Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Truly Manly Blog Award

Susan Quinn of Ink Spells fame gifted me with a blog award yesterday. Yes, the left hand column of this thing is starting to get crowded with all the confabulations people are bestowing. Truth be told I'm rather pleased that everyone enjoys my ramblings enough to gift me with so many honors. This one's hysterical simply because of what it is though.

How can you not be amused when someone took the time to pose X-Men action figures, take a photo, and add speech bubbles to them? I especially enjoy Beast's thought process there.

Full disclosure: The X-Men cartoon from the early '90s was one of my favorite shows to watch when I was younger. Well, that and Spider-Man. Really all the Marvel cartoons of the early 1990s.

Here we go with the Rules:

Tell a couple of things about yourself, the name of your favorite guy book, your favorite sports moment, favorite MANLY MAN movie, favorite manly music, and your Favorite Food With No Nutritional Value.

1. I can change my car's oil, install a car radiator, and change a flat tire speedy quick. Sheer laziness and lack of facilities is what keeps me from doing my own oil changes all the time.
2. If you give me the tools and reasonably clear instructions I can build pretty much anything.
3. Favorite Food with No Nutritional Value: Boston Creme doughnuts
4. Favorite MANLY MAN movie: Rocky. Definitely Rocky. It's total 100% cheese-tastic, but that's what makes it awesome.
5. Favorite Guy Book: Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King


I suppose, as per the rules, I'm supposed to nominate fellow Manly Man bloggers for this award.

So here goes:

1. Adam Heine of Author's Echo. He's my brother in steampunk, fantasy geekery, and is generally an all-around cool guy to chat writing with. His MS, Air Pirates, is in the query stages right now, and I'm confident he'll get at least a few bites off it.

2. Iapetus999 of The WriteRunner. Andrew is also a member of the steampunk family, does very detailed posts on story development, and also has taken the time to offer his (very) worthwhile commentary on the CALLARION AT NIGHT snippets posted here. Steam Palace, his WIP, paints a very interesting picture of what the United States might have looked like if history ran a different course.

3. Last, but certainly not least, is Gary Corby from A dead man fell from the sky. Gary is a consummate wordsmith and highly educated in technology and all things Ancient Greece. He's also graciously allowed us a window into what a debut author goes through (The Pericles Commission comes out on October 12, 2010. Buy it!).

These three gentlemen have all helped me improve my writing in various ways besides being all-around cool guys to bandy ideas back and forth with. Bask in the award goodness, guys. You've earned it.

13 comments:

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I love, love, love this award! Pass me some of those Boston Creme Doughnuts - yummy!

I need your input on my blog post today. You are the main reason I chose what I did, so bring on some steampunk advice! :-)

Plus, everyone wants to know a good steampunk definition. Help??

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

Change the car's oil, sure sure. Change a flat tire? Yes, very manly, especially if you can find the spare. But install a car radiator??

Holy cats, that is Manly Supreme!

I knew you deserved this award. :)

Vonna said...

Congrats on the awesome award. I watch X-Men with my 11 yr old son every morning, who btw, has just discovered steampunk and is loving it.

Stephanie Thornton said...

Congrats! This award is pretty hilarious!

Andrew Rosenberg said...

Congrats and thanks!
Your gracious mention is appreciated.
I don't normally do awards on my blog but I get you mentioned somehow.

I'm going answer some of the questions here since this is fun. BTW you skipped the music question.

Fave Guy Book: A Princess of Mars (which is also quite steampunky)

Fave MM Movie: Rocky (duh)

Fave MM Music: Springsteen

Fave crap food: Potato chips

Amalia Dillin said...

I recently went out and BOUGHT the X-men cartoon from the 90s on DVD. all four volumes! I hated Jubilee though.

Adam Heine said...

Thank you! I'm going to answer the questions here too (because these are awesome questions).

Couple things: I drill holes in concrete, destroy doorknobs, and kill snakes. I don't do cars though; that's my Manly Man Failure.

Guy Book: The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, and any other Terry Pratchett book starring Sam Vimes. (Honorable Mention goes to The Hunger Games, because Katniss would make an awesome guy).

Sports Moment: 49ers v. Falcons. Steve Young's pass deflects off a lineman's helmet, so he runs up and catches it himself!

Manly Movie: Diehard. (This is also my favorite Christmas movie).

Food WNNV: Bacon Cheese Roll. Step 1: Weave Bacon.

Adam Heine said...

Whoops, forgot the manly music. I don't often think of music as manly, but I'll go with Metallica's Black Album.

Joshua McCune said...

X-Men was good, but nothing topped Gargoyles.

dolorah said...

I loved the X-men cartoons. And Turtles; Kowabunga dudes!

Such manly men the three of you are! I gotta say though, drilling holes in concrete is the best manly activity, and Die Hard is such an excellent movie. All three.

Congrats on the award, to all of you. I'll have to check out Gary's blog.

.......dhole

Andrew Rosenberg said...

How did I miss Greatest Sports Moment?

The Double.

Right now, the Mariners looking for the tie. They would take a fly ball; they would love a base hit into the gap and they could win it with Junior's speed. The stretch and the 0–1 pitch on the way to Edgar Martinez; swung on and lined down the left field line for a base hit! Here comes Joey! Here is Junior to third base, they're going to wave him in! The throw to the plate will be...LATE! The Mariners are going to play for the American League Championship! I don't believe it! It just continues! My oh My! Edgar Martinez with a double ripped down the left field line and they are going crazy at the Kingdome!
-Dave Neihaus

I was there! It was the loudest sound I've ever heard in my life, louder than a treetop flyover by the entire Blue Angels squadron.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Thanks Matt!! Your comments on my blog were perfect, and I sooooo appreciate your book recommendations. I wouldn't be able to meet my own challenge without your help, ya know. Now you know that your blog is spreading the steampunk interest (in addition to your invaluable insight of the male romantic perspective)! Ha ha ha. :-)

Gary Corby said...

I humbly accept your kind nomination. Thank you Matt! I'll toss in a few answers here too:

Guy Book: Starship Troopers

Fave Sports Moment: I'm going to be obscure. Sorry. At the Olympics of 564BC, a great athlete called Arrhachion deliberately killed himself to win the martial arts event. They crowned his corpse.

Movie: The Mummy.

Junk Food: So many to choose from! I'll go with Choc chip muffins.

Music: I'm tempted to say Abba, just for the reaction. Oh, all right, how about Pink Floyd. Or Cocteau Twins.