BigJon Online.com Just another big mess to deal with…

Sore

Saturday I helped a fellow costumer move out of his mom’s place into his brand new home.  His fiance and him purchased the house up in Powell, OH shortly after announcing their engagement.

I knew that I’d be in for some work, but you never really remember how much the muscles ache days later.  The move went pretty well though.  We were able to load up most of his stuff within about 3 hours.

We stopped for lunch on the way over to Powell.  I think the worst part about the move is mainly the distance between the two points.  His mother lives all the way out in Granville, which makes for a loooong drive down 161 through farm country.

When we arrived in Powell it took just about the same amount of time to unload, but we took a few more breaks in between boxes.  Unfortunately after dropping off the Uhaul, we still had to take another trip back to Granville to drop everyone off at their cars and then another trip from Granville to Westerville just for me to get home.

Didn’t feel it as much Saturday night, but Sunday all day and today this morning I can feel the dull ache of worn muscles.  It’s not too bad, so thankfully I didn’t strain or pull anything.  It’s just a reminder that will take a few days to go away.

Technorati Tags: moving, uhaul, long drive, farm country

Michael Jackson Dead?

Reports are quickly spreading the net that Michael Jackson died this afternoon after suffering a cardiac arrest and was rushed to an LA hospital.  It’s hard to tell of the reports are in-fact real, as they all seem to be based off the same speculative information of reports coming in from a 911 call center.

CNN already has an article up as well:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/25/michael.jackson/index.html

EDIT: Just minutes ago, CNN has updated their page to note that Michael is in a COMA, not dead.

EDIT: Now CNN changing their article AGAIN stating he is now dead.  They are all rushing to try to actually confirm all of this though, as no one is allowed in or out of the hospital with info.

EDIT: Twitter has exploded.

Technorati Tags: michael jackson, dead, thriller

Mmm…Bacon

I read in the paper today that PETA is holding a demonstration on the lawn of the Columbus Statehouse against pork farms on July 9th, 2009.  They requested a few things from the statehouse, some were approved, one major one denied.

Ability to bring hogs in narrow metal crates, APPROVED.

Ability to set up an audio broadcast station playing screams of piglets, APPROVED.

Ability to set up a video booth showing “undercover” footage from pork farms, APPROVED.

Ability to bring gallons of hog urine, manure, and blood and a series of fans to “waft” the smell around the statehouse lawn, DENIED.

Seriously?  That’s just messed up.  Also…I thought PETA was for ethical treatment of animals?  Why are they penning up those hogs in narrow metal crates?  Isn’t that un-ethical?  *GASP!*

Anybody for joining me downtown with boxes of free ham and bacon samples to pass out?  I think it’ll be a great time.

Technorati Tags: peta, pigs, hogs, pork, bacon, yum

Tattoo

So, for a few years now I have been tossing around the idea of getting a tattoo. I know that it’s recommended that you think about what you want long and hard…because it’s permanant. Because of that I had limited myself to only a few designs. I didn’t want to get stuck with some “fad” tattoo that was going to have no meaning later on.

The logo as seen on my armor plate.

Finally a few months ago I settled on my design. I have been working with Mandalorian costuming and the Mandalorian Mercs costume club for just over 2 years. From when my costume was first finished to now we have grown to over 200 members world-wide.

Close-up of the logo that was sent to the artist as reference.

One of the finishing touches I put on my armor was a Mandalorian “death’s head” skull. Originally, little was written in SW lore about what it represented other than Boba Fett had worn it on his shoulder armor. But the current concept is that it represents one of the most feared and strongest of the original Mandalorian warriors. He was killed in a civil war between the Mandalorians and his followers placed the emblem on their armor to honor him.

The artist’s reference images and transfer. Notice the transfer duplicated the minor paint details.

Jump to the real world and the emblem is most widely known as “Mando skull” or “Mythosaur skull” and basically represents Mandalorians as a whole. Slap it on a set of armor and it’s instantly recognized as Mando.

The tattoing begins. It really didn’t hurt that much at all.

I had placed it on my armor as a tribute to my friend Brian aka Jun Garros, as his advice and tips were very helpful in creating my first set of armor. He wore a skull on his chest armor in the same location. Instead of using the basic skull that has been floating around the net, I went one step further and chose a skull design that was unique. My skull design, while it looks the same as the others…up close you can tell is slightly different. It was based off of someone’s hand-carved ink stamp of the skull. I had traced the design from a photo and used it on my armor. To this day, myself and my wife are most likely the only ones with this unique version of the skull.

The finished product. Logo was duplicated exactly and turned out great.

The tattoo wasn’t very painful at all and the artist was very professional and very sanitary. It only took about 30-40 minutes and I was given everything I needed to care for the tattoo for the first few days. I am very proud of my tattoo and it’s representation of me and my volunteer time. The friends I have made through this costuming adventure are very close to me.

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Technorati Tags: tattoo, artist, mandalorian, skull, costuming, mandalorian mercs