Danny Makes Crap

Not making the cut, rejected T-shirts

2012-01-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

I had this blog post ready a week ago, but the celebration from my 30th birthday left me with a cold that took me out of commission all last week, but I'm back, borderline healthy and here we go.

So this is ridiculous... I went through all my old tees that never made the cut and there's no way to post them all on this blog and not take up 4 pages... So what I did was set up a photobucket album that you can view all the shirts, along with descriptions of what happened. I also included some other tees, besides TA ideas, that got rejected. You can view the album here. This was almost depressing, so many bad designs. I still have another hard drive to go through, so I'll keep adding to the album.

Paintings are flying out of me. Here's a giant pile of cut out drawings,

Here's a couple of paintings laid out, One still needs to be glued

Still have a lot more coming. It's weird how I go in and out of inspiration with paintings. It's so hard to get myself motivated to do paint.

Anyways saw a ton of punk this week, NoFX Monday, Voodoo Glow Skulls Wednesday, and Bannor Pilot Saturday... Was epic. Before all of this, I turned thirty, I got sick, quit smoking and couldn't drink... So it was bitter sweet. Great shows though all the way around, all three bands killed it.

Looking forward to the next couple months, it's super exciting having paintings that will be finished, Timbers season starting, a new NoHope website, and a lifestyle clothing line. Will continue updating on these topics as they come.

Had a ball hockey tournament over the weekend, my team finished in second place. It's the second time I've made it to the finals in one of these tourneys and lost. I want my name written on either the summer or winter cups really bad... Hopefully the no smoking will give me that extra push to win one of these tourneys. Anyways if you are interested in checking them out it's PDXballhockey.com .. I did their logo too.

Listening to,
Sklar Brothers Podcast, Sklarbro Country ... Always funny
Lillingtons - Teenage Asshole, from the album Idiot Word Search

I'm back, like a car crash

2012-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a while...

Back to the grind since the holidays, selling tons of swag and watching the beginning of Basketball season.

So what's new, everything, been painting, working on the new website, working on summer TA merch (and other Timbers promotional stuff), working on my own swag and moar sports.

New painting below... Making a series through the year, all of which will be for sale on the NoHopeDesigner website when I finally finish the new look.

Summer TA merch is going to be so sweet, we are expanding our traditional stuff and going beyond t-shirts. We are bringing in more designers (mostly to take it easier on me and I want everyone that wants to, to have a crack at having their product made). I moving to more of a creative director position. The gear is already looking great and we have some great promotions too.

Also from all the TA merch meetings I came up with a hilarious idea to do a blog (probably next week) of all the shirts I've come up with that never got made... Some are awesome, some are armature and some you can tell were only half finished. Should be pretty great, or maybe a touch embarrassing.

The lifestyle line I'm working on myself is coming along pretty good. Actually too good, I have way to many designs to put out and not enough money to do it. So I think what we are going to do I call some favors and get a whole bunch of different sticker packs with our logos, funny phrases and just stuff that represents us and sell them in packs for 5 bucks to raise the extra money to get the line off the ground. I'm excited, I love stickers and I expect them to cover all the local dive bathrooms all over Portland, Cleveland, and where ever else we can convince our friends to buy and stick them all over. I'll post up a link to get them soon.

Oh basketball is back... I hate the NBA sometimes, a lockout with millionaires fighting with billionaires... Mr. Stern blocking trades, kids pretending to go to college only to be busts in drafts, and just a bunch terrible marketing and fan experiences. Though in the end I love the game, when it's running at full speed it reminds me of soccer and the player personalities (complicated handshakes, ridiculous rituals and tattoos, and drama on the court).
I originally fell in love with Basketball as a little kid when the Indians sucked, and the Browns games were too rowdy to take a kid under 11. My dad wanted to take me to sporting events (share his love of sports with his first born son) and the Cavs were good and played near our suburb of Cleveland. So my pops and I went to a ton of Cavs games... I got to meet Brad "Big Dookie" Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance and Hot Rod Williams. Except for my burning hatred of Micheal Jordon, it was a glorious time in my life. Lebron kinda ruined basketball for me in Cleveland, just so much promise and chances at titles wasted, that I kinda stopped watching for a while... Until I moved to PDX and this only child city forced basketball back down my throat.
I've been high on the Blazers... They look good right now and despite the injuries that will obviously pile up, but the compact schedule is gonna give every team about 5 more losses than they would normally. Though I've been high on the Blazers I'm loving my Cavs... Kyrie Irvings killing it, they're playing competitive 500 basketball (which in the eastern conference is good enough for a playoff spot), and they're pretty fun to watch... They're bench is so shallow they have to scrap for everything. It's fun basketball to watch.

Like every year since I moved to PDX I went to the Blazers v. Cavs game, the series is now 2 and 2 next year will be the Dan McNinny tie breaker. Here's a picture of me and my buddy Kyle who went with me (below). Also it was not nearly as bad as last year when the Blazers beat the Cavs by over 40 pts (picture from January last year blog)

Anyways, gotta bail, look for the T-shirts that never were post soon.

Listening to:
The Basketball Jones podcast
Eagles of Death Metal, album Peace Love Death Metal

So much for every week, but I'm busy

2011-12-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

I know it's been forever, but when you release a winter line of clothing with lookbooks, a black friday release, working live sales of the product and shipping twice a week.. Woof, it's been a busy 3 weeks since Thanksgiving. Right now I'm taking a week away from just about everything and beating the new Zelda. I am using a walk through to move along fairly quick. I know my gamer buddies will give me tons of hate for it, but I am in a hurry. As for the game itself, it's got great game play and is super freaken fun to play. The one beef I have, is that using the wii remotes is tiring and when you are used to playing via controller it can be tough to get up for some serious hours of play. Other minor grievances is that the map seems smaller than twilight princess... A lot of repeating temples from twilight princess... poor bad guys, and Zelda is ugly. I'm not trying to be superficial but when Link is hotter than Zelda, there might be a small problem.

Anyways, what this does lead to me wanting to do a video game bit about some of my favorite video games and my favorite style of games. Here's how were doing it, styles and favorite games within that style... Sometimes there's gonna just be a franchise.

Fighting:
Soul Caliber for game cube so you can play with Link (biased)
Old School Mortal Combat... either genesis or super nintendo
My Favorite Def Jam Fight for New York, This game is so much fun with the create-a-character and the fighters are all rappers and the storymode is quite entertaining with Hank Rollins as your trainer. I can't even fathom the hours I wasted on this game with my buddy J. Swindle in college. Funny too I found this movie on the previews for Black Dynamite and it has almost the same exact plot.

Role Playing/Adventure:
Zeldas... All of them.. My personal favorites were the stable third person games after the top scrollers such as Occerina of Time, Windwaker, and Twilight Princess. I love Zelda because of the story of the Hero, it's heart breaking, encouraging and charming. The fact that link will always find another way to go to hell and back for the princess.
Conkers Bad Fur Day, I get so sad at how few people played this game... In my opinion is probably one of the most creative, cheeky, raunchy and out right entertaining games of all time. It's re-release on xbox did it no justice that the game was basically the same and they ruined the multiplayer aspect which was one of the best parts of the game. I can't count the hours I wasted playing through that multiplayer with my buddy N. Britches. We used to wake up before work, crank out like 4 games of squirls v. nazi bears before we headed in.

There used to be a better poster of him passed out in the toilet but I couldn't find it
Grand Theft Auto these games were so much fucken fun, even the top scrollers were fun. San Andreas was probably my favorite, because of the map size and how much there was to do, was really a accumulation of everything they did.

Sports:
NHL Hitz(2001), another game that never got enough credit, everyone loves on the counterpart, NFL Blitz, but Hitz was far superior in game play, endless levels, season mode, and quality create-a-mode.
Fifa The last three Fifa games that have come out are some of the funnest sports video games to play... the game play and endless amount of teams and stadiums is amazing... Amazing
NHL 11-12 Could arguably be one of the best sports games ever, the controls are perfect (PS3) and the game play is sooo smooth. Great manager mode.

Alright, enough of video game ranting, since I rarely play vids anymore. Other things on the horrizon right now, trying to find a space for a NPO (NoPity Originals) pop up shop, getting more NoPity beanies in (lesson learned about not ordering enough product regardless of whether we think it will sell), I'm doing the front office season ticket holder patch again this year, with matching lanyard.

Still working on my own label ... Things are running smoothly, I have about 5-7 strong tee designs, Logo, and buisness plan (give or take). All that is planning on going into production, given I can find the right backing/promotion, in January. I'll admit I'm nervous about it... I want it to be well received that I won't even post any of the samples on here because I want it to be perfect. You don't really get many tries at this kinda thing, even with just a small tee shirt/hat line.

The website revision is proving to be a nightmare... I forgot how much I straight edited the wordpress php scripts... so now when I switch it over to a new theme or whatever, nothing but the posts stay. I came to the hard reality that I may be close to no where near done by my birthday in January. Big suck. It's ok, I still get plenty of promotion here and on the NPO tumblr.

Also I swear I'm painting again... I've been getting reamed out by some friends and family that I'm so flaky on doing more paintings, and I haven't had anything for sale since the "What the Timbers Saw" art show. The new No Hope website will have a section with paintings and what's for sale. I keep sitting on my artwork.

Listening too:
Ben Weasel The Brain that Wouldn't Die (live)

Two days late and a blog short

2011-11-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should have said once a week. Ha. It was a super busy beginning of the week I had to in house freelance Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and then when I get out of that all I wanna do is have a beer, catch up on TV (Currently involved in Walking Dead, The League and How to Make it in America along with a plethora of cartoons) and maybe touch some of my crap. So blogging was just not gonna happen.

I'm getting old, I had about 4 beers with HC (from the Seattle retro live journal) on Monday night and woke up Tuesday with a splitting hang over... Now I can normally drink like a champ and always get a little bit of a head ache, but this felt like I was up all night with a bottle of Wild Turkey (my official break up remedy). As my 30th birthday approaches I become more and more apathetic and disheveled about my place in life. I only half mean that, I just really can't believe I'm gonna be 30.

Anyways on the making crap front, I forgot how exciting it is watching product roll in. I get so excited about nice clean swag, combine that with the fact I made it and I'm a kid on Christmas. So now it's all about getting another look book shoot put together so we can put product photos on the website and the tumblr... Not to mention one of the boys is working on a facebook page dedicated to merch... It's becoming glaringly obvious that we are outgrowing just being a little sect of the TA. We need more outlets than just the No Pity Van twitter.

On the No Hope Design front. I am actually starting to get business again and realized that not only do I not update the website or nohopedesigner.com but it is viciously out of date. So during the winter I'm going to start the long and arduous process of revamping the whole website. It needs better flow and organization in regards to showing off work so it doesn't look like a blog, that I can separate all the different things I do into better accessible categories and sell myself better as an all around designer who can work on just about everything.

Alright sorry for the delay, more exciting stuff including product pictures and possible names for my own apparel company next week... maybe Wednesday. ha.

Listening to:
The new Banner Pilot album Heart Beats Pacific
Best Midwest punk album this year if not the best album of the year
here's my favorite track Spanish Reds

1/11/11 ... a day late, a blog short

2011-11-02T01:05:00.000-07:00

Timbers Army Merch Tumblr is up. Tumblr turned into me dorking out on HTML for way to long, prolonged this blog post a day. Right after I say I'm gonna be writing every Tuesday. Where does the time go? A busy week working on crap and getting ready for shipping out tons of Timbers Army product.

Order is in for one more winter style TA hat. No hints yet, other than a possible 107ist preorder in a week.

So I'm gonna give a whirl doing my own Clothing. It's going to be simple, one shirt, then maybe a shirt and hat, then if there is some interest and it all sells, then maybe we'll go broke. I'm going to stray away from No Pity on this project. Going to be done with a friend or two and we're going to build a brand from the ground. Don't worry if you like anything I do, it will be must. This is a very long term project though, my goal is to have the first order in for shirts shortly after Christmas.

Other than that I'm totally beat up from a long day. More on the way as always.

Listening to:
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
How sweet was the way the cartoon Boondocks incorporated the song Guillotine (Swordz) into an episode.

Starting every Tuesday a new Post

2011-10-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

We will see how long this lasts with my combined busy schedule and procrastination. Though I feel this is something that really makes me happy and gives relevance to all the things I'm involved in. Anyways, got back from talking with the manufactures and we are a go for Timbers Army fitted hats, and I have to say they look dope as all get out.

Here's a version of the one style hat broken down

These will be ready for the winter line that comes out around Thanksgiving and runs through December, online sales only and free shipping (can't beat that with a flare from RSL). The lookbook for winter will also be online, through a yet to be named tumblr account. I will also do a print lookbook that will eventually be released with all the other lookbooks I've made in one giant book of all our product made since we started building the No Pity Originals brand.

Here's a snap shot of one of the winter hoodies that will be out in November

I can't wait, I've been wearing around that sample hoodie everyday for the last week.

Anyways I'm out the door to go to work, but next week I'll update with more writing and some snip bits about the winter line and personally exciting news. Also some non Timbers Army crap to show off.

Be good,

listening to:
Old Man Markley - Guts and Teeth , great punkgrass album.

New PDX flag Rose City snap back

2011-10-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

They'll be here sometime in November... So dope. Limited order with Timbers Army usual snapbacks (scroll down to see). Been busy lately, stopped delivering wine and back to full time design... So technically I will be updating a lot more often. Especially since the Portland winter is upon us. Feels like summer just flew by.

You will notice on the below photo instead of ax and roses on the back these hats have a PDX flag. Fucking Smart. Here were the possible looks for the hat

My favorite was the blue... just thought it'd be cool to have a blue hat.

Other notable crap out or coming out;
Flat brim wool hats for the Timbers army. Just put the order in today, will have a sneak preview of them next week.
New Harpers Playground scarf. For University of Portland's Woman's Soccer program fundraisers.
New winter line for the Timbers army. Tons of work but it's going to be so worth it for everything to be in and ready before Thanksgiving. Look forward to the events and fundraisers during the silly season (soccer offseason).
Finishing the Timbers Army Summer Lookbook (haha I know it's late). It came out great though, thanks to everyone that helped. You can download a free PDF copy from my website, here.

Summer Wrap Up
Other fun things from the summer besides an asston of soccer at the beautiful Jeld Wen Field. I went on a bunch of great trips most notably an away game to San Jose. I started a twitter account for running diaries of this and future away trips @ta_on_tour. I find that twitter is gonna be my new way of doing running diaries as it's easier to write stuff on my phone than in a notebook that I have to haul everywhere. So I will let everyone know either here or on facebook about my fake twitter accounts used for running diaries on future events. I know I'm going to do one for the last game of the season vs Houston and capture the day in the life of working the trailer, setting up displays, drinking and dancing, and driving the Van (which means no drinking, but dancing). Should be fun.
Also from the summer I finished an awesome hockey league and ball hockey tournament with PDXballhockey.com a group I helped start. The final tournament was sponsored by New Belgium beer and was probably the most fun I've had since they sponsored the tournament last year. My team Speed Wolfe once again finished runner up... We can't officially make it the distance with all that delicious food and beer around. None the less was great. My league team The Bill McCreary Allstars unfortunately finished last, but were the only team able to beat the team that one the league... So that was good I suppose... None the less we had a blast as well. If you don't know who Bill McCreary is, my buddy Kyle and I worship his mustache, but he was one of the NHL's most respected referees and retired last year and we only found it fitting that we show some respect to the man... Pictured below.

Alright I'm out for now.

Currently listening to:
Men in Blazers Podcast from Grantland Network
Ellwood - Lost in Transition ... Some dudes from the Mad Caddies playing just some good drinking and chillin music. Very danceable!

It's finally summer in late July

2011-08-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Seriously a mind bender when the rain finally stops in PDX in late July. The summer is half over and it feels like it just started.

Anyways I've finally recovered from my bender post Timbers loss to Seattle. I regret nothing the game was intense and the stadium was buzzing... So glad I was there. But I do have to apologize for those who had to deal with me trying to passout with the water on in my buddies bathtub. I think it was just a release after being up for 4 days straight tracing and designing banners for the tifo display that I went all out and by 5 in the afternoon I had to be put to bed. Here's some Pics;

Just shot the Timbers Army Summer 2011 Lookbook. You can download the Winter 2011 Lookbook here. The shoot went great. It's amazing to realize how much more crap we've made per year and how better the quality is from back when we were selling TA merch out of the back of our cars. Shit, that was back when I had a car. Ha. I was telling someone the other night at the West Brom game, it really is a dream come true to have this opportunity to grow a brand out of nothing.

So, I was supposed to be back in Ohio this past weekend to go to the Columbus Crew v. Timbers game, but my little bro had to have his gallbladder taken out on Friday and had to cancel. There was no way I was gonna blow over a grand on planes, tickets, booze and bail to go without my little bro. The kids ultra. So I ended up watching the game at a swank bar with a few other buddies. I want to like the Timbers coach John Spencer (Spenny) so bad but man his game time decisions are going to be the death of me. I agree with my buddy Garrett, we gotta give him a year before the "Spenny Out" banners come out.

Ok I'm all out, gotta work on this Underdog promotional scarf. Plenty of crap to be made and things to do in PDX before the weather turns to shit again.

Listening to,
Portlands own MEAN JEANS... These guys kick mad ass... So classic '77 style punk rock.

Same stuff new looks

2011-06-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Been super busy lately. The blog is the first thing to get neglected in times like this. Anyways here's some peeks at what's new

More Hats for the Timbers Army... All new Bike caps and new limited flatbrims (Circa 1970's Oakland Athletics). Both are super limited so follow the NoPityVan on twitter.

There is also a brand new Timbers Army Cascadia shirt series. Here's some sneak previews.

Been working on beer labels for my buddy Vargo (yes who's wife threw my phone in the lower posts) here's some of the early comps.

Trip to Ohio also New Timbers Army Hats

2011-04-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks and I still don't think I've recovered... Got to see my dads beer labels that i designed, got to see a bluejackets game, and my buddies wife threw my phone... Not kidding video below.

Blue jackets game photo diary... too much happened to do a running diary, plus I forgot my notebook... I blame my little bro, but the pictures are fun enough.
album is here

Actual beer labels I designed for the dad:

My buddies wife throwing my phone... Luckily It was on video?... you can't see anything but just listen, it's quite funny. The best is the OOOHHHH NOOO my buddy Mike T yells. Wow...

Timbers Army Hats.
So Murray B and I just pulled a stunt over at he Rose Garden the other day to see how many people would buy a limited blazers color Rose City hat off us, just by releasing where we'd be on the Timbers Army Merch Van twitter account (scroll down to see the stunt timeline). We sold out, and it was hard to find us in that sea of red and black. But it went off without a hitch and we will continue to do marketing ploys for the white limited hat... which I affectionately call the Lew Alcinder (it's 1970's bucks design) ha. Here's the entire hat line.

Newly released designs

2011-04-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

Now that the products are in the public I can show them off and brag about them.

First one is a Patch for the Portland Timbers to send out with their Timbers Army season ticket packages to commemorate the new inaugural season. I basically went for the combination of both the Timbers and the Timbers Army logos. Unfortunately they took my first try at it and I never got to keep tinkering with it. Make note kids.

Second is a scarf I designed for the Harper's Playground Foundation... This is a combination scarf between the Timbers Army and Harper's to spread word and gain donations for the cause.

Listening to Coquettish, Album "High Energy Politics"

Retro running diary fail

2011-03-27T00:46:00.000-07:00

Cavs down by close to 40, 3 minutes into the 4th quarter... Me looking not so happy

It's been a week and I still can't do it. Not that it wasn't painful.. it was. Not that it wasn't ridiculous, it was. Not that we didn't have 4 obese full st pattys day attire wearing fans holding up a cleverly made Paddy Mills 4 panel sign sitting next to us, there were. And not because we had to sit in the back row, we did.

There is absolutely no reason that I didn't write a retro running diary of the game other than I don't think I ever want to relive it again. Ha... It was one of those rare occasions that was too weird to have really happened... The best part of the night was that I won a beer bet with Craig, as we were running late I gave him an over/under that the Cavs would be down by 10... he took the over and it was 11 to 2 when we entered, and that was the closest the game ever was. That's it... I'm not even all that stoked writing this... It's here, I noted the experience, I'll always have to look at this post... Moving on.

Listening to: Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All "Swag Me Out"

Coming up, Timbers Army merch 2011, Art Work for Pitch Invasion bennifit show. First trip back to Ohio in over a year and a half, and the last Blue Jackets game of 2011 (running diary with My Brother).

New Beer labels for Pops

2011-03-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Think I'm going to have to start charging the old man, but these came out really cool. Especially on a days notice.

In the works right now, Timbers Army product... Some special presents for season ticket holders, and artwork for a show.

Up coming posts, Retro Diary of the Cavs v. Blazers game... All the artwork for last years Timbers army merchandise. Including some stuff that didn't make it (probably)

Listening to; Nothing, couldn't do music this morning, shit's to weird. Been listening to old BS Reports.

HC and Jesse Roadtrip to Cascadia Summit Running Diary

2011-03-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

A long time ago a pal Remington and I got the nicknames HC and Jesse after a string of drinking incidents that were neither our fault nor ended well. I have a comic idea that will never come to fruition about these events, but here is neither the time nor place. The point is whenever we decide to do something together it tends to just fit into that category regardless of the circumstance, and being that this was a sober endeavor it shouldn't have been. It was though, a trip that was eventful the whole way through. Here's the Running Diary of our trip to watch the Timbers play Seattle at the Cascadia Summit. Click on the PIC or VID for a visual

March 4th 2011
2:00pm Rem swings by the Ninny manor, I make him try on sample tees I just got from the timbers army printer (they gave me mediums like I could fit into them). I pack a lunch and some coffee and we're off to the races. PIC

2:30pm We have just entered Camas across the Oregon boarder. Rem receives a call from a buddy (who we'll refer to at Murray C) that is distressed, he got sick while on the away buses within the first block of leaving. - I'll jump in here to say, the away buses were taking people and alcohol up to the games, Rem and I were not signed up because we didn't think either of us could go for unrelated reasons... Hence our road trip. - Murray C had gotten sick to his stomach and had to leave the buses for fear of it getting worse. He wanted to try and catch a ride in Rems comfort sedan.
After careful consideration, we decided a buddy shouldn't have to miss an away day. We turn around to go pick him up.

3:00pm A very distressed, bewildered and super pale Murray C gets into the car. He immediately lays back rolls down the window and shuts his eyes... Unresponsive to our questioning, we start laughing.
"You can laugh at me but you don't talk to me" -Murray
We start laughing more knowing that his girlfriend is practically the only girl on a bus with kegs and drunk lads on it's way up to Seattle. PIC

3:15pm I learn Rem is that guy who ride all the way up in a disabled lane past a very packed line of cars and merges at the sign with the arrows at the last minute... He's that guy.

3:30pm Murray has been catatonic and figiting with the windows like crazy for 30 minutes.

3:40pm Rem just lined up a bunch of random popcasts to listen to ... #1 is first... It's a rave.
Took about five minutes of heavy beats for Murray has come out of his coma to tell us he might have to puke. Another five minutes pass and here is what transpires
"I can't wait I need to do this," Murray C
"Real talk dude, you can't puke in my car," Remington

3:50pm Rem pulls off at exit 41 on I5 north and Murray runs outta the car and down a hillside to go throw up (twice, walking back up the hillside and running back down). PIC VID1 VID2.

The poor kids a huge mess, we pour water out of bottles to wash him up and Rem finds a towel.

4:00pm The car smells like puke. We have driven a mile down the highway, and Murray has already asked us to stop again saying he needs to go doo doo brown. We stop at exit 49, a place made rem laugh so we stopped there... While Murray did work, we still had to pee, so we used the woman's room. Here's a picture of the woman's room, god knows what Murray had for facilities.. Notice there are no cowboy hats.
15 minutes later Murray emerges looking not good... We got him a whole bunch pepto-bismol and bail out of this extremely creepy truck stop.
"Your soldiering it the rest of the way there, buddy" -Remington
Poop jokes running wild.

4:50pm We've finally started making up some distance. With Murray snapping in and out of is coma to roll up and down the window. Rem and I are jamming out to some Popcast and talking mad footy. Can't believe that we're starting a whole new season of matches... Great feeling.

5:00pm Just started having a laugh about Murray (who's a capo in the TA) being on ESPN a whole bunch this season. We start mocking him and his "get-up" arm motion. Murray immediately perks up and asks how much longer we have.. There's still hours left in this trip.

5:30pm Snack time, on Popcast #11. Rem has a special k and nutrigrain bar... I dominate a bag of cheetohs puffs.

5:40pm Murray sighting "You think what? 30-40 minutes"

6:15pm Survived Tacoma traffic by cranking the jams super hard. We're almost there... Hourish to the match...

6:40 At the embassy suit parking lot. Gonna start the walk-up to the match. Too wet and rainy for my Journal... What we experience next will be show by a couple of pictures and plenty of over coverage by the media... We're here to start a new season supporter experiences.

here's my pics and video from the game, .

Walk Up
Barnacle Sighting
Ninja Chillin Hard
Video of a dooshy insane Sounders fan
First goal celebration

10:28pm What the fuck just happened... As I reflect over that game with Rem over some wendys, it amazes me the support and passion we had in a very hostile environment... I had such a blast, everything went off without a hitch... Murray C is on a bus back to Portland with his lady. Rem and I begin the trip back as well, fighting sleep and the urge to pee. reminds me of lost highway.

1:30am Arrive home to the Ninny loft. So tired, but it's not stopping me to look at some pictures and video of the game... The red smoke, the yelling, the singing and Spenny doing a some sweet celebrating. Epic away day.

to view the whole summit album (not much more) go here

Listening to: Jawbreaker "With or Without U2" (live)

Update on Timbers Army Summer Merchandise

2011-02-28T21:13:00.000-08:00

Everything is getting finalized this week and ordered for this epic summer... The line looks tight too, lots of opinions and ideas went in and everything came out dope and "satisfactory." From what started by selling scarfs and tees out of car trunks is now turned into an entire operation, and I'm truly humbled to be a part of it. Look for teasers soon... Really soon, because of our procrastinating we have a month and a half to produce it...

In the mean time check out these vids I am loving right now

Tyler the Creater and his crew have an amazing thing going, albums, steeze, an appearance on Carson Daily w the roots backing them up, scaring a ton of white people in the process, ha. This video is amazingly produced and shot. Just wow.

Been loving this new Flatliners album, and though they still all look like little kids, their video is pretty good, and the song is just great.

Listening to:
None More Black- Here Comes Devereux off their new album Icons.

New Year of kickball (and the old logo)

2011-01-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

New Year of kickball is on hand, and yes we play in the winter. Rain, snow or shine... We got our asses kick today, but we play in the tougher league and no ones even bothered to play for the last three months... We'll be back as soon as we can get a couple games in and warm up... As no one should practice for kickball. I'll post a picture to the team picture sometime soon. Here's the last years logo and well our logo until the summer league (when we typically redo the jerseys)

PDX Ball Hockey

2011-01-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

The past year I've been an instrumental part in the creation of a Ball Hockey league in Portland. We hold sponsored tournaments and play pick up every weekend and some weekdays. The league has been taking off, this past weekend we had 24 players at pickup. Last tournament had 9 teams and was sponsored by New Belgium. Which lead our team to come in 2nd place... After too many of those fat tire and pale ales... we had no chance in the finals against a team from Seattle that had been drinking Gatorade all day. To learn more you can visit PDXBallHockey.com

Ready for Winter and Holidays with the Timbers Army

2010-12-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Very Prepared... Recently produced a hand full of designs for the Timbers Army winter product line, you can see the mock ups on my website and can buy the merchandise at TimbersArmy.org/store... I created all these dingy Polaroid pictures for the website in my dungeon basement and over at our printers Ink Brigade ... Making that crap, crappy. Ha, really proud of this product line... there's limited edition Pulp Culture comics and some long and short sleeve shirts, some rad sweatshirts and for the first time and only time you can order No Pity scarves online. They are the the last of the USL Timbers Army No Pity scarves too. Not to worry, we are all about to head into the long process of updating the No Pity to a MLS caliber special inaugural season (still don't even know how epic it's going to be) scarf.

Get some....

Beer Logo for the Pops

2010-09-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest/worst but really the greatest part of being a designer, is that all your friends and family wants you to design their crap... I love it, even if it's pro bono and they want to be creative director of the supposed project.

It's these that make me smile... When my pops (an artist in his own right) needs a beer label and needs it on the quick, don't have a name, needs to say lager, anything goes. BOOYA!

So I took a moment and went for broke and here's what I came up with... It's based on an old whaling logo that I thought was tops (the logo, not the whaling). And growing up in Ohio and such (it being an Ohio beer) the walleye is something that has dear childhood memories, from fishing with my dad all the time. I think it is a very untapped Ohio symbol/theme.

Baby Bush b-day present process

2010-08-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

A close friends baby girl turned one this past spring and I put together a little design as a present for her and as a way to expose her to some Ninny art at the tender age of one... Guaranteeing that she'll be an amazing person. Here's the crap.

New Illipino Shirts Sneak Preview

2010-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

I don't even want to hear it... I'm kept so busy now it's so hard to even thing about this blog... My browser even forgot about it.

Anyways here's what's new, I am currently helping out with another start up. My buddy Bob has been trying to set up an east coast style ball hockey league. He's doing all the ground work, just needed a dude to put a logo and media package together... Enter the Ninny.

Timbers Army has me running design circles... Look to my website soon to see all the stuff I've produced.. I've only done a couple of tee's so far but there's a bunch of new product coming in the coming months, so I haven't posted it yet... Go buy some stuff though at TimbersArmy.org.

College Pikasso is about to fire me, the way I've been letting up on them, but I'm going to help them Finite the last of their website and go officially live. Should be sweet.

Other things here and there, but I'm already over this post... I wanna write sometime this week on my favorite punk records of the last two years (it took two years for me to come up with 5-10 must own standout records... Ha ...)

Which leads me to the Illest... Illipino has been pooping off with just one logo and a simple website. I just finalized and submitted the two new designs for production. My buddy who I can't name because he want's Illipino brand to have a layer of mystic around it (but I will go on record saying, he's Philippine and the Illest... Just sayin). I just make his ideas a reality and throw a little of that NoHope steeze into it. But I'm super proud of these, this company, and it's truly awesome to be a part of it.

Late edit... the shirts are now available... check them out here

Killer Screen Printing

2010-04-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while and I'm making a pact with myself to do it more often, especially after all the new music that's out and the beginning of Portland's nice weather and show season starting. I am just super busy right now, I am creating designs for The Timbers Army, Illipino and helping my buddy Nate start up his bike basket company (not to mention all the other random little stuff I say yes to) Trust me I'm welling up some very strong opinions and there will be a post about Against Me and AK3's new coasters really soon. I feel like they've destroyed my adolescents, but that's for another day when I have time to write.

But for now I wanted to share this really rad poster artist who I really really like, Tomas Scott of Eye Noise Designs. His stuff reminds me of early Aesthetic Apparatus, who are also among my absolute favorites (In case you didn't know I'm a poster junkie... It's like dime store crack to me). The inane and intriguing imagery just burns into your eyes. The textures he uses are gorgeous and just well put together. I would actually put him above the Apparatus who, besides the Triple Rock and Lucero, don't really work with bands I like. Mr. Scott worked with Black Flag, the Detroit Cobras, My Morning Jacket (I actually hate their music but love their artwork) and plenty of others.

Mr. Tomas and Eye Noise's credibility makes me look like a turd in the industry. He's been published by all kinds of great publications (How, Print, Com Arts) and has the style and ease of just great productions skills (all by hand) and just great use of stock, textures, juxtaposition, and sheer imagery. Needless to say I man crush this guy and his work is super cheap (averaging 25 buck a print) and I recommend going out and buying one.

Reliving one of the best punk albums EVER!!!!

2010-02-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

So today I broke down and got an Itunes copy of Leatherface "Mush". I'm not the hugest fan of Leatherface. But there is just something about this album, and for such reasons it's rated as one of the best 50 punk albums of all time by too many sources to site. Frankie Stubbs, the lead singer, has a voice like an angel, who's smoked 50 packs of cigs, has had it's heart ripped out, and voice tortured. The melodies have meat hooks in my heart and the choruses are catchy in all the right ways.

As many of you know I hate the Itunes store. I feel it is basically just a way to find a song. They rarely give you the liner notes from old albums and such. At the same time I also refuse to Illegally download anything either. I always buy the albums and rip them to my Itunes. Why... cause I like to know my money is going to the right places (record labels, bands and such), but more importantly I have to get the cover art and liner notes in my hands. Ever since I first got into music I would go out and buy new albums from bands I was into and listen to the whole thing in my car while flipping through the liners and smoking. It was a process, it gave me an educated opinion and really let the music set in. The process was the same with discovering new bands that already existed, like the Clash, Ramones, Snuff, Jawbreaker, and others.

In the digital age, everyone has Ipod (including me), listens to just random or popular songs by artists, the experience of an album is all but dead. I still make the effort to go through the process, and that's what I did today, I haven't heard "Mush" the whole way through in 8 to 10 years. So I downloaded it last night and took the long way to work today, smoked about 4 cigs and reminded myself of a time since past. It was exactly what I needed.

I hope this vinyl revolution that's been teetering for a couple years now eventually gets bigger. I like getting a free Itunes download of the album I just bought on vinyl... I can put it on my Ipod, but I can also just sit down and listen strait though and have the giant original liners an covers... It's an encouraging thought.

Post sequitur - The whole reason why I downloaded "Mush" and reason I started writing this... Leatherface "Mush" is no longer in print. Unless you got a G to drop on the vinyl it's virtually impossible to find on CD. Sorry I should have mentioned that in the above but... well ... I forgot, fuck it!

Fat guy on a little plane!

2010-02-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

As a guy who has about 20+ lbs' on him that he doesn't need and being about 6'1", I know how uncomfortable planes are. Whenever I get off a plane I feel like I blew out an MCL cause as soon as were in the air the person in front of me will typically lean down their seat causing a pressure point right on the top of my kneecap and I can never seem to get both knees in a comfortable position, always one is being pressed toward the ground. I hate it, the seats are so narrow that if I can't sway the armrests away from someone I'm left doing the narrow shoulders hands in your crotch thing.. It sucks, flying sucks.

I bring this up this story in light of the Kevin Smith incident this weekend on SouthWest (AKA SouthWorst) Airlines. We all know about how cheap SW is and that it is the white trashiest/greyhound of the sky. No first class, seat yourself battles, customer service that is sketchy at best cause there's only one service desk for every 3 gates. So Kevin Smith (creater of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jersey Girl, and Cop Out) was flying SouthWest and was removed from his seat for anything but the right reasons. The basis is that he was too overweight for just one seat and needed to have a buy a second, but since one wasn't available he had to leave the plane.

After going through this humiliating and completely wrong process he proceeded to quote "scorch" southwest on twitter and for good reason. This led to many of his over a million followers to start "scorching" SW on twitter causing the servers to go down. He also went home an recorded a podcast with his wife explaining his story word for word and then going on a huge rant. It was epic... EPIC! Let's face it, he's a good writer and master of swearing.. He put them in their place.

So here's the reason of all this. I had no idea he had a podcast. I rarely look at twitter.. ever, but when I heard about his rant on there and what happened I went to his twitter it out and then found out through there that he has a podcast... Damnit it's even with Scott Mosier (who is a producer, writer and editor on basically everything K.Smith does)... Fucking heaven, the stuff these guys say is so unedited and just great witty off the cuff humor and totally ridiculous banter. And for all those Kevin Smith and View Askew believers it's a must listen to on a weekly basis.

New Favorite Cartoon from a Cartoon Junky

2010-02-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

I'm a lover of cartoons, mostly adult cartoon (though I did see Sponge Bob the movie in the theater). One of my favorite writers and producers Adam Reeds, formally of 70/30 Productions, and his new production squad (Floyd County Productions) have a new cartoon out called Archer on FX. The show pick up right where his other great cartoons (Frisky Dingo, SeaLab 2021) left off. Nothing but awkward racy humor with great voices H. Jon Benjamin and Aisha Tyler. If FX pulls this show after the 6 episode contract I will revolt like a Zapatista!

Anyways if you want to see any of the old 70/30 shows they are shown on AdultSwim.com ad nauseum.

If your are feeling a little more daring and need a great laugh check out Archer's personal twitter. Has probably 20 of the best 100 one liners of all time on it

Digital Shorts rhymes with SlimJim Jhorts

2010-01-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

Andy Sambergs digital shorts are about 50/50 some are really good and the others just seems like he grabbed a celebrity and made something up on the spot.. When he does that they are terrible, and are almost instantly overrated because of his status on SNL and acceptability within mainstream America.

This parody kills me to no end, it's a spot on rip on the digital shorts. At the end when he's getting fired and he busts out the Slim Jim line makes me wanna pee my pants every time. I had to rewind it about seven times.

Teenage BottleRocket ... or the Ramones Redux

2009-11-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Teenage BottleRocket is composed of a pair of punk rock twins, the ex lead signer of one of my favorite bands (and in my opinion the best pop punk band ever The Lillingtons) and a gun for hire bass player that's been all over this country playing fine punk rock. As I went to see them at the Satyricon in PDX last night I was reminded about how these bands (both Lillingtons and TBR) are comprised of all the things we love about the Ramones.

The 1-2-3-4's from the drummer before almost every song... That 3 to 5 chords in a riff that gets stuck in your head for the next week... They all wear the same basic thing on stage (normally with them all coming on stage with leather jackets and black jeans).... The set list has no breaks except to chug some water (seriously last night they played for a little over an hour and I think they took like 10 minutes to say Hi and drink water over the course of that hour... they went from song to song like lightning) ..... The fact that these guys genuinely get along (The Ramones' were often quoted that they would go from city to city on tour without talking to each other... There was some serious resentment in the band... ).

That's the biggest difference, TBR gets along, they talk to each other and odds are do sing alongs when in the van on the road. The other biggest difference from them and the Ramones is their harmony's. Kody (from The Lillingtons) has one of the smoothest original voices in punk rock (now that Jack Dalrymple is on hiatus)... and Ray Carlisle (who is none to shabby a singer) trade off vocals that very much resemble a finer tuned version of Joey Ramone harmonizing with himself. Their lyrics range from anything from hating work, to outer space, to songs about girls.... None the less every chorus these guys sings is instantly burnt into your head, the melody's are second to none in these days full of Indy noise and DJ's just playing old hits remixed.

Check em Out

Put it in the Flavor Bin

2009-10-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Normally I hate anything hipsters do, say, or wear... Mainly because living in PDX so many people are willing to throw the label at me... Cause I'm a little punk, wear clothes that fit me and ride a single speed... But I'm not, and I'm not gonna sit here and bash hipsters, it makes me a judgmental doosh like them.

Never the less that is not what this post is about.. It is about these two self appointed hipster's Billions McMullen and Colby Parker Jr. ( I call them self-appointed, because they are anything but hipsters... I think they hang out with so many hipster that they suffer from Stockholm syndrome), both successful in their own right (Billions is a designer, producer, movie extra and Colby is the best male stripper in NYC, editor, and filmographer), are throwing down shapes in their own podcast, The Favor Bin.

The podcast consists of great interviews with dynamic characters, interesting banter, and great mixing (incorporating sound effects, Quicktime slideshow of what they are referencing, and a soundtrack that is solid) . The problem is I don't think they are all that consistent about making them, but is a must check out! Put it in the Flavor Bin!

Selvedge Yard

2009-10-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

My buddy Steve from Evade Designs (not posting a link, he's already linked on my sidebar.. both web and blog) blogged about the Selvedge Yard yesterday, but I had to blog about it today for different reasons... First some background, the Selvedge is basically a best of early 1900's pop culture... Babe Ruth, Classic cars, to The Who, which is what interested me.. They made a really interesting post about the "Wild Child" Keith Moon.

Before I was even a twinkle in my mothers eyes, she was a child of the 60's and 70's, her favorite rock band was The Who, and she was even lucky enough to see the original line-up... and even (I only will say this cause she doesn't read my blog) peed her pants cause she didn't want to leave to go to the bathroom while The Who was playing! That's true fandom...

I've always had this theory, that generations around mine don't go by the classic Tarantino line "You're either a Beatles or an Elvis fan" Which I think later became "You're either a Beatles or a Stones fan." Later generations growing up around hard rock, it became "You're either a Who or a Zeplin fan." That's where I fit in and for me the choice is easy... The Who... Granted the story lines around Zep and The Who are very similar... Amazing drummers that basically destroyed themselves... eccentric guitarists, pocket bass players and pompous doosh singers. The catalogs are very similar too except for the smaller fact that the Who had this uncanny ability to tap into the worlds social culture at the time (eg. Quadrophenia, Tommy, and The Kids are Alright).. Something I think Zeplin always wanted to do, but strayed from (basically cause they were so far up their own ass "experimenting with music" that would later become Metal). The Who wasn't this mythological band you couldn't touch and sang songs about nonsense... they were real, they sang about relate able subject matter and in my opinion The Who are the true grandparents to punk rock (best example them being at Woodstock for a whole 2 hours which involved smashing all their instruments and Keith Moon peeing on some hippies... I made that last bit up). But check out the post on the Selvedge Yard and reminisce about the days of old and see all the great photo's of Keith Moon and The Who.

Political Pumpkins

2009-10-26T16:49:00.000-07:00

This year when my roomates made me participate in some family pumpkin carving I chose to scare the crap out of some kids and make some parents uncomfortable when trick or treating at the house this year. My ode to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation with the masked Zappa and star with the phrase "Ya Basta" which means "That's Enough". For anyone unfamiliar with the Zaps here's a link.

Holden Outerwear is Proper/ Winter Casual

2009-10-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

It always helps to have buddies that work in the apparel/clothing industry, Why? Cause you get samples, discounts and they always know people who are out drinking. After last years winter, my crappy Columbia jackent did not hold up, and I walked into work this morning soaking (I ride to work). Also when it's raining in PDX it's snowing up on Mt. Hood, and I just put in my order with my bro Nate over at Holden for the mineral green Erwin Jacket. You shant miss me rolling around town and bi-planking on the mountain in this;

Illipino Clothing

2009-10-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Illipino is a style of clothing close to the heart of the Phillipino community. The owners preferred not to be identified because it's more important that the culture be spread, not someone making a profit off the culture. Which is why they asked this honkey to put a their website together, I work for cheap and they aren't out to make money. It is sleek, simple and efficient. These shirts are now being retailed in shops in the San Fransico area and around Portland, but you can always order one at Illipino.com.

E.A.D.I.A.F Smack Talking Website

2009-10-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

One thing about Hooligans are ... They are great at talking trash... and can't live without it. As a frequenter of their message boards and as a Timber Army member I know this first hand, so much so that they approached me to set up a website/blog for their domain EatADickInAFire.com. To see some quality hating from around the football world and whatever else they are talking trash about check out their site.

*edit - apparently the host thought this was a porn site, after about 6 months of the site being up... Would like to say there was NO nudity. So I'm currently looking for a new host so we can go back to talking some serious shit.

First Post total BS

2009-10-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Mature Content!!!!!!! Chopper is my new hero!!