Crocheting and [adult swim] Obsessions

So a couple more new listings on Etsy. Finally relisted the red Mario mushrooms and the mini-brain slugs are finally available on Etsy.
Linkies:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41318384

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=41124388

Going to be stocking up on amugurmi for AnimeBoston, the first convention of the season. It's the first weekend of April, so I only have 4 weeks to make as many amigurumi as possible. Also gonna make some jewelry, but I'm not as concerned w/my stock cuz they don't sell as well as the amgurumi. I did sell a fair amount of guitar pick earrings though. Starting to shy away from the hemp and friendship bracelets, although I'll probably make a handful of Harry Potter house color friendship and beaded bracelets because those sell well at the conventions (actually got a custom order for beaded house bracelets last summer, I was very happy)

I also did some internet sleuthing last week that I'm kind of proud of in a nerdy way. [adult swim] prides themselves on their guerrilla style of advertisement (except that one time in Boston...) and lately they've had a series of mural-style graffitti advertisements in major cities all around the US. On the bumps they'd show a picture of one w/the city and say "Go find this" and one of three murals which I will title "the viewer graph," "series flow-chart," and "what to expect in 2010 pie chart." So I started my search for the Boston ones looking for clues to their locations on the interwebs. Naturally, I started on the [adult swim] message boards where I discovered viewer graph was already painted over. Using the picture posted by a sad viewer, I was able to zoom in and see it was on a street that intersected Cambridge St. Another viewer posted finding series flow chart on the side of a Russian shop on the border of Brookline. I then checked out flickr to see if anyone has found them yet. User walknboston had found viewer graph before it was painted over, and by his tags I found that it was specifically in Brighton, which narrowed down its location further. Later, I found a picture of an older mural ("Do you still care?") on Gordon St. A second picture of said mural revealed that this mural was in the same location as viewer graph (an electrical box with a tell-tale graffitti located in both pictures clued me in) therefore I learned that this former mural was on the corner of Gordon and Cambridge in Brighton. More flickr searching found other shots of series flow-chart that showed the block of stores that it was on the side of. I was barely able to make out "Babushka's Deli" and did a Google search. It's on Washington St in Brighton. Checked out MBTA for closest T stops, they're both on the Green Line "B" BOOSH. ("B" line doesn't stand for BOOSH, BOOSH is just the exclaimation I make to punctuate moments of success or one-upping). Wig and I were going to go into Boston Wednesday but of course it was raining buckets. We'll be heading in this Wednesday instead. Although they've already been found and posted by other people we have to see them for ourselves. Also, I believe that all three murals are in each city and if that is true, the pie chart hasn't been accounted for in Boston and I could still be the first to find it.

Sources:

http://boards.adultswim.com/adultswim/board/message?board.id=bumps&thread.id=37775&jump=true

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkn/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adultswimphotos/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffesposito/

Popping in

Just popping in so the blogosphere doesn't think I'm dead. Lately I've been busy with work or being in pain because of work. If it's not my back it's one of my knees. Or my feet. Or my arm. I've been constantly getting headaches too and while they're not severe I hope it's not a sign that I could end up getting cluster headaches like my dad. Plus I've started getting panic attacks at work, something which none of my coworkers have any sympathy for. It took them 15-20 minutes to get someone to cover for me so I could go to the break room to calm down. And yesterday my manager Steve told me I should just quit. The only people seemingly on my side and willing to help me out at work are my other managers Ed and Aaron, who actually produce helpful solutions. Ed has recruited not one but three people to work RZone overnights with me and on nights I'm not there so more stuff is getting done. And the other day Aaron actually ran over to Shaws to buy my Advil when my backache was unbearable. Aaron also almost looks like Rick Astley so whenever he's working I have Never Gonna Give You Up stuck in my head the whole time. This time of year's always horrible and there's always some things that get worse and some that get better. I try to remind myself that there's only 3 weeks left, but those are going to be three loooong weeks.

When I'm not working or in a stupor trying to recover from work, I'm working on 3 crochet projects - 2 scarves, one for Wig's sister and one for his mom, and a blanket for our friends Katie and Fetus' baby. They found out they're having a boy and are naming him Seamus Joseph Conley. Fetus is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage. I have a feeling the middle name Joseph is for our friend Joe Tilton who died last September. Fetus was really close to him. All three are made up of granny squares so I'm seeing granny squares in my sleep right now. Other than that most of my Christmas shopping is done. I have a few more people I need to get gifts for and I don't know what to get them yet. My dad finally broke down and got a Wii for my mom so me and Heather are going to get Wii Fit Plus so now she doesn't have to complain that I won't move the system into the living room. Me and Heather are getting dad an iPod Nano and I got Wig a Nintendo DSi bundle that we had on Black Friday because it was too good to pass up and his DS is broken. Heather asked for Aquasaurs, these prehistoric fish you hatch in an aquarium.

Speaking of which Heather's actually STILL working despite threatening to quit when the manager failed to have the schedule out on time and then told her last minute she had to work when she already had plans. Instead the manager apologized and said it was all his fault. She's actually going to stick out through the whole Season and however long into January ToyZAM is open for. She might even transfer to Spencer's once it closes (they're owned by the same company) but that's a might. She jokes that she's going to work for three months every 19 years.

So after seeing many Etsy CreateCrochet Teammates and a few of my close friends make fan pages for their Etsys (Etsies?) I jumped on the bandwagon and made one too. I'm planning on some fun Fan-only promotions in the future. I've spent a lot of time in the past couple weeks networking and connecting with everyone on the CreatCrochet team- following any blogs or Twitters they have, favoriting their shops, and becoming fans on FaceBook. The more connections, the more word spreads. The CreateCrochet team is a great community. We recently did a swap where we were matched up and got to know our partner through convos and we had to make a secret gift for each other. I was matched with a woman from Vermont and it was fun getting to know her. I felt bad because she had a mild stroke and it's crazy because she's only in her late 20s. But she's doing OK now. She made me a reuseable Swiffer pad and a scrubbie and I made her a set of regular-sized and mini brain slugs (Mommy and Baby to represent her and her 2-year old daughter) in the same variegrated pink I made Flav's out of. I'm aiming to join a couple more teams, one for my jewelry and hopefully find some local ones. If you're on Etsy and not on a team yet look it up. It's a great way to network, get your items some more views, get tips and support and have fun doing your craft.

Tonight I'm getting together with a group of former Toys R Us Medford coworkers. It's something we do 2 or 3 times a year to catch up, have some drinks and have fun. We'll be going to Border Cafe in Burlington. Jill usually orchestrates the plans and other regulars always include Lynnette, Noelle, Joanne Ellard, Amy Struppa, and Melissa Cashman. Last time we got together Aimee Walkup was back in the area after moving the North Carolina and getting married. It was funny because a lot of us were wondering whatever happend to her after she quit and boom there she was. LOL. But I look forward to getting buzzed on margaritas before pulling an overnight LOL.

I wonder when we're putting up our tree. Probably this weekend or next weekend. My dad has a reputation as a Scrooge or a Grinch because he hates Christmas decorations. He just doesn't like the hassle of digging them out, putting them up, and then having to clean them up after the holidays. I'll admit the tree is a bit of a pain in the ass, hauling it upstairs, putting it together. (I'm allergic to pine so we can't have a real tree. Real trees are a hassle too though. Cutting it down or going to the lot and picking one out, hauling it back home, trimming it, watering it, sweeping up shed needles) And of course our cat Wyatt always has to try to climb it, and we have no idea what the new one, Frankenstein, is going to do when he first sees the tree. But I can't wrap any gifts until the tree is up because I have nowhere else to put them. If I try to shove them back in the back of my closet while they're wrapped, the wrapping could get ripped. So, no wrapping until I can put them under a tree.

Beating up a zombie to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now is one of the greatest moments in cinema history. Why don't I own Shaun of the Dead on DVD? Watching it edited on Comedy Central is subpar.

Keeping Up Appearances

Haven't blogged in a while, so just posting so the few people who do read my blog or who will eventually come across it don't think I'm dead.



Since I last blogged, I saw AC/DC at Gillette Stadium. The concert was AMAZING but traffic to and from Foxboro SUCKED, especially trying to get out of the parking lot. It took me 3 hours to get home. THREE FACKING HOURS! But man, I'd go to the ends of the Earth for AC/DC. I hate to admit it, but they're starting to show their age a little bit: Angus looked more tired than usual and I think he slipped up on the TNT solo and he picked the intro the Thunderstruck which is always does hammer-ons and pull-offs live. But he still kept going non-stop the entire time and except for those 2 little off moments was as perfect as any performance. As always, they put on the most high-enegery, electrifying rock show ever.



That same week, I drove to Hartford, CT for ConnectiCon, the last anime convention of the summer. ConnectiCon's a big one because we always have the Artist's Alley Networking Party. It's a way for fellow artists to get together and share their craft and make connections to get their work out there and also to unwind and get drunk and have some fun at the end of the con season. Sales were great, and I sold a Super Mario Invincibilty Star to a cosplayer who was doing a spot-in Billy Mays impression selling 1Up Mushrooms and throwing in the invincibility for free. You can see it on YouTubes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojwo7ioDEIo and buy both 1Up mushrooms and Invicibility stars at my Etsy, stringtheory101.etsy.com.

And if driving to Foxboro and Hartford wasn't enough, the following Tuesday I then went to Mansfield to the Comcast Center for Mayhem Fest, which has effectively replaced the new defunct Ozzfest as the must-see metal festival of the summer. This is only Mayhem's 2nd year but they were able to get big names both last year (Disturbed) and this year (Slayer). Slayer was a BIG DEAL to all the metalheads there. Marilyn Manson and KillSwitch Engage were also headlining. KillSwitch played their cover of Holy Diver, which, no offense to Dio (especially since Ronnie James Dio is a fellow mini-guinea and we's gotta stick together) rocks harder than the original. We left early to try to beat the crowd, we like Marilyn Manson, just not that much. We stayed for the popular songs like Disposable Teens, Dope Show and Beautiful People. He did his cover of Sweet Dreams too. But with leaving 15 min early and our optimal position in the parking lot, we made a "Leaving Comcast Center" record of 5 mins! We hit a little bit of traffic on 95 because everyone was rubbernecking to watch firefighters put out a burning bus, which I can only assume was a Fung-Wah or Lucky Star bus since they have a history of exploding or tipping LOL.
So between AC/DC, ConnectiCon, Mayhem Fest and work, I spent more time on major highways and in traffic in 2 weeks than I have in the 7 years I've had my license.

And now that the con season is over, I can relax on the amigurumi a bit and work on other crochet or craft projects. I made some new guitar pick earrings and I finally finished the Shit Pickle amigurumi. The Shit Pickle is a cartoon pickle covered in shit that bounces around and repeats its name a la Pokemon. He's got a big buck tooth and cross eyes and is only there to be annoying. He is the creation of independant filmmaker James Rolfe, who is world-famous on YouTube for his Angry Video Game Nerd webisodes where he reviews the crappiest games and consoles of the 80s and 90s with hilarious results. I was inspired after seeing the Shit Pickle in some of James' videos and seeing that Shit Pickle had a bit of a cult following. Other fans have gotten tattoos, drawn fan art, made a Shit Pickle version of Monopoly, cookies, and decorated their XBox 360s. So I said, man, a Shit Pickle would be easy to crochet! So I did. Then I emailed James Rolfe about sending him the first and so far only Shit Pickle. I also asked for his permission to sell them on Etsy, but he said they don't know what they're planning on doing with Shit Pickle for merchandising right now. He's tied up with contracts from Spike.com and MTV (they own GameTrailers.com which hosts his newer Nerd videos) and he's an indie filmmaker running his own small business so I respect his rights. It's different from Nintendo characters where it's such a huge corporation and they're already making millions and they'd barely notice one person on Etsy selling 1Up mushrooms.
Another project I was able to finish was my Pint o'Guinness. Wig's friend Fetus, being fiercely Irish, always drinks Guinness when he's over Wig's. I thought it'd be cool to make an amigurumi in the shape of the trademark curved glass, complete with a big head of foam. I was working on a rug using the same crocheting and increasing in the round I use for amigurumi to make a spiral design, and it was coming out pretty well but it was getting tedius, so I stopped for a while and made an Oreo cookie. I also plan to make some more scrunchies. I have too many ideas for crocheting and not enough time to do them. I'm also trying to get my name out over the interwebs more so I can get more traffic to my Etsy. Sales have stalled out since last month, but I'm hoping they pick up soon.
But that's all for now, hopefully I'll write sooner next time.

Hi! This is Vince with a lawsuit against Scientology

So tonight I've come across the most bizarre bit o' information in the entire interwebs. Thanks to TV personality Olivia Munn's obsession with the SlapChop, I gathered from the comments that Vince, with his buggy eye and unneccesary headset, has an ongoing lawsuit with the Cult -er - Church of Scientology. Sounds made up? Of course it does. But it's a litle too elaborate for someone to make up. And who in their right mind would think ShamWow + Scientology + Underground Comedy Movie + Lawsuit = Awesome rumor

A comment on heyolivia.com led me to this blog -http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=5490 that has the whole story. I googled that shit to confirm it - I mean as much as you can confirm something on the internet (if the same exact story exists in numerous sources - especially reputable sources - it's usually true). You'll have to read the whole thing for yourself, but I'll give you a quick rundown:

His full name is Vince Offer - and that isn't even his REAL name. His real first name is Offer (apparently it's Israeli, he said in an interview his dad was Israeli. Shlomi might be his real last name according to a Scientology website I found but I can't confirm that) and he was a Scientologist. In the 90s he started making The Underground Comedy Movie with a handful of fellow scientologist actors. The Scientologists fucked him over royally in retaliation against the movie and ruined his movie career and his business. So he started selling some kitchen products at flea markets and swap meets until he came across the ShamWow and the SlapChop - both products he outright owns - and began selling them on infomercials. He also realized he could sell the Underground Comedy Movie via infomercial, which despite the fact that it's considered one of the worst movies ever made and is the most offensive movie ever made, has sold very well. So he is using funds raised by the sales of these 3 products to pay for his ongoing lawsuit against the Church of Scientology for almost ruining his movie, ruining his business and nearly ruining his life.

Also, back in the 90s he sued Anna Nicole Smith for backing out of her contract for the movie and the Farrelly brothers for allegedly stealing scenes from Underground Comedy Movie for use in There's Something About Mary. The Farrellys are like "We never even heard of him or his movie"

So buy the ShamWow and the SlapChop. Even by the Underground Comedy Movie if you like extremely crude, offensive b-movie quality sketch comedy. Support a man's right to stand up to a made-up religion for fucking him over. I'll never look at those commercials the same way again

Absorbing the Hate