Usagi Yojimbo #123, and a how to draw book. Additionally, I had loaded up the iPhone with music and movies. Then comes the flight.

For those of you who haven’t taken a international Continental flight to Tokyo before, like me, each seat has it’s own individual TV in the back of the headrest in front of you. I’ve experienced this before on Jet Blue, but this wasn’t just a dozen or so On-Demand movies and maybe 30 TV shows, this was a full on entertainment Smörgåsbord.

We had our choice of around 150 movies including about 25 new releases. I took full advantage of these. There were also a number of TV show options, music selections, and even video games with a controller. I had never experienced this many options on a flight. Needless to say, I didn’t utilize any of the entertainment that I brought.

On the flight over, I watched 5 movies. Up in the Air, Sherlock Holmes, Shutter Island, The Book of Eli, and Lost in Translation. The first four I hadn’t seen before, and then I had to catch up on Lost in Translation before arriving in Japan. Plus, with the price of these plane tickets, I was going to be sure I got my money’s worth, if possible, and not sleep the whole trip.

I’m realizing that this trip recap is going to get pretty long, so I’ll try to hit the high points.

We arrived in Tokyo and immediately went to Tokyo Disney for two days. Me being a movie buff, a huge Disney and Pixar fan, and a cartoonist, this was a must for me. We actually spent our time at the Disney Sea theme park which was aimed at an older audience with rides like Indiana Jones and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and alcohol sales at the restaurants. This was a really fun experience, and I learned that 1) the lines are incredibly long, and I’m glad I had my iPhone so we could watch Up while we waited, and 2) Japanese people love Disney, and they love trinkets and accessories. EVERYONE had some sort of dangly trinket on their cell phones, and you couldn’t find a souvenir t-shirt anywhere. It was all accessories, trinkets, and candy.

After Disney, we went to Atsugi to meet up with our friends at the US Naval base and to experience the local flair. It was fun to go to a mall, a real Ramen restaurant (sidenote, I have still never had cheap ramen that we have in America), an authentic Sushi bar, and it was awesome to get a tour of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier.

We then went to Tokyo for two days and experienced as much as we could. We ate at the restaurant that inspired the set of the Crazy 88 fight in Kill Bill, we went to the electronics and video game district, saw the Godzilla statue, and ate at the Hotel where Lost in Translation was filmed.

From Tokyo, we went on a bullet train to Kyoto where we got to experience old-world Japan visiting Shrines, the Shogun’s Castle, the Golden Pavilion, and the Imperial Palace.

After that, it was back to Atsugi, and then to Tokyo, and back to America, where I watched a few more movies on the plane, including finally finishing The Godfather: Part II.

Overall, it was a great experience. People keep asking me what my favorite part was. I understand that this is a standard question to ask someone back from vacation, but it has kind of bothered me because I didn’t have a favorite part. It was all really fun and a great experience.

Growing up in America, we really don’t get exposed to what Japan is like, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Japan is not full of Samurai showdowns or anime super fights. It’s not all crazy game shows and weird cuisine. Heck, it’s not even what is presented in Lost in Translation because you need to have a ton of money to stay in that hotel and do Tokyo like they did Tokyo.

It’s just a wonderful place that’s hard to describe unless you’ve been there, and I’m glad I went.

I’ve been getting this question a lot from people who know me personally. And if it’s not this question, it’s something like, “Why aren’t you posting anymore?” or “I haven’t seen a new comic in weeks.”

Actually, it’s only been a few days. I was trying to backdate the posts thinking I could catch up, but that proved futile.

So why haven’t I been doing the comic lately? Life jumped in the way.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve thrown three birthday gatherings, had an extended house guest, packed for a trip to Japan, planned logistics for a trip to Michigan, tried to learn conversational Japanese, my day-job just got slammed with a ton of extra work, and I’ve been putting in a lot of overtime. I can’t complain because life really isn’t too shabby for me right now. And I’m not trying to one-up my busy life against anyone else’s, I hate when people do that, but when your life get’s going with things both fun and not-so-fun, it pushes your fledgling comic strip aside for the time being.

Additionally, I decided on a whim to ink the day-dream portions of this current samurai storyline with a paint brush instead of my normal inking pens. I haven’t used a brush since probably middle school, so that also takes some time.

All that being said, unfortunately, the comic will be on hiatus for at least two more weeks while this other stuff takes over for a little bit. But know that even though I’m not able to draw it out, the stories and jokes are still coming to mind, and I’m taking notes trying to get our Film Strip world together for the forseeable future.

In the meantime, feel free to go back through the comic archives and re-read our story so far. We’ve come a long way in these first 5 or so months. Thanks for being there along the way, and thanks for your patience. I’m glad you enjoy the comic.