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Friday, May 30, 2008

Bastard & Friends YouTube Videos

WOW! I realized that I haven't updated the blog lately. We've been extremely busy these days. There are a lot of 'Bastard' related topics that's been in the news lately that I'm going to address in later posts. From the high gas prices to the evil bastards drilling into other people's gas tanks just to steal gas etc...

For now, if you haven't been to the 'meet the bastards' section to view our Series 1 animations, you can also check them out on our YouTube channel below. Pass 'em around, comment on them whether you like them or not. Do whatever you feel that makes you happy at the end of the day. Check back frequently, though. The final 3 (Unsanitary, Movies, Dieting Fat) in the series will be posted soon.

Bastard&Friends YouTube Channel

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Friday, May 23, 2008

Memorable moments

Is that Rob Schneider with Bastard & Friends!? It sure is...And, he's holding that oh so beautiful box of ours with lots of goodies inside! Thank you to Joe Bretz for the private screening of 'The Chosen One' with Rob. Nick Swardson (Reno 911, Grandma's boy) also has the same box of goodies as well!

Aileen in the voice booth to record for the Bastard animations (Academy of Arts SF).

Sean doing the voice recording for the Bastard animations at Academy of Arts SF

Meet Sherida from Baltimore MD. Don't be a Bastard and pass out just after a few drinks in celebration of her departure back to the East Coast and the launch of BnF!


Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

American Airlines charging for first bag check-in

HEADLINE:
FORT WORTH, Texas - American Airlines will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers — probably in the thousands — as the nation's largest carrier grapples with record-high fuel prices. (Yahoo News)

Since our company was simply created to address Bastard people/events/situations etc.., I felt I had to highlight and speak to this particular situation. If you haven't heard, American Airlines will be charging $15 for the "first" checked bag. Let me say it one more time...the "first" checked bag. Not the second...the F*ckin 1st one! What kind of absurd b*llsh*t is that? I mean $15 isn't a lot, but hey, alongside with the rise of airplane travel in general, this adds up. Couldn't they just figure out how to allot the expenses elsewhere? Cutting costs isn't easy, but I mean you're already laying off staff (unfortunately) and retiring a fleet of planes. And, now you want to charge for the "first" bag? C'mon! Although there are exceptions to this rule, I just still believe it's ludicrous. Or, should we all just find alternative airlines to fly to our destinations? I can already invision what the plane will look like once this is implemented on June 15th 2008. It could potentially mean more people will be carrying their bags on and overhead space will be at a premium. Plus, more carry on luggage leads to longer time getting people seated which could delay take off. As if, there wasn't anymore delays before launching into the air. And, the root cause of it all is.....high fuel prices! When is this ever going to stop? Is there ever going to be a cap on fuel? I highly doubt it! The effect of rising fuel prices is so significant to everything we encounter on a daily basis whether you know it or not. And, this is just "one" of the conditions where we see the cost of fuel prices negatively impacting us...the people!...those Bastards! :)

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Monday, May 19, 2008

BaytoBreakers 2008

The most beautiful sign at BaytoBreakers!

Crew members reporting to duty.

Brenden & Vanessa getting ready to launch the beach balls.

Patrick, Rennae, MaryAnne, Renski, Mike, Grace representing BnF!

Some of the promotional balls being tossed after the Hayes St. hill.

Part of the Bastard&Friends Family! This group is the best!

This was the scene all day long!

Ben walking...check out the cop! He looks interested.

LOL..Don't be a Bastard! Right on Matt and folks!

Wow..this dude is out for the count!

Branden holding up Ms. Blowup


BaytoBreakers 2008 (San Francisco)...crazy, fun, wild, nudity, and crowded! Those are the words that come to mind after attending one of the worlds most popular events. For the most part, B2B is a two part event...one is the actual race in which people from around the world all come together to battle it out and test their running skills against each other in the 12K (7.46 Mile) course all through out the streets of downtown San Francisco. The course generally starts in the heart of downtown and ends at the beach. With various twists and turns as well as hills along the way, only the fit and strong survive. This year as well as the previous years, the Kenyan's came in first! Man, whatever happened to the American runners these days?!

Now, that's just the first part of B2B. The second part, however is....well...different I might add. This is where we come in! Just like the majority of the B2B attendance, we came to have a good time, party, and most of all promote/advertise Bastard&Friends! Overall, the event turned out great! It was way to crowded I might add (70,000+ attendance I believe I last heard); shoulder-to-shoulder and mini steps seemed to be what we had to abide by from the beginning to the end of the 6 Mile course. Yes, 6 Miles only. Unfortunately, they decided to close the rest of the course after the 6th mile sometime in the afternoon.

As for Bastard&Friends, the turnout was phenomenal! We came fully equipped. We all passed the huge Bastard&Friends sign around, dispursed 100 beach balls at various locations throughout the course as well as seen lots of naked people. For the most part, the naked people were men with sprinkled women here and there. Mostly everybody showed up who said they were going to. Some showed early and on time while others came late. Also, some joined in between the course. Altogether, there was a turnout of close to 40+ throughout the day. Unfortunately, some folks got lossed in the massive crowd, some left early while some stuck it out to the end with us! Hearing and seeing the responses from the crowd was incredible, also! A lot of people were taking pictures of the sign, some were raving about the name and slogan "Don't be a Bastard," while at times you could hear the crowd chanting it. Some even asked where they could get the shirts while others just looked confused. :)

You can check out some of the other spectacular photos that Mr. Photographer Sean took throughout the day. He was able to shoot off 400+ pics, but unfortunately, I could only display so many. Go here to check them out. BEWARE: some pics are graphic so watch out!

Once again, THANK YOU! to all of those who showed their love, loyalty and support to the "Don't Be a Bastard" nation. It truly is an honor to have such great friends, family and supporters!!! I would name everyone, but there's too many names to remember.

BTW...you'll catch a few YouTube videos that display our group as well as the very "noticeable" sign of ours in the crowd shot by various people. Just search for BaytoBreakers.

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Friday, May 16, 2008

Finally! NOW OPEN!

WOW!...After 9 long treacherous months of long hours and sleepless nights, the website is finally up and running full speed! It's been a wild roller coaster ride as you could imagine. And, for all of those that were involved and fully engaged from day one...THANK YOU! It truly means a lot to the Bastard & Friends family! I can't begin to tell you have much of a challenge it was to get to where we are today. We didn't realize how tough it would be to start something like this. In the beginning, we had a vision of just being your regular old T-shirt company putting out novelty shirts. Shortly after, we found ourselves thinking about the packaging and branding of the company, contacting various designers and animators, looking into baseball cards, researching toys (vinyl/plush/poly-resin) etc..It's been CRAZY! But, we believe it's well worth it!

So..that's it for now. I'm going to try and finally get at least 8 hrs. of sleep for the first time in 9 months!

Big THANK YOU especially to Sean Young (UMIDESIGN) for putting together an AWESOME site as well as the long hours behind it!! Now, you could finally go to sleep on time! :)

Stay tuned for more product updates and more Bastard animations! Series 1 is only the beginning!

Jonathan (Bastard and Friends)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Gotta Love Southwest Commercials

As we're getting ready for the bay-to-breakers, these commercials popped in my head for some strange reason...Enjoy!





Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

This just in...





So, another shipment of shirts just arrived! We've been waiting especially for this arrival since these 3 sets are special to us. I'll tell you why...The grey shirts are going to be distributed to all of our 'Bay to Breakers' Bastard & Friends supporters who will be walking and partying during the 7 mile course in SF this Sunday in front of 100,000+ people. Check out the back seam hit...it's a representation of where Bastard & Friends come from...The Bay Area!

In addition, the 'Paparazzi' shirts (both men & women) will only be delivered to those that have frequent encounters with Paparazzi's. Sorry, but these ones are exclusive and will not be sold to the public! Designs created by artists 'LeRoid David (Frisco) Cali.' and 'Francesca Guizzo (Italy).' Thank you both for putting together kick ass, rockin' designs!

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Monday, May 12, 2008

Series 1 Photo Shoot










What more can you ask for...a perfect sunny day in the beautiful city of San Jose CA. comes the Bastard & Friends family doing a photo shoot in a studio right in the heart of downtown. The shoot was fun all around! We laughed, took pictures, cracked jokes as always, set up various props and had crazy Mr. Creative (LeRoid) come up with crazy and cool ways that demonstrate how photo shoots should be done etc.! Unfortunately, I could only post a few of the various candid shots above and Flickr was giving me problems, but stay tuned for the real photos shot by Charlie in the next few days.

Thank you to the Bastard & Friends Familia for holding it down for the Series 1 photo shoot: Jason (aka KODA), Devan, LeRoid, Vanessa, Candice, Shelby, Derek, Sharon, Jonathan, Ilynn, Imelda, Rene, Ben, and Fatima.

Big Thanks to Charlie Couch for the studio and photography! He's the man! Check him out at www.charliecouch.com

Thanks All for showing up on a Sunday to take care of business! And, for those who wanted to or couldn't show up for this series shoot, no worries, we'll get you in the subsequent ones in the near future!

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Friday, May 9, 2008

Cupcakes Galore from Sprinkles






One of the hot spots that we couldn't pass this time while we were visiting LA again was the world famous 'Sprinkles' located on Santa Monica Ave. in Beverly Hills. This place was amazing I have to say! Check out the line outside this place (located above)...this was the shortest line we stood in. The next time we got in line -- which was the next day, the crowd was lined up half a block. And, all for what....cupcakes! That right there tells you a lot about a place! Besides the wait, the overall quality and presentation of the many flavored cupcakes were extremely fulfilling. Although, all of them taste great we highly recommend the 'Red Velvet', 'Strawberry', 'Banana', and 'Chocolate' ones! And, they're always fresh!

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Another trip down to Los Angeles


OK, so here we are once again back in the crazy, cool, hip, fast paced land of Southern Cali. (Los Angeles). Part of the Bastard & Friends family were here the weekend before, but decided to come back down once again to handle some unfinished business.

From SFO, we boarded for the first time 'Virgin America' airlines and man was it a great experience! We felt elated the whole time...when you board you hear the funky house music playing; you have a clear visual of the red dimmed lights spanning across the sides inside of the plane; a monitor attached to every head rest in which by the way was AWESOME! You could play video games, watch music videos, check out the exact location of where you are (thanks to Google maps); order food and most of all...watch live TV!

As for the trip, we got a lot accomplished! At the same time we had yet another great time! Roamed around the usual Melrose Ave., Sunset Ave., Beverly Hills and other spots that I can't think of right now. And, came across a bunch of celebs: Rick Fox (The Lakers), Zoe Saldana, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and some others. As usual Paparazzi was out and about doin' their thing waiting to snap those memorable shots of celebs. outside of Mr. Chow and along the Sunset Ave. after dark. While we were down there we spent the night at the Four Seasons to see what all the hype was about the hotel. At the same time we checked out a Porsche! I think I burned the hell out of that clutch by the time the trip was over! hahaha

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Melrose Ave.







While still down in So. Cal on Sunday, we decided to take a trip over to the Melrose Ave. area and check out the cool and trendy shops. It was nice out so why not. We came across a bunch of hip little boutiques that were interesting. Some of the shops we went into were KidRobot, Paul Frank, Bape (located above), The Hundreds, Ed Hardy, SMET and other various stores in which Tyson Beckford (model dude) was shopping for some new kicks. Also, came across the world famous 'Pinky's Hot Dogs' (legendary hot dog spot in Hollywood).

Off of the Melrose strip we parked in a neighborhood that had some crazy bombings on the wall by 'CBS' (located above). The shot was just one of the many photos that Sean and I took that day. After seeing those nice, colorful and oh so beautiful pieces of art work, it made me think about when I was much younger bombing the walls and intellectual properties of the Bay Area. Unfortunately, I got caught one too many times and had to fulfill community service for 3 straight summers from what I recall.

One of the funniest things we came across was the Hollywood tours bus. Or, should I say the half cut van (located above). We'd occasionally see the other tour buses that were multi-level and then here comes along this 1/2 cut van carrying tourists around. Can somebody say...low budget.

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Vinyl Toy Network Convention







In our quest to find a good, quality vinyl toy factory/manufacturer, we took a trip down to Pasadena on Sunday for the Vinyl Toy Network convention with Sean and Marcel to check out the latest and greatest vinyl toys out on the market. Found a lot of great and interesting products; some were extremely elaborate while others weren't. What amazed me about the toys/collectibles at the show was the creativity these artists put into each and every one of them. SKET, Cameron Tiede, Daniel Monahan were some of the few artists that attended the show.

Our main objective, however was to try and find a vinyl toy manufacturer in which we succeeded at doing. The company we found was called 'Wheaty Wheat Studios.' Rich, whom is the owner of 'Wheaty Wheat' was an awesome guy to talk to. I presented him the poly-resin figurine of our 'Dieting Fat Bastard' and he thought it was pretty cool. We chatted for some time before the staff over at 'Toy Break' came to talk to us. I did a quick interview with them and talked about our toy figurine as well as what Bastard & Friends is all about(located above). The video from 'Toy Break' was streaming live at the time, but you can view it below:



The interview is about a minute into it.

Overall, the show was awesome! The only thing I was disappointed at was the fact that we didn't get the goodies bag that they were handing out. The bastards in front of us grabbed the last ones. errrrrr....

Jonathan (Bastard & Friends)

Monday, May 5, 2008

Words of Wisdom

Here's one of our favorite words of wisdom said by one of the most creative geniuses (creator of Kidrobot, Paul Budnitz).

"If you put everything you have into something (and I mean all your TIME and MONEY too, people flinch at that), then real things happen. You can't get anywhere without making a sacrifice and taking a risk. The secret is not to be afraid of falling because there is nowhere to fall to. The very bottom is really not so far away that it can hurt us if everything falls apart.

The other secret is not to be afraid of doing something stupid because, if it wasn't stupid, everyone would be doing it. Kidrobot is without a doubt the stupidest, riskiest thing I've ever done, which means it'll probably be the most successful and most exciting."