The Nerdnik Lounge

To celebrate the rebirth of my blog I thought I would post the recipe for the Atomic Martini (aka The Atomic Cocktail). This isn't my recipe, but one that was made in Las Vegas in the 1950s to "celebrate" the atomic testing that was taking place in the Nevada desert. I got both the recipe and picture from foodviva.com Enjoy! Prep Time: 2 minutes Serves: 1 serving Glassware: Martini glass Ingredients: 1.5 oz. (45 ml) Premium Vodka 1.5 oz. (45 ml) Brandy or Cognac 0.5 oz. (15 ml) Dry Sherry 1.5 oz. (45 ml) Brut Champagne 1 Small Orange Wedge Ice Cubes Directions: 1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add ice cubes. Put the cap on the shaker and shake well for approximately 15 seconds. 2. Remove cap, strain into chilled martini glass and then pour champagne 3. Place the orange wedge on the rim of the glass as garnish and serve. http://cocktails.foodviva.com/champagne-recipes/atomic-cocktail/

When I started this blog I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take it, and exactly how I wanted to present it. A disorganized mess is what I had and when I'm disorganized I am uninspired. Well after much thought and planning I have come up with something that I think I can really work with. Welcome To The Nerdnik Lounge, a blog for my thoughts on popular culture, and the world in general. I will write reviews, lists, and editorials, etc. I think it will be fun! I will be working over the next couple of weeks to change the graphics, colors, and theme to match the new title. It should be a blast! Stay tuned cats and kittens because the Lounge will be open for business soon!

I have a few stories to tell about my adventures at DragonCon, but they are rather long and instead of writing a novella I will break them up into story time shorts. Trust me it's for the best. DragonCon is the first comic con I ever attended. Before that, I had never even heard of a comic con. I knew that there were fandoms that had conventions to celebrate their obsessions, I had even gone to a Monkees convention in Chicago, but I didn't know that there were cons for comic books and nerd culture in general. In 1996 (I'm old) I went to DragonCon in Atlanta and it was quite the experience. Friday night my friend Tricia and I were looking for something to do and we saw that there was a concert by a band we had never heard of. GWAR was playing in one of the ballrooms, and since we like music, we figured why not?. We went to the ballroom to see if we could get in and well... we couldn't. The room was so packed people were spilling out into the hall. Ah well, better luc...

The passing of Don Rickles makes me sad on so many levels. One being he is one of the original comics who got popular during the comic explosion of the mid 50s- late 60s. Stand up comedy isn't new, it's been around for a long long time, the problem being unless you were able to go to a night club or a similar venue you weren't able to see one. Then in the mid- late 50s (I believe, it could have been a little earlier) some genius got the idea to record comic acts and put them out on records. The thing exploded. It was a full on fad.  People in Nowheresville, Middle America could listen to comedians. There were dinner parties, and cocktail parties where people would get the latest Bill Cosby record, or Lenny Bruce, and that would be the evening's entertainment. It was huge. Among the comics to profit from this was Andy Griffith (he started out as a stand up) with his slow drawl talking about a bunch of fellers thowin' a punkin around (his telling of football), Bo...

As you may or may not know, I am a Michigander living on a mountain in Southern California. I have been living here with my fiancee Jason, and our friend Hank for about five years now. Our financial situation here has been tenuous at best and we've been barely getting by and sometimes it has been a bit close. However, things have turned south in the last few months and it's getting damned scary. What has this to do with going to the hospital when advised to do so you are probably wondering? Be patient, I'm getting there. Around the middle of January of this year Hank, the man who owns the house that we live in...or at least holds the mortgage on it had an odd episode. He was groggy, incoherent, forgetful, disoriented, had a minor headache, was dizzy, and slept most of the day. I was worried, and called 911, but by the time paramedics arrived he was feeling better and refused to go to the hospital. He was convinced that it was carbon monoxide poisoning due to the fact th...

Los Angeles, Tokyo, and New York City are cyberpunk/biopunk. London, Paris, and older New York is steampunk/clockpunk, but where do you think dieselpunk would have likely been set? I think since dieselpunk is all about the petroleum power based technocratic society wouldn't Detroit be the logical place? Chicago, Cleavland, and Cincinnati are also good choices for setting. Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud...er...well you know what I mean.

So, I' am now an internationally published photographer. It's just one picture and it's in a Portugese book about Jim Morrison and The Doors, but still! I feel pretty good about it. It will eventually be published in English for the American and British market, so that will be really cool. Yay!