I’ve been carrying a backpack everywhere since before the term "backpacker" entered the hiphop lexicon, always have, so I’ve got a lot of different "rucksacks" (as my pops like say) around my place. Now I don’t have one for to match different outfits or even for different purposes, but based on size, i use different bags when i go out and do different things. See, most of packs I come across either aren’t a sling bag (personal favorite), or don’t have enough space (what can I say, I like big bottoms), don’t have enough pockets, or don’t have a stabalizing strap (why?). I’ve always been a big fan of the messenger bag, I was up on Manhattan Portage in the way back, but I’m poor and can never find one that has everything I’m looking for. So when I ran across eeio’s post about DIYing your own Messenger bag I was on it like syrup on bacon. Like I always say, if you can’t find it, make it yourself.

Now I’m not doing anything different than what eeio did, but my one problem with his post is he gives the dimensions and comments, but no photos on the actual process, which resulted in a lot of trial and error on my part, and I’ve been making my own shit for years. So I’m gonna work that out for you, show you what I did, maybe even teach you how to sew along the way. All of this can be accomplished for under $5, or less.

What You’ll Need:
- vinyl banner or construction sign mesh
- needle, thread, scissors
- ruler (2 optional)
- strap stuffing material
- some child restraint clips off of grocery carts
- about 5 hours, give or take

First off, material is way easy to procure, any vinyl banner or poster will do, you know the kind they print movie ads on, store closing signs, apartment banners, all of those are good (be wary of any thin vinyl that stretches when pulled, it’ won’t stand up and it’s bitch to put together). If you don’t want to steal, find someone who works in a retail store or a movie thater, ask if they have any display signage which they don’t need anymore, a dumpster behind a sign shop works as well. But the BEST material may be orange construction sign mesh, not only do will that give a kickass bright orange bag, but it also breathes, which vinyl doesn’t. And as far as the clips are concerned, man, the idea to use alligator clips from a grocery store cart is fuckin genius, they’re free, they’re abundant, and they’re useful. And I’m gonna show you how to do this by hand-sewing, but if you have a sewing machine and know how to use it, you can make yours look that much nicer.

So here’s what I started out with:

Here’s eeio’s dimension sketches:

and

He made his dimensions out of the golden ratio which if you know anything about, is pretty special, and has a generally pleasing design aesthetic…that is until I get through with it…..man, sewing and high-theory math? what’s fuckin next, how to crochet doillees and tea cup painting? Yes muthafucka, that’s exactly what’s next, tune in next fucking time.

Here’s my banner after I cut it up, with dimensions (in inches) included:

The top part is both the back of the bag and the flap that goes down over front (seperated by the green line, the others just give dimension lines. The middle indent is the bottom of the bag and then the bottom part is the front that goes under the flap and the overhangs so you can attach the straps. You can’t see it because I marked over them, but it’s good to mark it down beforehand, in soap or pencil, so you know what you’re dealing with.

Actual Construction
Start by taking the bottom edges of the top part and aligning those up with the indent, this will make your sides. When possible, work "inside out" (stitch on the side that you don’t want shown) and then you can flip it inside out when you’re done.

Make sure your stitching is straight across, if it’s crooked the vinyl will bunch funny and will end up ripping somewhere you don’t want it to. And if you’re hand stitching, watch the thread bunching, gets to be a pain if you don’t.

When you’ve got both sides, it should look like one of those crappy portable park chairs that has the strap on two sides and some fabric holding together.

Stitch up the sides of the other part, flip it inside out…and hey, you’ve got a bag. sweet.

Before you do stitch that side up, you can add some pockets which will go under the flap. Me, I put a main large pocket which basically mimics the front panel, and also some flat pockets which go right on top of the front panel.

After that I just flipped that white part at the top down and then stitched up the sides.

and the flap folds down like this
I also put a pocket that runs along the back of the bag as well (what can I say, I like putting things in pockets)

Alright, now on to straps, pretty simple, but a little bit more work than the other parts.
Make a couple dummy straps, just folded rectangular bits of fabric stitched together, but don’t close off the ends.

Those triangular bits on top of the front part of the bag, fold one of those over your dummy strap and stitch that up reallll good, cross wise is a good bet.

When you’ve got that done, stuff some material inside to round it out, not too much, enough to make it comfortable on your shoulder. I cannabalized an old pillow, but they also sell cotton at any drug store for cheap. once you’ve got it to your liking, insert one end of the straps you liberated from a shopping cart.

do that on the other side, clip them together and you’ve got a fully functioning bag. For a stablizer, run another strap from somewhere along the main strap down to a bottom corner. After that, it’s probably good to add some clips on the front flap to the bottom of the bag. here’s the end result or as I like to call it, the White Stripes Bag (and yes, I know I’m skinny, what of it?):

I added a pocket on one of the sides for a water bottle. I didn’t add (but planning to) a pocket on the base of the straps for keys/cell, nor a pocket on the strap themselves. Also I didn’t add a divider in the main part of the bag itself, which is handy.

And that’s it (or I’m out of photos, thank god for flickr), now you too can make your own. And if you’re too lazy or don’t have enough time or think you don’t have enough ability to make one, I’ll make you one (not freely though). eeio’s page has a lot more links and stuff, as well as some great examples of what he’s done. he has a Creative Commons patent on the design, with no commercial applications, but I’m going to be selling shoes, shirts, and artwork at the Melrose Trading Post, so I’m going to ask him about selling some there, but for what I know, this is public domain information and he wants to keep it that way.

crossposted here

i’ve been missing the city lately….”but wait, nigel, don’t you live in the city?”….yes i do, but a)melrose does not count as part of the city, it’s a bubble unto itself, and b) L.A. just doesn’t have the “traffic” that say d.c or new york has. i’m talking general movement here, people up at all times. it’s true you can go down any street in l.a. at anytime and i can guarentee you won’t be alone for very long, always another ghost moving about, but it’s like some video game that keeps the background filled, no real sense that there’s life, that’s L.A. right there. nah, i miss the sounds of the city, it’s too quiet, too lifeless at night. not country enough to have wilderness sounds, not city enough to have cars and people scraping by. my apartment in d.c. was right below street level on a major avenue, and down the street from a hospital, there was always something going on, nothing out here, i miss it. in today’s internet, there’s gotta be an internet station where someone has set up a mic outside their window and is just broadcasting the city as it happens. if not, someone should do it, really.

anyway, since i have nothing furthur, here’s a list from a random prominent mixtape dj of 80 people born in the 80’s (meaning: younger than i) who are more rich, famous, known, or “important” than me: the only thing good to come out of the 80’s was the goonies

-asian girl takes her portrait every day for 3 years, makes a movie out of it, people over at digg make a bunch of comments how all asians look the same. pretty interesting time lapsing going on (look out for the split second shot of a blond wig)…oh wait, sorry, "time-rasping", that better digg?

-to all the los angelinos: 7th Annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science Fiction Brazil, RoboCop, Starship Troopers, The Omega Man, Last Man on Earth (1964), Conan double-header…not bad at all, too bad i’m poor. also, for losanjealousians midnight ridazz is going strong, with over 1300 people at the last one, think i’ll be over there this friday…need to find a bike route to get over there from where you are? bike routing allows to input variables and get a detailed way around, including hill changes.

-since i’ve been introduced to guitar hero (and it’s pc counterpart Frets on Fire) i’ve been hearing songs differently, and the White Room by Cream has one of the better openings in history…wait a second, when the hell did wikipedia start having pages for songs?

-imagining the Tenth Dimension (hover over the navigation bar on the left and click on "imagining")…..oh it works, flash makes it nice, i get it, all concievable universes and timelines contained within a single point, all except the "fold" and why it looks like a very abstract vagina.

-if you haven’t heard john hodgman (the pc guy in the "apple vs pc" commercials) & jonathon coulton’s 700 hobo names by now, you really ought to (it’s an hour long but well worth it). or you could read the master list of names. there’s a whole project devoted to illustrating each of the 700, there’s even a flickr group…currently i’m working on "#447: Pirandello, the Many-Bearded" and then i may move on to "#502: Emergency Exit Aisle Gustav Nook".

-yesterdays news: Study: Sexy music triggers teen sex….i love the use of the word "triggers"…for the last time, first rule of statistics: effects are not the cause, second rule of statistics: do not talk about statistics. i know i’m lame for using that since EVERYBODY does, but here…i actually mean it, stop using statistics please, i mean 60% of the time, it works everytime, you got me?

-i would say upgrade your ichat, but really, with google talk around to pimp, why would i?

-and finally, apprently i now design shoes, guess it’s a natural evolution

also, joe lieberman is a mark-ass trick, way to support your party fuckwit.

There’s some big race going on in the auto world today, and I for one, don’t give a crap. You don’t need to know anything about my sport preferences or my politics when I say this, just nascar has never interested me beyond the occassional wreck I’d see on Sportscenter.

Truth be told though, I started really being against it when i started smoking Winston cigerettes ("No Preservatives!" = the "good-for-you" smoke). At the time the largest professional auto racing company in America was sponsered by the tobacco giant. Now I know i’m being hypocritical when i say i didn’t support a sport that was getting major revenue from a tobacco company, the same company that I was giving money to, but cancer was, has, and is my choice, and I try to keep it that way, I don’t like when it’s foisted upon others. Winston’s no longer tied to the sport (though cellphones now are, which some would say is an even bigger threat), but that doesn’t stop my utter hatred of the "sport". Time to go deeper.

Most environmentalists will decry the fuel consumption of those cars that keep turning left, and most advocates will point out that this is the biggest fallacy of auto racing. You know what, they’re both right:

"According to figures obtained in my research on the consumption rate during a single NASCAR racing event, the average consumption of a race car is about 2 miles per gallon in a 250 mile race. 125 gallons of fuel would be required per car in a NASCAR race. Usually there would be up to 40 cars in one race (even though many cars do drop out because of wrecks or auto malfunctions). That would be an equivalent of 5,000 gallons of fuel consumed per race! That’s the nearly the same amount of fuel consumed for a 737 airplane in a one way trip from D.C. to L.A.

Let’s put all of this into a proper perspective here on what constitutes as “wasting” gasoline.

The amount of gasoline America consumes each day is 320,500,000 GALLONS PER DAY!!! (March 2005). That’s 320 million gallons! Or 3700 gallons per second! Incredible!"

taken from kokonut pundits

That’s not even to mention that most race cars use extremely high-octane fuel, meaning it’s been refined to the point of minimal impact. That being said, it still doesn’t justify the output, nor the environmental aspect. At a time when most Americans are paying upwards of 3 dollars a gallon, is there any reason why we should have a sport which relies solely on fuel which gets people around?

Here’s the thing, people have been racing cars as long as we’ve had a hand to crank the motor and another engine that might outperform our own. Humans are competitive people, and by nature will try and outduel another. But Auto racing is the only "sport" which is rooted in, and relies solely on commercialism to make it, and to make worthy competition (except any computer based competitions). To wit: every other sport, be it baseball, darts, long-distance running, even skydiving or snowboarding, can be played with basic elements found in nature, and to a certain degree, can be played at a high level. While it may have it’s roots in horse and chariot racing, auto racing was born out of the birth of the automobile, hence the name. But if all nascars were replaced with electric cars, or some variation, the appeal and competitiveness of the sport would decrease dramatically, the horsepower and power (speed) would not be the same, and that’s just the fuel, not even the parts that make up the car.

What about those other parts? A typical nascar team will go through 40 tires in a single race, these spent tires are returned to goodyear after the race. Now what happens to those tires after they’re done? Being that nascar tires are radials, they can’t be reprocessed into new tires. From Goodyear’s own website in 1978 they started to use them elsewhere: "Old tires have found new uses as construction material for more than 2,000 artificial reefs and floating breakwaters, protecting harbors and providing aquatic habitat for fish….The company established a toxicology lab to determine the safety of Goodyear chemicals…. ". Even if most of the tires are being recycled into sidewalks or playgrounds, that’s still a huge expenditure and use of natural resource for one single race and one single team! Where does rubber come from? The Rainforest. You’re telling me we’ve taken one-fifth of the Amazon so grown men can spin around an oval track? hyperbole yes, but you get the point.

While there’s a market for recycled race car parts the fact remains that the entire race industry relies on (mostly) new matreials, which are not easily disposed of afterwards. Say what you want, but with redord heat waves, hurricanes and the environmental like, we should be focusing on trying to conserve what we can, you’re not going to argue that we should keep using new material always right?

In reality though, the environmental is only half the story, indeed, with race teams and companies knowing their ecological impact of a sport derived from natural resources, it’s probably the smaller part. I can see a time when nascars will switch over to ethanol (if they haven’t already) or using recycled composite material. Like most things, the bigger impact is the cultural one. What message does professional auto racing send? I like driving as much as the next person, maybe even more, but what effect does racing have? Well, look at The Fast & the Furious. Look at Talledega Nights. Look at the Speed channel. Look at the amount of business Nascar inspires and produces. Look at Dub magazine. Look at auto shows, underground race clubs, demolition derby’s, freeway chases, anything like that. Auto Racing instills that driving around aimlessly is alright, the faster the better, and honestly, i submit to you it’s not. I got over riding around for fuck’s sake when i was around 19. Racing is a product of the car mentality, but it’s also it’s biggest propagandist. Now i’m not so niave to think we’ll all someday stop using cars, but again, with wars over oil, and people stuck in traffic for hours at a time, with car deaths piling up, with the chinese and indians just starting to get into the car marketplace, we’ve got to start looking for alternatives, and the biggest promotion "vehicle" for the auto industry just doesn’t have a place in that.

Also, in tieing with the environmental aspect, have you ever seen a racetrack at night? Even when there’s no racing going on, that place is light up like giant orange fireball, and that’s without the lights being on. Most racetracks are out in the middle of nowhere, and if you go past one, there’s that eerie orange pollution ring over top of it. Combine the actual racing with the driving of the fans to the track, and you’ve got a country eyesore.

Nascar is embedded into our society, one only needs to look at the so called Nascar Dad voting bloc of the last election, or Will Ferrell’s reasoning behind making Talledega Nights: "’Anchorman’ was too abstract for studios to get their heads around. In the process, we started half joking, half not — we said we should just pick an idea that’s really accessible. What’s the biggest, fattest, funniest undeniable idea you could ever pick?" recalls Ferrell. They picked NASCAR, the holy grail of redneck manhood, and giggled." Honestly, I think some people enjoy nascar BECAUSE of the environmental and social effects, a little "fuck you" to the liberal elitists who are trying to tell them how to live. Hey, if that’s your deal, go ahead, enjoy it, and when you get flooded, either by water or people escaping their underwater coastal cities and moving to your town, you can bitch then. just like me and my cancer, you’ve got a choice, and you should know everything you can behind that choice.

i could have a lot more to blog on the insipidness of things, but as i have neither the energy nor the time to put my poetical constipations to digital paper, and in my own version of insipidity, i now present this: from moebiusgraphics.com first, i’m in the minority, but i didn’t like Batman Begins, even beyond the make-pretend gravel voice, the whole movie just didn’t do it for me, not to mention katie holmes pulls off an edie finneran all too well. but really? i wish i could quit you as the joker? i don’t buy it. sorry batman, you’re dead to me now like all other movie superheroes. and for the record, i’ll also be the first to say that for being a huge steaming pile of bird poo, Batman & Robin will be forever immortalized like Plan 9 was, you just watch. tell me when you think of the look of Bat-verse Gotham City, that huge neon lights and oversized monoliths don’t come to mind, i dare you. elsewhere: pajiba’s 3rd date flicks shaun of the dead, better off dead, grosse pointe blank, l.a. story or before sunrise as the all-arounds, and 12 monkeys, fight club, ghost world, tromavision, or jackie brown as your test movies, those are my votes. "And listen. OK. Listen hard. Do not, under any circumstances, stick Crumb into your DVD player. That ain’t cool, man. Not cool." agreed.