iNicholas - Rantings, Technology, Art, Design, And Whatever The Hell Else I Want

Six Dollar Shirts, Ya'll (I'll Never Again Make A Limp Bizkit Reference I Swear)

2009-05-06T03:03:00.004-04:00

So while stumbling through the cesspool of filth that is the internet I came across a website based right here in palm tree infested Florida that offers a wide variety of silk screened shirts. The offer tons of designs and new ones pop up all the time via a nice little democratic system involving voting for what you'd like to see on the site. "But Nick, these sites are a dime a dozen these days," you'd say. I'd respond, "They certainly are, but only this website sells their shirts for a mind boggling cheap SIX DOLLARS*." They say they print on Gildan, American Apparel, Hanes, and Delta, which is unfortunate since each brand varies in size and material. I ordered the Black Market Coupon, Ain't No Party Like My Nana's Tea Party, and Team Zissou shirts and received two from Delta and one from Hanes. The size and material variation between the two brands was minimal and for six bucks, I'm not too worried about it. So yeah, go check 'em out and order a few shirts for yourself if you're so inclined.

Six Dollar Shirts (Link)

*Ladies pay just 50 cents more per shirt. Oh, and you still have to pay for shipping so buy more shirts to make it worth the shipping.

One Bit Music

2009-01-11T07:51:00.003-05:00

Take a look in one of your junk drawers real quick. See anything familiar? If it's anything like mine, you'll come face to face with tons of empty jewel cases waiting for a CD to be placed inside. Music has gone digital, leaving tons of these cases to go to waste, but for one artist those empty jewel cases become a new way to explore the boundaries of music. Tristan Perich has created a circuit assembled inside a jewel case to play 40 minutes of 1-bit electronic music through a headphone jack placed on the side. You can preview a few of the tracks on his website but I found FischerSpooner's 'Just Let Go' to be particularly impressive. You can purchase 1-Bit Music for $25 through the One Bit Music website. 1-Bit Music is limited to a run of 1,000 copies, so if you want one get it while you can. One Bit Music

You can check out this and other works of his at TristanPerich.com

2008-09-17T17:17:00.003-04:00

Saw something about McCain's campaign contributions that sparked a few thoughts. Thought I might share it with you.

(Click to view larger)

Neato.

2008-07-18T00:40:00.008-04:00

A photo I took of my friend Luke's tattoo is part of an article on telegraph.co.uk. The photo was taken before he actually got inked, it's just the guide for the tattoo artist, but cool none the less. Oh, the tattoo is of a quote from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and states "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." The article can be found at Literary Tattoos. Go check it out, folks.

Johnny is a Cephalopod

2008-07-08T17:03:00.006-04:00

Made a squid in Photoshop today. He wears pants and shoes. I think it's cute. Thoughts?

Click the picture to make it larger.

Miranda July Working On Second Feature Film

2008-05-26T06:12:00.018-04:00

Miranda July has recently announced that she is working on the script for her second feature film during readings of her new book No One Belongs Here More Than You at various bookstores throughout the United States. If you don't know who Miranda July is, you should possibly stab yourself in the face with one of those giant hot dog skewers you use at camp, afterward come back here and I'll explain. Miranda July is an amazingly skilled artist, she does performance art, melts hearts at Sundance and Cannes, and is one hell of a writer (see above). She also happens to be one of my favorite artists.

Paste Magazine has said that cinematographer Ed Lachman of The Virgin Suicides fame is on-board and that Jon Brion who scored Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind may be on-board to score the film as well. This alone is enough to make any independent film lover have a raging hard-on, and I'm confident that the three of them working together will yield a fantastic film that everyone, not just independent film lovers, will love. Her first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, is available on DVD, so put it on your Netflix queue or run down to your local video store and pick it up.

Miranda July also hosts a website with Harrell Fletcher and Yuri Ono, titled Learning To Love You More, offering assignments for artists to partake in and submit in a communal arts project spanning some sixty-eight assignments. A book of the website's best works was published in 2007, you can find it at their website, a local bookstore, or even Urban Outfitters. I suggest you at least take a look at the website, or even partake in some of the assignments. If anything, it'll give you something to do and will be much cooler than anything you've done lately. Interview and music video with Miranda July enclosed below.

[Edit] Miranda July recently did a video for Vice Magazine's VBS.tv. This video really gives a nice glimpse into Miranda's seemingly random, but beautiful, sense of humor. I'd love to embed the video but clicking menu yields no results in either Firefox nor Safari, so here's a link instead.
How To Make A Button

OneWord

2008-05-26T05:43:00.010-04:00

OneWord is a fun little service that gives you one word a day, and 60 seconds to write about said word. I enjoy it because I'm not one to drag things out and the shorter things are, the more effective they tend to be. So go ahead and try it for yourself, perhaps you'll be able to conjure up something entirely mind blowing and life altering with your sixty seconds. Probably not, but it's worth a shot. Enjoy, folks.

[Edit] Oh by the way, clicking the picture will take you to OneWord.com, kind of omitted where the hell the site was. Whoops.

What Keeps Me Up at Night.

2008-04-20T04:48:00.003-04:00

*Whistles*

Angstgiving

2008-02-12T05:28:00.001-05:00

Credit: Stolen from Tony, he could probably tell you where it came from.

So Valentine's Day is approaching and I find myself alone. In order to celebrate this, I'm going to be celebrating Angstgiving. Fuck off, cunts.

The Whole Wide World

2008-02-10T22:22:00.002-05:00

Everything, including the saying, done by me. Enjoy.

P.S. Clicking the image will lead you to a much higher quality (and what I'd like you to see) version of the image.

Hey, Would You Look at That.

2008-02-06T14:40:00.004-05:00

Rather than actually write a post concerning Super Tuesday, I figured I'd leave you with this lovely little leaderboard. As of 2:40 PM, Obama (my candidate of choice) is 4 delegates ahead of the evil slag, Hilary.

An Agoraphobe in the 90's Part Two

2008-01-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

So here is the raw unedited second installment of the story, I'm not sure how grammatically correct it all is, but whatevs.

Miranda wasn't always the way you imagine her to be, confined, dull, or scared of the light post at the end of her street as it marked the end of her small territory. Miranda had slowly become this way from a series of events that strung throughout her life like odd coincidences occurring within days of each other. Miranda at one point, was a world traveler of sorts, well a states traveler at very least. She had seen the largest ball of yarn in Cawker City, Kansas. She had seen the Sorrel Weed House of Savannah, Georgia. She had climbed the winding staircase leading up to that great spiked visor that one lady in green wears up north. However, this hasn't much to do with Miranda's unusual life, these travels were only the remnants of her former lifestyle.

Click the Read More link to see the rest, and if you haven't already, check out part one here.

The events that changed her life and transformed her into the Quasimoto of Forecastle Lane, minus the hunchback of course, but she might tell you otherwise, occurred over many years and there were but three events that caused her unusual behavior. None of these events were horrible, really, just mildly jarring, but to her, they meant the world. When Miranda was but a child of nine, the first event occurred. It was a mere two weeks after her birthday and she had just received a bicycle. Not just any bicycle mind you, a lovely pink number without training wheels and manual gears to adjust. All the rage, tres chic. All her girl friends were jealous and all of the boys wished it came it red or blue with lightning bolts racing down the side. However, that was not the case, the bike was pink and that was that. Racing up one side of the street, whizzing back down the other side, Miranda had been showing her bike off that entire spring day. She soon grew parched and raced her bike all the way home to grab a drink of cool sweet tea that her mother seemed so fond of forcing upon all of the neighborhood as if it were the elixir of youth or something. Truth be told, I've tried that very tea and I've found it to be rather bitter, even though it is sweet tea. As she pulls into the driveway she forgets to put the kick-stand down on her bike and leaves it to be shoved to the ground like a discarded teddy bear past its prime when she walks in her home to retrieve her drink a sudden thought reaches her mind; What if someone has stolen my bike? As she races outside she can only think of the translucent rubber grips, those ultra cool multi-colored studs she had put in the spokes of her tires, and the flamingo pink frame of her bike. However, when she runs outside, her bike is gone. This of course devastated her for weeks to come, but as time heals all, she was out and about again within two weeks time. Her parents had even sprung for another, albeit, less cool bike. That was event one.

Event two occurred about seven years later when she was sixteen. She had become an experienced bike rider at this point and began to grow out of her two wheeled simple machine and became enamored with a complicated machine that had four wheels spread so far apart it wouldn't matter which way she leaned, she could never tip it over on her own. This complicated machine was of course a 1983 four door Toyota Camry. To her, this complicated machine was amazing, and her parents found it surprisingly affordable. Her parents had brought it home to her on the eve of her sixteenth birthday and she fell in love, right then and there. She treated this vehicle as though it were a Rolls Royce, getting it detailed, spending all her pocked money on getting new seat covers, a tape deck, everything that was needed in a modern automobile. She loved it dearly and it loved her dearly as well. However, one night as she left her car unattended on her driveway with the keys in the ignition as she ran to get her purse she came back out to see that her car had performed the same disappearing act her bike did as a child. The police were called but the car was never found. Miranda, as you expect it, was crushed. She had poured every ounce of creativity and individuality into this machine and had had it ripped from her as soon as she had it just the way she liked it. But as time heals the wounds of her stolen bicycle, time healed this wound as well. Miranda's parents, being the generous folks they were, even bought her another car, albeit, far less cool than her last. And that was event two.

Now event three happened just a year after college ended when she moved away from parents quiet home in the suburbs of St. Cloud to the slightly faster paced society of New York City. Miranda had gotten a job as a receptionist for the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, where she hoped to get her work featured eventually, but for now, handing out tickets to visitors was good enough for her. Miranda had decided to sell the Tercel her parents replaced her dear baby with since she didn't think a car would be suitable for the city life she was thrust into. She replaced her Tercel with a simple 12 speed bicycle, much different from the one she had as child. This bicycle was a dull shade of electric blue, which sounds odd to say, but if you would've seen this electric blue, you'd have thought the same. Miranda kept this bicycle in her home when at home and in the break room at the Museum when at work. This system ensured that she would never have to worry about having her bicycle stolen, but on one fateful day, she stopped to grab some coffee to drink at a small coffee shop when just as soon as she entered, her dull electric blue bike sped past her. Once again, her object of transport had ran off with another man. Miranda was not crushed, nor was she devastated. She actually took this event rather well. Walking to the nearest pay-phone and informing her boss that she would be a bit late due to her bicycle being stolen and continuing on to work as though nothing had happened. However in the days that followed, Miranda was unusually irritable. Snapping at small people, small children, and even small dogs. Her loss of freedom seeped in like the smell of mildew on wood from rain water leaking through the windows. It began to crush her and suddenly she couldn't take it. She packed up what she could fit into her two duffle bags and made a mad dash to the airport to book a flight home.

On the flight home Miranda decided she wouldn't leave her home for any reason, anymore. If anybody was going to strip her of her freedom, it would be herself and none other. Once home Miranda holed herself up in her former room turned gym for days, she left only to eat and piss. By the end of her month her mother had seen her for only 10 minutes throughout the entire time she had been there and her mother didn't even notice she had moved into her own apartment until she went to check to see if her daughter was still alive in her gym, fearing some sort of horrible treadmill accident, but only finding a note that read "Found a place, love you." And that was event three.

A New Sticker Added to the Collection

2008-01-24T15:48:00.000-05:00

So I have this wonderful sticker collection, it consists mainly on the back of my MacBook Pro but is also on my message board. Today, I present to you the latest sticker added to the collection which came from a sticker set promoting self-esteem for children. While the other stickers look innocent enough (a star with the words "great work" sprawled out across the sticker) the one I took from the set obviously needs psychological help. It reads "well done" and can only be described as what the NRA would pass out to youngsters if they had their way.

Yes, I actually had to step outside in order to capture this shining gem, and even still it won't quite focus in on it. I am astounded and amazed. I thank my sisters for the sticker.

Updates

2008-01-23T03:04:00.000-05:00

Wrote another page or so of An Agoraphobe in the 90's which will be up no later than tomorrow when I proofread it. The story is still far from finished though, so don't expect a conclusion any time soon. In other news, began job hunting today which has been largely unsuccessful. Whatever. Oh, and I grabbed a book today called The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I suggest you check it out, so far it's been hilarious. Link below.

The Year of Living Biblically

Yeah, New York.

2008-01-12T05:53:00.000-05:00

So my journey to New York City begins today, I'm excited about that. My plane leaves at 9 AM, so I have to be out of the house at 6:30 AM and be at the airport at 7:00 AM. Eeep. Expect a few updates while I'm gone via either my Twitter or here. Who knows, if I come across anything interesting I'll take a picture on my phone and post it as well. I would love to be able to upload the pictures from my real camera, but I'm leaving my laptop so, not possible. Oh, and expect those updates to be brief, I'm typing on an iPod touch or a Helio Ocean, not the best medium for writing lengthy entries. Also, I've begun work on Miranda's story and rest assured, I will finish this story. The story isn't coming along very well at the moment, the last few hours have been spent trying to detail her origins but everything that I've written has been followed with my own reminder of how shitty the writing is. I mean that quite literally as in I write below each paragraph "This is shit" or "This is crap, do it again." I find this is both a self destructive thing and a motivator. Everything is a double edged sword. Au Revoir!

Drifting to Sleep

2008-01-10T22:50:00.001-05:00

I've run into a wall with that previous short story. So I'm just going to post one I wrote the other night. This one is a little different from anything I've written before. It's mushy, it's not as cynical, and I've kept the sarcasm to a minimum. Now, I present to you "Drifting to Sleep"

Hit the read more link to read the story.

I've been toiling away in the holes of my mind trying to find some way to answer your message. I've come close to just saying to leave me alone, but for some unforeseen reason, I cannot bring myself to do such a thing. This is a story to you, interpret it as you will. As I am sure you will and I'll always hold the true meaning of this story to myself. You, however, will never know the true meaning unless by some chance you stumble upon it whilst looking through the window of your old folks home when you are old and have a sudden epiphany. It will be to late, of course, for I will be long dead. But I shall not dwell on that. This is a story I developed when we were together. It's been in my mind all of this time, and for the first time, I am writing it down.

Waking up for the first time, sheltered, cold, and in a completely euphoric state. I rise to the sound of nothing in a room I don't quite recognize, had this place been the same the night before? Had some magical fairy maids come in while we were asleep and redecorated the once decent room into some floral nightmare? It is quite possible, we know magic exists, we know. But for all of this, I don't care. I'm here, you're here, it doesn't matter. I lightly place my arm across your falsely smooth naked body as to not wake the vengeful gods above and drift back to sleep.

In my sleep I see simply the many colors of the world. The shades of blues dancing in your eyes across to the dark empty shades of mine. I hear nothing, just see. I don't need to hear, we don't need to hear. But from this reality I am stolen by the ringing of a telephone, not just any telephone, your elusive cellular phone. I'll never quite understand what was hiding behind those tacky aviator shades that that particular cellular device seemed to always wear, but I bet it was up to no good. Never seemed to be anyway. You answer, it's a friend, he's coming to get you. We drift back to sleep, but this time we put our clothes back on.

The room shakes as though it's signaling the end of times. You let your friend in, he crashes on the bed next to us. He's jealous, he doesn't have what we have or maybe not what we have, but what we stand for. In that moment we stand for love, not only sex, not only the uproarious bullshit that is the monotony of the day, but love. It's a funny feeling, love. Not at all what the movies describe, I didn't have butterflies, I did not have have that feeling of uneasiness or uncertainty. I was more confident than ever, I was more aware than ever, but not to you only to what surrounded me. Was it love then? We drift back to sleep.

At the end of it all, a glance that could change the world and a handshake were exchanged. If only that glance landed accurately, things might have been different. Things might have been different. We drift back to sleep.

An Agoraphobe in the 90's

2008-01-09T01:56:00.000-05:00

So I've begun to write a short story, this short story is a tale of an agoraphobe in the mid 90's as the title of this blog would suggest. I've only written an intro and hope to continue it here, like a serial or something. The story is heavily influenced by Miranda July's book of stories, I've found I'm in love with that woman's writing style. She seriously writes how I think... Which is a bit of over analyzing things mixed with A.D.D.. Anyway, le story.

Click read more to view.

Today, oh glorious today, is a new day. There is no past, no yesterday. Only now, only today. And today - will be a better day. Now breathe in the air that surrounds you. Is it not pure, clear, and calming? Now hoooollllllddddd that breath, just hold it. Hold it while you think of the hurt, hold it while you think of the memories, hold it while you think of things that make you uncomfortably anxious. Now, when you breathe out make the air take all of that with you. Now let it out. Because today is a new day. Because today is beautiful.

Please insert disk two to continue this experience.

No, no Miranda would not insert disk two. Miranda only needs disk one to have enough motivation to start the day. The experience of disk one was quite enough. Oh, and what a day Miranda has. The existence of agoraphobes in the new wave of technology and various other niceties like tasers and small firearms seemed to make agoraphobes dwindle in numbers, but not Miranda. Miranda was a classic agoraphobe, a full bodied merlot, if you will, of agoraphobes and this is the story of Miranda's seemingly inevitable death.

Resolutions (A day late)

2008-01-02T02:00:00.000-05:00

So we're now entering the eighth year (seventh technically, bite me Gregorian calendar) of the 21st Century and yet I've entered this year with slightly less enthusiasm than when I entered the 21st Century. Funny how the years change you, once an optimist now just a cynic. While last years resolutions were for the most part kept (I lost about 40-50 lbs), I have a sneaking suspicion that this years resolutions will be a bit harder to keep. So, without anymore rambling, my list.

1) Blog more.

I was a very bad blogger this year. I posted four times in the entire year. That should change, I would like to be posting two to three times a week, even if it is just to share a random website I came across or the details of my mundane life. Either way, I've always enjoyed reading those interweb blogs with interesting stories and tid bits, so I'd like to blog more along those lines. Now onward....

2) Get a new job.

This falls under the "details of my mundane life" category but is very important to my well being. I've really stopped caring about my current job. I blame soccer moms, shit hours, and a uniform policy that would make Hitler look lenient. A new job is in order, that's that. Next!

3) Tone up.

Pretty self explanatory. I've lost weight, now I want to gain muscle mass.

4) Record music

Like a real song, by me. I've toyed with the idea for ages, I've saved riffs in Garage Band, I've done some electronic beats, Hell, I've even recorded myself singing. But I've never actually been serious about it. I'd like to record just one song and have others listen to it.

5) Explore visual arts in general

There are so many things I want to do with visual arts so I'd figure I'd lump them all in to one resolution. I'd like to continue painting and develop as an artist. With my own art style and everything. I'd also like to make a short film or skit or something. I'd also like to do a photo shoot (me taking the photos). All of that and quite a bit more, I'm constantly thinking of things to create, but never get around to actually making it happen. Hopefully I'll have the motivation, the time, and skills necessary to complete at least some of them this year.

And that would be my list of resolutions. If anyone comes across this leave your own resolutions in the comments. Oh, and here's a photo that sums up my New Year's Eve.

Zombot

2007-07-14T06:15:00.000-04:00

Here's my latest thing, Zombot. He's been a creature in the making for some time. I started him in January, and only completed the background and head before giving up. Since then, he was long forgotten until a few days ago in which I stumbled across him and decided I would finish him... Then I procrastinated until tonight, where I've finally finished him. So without further ado, Zombot. Leave me something saying what you thought of it, any feedback is greatly appreciated (even negative).

P.S. Click the Read More link to see Zombot, then click Zombot to see him in full size.

Social Networking 101 - Part 1.

2007-07-12T04:59:00.000-04:00

Ya know, it seems every other week there's a new Social network coming out and while they all bring something new to the table, most of them fail to capture the mainstream. The reason being many people haven't heard of them or they have heard of them, but don't think they'd ever use it, and they won't if they don't have some friends who also join them on a new social network. I know, joining something new is scary and you might not know how to do some things at first, but just take a minute and look at what this network offers that your current one doesn't. Also look at how it looks, new web 2.0 websites are often very nice looking, finally think of how you can simply add these to your central social network as a badge on your current page (both Last.fm, Twitter, and Flickr offer this functionality) and how it would add depth and let people know what you're really into, or how neat your new photos look. Now I'd like to formally introduce people to these social networks and give them the lowdown what they're about, why you're gonna want one, and how it'll change your casual browsing time for the better.

Ready? Go!

1. Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging service that is very versatile and can even be updated from the most basic cell phones through text messaging. Microblogging you say? Microblogging is a term that refers to the short messages you leave on your Twitter, which is 140 characters or less, this is the one social networking service that people seem to think is the most useless and it is, but it's also a great deal of fun and can drop insight about your day to day. It answers simple questions such as; "What are you doing?", "Where are you?", "What are you feeling?", and can also give you links to new things the author of the Twitter might have created or enjoyed all of course in 140 characters or less. Your personal feed can be displayed as a badge on many of your existing social networks such as MySpace, FaceBook, Blogger, and anywhere else that allows HTML or Flash. Twitter is for the blogger on the go, you can update by text message, IM*, through desktop applications, and on the site itself.

Twitter is also not a bad social networking tool on it's own, with a very attractive interface that's very simple to use. The downfalls of Twitter as a standalone social network however, are vast, as Twitter doesn't have any discernible way to share pictures with other users except through a link in your Twitter feed and a single photo that is displayed at the top of your page. Twitter also isn't very in depth with the biography portion as you must portray yourself in 160 characters or less, also worth noting is that there are not separate portions for music, movies, books, etc, it is all supposed to be included under the 160 character limit. Twitter also doesn't include any other media integration or a way to reply to someone's post without typing the @ symbol followed by the user name (@username) of the person you're trying to reply to.

My verdict for Twitter is to use it as a tool on your existing social network and not as a primary network, add it to your profiles, websites, download the desktop client to update at home and add it to your contacts in your cell phone to text message that you just saw Bono walking by you at Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney, but don't forget to visit the site and look at other user's feeds. Also, while you're getting yourself a Twitter, have a look at mine at http://twitter.com/MassRomantic

Stay tuned for part two (If I feel like it and/or if the response to this is good) of this series as I take a peek at Pownce, the newest social network, Facebook, Last.fm, Flickr, and Natuba, a mashup of the most popular social networks.

Yeah Chaaarrrllliiieee

2007-06-23T07:23:00.000-04:00

So I was up late last night and I was getting a tad bit bored, not being able to sleep and all so I came up with this, from the Candy Mountain thing. Yeah Chaaarrrllliiieee.

This is not complete, as you can tell, and the final version which will be on a different shirt will look much better. Let me know what you think so far. :-D

Is this thing on?

2007-03-17T01:52:00.001-04:00

Alriiiight.