BSG geeks, ahoy!!

Just discovered this wonderful gem via the Quantum Mechanix site, based on a design by BSG CG designer, Dustin Adair. Just placed my order for the pre-order. Get in!

In other non-related news, my t-shirt company is coming along slowly but surely. My ecommerce site needs a little more tweaking but i’ve just commissioned a character logo by an English illustrator whose work I love. I decided that I absolutely had to brand myself so people would associate my character icon with the company. I’m also trying to square away the little details like promotional stickers, pins and business cards, not to mention filing my articles of organization. My initial launch will start with 3 t-shirt designs, hopefully by September. This is turning out to be more work than I thought. Not that I assumed it would be easy but there’s always a bump in the road that keeps you from getting things done. God, I hate it when people don’t respond to emails.

My website is complete….finally

Update: So, my ecommerce site is finally done and damn, it’s looking pretty good imo. I shelled out a pretty penny for it but sadly I can’t show it to the world as I don’t have any tees printed up just yet. Yes, i’m being a perfectionist about it but in good time you’ll get to see the end result and buy some of my shit.

On another note, I’m selling off my music collection to help fund my business, so if you’re interested in buying anything from me, check out http://www.discogs.com/user/mech1 and browse my collection. I have over 3000+ titles ranging from downtempo, hip hop, deep funk, soundtracks, idm, house, breakbeat, rock and more. I have a lot of out of print shizzle as well as rare import stuff, so if you see something lemme know and i’ll sort you out.

It’s Spring, bitches!

It’s getting warmer outside, the birds are chirping and the sun is finally starting to rear its head after a dismally cold winter. In in the meantime, i’ve been holed up in the house contemplating my future. It boils down to this – i’ve decided i’m going to get off my dead ass and start my own t-shirt company. Yes! I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel as far as designs go as it will mainly serve as a platform for me to put out t-shirt designs by artists I like; there are no gimmicks or none of this limited edition bullshit and more importantly, I won’t be branding myself like most companies. So, I’ve been slowly accumulating design work from some talented artists, a couple are known, a couple aren’t but i’m hoping their designs will knock your socks off. I still need to worry about having a decent ecommerce site built and then of course there are the astronomical screenprinting costs to consider but it’ll get done soon enough.

my new Rooney badger brush

In order to stimulate the economy I decided I needed to order that badger brush i’ve been obsessing about for the past month and a half. I wound up buying the style 1 small Rooney badger brush from classicshaving.com for $55 + shipping. Looks like I lucked out and got the last one too. I can’t comment on how well the brush works as I haven’t received it yet, but I’ve read that badger brushes stink like the dickens and need a proper shampooing before use. By all accounts this particular brush should suit me fine though as i’ve read mixed reviews for boar brushes and “pure” badger brushes which tend to have thicker bristles than i’d like. This particular brush is supposed to be a step up from the “pure” brush and just below the “silvertip” brush, although sources say the difference between pure and best is negligible. Now all I need is a fancy shmancy lather bowl and a giant tub of J.M. Fraser’s shaving cream and i’m set.

Starbuck’s Fresh Roasted Cylon

Looking for that perfect gift for the ultimate Battlestar Galactica geek? Came across this awesome coffee mug lastnight:

Is it Spring yet?

It would appear that Vadim Music has decided to reissue some highly sought after Serge Gainsbourg classics, namely, the La Horse 7″ and the Mister Freedom 7″. I’m not too excited by the Mister Freedom 45 but the La Horse 7″ is a keeper, mainly because it features arrangements by the wonderful Jean-Claude Vannier. An OG copy of La Horse can fetch several thousand dollars as limited numbers were pressed when it was first released. The reissue is apparently a limited/numbered pressing so they’re bound to go fast. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

What else? I’m working on some t-shirt designs with the hope of creating my own little store via the internets. I’m inspired by Eric Terry over at Lintyfresh.com for several reasons. He managed to create a successful business by starting with 1 t-shirt design. I think there’s this idea that you have to have a certain number of t-shirts printed before you can actually get off the ground. Not true. I know it doesn’t necessarily work in someone’s favor if you only have 1 design but if it’s something people like you can then build your inventory over time. I also figure there’s enough crap out there in t-shirt world that I at least stand half a chance of selling something, right? I guess the best thing I can do is ignore the critics and go with my instincts. If I crash and burn then so be it.

New t-shirts!

Lastexittonowhere.com have just revamped their website and added 4 new shirts to their line. I have to admit, I really like the Hans Tournament tee from Enter The Dragon. The downside, he’s raised his prices a little which is kind of infuriating, especially during a recession. Either way, i’ll eventually buy more of his tees if I have a spare £18 laying around.

the media vs the economy

The world’s current economic woes are starting to crumble at a time when people should be spending more money. I’m one of the lucky few who has managed to hold onto his job until all of this blows over….if it blows over. With that said, the media does a fairly good job at drumming up panic and making matters worse. I’m probably in the minority on this but I feel that stoking the flames of panic in a recession is incredibly irresponsible and likely to cause more people to hide under their beds. Do any of you remember the Orson Welles ‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast that scared Americans shitless in 1938? In this case the big bad martian is our ailing economy. If anything good has come out of this it’s that reports state unexpectedly higher retail sales for the month of January  and that the Obama stimulus package will jumpstart the economy. February is always slow so don’t let anyone fool you into thinking the end of the world is coming. Spring and Fall are typically the busiest times of year for retailers, so let’s hope people crawl out of their proverbial holes and BUY, BUY, BUY!

Battlestar Frakkin’ Galactica

BSG is on its final leg and things are continuing to get bleak. Tom Zarek and Felix Gaeta incite a mutiny aboard Galactica and seal their own fates through the barrel of a gun. Poor Felix. At first I hated him for turning on Adama but then you start to realize that he’s human and finally cracked. First the Cylons annihilate the human race, then they’re enslaved on New Caprica (where Gaeta worked as a Presidential Aid to Baltar), he loses his leg, is practically witness to Dualla offing herself and then they find out Earth is a desolate wasteland. I think that’s enough to send anyone over the edge. Gaeta had always been a true soldier in the sense that he honored the uniform and his duty as an officer of Galactica. He felt a great sense of loss and betrayal and had nowhere else to turn, except to Zarek. When RDM said the rest of season 4 was going to be dark he wasn’t kidding. I’m still curious how they’re going to wrap up the whole Ellen as the 5th Cylon story arc. The previews show her waking up in a tub of goo which i’m assuming is on board one of Cavil’s baseships. I guess the F5 can resurrect after all. Guess we’ll have to wait til next week’s episode to see what happens.

On another note, I finally got my Merkur Classic safey razor in the mail the other day and it’s a beaut. I haven’t had a chance to give myself a shave with it yet but it just feels right in my hands, even if it is a bit on the small side. It’s got a nice weight to it and the blade is sharp as shit…I just hope I don’t slice the hell outta my face and wind up looking like that poor bastard from Silence of the Lambs whose face looked like hamburger. Mmmm, hamburger.

Hymn to the Immortal Wind

One of my favorite postrock bands, Mono, is releasing a new album next month called “Hymn To The Immortal Wind” and it’s bound to be great. Apparently it will feature a 28 piece orchestra — this isn’t particularly new for them but i’ve always been fond of orchestral sounds when used properly. Anyway, Temporary Residence currently have a pre-order deal for the deluxe double set for a whoppping $35. What does $35 get you? The new album on colored double vinyl, One Step More And  You Die/New York Soundtracks reissue albums on colored vinyl AND a promo cd of the new album. How’s that for a bargain? Not sure how many are available as it would appear the pre-orders are going fast. Do eet.

In other music news, Ghostbox have just released the new Belbury Poly album called ‘From An Ancient Star’ and Bully Records have just released the new DJ Signify album called ‘Of Cities’. Both high recommended.

I’m officially a wetshaving noob

I finally broke down and bought myself a swanky safety-razor for my personal grooming needs. In short, I got tired of using shitty disposables and wanted something that would last a lifetime, not to mention give me a precision shave. After weeks of research I decided to buy the Merkur Classic. This is a German company that makes top of the line safety razors of all shapes and sizes…this one just happened to be within my budget of $25. Can’t wait to lather up and give it a test run. Classicshaving.com has a Best Price Guarantee where they’ll match the price of any competitor + 10%. Or you can peep westcoastshaving.com for decent prices. Next up, a badger brush and some fancy new shaving cream.

Minotaur Shock!!

Minotaur Shock’s new album, “Amateur Dramatics” finally gets a physical cd release. Unfortunately for you non-’Merkins this is a US release only. Comes with 2 bonus cuts to boot. Buy it here.

music, t-shirts, shoes, etc…

It’s been awhile. I’m notoriously slow when it comes to blogging, partly because I get bored easily and also because blogs tend to get fairly dull, especially when reading inane ramblings of a stranger.

With that said, things couldn’t be better. I still have my job which is always a good thing. In my infinite boredom i’ve been doodling with some stuff in Illustrator and decided to have a t-shirt done. As I may have mentioned, lastexittonowhere.com is a UK t-shirt site that takes fictitious company logos from movies and makes swanky vintage looking tees. This has been done for as long as the internet has been around but LETN just happens to do a good job at it, unlike all those shitty cafepress, zazzle type sites out there that use iron on transfers or digital printing. Anyway, being a movie fan I decided to make my own one-off movie tee utilizing a fictitious company logo, namely from the Underworld movie. Why pay someone else when I can do it myself? The company in question is called Ziodex Industries and is the blood cloning company owned by the Death Dealers. So, if you’re artistically inclined and have a spare $30-50 lying around you could make your own fictitious company logo tee. I had mine done through a screenprinter but there are DIY screenprinting kits available if you’d rather do it yourself (photoez comes to mind). If you’re in L.A. there’s a cool company called Fresh Pressed whose entire business model is based on doing one-off tees. Anyway, check it out:

What else? Picked up some new music recently, even though music purchases have been few and far between. I bought the latest Evil Nine – They Live! album, Unkle – End Titles…Redux cd, Bronx River Parkway – San Sebastien 152 cd, Mr Chop – Lightworlds EP 12″, Miaou – All Around Us cd & the new Minotaur Shock – Amateur Dramatics cd which just got a US release. My next purchase will likely be the new DJ Signify – Of Cities album which is pure heat. 2009 is shaping up to be a great year for new tunes — we should see some new stuff by Yppah, Cinematic Orchestra, The Opus and more.

Also picked up some more shoes. I’ve been looking for a nice dress casual shoe for awhile and since i’m fairly picky i’ve had a hard time locating something, until now. I picked these bad boys last week and love ‘em. The downside, they’re limited edition so I didn’t get to buy the black version I wanted and there’s virtually no arch support. A night of wearing these and my feet were killing me, other than that they look good with jeans and button up shirt.

President Obama, we salute you!

Yay for change. Ok, so i’m a little slow posting this but it was inevitable. After suffering for the last 8 yrs under Neocon rule I can finally say, thank fuck it’s over. Obama creamed McCain in the general election and then some, now it’s time for him to clean up the mess left behind by Dubya and his cronies. By the way, anyone else notice how conservatives are sore losers? When McCain delivered his concession speech a lot of his supporters booed at Obama’s victory….as if the bigotry, McCarthyist attacks and flimsy terrorist connections weren’t enough for these people. Three words, get over it. It’s bad enough that some of you breathe the same air as me but throwing temper tantrums after the fact won’t accomplish anything. I think it was Tony Soprano who once said, “get back in your fuckin’ hole!”

more new shoes

Just picked up these bad boys on ebay today for $42 with shipping. Wasn’t a fan at first but the more I looked at them the more I liked them. Get in!!

i’m alive

That’s right, folks, i’m back once again with nothing to say. Well, the missus and I did buy a house recently so I guess that’s something. The upside to having your own house is 1) absolute privacy 2) getting my own “record room” and 3)getting to watch the squirrels and rabbits run around my yard. The downside is I now have lots of yardwork and other home projects to do. In the grand scheme of things this wouldn’t be so bad but with only a finite amount of money at my disposal I can only accomplish so much. Yardwork requires lots of expensive tools, of which I have nothing. I did buy a telescoping ladder which is pretty cool. Its only purpose is to allow me to get into the attic and to clean out the gutters every 6 months….so yeah, $100 well spent .

What else? Since buying the house my music purchases have amounted to very few cd’s. The only albums i’ve purchased in the last few months are the new Karl Hector & The Malcouns album on Now-Again and The Wee DJ’s/Fear & Lothian cd on Touchin’ Bass. The Karl Hector lp is a doozy – nice afro funk beats that sound like Money Mark in some places. The Wee DJ’s cd was an impulse purchase because is was marked down to $10 and I like dark electro. The other part about not having lots of ducats at my disposal is that there are shitloads of new albums out or coming out soon that I can’t buy right away. Off the top of my head there are new lp’s by Primal Scream, Alias, Mogwai, The Grates, Belbury Poly, Miaou, Anoice and Yppah.  I’m most excited about Yppah’s album. He’s one of those rare artists with that indefinable quality you love in a musician. His music obviously has many influences ranging from electronic to shoegazer but some of the songs from his new album ‘Telecine’ almost have a soundtrack feel to them. I don’t know why but I picture myself driving in a convertible down route 66. Ninja Tune did good by signing him – I just hope they give him more promo than his first album which was criminally slept on.

Ooooh. Discovered a new store in town that actually carries a few streetwear brands I like. If I had money I would’ve opened a similar store about 8 yrs ago. Anyway, I’ve fallen off the streetwear bandwagon over the years because I got tired of the same dull graphics of brass knuckles, graffiti drips and pop culture icons being made into t-shirts. Then came Threadless which forever changed the world of graphic design. I know, Threadless is getting kinda old too, right? But let’s give credit where credit is due. These guys made it possible for the everyday Joe Blow to get a little fame and fortune, so long as your graphic and idea were original. Back when I had a shirt done by Threadless I got 3 measly t-shirts and zero cash. How’s that for gratitude? But I digress. I’ll be peeping the new streetwear store in town to see if I can score some Alife and Undftd tees.

That’s it for now, cunties. I’ve got an lcd wall mount on its way in the mail so i’ll keep you posted on whether or not my attempted installation is successful.

I heart Adidas

I love Adidas. Just ordered the ZX 500′s from Endless.com because Zappos were out of my size. They do free overnight shipping too if you’re looking for an alternative.

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!

*CONTAINS BSG SPOILERS*

So, Battlestar Galactica is heating up quite nicely. Just when things get going with the Cylon civil war, they go and kill off Calli. BALLS! Ok, Calli was always a peripheral character on the show but you came to like her the way you come to like any tv character. She had that “little sister” quality about her – sweet and innocent but full of energy. It was sad to see her go the way she did. She must’ve thought, “fuck, not the airlock again!” Either way, Nicki Clyne did a good job with her role as only she could do with that million dollar smile. I hope Chief Tyrol blasts Tori out of an airlock for what she did. Dang a ding dang do.

MUSIC: Picked up the limited edition release of the Lewis Parker – Sniper Beats album the other day. Overall it’s pretty decent. It’s an instrumental album which sounds like it could’ve been an unreleased score to the Mission: Impossible tv series, except with beats. I’m also enjoying the new James Pants – Welcome album which is due for May release on Stones Throw. Wasn’t too sure what his sound was, but after reading a couple of reviews my interest was piqued. I guess you could describe his sound as a mixture of old school hip hop, soul, electro and even post punk. I’m sure I can hear elements of early Prince in there somewhere too. Check it out.

Can’t Be Funky

Don’t know what compels me to seek out certain albums by certain bands but one such band is the Bush Tetras. I found out about the Bush Tetras after hearing a cover version of Can’t Be Funky by Richard Sen, aka Bronx Dogs, released on Illicit Recordings back in 2002. His is a more dance influenced version but it made me want to hear the original, so I sought out the Boom In The Night release immediately afterwards. I really dug the BT post-punk sound but had a hard time tracking any of their releases down. They released an album called Tetrafied back in the mid 90′s which you’d have to sell your left testicle for. I only realized they released another album called Very Very Happy in Oct ’07. The album contains some of the tracks from Tetrafied and some re-recorded versions of classics like Too Many Creeps. An interesting side note, while searching for the Very Very Happy album I was told that the bass player of the Bush Tetras used to work at one of the used record stores here in town. I didn’t even know she lived here. Weird, wild stuff. Anyway, if you like catchy riffs and songs with a danceable groove, check them out.

Frakking Awesome!!

Battlestar Galactica season 4 has officially started and it’s a great start to what will be the last season for us BSG dorks. The first episode is called, “He That Believeth In Me” and continues where the season 3 finale left off. Starbuck has returned from the dead and four of the final five cylons are coping with their new identities. Not sure I like the Gaius Baltar story arc. He’s being portrayed as some Messiah-like figure complete with his own harem. I kinda figured they were going in this direction ever since he started growing out the beard and long hair in season 3. Suffice it to say, the opening sequence to the new episode is unbelievable. It’s great to see the creators of BSG keeping the look and feel of the show on par with most blockbuster movies out there. Excellent quality as always. I still think Laura Roslin is the 5th cylon.

back from the dead

Don’t know why I bother with a blog. I’m not really a fan of blogs, nor do I enjoy writing about the mundane things going on in my life, which usually amounts to nothing. Guess it passes the time.

So, what have I been doing with my time? Playing Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, that’s what. This game kicks ass. I’ve finally gone through and collected all of the intel and unlocked every cheat. Unlimited ammo, here I come. Even though the game is short it offers a lot of replay value. The textures are amazing and the game plays out like a movie. Lots of fun if you’re a big fan of first person shooters.

What else? Picked up some new tunage over the past couple of weeks. Finally got my grubby mitts on the latest Magnificents album called “Year Of Explorers”. The album is supposedly coming out in the US through some imprint of Mush Records, although I can’t find anything online about it. I managed to score a promo copy through ebay for 6 dolla. Also picked up the Delia Derbyshire/KPM reissue cd called “Electrosonic”.  The album is considered a classic and for those of you young enough to remember, Delia was one of the musical masterminds behind the famous Dr. Who theme song. Finally, i’ve been caning the Plaid-Tekkon Kinkreet anime soundtrack to death. This is probably their most solid release to date. My only problem with the album is that it features some unbelievably gash J-Pop tune which makes me wanna kick an old lady down a flight of stairs. If this ever gets a US release they need to drop that tune from the album, post haste.

Spring is almost here and i’m excited. It was a nice balmy 55 degrees today and I was wearing shorts. This winter has been especially brutal. After dealing with a few months of subzero temps I then had to face bullshit snowstorms which are pretty common in March. Hopefully this’ll be the last of it. Bring on the sunshine. Might have to give ye ole potatoe-sling a test drive this summer. Ok, not really.

TV….and stuff

I’m a huge Battlestar Galactica fan and have been preparing myself for season 4 which is coming up in a couple of weeks. I just finished season 3 and will probably re-watch Razor again just for the hell of it. So far things are looking good, despite it being the last season before the show goes tits up. But stop the press. The Caprica prequel that’s been talked about for the past year or so has finally been greenlit and will actually get made. Yay!

THOR

Here’s another imaginary logo I made from the 80′s classic, Blue Thunder. THOR was the nefarious organization which Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider RIP) later discovered was intending to use Blue Thunder to conduct political assassinations. Of course, the bad guy, played by Malcom McDowell, gets it in the end and Roy Scheider saves the day.  C’mon people, gimme some feedback.

Inspired by the movie, Blue Thunder:

MRR-ADM revisited

So, it would appear the MRR-ADM 10″ has completely sold out. Of course, I came across a dealer on ebay who bought up 30+ copies and is now selling them for $50 a pop. I hate to get up on my pedestal but this pisses me right off. Not only is this blatant profiteering but it goes against the true spirit of music collecting, which is the love of music. I realize that when an artist sells a product in limited quantities there will always be a collector’s market and thus, drive the price up. It just saddens me that true fans won’t be able to get their hands on a quality release unless they pay through the nose for it. I guess i’m being a hypocrite about it since i’m also guilty of buying duplicate copies of a ltd release, but I would never buy up stock with the sole purpose of making a hefty profit. Fucksticks. Ah well. If you’re still looking to get your MHE fix try checking out accesshiphop.com – I believe they’re still stocking the MHE-007/008 7″ release and it’s a corker.

MRR-ADM

I did the unthinkable today and actually paid $25 for the new MRR-ADM 10″ featuring Malcom Catto. I’m sure it’s a great release but the collector in me probably won’t open it when it arrives because 1)my turntables are in storage and 2)it’ll drive up the value. Sad, I know. I’m also irritated because after I had already placed my order through fatbeats.com I later found out it was being sold through dustygroove.com for a little less. Nothing wrong with fatbeats.com but i’ve been a longtime customer of Dusty Groove and they’re a sound company with good service, and I could’ve saved about $3 too. Oh well. I’m laughing at myself for being such a fanboy record collector geek. I’ll probably handle the record with salad tongs while wearing a hazmat suit. Now that i’ve paid $25 for a 10″ slab of vinyl I guess there’s no excuse for me not to drop $27 for an import cd.

Flying Fortress

Here’s another tee from my collection that I love. It’s by a company called Flying Fortress and was sold through Rockawaybear.com. The graphic is a parody of the classic Santa Cruz Skateboards “Screaming Hand” graphic that was popular in the 80′s, except this one is called “Screaming Paw”. Rockaway Bear is hit or miss with me. Some of their graphics are either too cartoonish or just horribly done. The few tees of theirs I do own are relatively decent, but of course you can’t get them anymore. At least they have a consistent theme so i’ll give ‘em a little credit.

Advisory Circle

Ghostbox Records have just released the new Advisory Circle album today called, “Other Channels.” I guess I would call Ghostbox a modern day library music label, with touches of the classic KPM, Chapell and DeWolfe library sound. A couple of my favorites, Belbury Poly & Advisory Circle, create vintage electronics not unlike the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Think i’ll have to sit on this one until the US exchange rate gets better. I’m looking at $27 for a cd if I were to buy it direct and the practical side of me can’t justify spending that much for a disc. I’m hoping Smallfish or Piccadilly Records will sell the album at a slight discount so I can pick it up. Buy it here.

In other music news, Neon Neon have released their first video from the new album. The song is called, “I Lust U,” and reminds me of Shannon’s “Let The Music Play”, at least to my ears it does. Can’t wait for the album to come out. Easily one of my faves of ’08.

More shoes!

I really need to stop with this compulsive habit I have of buying shoes. This time I broke down and picked up the New Balance M574′s I mentioned earlier. Me rikey.

Grotus

The grunge years have come and gone in the blink of an eye and i’ve transitioned to many styles of music from that time period. Industrial music had taken a hold of me back then and of the many bands to emerge from this genre, the San Francisco band, Grotus, had made its way into my cd collection. Admittedly, I only took notice of this group because it was championed by Mike Patton while he was doing his Mr Bungle side band. I had the pleasure of seeing Grotus live back in the early 90′s and I have fond memories. I was probably one of the few people going crazy on the dancefloor. Check out the video for “Brown” off their 1st album.

Fergadelic, baby

Woo! Old news but news to me. Looks like Fergadelic-The Graphic Equalizer, finally has his own website for his Tonite brand. I used to follow streetwear religiously for a few years but grew tired of the outrageous prices, derivative graphics and holier-than-thou attitude of wanna-be hipsters. I still like to buy an occasional brand name tee but i’m fairly picky about it nowadays. Tonite is one of those few brands I like because of his punk rock/new wave style of graphics. Incidentally, the one Tonite tee I have in my collection happens to be the one I get the most compliments for. It’s a graphic of an M16 rifle & Gibson Explorer Electric Guitar with text that says, “put down your guns…pick up your guitars.” Check it out.

TGIF!

It’s Friday and i’m drinking a beer whilst listening to the new Portishead album. It’s different, which is a good thing. I’ll have to listen to it a few more times and let it all soak in. It’ll be interesting to see how the fans react to it, especially since it’s been years since their last album.

Oh, here’s one of the many t-shirts I own. This is the limited run of Dawn of the Dead shirts as sold by Trunk Records. It was supposedly going to be put out by Stussy but that didn’t appear to happen. Either way, it’s a cool graphic.

First Post

This is my puppy. Love him, you slags. Oddly enough, beef jerky makes both of us gassy. I’m still trying to figure out who’s farts smell worse.