Category Archives: Housekeeping

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The Emoticon Generation Blog Tour

I’m a bit late with the announcement, but April kicks off The Emoticon Generation Blog Tour, sponsored by Little Red Reviewer. Here’s a blurb straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth:

“The time has come everyone, and I am thrilled to announce the beginning of Guy Hasson’s THE EMOTICON GENERATION blog tour!  During the month of April,  you’ll see book reviews, interviews of and guest posts by Mr. Hasson, and yes, giveaways too!  Our tour kicks off … right here, with an excellent interview!

Here’s the schedule, go ahead and bookmark all these folks:

Little Red Reviewer – April 2nd
Over the Effing Rainbow – April 4th
Dab of Darkness – April 6th
Attack of the Books! – April 8th
Postcards from La La Land – April 10th
My Bookish Ways – April 12th
Lynn’s Book Blog – April 14th
Two Dudes in an Attic – April 16th
A Fantastical Librarian  – April 18th”

Note that we’re slated for mid-month with a review. I’m also up for an interview, so I need to get my crap together and have that ready to go towards the end of April. I’ve finished the book already and am excited to write about it. Here is Little Red’s review, just to get things started.

It’s going to take some doing on this end to make sure we’re on schedule, what with US-based family visiting, Japan-based family visiting, and a sudden explosion of gigs. I’ll be splitting book reviewing time with horn section arrangements for Billie Jean, of all things, so there may be a run of shorter posts in the near future. It will all be worth it though, so tune in, check out these other fine blogs, and let’s do what we can to launch Mr. Hasson into worldwide celebrity. We’ll know our job is complete when he is on Dancing With the Stars next month.

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Possible Murakami Group Read

So, in response to some comments on my last post, the idea of doing a group read of Murakami Haruki’s IQ84 has come up. I’m wagering that this weighty tome is sitting on more bookshelves than mine, frightening the children and intimidating guests. Is there any interest among readers and my fellow bloggers for a joint assault on this imposing bit o’ literature? I am considering a June time frame, though no other details are yet clear. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Interested parties? I’d be happy to start putting something together if there is interest; otherwise it will just be me and my friend kamo setting off into peril.

[Insert Bill Pullman's Independence Day speech here.]

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Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Happy New Year all and welcome to 2013. With the new year come two new projects that Two Dudes is proud to be a part of. First, the Vintage SciFi Not-a-challenge, hosted by Little Red Reviewer. This will be a fun month-long excursion into the past, where a bunch of blogs collaborate to read and review old stuff. It promises to be a great chance to both look at ancient SF we might otherwise skip, and to meet others in the SF blogging community. I’ve already struck up conversations with a few new people and look forward to all the banter. Expect the first post within a couple of days.

Second is Stainless Steel Dropping’s 2013 Science Fiction Experience. This isn’t a thematically defined event, just a two month long exploration and celebration of science fiction. Carl V. at SSD is graciously providing a hub where all sorts of people can congregate, share posts and reviews, and just chew the fat about SF. As a broader event, this promises to introduce a diverse set of bloggers, not just the SF crew; I’ve already bounced my way into a Japan blogging circle by following Carl V.’s links.

So big thanks to Little Red Reviewer and Carl V. for taking the time to build these virtual water coolers for us. Stay tuned for posts, links, and illuminating commentary.

 

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Interruption of Service

With apologies to all loyal readers, reality has struck the Attic with a vengeance this week. Posts may be scarce until the future physical location of the Attic has been determined; it’s hard to get in a writing mood when a Dude’s house ceases suddenly to be available. Things should be sorted out by the end of the week and regular service will resume, unless I find myself packing and hauling boxes every night.

 

Edit (6/18): Post finally going up tonight, after too long of a break. Things will be sporadic for a little bit longer, as we negotiate to buy a house. Moving has been, for the moment, staved off, so hopefully I can get back to twice a week soon. Thanks for your patience.

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Nov. Stats

Work, music, and life got together and decided that last week would be a good time all blow up on me, so the blog got the short end of the stick. We here at Two Dudes are uncompromising in our standards, so rather than throw together something shoddy and quick, I thought I’d put out a fun post of blog stats that has been rattling around in my head for awhile. It’s fun to keep tabs on who’s looking at what here, but there have been a few surprises. For your reading pleasure, here are our Top 10 pages and Top 10 search hits so far.

Top 10 Most Popular Pages

  1.  Salmonella Men on Planet Porno  – 99
  2.  Stories of Ibis  – 42
  3.  2011 Seiun Award Winners – 22
  4.  Space Battleship Yamato – 22
  5.  The Club Dumas – 21
  6.  NPR Top 100 SFF – 19
  7.  The Salamander War – 18
  8.  Servant of the Underworld – 16
  9.  Nausicaa – 16
  10.  The Black Company – 15

(tie)      All You Need is Kill – 15

Thoughts:

  1. Reviewing Salmonella Men on Planet Porno was the best thing I’ve ever done for the blog.     More below.
  2. This review was tweeted by the publisher, who has since ignored everything I put up.
  3. A scoop for Two Dudes here – we had this posted before almost anyone else. It also let to a trackback related to #8.
  4. The most popular anime post.
  5. Odd, since this is the least SFF-y post on the board.
  6. NPR’s list generated a lot of traffic for a lot of sites; we were no exception.
  7. Why? This isn’t even a good book!
  8. The author came to our page when looking for Seiun info. We have since become email friends, talking about Asian culture, SF, and other interesting stuff. She directed her own blog followers here for this review.
  9. More anime. I need to get back on that train.
  10. Both generate a fair amount of traffic for old and/or niche work.

Top 10 Search Terms – I’m going to combine similar terms here for the relevant post.

  1. Japan porno, porno japan, porno, porno men, japanese porno, sf porno, porno in japan, srilankan porn pic and video (my favorite!), video porno japan, salmonella men on planet porno, japan shorts porno, j-a-p-a-n p-o-r-n-o, planet porno, japanese prno live, porno sf, men porno, porno stationary (??), porno panet (sic), attic porno hard, and a couple of others.
  2. All You Need is Kill
  3. Seiun Awards
  4. The Salamander War
  5. Aliette de Bodard
  6. Space Battleship Yamato
  7. The Moon Maze Game
  8. Mardock Scramble
  9. Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD
  10.  Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Honorable funny mention to: “spy on dudes,” “npr awesome flowchart,” “extra credits august 18,” “war do slamenders id,” “sexyfalms,” and “anime is awful.”

Thoughts:

  1. A remarkable variety of terms hits for Salmonella Men. Considering how deep one would have to dig to finally reach our humble page, I must admire these men (and I’m certain they are men) for their efforts. I can only imagine the disappointment when they arrive.
  2. This seems more popular than I would have thought.
  3. Scoop!
  4. Seriously, why are people looking for this? Where to they hear about it? It’s a crap story! I’ve put up something like 50 reviews, and this outdraws almost all of them.
  5. Yay Aliette.
  6. Not sure why this outdraws Gundam. Maybe less competition?
  7. Good thing I grabbed this as soon as the book came out.
  8. I’m glad that people are finding Mardock. It deserves wide recognition.
  9. Also happy that people turn this article up. It’s a book that everyone should enjoy.
  10. I know this book is popular, so no surprise here.
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Administrative Stuff

Starting this week, Two Dudes in an Attic will move to its regular publishing schedule. Pep will post each Tuesday and Friday, while Jose will post whenever he finishes a new angry missive. Podcasts will begin soon, once a few more technical details work themselves out. We are also open to guest submissions, if any of our loyal readers feel an incontrollable urge to bare their feelings to the world. Thanks for sticking with us during Two Dudes’ formative weeks.