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Showing posts from October, 2006

Redrum

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How'd he get blood all over that banana? Update : In the catalog now!

Happy Halloween

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Ghost doll handmade by Dame Darcy . Check out her Doll Crafting DVD !

Who Doesn't Love Heavy Metal Parking Lot?

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In Style, this month, in the section called "Where the Pros Shop on the Web, " Andy Spade lists us as a place to shop for dudes, pointing out that you can get Heavy Metal Parking Lot here. We used to carry it exclusively but now you can even get it on Amazon. But whatever. Amazon isn't having a whole night based on it this Saturday, Nov 4th, at the Ottobar. We'll be showing the film, Alan Hunter, one of the original MTV VJs, will give us his annual Hate the 80s Night video greeting and Keyboard Man hosts as a bunch of bands play all metal 80s! Starts at 9pm!!

Friday Review - Boo!

Rachel read Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link: Now out in paperback, this collection of short stories is totally spooky, clever and haunting. Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of fantasy or sci-fi, these stories will still charm you. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it's not so much the vampire mythology that hooks you as it is the characters, the writing and how real it feels and yet, yeah, there's magic in it. Eric read Wax Poetics #19 : There's no better evidence that the hip-hop generation can age with dignity than Wax Poetics -- and after a few "themed" issues, with #19 they return to the variety that makes them such a great publication. The sumptuously detailed interviews dealing with such artists as Dr. Alimantado, Joe Bataan, and Azymuth are all lovingly conducted and rendered. As a Baltimorean, I wished the oral history of Baltimore club were a little more substantial, but as an introduction to the genre for the casually curious, it still wo

It's Like Book Week Or Something

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photo by Baltimike Hodgman was in town last night at UB. Tonight we'll have a slew of McSweeney's authors over at Pop . Wednesday is our Reading Club meeting at Pop. Thursday is Lord Whimsy and Dame Darcy. Then it's Halloween. And we'll be giving out free comics to the kids who'll be trick or treating on the Avenue this Saturday! That's between 5-6pm. I'm going to be a unicorn! Oh wait, that's not literary.

Fate Of The Pink Flamingo

Could this be the end for the classic Pink Flamingo lawn ornament ? (thanks for the link, ej winter!)

Boson Wins!

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He won the figures and he's happy about it. Thanks to everyone who came out last night! Just minutes before our party the vinyl was finished.

Pop On The Radio

Tomorrow at Noon, you can hear Benn on The Signal , on WYPR , talking about the new store, the new book and whatever else they got out of him. Maybe he'll talk about his mustache.

Camille Rose Garcia Give Away

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At our Grand Opening for Pop tomorrow night, which starts at 8pm, you can meet Brian Ralph, who'll be signing copies of his new book Daybreak . Also, you can hobnob with a lot of the artists and overheardsters (just made that up!) who contributed to our new book, I Keee You!! , and... If you buy anything tomorrow, from the moment we open at 11am until 10pm, you'll be put into a drawing to win a WHOLE SET of Rose Camille Garcia Vinyl Figures . That's right, all four. Drawing will be around 10pm. You must be present to win. So come on by! It's a party. There's drinks and stuff.

Lord Whimsy & Dame Darcy

Next Thursday, at POP, 7pm, Lord Whimsy shall delight us all with a reading from his Affected Provincial's Companion V1 . Dame Darcy is going to be there, too, signing all of her latest releases . Her band Death by Doll will be playing at the Talking Head (203 Davis St) later that night with: FLAMING FIRE ANTONIUS BLOCK MC TRACHIOTOMY and more! Come to our event first and get a $1 off the Head Show!

Time Marches On

Giants Camp closes . Don't worry, if they're lucky, maybe they'll get an Olive Garden.

McSweeney's Night

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Next Tuesday, Oct 24th, we'll have the author of The Children's Hospital , Chris Adrian, along with Kevin Moffett , Believer contributor, and Eli Horowitz, editor of McSweeney's . Issue 21 should be here any day now. At POP, 7-9pm!

Books, Sort of

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Too little too late is a laughable understatement. What you see here are 38 copies of our new book. The title is too apt for how we feel about this whole book printing fiasco. BUT they ARE here, and the rest should be here by our book party this Friday. There are far worse printing disasters than just missing one of the biggest East Coast Small Press events . And we heard quite a few stories this past weekend, which was still fun even though we didn't have our new book and Flake flaked.

I KEEE YOU!!

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atomic POP opening and book party for I Keee You!! and Brian Ralph's Daybreak , Oct 20th 8-10pm. Consider yourself invited!

Friday Review - 13th

Benn read Best American Comics 2006 : These days, the measure of any good comics anthology seems to be the Chris Ware-edited volume of McSweeney's 13 . The early issues of Fantagraphics' Mome came close to recreating this greatness (although, sadly, recent issues seem to be a tad more inconsistent), and this newest edition to The Best American series, comes as close as any traditionally formatted book can get (McSweeney's has a knack for design that, though often imitated, is hard to surpass). Part of that might have to do with the fact that 3 of the stories here are compiled from McSweeney's, and 2 from Mome. The rest, as is the tradition of the Best American series, uses a multitude of quality source material. Editors Anne Elizabeth Moore and Harvey Pekar's selections are, as anyone familiar with Pekar's aesthetic, mostly reality-based. There are no representations of mainstream superhero greatness or Kramer's Ergot-style rich, indulgent artistic flourishe

Business Laments Lame Tag

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When Atomic Books Office Manager, Margaret Sabo, 27, came in to work this morning, the last thing she expected was to see her building poorly tagged. "It's just so badly done it's embarrassing," she scoffed. "He didn't even use Krylon. He left his can of Rustoleum SATIN. I use that on my lawn furniture." Joseph Benson Ray IV, 38, co-owner of Atomic Books and also a cultural studies professor at Towson University remains baffled. "I just don't understand the style or the message. He's no Banksy." Rachel Whang, 37, also a co-owner, says, "Call me when we have knittas ." The city is scheduled to remove the tag in one week.

SPX This Weekend!

This Friday starts SPX 2006 and we'll be there with our Lulu Eightballs and (Canadians willing) I Keee You !! It's a giant room of comic artists and small indie publishers. Come say hi!

Decemberists Book Plate

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The Decemberists sent us some book plates that we'll put in your orders for free! Perfect for all the great music books coming out right now.

Friday Review - Haiku II

Benn read SNAKEPIT #15 by Ben Snakepit: When every other city seems cooler than yours, it is time to move. Lisa read King Dork by Frank Portman: Teen angst is still hip A half-century after Catcher in the Rye Eric read American Splendor #1 : Vertigo debut-- huge Playstation ads aside, Splendor's still the same Rachel read The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel : old sharp memories lost souls held dear but not close dogs are more loyal Maggie drank Zombie Juice : Zombie Juice is not part of a healthy breakfast Fizzy cherry pain

Grand Opening Party

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October 20th, 8-10pm!

Atomic Knit Night Tonight

Knit Night is back on Tuesday nights, 7-9pm, at atomic POP, 3620 Falls Rd. Come on by with any portable crafting you're working on.

Review Feature Dismantled

We've taken down our review feature on our Atomic Books site because we've encountered some major technical difficulties. Like the fact that it led Google to blank pages instead of actual items in our catalog. We doubt it will be back. Most of your reviews were for Cialis anyway. Ok, some of them were for Viagra.

Last Minute Book Switch!

Well it looks like Cinderalla is between printings right now so we'll have to switch out the Reading Club selection to Palestine . As always, 15% off for the month!