My good friends, Chris, Dave and Todd will performing this Friday night (June 27) at 8pm at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. This time, Riff Raff Theater will tackle the movie that drove Sean Connery into retirement: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This is the movie that had so much potential that even critics unaware of its legacy couldn’t come up with enough accolades to give this film a more than a ‘mediocre’ rating. Now I love Sean Connery, especially since he is THE best James Bond so far. Not only that, he gave the movie, Highlander, the much needed boost it desperately deserved.

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Even though they are working hard on ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen‘, the comedy group, Riff Raff Theater, has now announced they will trash (what could have been awesome) the theatrical slaughtering of Isaac Asimov’s ‘I, Robot‘ series.

For those of you who may want to write and submit jokes for this movie, head on over to Riff Raff Theater and check out their to-do list.

If you would like to learn more about the original series (of which my son, Jared,  has read them all), check out the link here.

This will be short and sweet. My good friend, Chris Hanel, and his group, Riff Raff Theater, will be performing their LIVE version of TRON at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. The show is April 25, 2008 at 8pm. You should be seeing the poster (below) hanging around the downtown Iowa City area. There are few up around campus as well. Hope to see you there.

Yeah. You heard it right. This time it’s the often maligned Disney Classic: TRON. Even though Roger Ebert gave the movie 4 out of 4 stars, many film reviewers didn’t care much for the 1982 flick.

This movie (in my honest opinion) is the father of digital films. In fact, TRON (according to the French) held the title of ‘Best Film with Computer Graphics” until the the overly emotional film, ‘Titanic’ arrived on the scene. For once,the French have gotten it correct. But, I can’t say much about ‘Titanic’ being it’s successor.

The Englert Theatre will be hosting Riff Raff Theater on Friday, April 25th. If their take on the Keanu Reeves horrible classic, ‘Speed’, is any hint as to what is come; This film will rock the house.

My suggestion: Be There. And that’s an order.

While I am stressing the LIFE out of me this Spring (and final) Semester here at the University of Iowa, Angie is having the time of her life in Oregon. What is she doing in Oregon? Well, not much as far as I can tell. The crew has been keeping a video-blog of their escapades for Geonetric. I don’t know what this has to do with web development, but it sure looks like they are having the time of their lives. Check out the YouTube clip below.

I sure wish I were in Oregon right now. It sure beats mid-term exams.

I received (what I will from now on refer to as ‘The Phone Call’) at 9:56pm CST. I was on the phone with my kids at the time and decided to take the call (momentarily) to see what the guy wanted. We had been talking recently about the Comics In Action website and how I wanted to take the site over to a WordPress driven site, rather than use Dreamweaver and Photoshop to assemble everything.

I told my son, Jared, to wait a second and clicked over to the other line. We said our respective, –Hey, dude, what up’s– when the caller asked, “Have you heard the news?” I replied, “What news.”, rather hesitant as to what the response would be. “It’s 100 percent sure. We’re moving back to Iowa.” I almost dropped my RAZR and shouted at the moon, “There IS A GOD!”

If you haven’t guessed, my good friend, Chris Hanel, is returning to Iowa. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know exactly why this is so important. It’s not like Chris and I have had some kind of long standing friendship that has surpassed the ages. I’ve only hung-out with the guy less than a dozen times. So, why did this news make me as giddy as a school-boy? We have a mutual project, Comics In Action, that has tied us together in a way that is beyond odd.

Comics In Action was borne out of a mutual feeling that a local improvisational comedy troupe was necessary here in the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City area. The concept started from Chris’s idea, which was expounded upon by fellow-collaborator, Abraham Peterka. Chris and Abe had been working with a mutual friend, Stephen L. Phelan, on a Star Wars Fan Film, “The Formula“. The near-feature-length film had received some critical acclaim within the Star Wars community and garnered them well-deserved ‘street cred’ among Fan Film makers in general.

No sooner had Chris and Abe held auditions for their ‘MIB meets FBI’ improvisational comedy troupe, when Chris decided to attend the DAVE school (short for ‘Digital Animation & Visual Effects’) and move to Florida. From there, Abe was left to assemble the rest of the comedy troupe. Comics In Action became a minor hit within Eastern Iowa, amassing fans from Des Moines to the Quad-Cities.

Chris was at the initial improv auditions and MAYBE one rehearsal (if my memory serves me correctly) and then I didn’t see him for a couple years. He came back to Iowa for family get-togethers and he even had the opportunity to perform with us a couple of times. Each time, I sat back and thought to myself, “Man. He’s got a pretty quick wit. I wish he would stay.” In fact, there was rarely a moment during Chris’ absence, when Abe or Steve wouldn’t comment on how much they missed him and the grand times they had putting “The Formula” together. Although I was having fun with the rest of the comedy troupe, even I began to feel as if Chris’ presence was sorely missed… and I barely knew the guy.

During those times when Chris came back, the two of us would always find time to chat about life, Comics In Action, The Formula, Trey Stokes, Pink Five, and Natalie Portman. The guy comes off as a true geek who has managed to do some things that even the ‘truest geek’ would bow down in reverence. How many people can actually say that they have met and interviewed George Takei of ‘Star Trek’ fame? Who has hung out with Natalie Portman? Chris has. Do you realize what this means? It means that I am within 3 degrees of separation from George ‘freakin’ Lucas. WOW! Do you know anyone who has met Mike Nelson, the head-writer for MS3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000)? I didn’t think so.

Somehow during those times, the two of us have garnered mutual respect for the other. We talk the same language. We both have high-hopes for Comics In Action and we both are upset George Lucas’ attempt to mask the original storyline…”Hahn shot first!” In addition, we know perfectly well that ‘Real Genius’ is the most quotable movie ever made.

So, now I look forward to Mr. Hanel returning for good to the heartland. He has already put together an idea that I’m sure will be a drop-dead hit. He’s already got me hook-line-and-sinker. I’m crossing my fingers that the honeymoon will last for some time. Actually, I should be ashamed for writing that. I know Chris. I know better than that.

“Release the hounds!”

Just got back from Tipton, where Comics In Action performed a private show for the Cedar County Stoplight Players at the Cedar Valley Golf Course. Agent Rutabega gave a press conference as Abraham Lincoln (sorry about the ‘cardigan’ and ‘shawl’ reference – too obscure). Agent Butters and Agent Spoon successfully prevented a hurried Agent Danuuc from getting through security at the airport during a game of ‘Cards’. One my favorites was watching Agent Danuuc shop for a minivan to shuttle his team of trained circus goats.

As usual, the audience was fantastic. I hope that we can perform for them again. Actually, this was the second time we’ve performed for them. The first was a couple of years ago, where Agent Satyrboy (Abe Peterka), Scott D, Agent Danuuc and myself piled into Abe’s car and got lost. We did, however, get there just in time to perform. Who knew that Tipton was so far away from Cedar Rapids. I mean, it’s what… a couple of inches away on the map?

Somehow, Todd got his car stuck in the mud on a B-Grade road just a few miles from the golf course. I don’t know how those guys got his car un-stuck. You should have seen the mud they tracked into the building when they finally arrived. As luck would have it, Todd just had the car painted. I hope he can get it washed to a point that Tracy won’t notice.