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Showing posts from July, 2005

We've Got Crabs

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We have crabs here in Baltimore. Art Crabs. Yes. Art on giant crabs. We used to have Art Fish. Not sure what happened to them.

Goodbye Salvation?

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The Salvation Army on the Ave seems to be closed.

Ham?

Sometimes it's hard to get away for lunch or I forget to bring something so I order online . It's easy and simple and more accurate than ordering over the phone. For the first time, they actually called after I placed the order. "You ordered the vegetarian pizza, right?" "Yes." "But you want ham on it?" "Yes." Pause. "Ok." They're the best.

Let's Make Tonight About You, And You About Me

Keyboard Man's site 's been updated.

Hot Hot Heat

Shit, it's like...hot around here. We have a heat advisory until 8pm, TOMORROW. We're going to be closing a bit early tonight. 5ish instead of 6ish. Looks like things are heating up for our Canadian customers, as well, but in a different way. You wonder why it takes orders so much longer to ship to Canada then say, England, sometimes? They kind of hold things up at the border .

Town Hall Meeting

What's going on with the Rotunda ? This out of date piece on the nearby shopping area reminds us of what it once was: "In a world of shiny, cookie-cutter suburban super-malls, The Rotunda is a breath of fresh city air. Housed on the first floor of a North Baltimore brick building with high ceilings and unique architecture, this cluster of shops and eateries refuses to deteriorate into a Gap-and-Starbucks establishment." Benn does a recap of our Hampden Community Council Meeting tonight. Hekemian is quoted by sources as saying, the demographic they are going after with this project is "the newlyweds and the nearly-deads, young couples and empty nesters." And if they're bringing in Outbacks and Starbucks, they're going for the no tasters too. They want to create a development the quality of which can only be found in your average suburban stripmall. It's just like "Gilmore Girls"! Only without that annoying Lorelei.

Tattoo Couture

Tattoos haven't meant biker or criminal in a long while, but is it really highbrow now?

Lost & Found Video Night

Tomorrow night, at the Ottobar , Chunklet Magazine , Monitor Records and Atomic Books present LOST AND FOUND VIDEO NIGHT! ! Yes! Watching tv! In a bar! 6-9pm!

No Junquies

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The Royal Farms on the Ave has started a public message board in the windows.

Friday Review - Maggie's Car Broke Down

This week Benn read All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #1 by Frank Miller & Jim Lee: "It's always great when Frank Miller returns to Batman (despite the compromised and somewhat disappointing Dark Knight Strikes Again , it was still more interesting than most other sooperhero comics), a character that he's used to create groundbreaking work. After all, the one-trick pony of Sin City (it's a great one trick, but it still fails to move beyond an exercise in lighting and noir storytelling) has gotten old (or perhaps it's just moved on to a new medium ). Miller's story is coupled by Jim Lee's art, the least offensive artist of the original Image Comics school of illustrators (you know, women with impossibly thin waists, super-long legs, big breasts, plastic-surgery noses, men have muscles that should render them immobile, and everyone's clothes seem shiny and metallic). Vicki Vale brings a "Sex And The City" quality to this retelli

Baltimore Faces

There's a new blog on the block and it's all polaroid portraits of Baltimoreans. I've been assured that it won't just be a parade of young party people!

Making of Make

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photo by kirk22 We finally have V2 of Make . If you haven't seen it before, it's like Readymade for your gadgets - techy crafting. This issue shows you how to soup up your old Atari, make a robot out of an old mouse, and Podcasting 101. And on Flickr, you can see the making of V3.

Spazzes With Glasses

Want to avoid the cluster fuck downtown created by Artscape but still want to do something fun? Join us here this Friday at 7pm and spend some quality time with zinesters Anne (Punk Planet) and Liz (Caboose)!

Summer In The City

"Statistically, this is the hottest week of the year."

Men We Love

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The new issue of Bust (not out yet, sorry!) has Justin Theroux on the cover. Now, you'll rarely hear me gush about an actor....but I loooooooooooove him. Also, the issue has a big fashion photo spread based on the movies of John Waters! UPDATED: It's in stock NOW !

Friday Review - Like Rain On Your Wedding Day

This week Lauren read Mix Tape by Thurston Moore: "If you grew up in the 80's you probably made at least a few mix tapes. Songs on the radio or from your vast collection of records and cassettes, you made them for the boy you crushed on or your best friend. A cross between an art book and a zine, with tape covers scrawled quickly or beautifully illustrated and songs that you remember or that you will now want to download. CD burners and iTunes have made the mix tape a dinosaur, but the book made me think fondly of the Jesus and Mary Chain and Fugazi mix I made my heavy metal best friend."

Hot Freaks

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Kids, don't try this one at home. Though Benn is strictly an amateur, he helped James Taylor out by smashing cinderblocks on his chest, last night at the Grifter's Ball. Dude, it was awesome!

This One Is On The House

Wow, some kid posted the last page of the new Harry Potter book on flickr . The link doesn't go directly to the page, if you want to look but don't want to really know. Someone's in trouble....

Having Fun With All My Superhero Friends

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photo from warrenellis Wish you were here, Comic-Con 2005 UPDATE: They're really coming in now! Check out the photos tagged for "comic con".

Get Your Wizard On

The Childrens Bookstore , just five minutes away, is having their usual blow out Harry Potter event, with refreshments, contests, singing and sorting (which house do you think you'd get into?)on the 15th, 10:30pm to midnight. For those of you who'd rather sleep through the night, Breathe Books , down the street, is offering a Harry Potter Brunch on the 16th. They'll read from the new book, have a costume contest and games. The first 30 people to sign up for the party will receive 15% off.

Hey Snay!

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July 16th - Feel The Magic!

No, I'm not talking about the new Harry Potter book (though we are still taking pre-orders for 40% off the cover price). And I'm definitely NOT talking about Amazon turning 10. The real magic and the real birthday to celebrate is Keyboard Man's ! But just to get you dorks in the mood...let's revisit the now classic Harry Potter Parking Lot , from our very own Jeff Krulik .

Are You A Liar?

Join us for a night of lies and deceit at the Grifter's Ball this Friday at the Creative Alliance .

Real Writers Don't Write Music...Wait...

Washington CityPaper laments the invasion of literary writers into the music writing scene, and the end of music criticism: All of these literati attempts at criticism don't signal undue influence by culture-studies departments everywhere. Nor do they suggest that today's novelists and memoir-slingers are hipper than their predecessors. No, they point to the fact that real rock critics are fighting for space and that informed opinions are underpaid and underutilized in mainstream media outlets. They mean that criticism has become cameo-stunt casting... Aside from the narcissistic prose, these authors share with Eggers a lack of desire to engage with any culture outside their own alt-pop, college-rock, new-folk, Time-Life-classics orbit. Isn't "narcissistic prose" synonymous with music writing? "It's huge," says Wishnow, "the fall of the rock critic as celebrity that we used to know - the Greil Marcus, the Chuck Eddy, the Christgau. Peer opinion

Flog - Once More With Feeling

Flog says : We'll also have several new books for sale, including The Comics Journal #269 (the "Shouju Manga" issue), Jordan Crane's The Clouds Above, The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 17, Ivan Brunetti's Haw! and Hee!, Mome Vol. 1, Love & Rockets #14, Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle #1, and the limited hardcover Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1934. Some come check 'em out (though, as always, we encourage you to support your local retailer -- all of these books will be in stores shortly after Comic-Con!)! Um, ok. That really helps.

Shit Site

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The Post said that the notorious poopie eating in Pink Flamingos took place at Read and Park. But it's more like Read and Tyson, behind the old location of Atomic Books.

Welcome To Baltimore, Hon

The Washington Post does a nice little write up of Charm City and us: And check out Atomic Books...home to "Literary Finds for Mutated Minds." "That's where I get all my fan mail, so people don't have my address," [John] Waters says. "It's a great store -- they have extreme books of all types!" The store keeps a supply of books autographed by Waters, along with lots of postcards and offerings from local novelists, poets and comic book artists such as Emily Flake, whose "Lulu Eightball" strips for the Baltimore and Washington City Papers have been collected in the first book published by Atomic Book Co.; she'll have a book signing there Aug. 6.

Friday Review

This week Benn read Me No Like by Josh Journey-Heinz: "Every so often, we receive a book that looks so cool you immediately pick it up and want to own it, regardless of the interior; Me No Like is this type of book. Sure the page count is low, sure you can read the book in less than 60 seconds, but it's an handmade art book for only $7. The selling point is Heinz's art mixed with small bits of text. The art has a street stencil feel, and depicts furry primitive beings attacking symbols of capitalism/corporatism/consumerism. Golf courses, the Hard Rock Cafe, and frat houses are just a few of the things he clearly no likes."

Googled

Are you like me? Do you get freaked out when people call you instead of email you? There's just something intrusive and rude about phone calls. It says to me, "Drop what you're doing and pay attention to me." An email is more like a "Hey, read me when you have a second." or "It's ok, you can read this while you're eating lunch." So when I see Google, Inc on the Caller ID, I'm confused. Couldn't they email me? And it's a sales call! "Would you like to increase traffic to your site?" "Well, yeah, but I don't want to pay you for it." I'm not feeling so up with Google anymore. Telemarketing for an online company seems ...so...pointless. Who's going to call next? Fark?

Warehouse Artist

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Someone was either inspired or bored. Either way, we get a little something extra with our shipment.

Finally

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The sequel to Fruits is here!

OK

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There's already a London Bomb Blasts Pool on Flickr.

4th Of July Means Just One Thing

Eating as many hot dogs as you can. Kobayashi wins the Mustard Belt for the fifth straight year. But dude, watch out, the Black Widow is so gaining on you.

This Is Like A Dream I Had Once

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That's right. Giant knitting needles (20 feet long) held by excavators (it's just a tiny model), knitting an American Flag . Should be finished tomorrow. Just in time! We will be closed Monday, July 4th. Happy Cookouts, everyone! Enjoy your Independence.

Speaking Of Which

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Late due to a slow boat from China, held up in customs due to taxidermied animals or something... McSweeney's 16 is finally in.

Friday Review - Oh Man, My Mom Just Discovered Ebay

This week Lauren read Burying Sandwiches by Rob Sato: "I loved the originality of this story. The drawings are amazing, detailed black and whites, the story is dark with moments of humor and a heroine that is easy to relate to. Though there's a literal search for the perfect food, it's about all hungers that we have a hard time filling." Benn read Bare Foot Riot by Martin Cendreda: "While I'd like to see a regular series from Martin, this sketchbook is a filling hold-me-over. It's fun to see the broad range of styles Martin plays with, and he adds dialogue balloons for many of his characters to make this almost feel like a comic (plus a few pages of comic strips really does the trick too). Sure his stuff is adorable, but this collection shows that on a spectrum of artists, his style often times nestles somewhere between Marc Bell and Gary Basemen. Excellent production, too, with some pages in color, some on different color paper."