You may have noticed a bit of controversy today surrounding last weekend’s Vicious Circle. I’m here to tell you it’s all true.

When Sebastian and Bitter pulled a few snippets out of an hour-long podcast and presented them without context, absolutely NOTHING was twisted or outright tortured into an interpretation out of line with the spirit in which it was said.

No sir, when we talked about the crowded and loud conditions in the Happy Hour bar (which were no one’s fault), conditions that made it virtually impossible to move about the room or even hold a non-shouting conversation with someone directly next to you, that was a direct, personal shot at Bitter, Sebastian, and Michael Bane himself. In fact, the REAL reason we were angry about the crowding was that it kept us from marching over and spitting directly in Mr. Bane’s face! And there’s absolutely NO WAY that discussion could be interpreted as the sort of “constructive criticism” that Bitter and Sebastian want, such as “maybe someone should ask the bar ahead of time if their venue is suitable for a group of 50 people who want to be able to hold casual conversations.”

And when Alan described the press room conditions as being somewhat lacking (I personally found it a very nice place: free refreshments, wifi and power strips for bloggers with laptops, and none of the noise and crowding of the show floor) and I challenged him by asking if he expected bathrobes and blowjobs, that was definitely NOT my way of saying that he had unrealistic expectations. No, that was a straight-faced demand for fellatio from the NRA staff in the room. Really, I can’t see how it could be interpreted IN ANY OTHER WAY.

On another absolutely unambiguous point, when a group of socially awkward introverts who often spend upwards of 12 hours a day hanging out on IRC describe themselves as “the cool kids”, no reasonable person could detect a trace of irony in that. No, surely these folks stuck together out of pure elitism, and NOT because they already knew each other pretty well and preferred to keep a low profile rather than play social butterfly. That would just be preposterous.

I also should point out that Bitter absolutely did NOT reject out-of-hand my repeated suggestions that she actually TALK to Alan and the Atomic Nerds directly, as a way of resolving any disagreements or hurt feelings. No, that never happened at all. And CERTAINLY not 5 or 6 times.

Finally, I find it an absolutely BRILLIANT tactic to find a podcast offensive and insulting, and rather than talk directly to the people involved (see last paragraph), to instead bring it to the attention of hundreds or thousands of people, when it would ordinarily attract perhaps a dozen listeners and quickly be forgotten. I don’t see how this cunning plan could possibly fail!

And that’s my last word on the subject. I’m looking forward to Charlotte in 2010, even if I have to do it without a fancy badge and free hummers.

There’s some gun stuff upcoming, but aside from the SR-556 there’s very little new stuff that I’ve seen. And frankly, I’ve been spending much more time hanging out with Alan, Breda, Mike, and the Atomic Nerds than looking at guns. Which, for me, is really the point.

They’re not as cool as you’d expect; they’re much, much cooler and funnier and snarkier in real life. Especially after a few pitchers of margaritas and/or some beers.

It’s one of the wonderful and terrible things about the Internet: you get to meet all kinds of awesome people that you’d otherwise never encounter, but it’s only on rare, special occasions that you actually get to SEE your friends, sit around and chat, booze it up, and tear into each other (in a friendly way).

And that’s why I’m here.

Or at least, one-little-corner-of-the-blogosphere-wide. You can listen to me on this week’s episode of Vicious Circle: The Hate Episode, in which we dump buckets of Hatorade on unsuspecting fellow bloggers and generally talk shit, all in the name of creating Blog Bash harmony and goodwill.

I also had a brief call-in at the tail end of last night’s Gun Nuts Radio, offering a bit of advice for folks who’ve never been to an NRA convention. Short version: expect to get a ton of literature and swag, and make plans for getting it all home afterward. I usually end up mailing it to myself to avoid the airlines’ insane overweight-luggage fees.

Next post will probably be from Phoenix, assuming I don’t immediately shrivel up and die in the expected 104-degree heat. Wish me luck!

We have our first #gunblogger_conspiracy T-shirt sighting! Breda got hers already, which annoys me slightly because I ordered mine a few days before her and it hasn’t shown up yet. Then again, my mailman seems to hate me. Hopefully it’ll be in with tomorrow’s bills and junk mail.

I know one other blogger got his shirt today, but I’ll let him show it off himself. Trust me when I say that it’s a damn fine looking shirt, its awesomeness dimmed only slightly by the head protruding from it.

Proceeds from T-shirt sales go to a truly worthy cause (booze for bloggers!), so order a dozen or, hell, a gross. Be sure to check out the Bredalucion design, too. And if you’re attending the Second Amendment Blog Bash, you can get your official swag right here.