Pack Rat Magazine: 1984 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist in crafts

Good afternoon friends. So glad you could join me here at the Pack Rat Corral, where we rope up the best darn D.I.Y. finds this side of the Mississippi (and across it, too). Today’s great find is about Geekware, a line of recycled tech crafts made by Acorn Studios and more specifically artist Nicola. Fun treasures range from circuit board earrings, keyboard key rings, and (my favorite) the CD clocks. She also has a fantastic blog about recycled craft and techy-nerdy craft which I found to be completely addictive. And, a fun projects page with recycle d.i.y. ideas like a tie coin purse, or an empty CD tower bagel carrier (just take a look below). This is a terrific stop to get inspired.

Hi kids!  the Feb/March Issue is finally out and rarin’ to go.  Click on the pdf link below!  And remember, if you think you could do better, you’re welcome to show us what you’ve got. Submission deadlines for next issue will be March 20th.  Happy reading.

issue3.pdf

For more DIY know how, check out Pack Rat Magazine

Well, here’s one I wasn’t expecting. Found this website called Household Hacker today, and it’s like a modern day Mr. Wizard. These guys take all kinds of around the house gizmos and junk and combine them to get high tech results, like powering a television with a AAA battery, charging an i-pod with an onion and Gatorade, and the tutorial shown below, creating a high-definition speaker out of a paper plate and a penny.

Looking for more crafting goodness? Check out Pack Rat Magazine, Issue #1!

All of you who work in publishing crafts (you know, books, ‘zines, etc.) get ready to get excited. I found some wicked awesome free fonts at TypeNow. They are based on movie logos and I LOOOOOVE them. My favorites are Apocalypse Now, Bewitched, Dark Crystal (natch), Mars Attacks, Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons (obviously), Star Wars (of course), Spongebob Square Pants, and 28 Days Later. Plus they have fonts from band logos and video game logos, and really all the awesome, pop culture fonts you could ever possibly want. Be sure to bookmark this site.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Yesterday’s blog was about a free trip to a museum, today’s blog is about a free concert on your PC. Pretty soon you’re going to have a whole weekend’s worth of free entertainment (or a whole work day’s worth. Tee hee). Stolenmixtape.com is your stop for music goodness. You can hear music from new, up-and-coming artists– all the songs are constantly streaming and many of them are available free to download. Plus, this looks to be a great tool for all you struggling artists out there. Membership is free and there’s plenty of outlets to reach your potential fan base. Besides having your music centrally located, you can also create music videos on YouTube and link them to your band profile and Stolen Mix Tape provides you with “Fan Club”a handy online mass email feature that reaches anyone who has asked for band updates. There’s also a blog option and an option for fans to post your songs on their Facebook page and embed your mp3 player (which hosts a classy band photo) into their websites. The mp3 player works best w/Myspace, we had a hell of a time getting it to work on our WordPress blog. But, when we cut and pasted the code into our Myspace page, saved, the code changed. We then cut and pasted the new Myspace code, it worked! We call that the “Myspace work-around.” See an example of this technology in action below with Anvil Chorus. I am really enjoying the lead singer’s breathy voice!

Since this is time sensitive, I want to write a special blog about it. If you live in the Boston area and you like ‘zines, clear you calendar for the weekend of March 24th and 25th because the Boston Zine Fair is coming to town. It’s going to be from 10 am - 6 pm both nights and will be held at Massart. Check out the website at bostonzinefair.org.

Their official statement:

The Boston Zine Fair is a weekend-long event with the aim of bringing together zinesters, artists, small presses and other producers of independent media. The conference includes two full days of tabling, an opening night show with live bands and readers, as well as potluck meals throughout the weekend. There are also numerous hands-on workshops and discussion panels which give us the opportunity to learn new skills to use in our own creative enterprises, as well as to explore the importance of independent media in a corporate-owned world. The Boston Zine Fair is free and open to the public. In previous years the Boston Zine Fair (formerly known as Beantown Zinetown) has drawn hundreds of both local and national publishers, and has been a great way to build community and just enjoy each other’s company.

On any given Saturday you may find me trolling the aisles of a local thrift store. There I skulk, pawing through piles of used goods, one beady eye turned to glare at other shoppers. I try to stand wide, try to box the others out of my aisle. If there is treasure to be found here, I’ll be the one to sniff it out. Unlike myself, most shoppers however are perfectly cordial to one another. In fact, once you step through the door and into the world of second hand shopping, you’ve already become family. In an effort to bring this huge, national family one step closer together, I strongly recommend all you thrift shoppers check out thriftyplanet.com. Awesomely helpful, Thrifty Planet provides you with not only a directory of local physical thrift stores, but links to online thrift stores. Their main goal is to promote the recycling of goods in its many forms. One warning: they are not shy about their political agenda, such as their views on cruelty towards animals. Whether or not you agree with their politics, however, I think you will find their site infinitely useful. The online stores alone will fill up your bookmarks.

Music Recommendation: All of This and Nothing by The Psychedelic Furs
Movie Recommendation: The OH! In Ohio (2006) rated R

Up, up , and away, as Superman used to say. I learned recently that this catch phrase came from a time when superheroes weren’t seen, but instead heard. The golden age of American radio drama. I, myself simply love radio drama. It involves all the imagination of reading with the realism of t.v. Although radio drama has petered out in the US with the advent of TV, in other places around the world it has been going strong for decades (see The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the best BBC radio drama ever). And now, with technology busting at its own seams it’s beginning to look like radio drama might be revived here in the States through the magic of podcasts. And since this technology is so new, the next radio drama star could be (drum roll, please) YOU! Now is the time for you to break out your pen, write up a script, gather a cast of your friends, and record your own radio drama. Visit nomediakings.com (a great reference site in and of itself) to read “Do-It-Yourself Radio Drama” by Gregg Taylor. Or, if that sounds like too much work, just check out Gregg’s own free podcast/radio dramas at decoderringtheater.com.