Comic-Con 07

photo by Pablo Hidalgo

They should really change the name to Movie-Con.

Hampden Idol Try Outs

First Fridays here in Hampden is when shops stay open late and have special events and sales up and down the Avenue.

atomic POP will host Hampden Idol Try Outs this coming First Friday, August 3rd, 7-11pm. Final Round is at Hampdenfest, September 15th.

Friday Review - Growing Pains

photo by mobtownshank

This week Benn read It's Not News, It's FARK by Drew Curtis:

Admittedly, I've never been a huge fan of Fark.com. It's always felt a little too morning radio shock jock-y, and after reading Fark founder, Drew Crutis' book, now I know why: A large number of morning radio shock jocks use Fark to prep their shows. The subtitle of the book is "How Mass Media Tries To Pass Off Crap As News," and this is an area that Fark is an undisputed expert in. Fark (the book) breaks news story types into sections, uses actual stories to illustrate these categories and then includes some Fark visitors' snark/comments about the stories at the end for humorous effect. Not earth shattering, but a good primer for those who don't understand all the contemporary criticism of modern media.


Mish read Tank Girl: The Gifting #2 by Alan C. Martin & Ashley Wood:

Alan Martin has resurrected Tank Girl, and it no longer looks like the
rainbow fall-out from a post-apocalyptic Pride parade. Like the original
readership, Tank Girl's grown up, matured some, and even -shockingly-
started wearing heels. Much of this is due to Ashley Wood's art style,
which has retained the manic energy of the original series while
utilizing a muted palate that lends a hip, retro feel to the characters.
Tank Girl is still packed to the tits with vulgarity, excessive
violence, and lewd, mutant kangaroo sexuality, but she no longer careens
madly from panel to panel in a frenzy of childlike energy. Rather, she
maturely straps a jet to her back and gets Booga to light her arse.


Lauren read I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle:

This book is the ultimate romp through Denis' high school graduation night. It
all starts with a declaration of love in his valedictorian speech. This leads to a night of fights, firsts, parties, and a view to what we all feel as we make the move from teenager to adult.

Larry tells the story with a lot of humor. I found myself laughing frequently. But whether we were the nerd, the cheerleader, the geek, the jock or one of the other labels handed out in high school, a part of this book will resonate with you. Rather then wince you'll probably smile remembering how much it meant in those days and doesn't anymore.

I felt Denis' pain, but it sure was funny.

Naked Girls Smoking Weed

Best title of the week.

Possibly ever.

Buffy #5

Buffy was taking a break this month, but issue #5 is out a week early (came in yesterday) probably so they could have it at Comic-Con which starts today.

This Ain't A Library

The Sun notices that soft seating is going missing from local bookstores.

"People just come in and spend the day with you and don't buy anything. That's one reason we're minimal on seating," says Al Ackerman, who volunteers at Normal's. "We're not a library or lounge. We're a bookstore, and we're very serious about our bookstore."

We got rid of our soft chairs years ago. Mostly because some dude got grease all over one.

Hampden In The Media

John Waters was on CBS Sunday Morning yesterday taking a walk through Hampden.

We just won Best Shopping Neighborhood from Baltimore Magazine.


And China Martens (who also lives and works in Hampden) won Best Zine:

RIP Brian Rubin

Atomic Books and atomic POP will be closing at 4pm this afternoon.

No One Likes Spoilers!

photo by Sidereal


You're all dressed up at Otakon but you still have to read the last Harry Potter before someone ruins it for you.

CBS Sunday Morning

Tomorrow morning, CBS Sunday Morning is doing a segment on Hairspray, the new movie based on the musical based on John Waters' movie Hairspray.

The camera crew and Waters came through Hampden this week, so maybe you'll see the Avenue!

Link Up

We've revamped our mailing list. Great stuff comes in every day and sometimes the website can be overwhelming so this is a great way to keep up with new releases on a weekly basis.

If you've been on our mailing list you should be all set up, but just let us know if you haven't received a new one this week!

Are you on LJ? You can add our blogs to your friends list. The Shank is on there, too.

Friend us on My Space, flickr and Shelfari. We don't know how we feel about that one yet but what the hell. We'll try anything once.

Dishwasher Pete on Letterman

I'm not talking about old news here. Yes, Pete is going to be BACK on Letterman this Friday! The real Pete this time and not that other dude!

Harry Potter Fever

Caught it.

Ok, so we'll be open at 12:01am, here at Atomic Books, on July 21st to sell the last and final Harry Potter book. It'll be 40% off but really that's beside the point.

Tom Campbell, co-owner of the Regulator Bookshop, a store that's similar to ours in spirit, says it best:

"This is the last Harry Potter book, and it will quite likely be the
last time in any of our lifetimes that people will line up, in the
middle of the night, all across the country, and all across the world,
to buy a book. To 'see what happens next' in a story. The only other
time this has ever happened, as far as I know, was with Charles Dickens
more than 150 years ago when crowds waited on the quays in New York for
the ship carrying the latest installment of The Old Curiosity Shop to
dock, calling out to the passengers and crew, 'Is Little Nell dead?'

"We don't yet know who is going to die in Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, but we do know that more than a million Harry Potter readers
are dead to the real significance of this event. These are the people
who ordered their books from Amazon, and who at 12:01 a.m. Saturday,
July 21, will be home asleep, waiting for the UPS delivery of their book
the next day, or two days later, or whenever it arrives. They are indeed
getting a great deal on the price of their book, but sometimes in life
you get what you pay for. And sometimes you also get an experience that
is truly priceless, a once in a lifetime kind of thing."


Be there at midnight! We'll have cocktails (but I know you won't be sticking around long since you'll be off to read it).

If you have kids the Children's Bookstore, not far from us on Deepdene Road is having their own festivities, as well as practically every bookstore in the area. Even Red Emmas.

New Words

Of the new words added to the dictionary this year, I think my favorite is nocebo.

Back For Business

photo by superchou


And we're back!

Even though there were several power lines down, BGE were on it and we only really lost power for about 8 hours.

People say it was a mini tornado that came through. Which explains the completely uprooted trees and roofs in the street.

Tree On Car

photo by Mag Sabo

Closing early! See you tomorrow!

Stormy

The power is out on a few blocks in Hampden right now, including ours! Trees in the street and on cars!

We may be closing early today but hopefully power will be back up very soon!

Hampdenfest 07

We are taking vendor applications for Hampdenfest 07. Applications can be downloaded here.

Band schedules and vendor lists updated soon!

The Great Weekend Hipster Debate

flickr has become a great source for checking out the work of new artists and keeping up with well established ones. Who knew it could also be a forum as well for exploring the pressing issue of our troubled times?

Everyone Loves Fire

Both Atomic Books and atomic POP will be closed this Wednesday. It's the 4th of July! We'll shall be enjoying everything fire brings us.