All posts by Normal Bob

Artist, Atheist, Anthropologist http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/nyregion/26union.html?_r=2&
Dressup, Magnets, Union Square

Last Day of March Recap

It’s been a long LONG horrible winter, but it seems to finally be ending. And even though it’s been pouring rain all weekend I can’t express enough what a relief even this wet and sunless 50 degree day was. Now, I’m sure any of you who’ve been regulars to the site for more than a couple years have noticed how things have slowed down here. Hate mail has ceased, everyone’s on their phones and the internet’s changed a thousand different ways in just the last 3 years. However that doesn’t mean I’ve gone away. Thankfully the Jesus magnets keep me in business, and it seems they might for the rest of my life. Let’s hope.

Unfortunately BDSM Jesus is completely sold out. The Jesus Christ Superstar set is almost gone (I think I have one or two more boxes of 40 left). And the Star Wars Jesus will surely disappear in 2014. I’d be getting more made immediately if my recent forced move hadn’t depleted all my holiday profits to the red. Believe me, as soon as I get it together I’ll be producing more, and I’d like to have the Batman ones by Christmas 2014, if you want them. Do you though?

“Batman WHAT?!?!” you say?! Yes! Batman Jesus is the latest of my JDU variations. I’m still up for additional costumes to the page if any of you Batman nerds out there have suggestions. Is there something obvious you think I’ve forgotten? Tell me about it! And before I get completely off the topic, if you know of a store in your area that’d possibly carry my product on their shelves, please tell me about that too.

Gigi Deluxe art
Gigi Deluxe in hitchhiking bikini digitized in Adobe Illustrator for dressup game

Other updates to the site – This winter I did a lot of drawing to maintain my sanity. So you can check out some of the sexy favorites I did in my portfolio, and everything else worth looking at is on Facebook, for now.

Also, you know that “Other” folder in your Facebook messages? The one you remember every couple years, and then when you do there’s shit there you wish you would’ve seen the year it was sent? Well, today I discovered another one of my hate mailers, Luke, sent an apology which appears to be one of his 12 Step requirements. I was actually touched, and I took off any and all personal information of Luke’s so you can see his email and he can move on. Sorry Luke that I didn’t get it sooner! Facebook really needs to ditch the Other folder. Does anyone really want their mailman guessing which letters are & aren’t important to us?

bitches don't know
“Bitches don’t get my style!” as he appears on the 2014 Matchgame Postcard

So a couple weeks ago I posted what I thought was a pretty average video of a guy we’ve all seen at the park swaggin’ around with a headset on for the last year or two. Then a couple days later, in the middle of the night, that video got 120,000 views on it! And now it’s up to 250,000 views, and I’m perplexed! I mean, I saw that it got on Reddit, and some other UK sites, then Gothamist picked it up after that, but in all truth I can’t wrap my head around why it’s such a big deal. I mean, Shaggy and I caught a guy shoplifting at Starbucks, and that video doesn’t even have 5,000 hits! And every time someone tries to explain it to me I STILL can’t fathom the craze! But perhaps you will. See for yourself.

Speaking of which, you know what else has been getting a lot of views seemingly out of nowhere? The Facebook page for Mohammed Dressup! Both Haters & Likers have been hittin’ it up, Liking and commenting on the wall… And that’s about it. No one’s buying the magnets as of yet, but I’ll take what I can get. There could be a point in the semi-near future where I conclude the Mohammed magnets are a complete bust and I’m the bonehead for thinking there’s an ex-Muslim subculture with internet access to appreciate them. Maybe they need a few more decades to see the humor in it all. All is not lost however. One of the few stores that carries them, Wacko on Hollywood Blvd just reordered another batch! So all is not lost. Isn’t “Draw Mohammed Day” coming up here in May? Maybe something can happen then?

As for everything else, the Amazing Strangers will be back at the Square soon enough.
I’m available for freelance work if you have art projects of almost any kind that you’d pay to have done.
Oh, and if you’re really a pro at coding, my dress up games need repairing! Firefox & Google Chrome did something to their browsers last October that deactivated the movable layers feature in my games. If you can figure out a fix besides the “use Safari instead” answer, I’ll pay for your services!

The fact that I still have any visitors to my site some 13 years later means a lot to me.
Your continued interest keeps it going. Now excuse me while I get ready to watch the latest episode of Cosmos.

Normal Bob Smith
bob@normalbob.com

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Dressup, Magnets, Starbucks, Union Square, Year In Review

Moved

It’s been forever since I’ve updated, or have even done anything productive on the site. I have a good excuse though. A couple months ago I got word that the building I live in was sold, and everyone had to be out by January 15th. It was quite an interruption to any holiday spirit I might have had. It’s the place I’d been living for more than 7 years, and I had accumulated quite the stockpile of Jesus & Mohammed magnets. So the job ahead flashed before my eyes and all creativity ceased to be.

Anyhow, I’m completely moved into my new residence as of this week, and 2 tons of magnets (not an exaggeration) have been put into storage. Jesus God, I just did the math on that and I’m having trouble believing it myself. But I finally feel like I have a stable home base again. I’ve realized through this whole ordeal that having to move is my number one anxiety producing fear, beating out Death by a landslide. It goes hand in hand with my fear of landlords.

Brooklyn Club Kids
My first sighting of club kids in my neighborhood

Oh Christ, and I can’t tell you how much it stings being on the butt-end of NYC’s inside joke about “Hipsters being gentrified out of Bushwick by the incoming Generation Tween.” This is so very real. Some sort of trickling leak in the damn ruptured in 2013, and the flood seems to be dressed in outfits their parents got them for Christmas. I’m not talking about young wanna-be artists & hipsters. Looking poor & “not able to afford” is OUT! I think Occupy may have drained the life out of that fashion statement. What I’m talking about now is streams of young professionals hoisting bushels of shopping bags, with electronics coming out of every hole in their head trying to replicate something they’ve seen on “Girls” or “Sex In The City” or whatever the hit NYC based sitcom is at the moment. I haven’t got my thumb on it precisely yet, but if you’re next to me on the JMZ I’ve no problem pointing it out in great abundance. It’s really an embarrassment.

The holidays have completely depleted my stock of BDSM Jesus Dressup magnets. Those are SOLD OUT! While the Original version, Star Wars & Jesus Christ Superstar are all tied for 2nd. Those will be gone by Summer I predict, so be warned! I did however stumble across a couple boxes of the old 2006 version of Final Justice which have always been my favorite. So to celebrate self-love I’ve added those to the store until they’re gone too.

I know there’s an Amazing Strangers “Year In Review” owed to you. It is in the works. Shaggy has already given his rant on film. Now all that’s left is editing. I’m on it. [Click here for video] For the life of me I’m trying to figure out where the next creative burst is going to relieve itself on the site. I have some ideas, but only time will tell. Other than all that everything else has been fine. Magnet sales are always abundant through the holidays, and freelance jobs have been consistent and keeping me busy otherwise.

Thank you to all of you who continue to keep me in business despite my performance levels! You have not gone unnoticed.
Normal Bob

Quarter Guy, Union Square

Quarter Guy Mysteries Revealed

A few days ago Amazing Strangers got a shout-out on Buzzfeed for my coverage on some “Celebs who’re only famous in NYC,” including Wendell & Quarter Guy. As far as I know this is the first time Quarter Guy has gotten any kind of press coverage outside of my site.

Now, Quarter Guy is easily one of the most mysterious & evasive characters I’ve come across in my Amazing Stranger hunts. No one knows him, he hangs completely alone, and seems genuinely unable to have any sort of normal conversation with anybody. Certainly one of the most obsessive & bizarre characters NYC has to offer. Unlike Wendell for instance, Quarter Guy does none of what he does for show. Nor does he do it for sexual fulfillment like other non-socials I’ve followed, ie: Earth Angel or the Peepers. Quarter Guy seems to stand alone. In Shaggy’s own words, “Quarter Guy is the most authentic New Yorker there is.” – Yet, no one knows anything about him. Until now.

Earlier today I received an email from someone who once knew the Quarter Guy.
Here is what she had to tell.

Normal Bob,
Came across a post on Facebook that included the Quarter Guy. Link took me to your page. I know this guy. Or should I say I knew him when I was younger. His name is Kim Williams. He graduated the H.S. of Art and Design between 1983-85. I believe he was a year ahead of me. Was friends with him back then, we where even in a band after H.S. very briefly. He played drums. Lost touch with him shortly after that. We all did stuff back in the day, but everyone pretty much knew their limits. Kim just kinda faded away, then I started hearing stories about him or a guy that looked like him around Union Square. I lived uptown in the 90s, and then briefly in the LES around 2000. I remember seeing him, but he didn’t recognize me. The guy I knew was pretty much gone.Not sure why I’m writing this, maybe just to put a name to the face and just to say he wasn’t always like this. The guy I remembered was funny, a good drummer, and a decent person. Maybe it was drugs, maybe mental issues, maybe somewhere in between, or maybe he said fuck all this rat race bullshit, and mentally checked out on his own terms.
Anon.
Whoa. This is not at all what I was expecting. When you see the videos of him, is there any of that personality in the guy you once knew?When you say you “did stuff” back in the day, I’m not sure if you’re talking drugs, or just regular things like you went out for pizza and movies stuff. Can you clarify?If you had to estimate about when he started going around for quarters when would you guess?
Thank you for contacting me.
Normal Bob
Recreational drugs. No needles or anything crazy. Don’t want to start rumors. I just watched a videos, sorry to troll. It’s just blowing my mind. The girl in the video is a classmate or ours. I can’t remember her name, but I know the face. I’m surprised he recognized her, but when I saw him so many years ago he seemed really messed up. That was roughly 14 years ago though. I’m guessing he didn’t want to talk to you in front of her.He was a really talented, guy art wise and music wise. Maybe he didn’t want to put it out in front of her that he pan handles. That would be my guess, if I was on the street and ran into someone from the past. Or maybe not? I don’t know. Like I said before, maybe it’s mental, drugs, or maybe just dropped out hippie style?
Anon.

To read more about the Quarter Guy you can visit his page on my site, or type “quarter guy normal bob” into YouTube search and try and figure it out for yourself.