Category Archives: Blog

Blog, Hate Mail

Complaint Dept

drawing of snarky satan in bowtie
Self Portrat digitized in Adobe Illustrator

As my longtime viewers & fans already know, I have a long history with complainers. Hell, the first 10 years of this site were dedicated to hate mailers. I’ve gotten those who pledge to never purchase my products again, ones who mercilessly insult my talents, and even some who threaten my life. And though the trend of complaining via email appears to have ceased, it has really only shifted mediums. Now it’s YouTube comments. People sometimes HATE what I shoot! They’re disgusted with my complete lack of knowing what a proper Public Freakout video is, or sometimes it’s my own opinions being so upsetting that they have to make their statement by typing “UNSUBSCRIBE” and I assume, very purposefully doing exactly that. Such is the case with one of my most recent videos that’s getting thrashed in the comments.

I don’t think people realize that the videos are for me. Beyond that there’re for the people at the Square. After that it could be argued that they’re for New Yorkers. But beyond that you’re on your own. Unsubscribing means nothing to me. Complaints, insults, thumbs down, they all will not effect what I’m going to do. I figured out over a decade ago that you just can’t let people’s complaints about what you’re doing change you. Not if you yourself like what you’ve done. And I definitely do. I rewatch my videos again and again, year after year.

On the flip side of that however, I do love reading the discussions when other commenters stand up and defend my position (their own too, I assume). They do a far better job of explaining most the time than I ever could. Thank you for that. You know who you are.

While I’m on the topic, I’ve only just now gotten an iPhone. My first smartphone. No joke, I had a flip phone up until last month. But I knew if I was going make my living off the internet I had to get with the times. And already I’m on it way too much. I’ve put off getting one for so long because since I got my first laptop back in about 2005 or so I knew my problem would be not being able to get away from the net. And that goes tenfold for this phone! I don’t want to be in constant 24 hour contact with every update in my friends lives while they’re somewhere else! In fact, I’d go so far as to say I shouldn’t be! We shouldn’t be! Things are just fine with me catching up on this information at the end of each day.

Don’t get me wrong, if something’s happening that’s important they can call me anytime. But being caught up on every funny video Liked, each political viewpoint they agree or disagree with, what they’re having for lunch, or the celebrity they resemble most, I don’t need to be up to the minute on. That’s not catching up on your friends’ lives. It’s items of the lowest priority. It’s meaningless. It’s masturbation. And it’s me too. I put myself, along with everybody else as not having an evolved enough brain to deal with this particular technological advancement. And this is not the first time I’ve declared my position on this issue.

One of the commenters (Stephanie Lovecat) put it perfectly:

“You people are missing the point.
I get that you think Normal Bob isn’t doing anything but the same thing as one of these Scrollers, but he’s doing a service to us more than him.

On this channel we’re seeing tons of life perspectives. We’re getting a unique glimpse into people’s lives. YES, we can get that on Facebook as well, BUT these are live videos. We can see and hear authentic movements and audio coming from parts of the world 99% of us are not from.

Facebook scrolling isn’t doing anything for us but filling us up with 20 million different emotions and perspectives at the clock of seconds. There’s nothing to gain but overwhelming senses that result in us sitting on our phones with our mouth open, thumbing a screen up and down.

At least Normal Bob is showing us substantial evidence that this virtual reality we seem to be living in the 21st century, isn’t the only fucking entertaining thing in this world. We’re not all technology zombies. I prefer Youtube over Facebook anyday. Videos are a special thing…”

But from what I’m hearing this opinion is typical hipster bullshit, end of discussion.

So to all of you who get what I’m doing, I appreciate that you noticed. All others, please don’t feel obligated to stay subscribed. You might be at the wrong channel. Unless of course you enjoy regularly complaining. Then by all means stick around and upset yourself.

Here’s some of my most recent photos.

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Amazing Strangers, Art, Blog, Freelance, News, Portfolio, Union Square

I Have Returned

hot girl with leg tattoo
Sasha from Paterson NJ

Not sure if you noticed, but the site’s been down for a couple weeks. I was having it moved from an old server to a new one by my host so it’d run faster, and it took longer than expected. WAY longer! Nearly 3 weeks for it to be up and running properly again! It was terrible. It killed my online sales, traffic dwindled to nearly nothing, and you can’t imagine how frustrating it is getting emails saying “Do you still sell your magnets? You should start doing that again. They were cool!”

But now it’s back up. And it does seem to be loading faster. Do you agree?

Also,  guess what. I finally got a smart phone! No kidding. Up until last week I’ve had a flip phone. One that my friends and family all made fun of. And whenever someone came up to me at the park accusing me of making money off the homeless, I’d pull it out and say “Paid for by the exploitation of the homeless!”

Anyhow, if I expect to be making videos, taking pictures, drawing pictures and putting them on the web I had to get a new phone. Which also means I can finally get on Instagram! Go see for yourself.

Art

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I like to consider myself an artist. I’m an artist for pleasure, and for hire. There’s been a few pieces I’ve completed recently that I’m quite proud of. One of which is a job I did for IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Tammy Jones.

drawing of muscular female bodybuilder
Portrait of female bodybuilder Tammy Jones IFBB Pro digitized in Adobe Illustrator for promotional use on her site.

A portrait for use of her up coming show. I can’t express loudly enough how these sorts of projects are my favorite kinds of projects.

Christopher Amotharis Bunny censored digitized in Adobe Illustrator
Christopher Amotharis Bunny censored digitized in Adobe Illustrator

Also, I recently drew a portrait of Christopher Amotharis. I’d seen this German death metal kid online posing in some of the most bold & alluring looks imaginable. It’s a beauty I don’t see celebrated enough in this world. So I feel it’s my job to do it. There’s also an uncensored version NSFW as well. You cannot view a fully accurate illustration of Christopher unless you’re willing to go uncensored. Sorry, but it’s true.

drawing of girl art
Portrait of Lola digitized in Adobe Ilustrator

And the same goes for the gorgeous Lola. A piece also to celebrate an under appreciated beauty. Lola with the Universe in her Eyes needs to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. Soon I hope to get enough of these printed and framed to have a show of my own of some sort, somewhere. That’s always been a rarely voiced dream of mine.

Union Square

I plan to have the new postcard out next month. And of course during this time of absence from the internet I’ve busied myself taking lots of photos and videos at the Square. I’ve been enjoying the process of creating this imagery more than ever before. I just love it, and I feel like I’m doing some of my best work lately. Now if only I could figure out how people get rich off it.


Amazing Strangers, Anthropology, Art, Blog, Freelance, News, Products, Store

I am a Man with many Questions & Answers

I’m very happy to present No Your City’s final episode GET TO NO NORMAL BOB! I’m so pleased with how it came out. I’ve been wanting something exactly like this for a while, and I strongly suggest you go see the vast array of No Your City episodes on other characters you may know from Union Square, and others even I’ve never heard of before. I love Nick’s work, and I think you will too.

FAQ

As of late, it seems some of the two most frequently asked questions about me in the comments section under the videos are:
1. How do you make your money?
2. Why don’t you comment under your videos?

How do I make my money?
For quite a while now, going on 13 years I’ve made my money selling Jesus Dressup magnets, and freelance art & design for people online. The Jesus magnets sell in stores around the USA and even in several other countries. I try to come out with a new version annually so as to maintain interest and supply. Sales have been slightly down this year, but they’re still a dependable income for me.

The freelance art comes in second place. I wish I had more jobs and could charge a higher price for the work I do, but it is something I’m good at. And I love to draw, and I’m lucky there are people out there willing to pay for my talent.

And that’s it. The videos do not make money. I have no advertising on them because I hate YouTube ads, and the amount it pays isn’t worth it. $1 for every 1,000 hits or something like that. Don’t quote me. I could be way off. That’s just what I’ve gathered.

I do not have a trust fund, and I am not rich. I have a roof over my head, and I’ve never had a problem putting food on my plate, which is a kind of “rich” to be sure. But I am quickly being priced out of the neighborhoods I move to way too often, and I constantly worry that I’ll be forced to move out of New York City for this very reason.

Why don’t I comment under the videos?
At the rare times when I do want to comment under the videos for some reason YouTube doesn’t let me. I’m not sure exactly why. They’ve made it more complicated than it used to be. I swear to God, when I do try to type in a comment and hit Post, it does nothing but erase the comment and nothing else. I’ve read up a little on it and it’s something to do with me not being a Google+ member or my Chrome settings even though I’m using Safari. Quite frankly, I’m happy it won’t let me post comments. I’ve found that other people are quick to answer for me sooner or later, and it also allows me to ignore the comments and just do what I like to do. Shoot and post videos instead.

Which is exactly what I’ve been doing lately! Lots of videos, and even more that I just need to find the time to edit. There’s been a whole lot of drama at the park, and the summer’s barely even kicked off!

And Finally, here’s a collection of the photos I’ve taken since last we met.

Amazing Strangers, Anthropology, Art, Blog, Freelance, Jesus Dressup, Magnets, Union Square

Calmly Begging for Rescue

Hire Me

Normal Bob sits above No Your City sticker
Normal Bob sits above No Your City Normal Bob place-holder

Yesterday I had an experience with a client that sent a chill down my spine. The client, who’s hired & paid me good money for an art  job told me, “I’ve got other jobs I’d love to have you working on, but you look so busy, I assume you don’t have the time for more stuff.”

In that brief instant, during a time when I’m scrambling around for money to pay bills, I imagined dozens of other potential clients saying to themselves, “Dammit! I’ve got jobs for this guy but he looks too busy to do them. I’ll go look for someone else I suppose.” Then flash forward 6 months to an image of me packing a U-Haul with what’s left of my possessions which have been put on the street by my landlord, on my way to a new life in Idaho to make some lame map of a park there that no one will ever care about.

Let me please be as clear as I know how to be. I need work. I have time for work. I LOVE to work! I also love to be all caught up on bills make-believing I can afford to still live in this city on a starving artist’s income. Please, for the love of God, if you’re out there needing art, or any other elements of my creativity, and you’re happy to pay, contact me! Prolong my stay in this expensive city! And thank you very much.

If you don’t have a job for me, but you’d still like to see me continue what I’m doing here, visit my store. That helps pay my bills as well.

I’m happy to say that after expressing these same thoughts to the aforementioned client he immediately sighed with relief and began a list of more jobs for me.

Jesus Dressup

This has been the toughest year for the magnets yet. The stores who’ve got them on their shelves have no problem selling them, but far too often I’ve been losing them because of customer complaints. It’s an ongoing problem I’ve always had to deal with (others frowning upon me profiting off the crucifixion), but I’m shocked at how many store managers as of late just don’t even want to chance it.

I’ve been dying to produce the new Batman Jesus Dressup I’ve got it designed and ready to go, but as I mentioned in the previous entry, I just can’t seem to accumulate the necessary funds to get that ball rolling. I’ve gotten a few stores recently who are very excited about Jesus Dressup in general, and it’s because of you people that I was able to find those stores and send them samples. So if there’s a store in your neighborhood you think might be interested in my magnets, please don’t hesitate to pass their name onto me. That simple act can make a world of difference.

Union Square

Amazing Strangers Wendell icon

Things are just getting underway at the Square, and I’ve got the camera rolling. Everyone’s been asking about that hat thief kid, whether or not he’s behaving himself since then, if he’s crazy or on drugs, and anything else I might know about him. All I can say is he’s been at the park several times since and has been pretty subdued. No other excitement from him yet, and from the looks of it he appears to have learned his lesson.

I’ve avoided tracking him down and grilling him for answers simply because if he wants his space I’m happy to give it to him. Also, I always have the lingering fear in the back of my head that when we finally do talk he’s going to ask for the video to be taken down. Yes, that’s what I have to deal with regularly in this unconventional hobby.

And then today, Apr 21, 2015 he approached me having just seen the video for the first time, twenty days later. His reasons and explanations may not be what you expect.

I got word that Chewy (Tarzan) got caught trying to sell dope to an undercover, and because he’s got priors he’s been put away for more than a few years. Matty Ice has been MIA since the last video. And there’s no sign yet of Lotion Man either.

I could go down the list of everybody who’s made an appearance thus far, but it’s easier just to show off the photos I’ve been taking.