From The Austin Post, a venue of which I was previously unaware, comes ridiculously awesome bacon sculptures. Come for the full mech suit and the AK-47, stay for Patrick Bateman’s business card.
Ridiculously Awesome Bacon Sculptures
August 21st, 2012Book Acquisitions: The History of Middle Earth Volumes IV—XII
August 21st, 2012The week before Armadillocon, Half Price Books had their usual coupon sale, which starts out with a coupon for 40% off one item Monday-Tuesday, 30% Wednesday Thursday, etc., ending with a 50% off coupon on Sunday.
While shopping there Tuesday, I noticed that someone had sold them what appeared to be almost all of the Christopher Tolkien-edited The History of Middle Earth volumes. I asked management if they could apply my 40% coupon to all books in the series, and after looking at them they agreed. I ended up taking Volume IV-XII, because the earlier volumes either had some wear or were later printings. In fact, at the register they ended up taking 50% off each volume, each of which were $14.99, so I think I bought all of them at $7.49 each.
The UK editions precede, but the American editions aren’t particularly easy to find either. All of these are either Fine/Fine or Fine/Fine-, with some minor dust jacket wrinkles.
Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft!
August 20th, 2012Today is H.P. Lovecraft’s birthday. In celebration, here’s a brief musical version of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”:
I’ve done a lot of Lovecraft and Cthulhu related posts over the years. Here are some of the most notable ones:
Apple: The Most Valuable Company in the History of the World
August 20th, 2012Today Apple became the most valuable publicly traded company of all time. Not bad for the once “beleaguered” company which has been declared dead more times than pretty much any other company.
Here’s a quick history of the company pre-iPhone:
And here’s a quick visual look at of a few of Apple’s computers over the years:
In Praise of Bestine
August 20th, 2012Since I buy so many books, either for myself or resale, I frequently have to remove sticker residue, marker or pen marks, etc. And what I use to do that is Bestine.
Bestine takes pretty much all that stuff off any coated dust jacket, including magic marker blocking out the price. Bestine removes that stuff and then evaporates and leaves no residue behind.
I just bought a set of books I’ll be listing in full in a day or two, but I just wanted to show you before and after pictures from marked-through prices. Before:
After:
If you regularly buy books and need to remove stickers or magic marker from their covers, I highly recommend it.
Shoegazer Sunday: Starframes’ “Cielo Drive”
August 19th, 2012Starframes’ “Cielo Drive” seems like a beautiful, upbeat song if you don’t recognize the context of the address (which the video gets to a bit over two minutes in).
This is off their album Ethereal Underground. The band itself is out of Naples, Italy, but their main domain seems to have expired.
I’m getting a bit of a Neutral Milk Hotel vibe from them, which is a good thing.
Texas Tax Free Weekend August 17-19
August 16th, 2012It’s that time of year again. Texas is having it’s annual tax free weekend this weekend, August 17-19, for back-to-school goods like clothing under $100, school supplies, etc. And this year, the previously tax-free but now-tax-covered Amazon is participating as well.
Pictures from the 2012 Armadillocon
August 13th, 2012Continuing my acclaimed series “Lawrence’s Continuing Efforts To Justify The Purchase of a Digital Camera,” here are pictures from the 2012 Armadillocon:
The lovely and talented Urania Fung, who joined us for lunch with…
…her sister, the lovely and talented Cynthia Fung.
Fung & Fung, together at last. “Soon to be a new hit series on the CW!”
Master of Toast A. Lee Martinez showing off his spiffy Cthulhu vs. Godzilla T-shirt.
Andrew Wimsatt, already looking like his brain has fled.
Jayme Lynn Blaschke standing over Andrew, with the interior of the Austin Renaissance looming in the background like a Lovecraftian tomb (assuming the tomb had balconies and accent lighting).
Michael Sumbera, Scott Bobo and Ed Scarborough, hanging out in the bar.
Mark Finn. “Penis goes where???”
Picture from Family Feud, where the pros kicked the fan butt. “How could the topic be ‘Vampire Novels’ and not one of us thought of Dracula?”
it wouldn’t be an Armadillocon photo gallery without the requisite Stina Leicht Pantone Hair Color Reference Shot.
Now with Slightly Smugger Expression.
Editor guest of honor Liz Gorinsky, who appears to have part of Fry’s non-paraodoxing time travel algorithm tattooed onto her bicep.
Jayme Lynn Blascke, Troyce Wilson and Martha Wells. Maybe it was just this spot that made people look tired.
Con Chair Sara Felix taking a break from the madness with noted lush Scott Bobo.
With folded plate…
…and without.
John W. Campbell Award nominee Stina Leicht with Zillion time best Artist Hugo nominee John Picacio.
I had Stina lean in close so I could see exactly where her hair color matched his shirt.
“Sure, I’ll chair Armadillocon! How hard could it be?”
John “Two-Time Hugo Nominee” DeNardo
Ladies and Gentlemen, the worst picture ever of Joe R. Lansdale!
This time, his brain is fried.
Michael Sumbera and Rich Simental.
Mark Finn and Night Shade Press head honcho Jeremy Lassen, who needs to hire a better shipping department.
Matthew Bey with two people whose names I should remember.
Gabrielle Faust, looking remarkably calm and poised considering the horrific, unspeakable doom that was about to befall her. Best not to talk about it…
Denman Glober, who finds me endlessly entertaining.
Rob Landley, once and future chairman of Linucon.
Bradley Denton, who had a wee bit of a tough 2011.
Doug Potter, showing off a T-shirt with a drawing by Doug Potter, from a book illustrated by Doug Potter.
And another Armadillocon slouches to an end…
Shoegazer Sunday: Tokyo Shoegazer’s “Back to My Place”
August 12th, 2012A while back I put up Tokyo Shoegazer’s “Bright.” Here’s “Back to My Place,” another long song, that starts off all ethereal but just after 2:30 in turns back into a soaring, reverb-drenched wall of shoegazer guitar goodness.
Off their debut album 「crystallize」, which is available through iTunes.
Shoegazer Sunday: Lemon Chair’s “Vividness”
August 5th, 2012I thought the previous dose of Japan’s Lemon’s Chair worked pretty well, so here they are with “Vividness.” The beginning and end are soft and noodly, but the center is jam-packed with magisterial sludge of rich, gooey Shoegaze goodness.