The big news this week is the arrival of the brand NEW & awesome Original Jesus Dressup 2018! It was 15 years ago when the first Jesus Dressup came out, and the comparison of that one and this one is striking.
The 2003 Original & the 2018 Original comparison
By eliminating the text at the bottom, utilizing all of the spare room on the page, and a die cut that’s right to the outline of the of art I was able to get nearly double the number of clothes items on a set! I’m just so thrilled with how perfect it came out. It’s everything I ever wanted Jesus Dressup to be.
If you know of a store in your area you think might carry these on their shelves, or if you yourself are interested in selling these, please contact me for wholesale information. Or if you just want to get one to play with by yourself in your lonesome, here ya go!
The Original Jesus Dressup fridge magnets ($15) include a hula skirt w/coconut bra, Marilyn Monroe dress, mermaid’s tail, selfie stick and a wide variety of hats, shoes, pants and everything inbetween
As for my Union Square visit, I was there the entire month of May, and I’ve still got a lot of footage left to share with all of you. I spent time with Inna, Shaggy, Alexa, Tabatha, Erica Mancini, Ricky Dale and a whole bunch of of others that I’m looking forward to getting up online. I do however plan to take my time with each of these vids so you’ll just have to be patient. I don’t want to rush things.
I figured I had to write this story of what’s happened here visiting NYC for the month of May 2018. I’ve been really looking forward to the getaway to film Union Sq and see friends. I got a lot of great stuff shot there the first week. Roman showed up for an interview, I got Wendell making me a hat, and then lots of other great moments too. I made a mistake though. I started posting stuff right away, and the news of my return spread swiftly among the ne’er-do-wells.
There’s a video I regret posting. Yes, another one. The Human Stallion video. It’s me interviewing Bridget who knows this guy Erick, a disturbed gangster kid at Union who’d gotten into trouble for having sex with horses. You read that right. Not rumor or exaggeration I’m sorry to say. And it was my opinion when I posted it that this story was important for anyone who might come in contact with Erick Rivera to see. It was only up for a day when Bridget’s bf told her to tell me to take it down. So I did. Years later, after I moved outta NYC I chose to post it, again, without a thought. Then I forgot about it. I should have never posted it. It’s not even that great of a vid. Just shocking. An example of the type Union attracts. It’s also the reason I’ll probably never return to filming at Union Square ever again.
This video is now unlisted.
Let me explain.
So now it’s 6 years later, 2018, and a couple nights ago I’m here at Camille’s (she really hooked me up. I’m renting her place for the month while she’s away), I get really stoned and decide I’m in the mood to go out. So I hop on the train, and of course I end up at Union Square. I walk up the subway steps, walk towards these SVA kids chalking the tiles around the steps people sit on. Then I look over at that half wall by the ramp on the east side and at a glance I think I see Erick sitting there. Now mind you I’m stoned, paranoid, and weirder still the day before Free Hugs Jeremy says to me ‘I saw that video you made about Erick and the horses”. So his image is already there in my head. I go to sit down on the steps, look over again, and I swear again it’s Erick, but not enough light to tell for sure. As I sat down I look over again and see the guy hop down, as if me sitting caused his action. My body just reacted. I immediately stood up and walked the other way, west to the back of the park towards 15th, very consciously trying not to look back over my shoulder to expose my face to him. Just moving forward fast.
Finally I work up the courage to glance over my shoulder and I can’t tell if he’s following me because there’s people everywhere! Have I explained how dangerous this person is? He’s in and out of prison, and I’ve seen him beat up many people at the park, including girls. Including Jeremy, for that matter. I have video of him fighting on YouTube titled “Wherefore art thou big Nino”. We called him and his buddy Big & Little Nino”. And I am personally responsible for posting the video calling him a horse-fucker.
Yeah. Really really smart Bob.
Erick Rivera/Human Stallion
I stopped at the corner of 15th and University with my back right up against the building so I could peer around the corner. I swear I saw his tall friend Big Nino striding towards me. I thought “No fucking way! I’m just paranoid because I’m stoned!”
I turn and look again and it’s just some tall tourist walking by. But I’m still not positive that the other guy was Erick. So I walk a block west to 5th Ave, then south a couple blocks to 13th, then back east taking the LONG way around back to the park.
I then walked alongside a moving bus to sneak into Wholefoods and look down at the park from their window to see if I can recognize him for sure. When I get there I see the same dude sitting in the same place fiddling with his phone, but it’s after 9p and too dark to see. I decide to try another angle. I leave and go up to the J&M store windows next door to possibly use the zoom on camera. That doesn’t work either. So I leave there and walk around to Scenester Island, all the while keeping an eye on that guy on the wall. I know if I don’t confirm whether or not it’s Erick it’ll haunt my brain for the rest of my stay. I walk over to the east sidewalk there where I can see the back of him through the wire fence and bushes. I’m about 20 feet from him now. I glance around the fence there up the length of that half-wall, and GODDAMN IT’S FUCKING ERICK, angrily tapping away at his phone while looking around at the park like he’s really really pissed off! No doubt this time. No doubts at all. I immediately leave, down into the subway and take the train straight home. I was so panicked I deleted the video from YouTube through my phone on the train home. The reality of how helpless I felt if someone were to actually attack me hit me hard.
I guarantee you the reason he was sitting over on that half wall at the east side instead of his normal “Fountain Gang Bang Bang” headquarters on the roach nest side is not only because it’s the side I sit on, but he can’t show his face on the other side without being recognized by his peeps. He was hiding. It’s while I’m on the train I also remember making eye-contact the day before with a girl who knows both of us, and the look she gave me was absolute shock before she turned away. The same girl who tells Roman off at the end of this video. I’m sure she’s the one who told him I was back in town.
Test from Bridget, May 10, 2018
To seal the deal, when I get back to the apartment there’s a message on my phone from Bridget.
“Are u here sir?! How ling u here?”
This tells me the word of my return has gotten to them, and she’s probably in communication with Erick and whoever else.
I text her back like we’re still friends, “A couple more days. That’s how ling haha!” LIES! I’m such a smartass.
It’s not until the next morning she responds, “When are you leaving?”
I respond, “I’m only here a couple more days” even though it’s actually another few weeks!
Knowing her, she’ll spread the word that I’m gone after the weekend and I’ll be able to worry a lot less about it. But I’m going to avoid Union the rest of my stay here. NOT WORTH IT!
After thinking more on how I got away, because of that railing, when he hopped off that wall he had to walk down that ramp with his back to me for a moment which is right when I stood, turned & split.
He must have been dumbstruck when he’d just seen me sit my ass, and a few seconds later he saw only an empty seat.
Shaggy said I can say “I snaked him!”
Makes it sound less cowardly, I suppose.
I still need to see Wendell about the hat he’s making for me, but that can wait a week or two. Might even send Nick or Shaggy to get it for me. And I’ve decided that it’s best to keep this story as much of a secret as possible. I want all those involved to forever be dumbfounded about how the evening of May 10th, 2018 Normal Bob was at Union Square, then he just disappeared.
I hope that fucker sits out there all summer long waiting for me to come around while the regs walk by him thinking, “Oh! Horse Fucker’s back.”
I know, it’s been months. In fact the last update was last year, goddammit! No need to worry about me, or the continuation of all these projects I started but can’t seem to ever finish. Everything’s still a go-project in some form or another, as it has always been, and looks as if it’ll always be for as long as I’m alive. What the hell have I gotten myself into in this life?
It was 20 years ago this month I made my first ever website. And no, it wasn’t Jesus related. Hell, I think I would have even considered myself a believer still at this point.
In 1997 my oldest brother Chris introduced me to the internet, as well as Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator. Shortly after I bought my first Mac. Then in 1998, fascinated with this new connection to everyone else in the worldwide web I got a copy of the now defunct Adobe Pagemill and started experimenting with building websites. My very first one was centered around the board game my brothers and I had invented called Crisis.
We actually created Crisis in 1991. By 1992 we bought a booth at Gen Con and made that happen a couple years in a row. After selling 1,000 copies over the course of several more years we each had other plans for the future and put it behind us. I mention this because, well not only the 20th anniversary of the site aspects, but also because we’re actually looking into producing it again. These people seem to think there’s a thirsty market out there for board games such as this again. For right now that’s all I have to say about that. But stay tuned.
I’m headed back to NYC next month to shoot more Union Square footage for all of you. And for me too. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve missed it. And I’ve pretty much concluded that given the right circumstances I’d probably even move back. Eventually. For now though the plan is to visit regularly. I miss having new content, editing those stories together, saving these important memories. Most of all though I miss being around people. Where I’m at now I have no people. No friends. No social life. Nowhere to go around here for someone to talk to. Absolutely no potential people to flirt with. And this is all driving me insane! So I am returning for a short time to momentarily solve some of these issues.
I have been able to make one Amazing Strangers related project happen here though. An Amazing Strangers book of photos & stories. Nothing fancy, and my presumption is nothing that’ll make a profit of any sort. But a book nonetheless. There’s a coffee shop/book store here called Book Nook, and they’ve made their publishing services available to me. So once there’s a book there’s a plan to have monthly video presentations at the cafe to promote it. I’m really hoping this is something that’ll happen. I’ll be sure to send out invitations to anyone who’d like to come to Michigan to see such a thing hosted by me.
Lastly, there will indeed be a new Jesus Dressup set this year. In June the long overdue, new Original Jesus Dressup will hit stores! You can thank the success of last year’s Trump Dressup magnets to make this possible, i.e: affordable. We sold about half our stock of the Trumps before the end of 2017, and we’re expecting to sell the rest by Christmas 2018!
First sample of the new Original Jesus Dressup magnet set. The tightest die cut & most dress items on a set ever!
So yeah. I think that’s everything. I’ll hit you up if anything else happens.
Today I did an extremely frank interview with Christian Sears on his “Investigates” podcast. We talk about the past, future and behind the scenes of Amazing Strangers. Here’s that interview, a link to the Homeless Exposer blog, and below it are the videos in which we chatted about.
Videos discussed…
The Peeper Project includes the Inside Edition & CNN segments, plus behind the scenes of the peepers caught. And this is the link to all the Methods of a Peeper series.
The Joey Boots video about True Story ASA and the blog I wrote about Adam Saleh who got thrown off the Delta flight last year.