Sports

Sports
(Feb.01.2009)

A guy stopped me on the street today and asked if I had a quarter to spare. I'm still super broke and deep in debt and all that, but I had a quarter to spare. But I had to fish it out. As I'm fishing it out he starts making a bit of small talk. He asks 'Who you votin' for tonight?' 'There are no elections tonight,' I replied with a fair amount of certainty. Elections are never held on Sundays in America. I'm fairly certain of that. He clarified 'No. I mean which city you rootin for? Pittsburgh or Arizona?' At first I had a sinking feeling that this was some reality Television show thing, and feared that one of the "cities" was going to be voted off the map or something. Then it gradually dawned on me that this must be the Super Bowl thing I've been hearing rumblings about a few times through the week. I asked him if he was talking about football and he looked at me kind of funny. At first I replied that I had no tv and really didn't care much about the outcome. But then I gave a quick mental review of the options and realized that he had listed Pittsburgh as one of the options. When I watched American football Pittsburgh was always my favorite team (after Buffalo). I really, really like the city of Pittsburgh. If I were ever forced to leave Buffalo it's probably the place I'd chose to go. So I changed my "vote" to Pittsburgh and gave the guy a quarter.

So even though I have only watched a few glimpses of football on the internet this year and really hadn't thought much about it for the last couple months, it must have made its way into my consciousness somehow since I painted this picture more than three weeks ago. This picture, "Sports", was painted mostly using the mouse and using a program called GIMP (click here to check it out). I usually use the last version of Paintshop Pro that was made by Jasc (before they got bought out) to do my paintings. But I am trying to slowly get used to using GIMP. Since it's what I plan to use in the future. GIMP is open source and you can try it for free and you can pay what you think it's worth. That's the only kind of software I can afford, broke as I am. And I really like the idea of pay what you can when you can and the idea of teams of people coding software for people to use simply because they love coding. So I will definitely be using GIMP more and more as I get used to it.

Lastly, just wanted to say that I had the high honor of performing with Gruvology last night and they are an AMAZING musical experience. Buy their CD, but definitely catch them live any chance you get. They are breathtaking.

(next time I'll post a painting that's not a close up of a face. I promise.)

Peace,
-Alex

Space Suit

Space Suit
(Jan.23.2009)

I was over to my neighbor's house (Radio Roxanne) and we were working on computer stuff, and she asked me if I had ever heard of a Wacom drawing tablet --it's a pad and pen that you can use as a pointing device (like a mouse but way different). I told her that I had one collecting dust at my house. My mother got it as a birthday gift for me at least ten years ago. I told her that I really couldn't make heads or tails of the thing.

So next she tells me that her friend Stephanie McMillan, creator of the comic strip "Minimum Security", had a similar experience (had a drawing tablet sitting around collecting dust) but had decided to give it another try and now found she could draw her comic strip much faster.

So I got home and decided to give it another go. I draw a few really aweful sketches with the thing and was just as frustrated as ever. Then I hunted around the internet for a bit and found a few tutorials and then things started to improve and a few attempts later I had come up with this picture here. Space Suit. Which I really like. One of my first "successes" with the thing. Best of all, it's like one last gift from my mother.

Yay team!
-Alex

Fatimah

Fatimah
(Jan.19.2009)

Hey, hey, hey.  Welcome back to my Blog.  Sorry it's been so long; life's been happening to me... a lot. 

So, anyhue, this is the digital diary where I write about my interests.  And I have a new interest. 

Painting.

There's something about "starving" and "artist" that just goes together.  A couple months ago I lost my job.  But my ex-boss told me to wait a month and see if we got called back to work.  So I waited a month.  Growing poorer by the day.  But while I waited, I explored a desire of mine that I've had for ages.  Ever since I was little I've felt like I could draw.  And back when I published a comic magazine for three years I felt like I could color on the computer fairly well.  But I always wished I could paint.  Like really paint.

I tried taking a painting course in college.  I had to withdraw so that I didn't flunk.  I've gone to the web forums at forums.sijun.com/ for almost 10 years and just lurked around and stared in awe at the things people there can paint.  But I've always felt rather hopeless when it comes to painting on my own.  Well, no longer.  This painting I've posted here, "Fatimah", is one of my latest.  Not bad for only being two months in on this new endeavor.  I'll post more on the specifics of how I got into painting next time.  For now I just wanted to show some work.

Peace & Love,
-Alex

Inspiration for You

Inspiration for You
by Alex Mead
(Nov.08.2008)


Can you feel the change? There are a lot of folks tossing around that word, change, lately. So much so that people are starting to believe in it. When lots of people actually believe they have to power to change things...they actually do.

Can you feel it? Feel the change comin? I wanted to put together a list of songs I've been listening to lately that deepen and intensify my belief.I recommend adding these folks as friends, visiting their pages often and listening to the songs that appeal to you as you need them.

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Baba Israel and Yako 440
http://www.myspace.com/babaisraelandyako440
"feel the change"
Beatbox superstars Baba Israel & Yako 440 from New York build positivity with this track. This is the perfect song to set it off with. Lays the choice that's before us out there quite concisely.


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My Rap Name is Alex
http://www.myspace.com/myrapnameisalex
"Peace & Love"
Before I get to far in I wanted to do a bit of what they call shameless self promotion. My song Peace & Love isn't even a real song. I got asked to play a benefit show to raise funds to help send people to the RNC protests in September and my friends in the band Ibis and I were just improvising around. I just quickly threw the lyrics from two different songs together and this is what came out. Peace & Love.

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the BloodThirsty Vegans
http://www.myspace.com/bloodthirstyvegans
"Be Peace"
And my musical Family the BloodThirsty Vegans and I still have this song up from the first show I ever did with them. Oldie but goodie.

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Michael Franti & Spearhead
http://www.myspace.com/spearheadvibrations
"Hey World (Don't Give Up)"
It always surprises me when people haven't heard of Michael Franti and Spearhead. They are so popular among my friends that I sometimes forget that they are still slightly obscure out in the general population. The majority of their music is very inspiring, you can pick most any song, but Hey World (Don't Give Up) is a good place to start if you've never heard of them.

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Kevin Wykoff (Slug's Revenge)
http://www.myspace.com/slugsrevenge
"Rubber Tramp Family"
Slug's Revenge is a bit different from most of the music on this list, but different people draw inspiration from different places. I, personally, find Kevin Wykoff's music to be very inspiring. I met him a couple times here in Buffalo and he really does play the guitar that fast. I traded him one of my books for his CD and Rubber Tramp Family is one of my favorite songs on the CD. Two minutes of earthy bliss.

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The Human Revolution
http://www.myspace.com/humanandtheotherhumans
"Public Servant"
I met human and his friends when they were traveling through the area in their biodiesel car. I got to play the Countries Game with him and I have to say the guy truly knows a lot about world geography. Knows a lot about a lot of things. It's quite evident in his lyrics. Public Servant seems like the kind of song that could really shift people's perspective since a lot of people aren't used to thinking in these terms.

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Mystic
http://www.myspace.com/thatgirlmystic
"Beautiful Resistance"
Usually any song with the words "you belong to me" in it over and over again would go in one of my ears and out the other. But when it is talk of how we all belong to each other it's somehow beautiful and perfect. Every once in a while you run across a song where every word seems to be in just the right spot and like the lyrics are a sculpted work of art. This is just such a song. Almost every line in this track could stand alone as a beautiful and thought provoking quotation.

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Ozomatli
http://www.myspace.com/ozomatli
"Can't Stop"
Ozomatli is another really popular band in certain circles and they keep right on keepin on and doing their thing. They are well worth checking out. 'We've got faith in what love can do. Don't look back we gonna make it through, got to keep movin.' Can't argue with that. They have a LOT of their music posted up on their page, so after you listen to Can't Stop you might wanna do some digging. I recommend flipping down to their Street Signs CD and listening to the 1st track "Believe". It's definitely inspiring.

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Luminaries
http://www.myspace.com/luminariesmusic
"Peace"
The luminaries seem poised on the edge ready to break through and spread light into the dark corners of the Earth. They have a big band that makes a big sound and lots of great voices bringing a unified message of peace.

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Slo Mo
http://www.myspace.com/heyslomo
"Shine As You Are"
And last but far from least is Slo Mo featuring Mic Wrecka. "Shine as You Are" is one of my favorite songs of all time. They have a transcendant sound. And I find myself flipping over to this page and clicking on this song to draw inspiration all the time.

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Peace & Love,
-Alex (My Rap Name is Alex)

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Public Domain, feel free to circulate this list and lists like it. Add, edit and modify it as desired.

Water + Rates + Cameras

Water + Rates + Cameras

(this news item posted on April.25.2008)

Dirty Water

If you would have told me in 1978 that in 30 years the tap water was going to become "too dirty to drink" and that everyone would eagerly fork over a dollar for a bottle of water, I would never have believed you.

Annual Percentage Rates

If you would have told me in 1998 that some day I would be paying more than 29% APR on credit cards, I would never have believed you. Back then my mother was helping me establish good credit and explaining to me about credit cards, and how you NEVER EVER want to get in trouble on your credit cards because the credit card companies will gouge you for 15% interest per year. She made that sound like a very awful thing, so I wanted to never have that happen, but at least that was as bad as it could possibly get. She explained that that was the most they were allowed to charge by law, and besides they wouldn't be able to get anyone to pay any higher APRs than that anyway. My mother was very, very smart. Genius. But I guess she underestimated what they'd be able to accomplish in 20 years.

Police Cameras

If you'd have told me in 1998 that in 10 years we would all start to have police spy cameras going up in our cities I would have looked at you skeptically, but if you'd have told me that our general attitude toward this reduction of privacy would be "Well, hey man, we need those cameras to make sure we behave." I would have thought you were on crack. Did I get to vote on this? I'm pretty sure I would have voted that I don't need a police spy camera to make sure that I behave.

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and PS: if anyone would have told me in 2004 that Brian Higgins was going to help them charge me crazy APRs and help constrict bankruptcy and help make my credit records available to all these creditors I would have never voted for him. Not even on the Working Families Party line.