1976 Marvel Fun Book (Flickr)

You might be too young to remember the Marvel Fun Books, I barely remember this one myself. But this Flickr set shows some of the fun that were in the books. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/sets/1302533/ [via Boing Boing]

Energy Fiend: Death By Caffeine

How much of your favorite caffinated beverage will kill you? Take Death by Caffeine and find out. Share your results with us, if you dare!

Juxtapoz Magazine

This is a follow-up to my posting about the Lowbrow/Pop Surrealism posting of yesterday. Mostly because I was asked about the art style and some of its proponents.

Let's start with Juxtapoz Magazine.

If you check out the Links Page, you can find some interesting links to artists of these particular styles.

And, last but not least....Robert Williams, the "founder" of Lowbrow art.

Welcome to Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing

Here’s an interesting resource for GMs, a good “how-to” writing resource is always a good thing. Online is also a plus for many. Just click here for the page, and leave some comments on how useful/interesting that you find it, so that other may be able to better judge this as a resource.

“Have you always harbored a secret (or not so secret) yearning to write? This course is designed to help you learn many of the skills you need to write successful science fiction and fantasy stories. You can use the skills you'll learn here in other kinds of storytelling, as well.
Whether you're trying to write for the first time, or have been at it for a while, you'll probably find some useful tips here. The course is intended mainly for younger (high school and middle school) writers, but it covers fundamentals you can build on no matter what your age.
You can choose between two approaches:
• Quick Launch – Grab a few suggestions and get started writing.
• Hyperspace – Learn in depth about the elements of successful story writing.
Switch between approaches anytime you want. You can follow the navigation bar on the left to any Hyperspace section that looks interesting.* However, the sections build upon each other, so there's a benefit to following them in sequence.
There are no rules, exactly. But we do have what you might call guidelines. And that's to have fun writing!”

Testing Blogger For Word

So, now I can post to my blog by writing the post up in Word first, and then publishing it to Blogger. This, of course, would be my test post to see if it will in fact work.

Dorky, huh?

Seattlest Interview: Kirsten Anderson, founder and owner of Roq La Rue Gallery

"In 1996, Kirsten Anderson opened an issue of Juxtapoz and fell for an art movement. Two years later, she founded Roq La Rue, Seattle’s first art gallery devoted to Lowbrow and Pop Surrealism. Last year Anderson literally wrote (and edited) the book on Pop Surrealism, sensically titled Pop Surrealism. And last month Roq La Rue moved into its fourth space -- the largest yet -- just in time for its annual Halloween group exhibit and a book signing by Robert "godfather of Lowbrow" Williams. (You're invited. This Friday evening. We'll remind you.) Seattlest has enjoyed every show we’ve seen at Roq La Rue -- and Anderson's blog, Thumbmonkey -- so we were very pleased when she agreed to let us interview her."

Why did I blog this entry (particularly after my extended family emergency related "vacation" from updating the blog)? Probably because I found the concept of Pop Surrealism interesting. And I am sure that somebody else out there might too.

From the interview: "The Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow movement was spawned in the 60's, with the rise of the underground comix scene as well as the outlaw biker/hotrod scene. Robert Williams was an artist working within both genres as well as doing 'fine art' -- paintings that were shown in galleries and being taken seriously as "art". A generation of mainly southern california artists became inspired by him and started painting things that were in their personal experience -- usually relating to subcultural lifestyles such as hot rod, tattoo, tiki,lounge and kitsch nostalgia. A magazine called Juxtapoz (founded by Williams) was started and showcased the work of these artists and the mantle of 'Lowbrow' was adopted."

Enjoy.

Boing Boing: Anti-MMORPG ads from D&D

I think I have to agree with Boing Boingers on this one. Never thought that I would see an ad like this. Go to the Boing Boing site for the direct link to the jpg file.

Boing Boing: Anti-MMORPG ads from D&D

"This anti-MMORPG ad from Dungeons and Dragons is STONE BRILLIANT. It reads 'If you're going to sit in your basement pretending to be an elf, you should at least have some friends over to help. Dungeons and Dragons: Get together. Roll some Dice. Have Fun.' Way to play to your core strength."

Welcome to Dime Novels

It's been a while, but I am back with an update of some new Dorkiness for all of you. Nothing has really gotten by attention for a while, but this was pretty good:

Welcome To Dime Novels

"Stanford's Dime Novel and Story Paper Collection consists of over 8,000 individual items, and includes long runs of the major dime novel series (Frank Leslie's Boys of America, Happy Days, Beadle's New York Dime Library, etc.) and equally strong holdings of story papers like the New York Ledger and Saturday Night.

"Both genres flourished from the middle to the close of the 19th century in America and England (where the novels were known as "penny dreadfuls"), and benefited from three mutually reinforcing trends: the vastly increased mechanization of printing, the growth of efficient rail and canal shipping, and ever-growing rates of literacy.

"The dime novels were aimed at youthful, working-class audiences and distributed in massive editions at newsstands and dry goods stores. Though the phrase conjures up stereotyped yarns of Wild West adventure, complete with lurid cover illustration, many other genres were represented: tales of urban outlaws, detective stories, working-girl narratives of virtue defended, and costume romances.

"Story papers, weekly eight-page tabloids, covered much the same ground, but often combined material and themes to appeal to the whole family. The chief among them had national circulations greater than any other newspaper or magazine, some reaching 400,000 copies sold per issue. Unlike the dime novels, which generally confine illustration to the cover, the story papers integrate text and illustration (in the form of wood engravings) throughout.

"You might wish to begin your exploration of Dime Novels by taking one of our guided tours, by browsing the collection's images, or by reading one of the Dime Novel texts

Coolest eBay Auction Evar!

"1950s SOVIET SPACE MONKEY'S FLIGHT PANTS

"It's offered to your attention the 'space pants' for macaque small monkey to wear it during the experimental space flight. This pants has been used for animals (monkeys) experiments in 1950s - 1960s in the USSR Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP, Moscow). The monkey's 'space pants' are designed with many clasps to fit bigger or smaller monkey."

1950s Soviet Space Monkey's Flight Pants

I have no idea why this didn't sell. Its a bargain at half the price.

The Library of Halexandriah

The Library of Halexandriah

"Halexandriah is a Synthesis of new physics, sacred geometry, ancient and modern history, multiple universes & realities, consciousness, the Ha Qabala and ORME, extraterrestrials, corporate rule and politics, law, order and entropy, trial by jury, astronomy, monetary policy, scientific anomalies, and a whole host of other subjects ranging from astrology and astrophysics to superstrings and sonoluminesence to biblical and geologic histories to numerology, the Tarot, and creating your own reality. It is an attempt at bridging of the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius."

Click on the link...you know that you want to.