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Showing posts with label CROM News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CROM News. Show all posts

Short Break From Crom...

Hey Everyone. 

I recently experienced some "technical difficulties" with my image host (whose name shall remain anonymous).  I was about ready to call it quits, but with encouragement from Mikeyboy have decided instead to keep going.

First things first though, repairing and reposting much of the older material in order to restore CROM! to it's former glory.  When I'm finished that, it will be business as usual around here.  Might be a bit quiet in the interim.  Just wanted to let you know!

Cromsblood.

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CROM! Welcomes Mikeyboy!

Hail you Hyrkanian dogs! I just wanted to drop a quick note to officially welcome long-time CROM! reader and commenter, Mikeyboy, to his new position here on the blog as a full-fledged CROM! contributor!

So, expect to start seeing even more Conan news, reviews, art and whatever else Mikeyboy has up his sleeve.

And speaking of what's up his sleeve, anyone who has this tattooed on them...


... just has to be worthy enough to join our team!

So join me, everyone, on welcoming Mikeyboy the Mighty! HAIL!

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CROM! Wants YOU!

Hey! You! Yeah, YOU! I'm still looking for more contributors to our blog and if you think you've got some stuff to say about Cimmeria's wandering son, then email me at reisobrien@gmail.com and let me know what you're made of. A sample blog post will go a long way, so be sure to include a link or at least a paragraph or two of your writing.

Maybe you have a specific angle you'd like to cover? Maybe you're an expert on Conan the Destroyer. Maybe you're an actual sword maker. Maybe you're fascinated with the Conan cartoon. Whatever! I wanna hear from you!

Now for your moment of zen...



(Sorry for the lack of a credit on the above artwork. It was emailed to me ages ago! If anyone knows where it's from, please let us know!)

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State of the Aquilonian Union Address

Hail Fellow Conan Fans!

I know that a lot of you are probably wondering about the fate of the CROM! blog, what with our illustrious contributor, Cromsblood, taking an extended leave and I'm sure that my absence and the ending of my main blog, Geek Orthodox, may have a lot of you thinking that CROM! is about to go the way of the dodo. But I'm here to assure you that it is NOT shutting down!

Let me repeat this; CROM IS HERE TO STAY!

I have talked with Cromsblood and the dude just has a ton of other stuff to worry about right now and just needs the break. He's okay, don't worry. But sometimes life just piles enough crap on you and you gotta take some serious time to clean it off, you know? Anyway, he will always be a part of this blog and I have told him that our door is always open for whenever he wants to come back. :)

As for my absence, I know that many of you have gotten to know Cromsblood over the past several months, because he was pretty much keeping this blog going all by himself, and you probably have no idea who I am. Well, I'm Reis, the dude who started this blog back on Myspace several years ago. Pleased to meet you.

I'll tell you what I told Cromsblood. The truth is that my level of fandom ebbs and flows. Sometimes, I'm crazy about Conan, other times, I'm focused on other things. Lately, I've been distracted. That doesn't mean I don't still love Conan and all things Conan related, but I'm just not researching as vigorously as I do at other times, and am a little less inclined to post about it.

However, that will change. It always does.

So, CROM! is not going anywhere, but the posting may be a bit sparse for a while. Sorry about that.

On a related note, I have to say that Cromsblood taught me just how awesome a collaborative fan effort can be. And with that in mind, I would like to officially send out an open invitation to any Conan fans who would like to join the CROM! team!

So here's the deal; send me an email at reisobrien@gmail.com and introduce yourself. Tell me why you'd like to write for CROM!, and if you have a special angle you'd like to claim (like a Conan web-comic, or a focus on the movies or books or comics, etc.), and finally, send me a link to a sample of your blogging if you have one.

I'm looking for original voices, an even keeled demeanor, attention to quality and an overall cool vibe.

If chosen, you'll be granted access to the blog and will be welcomed to blog about all that is Conan!

So let's hear from you!

In the meantime, I have a few small Conan things to post, and will get those up as soon as I can pull myself away from searching eBay for vintage toys. :)

So, in summation; CROM! is alive and well and I'm inviting YOU to help keep it that way!

Anyway, than you all for making CROM! such an awesome place!

More soon...

-Reis

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Unpaid Leave of Absence...

You may have noticed that things have been pretty quiet around here of late. I've finally decided to take some time off from CROM (maybe a month, maybe more) due to personal reasons.

Mayhaps I'll be back, possibly not...either way, thanks to all who stopped by, took the time to comment, send an email my way, and whatnot...and thanks to Reis for letting me do my thing on CROM!

All hail Conan!

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Groovy Blogger Award!

Look at this gawd-awful but beautiful, eye-sore/candy of a creation!


Part of me wants to get it transferred on a t-shirt and wear it proudly, the rest of me wants to feed it to the cat and see if it looks any better when it comes out the other end. To the “Kreator” of this “thing”, granny wants her wallpaper back!

In all seriousness, this is our first award here on CROM!, and I’m glowing like a pregnant firefly! A big hearty THANKS goes out to Ol’ Groove for the nomination...hell, I’d nominate him right back because Groove’s blog (Diversions of the Groovy Kind) kicks ass, but I don’t want to risk blindness!

Ok, this award’s got rules, let’s review…

(1) Thank the person that nominated me (Ol’ Groove)…done.
(2) Copy the award and put it on my blog…done.
(3) Link back to the blog that nominated me (Diversions of the Groovy Kind)…ok that’s twice now...once for good measure!
(4) Name seven things about myself other people might find interesting…below.
(5) Nominate seven other Kreativ Bloggers…below.
(6) Leave a comment on their blogs so they know they’ve been nominated…later.

Seven things other people “might” find interesting…geez, that sounds complicated. How about seven things that I like even more than Conan? It’s true, I have other interests!

(1) Computers. I’m feeding a 30 year addiction here people…it’s even my day job.
(2) Guitar.  Yep, one day I will be playing Anvil of Crom right here on CROM!. 
(3) Sex. Duh! Now can someone pass that little tidbit of info along to my wife?
(4) Food. Oh man, I’ll eat anything…once.
(5) Hockey.  But I’m getting old and brittle, so mostly I just watch now.
(6) Beer.  Not a connoisseur, it’s more of a quantity over quality thing for me.
(7) Art. But I really suck at it…my thumb keeps getting in the way.

Time for the nominations! Since this is a “Kreativ” Blogger award, I’m thinking that I’ll nominate seven creative types (artists)…here are seven blogs that I’ve been keeping one eyeball on for a while now…hopefully they’ll all accept this award so we can learn even more interesting things about these talented artists!
 
In NO particular order:



OK, gotta go leave them comments now!

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Geek Orthodox!

If you haven’t yet heard the news, an undeniably entertaining and invaluable piece of the blogosphere died the other day. Yup, my co-blogger brother from another country, Reis, has thrown in the towel over on my second favorite blog ever, Geek Orthodox.

I’d be the first to admit that a lot of the material that Reis covered on G.O. wasn’t really my cup of tea, but Reis has this uncanny ability of making anything he talks about interesting, much like he’s done with every single post of his here on CROM!

He does such a bang-up job that he was my inspiration to start blogging, and try as I my might to capture a little “piece of Reis” in my posts, more often than not I fall short...far short!

Well I just can’t stand by and let CROM! be the next on your “not-to-do” list! What’s it going to take bro? How about some Conan cupcakes?



Hmmm. Maybe not. If you’re anything like me (no sweet tooth), I’d suspect you’ll want to replace those horns with giant cashews, wrap them cupcakes up in bacon, and deep-fry 'em!

Ok, EVERYBODY loves bacon! How about THIS!



Sure, you probably like your bacon crispy, but I bet you’ll make an exception when it’s served up on those butterbags!  You can even call her Red Sow-ja if you like!

OK, that’s all I've got Reis. Maybe if you knocked up one of the women in the village, you’ll feel obligated to stay…
















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CROM! Header Contest Wrap Up!

If you didn’t blink and miss it, you may have noticed that the CROM! Header contest ended and Bliss Infinite came out the winner…congrats Bliss! Now head on over to his blog, The Warlock's Home Brew, and congratulate him yourself!


I soon realized that I’d screwed up on the dimensions required for the header, and being the consummate professional that I am, was quick to blame Bliss for HIS mistake and demand that he make the necessary corrections. Hell, I was holding his prize hostage so non-compliance wasn’t really an option now was it?


OK that last paragraph wasn’t true. He graciously and promptly modified his header, and having read the comments made about his choice of fonts, took it upon himself to change that up too!


Well I screwed up that request of him as well, and in the end I had to make even more changes...argh!

Since Bliss was willing to compensate for my shortcomings, and knowing that he’s a gamer (much like I was in a previous life), I snapped some pics of some of my old gaming stuff and asked him to pick something to add to the prize...which ended up being this!


Anyway, I boxed up the Conan comics and the gaming stuff  and shipped it off to you yesterday Bliss! I suspect that it will get hung up at the Canada/US border for a while, so the bomb/drug sniffing dogs can give it a thorough once over.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have drawn pot leaves all over the brown paper wrapper or used Osama bin Laden’s name in the return address.

Oh, and Kaiser, thanks so much for your entry!  Without you it would have been a giveaway, not a contest!

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CROM! Header Contest Finalists!

As they say, it's all over but the voting! I'm a little disappointed that there were only two entries...on the upside, they both kick a whole lotta Hyborian ass, and I'm liking the odds of winning for our finalists! 

I'll go into more detail about the artwork involved once I announce the winner.  For now, just the entries, and in the order that I received them...

From Kaiser Crowbar (blog and blog), who has 
"decided to evoke the Dark Horse Comics era of Conan"...


And courtesy of Bliss Infinite (blog and website), who describes his entry as
"the iconic visual history of the barbarian through the ages"...


The voting stays open for one week, so please take the time to pick your favorite...the voting gizmo is right over there on the sidebar.

One last little look at the grand prize (not to scale)...


A thundering CROM! shout out to Bliss and Kaiser, and may the best header win!

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CROM! Contest Reminder!

Just a reminder, less than 10 days now until the CROM! Header Contest ends...only one entry so far, so I just might be shipping off all of these comics without there even being a vote! Regardless, I'm sending them to someone, and that someone could still be YOU! 

Have another look at the prize...



This contest has no fine print, but if you still have questions/concerns, send them my way!

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CROM! Contest Announcement!

Here’s the deal. It’s time to freshen things up on CROM! starting at the top, which means…a brand spanking new blog header! What’s a blog header you ask? Simply put, it's a picture.  Here’s what our header looks like now (and it’s a damn fine one, I must say)…


I don’t know if our current header was created by the mighty Reis, is government issue, or perhaps two other blog headers got together and nine months later, poof! Regardless, it’s time for something new, and this is where you come in…yes, YOU!



OK, that’s probably not you, I've just been looking for an excuse to post that pic! Damn you Cromsblood, quit stalling. What the hell can I win? Well our ONE big winner will receive…

These five issues of Conan Saga (#31 through #35), from the late 80’s/early 90’s…


But wait, there’s more! I’m also including these five issues of The Savage Sword of Conan (#167 through #171), also printed in and around 1990!


Hell, I’m feeling a little giddy, so I’m also throwing this in…


Yup, it’s the Marvel Graphic Novel, “Conan The Barbarian, The Horn of Azoth”, 1990 First Printing!

Count 'em, a total of eleven Conan comics in all!  And just so you know, all of these mags are in really good condition, but they’re not mint. Now…it’s a contest, and like any good contest, there has got to be some rules…


CROM! HEADER CONTEST - OFFICIAL RULES

1. The new header must be a picture 600 pixels wide and 125 pixels high, and must have the words “CROM The Ultimate Conan Fan Blog" somewhere on it.


2. Limit of one entry per person, sent to me at cromsblood@rocketmail.com. Please put “CROM CONTEST” in the subject line.  If you have a blog/website of your own, include that in the email too!


3. Submissions must be received before midnight on Friday, April 23, at which time we will select some finalists, post them on CROM!, and readers will vote to determine our prize winner!


Cool? I will, of course, need the mailing address of the winner at some point, but I can always email you and get that information after the fact. The contest starts today, so please join in, and win yourself some Conan swag!

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We've Got Stones!

Milestones that is.  Yes, I'm blowing my own horn (of Azoth).  Hell, I'm more than willing to pass the horn around so you can all have a blow,  and no, that's not oral herpes I've got, but simply blistering from the scorching sun as I made my way home from the desert city of Shem.

We have indeed reached some significant milestones around here of late, and it's high time we celebrated with a flagon of ale, a buxom wench or two, and our very first CONTEST on CROM!  (well, our second, but the winner is getting real stuff this time!).  Details will come tomorrow so be sure and check back then...today we're talking milestones:

+100 followers (114 and counting...by the swollen breasts of Ishtar!)

+ 100 countries  (since the flag counter was added 4 months ago, visitors have come from a whopping 116 countries!  Hyborians of the world unite!)

+ 100,000 total pageviews (Crom count the carpal tunnel sufferers!)

On top of all of that, we've had a record breaking number of pageviews this month!

That said:

A GINORMOUS shout out to CROM! readers around the world! 

Remember, check back tomorrow for all the gory CONTEST details!

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Coming Soon!

For those of you wondering what translations I'm working on right now, here's a little teaser!

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Giving Thanks...

With a new year upon us, it seems like a really good time to reflect on 2009, to give thanks to those who’ve played a part in making it a successful year, and to discuss what’s in the works for 2010.

First off, you may have noticed that once again I haven’t been around here much of late. I think that some CROM! Readers may have had concerns that I was losing interest in the blog, or just plain ran out of things to say, since I received more emails in the last week than I have during my entire stint here on CROM!...well, let me say that I appreciate the emails, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon (that is, until Reis knocks me out with the blunt side of his broadsword and leaves me for dead on the tree of woe)…until then I’m still here, waiting patiently for the next unsuspecting CROM! reader to come wandering by …


Let me also take this opportunity to explain that I’m not what one would call a “chatty cathy”, so if you don’t hear back from me, or see me around much in the comments section, please know that I read everything and it’s much appreciated, but sometimes I just don’t feel like talking dammit! So a big thanks To CROM! readers and contributers everywhere, without all of you I’d just be talking to myself, and that’s the kind of thing that earns people a rubber room and a straightjacket.

Truth is, I’ve been really busy with family and friends over the last week, and with the year wrapping up, I decided to perform a backup of this blog. It was quite possibly the most comprehensive backup of a blog that has ever been done, but CROM! is just so bloody awesome (thanks to Reis that is, I’m not blowing my own horn here), that it really deserved the royal treatment. So if you’re a fellow blogger with an interest in backing up your own stuff, but aren’t really sure how best to approach it, feel free to email me and I’ll provide you with all the gory details regarding my backup/restore procedure.

My biggest thanks of 2009 goes to my co-blogger Reis…whose da man?  you'se da man!


Thanks Reis, for sharing your Crom-tastic Conan blog with the world…believe me, I’ve been through the entire thing from start to finish at least three times now, and it kicks oh so much ass. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to participate around here, for giving up creative control, for sharing your administrative rights, for the friendly but brutally honest advice i.e. when my posts are getting off-topic, or are just plain crap. Considering the fact that we don’t really know each other, I’m sure you’ve had your reservations about cutting me loose on CROM!, so you deserve the most humongous thanks that I’ve got!

So, what can you expect from me in 2010? More of the same stuff (well hopefully more of the good stuff, and fewer posts that make you want to burn your eyes out and impale yourself on a sword). I’ve got a couple of Conan comic translations on the go right now, am researching a couple of Conan loving countries that I haven’t yet posted about, hell, my “working” folder is a whopping 5 GB/1600+ files large, because there is no shortage of worthy Conan (and related) stuff out there that needs to be on CROM!

Whew! For a man of few words, I far exceeded my quota. So no need to say it, I am shutting the hell up now!

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Mystery Letter!

What’s this unexpected letter from the Annual Review Board in Los Angeles, CA?



And look at all those Arnold stamps...nice!



Mali? Austria? Hmmm…did this letter circle the globe to get to me? I'm intrigued. Time to see what this is all about...


Yooooohoooo!!! It’s finally payday here at CROM! Oh, wait…six Arnoldbucks…and IOU's…what the hell?! That’s a measly 8 cents per post! The last time I earned that little, I was knee-high to a bat-squirrel! OK Mr. Schwarzenegger, you’ve got some explaining to do. I await your reply in the comments section.

Oh, and Mr. President, knowing that you're a big Conan fan and CROM! reader, perhaps you would also like to weigh in on Arnold's injustice!

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I'll Be Taking a Small Break from CROM!

Hail Fellow Conan Fans!

As some of you may have noticed, I've run into some serious image hosting issues, mostly stemming from Photobucket being a bunch of douchebags. So, instead of seeing all of my images that I have posted over the past year, you're getting an "Exceeded Bandwidth" graphic.

To combat this, I finally bought a pro Flickr account, so I will never run into storage or bandwidth limits again. Unfortunately, this means that I'll have to replace every single image that I have posted, with a newly hosted copy. This may take a while. Especially as I have to take care of my other blog Geek Orthodox as well.

Sorry about all of this. So bear with me and all will be back to normal soon.

In the meantime, fellow CROM! blogger, Cromsblood, is doing a killer job and I have faith that you are in good hands until I return!

See you all again soon!

-Reis

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RE: Big News Here on the CROM! Blog!

“Know, O mighty blogger Reis O’Brien, that I, Cromsblood, from majestic Canada, am deeply humbled by your introduction, and look forward to resuming my journey throughout the kingdoms of Hyboria, on behalf of Conan fans worldwide. Forced to flee my homeland because of a deficiency of REH related material, I do wholeheartedly accept your offer to make all future posts on Crom!, and will frequently travel southward through cyberspace and into the mists of your legendary shadow.” - The Nemedian Chronicles


Hello everyone! If that sounded a little corny, I apologize!…I’m just a lowly IT technician & software developer (not a writer), but I couldn’t resist. I’m delighted to be given this opportunity! Thanks for the warm welcome Reis!

Cromsblood

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Big News Here on the CROM! Blog!

Hail Fellow Conan Fans!

Many of you may remember our good friend Cromsblood who linked us to a bunch of excellent foreign Conan releases never before seen here in the States, and then subsequently began his own blog REH Illustrated. Truth be told, this guy may very well be a bigger Conan fan than myself and certainly an excellent researcher!

Well, considering his devotion to Conan fandom and the contributions he has made in bringing so much awesome Conan media from all over the world to our attention, we talked it over and have decided that, starting right now, Cromsblood will become a permanent contributer to the CROM! blog!

I figured that between the two of us, we could add so much to the world of Conan fandom as a team, making this blog even better and thus making great Conan information, artwork, downloads, etc. even more easily found for the thousands of Conan fans that have visited this blog.

I'm quite pleased to have found someone who can compliment this blog so well and am honored to share this little bit of cybernetic space with him. So everyone please give a hearty welcome to Cromsblood (he has a real name, but I'll let him decide if you need to know it or not!) and get yourselves ready for the CROM! blog to be kicked into overdrive!

Now, on with the blogging!

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