Computer Problems

I can't Log into my email anymore; I think it's been hacked. If you have received an email from "me" on July 5th or later. It wasn't really from me. Basically, I've lost most of my contact info for all my connections. I'm in the process of setting up a new email account. If you wondering why I haven't emailed you back... now you know why.

Also, my CPU is in the shop for a couple reasons one of which being that a CD is really stuck in the disk drive.... (and yes I did try everything)


-Swinebread

Hello true believers!

It was so very cool of Swinebread to ask me to contribute to his blog. While we don't always agree on everything (*cough* JJ Abrams' Star Trek *cough*) we most certainly share a love of comics, cartoons, movies and pop culture. I love Swinebread's Atomic Romance and am happy to be a small part of it.

Just a bit on my geek creds so you know where I'm coming from. As a boy my imagination was consumed with all things fantasy and science fiction. I read Tolkein, Moorcock, Asimov, Lovecraft and Adams. I played Dungeons and Dragons, Gamma World and Traveller. I spent many a sleepless night on our old Commodore 64 computer adventuring my way through Richard Garrett's Ultima series. I watched Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers (mmm Wilma) and Space 1999 religiously.

On my 9th birthday my parents rented a van and took most of my grade school class to see Star Wars on the big screen. It was a wonderful, out-of-body experience. I lost complete track of the theater and the other people sitting around us munching popcorn. I was IN that movie. I've spent the last 32 years of being a film fan trying to replicate that experience.

When I was growing up comics were a reward. I have wonderful memories of serving as an alter boy and having my dad stop on the way home at 7-11 to get me a coke flavored Slurpee and a copy of "House of Mystery" or "Haunted Tank" as a thank you to me for working through a boring mass. I've expanded this idea tenfold with my own kids by the way. They got comics in their comics on Christmas morning, in their baskets on Easter and to cheer them up when they were home sick from school.

I'll say this outright- Swinebread is a genius when it comes to comics. I have nowhere near the encyclopedic knowledge he has of artists, authors, titles, etc. that he has. I don't subscribe to the previews. I don't always know what's going on in the comics industry. I do have a box at the local comics store. I subscribe to whatever titles interest me when I walk in the door.

I am not a comic "collector" I'm a comic "reader." To the extent I bag and store my comics it's not so I can sell them at a profit 10 years down the line. It's so I can get them out and rediscover them 10 years down the line when I've forgotten the stories. When I think about the CGC company and what they do with comics it makes me sad. Sure, they're putting aside a Picasso for forever but put aside the value of that particular comic and they're also removing forever the chance that some kid will open up that old comic and have their imagination exploded.

So, with Swinebread's blessing I'm going to post stuff here about comics from a layman's perspective. At the same time I'll also be posting stuff that isn't necessarily comics related but will always be geek-centric. I still occasionally play rpgs, computer games and will always be on the hunt for that Star Wars out-of-body fix at the movies. All of that is fodder.

Until next time guys,

Dean

It's Time For Some Pop Culture Discipline: Dean Wormer Joins Atomic Romance

That's right kids! Get ready to be geek schooled in all things as Dean accepts his post as the Grand Imperial Poobah of pop. He's gunnin' for tenure, so look out!

With the demands of Swinebread Jr. (who is now a rugrat for gosh sakes), I've felt for awhile that I'm unable to provide any real analysis on this blog as well as keep up with consistent posting. By asking Dean Wormer to join AR, I hope to rectify this. I know he's been wiggin' to rant and rave a lot more about some of his geekier hobbies but the Dean's Office is just too respectable of a place to engage in such banter.

So join me in welcoming Dean!

I'm sure life is about to get a lot more interesting around here with the Wormermeister on board.


-Swinebread

There's No Business Like Josh Business

How can I do another post on Atomic Romance after my friend Josh died? It just seems pointless and extremely crass. Also, the sadness is just unbearable.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about Josh’s worldview since he passed and about what a considerate guy he was. Would Josh really want me to stop doing something others and I enjoy… …of course not. He would absolutely want me to continue with Atomic Romance. He was an actor after all (among other things) and the “show must go on” would actually be something he would tell me about this. Plus, Josh loved comic books and superheroes. I’ve realized that I’d be letting him down by not continuing.

How do I restart the wacky narrative that is Atomic Romance? How do I push passed the death of one the most important people in the world to me when all I want to do is keeping talking about him forever? I don’t want Josh Westhaver to be just a guest star or a couple of posts here on Atomic Romance. Well, that’s why I started the Memories of Joshua Westhaver. I want the discussion about how great he was to go on forever and it will. There are just too many memories from too many lives to let Josh go silently into the night.

On another note several people thanked me at the Remembrance Ceremony for my posts about Josh here on Atomic Romance and for starting the Memories of Joshua Westhaver blog. That warmed my heart. All I can say back is thank you for caring about Josh so much.

To get things restarted here with a little bit of joy, I thought I’d share something with you that many have been waiting for. I’ve been kinda weird about posting pictures of Swinebread Jr. on the net but I thought now was a good time for you all to see how much I’m truly blessed and what it is that has been keeping me and the wife going during these very sad days. I give you my son.


What a beautiful bundle of joy huh?

So it is with much tears for what we have all lost and with much hope from the children in our lives that Atomic Romance returns to it’s regularly scheduled blogging… only now it has a sister site dedicated to a great human being that I’ll miss for as long as I live.


-Swinebread

Screw you John McCain and Michael Goldfarb

As a roleplayer and Veteran, I just have to say I'm thoroughly disgusted with Michael Goldfarb's comments:

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement..."

see Dean’s post here

Instead of making baseless attacks to distract the media and the public away from Senator McCain’s horrible record on actually helping Veterans when they need it (like the GI Bill), I suggest that Mr. Goldfarb do a little research before he debases a whole segment of the population that includes active duty service members, veterans and *surprise, surprise* even non-liberals. Using moral panic tactics of the early 1980s and supposed jock vs. geek paradigms shows that the McCain camp has wrong ideas, is drastically misinformed and is clearly out of touch.

Basically the McCain campaign is stating directly that people that play D&D are unpatriotic and in-fact not real americans. This is so stupid it sounds like something Dan Quayle would say. With the election so close, making disparaging comments about anybody seems like a really dumb idea and very petty.



Edit: I liked this point

Goldfarb apologized, displaying a tongue in cheek familiarity with the rules of the game.

If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American.

That's the kind of deep, personal animosity that you associate with experience, which clearly Goldfarb has. It’s not hard to imagine that some basement somewhere holds the abandoned d20s, dusty rulebooks, and broken heart of a young Michael Goldfarb who never got to be Dungeon Master because he wouldn’t stop yelling. In fact, it’s hard not to wonder if, when Michael Goldfarb is berating the D&D players of the world, he’s really just berating Michael Goldfarb.

from here

-Swinebread

Arte Y Pico Award

The fantastic Becca selected my blog for an Arte Y Pico Award! I am greatly honored. Thank you Becca.


Here are the Rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.



2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.



3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award (done at the end of Paragraph 1).



4. Please include a link to the “Arte Y Pico” blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.



5. Show these rules.



Here are the 5 Blogs I selected:

Matt at Paleo-Future has a great blog about the Future that never was. Every generation has had practical and totally bizarre ideas about what sort of culture or inventions there might be in "the future" and this blog makes sure they still have a home. All our forgotten tomorrows are logged whether they’re from the 1880s or the 1980s.

Arkonbey has been creating and posting self-made comics on-line at Obscurum. His Obscure Tales series is just what a jaded, cynical comic fan like me needs right now. What’s additionally cool is his discussion about the process he uses to create his pages, Fun and informative.

Dr. Zaius has, in my mind, has the best designed and the best content in the whole bloggershpere. His greatness is only matched by his intellectual capacity. Go to Zaius Nation and you’ll see what I mean.

Comics Fairplay was one of the first comic blogs I latched on to. Heidi Meely’s (and James too sometimes) frank but respectful discussion about a medium I love keeps bringing me back. I’m not even reading the same titles as her, but her blog just has that certain something. It’s like a four-color pub discussion over a brew. Plus, I appreciate the simplicity of the layout. Comics Fairplay makes comics almost seem like a real legitimate topic to chat about. Imagine that! I’m not a closet comics fan anymore thanks to Heidi.

How could I pick just one blog by Rob!? Well, the rules are the rules, so take a gander at All in Black and White for 75 cents. Never has a better comic series been written on the topic of comic book magazines. There was an age undreamt of where Horror and Adventure had a home. Where fantastic art, relayed the visions of amazing writers in a larger, adult format. Recapture those lost journeys or discover them anew with this amazing blog. (Hell just check out all his fun sites you’ll be glad you did).


-Swinebread

Aquaman Arrives

Rob!, the curator of the wonderful Aquaman Shrine, (and other outstanding blogs), sent me a gift for my newly born son… an Aquaman doll. Very cool of him indeed to do such a thing, apparently he has a tradition of sending out an Aquaman to all the families he knows that have been blessed with a new baby.

Thanks so much Rob! It’s very much appreciated. I’ll make sure Swinebread Jr. has this gift as part of his collection when he’s old enough. As you can see from the picture Aquaman made it out to Oregon just fine, but I had Dr. Gumby check him out just to be on the safe side. ☺ The SO really likes the doll too. She’s not very familiar with American superheroes but she thinks Aquaman is cute. Heh, heh all the girls say that don’t they.

Make sure you stop by Rob!’s blogs for really fantastic comic book memories and info. His stuff is so good in fact, that he’ll be published in Back issue Magazine soon.

Hat’s Off Rob! Much gratitude from Atomic Romance.

Aquaman forever!



-Swinebread

Praise From Doctor Smoke

That's right folks Doctor Smoke has given me an award AND interpreted me for a cameo in his web comic-strip bananaglass. Absolutely freakluscious.

It's offical now I'm a universe expert, convention crasher, and nerd! Thank Doc,

Here's the bananaglass episode with moi.



I love the emblem Doc created for my chest.

It makes me think I need a sidekick named Pigmuffin.


-Swinebread

Atomic Romance Anniversary

The first X-Men Comic I ever read, issue #173. It’s a Good One!

Today is my one-year blogiversary. I made it kinda’ easy to remember by starting this blog so close to New Year’s Day. Originally I planned on posting a long rambling story about what I had and hadn’t accomplished with Atomic Romance. Well, I changed my mind. It was just a little too tedious. There was one section though, that’s actually interesting so I thought I’d share that with you.

One of the main things I really wanted to do with atomic romance was to go through my old comics and share the joy of these stories. I wanted tell you, the reader, how wonderful comics are by revealing the story of my collection, a collection started many years ago. Sadly, right before I began this blog, I noticed I had developed an allergy to old paper. When I brought some of my boxes of older comics to my apartment from a relative’s house, I began getting really bad sore throats, itchy eyes and runny noses. I’ve never had allergies before so I just thought I had a cold, but eventually I noticed when I wasn’t around my old comics everything cleared up. When I understood what was happening I was devastated. How could I talk about my love of comic books if couldn’t physically stand to be around them. I don’t know how I developed this problem, but I suspect it started when I lived in a very old building with a mold problem a few years back. Regardless, it’s tough. I had imagined a whole series of posts about my favorite titles by my favorite creators. But alas the comics went back to my relative’s house and I had to convey any comic stories strictly from memory. It sucks frankly. A lesson learned though, don’t store your old smelly back issues in with the newer stuff you own. It ALL gets stinky.

Well, besides the annoyance of not having my old comics to go through, I’ve had a great year being online with all of you. Thanks for visiting my blog and reading my random thoughts. I should have done it a long time ago.

-Swinebread