Author: Robert Gomez

Oh, Hello There…

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Although I try to minimize political posting here on the Pages of Fun, about a week ago I decided to run with a post featuring a “Tea Party” protest poster I created: Teabagger / Teabaggee. I tweeted (I hate that term… almost as much as webinar) a link, got a few dozen hits and that was that.

However, yesterday I started to get all sorts of notifications of new comments in my inbox regarding this post. I went and checked my analytics account:

Analytics!

This could graph could mean one of two things: anthropogenic global warming is real and we are all on the cusp of the apocalypse, or someone on the Internet with many more readers than me linked to my page. Fortunately it was latter. I was able to back track to find out where all these hits were coming from:

PJTV’s Stephen Green (a.k.a. Vodkapundit) featured the post on his weekly show, The Week in Blogs. In fact, he referred to it as “The Photoshop of Week” and “The Blog of the Week.” Also (and I’m not sure if this came first) I was also linked on Glenn Reynold’s mighty Instapundit blog!

In the immortal words of Three Stoned Men, “Smells Like the Big Time!” Ok, time to check my Google Adsense account and see all that money I raked in:

Google Adsense Winnings!

Dammit.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (10/10)

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It has been a while since I’ve read a contemporary novel that I liked this much. Motherless Brooklyn is a pretty standard hard-boiled detective story with the noteworthy twist being that the protagonist/narrator has tourette’s syndrome. In many ways Lionel Essrog is like T.V.’s Adrian Monk—counting, touching, and ticcing his way through life—but, unlike Monk, Lionel’s disorder isn’t his super-detective power. His outbursts seem to explode at the worst possible times which adds an additional level of tension to already tense situations. This is a great story with a fascinating study of what it must really be like to suffer from tourettes added to the mix.

Gamer (5/10)

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I can’t believe this is not a SciFi Channel movie. It’s okay, I guess, but the film tries too hard to be a Paul Verhoeven satire and mostly falls flat. Too much stupid 00’s shaky cam crap in lieu of actual action.

Booth Concept – Immersion - Digital Image

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This is an illustration that I created a while ago for a company that was developing medical technology. The illustration is one of a series of maybe 3 or 4 that I made as concepts for a possible trade show booth. This one was going to use a virtual reality “cave” to allow a user to view microbes in 3-D. In the process of creating this proposal we got to try out the VR Cave at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Unfortunately, the client never ended up using any of our concepts.

The original illustration actually featured two users:

Booth Concept - Immersion Variation

Booth Concept – Terminator - Digital Image

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This is an illustration that I created a while ago for a company that was developing medical technology. The illustration is one of a series of maybe 3 or 4 that I made as concepts for a possible trade show booth. This one was going to use a virtual reality “cave” to simulate battling microbes. In the process of creating this proposal we got to try out the VR Cave at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Unfortunately, the client never ended up using any of our concepts.

Teabagger / Teabaggee

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I have never been in much for political protesting, rallies and the like. About the closest I have ever come to partaking in a political march was two-mile “fun run” in Wildlife Prairie Park back when I was 13 or so. These days, however, I find myself sympathizing quite a bit with the Tea Party movement. Although it is mostly a conservative and libertarian movement, the basic theme of limited goverment and fiscal responsibility is a constant, and they seem to be committed to calling out big government politicians on both sides of the aisle.

It pains me when I hear my more liberal friends and family members go off on the movement. This ranges from the lefty catch-all of calling anyone who disagrees with them a fascist, to pointing out the one less-than-moron in the crowd of thousands who decided to draw a Hitler mustache on a xerox of the president, to spewing the ever-so-clever insult, “Teabaggers!”

This morning, the news channels are all abuzz with stories about the seathing cauldron… er, teapot of hate that is the Tea Party movement. These reports range from being overblown to being downright false. At the moment, the movement needs as much support as it can get. So, in order to do my part (without actually having to leave my cave), I have put together this protest sign for you young Tea Party activists to bring to your next rally:

Bagger / Baggee

The “Teabaggee” line is borrowed from a Twitter post by Jim Treacher from several months ago. I added the balls (You can never have enough balls, just ask the disembodied ghost of the great juggling enthusiast, Michael Jackson). I liked the way the phrase takes ownership of the word teabagger and throws it back in the face, literally, of those who use it as an insult. I went with this poster idea because it is juvenile, borderline offensive (without being graphic) and, by throwing in the words “limited government” and “fiscal responsibility,” it has a touch of seriousness. Anyhow, I think it would make a good sign in a crowd of Tea Partiers. If you think so too, feel free to grab the PDF and give it a go. Let me know if you manage to use it somehow.

Bagger / Baggee Sign ConceptDownload

Macchie Solari by Ennio Morricone - CD (9/10)

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This is another solid release in Digitmovies series of giallo soundtracks. The record is comprised, for the most part, of Morricone’s experimental soundscapes—many of which are laid over a bass groove or drumbeat. Very cool. I especially like Edda D’Orso’s moaning and whimpering vocals. This disc will have you on edge. The noise is bookended by the starkly contrasting and wonderfully mellow title track.

Planet Pimp Comment Thread

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In case you haven’t noticed, I maintain a little site that pays homage to Planet Pimp Records, the greatest record label ever. That site, unlike this one, is not built on a fancy content management system so visitors have no way to leave comments for others to read. In order to fix this, I’ve created this page as the official comment area for my unofficial Planet Pimp tribute site. So start commentating commentators!