The Big Chill

If this comic makes no sense or seems out of place, perhaps it is because you didn’t read yesterday’s comic. Oh, what’s that? You didn’t notice the continuity? Well, it’s new. We just had it installed. I’m not sure if I like the color, but we have 30 days to return it, so…

If you are still confused, the guys WERE in line to see The Avengers and now they ARE in the theater, taking their seats. A betting man might assume they will next be watching the movie, then perhaps after that the movie will be over.

There has been nothing short of an outpouring of support from you, The Fancy Bastards, regarding my blog post yesterday dealing with the shortcomings I see in the comic and the changes/improvements I want to make. I am not exaggerating when I say I spent the whole of Tuesday reading comments, emails and tweets, processing them, responding to as many as I could and just thinking about what you guys had to say. The reactions ranged from “I love the comic and I will continue to support whatever you decide to do,” to “While I do still enjoy the comic, I don’t read it as much and I think you’re right in wanting to fix all those things that you want to fix,” to “YES! All of those things are wrong with the comic! Also here is another list of all the things you are doing wrong! Fix those things now!” Granted, that last group was a vast minority, but for some reason their words rang the loudest between my ears inside my overstressed, emotionally exhausted brains.

Major thanks to everyone that donated yesterday, especially to the few new donation subscribers. If you enjoy HE and would like to see it continue, I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options. If you can spare $2 a month for a bunch of free comics, I would very much appreciate it.

It’s taking every single ounce of… is humility the word? Probably not. Anyway, it’s taking all of the stuff that I can muster… MUSTERSTUFF! That’s the word! It’s taking all of that to read the comments and really absorb the constructive criticism without taking it too personally or getting offended. I basically opened a huge wound then gave everyone one of your a band-aid and a jar of pee and asked you NOT to throw the jar of pee at the wound. There’s sand in the pee jar too. It’s a bad scene where open wounds are concerned. A day later, I am extremely grateful for the band-aids and even the slightly pee-soaked band-aids… OK this metaphor was out of hand before it even started. Abandoning metaphor. Thank you for the feedback. I’m keeping a running list of ideas that I’ve gotten from you guys and I will be considering them strongly and implementing many of the changes you’ve suggested the make sense.

I was really shocked by the number of people that suggested that I take the comic out of the RSS feed and instead just give a link to the site in order to improve ad revenue. These comments came mainly from people who read the comic in the RSS feed. I don’t know how I feel about that since I read everything in Google Reader and get frustrated when I am linked out of it, but I am willing to experiment with anything at this point.

I can certainly say that writing for this week has gone MUCH faster than it typically does. The concept of “picking up where I left off” is altogether new to me and is far preferable to desperately searching for a new topic to write about every day. I am still scared of this new territory, but I am already optimistic about the direction I am taking the comic and my ability to produce better comics, more often and with some degree of reliability in terms of update schedule. More on that as this phase of The Experiment progresses.

COMMENTERS: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen anyone do in a movie theater? I mean, being a teen is pretty bad, but one time I was seeing Equilibrium and a dude just it up a freakin’ cigarette. IN THE THEATER! That’s some seriously sociopathic behavior. Another time, while watching either Paycheck or The Time Machine (I don’t remember which), I had to yell at a guy to wake him up because he was snoring so loud. I don’t remember the film, but once I saw a mom let her two small boys run up and down the aisles of the theater with toy swords during the entire movie. They were like teens, only smaller. It was terrible.



  1. I don't recall what movie it was, but a friend and I were seeing one when we were all of maybe 8-10 and I believe our families were in a different theater. The movie was packed, we had our coats on our chairs, went to pee, and when we came back some asshole teenagers had just sat in our spots, on top of our jackets. As they were much bigger than us, we put up little fuss other than to demand they get out of our chairs, which did nothing but them throwing our jackets in our faces and laughing. So teenagers are not just assholes to older people, they're assholes to everyone.

    • "teenagers are not just assholes to older people, they're assholes to everyone."

      "Oh, you mean THIS jacket? Now it's the FLOOR's jacket!" [congratulates self on being so clever]

    • This is why you must travel in large, roving packs as children. Twenty striplings can tear a teenager apart.

  2. PLEASE don't cripple the RSS feed. Comics that do that find themselves right out of my awareness in short order. I'll try to keep up, but it'll be a losing battle. I know I miss out on a lot of great comics this way, but there it is. Google Reader is my Internet. Just sayin'.

    • What if I showed the first panel or a preview? Something to remind you that in one more click you could A) see the wonderful picture funnies and B) support me through ads? Just a thought.

      • I sort of like what SMBC does in which it has the full comic in the rss but on the website there is a red button that shows an extra pannel. That way rather then making the rss feed shittier you are giving an added value to clicking through. (In a related note I now feel like an ass for forgetting to add this site to my list of exceptions in ad block so right now I'm turning it off then am going to spend a while clicking around your page)

      • I don't know much about RSS, but I seem to remember people saying you can put ads inside it. Would that be a doable compromise?

      • It does seem like putting the comic entire in the RSS is shooting yourself in the foot, ad revenue-wise. Personally, I'd think a simple "NEW COMIC HERE" bit would be good enough for RSS. That way, you'd get your new HE alert and click through if you're too busy to just stop by every day.

  3. So, I write movie reviews and occasionally get to go to early screenings, so I see some of the same people there occasionally. One of the regular people there is a man with his differently-abled brother. I can't tell you if he has autism or another mental issue, but he is in a wheelchair and he does have trouble clearly speaking.

    For a movie earlier in the year, there was a louder older woman sitting near me and before the movie started she went to say hello to the man and his brother on her way to the bathroom because she had talked to him before (I know this because she loudly said all this to the woman she came with). As the wheelchaired man was talking to her excitedly about watching the movie for a few seconds, she literally put her hand over his mouth and scrunched up his cheeks to stop him from talking because she had to go to the bathroom. When she left, he was embarrassed and his brother was speechless.

    When she came back, she told him Jennifer Aniston was supposed to "show her boobies" in the movie (it was Wanderlust and no she didn't) and, as the kicker, when she got back to her seat she told her friend, "Did you see? I told the retarded guy Jennifer Aniston gets naked." And then she laughed. Oh, and she spent the rest of the movie loudly repeating all the lines she thought were funny.

    That is the worst thing I've ever seen in a movie theater.

      • I was incredibly torn between what I should do, especially since I was sitting a little ways away from the situation and the brother hadn't said anything. I kept an ear out for the lady during the rest of the night and if she did anything else particularly disruptive outside of repeating movie lines I was going to talk to the manager.

    • I had a substitute teacher call me Frankenstein once because of my assistive listening device, so yeah…there are people like this out there in the world, and most of them just have no idea how insensitive they are being.

  4. When I saw Kings Kong, there was a crying infant in the theatre for almost the entire movie. I'm not sure what's worse, hearing an infant cry, or watching King Kong.

    • Hearing a baby cry for the better part of two hours is a hell of a reminder to buy condoms on the ride home.

      While watching King Kong is a reminder that Peter Jackson isn't infallible, and that the least he could do the next time he wants anybody to sit through a stinker like King Kong is to throw in a tasteful scene or two with some boobies.

      • You kids today! It's sad. Way back when (the 70's) a person could count on seeing boobs at least once in just about any R-rated movie. That and if it was fantasy, Doug McClure would crop up somewhere.When did this country get so damn puritanical!

  5. why the fudck to teenagers go to the theater anyway? They text and talk and other stuff the whole movie, make it impossible to hear what's happening… and they paid ten bucks for it. WTF?

    That said, I apologize to everyone as it was MY generation that did the laser-pointer bullshit in the late 90s. I personally didn't (I was saving for a laser from Edmund Scientific, not the pet store) but I might as well have there were so many little assholes with laser pointers.

    • Heh… I still do that. But not at movies, nooooo sir, I go to the skatepark and do that. Hehheheheheheh. Course, I wasn't a teen in the 90's

    • Warning, Sarcasm below…

      I am a teenager… And I go to movie's to watch them… I totally appreciate the "agism"? But I suppose I can forgive you old farts who have to walk with a cane and make more noise getting out of the sofa than a squealing infant…

      • Oddly enough, I do walk with a cane sometimes and I do make an audible wince when I get off the couch, both because of my chronic back pain. So, yeah. Fair enough, I guess.

    • *snort* I love/loved laser pointers, but not when they're used to distract from something genuinely entertaining. Though, my favorite occurrence of assholes getting what they deserve was watching the 4th of July fireworks while a bunch of morons on boats out on the lake shone green laser pointers up at them, lighting up the smoke. Sure, it looked neat, but c'mon, guys, explosives are awesome, and you're ruining the show. I think they might have learned it was a stupid idea when the Coast Guard boarded their boat. If only it were legal to simply take the law into our own hands and jack people in the jaw when they do retarded things.

  6. Comic & RSS Feed –

    I get almost every comic I read as an RSS feed update now, because it means I don't need to haunt the sites to see if they have been updated yet. Before that I had two bookmarked folders and would check on the respective days of the week. That worked well enough, but meant I only read comics when I was where the folder was. I mean, that was at work, so it wasn't terrible or anything, but it's nicer to read them as they arrive.

    Having said that, I read every comic by opening them out of the RSS feed in to a new tab, because you don't get mouse overs otherwise and I like the mouse overs (also why I don't read them on the iPad…).

    So, hopefully the mouse overs get you a bit more revenue, but I would expect the RSS feed to be an advert revenue issue. It's just a shame it's so easy.

    Don't know if that helps. Only real advice is if someone asks you a question about your merch, reply to them. Even if it's only to say 'sorry, I can't help with that bit'. Nothing says 'I don't really want your money' like not answering a question about your merch.

    • Eh? I can see hover text just fine in Reader. And on the iPad I get a little link under the comic that says "show alt text".

      • Umm… "Show alt text"? On my comic? What browser are you using? I didnt even know that was possible.

        • Holy shit, there's alt text?!?

          I've been reading this strip for over a year and never noticed. Curse you RSS reader! [shakes fist at Google Reader]

          Hopefully my back reading for alt text will make up the lost revenue from using a reader.

  7. Hey! First comment and first donation in one day! Yeah! (I also disabled AdBlock for HE and randomly clicked on ads and spammed my facebook page with HE links…. so, yeah… well… I hope it helps).

    I laughed so hard at these last comics! When we saw Avengers, my first reaction at our seats was "you gotta be kidding me". Teens and yelling "adults" (you know, older than 25 but proudly displaying their mental age of 15 with every loud idiotic thing they say) all around us. I turned around and got different seats a couple of rows away from the masses.

    Avengers was totally worth the social awkwardness of switching seats.

    Hate on, Joel, hate on.

    • I know you're trying to help out a site you enjoy, but please don't randomly click on ads. Google's Adsense product (and possibly other ad networks) can penalize that website if they think the site is trying to game the system. It also penalizes the people and companies that advertise on ad networks if they're paying per click.

      Linking to content you like, like you are doing on facebook, is great!

        • Not to mention you get the WEIRDEST ads all over the place. I still have absolutely NO idea what I, a married Heathen, did to get a bunch of "Single & Christian? Find God's perfect mate for you!" dating site ads. Nooooooo idea.

      • Thanks, I didn't know that! I ended up not so randomly buying stuff from one of the pages though… I guess that's okay then?

    • Glad you are enjoying the comics and thanks for the enthusiasm.

      The guy next to my wife at Avengers was SO FREAKING EXCITED that he kept wooping and cheering and standing up and trying to start applause. It was (almost) more cute than annoying.

      • I started a round of applause during a movie. It was in that scene in The Dark Knight, when The Mayor of Gotham City promoted Jim Gordon to Police Commissioner. It was epic, and I don't use that word lightly.

  8. I'm looking forward to see where this continuity thing goes. Also, as a recent decrepit old man of 30 myself, I can't express how much I desire those darn kids to get off my lawn! What with their poke-sexting-balls and their dubstepper-boarding. Back in my day we huffed spray paint and wore day-glow neon and that's the way we liked it!

  9. Seeing Avengers at midnight, my dad and I wound up in the theater where they had been showing the Marvel marathon. It was us and maybe ten other people, compared to the five other packed theaters. Great way to see that movie.

    As for worst experiences, I used to live on a Navy base, which had a dollar theater. Said dollar theater would have free matinees on Sundays and people always brought their entire families. It could have been something titled "Pedophile Face Fucker Murders part 7" and there would still be a line of people cradling screaming infants.

    • A couple of months ago we promised our daughter a movie night, without realizing there were no kids movies currently in the theaters. We saw that Puss In Boots was playing at the dollar theater and figured we'd give it a shot. HOT SHIT IN A WICKER BASKET that was a mistake. First of all, I didnt realize that "Dollar Theater" was code for "IF YOU HAVE 40 KIDS THIS IS THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN AFFORD A MOVIE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY, SO BRING YOUR 40 KIDS!" Also, and I know how privileged this sounds, but non-stadium seating at a movie? You might as well be watching two cavemen fuck an abacus. The sound was in stereo, the picture was fuzzy, the screen was scratched the film print was scratched. It was god damn awful. Of course the kiddo loved it.

  10. I can't remember any truly awful incident that stands out but I feel the urge to kill rising whenever some tool gets their phone out in the cinema.

    When I went to see War Horse, the girl behind me got so involved that I could hear her whimpering under her breath for a good five minutes, culminating in a yell of 'NO!!!!!!!!!' during a crucial, emotional moment (don't want to say which bit in case there's people who want to see it but haven't). I guess some people in there might have been annoyed by it, but I consider that the funniest thing that happened to me in the cinema in recent times. It was seriously hilarious.

    (Sorry if this posts more than once, I keep getting a blank screen)

  11. It looks like the guys' mistake was not seeing the Marvel marathon. My wife, some friends, and I did, and I don't recall any teenagers in our nearly full theater. Instead, it was a theater full of geeks watching awesome geek movies together. That was definitely the way to go.

  12. As long as you have an RSS feed, I don't really care what is actually in the body of it. I will almost always just click the link to open the page to your site anyway. RSS just means I don't have to remember to go check a bunch of sites manually every day.

    Anyway, I think you're doing the right thing with the characters. But I'll be here until your feed stops working either way 🙂

    • " RSS just means I don't have to remember to go check a bunch of sites manually every day. "

      This is good feedback. Thanks!

  13. I have been reading from the RSS feed for a while and after your post made a conscious decision to just always click through. BUT THEN I saw that you have subscriptions? So now that I'm down for a recurring payment, I'm not so sure!

    Thanks for the great comics! Hope to see you at Baltimore Comic-con again this year.

    • Thanks for the support. Unfortunately, I most likely will not be at Baltimore this year. Sorry.

  14. Oooooh continuity! How exciting! (Seriously, it's pretty cool.)

    Worst story: I was at the dollar theater in town watching… errr, something and someone in the back was drinking beer. I heard them open it and I could smell it. Towards the end of the movie he set the bottle down and knocked it over, and everyone in the theater heard the bottle clink over and the roll all the way down to the front of the theater. Definitely could have been worse but that was the most annoyed I'd been at an audience.

    Funny story: I was watching a horror movie with a friend and at some really tense part a big sounding guy in the audience yelled "THAT'S JUST ABOUT GOD-DAMNED ENOUGH." Everyone laughed and it broke the tension.

    • That could have been any of my family in a theater when I was a kid. I grew up thinking it was relatively normal to sneak liquor and beer into a movie, and someone always knocked over a bottle at some point. Oh silly alcoholics.

  15. When I watched (drooled over, wanked off too, etc.) THE AVENGERS, there was teenager (die!) who tried the old Hollywood slow-clap. You know, every time there was a cool moment (at the main title, at the end title, a few times in between) he would slow-clap, then slowly speed up… I guess he was hoping to start one of those clap-tsunamis that only occur in really lame movies.

    Best part–he was texting on his phone throughout the entire film. I just wanted to run up, grab his phone and Hulk smash! that mother all over the theater. That's not my "worst experience in theaters" story, but it was AVENGERS specific.

    BTW, you make the format to please you, create the comics that make you laugh, and use the number of panels that suit your needs… we will all be pleased, laugh and feel great about the strips. (At least, I will!)

  16. I saw Shaun of the Dead in a theater with 4 of my friends and 1 guy smoking a bowl. We were the only ones in the theater.

    During Inglorious Basterds (a full theater) a man whipped out his cellphone and proceded to talk loudly on it, explaining that he had to shout to hear himself as he was in a movie.

    And I can't remember what we were seeing, we finally got sick of a group of teenage girls discussing some incident in the lunchroom and told them to please keep it down. We were told to mind our own effing business and that it was an inside joke. They then spent the rest of the movie congratulating each other on how they really gave it to us.

    I know not what an RSS feed is but I keep HE on my bookmarks bar on my browser along with a few other webcomics I read, and being the weirdo I am, I check constantly for updates. I was unaware that adblock hurt you so I have disabled it. I always mean to donate but constantly forget so I will be doing that as soon as possible. I always love the comic but I'm looking forward to continuity. I've been curious about the longer stories behind some of the strips you put up.

    Oh and one time I told a woman who wouldnt stop talking to her husband about date night sitting next to me to shut up or refund my money and she spent the movie telling her husband not to laugh or do anything cause I might get mad. Then on the way out she told my husband to eff me hard that night to get the stick out of my *ss. And this was a woman twice my age at least wearing boat shoes and a sweater draped over her shoulders. It's not just teenagers who are horrible.

    • I once yelled at a kid at a Chik-Fil-A who was beating up a little girl on the playground. When he stopped I said," GO FIND YOUR PARENTS AND LEAVE HER ALONE!" The mom came and found me and told me I handled the situation wrong. I told her she handled parenting her kid wrong and that beating up a girl half his size wasn't a "let's talk about our feelings" type of offense. She got all puffed up and threw of bunch of "OH YEAH!?' and "IS THAT SO?!" in my face. We just left and on the way out she told my wife she felt sorry for her. I almost couldnt drive because my eyes were so filled with RAAAAAAAAGE.

      • See, I avoid those types of situations. I have a short temper, but it peaks from time to time. But I keep this phrase in mind: "You don't want to be the guy that drops the soap, do you? DO YOU?" And I envision Mr.T saying it. Then just back off.

      • And that is why I try to content myself with imagining myself spanking other peoples kids when they misbehave. My parents disciplined me and my brother and taught us how to behave in public. Other people let their kids roam and destroy. And if you ever say anything, you get exactly what you got at that Chik-Fil-A or worse. Thank you for being a decent parent by the way. 🙂

      • See, at that point, the only thing I would have had to say was "Well, were you here to handle it, perhaps I could have taken notes. WATCH YOUR IDIOT KID, LADY"

        But hey, salute to you for jumping in. I'd have bought you a shake for that.

  17. My girlfriend and I had gone to see Up (which remains one of my all-time Pixar favorites, second only to the Incredibles) and after about five screens of 'no srsly don't phone during the movie.' I remember being bewildered by this and asking if this was a thing now–I don't get out much you see.

    I would soon learn the extent of my folly, as halfway through the movie, a guy's phone starts ringing about three seats down from us, not too unusual, but instead of quickly silencing the phone, he answers it, and has a pretty involved conversation.

    The kicker: at one point, he says, "No, I can't turn it down, I'm at the movies."

    But even that wasn't enough to ruin Up.

  18. In theatre for Matrix: Revolutions – yes, yes, okay – and a few hipster teens near the front figure out fairly early on, like the rest of us, that the show's basically going to be a pile ol' pile of wank. However, unlike the rest of us who still are enjoying what parts of it we can, they take it upon themselves to make it abundantly clear that for the remainder of the film, they'll only be enjoying it ironically. Every moment that falls short, every scene that doesn't work, they're groaning loudly, laughing hysterically, and basically making a show of themselves.

    Now, had the rest of the theatre gotten on board with this and started joining in, I might give them a bit of leeway. But we weren't. And though multiple people had been shusshing them (and in a few cases openly telling them to shut up) they carried on. We get to the death scene at the end, and they're ramped up so loud they're practically falling out of their seats. By now the whole theatre is seeing red.

    Golden lining? My take-no-prisoners wife, having had more than enough of this, chucked her 1/4 full movie-size coke down on them, *bounced it off the dude's head*, at which point it exploded over him. Cheers from the audience, and when they turned around no one fessed up as to who did it.

    Funny, they shut up pretty quick after that.

    • I once told a group of teens that were talking above full volume non stop for 20 minutes during a movie to GTFO. They didn't agree so I physically picked up the most indignant one and removed him from the theatre by force. His friends followed screaming about what an asshole I was while about 1000 people behind me cheered.

      Unfortunately, there was a police station at this particular mall and they went to the cops, who came and found me and arrested me on the spot. You know, because I grabbed a piece of shit kid by the jacket and escorted him out of a movie theater. Like a criminal. The kid's dad pressed charges because his piece of shit kid was the best piece of shit kid ever and can do no wrong and I got off with a fine and probation.

      I forget about that sometimes. The only thing I would have done differently is not actually touching the kid.

      • Sacrifice noted and appreciated. Someone's got to show these kids what's what, and if their parents aren't going to do it …

        Man, maybe that's what we need. A "Parent-In-Chief" sort of bit, in every county, electable just like a sherrif. Empowered by the county to administer corporal punishment to unruly children who are not being parented enough.

  19. I don't know…continuity… on Hijinks Ensue?
    This is a strange and frighteningly foreign idea to us fancy bastards. It fills me with strange and confusing feelings… much like puberty…
    But much like puberty, I suppose it's something I will adapt to (after a period of rebellion, emotional outbursts, and inappropriately timed erections, of course).

    I've been a big fan since "the experiment" was still pretty new. Have read and greatly enjoyed nearly every comic (some I only "enjoyed" instead of "greatly enjoyed", sorry to crush you that way) so far. My overall enjoyment of the strip has only gone up. I don't really see these changes as likely to increase my enjoyment per-say, but I will be tuning in with extra curiosity to see how this thing you call "continuity" turns out.

    I think switching to just a link in the RSS feed is a good idea. People can still be as lazy as ever, still get informed about all updates, They just have to click a single link and wait 2 seconds for their free lolz .
    With the big upside of you getting more site traffic = more ad views, more likely for those people to be reminded of the great products you have for sale, and see/get reminded that they can(should) donate/subscribe, which people are less likely to think of when blindly consuming off RSS.

  20. personally i think your comics are formatted and delivered just fine, and are consistently (though not necessarily always, don't worry no one's perfect) funny, keep doin what you're doin, and do it as you see fit, it is your comic after all

    that said the worst thing i ever had happen was at a premier for thor, some asshat in the very back row (who was a highschool kid with a bunch of other highschool kids) kept shining a goddam laser pointer at the screen, typically at the faces of whatever character was talking, if it weren't for the fact that getting up would have meant climbing over about 20 people i would have choked the shit out of that little asshole

  21. I totally get why people would want to read on google reader and use the RSS. I get that, for a lot of people, this insures they get every update. It's convenient because it's all in one place. I'll share my method tho because to me it's just as convenient.
    I use google bookmarks and have a separate folder for them depending on how often they update. The cool thing is, with google bookmarks, you can choose to open everything in the folder with one click. So every morning I click on a folder and open up about a dozen comics each in it's own tab.
    To me that's just as easy as having them in google reader.

  22. I got on when I was in a movie I think it was the deathly hollows part 1. and it was a tradition with me and my grandmother to got with me (that will be important for later trust me). Well there was this group of people and there was this one girl who was talking a bit and it was annoying right. And she had this perfume that was messing up with my asthma. I was just trying to enjoy the movie and then some one mumbled something in the film. Grandma is hard of hearing so she asked me to repeat it I told her and the woman of stank perfume and talking earlyer goes. "Seriously you think you could shut up" now let me point out my grandmother hard of hearing and seeing so I was being nice to her and helping but this woman who was talking alot and wearing bad perfume thinks suddenly thinks she is queen of the world I was like "Well MY grandmother is hard of hearing so I had to repeat a line or two for her. Why are you talking are you repeating because I don't remember anything about a character named Lisa or anything….Besides I also have been coughing because of your cheep perfume you most likely bought because it was some celebrity endorsement." She then goes "well why don't you move?" I go "Well my grandmother also cannot see very well and we have been doing this since the 1st movie you most likely since you thought Daniel Radcliffe Was hot and you don't care about the story at all you just wanted to go because every one else does so you can be within the trend. I bet you never even read the books…or any book really." she goes off to get the manager well more like she makes her date go to the manager. He comes he sees me he knows about the tradition me and grandma has because he was an usher when we started the tradition. And he knew my grandmother and me and he knew I would never act up like this (well minus a twilight film but that don't count). So he looks at the lady going "Mam if you have an issue you can move to the other side the theater is practically empty so why don't you move?" She got so pissed off I laughed luckily he refunded me and my grandmother (and her sadly) because of the issue

    That is a good one I think

  23. I'm with all the people who suggest making click-through on the rss feed. Penny Arcade, CAD, and Cyanide and Happiness all do it, and it hasn't affected my readership. Like everyone else seems to be saying, I only use the RSS feed as a way to check that the comic has updated, not to actually read it.

    Worst theater experience: Watching LOTR movies where the audience decides to clap after every "epic" moment. And those movies have a lot of them.

        • Huh. I've only ever seen applause at a movie theatre twice in almost four decades of movies. The second time was a midnight showing of "Wayne's World" with the stoner crowd, who were all totally into it (seriously, it was like going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show minus the fishnets, it was awesome).

          The first time was at "The Princess Bride" (yes I was old enough to see it in the theatre when it came out. Envy me *grin*). "I want my father back you son of a bitch." Cheers. Whistles. Applause. Stamping of feet.

          Also awesome. 😀

  24. I agree with just having a link in the RSS feed, I intentionally try to not read the comic in the RSS and just follow the link to the site when I get an update. If you rally don't want to just have link alone you could do some sort teaser for the comic, like just an image of the first panel or something.

    As for the theater thing, nothing worse than the usual, people talking, texting, or taking phone calls during the movie. Though they generally stop after I (the big, scary, 6'5" guy with a beard) give them the look and tell them to stop. The best was a bunch of teen girl that were being noisy and chatty, when I told them to stop I think at least one of them nearly shat themselves, and when one of them started getting loud again I just looked over and the rest of them told her to shut up for me.

    • I dont see it changing to anything other than more severe hatred. They'll actually be in MY HOUSE. WHERE I LIVE.

      • I discovered a line in time. If you were born 10-20 years before a computer became available to you(80's/90's) then you're probably not gonna raise your kids correctly. If you were born before the 80's, then you're probably going to raise your kids like your parents raised you. Basically, If you were old enough to grow up with computers, you'll spoil your kids with them. Before the 80's, computers really didn't affect you as much as the later. But like all rules, there is always an exception.

        • Born in '68, my kids were born in the 00's. Where do I fall? My kids DON'T go out if they don't behave.

          • Oh, and my dad bought us an IBM 8088 when they came out in the 80's. I had to beg my English teacher to accept my term paper printed by dot matrix 'cause she thought I wouldn't have access to one in college and needed to type it out.

  25. Sorry for being one of the Pee Bandaid people =( At least Pee is a sterilizing agent! Will help it heal faster. No Really!

    Worst thing I ever saw in a theater was a mother changing her screaming infant on her lap. The smell, the screaming, yes we were watching a kids movie (nemo) but that doesn't mean you get to do that!

    • That really isnt acceptable… at all. You just don't do that. As a parent of a formally diapered baby type, there are HUNDREDS of places other than a movie theater you can change your kid. The bathroom is a good place to start.

  26. I feel the strong need to defend Teens and my kind from all the few assholes that ruin it. I am an avid movie goer and am a teenage aswell. 19. I never use my phone, refuse to talk in the theatre (Which is mostly achieved by going alone to movies.) I have seen many older people have absolutely horrid etiquette. Now loarge group of teens can be extremely annoying yes. I recognize their tendency to "whisper" chatter and obnoxious laughing.
    But don't lump us all together as bad movie goers!

    • Just because you are one of the good ones doesn't mean that a vast majority of teens (and I am talking mostly about people younger than you) are a terrible blight on society. It isn't their fault, necessarily, but that doesnt make them any less terrible. A teen is a horrible chimera of a child's brain in an adult's body. They look big enough to not be sociopathic narcissist self absorbed assholes, but their baby-brains can only see about 6 inches in front of their own faces. They are generally unaware of the world at large or the fact that there are other people besides themselves in said world. A teen doesn't push in front of you as you're going through a door because they are rude. They do it because they aren't even aware that you exist. Are you them? No? Then you don't exist. I know all of this because I was one and I did all of these things. I was terrible and I regret ever being such a miserable suck on the universe.

      Good news, you will no longer be a teen in less than 12 months.

      • Joel, this almost reads like over-the-top satire, but I'm pretty sure you're totally serious. Can I suggest A Modest Proposal to improve Third World food supply? Too bad it'll wipe out the next generation. Maybe teenagers in Texas are a uniquely obnoxious subspecies, but I suspect they're pretty similar to where I live. If they're being annoying, most will respond to a polite but firm request. The majority don't even make a nuisance of themselves, but all you see are the jerkoffs because that's all you expect to see. And the next time you're in a situation like that, why not just grab an usher? That's what they're there for.

        • I've found that only works if there is one teen (sometimes two). Any large group of teens forms a group mind and no verbal request will even penetrate the teen-sphere.

      • I live in DFW as well and have for much of my life. I have also lived on the East and West coasts while growing up and have traveled extensively in the US and abroad my entire life. I'm now {god help us all} in my 4th decade of life and have a teenage daughter who is about to turn 16. I mention those things to put in to context the fact that I have experience from which to cull both my response and support of Joel's opinion. And technically, of the others as well.

        The further outside of DFW, spreading in to the smaller communities, you go.. the less frequently you run in to the gangs of roving Hellion Teens {Yes, they actually have sequined jackets reading "Hellion Teens", showing off their spangly gang colors to warn the rest of us to move on as quickly and as quietly as possible so as not to catch their attention}. However, it is simply the fact that in smaller towns, there are fewer people and therefore teens to congregate.. period.

        Sarcasm aside, at least in this sentence.. damn didn't make it.. Mulligan. My daughter Alex goes to a HUGE High School here and comes home daily with horror stories that chill me to the bone. Monday, it was seeing the leftover evidence of three fights in the hallways and cafeteria… designated by the remnants of blonde and black weaves pulled out and still on the ground like horrible foreshadowing beacons screaming "We all want to be Reality TV Stars!".

        While I suppose that all parents believe this to be true, Alex was raised "right", whatever that truly is. She's polite, quiet and studious in the serious classes and funny and outgoing in the electives and in between classes. She's also caring and empathetic, which mean that she's the one her group goes to with all of the greater questions of teen life. Like.. Does he really like me and Should I wear this color nail polish with my green dress tomorrow.

        I know she's a decent kid because she not only takes the time to talk her folks through their issues, she comes homes to me every day and we spend the first couple of hours of every evening walking through her questions about what's going on at school, life in general.. and whether she'll have time after homework to come back in and watch Dr. Who, Archer, Walking Dead, anything related to Stargate, anything with Chris Hardwick or Wheaton on the web {you get the picture and are secretly judging "15 year old and Walking Dead.. hmmm."} If there's not time for shows, we'll fit in a video game and during any and all, we both laugh with and/or and debate the things brought up. She's a good kid surrounded in her immediate peer group with decent kids.. with them surrounded by.. I'll get depressed by thinking about it all.

        ALL of that said, Alex is also a great deal of the time.. completely oblivious to anything else around her unless it pertains to someone/thing inside her group.. or herself. We talk about it constantly, she knows better.. and we still have to talk about it constantly. Drives me… there. Right there.

        I've also noticed that it's to a great extent, was going to say a US.. really more Western phenomena. The Hellion Teens. Honestly don't see it as much overseas, alrighty UK wins the prize as well. Sweeping generalization, folks.. realize there are many exceptions, just correlating the feeling of certain givens at birth.. with the feeling of the right to impose yourself on others from birth.

        So.. tome almost over, I'll close with this thought. I have a 15 year old teen who spent three hours with me last night going from first to last panel of Looking for Group, having a blast. I'm SO fucking {no other word for the feeling, pardon} blessed. She's also 5'6", blonde, crystal blue eyed and amply assetted enough to be one of those Reality Star wannabees. I'm also SO fucking screwed.

  27. I saw the first LOTR film and my friends and I kept getting hit with popcorn kernels. We couldn't tell where it was coming from, but finally my friend Sue got hit in the eye. This was TWO HOURS of getting hit. I got pissed and went all the way to the back of the theater, and sat right next to some guy on a date. It took me a while to realize it couldn't have been coming from behind us, but it was too late at that point.

  28. While I do all my webcomics reading via my RSS feeder, if you need to adjust the contents of the RSS feed so I have to click a link to come over here to read the comic, I can totally click the link. I do it for Danielle Corsetto, I do it for Penny Arcade. I can totally do that for you. I have no idea what impact that's going to have on your ad revenue, but if it seems like it'll generate more money, you should go for it.

    • "I have no idea what impact that's going to have on your ad revenue"

      Potentially it could be huge. I'll have to experiment to see how huge. If my total number of daily pageviews was X, number total number of RSS subscribers is 0.5X. That means I either have the potential for 33% MORE page views or more likely someone between 15 and 25% more since Im sure a portion of RSS readers are already clicking through.

  29. Aeon Flux. Okay, this would have been a mistake despite the audience; no amount of hawt (potato) Charlize Theron could save that nightmare of a movie. But the audience! They were stellar. There were only six people in the theater. This included one elderly woman, who gasped and said “Oh no!” virtually every time anything happened; three very stoned people in their thirties who laughed whenever one of the protagonists got injured; and an extremely obese man who had difficulty breathing. About halfway through the film, a hole gets blown in one of the city walls and Ms. Theron gets a glimpse of the forest surrounding her city. At this point, the speakers in the theater kicked into high gear because it sounded like a wild boar was literally five seats away from me. I kept expecting some insane animal to charge out of the wilderness and attack the story’s heroine. Instead, I finally looked to my left, and saw the belabored breathing man taking down a bag of pork rinds. After that, I kind of embraced the audience. It became a type of performance art.

    • We were at a pizza parlor with our daughter and it was showing Up in the movie room. A woman at a table behind us would audibly "Ooooh" and "Ahhh!" and "OH NO!" and "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" every. single. god. damn. time anything happened. She seemed to be experiencing every human emotion on random at maximum capacity. It was equally annoying and fascinating.

  30. I know you have already gotten feedback on this, but PLEASE don't cripple the RSS. I am a busy person, and also a web comic addict. I have 30 comics I follow on a daily basis. I don't use the regular aggregators, though, because I don't like how they work. I created one for myself. When a new comic is posted, it gives me a link to the new comic. I click it and come to the site to read it. Mainly because that way my site doesn't have to hold that much information. But I think this way both of our needs are satisfied. And that is the basis of a good relationship, right? Other comics have tried to mess with their RSS feed and I can no longer see their updates in my aggregator. I love this comic in all it's nerd glory.

    • Honestly, it sounds like you have created a custom solution to do exactly what I am talking about doing for everyone else. If any changes I make break your custom reader, email me and we'll try to work out a solution. I don't think there is any way it could break it since I will probably just be replacing the comic image with a preview image.

    • So it sounds like you wouldnt be too devastated if the comic were replaced with a preview image, since you are clicking through anyway?

  31. at the first showing of Avengers that I went to, there was a little girl around 3 constantly crying for her Daddy. There was also a little girl in those damn light up shoes running up and down the aisles.

  32. The absolute worst thing I've seen in the cinema was while watching the Tom Cruise War of the Worlds (no it wasn't just the movie that made this bad). During the scene where the little girl watches all the dead bodies floating down stream the packed theater, with exception of myself and my friend I went with, burst into raucous laughter. It was very disturbing to have roughly 100 people laughing dementedly at that scene all around me.

  33. Myself and my friends do Medieval and Pirate Faires [and get paid for it sometimes],..we offer up ourselves for promos and such to a movie theater nearby "the crew's homecity". We have promo'd [as pirates] all 4 of the PotC movies,…we did Harry Potter,…. the Shrek movies,…all kinds of movies… in exchange for spending the day at the theater and entertaining we get to see the movie for free. When we did PotC: At World's End we had a bunch of loud teens and people with screaming children in the theater,…myself and the crew came in and did our promo thing which ends with us pulling out pistols and shooting each other,… after that the whole theater went silent and stayed silent as long as we were in there [we stayed for the whole movie]. The kids who were running around with their plastic swords all sat down,…. the teens shut up,… all of it because 6 pirates with pistols did the "please turn of cellphones and respect others" talk that usually precedes movies,….lol

  34. Hm…I never really have problems with annoying teenagers….maybe because I don't go to the movies all that often, or because I've gone during the day when no teens ever go to movies.

    What I DO get, is parents taking their stupid kids to movies and explaining ever single plot point in depth, very loudly, to their kid who probably didn't get it anyways, and also maybe shouldn't have even BEEN IN THAT ROOM.

    I know Inception isn't a rampant sex and bloodfest or any crap like that, but taking your five year old to see it? Really? Would it have been that hard to ask a friend to watch your kid when you went out to the movies?

    So, my biggest problem is even younger than teens. (Plus, I am a teen, so maybe I'm just one of those horrible people.)

    • We know when we actually see a kids movie in the theater that all bets are off. Theres going to be crying and talking and playing and questions and snacks and complaining… it just comes with the territory. The worst part is when it's a Pixar movie. You almost have to see those twice. Once for the kids and once for the parents.

      • I've only gone to two 'kids' movies in the last few years, Despicable Me and Toy Story 3. Surprisingly, the only issue I had with either of the two was my little brother in Toy Story 3. Neither one of us had seen it yet. I took him out for his birthday.

        He had to pee, and I didn't wanna take him to the toilet cause I didn't wanna miss the movie. I really stretched to the point where he started crying (quietly like a champ fighting for his big brother) cause it was just THAT bad. I felt like an awful big brother. I missed pretty much the whole scene of introducing and playing with the toys at the end.

        For future reference, don't buy the kid soda when he goes to movies.

        I saw Despicable Me twice. The second time was at a budget, and I expected it to be bad. Lots of dads there with their daughters, which made me smile given what movie it was. Enjoyed myself. Brought my little brother to that one too actually…

    • Yeah, I don't get why parents take their small children to see movies clearly aimed at adults. That can't be fun for the kids.

      • Me neither. The worst part is that it'll basically ruin the movie for the kids when they're old enough to actually appreciate the movie.

  35. I definitely like getting HE in my RSS feeds, so it would bum me out if you changed that. I read A LOT of webcomics, and RSS makes it easier for my to keep them all managed.

    As far as having more continuity, and maybe more characterization…can I say that it's welcome, but I don't personally think it's necessary? The almost non-sequitur responses to geek news of the day was a fun dynamic, but I also found that I enjoyed this continuation of yesterday's comic.

    I think you should follow your own lead, and do what feels right to you. That's gotten you this far.

    • I would never get rid of the feed. Maybe just replace the actual comic with a preview image so you would still get the notification when theres a new strip posted.

      The continuity idea comes from over a year of analyzing feedback from my readers, both online and in person. Also from doing so many conventions. I see how people react to creators who make characters they love vs. how they react to me.

  36. The worst thing I saw someone do at a movie theater was that woman that brought her ten-year-old son to see Sin City. They finally got up and left during Marv's execution scene.

    Really? Why leave now? The kid is probably already scarred for life.

    • Oh wait. The most annoying thing was when we saw that Zorro movie with Antonio Banderas. Girl in our row had a major crush on Antonio, because every time he came on screen, she did a stage whisper sigh to tease her boyfriend. EVERY SINGLE TIME. He's in every f'ing scene of the movie.

      The wife and started deeply sighing whenever Antonio's horse was on screen, but she didn't get it.

  37. My brothers and I are rather peaceful folk for a film if we are sitting with a large enough audience and the film is competent. However, during a late showing of Deep Blue Sea the four of us laughed our asses off when Sam Jackson was eaten by the shark after his big, "We got to work togethah!" speech.

    The worst I had seen and was not apart of would be this guy who goes to every movie in the downtown area and sleeps through it. Hard. He snores, his feet are kicked up and it could be 11 a.m. (which he did when my wife and I went to watch Watchmen) he was snoring before they finished burying The Comedian.

  38. I read you in an RSS feed most often, but I'll try to click on your site more often. I barely notice sites that make me pop into a separate window. If it'll help you make a living, I'm all for it.

  39. I don't think I've ever had a truly HORRENDOUS theater experience, beyond the two 13-year old girls who sat behind me during Avengers whom no amount of shushing could silence. In most cases, a polite word or two does the trick. I do, however, reserve the Icy Stare Of Death for anyone who dares sit behind me and prop their foot up on the back of my seat. That one will usually elicit an "Oh, hell no" from me the moment it happens.

    On a happier note, one thing I absolutely love is going to an afternoon screening of a Disney or Pixar film and finding it PACKED with small children. That's the one case where a raucous audience that is constantly reacting audibly actually enhances my enjoyment of the movie.

  40. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Josh and Eli, the interplay between the three main characters is one of the things that got me hooked here and I have missed it though you're still entertaining enough to keep me coming back anyway. I'm glad you're willing to self examine and adjust accordingly, it's a really good sign.

    As for theater experiences, perhaps one of the worst was durring a rather adult film (not in the sexy or scary way, in the lots of talking and no robots or explosions way) I don't remember what it was anymore. About halfway through a bored tween with his parents started playing games on his phone, with the volume turned up. When the film got louder he'd turn up the volume and not turn it back down. Finally someone said "can you turn off your sound?" and the kid turned around and shot them a dirty look, then went on playing. The parents did nothing. Finally someone threw a popcorn kernel at him, which started a trend (including my lovely wife), after about five or six kernels the kid shouted "Stop it!" then said something to his dad. I saw his dad shrug, then a smal argument broke out in the family which ended when the kid left the theater (giving everyone dirty looks on his way up the isle) presumably to continue his game out in the hallway by himself. I hate to think what that kid is like as a full blown teen.

    Another… interesting event was durring a matinee show in a 1/4 full theater of a film that had been out for a while (one of the Star Trek's I think) on a hot summer saturday. About 30 min. into the film two teen couples come in and sit in the very last row far left. I figured they were theater hopping and just killing time until their next show started (not that I would know about that). A couple of minutes later we start hearing… noises. Yes, they had started an epic make-out session, all slurping and groaning and hands under clothing. I don't think they realized just how loud they were getting. After about 10 minutes, when it was starting to sound like a soft-porn film, this group of five 30 something geeky guys down near the front get up and go to the isle in front of the teens and sit backwards on the chair backs and just stare. The teens all kinda stopped and one of their guys said, in what I'm sure he thought was a threatening voice, "What the hell are you looking at?" and one of the geeks said, laughing, "We're just watching the show, don't stop now it's just getting good!". The teens all left. The geeks got an applause.

    Once, when I was a teen myself, we went to see some film I don't remember but two of my group of 6 friends insisted on sitting in the very front row left side though the theater wasn't full. Sure whatever. It was a small, old theater with wood and metal seats, only 5 to a row. Durring the film one of my friends kept changing seats, without telling anyone why, and he wasn't paying much attention to the show. At the end of it he and the other one who insisted on sitting down front said "Stand back!" and they picked up the row, which they had unbolted from the floor during the film. We carried it out a side door and a block and a half down to a place nicknamed "Anarchy Alley" where all the teens would hang out. There it was our throne for two nights before the theater took it back and used locking bolts to re-install it (and all the other rows).

  41. My friend dragged me to The Happening because she loves Mark Wahlberg. It was so awful halfway through I whipped out my iPod and played solitare through the rest of the film. I guess that would make me a problem person, but it was The Happening so I don't think anyone minded.

  42. Ha! I just commented on your experiment post before reading this blog post and I see you've already covered the RSS thing. I'm sure it would deter some people to have to follow a link to see the comic. It did for me in the past, but now I just cmd+click on the comic links and read them all at once after they've loaded.

  43. Yay continuity! Well, as for Worst Movie theater Moment, i have two: WHen my friends and I saw The Dark Knight, SOMEBODY brought a baby to the show. YOU DO NOT BRING REALLY SMALL CHILDREN TO SOMETHING LIKE THE DARK KNIGHT!!! It may have also happened with a couple other comic-book movies, too. ANother time, I saw COP OUT at San Francisco's Metreon and these two old, black women just kapt yak-yak-yakking away through the 1st 3rd of the flick, until all the rest of the audience told them to SHUT UP!!! But I remember whatTommy Lee Jones said in Men In Black: "Peaople are Dumb."

  44. Just do what pleases and/or amuses you- I'm pretty sure the Fancy Bastards will continue to support you.

  45. Two strollers. Occupied with babies. Saw VI. Nuff said.

    And somehow, I doubt the two infants therein were truly members of Team Hoffman there to see the sociopathic detective get his on that evil sneaky bitch Jill Tuck.

  46. Hi Joel,
    A quick comment on adverts and RSS feeds.

    I've noticed some other web-cartoonists get the Project Wonderful adverts to appear in their RSS feed. (Jeph Jacques in particular.) So there must be a way to keep everything in the RSS feed and still increase your revenue by including the adverts. You get more income and we will hardly notice the difference.

    All the best with the continuation of the Experiment.

    • I actually do have project wonderful in the RSS feed now. It just doesnt account for much. Also you can't compare what Jeph can do to what I can do since his audience is almost 20 times larger than mine.

  47. A friend of I were in a movie theater, before the previews had started. They were showing that interstitial series of small promos that fills the time in the theater between the end of one movie time and the beginning of the previews for the next. My friend and I were talking, because not only was the movie not playing, the actual previews weren't even playing yet, so we felt free to converse. Not obnoxiously loudly or anything. If we'd been talking that way during the movie, it would have been terribly rude, but we felt no obligation to be quiet BEFORE THE PREVIEWS BEGAN. The woman sitting a couple rows in front of us asked us to be quiet.

    Later on, I noticed that she had taken off her shoes and was resting her bare feet on top of the (unoccupied) seat in front of her. I normally wouldn't have been bothered, but I already didn't like this woman for shushing me earlier, so it bugged me to see her doing something that most people would consider pretty damn obnoxious. I didn't complain, though, because I'm not enough of a jerk to complain unless I really think it's important that someone stop doing something, and I mainly wanted to complain about her for payback.

    For my own part, I tend to laugh at inappropriate moments. There was one in The Avengers, a sad moment that made me laugh. When I saw Beowulf, I laughed so hard through the whole climactic battle that the couple sitting in front of me turned around to glare at me. But the whole thing was so over the top, I just couldn't stop laughing.

  48. I believe snapping and killing her would have been justifiable homicide. Just make sure you don't mutilate the body too much, or they might ask more questions.

    • Death would be a gift for one such as that. Flaying would serve better. Force her to live as a cripple and be spat upon.

  49. I have never had a bad movie experience. Honest to the Lord Narwhal himself, All the movies I have ever been there has never been anything annoying, except the movie. There is literally a sign that says: "Cellphones and mouths off or GTFO" at the entrance. That might be the reason, or maybe because everyone here isn't completely retarded. No, the only time I have ever had experienced the crying baby or the answering cellphone guy is when I am f***ing performing at the Turonto-Chrisman theater here. It's not so bad when you're into the music and focusing on the conductor, but when you do notice it, It is just BLINDING RAGE. I just want to chuck my Cello at 'em, but I feel that it's worth more than their lives. Also, blood stains are hard to clean.
    Concerning the RSS, I don't use it, I just have an apple script that opens all of my web comics in multiple tabs. So it wouldn't affect me at all, unless you suddenly decide to change the web address to your site. But it would only take me 30s to fix it.

  50. Out of curiosity, is it just seeing the ads that gives you revenue or is it us clicking the ads? I turned my ad blocker off for your site so I hope that helps some.

  51. I don't use an RSS feed. I created an html page with all the links to the comics I read sorted by update schedule with the syndicated ones separated out at the bottom.

    I'm probably an outlier in your readership.

    I rarely get to movie theatres. Being rather isolated here, I don't get to many movies. I also avoid them for the sound volume. I still have all my hearing and I'd like to keep it that way. I have no idea if anyone is talking on the phone, because I COULDN'T HEAR THEM if my life depended on it. I now wear high-end ear plugs to the movies.

    Now that I've also bought 2-D glasses, I might be able to go more often without the headaches.

  52. I missed your post about the experiment so I will comment here today instead.

    I think continuity is a good idea and it will make your life easier. I think the ease of writing you're noticing is a function of having the "framework" already set up for you. I'm hoping this makes the whole project less work and more fun!

    IMO, the most memorable character is Josh, if that helps. I know it's hard to figure out why any given character is or isn't working. (I'm a writer and editor.)

    About your reading the comments: You have been very brave and I'm not being sarcastic. I wanted to ask you to please be sure to get extra sleep for the next several days, and make an effort to eat well and find some time to relax. The kind of emotional energy that you expend when you invite criticism of your work is extremely draining, and a lot of people get sick right afterwards. It often doesn't feel like you're tired because of the adrenaline, but your body will eventually present its bill, so it's better to take the EZ-Pay option instead of letting it repossess your car. I may have stretched the metaphor, but you get my point.

    Good luck!

    • "The kind of emotional energy that you expend when you invite criticism of your work is extremely draining,"

      Which is exactly how I feel now. Drained. It was like getting a bunch of good news and a bunch of bad news all on the same day. My brain is super confused and my body is following suit.

  53. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen anyone do in a movie theater?

    My date for the first Matrix movie was notorious for not putting up with ANY talking during a movie. The couple in front of us didn't shut up once their asses hit their seats until right up to the "incident". My date stood up without saying a word and poured an entire Coke slushie over the heads of both of them. They didn't make a peep for the rest of the movie. Well…sputtering in surprise and outrage can't really be called speaking I suppose.

  54. I was watching "Let The Right One In", which is an incredibly quiet film, with two friends. In the middle of the movie a phone started ringing. Usually I go through my internal rage cycle, wishing death and destruction on the phone's owner, and then calm down once they silence the ringer.
    This time, to my horror, I realized that the phone belonged to the friend next to me. Not only did she not silence the ringer, she answered the call. Apparently her friend had just returned from WHEREVERIDON'TCARE and simply HAD to tell her all about it. She had a full volume conversation, right next to me, while my other friend and I stared at her incredulously and dozens of patrons around us gave us the glare of fury, accompanied by some unsavory words. I turned to her after a moment and said "If you do not hang up RIGHT. NOW. I will publicly disown you as a friend."
    She finally hung up, then asked me two things. "Was I that loud?" followed by "What did I miss?"

  55. Im a teenager (A fact for which I apologize sincerely) and it enrages me to see other teens misbehaving in the cinema. I was watching the Avengers with my sister and there was this teenage couple around my age sitting beside us. They talked loudly and were on their mobiles for a goddamn HOUR. Eventually I just turned to them and gave them a death stare much like the one in the comic. They got up and left quickly. It was a proud moment for me.

  56. The absolute worst thing I ever saw in a movie theater? Some woman brought her child to the 11 pm showing of From Hell. This kid couldn't have been more than 6 or 7, and spent a good 20 minutes whimpering "Mommy please I don't like this, Mommy I'm scared.' Mom's response. "I am trying to watch this movie! You need to shut up!." I am embarrassed that it took me that long to go get the manager.

    At some point I honestly thought she would turn into a human being.

  57. I think you would really like the little cinema near me. Sure, they don't get 3D films, and they are consistently 2 weeks behind on releases to keep price down, but the trade off is that every seat is a big plush chair, with the middle rows being actual sofas. The back rows are all seats with classic movie stars embroidered into them. Instead of $10 popcorn they serve… Cake on actual plates, good wine, reasonable beer, and yeah the usual cinema fare, but not at blown up prices.
    Occasionally they run screenings of a batch of classic films like B&W horror or Casablanca. People actually dress classy to come out and see those.
    Kids don't usually attend because they want to see films immediately. For films you can wait to see in reasonable comfort with good company, it's ideal.

    • Oh and the worst behaviour I've ever come across at a different cinema… One a very quiet afternoon with only about 10 people in the screening, a group of very loud young women who decided that UP! was boring and proceeded to stand up and yammer through the last five minutes and all of the credits. Thankfully they were behind us – which was almost ignorable – until one of them literally dropped her iPhone on my head. I caught it and skimmed it down the length of the cinema before she noticed. I like the idea of her hopelessly groping around in the sticky popcorn blackness for that fucking thing.

  58. A monster, who was still sitting with a friend, relative, lover.. someone on this planet who willingly spent time with this person in social situations. Being an asshole is horrible. Supporting assholes with silence {speaking of the person with her, not those who had to witness this and sit in shock} and passive/tacit approval – enablers of assholishness worldwide.

  59. Please don't take away the RSS feed. Like you, I read in Google Reader. Comics that I can't get through the RSS reader, sadly, end up getting forgotten. I get that it's lost ad revenue, but I'm one of those that will never click on an ad anyways. I'd love to buy the books, once I have a few extra dollars (but with a new baby I'm not hopeful). But with so many things to read and do, anything I can't get an RSS feed on just gets lost to the day to day shuffle.

    • I never said I was taking away the RSS feed. You will still get the full blog post and thumbnail image of the comic. Please do not take offense, but you are asking me to NOT make a change that might help me support myself, while at the same time saying that you never have and probably never will support this comic financially. I understand that the VAST majority of my audience is in the same category as you, but I have to try some things to get more financially stable and right now all Im asking is that you make one more click than you are used to to keep enjoying the free comics.

  60. My worst was at a star trek movie, my friend and his girl, in the next seat, decided to go way beyond heavy petting.

  61. I've DONE worse things in movie theaters than I've SEEN anyone else do.

    I've had 2 kinds of sex in 2 different theaters during 2 different movies.

  62. I went to the Snow White and the Huntsman screener last night and she was sitting a little behind me. I kept an eye on her and was ready to tell the management if she pulled any more crap.

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