I’m loving these ads, found in various old mags from the 70s and 80s, that Hot Meteor put up on Flickr.

Photographer Peter Funch spends weeks taking photos on Manhattan street corners and then pastes them together into single photographs.

Entering the contest is easy:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Thursday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. Feel free to link this giveaway on your blog, or share it with anyone you feel is a true pen addict. If you have a blog, I would love a link back, but it is certainly not required for entry into the contest.

2. For this contest, I will pick two winners at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the numbers of the winners.

3. The contest winners will be posted on Friday, March 20th. The winners will have one week to email me at the address posted in the right sidebar.

4. I will ship internationally. I know there are many international readers and fans of The Pen Addict, and I will gladly ship to you at my expense.

Earlier this month he reviewed this pen, so go check it out.

If you had told me in 1983, when I was 10 years old, that in 25 years I’d still be reading comics, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here I am, 35 years old, still enjoying comics, and like the kid I was then, I eagerly await new comics that come out every week.

My introduction to the world of comics was probably like many others. Wandering aimlessly in the local corner store with pop and candy in hand, I ventured over to the magazine shelf. Normally I’d flip through a magazine or two and be on my way. This time, however, the comics carousel caught my eye. Standing before the rack of Batman, Spider-Man, and Archie comics, one comic stood out to me. That was Marvel Comics Uncanny X-Men #173. I had a little money left over, so I decided to buy the issue and take home my very first comic.

Little did I know how enamored of the characters I would become, and how I would find such a connection with this book. The X-Men didn’t get their powers from radioactive spiders or doses of gamma radiation; they were mutants – individuals who possess a special gene that allows them to naturally develop super powers. This book wasn’t just one guy with his unique abilities, there was a whole host of characters with diverse backgrounds and an array of powers. A woman who could control the weather, a man who turned into steel, and another character who shot beams of light from his eyes were just a few people that were on the team. How cool is that? Although gifted, in the Marvel world, mutants aren’t liked by society and are typically shunned as freaks, just because they’re different. The X-Men, however, have sworn to protect the very same people that fear and hate them.

Only later did I realize that I identified with the mutants. As a black kid in a predominately white area, I knew what it was like to be treated differently just because I didn’t look like everyone else. With each issue, I could temporarily escape with the X-Men and not worry about fitting in. Every month brought with it a new adventure and an understanding about why people react to those that are different from them.

As my interest in comics grew, I sought out comic book stores to buy my comics instead of the local corner store. So many more titles were available to me: quirky titles like Badger (an animal-loving superhero with split personalities), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (in black & white and before there were cartoons or movies), and Hamster Vice (think Miami Vice meets hamsters). Other Marvel titles like Daredevil, The Punisher and, of course, the Wolverine solo title became instant favorites.

During college, I sold my comic collection, and for several years I stopped reading them altogether. I guess I felt it was time to move on to other things. I would occasionally sift through an issue or two at bookstores to see how things had changed. It wasn’t until the first trailer for the X-Men movie aired that I decided to start reading again.

Over the past few years, I’ve been venturing out and reading more than just superhero titles. At the recommendation of a fellow comic book reader, I picked up The Walking Dead, a zombie comic which focuses on survival in a world overridden by zombies, and I still enjoy it. Y: The Last Man, a story in which the lead character quickly learns that he is the last man on earth, was also a great series.

Over the last 25 years, I’ve found that my interest in certain titles have come and gone, but the X-Men have always remained constant for me. Until the day comes when I stop reading comics (that is, if it does), I will always have a place for the X-Men. To all of the artists and writers that have played a role in shaping the X-Men and especially creator Stan Lee, I want to say ‘Thanks’.

We all get spam, and it can certainly be annoying to sift through it on a daily basis. While I don’t have a solution for minimizing spam, I do have my take on actual spam subject lines that I’ve received over time. What would it be like if I ran these little schemes? Enjoy!

Update Your Penis

For several years, men across this great country of ours have been reinvigorating their love lives by taking erectile dysfunction drugs. But this is the new millennium, and there’s no need for taking a daily pill when you want to romance your lover. That’s ancient history! Now, with the new Penis 2.0 upgrade, you can simply update your member with this new firmware and never have to worry about that archaic 1.0 penis that you were saddled with at birth.

Want A Beautiful Brazilian Body In 30 Days?

Using our new web-based search tool and patented abduction technology, you can have a beautiful Brazilian body in just 30 days. That’s right. With our 30-day guarantee, we’ll have that Brazilian body you’ve secretly sought after shipped to your door in 1 month’s time. It’s all hassle free. So stop stalking that foreign exchange student next door and get online now!

Millionaire Test (Millionaire Match-Up)

In today’s arena of online match-making, we’ve seen a new need arise. Wealthy, industrious entrepreneurs find that they lack companionship and would like to meet young people such as yourself. At the same time, we’ve found twenty-somethings in dead-end jobs who would appreciate the friendship that the financially elite can offer. With our 10 minute millionaire test, we can pair you with the millionaire of your dreams. The comfort and lifestyle you so deserve can be yours in a matter of days. Do you have flexible morals? Are you disease-free and willing to submit to random blood tests? Can you blur the lines between gender roles or take another life for sport? It’s just that easy. So what are you waiting for? Get out of that rut you’re in and meet your match today!

Pretty Toes Can Be Yours

Is the movie Silence of the Lambs no longer meeting your special needs? Has the dream of a Jeffrey Dahmer advice column faded away? Do your many attempts at creating a Foot Fetish Support Group continue to get shut down by the local community center? Fear not, podiatric perverts! You, too, can have pretty toes that don’t have to be your own. Well, they’ll be yours soon enough when the postman brings our trademarked black & blue box with the red ribbon filled with your choice of 10 sparkling toes. Where do the toes come from? Don’t you worry about that. Let us do all that heavy thinking. Just know that you’ll get a quality product with little to no effort. Call today!

Marvel’s latest reboot of the Hulk is an action packed thrill ride that is quite the crowd-pleaser. For those of you who were fans of the TV series, they threw in some tasty nuggets for you to munch on and they’ve made an effort to take comic aficionados into consideration too. There are even cameos by Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby. Bill Bixby? That’s right. Don’t ask, you’ll see.

Once again, not knowing what to expect, I was certainly surprised by what I saw. Keeping in mind the previous Hulk movie directed by Ang Lee, Marvel Studios didn’t spend time recreating the origin story of the Hulk. Just like the TV show, they give you everything you need to know in the opening credits. The movie kicks off where Bruce Banner is today and from there it’s all chase scenes, explosions and Hulking out with a healthy dose of drama and humor to round out the movie. As I’ve seen with other movies directed by Louis Leterrier (e.g. Danny The Dog and Transporter 2) he definitely understands how to put together an action sequence and I like how the difference scenes flowed from one to another. Along the way, we see Samuel Sterns a.k.a. The Leader, Tony Stark (played by Rober Downey Jr.), and learn more about the super soldier serum (Captain America fans, you know all about this). This is just Marvel’s way of setting the groundwork for upcoming Marvel titles and possibly a Hulk sequel. Dare I say Avengers movie?

I must admit, I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of Thor and Captain America. If they’re anything like Iron Man and Hulk, I will not be disappointed. These are the movies I wanted to see as a kid 20+ years ago and it’s been well worth the wait.

I’ve said it before, I was apprehensive about the casting choices for this movie. However, once I saw the trailer, I was really eager to see how they pulled it off. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I have to say that they pulled it off well.

This movie had something for everyone. New viewers didn’t have to know a thing about Iron Man or Marvel mythology and could still enjoy an action packed movie with awesome effects. For the comic fans, they make nods to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, makes an appearance as well. While I didn’t catch it on screen, apparently Captain America’s shield can been seen in Tony Stark’s lab. How cool is that?

Iron Man is the first installment of a Marvel comics movie that was solely made by Marvel Studios. The reason behind this is simple – they’ve got a plan. That plan involves connecting different characters from the Marvel universe and gearing up for an Avengers movie slated for 2011. Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, which is also made by Marvel Studios, have been released. Besides Captain America’s shield showing up in Iron Man, Tony Stark makes an appearance in the Incredible Hulk. Plan on seeing Thor and Captain America in the next year or two. Keep your fingers crossed that we’ll see all 4 heroes in one giant Marvel extravaganza.

Ten years ago you sprung onto the scene with your static HTML pages and crazy background images. You provided me an opportunity to learn the inner workings of the interwebs and a chance to be creative. When it all started, you mainly kept my photos and links in line. My goodness, what was up with all those links? Links to bands, games, search engines, programming tips…you name it, it was there. And you didn’t complain at all.

Soon you wanted more. It wasn’t enough being a glorified link dump, you wanted real content. Band reviews, photos of trips & events, and news items…I gave you what I could. That lasted for a while, but then you wanted a change. Not just another facelift, but a total reconstruction. I obliged and you turned into a full blown blog with regularly updated content and all. Now you display recent photos from Flickr, my top 5 albums from Last.fm, show bookmarks I created in Del.icio.us, and list movies I’ve seen recently.

So where do we go from here? What new features can we add? Did you say ‘Portfolio’? Sure, we can work on that. Now who wants some birthday cake?