Flyer for CMRD

Yeah, you better make some noise for Central Mass Roller Derby.
This here's just my sketch for a new flyer. I'll be finishing it up this week. Final will be full-color.

Recommended List

Here is a list of things that are amazing:

•Havana Nocturne, by T.J. English
•The Mighty, from DC Comics
•The Rapture, from Dark Horse Comics
•Steamboy, (DVD)
•Wolfmother
•Wednesday Comics, from DC Comics
•My 81 Honda 400, (and its sweet new mirrors)
•Iron skillet cooking
•Central MA Roller Derby
•Dead Space for the PS3
•Widoff's pumpernickel bread
•Beastie Boys remixes
•Kings of Leon
•NIN's Ghosts I-IV
•Michael and Michael Have Issues
•Clarke and Dawe
•The Hangover (ok maybe not amazing, but still fun)
•Airsoft guns
•Bags
•Those giant new sound-enhanced greeting cards at CVS

This is just a list of things. People who are amazing...well, you know who you are. And you really bug me, you know that?

Football

I went

It's no secret and I don't care who knows it, I support full-strength health care reform. Regardless of that, I've been hearing about these town hall protesters who show up, throw the words 'Nazi', 'concentration camp' and 'death panel' etc etc around. They yell and scream so no one else gets a word in, especially the congressfolks who they just screamed questions at. So I went to Rep. Niki Tsongas' town hall out in Hudson, MA. For the most part the crowd seemed 50/50, supportive vs unsupportive. No one was too much of a shouter.

Tsongas handled it all well, even if her answers were a little more complicated than folks had the appetite for. Also, she was caught in the middle. When I say 50/50, I mean half wanted single-payer, and half just wanted to yell 'fuck you'. Tsongas' position is for the public option, which sits somewhere in between those two sentiments.

The meeting overall was a snooze. The answers were complex and the crowd would start to squirm about 30 seconds into each answer. My take is that the shouters have self-defeated. TV has shown them in action, and the silent majority seems to have finally shown up. Once they don't feel like they can bully the whole place, they don't. References were made to the Chelmsford meeting being a real mess and that Rep Tsongas was pretty brave for showing up to this one. Maybe the bullies had a chance to go home and think about their behavior. Tsongas was brave, and the bullies as usual, were not.

Something odd that I did notice, two of the loudest guys in the room were behind me. They were kinda loud, kinda stupid, more like juveniles trying to make each other laugh in church. They weren't paying attention, as the even wore on, they'd clap at the wrong times, yell in support of the wrong issues. Whatever. The thing I noticed happening was that when they were hollering, an aide went over and stood by them, she was young, nice, and was engaging them in conversation, answering questions in an informative, non-confrontational way. The tone was as if she were giving street directions to a lost driver. This defused them quite a bit. Interesting, I can't tell if it was intentional or not.

I went just to take photos and clap and collect propaganda, just to observe, after all, I am not a voter in this district. I refused to engage in any conversation...Though I did yell out a Nelson Muntz 'Ha-Ha' when one of the questioners had to invent his own 'real' number of the nation's uninsured. He was adamant that that 46 million number was hogwash. Someone pressed him what he thought it was, and he replied "...um ...5 to 10 million." Maybe I should have yelled "Only".

Regardless, here's my spoils. We did have a bunch of these.

Strangely enough, most of the guys handing the Nazi propaganda out were black. I'm not sure I get that. The area is very white.

I was quite alarmed when they gave me this!

I didn't know those two palled around!


Oh wait, it's fake, and now that I think of it, I have Photoshop too!


And oh, my goodness!


I really could go all day.


Then there was this guy. I do appreciate the street-theatre make-ya-think protesters.


He handed me this:


And just to be fair with the Photoshop:


Wow, you can do ANYTHING with this program! Look at my busted battery from my earlier blogpost!


All in all though, it was a civil event. I'm glad I went.

So guess what happened

I got my MacBook Pro in late 2007. Bought a spare battery with it, because I often travel, having the extra 3-4 hours of battery life is definitely worth it. Well, I haven't actually needed it that much, and one of my batteries seemed to get hot all the time. This made me nervous, so I set it aside, put it in my drawer where I haven't touched it in more than 6 months, maybe a year. I opened the drawer today and voilá! Four of the six flat, spooled battery cells have decided to become cylindrical-shaped spooled battery cells, and in the process have popped open the casing for the overall unit. Not sure if they are toxic, acidic or whatever, all I know is they are delicious. Little marinara, some capers, fresh ground pepper and fresh grated parmesan. Don't bother with that pre-grated parmesan cheese, go for the real stuff. And take small bites, don't let your tongue touch + and - at the same time. Bon frigging appétit.

New Shirts

...in me Zazzle store. These previews are a little mushy, but the previews on the store site are really good. See links below pics.


Star in underpants. I've had this idea floating around for a while. Everything goes better in tighty-whiteys.


Brainfreeze. People love this one. Enough so that they've stolen it all over the internet. Yay, me.


Ladies' Skull & Crossbones. Little something for the ladies. The basic. I want to do a series of wild Jolly Rogers.


Flash Gordon's shirt. Yeah, I've always wanted one like the one he wears at the beginning of the 1980's movie.

Also, check out my Zombie Tie, Angel of Death Skateboard, and my Ladies BooBerry Shirt.

...And to finish the discussion on the subject, I wasn't crazy over the Spreadshirt product. It was expensive, the shirt was way darker than the image onscreen indicated, and the print itself is sticky, rubbery and uneven, even after washing. I could wrestle with their website some more, or I could move on with my life. Decision made.

Do they think we're retarded?

...really?

Blood in the Water Page 5

Better pic of the gonzo poster

Gonzo Blackfly posters are on sale now!

Only available at Dr Gonzo's Uncommon Condiment Emporium. They're $20 apiece and they are each a towering 21x33 inches (will fit a standard 24x36 frame). Below are pics from the production this week. Posters were produced by myself, Pat and Chip at Silkscreen Warehouse (across from Vincent's), they can be reached here (photosilk@charter.net, or contact me offline and I will give you a phone number). If you have a t-shirt project, give these guys a call.

So, stop by Dr Gonzo's at 122 Main St, Worcester, MA. Check out the poster and sample some of the good Doctor's wares. Cheers.
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