My contract templates now match my brand identity for Power Source Studios.

The only template not listed on here are the pages where I outline the scope and summary of the project since there’s nothing to those particular templates.

See the larger versions of the designs for my contract templates for when I do freelance work below:

 

Proposal cover

Customer non-interactive questionnaire

Logo INTERACTIVE questionnaire

Website INTERACTIVE questionnaire

Price list

SEO submission form

Terms and conditions

Invoice

Approval sheet

A while back, I used to work at a coffee shop in Bellingham Massachusetts. It was quite possibly the best job I’ve ever had in my life. It’s sincerely on par with Boston College. Anyway, I wasn’t in charge of the music, but I was able to sway and suggest live acts to the owner. Well, I used to sort through the demo CD’s at the cafe listening for good music trying to draw a significantly different crowd than what usually strolled in. Well, you can imagine for a small town like Bellingham in the suburbs of Massachusetts barely any bands/performers came anywhere near being the cream of any crop. Sure…Purple Onion, Beggarman Thief, and the guy who howled like a wolf came close.

…that’s sarcasm folks…

But one voice really shined. That voice came from a girl named Holly Miranda. And she’s becoming what my friends mock me for saying: “semi-super popular.” What I mean by this is, in the indie world and hipster-verse among the MP3 blogs and underground zines she’s becoming super popular…and I BOOKED HER!

So when she’s on the next Apple commercial I can finally say, “hey, I met that person.” Which will make me feel warm and gooey and have a sense of superiority that I knew about someone before they got popular. :)

Anyway, I kid I kid, but yes, she’s becoming popular and you should start listening.

I feel bad actually because I haven’t listened to any of her new stuff yet, but I’d like you to hear the Holly Miranda I know and love instead so here’s an old song by her:

The song:

The lyrics:

Sorry, I couldn’t find the lyrics

If you want the original audio, search my source code.

One hundred twenty five some odd women later, I’m only now beginning to feel women aren’t worth the bullshit you have to put up with to keep them interested and in your life.

At this point, the way I’m feeling, I’d rather be single and jerk off every night.

Sex isn’t even close to worth it.

Regular commenters of NINTR may have already noticed, but not understood, the cartoon depiction of Adam and Eve in the form fields for the comment section…

Well, if, you read the line preceding the comment section: “YOU ARE FREE, YOU HAVE A VOICE, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SNEAK…SO, FOR GOD’S SAKE…SPEAK!” which links to the following post: The Secret History of the Nursery Rhyme! you would understand.

But I added the depiction there because I felt as though it was appropriate for the comment section to highlight and allude to a nursery rhyme that specifically addresses freedom of speech. Paying homage in a way and strengthening the theme of the blog by allowing people to comment on the things that I post and displaying that image.

Also, in regards to comments, I found a nifty little bit of code that enables the display of “Most Commented on Posts.” Honestly, it’s really cool, but, I don’t get as many comments as I’d like so the five that are there will probably stay there for a while. But whatever you can do to get people to read more, the better. Check it out, it’s on the right over there →

What more is there to say? I redesigned my resume. I’m not looking to leave BC or anything, but, it’s smarter to always be prepared, because you never know what life might throw at you.

(I didn’t redesign to be prepared, I redesigned it to make it match the Power Source Studios brand identity)

I chose beauty over practicality.

Story of my life.

What is this book about?

Black Adam, the ruler of the nation of Kahndaq and a recipient of the Power of Shazam. Shazam is an ancient powerful wizard who grants people with the power of the gods; Shazam imbued Teth-Adam, a 13th century warrior with the power of the gods hoping that he was going to be his new champion in the wizard’s quest for justice. Unfortunately the wizard realized too late that he had recruited a champion with a dark temper and a dangerously limited definition of justice.

Believing that his student had become irrevocably corrupt, Shazam banished his soul into a mystic scarab rather than allow him the freedom to menace Earth unchecked.

Now, centuries later, his soul was released from the scarab, where he now pits himself against Shazam’s modern day champion, Captain Marvel. Defeated, Black Adam joined the Justice Society of America, but soon became exasperated by their so-called “reactive” approach to law enforcement.

Eventually, Adam returned to Kahndaq and took it by force. Reestablishing his “eye for an eye” brand of justice through bloody retribution. As the leader of a sovereign nation, he is both feared and worshiped despite his rage, he sees himself as a hero, having vowed to protect Kahndaq from any and all who dare threaten it’s borders.

This story takes place after Black Adam’s wife, Isis, is infected with a deadly disease which kills her. Seething with fury, Adam slaughters everyone connected and not connected with her death. Two million deaths later, and intent on revenge, Black Adam flies off, seeking revenge for the death of his family. Enraged to the point of madness, and with his gods’ blessings, Black Adam launches a week-long attack against the heroes of the world. Tearing across the globe, Adam attacks and defeats dozens of superheroes who attempt to stop him. Adam causes massive civilian casualties and billions of dollars in property damage when various superhumans get in his way. Captain Marvel, though unable to take away Black Adam’s powers, works with a group of mystics, to work a spell to transform Black Adam into Teth-Adam. Marvel also changes Adam’s magic word from “Shazam” to a word he keeps secret to prevent him from ever changing back. Despite his defeat, Teth-Adam escapes. He is left a mortal wandering the Middle East, unsuccessfully guessing at the word that will restore his power. Which is where Black Adam: The dark age begins.

Some time after his defeat in World War III, Adam sneaks into a heavily guarded and war-torn Kahndaq in disguise to retrieve the bones of Isis. Adam takes Isis’ bones to a Lazarus Pit, (caverns composed of unique chemicals that possess the ability to rejuvenate the sick, injured and even resurrect the dead), in the Himalayas with the intentions of using it to resurrect her, but cannot complete the process without either using all of Isis’ bones or her magical amulet, which has gone missing. He makes his way to Dr. Fate’s tower, (a safe haven for the hosts of the Fate persona), looking for the amulet. He finds the supervillain sorcerer Felix Faust, who was trapped in the tower. Faust reveals to Adam that Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. (sidekicks to Captain Marvel) broke Isis’ amulet into several pieces and scattered them across the globe. Faust enacts a spell which allows Teth-Adam to transform into Black Adam by drawing from the residual magic remaining in Isis’ bones, with Adam using her name as a magic word. However, Faust warns Adam to use his powers only when absolutely necessary, lest Adam drain all of Isis’ remaining power and make her resurrection impossible. Using a homing signal etched into his hand by Faust, Adam sets out across the globe hunting down the pieces of Isis’ amulet.

Why should you read this book?

Honestly? Because in the end it’s really a sweet story.
Any guy, or girl for that matter, who has lost someone, not even necessarily from death, but through the ending of a marriage or relationship, I feel can relate to this story.

I say this almost every comic book review I do, but, comics are just metaphors on the truth. There probably aren’t many people in this world that would travel the globe looking for ways to resurrect their dead significant others and even less who take the events in this book as a literal translation for how you should act if your partner is murdered. But, the whole purpose of the book is to show you and hopefully to teach you not to take for granted the experiences you have with people. Because even though it’s cliche to say, you really do never know when is the last time you’re going to get to enjoy someone’s company. Time really is precious and you really should cherish every moment you have with people.

It’s funny, the name of this book is called: The dark age, but I see nothing but light and revelation in this book. Of course the book is very sad and somber at times, but, in the end, it’s Black Adam realizing certain things about life that for the countless centuries he’s been alive has never realized but does now. Like I said, it’s a very sweet story about coping and loss with the main point being about hope.

The other reason to read this book is Adam’s quest of figuring out his secret word that will change him back into Black Adam. So he goes around reciting the names of streets, signs, locations, moods, and emotions in hopes of stumbling upon his new magic word. I really don’t want to give anything away, but, it’s really cute when he finds out what the secret word actually is. I say cute, because, Captain Marvel books have always been about family, innocence, and power. And Black Adam even though violent, angry and vengeful…is very much about those concepts as well. So how and where he stumbles upon the word is so fitting and perfect for the Captain Marvel ideal characterization.

Black Adam is written that his troubles are never his fault, but rather the consequences of a man who’s always right doing what has to be done. Adam is a study in contradictions but that doesn’t mean he is in fact a contradiction. His regrets are only for what he’s lost, not what he’s done. People would call Black Adam a villain before calling him a hero but it’s not as black and white as we’d like to think. Let’s take Black Adam’s conversations with Hawkman and Atom Smasher. Two heroes not afraid to shed blood, but Hawkman wants Adam to turn himself in, while Atom Smasher councils Black Adam to hide. Adam heeds neither’s advice, but the fact that he fights with Hawkman but leaves Atom Smasher in peace speaks volumes of Adam’s character. The difficulty with calling Adam a villain is that ultimately, he’s a reasonable man. His reluctance to throw the first punch, when “heroes” like Hawkman have no such reservations, threaten to redefine our concepts of heroes and villains. Which also as controversial as this may be, makes me think twice about “villains” like Ra’s al Ghul and Sebastius.

There’s a lot of back story in this book that might turn you off to caring to read it, but, do yourself a favor and read it.

If you would like to read this book, purchase it from here.

After I created the post “The Secret History of the Nursery Rhyme!” I got inspired to create drop caps for all of my posts!

For me, drop caps have always been synonymous with old scripture and nursery rhymes. And if you haven’t figured it out by now, my whole theme revolves around nursery rhymes.

So I thought it would be appropriate to start putting drop caps at the beginning of all my posts if my theme is going to emulate nursery rhymes.

Cool, no?

(If you’re using an RSS reader, please go to the actual post to see)

What is this book about?

Featuring adventures surrounding Barbara Gordon (Batgirl, one of Batman’s most trusted allies), years after Gordon was paralyzed after being shot by the character the Joker. Unable to retire from fighting crime she attempted to create a new identity. Augmenting her detective skills with state-of-the-art-electronics she created a new alter ego as the ultimate information resource to the super-hero community. She now goes by the name, Oracle.

Oracle learned the ropes of espionage as an ally of the Suicide Squad, a covert black-ops government strike team, before starting her own international crimebusting operation called, The Birds of Prey. Her first agent Power Girl, left the team when a mission went awry and innocent people were killed–something that strains their relationship to this day. Oracle’s next agent was Black Canary, and the two slowly became the best of friends. Canary’s tour of duty defined the team and it’s methods of operation giving it the long-term credibility it would need to outlast her once she finally left the group.

No one operative could replace Canary, instead, Oracle now recruits allies largely on an as-needed basis–some regularly, others only when their specific skills are required. Among her core operatives: Big Barda, Manhunter, Lady Blackhawk, and Huntress.

Why should you read this book?

Solely because the title is the rarest of anomalies in the comic industry. Maybe it’s the creative team that makes this book such a gem and well-respected book among critics, maybe it’s these specific characters, maybe it’s writing for uniquely strong and well-rounded female personalities, or maybe it’s the assuredness of an editor who knows what this book should be. I have no idea. What IS important is that the Birds of prey book was one of the few books published by DC Comics that you could open each month and expect to find quality and entertaining stories starring strong women characters that embody so much of what the feminist ideal is. So given that concept, for this series to survive when the core audience of comic books, especially super-hero comics, are primarily young males is no small feat.

You can pretty much read any books from the Chuck Dixon’s run on the book, however, I’d like to recommend specifically issues 47-49.

Barbara Gordon makes plans to attend a scientific conference where Lex Luthor (who at the time was President of the United States of America, [not kidding]) claimed to have made a breakthrough that could stop cellular decay. Dr. Atticus Blackaver, the scientist? financier? demonstrated how to manipulate the so-called “chaotic code” that controls cellular decay. His demonstration included a teenage girl, who apparently can control the chaotic code. In order to prove his findings to be correct Blackaver healed a senator with a heart condition that was at the conference. Skeptical, Barbara Gordon asked incessant questions that annoyed Blackaver and had the teenage girl, Madison, touch her legs to heal them like she healed the senator. Much to Barbara’s surprise, she could now feel her legs. Before she could get up and walk around the convention was interrupted by terrorists out to kidnap Madison, the teenage miracle healer. Now without revealing too much of the actual story, I just have to take this time to tell you why exactly I’m reviewing and recommending this book to you.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary + Terry Moore (of Strangers in Paradise fame) + Amanda Conner + Ass kicking and witty banter from a hott woman in fishnets = Greatest story ever told. Also, the controversy surrounding Terry Moore and giving Barbara Gordon control over her legs again (albeit temporary) is another interesting reason to read this story.

If you would like to read this book, purchase from here.

How about that…no infamous NINTR introspective insight about about the book where I try and decipher the subversive message behind it all. Just a plain ‘olll fashioned book review.

Every now and then I run across an image, video, article, blog, or overhear a comment regarding hipsters. It’s usually negative, commenting on the absurd or ridiculousness nature of their attire and attitudes. Often times I am able to laugh with the jokes and laugh with my hipsters friends at these jokes and quite frankly laugh at myself, because even though I don’t dress “hipster,” my mindset and attitude is very much that of a “hipster,” or at least I think so.

Admittedly, one of the reasons I am writing this is because, I am little sore about the stereotypes that are passed around about hipsters.

A friend of mine, Jessica, posted this image on her blog recently:

I don’t think the image is wrong, but I think it makes it easier for people who like to rip on hipsters to rip on us/them more. Considering I can only assume based on how it’s written, was written by a hipster, so logically, people who rip on hipsters are going to read this and be like “Oh, I must right in thinking I can rip on hipsters because they’re ripping on themselves, I get a free pass.” Complaining and being somewhat angry that this image was created is stupid and a waste of time, especially when looking upon the evidence of other sub-cultures where people’s perceptions towards them haven’t changed. Hippies, punks, beatniks, and flappers are still made fun of pretty heavily to this day. Me talking about my animosity towards the image is going to do nothing towards the social perception towards this culture.

However, having said that, I think it’s important to point out that what the beatniks were to the fifties, hippies were to the sixties and seventies, flappers to the twenties, and punks to the eighties…hipsters were to the aughties. It’s a sub-culture composed of people who defied convention and conformity to ideas that are commonly upheld by most.

Lets look at some facts…

The hippie culture

• gave unmarried couples of all ages the freedom to travel and live together without societal disapproval
• expanded rights to homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people
• enabled for greater acceptance for religious and cultural diversity
• enabled for co-operative business enterprises and creative community living arrangements to be more accepted
• health food stores of the 60’s and 70’s are now large-scale, profitable businesses, due to greater interest in natural foods, herbal remedies, vitamins and other nutritional supplements
• broadened the personal appearance options and clothing styles, including nudity, which became more widely acceptable

The beatnik culture

• were there before the hippies arrived on the scene to tell them they did not have to conform. That they could speak out against societal norms and find their way to their own truth
• engaged in a questioning of traditional values which produced a break with the mainstream culture that to this day people react to – or against
• produced a great deal of interest in lifestyle experimentation (notably in regards to sex and drugs); and they had a large intellectual effect in encouraging the questioning of authority (a force behind the anti-war movement)
• were very active in popularizing interest in Zen Buddhism in the West

Flapper culture

• redefined how women act in society by going to jazz clubs at night where they danced provocatively, smoked cigarettes, sniffed cocaine, and dated freely; they rode bicycles and drove cars and drank alcohol openly
• began taking work outside the home and challenging women’s traditional societal roles
• advocated voting and women’s rights

Punk culture

• educated and made popular following and believing in highly controversial “ism’s,” that advocated and popularized individual freedom and anti-establishment views. Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, non-conformity, direct action and not selling out; other notable trends: nihilism, anarchism, socialism, anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-nationalism, anti-homophobia, environmentalism, vegetarianism, veganism and animal rights.
• seeked to outrage others with the highly theatrical use of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, tattoos, jewelry and body modification. This again, like the beatniks, was to engage people in questioning traditional values which would produce a break in the mainstream
• popularized DIY thinking specifically in regards to, but was not limited to: publishing, fashion, and art.

Where and how do hipsters fit into any of this? How do they contribute to a social cause instead of just being pretentious pricks? Well, now that the aughties just ended, it might be easier to see how.

Hipster culture

• thrives on anything independent, anything that hasn’t been subjected to censorship and filters. Which helped popularize independent media, thinking and living; in turn making people want to live more authentic and promote the idea of complete creative control over every vestige of your life
• promotes such positive thinking acts such as thrift store shopping, eating organic, locally grown, vegetarian, and/or vegan food, drinking local beer (or even brewing their own), listening to public radio, and riding bicycles
• helped to make the widely accepted concept of metrosexuality popular in turn helping people become more accepting of gay culture

Us hipsters are not without our faults…of course everyone gets us wrong. The definition of ‘hipster’ remains opaque to anyone outside this self-proclaiming, highly-selective circle. The whole point of hipsters is that they avoid labels and being labeled. However, we all dress the same and act the same and conform in our non-conformity, much like all other subcultures.

In the beginning it wasn’t like this obviously, but the more and more people became exposed to hipsters the more and more people were influenced by them, therefore, creating a mockery of everything that once was. And the same could be said for quite literally every other subculture. The more exposure we gain the more our word and influence is spread which is great because it does exactly what we want it to do. Make people think differently than how they’ve always thought. But, in the end, it’s the mainstreamers that are influenced by us that claim ownership and skew the concepts that we originally intended to suit their own needs.

Many of us may be pretentious pricks, the image isn’t wrong about that. But, what it fails to point out is that, so weren’t all the other subcultures. But that doesn’t mean we contribute nothing to society. And quite honestly, that’s how many of these people involved in these subcultures feel about the mainstream…is that YOU’RE all pretentious pricks because we don’t fit into YOUR culture. So we created our own.

Listen, I/we really don’t care if you make fun of us, because quite honestly, it’s really funny when you do. Just don’t say we contribute nothing to society when you can’t turn on the TV, go online, or simply just walk around without seeing our influence somewhere that the mainstream has adopted.

The fact that a child knows more about what love is than I makes me both happy and sad.

Love really does sound great doesn’t it Grover?

It really kind of pisses me off to think that this was happening around this time last year. And that there hasn’t been anyone since.