Category Archives: Stuff from the Internet

🏴‍☠️ Curses, Cutlasses, and Cauldrons | Joel Fatal, Local Troublemaker

Posted on by Standard Reply
Curses, Cutlasses, and Cauldrons by Joel Fatal, Local Troublemaker

I’ve posted before about other friends that have written books. That’s not new. I know some cool-ass people. This scoundrel has an Ernie and the Berts tattoo though.

I was on a boat in the ocean exactly once in life. We were far enough out that we could not see land. I was told it was a rather calm sea that day. I still puked over the side. I caught an amber-jack, that apparently was not good eating because of a potential parasite? I am deathly allergic to shellfish, and I am not a fan of the beach. I have probably only had rum a handful of times and it was always mixed with Coke or Dr. Pepper. Still though, who doesn’t love the romance & adventure of pirate imagery, and pirate songs?

Here’s my review of Joel’s book:

This collection of thoughts, reflection, & feelings is delivered not unlike catching a glimpse of a ghost ship in the mist on the barely discernable horizon. Sometimes it’s just hinted at on the whispers of the wind or waves of the open sea. Then, all of a sudden you’re in the crow’s nest surveying the chaos of the poop deck in a storm or in the captain’s quarters as he sips rum and recounts tales of anarchy, punk rock, rebellion, & love by candlelight. Maybe it’s the brig? Or a deserted island. It’s left to the reader to fill in the gaps as they dream of their own adventures, shenanigans, & longing. Who can’t relate to a journey, physical or metaphorical? What is the line really? Get lost in this book, & create your own treasure map to get out or to get further lost. 🏴‍☠️

You should pick it up on Amazon via KDP or check out the Goodreads page.

A hand holding a book with an illustration of a witch stirring a cauldron against an orange background, featuring a skull and crossbones in the upper corner.
Curses, Cutlasses, and Cauldrons by Joel Fatal, Local Troublemaker

After you read Joel’s book, you’ll probably want to listen to my “Let’s Get Scurvy 🏴‍☠️🦜“ playlist, and maybe even try my treasure map maze (from my book, You Can See Yourself Out). Tell me what you like from the playlist & make suggestions for more songs in the comments!

A hand-drawn treasure map maze featuring a pirate ship, sea creature, palm tree, and treasure chest, set against a background of winding paths. (Hand-drawn by AiXeLsyD13)

You can get this one on a T-shirt, and a ton of other stuff too.

But really, buy Joel’s book. Tell me what you thought about it in the comments, you barnacle-ridden bilge pump!

A person with a beard and glasses (Joel Fatal) holds four copies of a book with a pirate-themed cover featuring a skull and crossbones.

Haunted House & Graveyard Mazes

Posted on by Standard 1

Have you noticed that I like Halloween? I made some more Halloween-themed mazes. I felt like doing a haunted house and a graveyard. My drawing skills have waned, I need more practice. Third book? Maybe. I have sold 10’s of copies of the others so far. If you try these mazes out, be sure to post your solution on your social media of choice, and tag me. I’m @AiXeLsyD13 just about everywhere. You can even listen to one of my Halloween playlists while you do it… or the monster playlists, or the newest one: Halloween | Certified Bangers 💀🦇🕸️🕷️

You could even print some out for kids at a Halloween party. Just, please, don’t steal & try to sell them.

Also, check out the versions I colored with paint.NET below, and you can get them on stuff at my TeePublic & RedBubble shops.

A Halloween-themed maze illustration featuring a haunted house with intricate maze patterns and a bat flying above, set against a full moon.
A black and white maze design featuring a graveyard theme, with intricate paths and outlines.
A whimsical illustration of a haunted house maze under a full moon, featuring two bats flying overhead and orange-lit windows.
A Halloween-themed maze featuring gravestones, with clear markers indicating the entrance and exit.

You can get the haunted house maze and the graveyard maze on T-shirts, hoodies, stickers, etc. at TeePublic & Redbubble.

Halloween Music

Posted on by Standard 6

I have a playlist problem. So, I have a lot of Halloween and Halloween-adjacent playlists. Some I have that are just massive & I listen to them on random. Some are a little more compact. What are your favorite Halloween songs? Anything I’m missing, songs or themes?

Screenshot of a Halloween playlist on Amazon Music, featuring album covers and the playlist title 'Halloween' with a pumpkin emoji.

I mostly listen on Amazon Music, but can use Tune My Music to pop these over to Spotify if you’re interested.

Straight-up Halloween:

Spooky Vibes:

File under “Of course”:

Good Halloween Costumes:

Damn, reading this… I feel like I’m slacking for not having Vampire, Werewolf, & Zombie playlists.

A Band Called Punchline | Podcast

Posted on by Standard Reply

It took me forever to get into podcasts. Some I have been enjoying lately are Chris DeMakes a Podcast, One Hit Thunder, & more recently A Band Called Punchline. (The former two break-down & deep-dive into songs in totally different yet incredible ways… I highly recommend them to musicians and fans!)

🎶 Don’t sleep on One By Willie, In Defense of Ska, Gumbands (with the legendary Rick Sebak), Lobby Boys, What Makes This Song Stink (Pat Finnerty!), That One Time on Tour, Peer Pleasure, & Weird Al-gorithm. But, this isn’t about those. 🎶

You can listen to all of these anywhere you find podcasts, but I do mostly all of my listening on Amazon Music.

Collage of images featuring the band A Band Called Punchline performing live, showcasing musicians on stage and off, with the band's name prominently displayed in bold letters.

I have absolutely no idea why I didn’t get big into Punchline in the very late 90’s or early 00’s. We all frequented the same places. I had to have seen them. I was active in AiXeLsyD then Gasoline Dion at the time. Their music is in my wheelhouse. I have heard a lot of Chris Fafalios because he produces on Chris DeMakes a Podcast & co-hosts One Hit Thunder. Chis is a great co-host with Matt Kelly & producer with involvement in 2 quality shows. This came up, and I was like… I have no excuse to not check this out as I love music, music documentaries, stories about songs, stories about playing & touring. It’s a no-brainer, right?

Well, I’m 3½ episodes in and the name-dropping alone is mind-blowing. Laga, Logic, AMC, Berlin Project, Mr. Smalls, Soundscape Studios, Garfield Artworks, Josh Bakaitus, Drusky, Joker Productions, mp3.com, practicing in McKees Rocks, and more I am surely forgetting. It puts me back into the days when I worked on the assembly line at Sony with Alf from Circle of Dead Children, or when me & An-Die ran into the Zao guitarist at Westmoreland Mall. Everyone was in a band. Ha ha. I remember Dirtbag Rob saying he had an AiXeLsyD T-shirt or patch before he was in the band.

I was at so many shows at Laga. That’s where I got to see Doyle play the Misfits intro in their green room one time. I remember Logic from that killer Take Me To Your Leader compilation CD. Man I miss punk comps. AiXeLsyD was practically the house band at AMC for a bit. We played every open stage we could. Berlin Project always worked the crowd well. I remember playing Mr. Small’s at least once with Gasoline Dion, not sure if Ernie and the Berts ever played there or not. I also remember being in the back for some reason. Maybe hanging out with Dethlehem? Me & Jason were hanging out with Next Stop Detox when they recorded at Soundscape in McKeesport. I was in Detox for like 30 seconds and recorded a single at Studiophonix in Mt. Pleasant. I think Gasoline Dion played Garfield Artworks… Maybe EaTB too? I know I saw a bunch of shows there. Ernie and the Berts recorded drums there once, I think? (It’s oddly not on my places I have played map.) We practiced at the shady ABC Storage in McKees Rocks and up in Allentown for a bit.

It makes me think of all the cool bands & all the fun times we had back then!

But, the cool part is hearing Berlin Project’s story, from the guys themselves. They seem like genuine nice people who set out to make some music, make a living doing it, and accomplished that! It’s presented documentary style and sort of gives me NPR vibes.

I am rooting for them every step of the way while I listen, When they talk about literally losing a tire off their van, using calling cards & pay phones, running up cell phone bills in the Nokia brick & flip phone days, purposely putting music on Napster just to get it out there, paying way too much for recording, sleeping on floors & booking tours, meeting other great and not-so-great bands… it all just hits. I am not and never was a pro touring musician, but I get it. I respect the hustle, and I appreciate the insight & shared experiences.

If you were around the southwestern PA scene in the late 90’s or early 00’s, ever picked up a guitar (or bass or drums or keys or horns), or are a fan of punk, indie, & DIY… you gotta check this out.

It’s on a bunch of platforms, so find it how you find yours… or start here:

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube

I’m starting to dive into their stuff. I really dig the old stuff on their bandcamp that they sort of don’t recognize as much any more. Check out their website. I also want to see their music special on Amazon Prime. Punchline fans, what are your favorites? Can you make me a top 20 playlist in the comments? What are your memories of seeing them play or hearing their songs for the first time? What about if you played your own shows in & around that time?

Update | Maze Marauder Mitigated

Posted on by Standard 1

So, a while back… did you read about the weasel who grabbed a bunch of mazes online and put them into a self-published print-on-demand book to be sold all over the damn internet?

I guess I never did update, lots of the listings are down or read as “Temporarily Unavailable.” I would like them to read as “⚠ 404 Page Not Found.“

I did get two short emails from the offender. Thank you to Jakob Mewes for reaching out! I never did hear back from Jakob after reaching out for further details. Did you Google AiXeLsyD and/or Gasoline Dion and find me here? I’d love to know!

I did get two emails from Mr. Heppke.

From: Kurt Heppke <mail@kurtheppke.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Subject: Re: Unauthorized Use of My Artwork in Your Book – DMCA & Cease-and-Desist
To: Eric Carroll <red@acted.yo>


Dear Mr. Carrol,

I'm sorry for using your trademarked images and I really want to apologize for that. I took the images from Pinterest and did not check the license. I made a mistake. 
I have requested today that the book be stopped selling immediately and will send you confirmation as soon as I have it.
I hereby give you written confirmation that I will no longer use your work.
I also confirm the immediate cessation of any further use or reproduction of your work in any form.

I am truly sorry for the trouble I have caused you.

I would like to make one more point about your WordPress post " Stolen Mazes! (Someone took my art.)". It gives the impression that I have flooded half the world with my books. No. I've sold the book 8 times in the last 3 years. So I think the damage is limited.
That's not an excuse! 

Anyway, thank you for your patience and kindness and I will definitely change my behavior when it comes to checking licenses.

Best regards

Kurt Heppke

---
Kurt Heppke
Tel: +## ### ########
Mail: mail@kurtheppke.com
Homepage: www.kurtheppke.com

And, then this, referencing the photo below:

From: Kurt Heppke <mail@kurtheppke.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: Unauthorized Use of My Artwork in Your Book – DMCA & Cease-and-Desist
To: Eric Carroll <red@cted.yo>


Dear Mr. Carroll,



I have withdrawn my book "Labyrinthe" from sale and would like to inform you of this, as promised:

Labyrinthe
Leichte Schwere und ganz ganz Schwere

ISBN-13: 9783756233120
Verlag: Books on Demand
Erscheinungsdatum: 30.06.2022




the German sentence:

"Wir haben Ihr Buch wunschgemäss für Bestellungen aus dem Buchhandel gesperrt. Auch die Listung für den internationalen Vertrieb und der E-Book-Vertrieb wurden damit automatisch ausgesetzt."

means:

"We have blocked your book from bookstore orders as requested. The listing for international distribution and e-book distribution have also been automatically suspended."


I would like to apologize once again and thank you for your patience and kindness.

Best regards

---
Kurt Heppke
Tel: +## ### ########
Mail: mail@kurtheppke.com
Homepage: www.kurtheppke.com

And this was in there:

the German sentence: "Wir haben Ihr Buch wunschgemäss für Bestellungen aus dem Buchhandel gesperrt. Auch die Listung für den internationalen Vertrieb und der E-Book-Vertrieb wurden damit automatisch ausgesetzt." means: "We have blocked your book from bookstore orders as requested. The listing for international distribution and e-book distribution have also been automatically suspended."

✍️

I did not reply, as I am still salty about it. A little theft is still theft. I know Joe Wos sent something over to the effect of a Cease & Desist or DMCA, and Brian Hilbert commented on my last post. I never did get a comment from Sean C. Jackson. Not sure how many other maze artists were robbed. I never did track any others down.

Please, don’t steal others’ art & sell it. I have a lot here for free, like the ones that showed up in this book of plundered pathways.

<shameless plug> You can support your favorite punk rock letter-writing goofball maze artist by buying a copy of So I Finally Made a Maze Book or You Can See Yourself Out, or getting some cool swag from my TeePublic or RedBubble stores. </shameless plug> 

I did just upload some Halloween mazes, and TeePublic is having a sale. You can always get my books & merch up top. I sell tens of copies worldwide myself, I don’t need any help from art thieves.

I’m sadly still morbidly curious to get my hands on a copy of this outrage. Share your stories of art theft in the comments, or comment here if your stuff was also uncredited in this book!

Playlist | Proto-Punk 🧷

Posted on by Standard 7

Inspired by the comments on a reddit post, I wanted to dig into some pre-“punk” proto-punk. I set Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to the task as I’m fascinated by their ability to parse & compile information if prompted accurately. (I’m also fascinated my their penchant to provide completely incorrect or even made-up information. Some time I will have to blog about my experiment in having them search restaurant menus in an area to see if they serve shellfish. Copilot recommended some seafood places, so clearly it wants to kill me.)

I added my own stuff that some of them disagreed with, but it is my list after all. 🤣 Going back to little Richard and including Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” were points of contention, as I would expect from a conversation with people.

Music snobs aficionados, audiophiles, and punk rock gatekeepers will argue all day every day about the origin of punk… but for me, to be clear, it’s the moment that the Ramones’ self-titled album dropped. So, with that in mind I gave the language models this prompt:

There is and always will be constant debate, but if we agree for the premise of this exercise that the Ramones self-titled debut album was the first punk album… What are 25 songs that should belong on a proto-punk or punk precursor playlist?

I would assume bands that get mentioned as the progenitors would most likely include The Kinks, the Sonics, Link Wray, The Stooges, the MC5, the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, & more I’m sure to be missing. Maybe even the band Death who hailed from Detroit MI?

All songs on the list should have been released before April 23, 1976… and be listed in order if release date by single or album, whichever dropped first.

This has been corrected for my typically egregious spelling/typing/lack-of-proofreading errors. After tossing the rules to the wind, keeping to the spirit of punk rock, we arrived here:

  • “Little Demon” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1956)
  • “Tutti Frutti” – Little Richard (1955)
  • “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” – Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)
  • “Rumble” – Link Wray (1958)
  • “La Bamba” – Ritchie Valens (1958)
  • “Love Me” – The Phantom (1958)
  • “Louie Louie” – The Kingsmen (1963)
  • “Surfin’ Bird” – The Trashmen (1963)
  • “Baby Let Me Take You Home” – The Animals (1964)
  • “House of the Rising Sun” – The Animals (1964)
  • “I’m Crying” – The Animals (1964)
  • “You Really Got Me” – The Kinks (1964)
  • “Gloria” – Them (1964)
  • “I Can’t Explain” – The Who (1964)
  • “Dirty Water” – The Standells (1966)
  • “My Generation” – The Who (1965)
  • “Strychnine” – The Sonics (1965)
  • “I’m a Man” – The Yardbirds (1965)
  • “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” – The Animals (1965)
  • “96 Tears” – ? & The Mysterians (1966)
  • “Wild Thing” – The Troggs (1966)
  • “Complication” – The Monks (1966)
  • “Psychotic Reaction” – Count Five (1966)
  • “Pushin’ Too Hard” – The Seeds (1966)
  • “7 and 7 Is” – Love (1966)
  • “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” – The Kinks (1966)
  • “You’re Gonna Miss Me” – The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
  • “Talk Talk” – The Music Machine (1966)
  • “I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground (1967)
  • “Doctor Please” – Blue Cheer (1968)
  • “Sister Ray” – The Velvet Underground (1968)
  • “Fire” – The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968)
  • “Jigsaw Puzzle” – The Rolling Stones (1968)
  • “Kick Out the Jams” – MC5 (1969)
  • “I Wanna Be Your Dog” – The Stooges (1969)
  • “Little Doll” – The Stooges (1969)
  • “TV Eye” – The Stooges (1970)
  • “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath (1970)
  • “Get It On” – T. Rex (1971)
  • “School’s Out” – Alice Cooper (1972)
  • “Suffragette City” – David Bowie (1972)
  • “Raw Power” – Iggy & The Stooges (1973)
  • “Search and Destroy” – The Stooges (1973)
  • “Personality Crisis” – New York Dolls (1973)
  • “Jet Boy” – New York Dolls (1973)
  • “Urban Guerrilla” – Hawkwind (1973)
  • “Violence” – Mott the Hoople (1973)
  • “Cum On Feel the Noize” – Slade (1973)
  • “Editions of You” – Roxy Music (1973)
  • “Ooh La La” – Faces (1973)
  • “Subway Train” – New York Dolls (1974)
  • “Hey Joe” – Patti Smith Group (1975)
  • “Piss Factory” – Patti Smith (1975)
  • “Roxette” – Dr. Feelgood (1976)
  • “The Next Big Thing” – The Dictators (1975)
  • “Chez Maximes” – The Hollywood Brats (1976)
  • “After Eight” – Neu! (1975)
  • “Ghost Rider” – Suicide (1977)
  • “Little Johnny Jewel” – Television (1975)
  • “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” – Pere Ubu (1975)
  • “Burn My Eye” – Radio Birdman (1976)
  • “Politicians in My Eyes” – Death (1976)
  • “Cherry Bomb” – The Runaways (1976)
  • “Roadrunner” – The Modern Lovers (1976)
  • “She Cracked” – The Modern Lovers (1976)
  • “Shake Some Action” – Flamin’ Groovies (1976)
  • “Blank Generation” – Richard Hell & the Voidoids (1977)
  • “Anarchy in the U.K.” – The Sex Pistols (1976)
  • “Sonic Reducer” – Dead Boys (1977)
  • “Neat Neat Neat” – The Damned (1977)
  • “Chinese Rocks” – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers (1977)
  • “Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads (1977)

I used Tune My Music to import it to Spotify from a text file, then copy to Amazon Music from there. I tried to go to Amazon first, but it messed up quite a bit of the songs. I did have to add “7 and 7 Is” by Love manually as it shows as “Seven and Seven Is” on Spotify. It weirdly plopped a Bob Marley song in that spot. Amazon was full of weird covers and the wrong songs when trying to import from text.

So, what do you think of the list? What’s missing? What needs added? Are my parameters skewed? Do you not accept anything past the date of what parameters were set? What obscure band that 14 people heard at the time is missing from this list? Don’t come at me with the Sex Pistols over the Ramones. Should we whittle it back to 25? Only have 1 song per artist? Come at me with healthy discourse.

Looking for a video of that one time I sang “I Turned Into a Martian” on stage with the Misfits.

Posted on by Standard Reply

Every once in a while, I just throw this into the æther just to see if it gets any response. One time, I got to pop up on stage and sing “I Turned Into a Martian” while Jerry Only played bass, sang, & Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein played guitar, & Goat (a.k.a. Eric Acre, a.k.a. “Chupacabra”) played drums. I’d love to find a video of it if it’s out there.

We take for granted that everything is recorded these days, but back then it wasn’t. Misfits bootleg videos were a hot trade commodity at one point online. I’m pretty sure this show was recorded, because Crowbar had closed-circuit TV’s that were displaying the show as it happened. It may have been deleted or not recorded, it may have hit a personal private collection. Someone else may have been in-house recording. Not sure if Doug Evil was there?

Thanks to Misfits Central & Concert Archives, I now have a specific date: Sunday, November 5, 2000. It was at the now-defunct Crowbar in State College, PA.

Actually, thanks to the Wayback Machine, I found some old photos form the show! Problem being I guess that I took them, but did not hand off my camera while I was on stage.

An-Die & I road-tripped to State College several times with several different groups to see the Misfits in several iterations in addition to seeing them a bunch in Pittsburgh… so my memories may be conflated. I know Russ from TVCasualty.com was there!

I’m pretty sure Murphy’s Law & Impotent Sea Snakes also played. I only remember this because Goat was pulling double duty, and our friend Laurel was apparently hit in the face with an… adult toy… during the ISS set.

I remember An-Die telling me that I had stage presence, and obviously Jerry Only has a huge stage presence, and it did not jive. Ha ha. I’m sure I looked weird, but holy shit it was fun. (I always feel weird signing without a guitar in my hands anyway.)

Another fun fact, this was after I had broken my nose, and i was wearing a bandage covering most of my face. I know I have photos of that somewhere but I cannot find any.

The Misfits - 11/05/2000 lineup @ Crowbar in State College PA | Jerry Only, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Eric Goat/Chupacabra Acre, & some random a-hole.
The Misfits – 11/05/2000 lineup @ Crowbar in State College PA | Jerry Only, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Eric Goat/Chupacabra Acre, & some random a-hole.

Oh yeah, I broke my nose stage diving at American Music Café. Who’s set was it? I think it was Third Place, Tybalt, or maybe even Ten Pounds Lighter/Secrets Lie Within. I just remember someone fake kicking me that ended up not being a fake kick, a weird celery crunching noise, and my nose being mostly under one eye. I ought to try to chronicle old show stories some day.

I was the Fiend Club “Chapter Head” for a minute in the late 90’s early 00’s, so I got to see the band when they were in & around town. I think Jerry & Rocky sort-of kind-of knew who I was, but I always tried to not be a pain in the ass & ask for stuff or to get on the Turbo Die or anything. It was a fun time in life.

If you have the video, or have info that could help me track it down, I’d really appreciate it! Feel free to help by sharing this in fan forums & what-not online. We Are 138!

You can hit me up at the contact form here, on Threads, on FB, on Instagram, on BlueSky, TikTok, YouTube, or even X.

For more Misfits content here at the blog, check out:

Stolen Mazes! (Someone took my art.) 🤬

Posted on by Standard 7

So, I recently got an interesting message via my contact form:

Hello, I bought a book in germany and in that book a "Kurt Heppke" from "Norderstedt : Books on Demand" is using your artwork. Did you ever give permission to that? I can send you more information if needed. Greetings from Germany, Hamburg

I did write back, but have yet to receive a reply. I would like to thank you Jakob, for reaching out! Not sure how you found me, but then again maybe I am sure as the one stolen maze is kind of highly specific in subject matter, but we’ll get to that.

I did do some light Googling though, like a modern-day super lazy Sherlock Holmes (or at least Dick Tracy). The ever-so-helpful auto AI summary was actually kind of enlightening…

An AI summary via Google about some weenis that stole a bunch of mazes to create print-on-demand books.

Yeah. That one past stuck out.

“He finds inspiration for his books by browsing graphic portals and libraries.”

I take that to mean “Bruh finds shit on Pinterest or Google image search and steals it to put into his books.”

Cover of Labyrinthe: Leichte Schwere und ganz ganz Schwere by Kurt Heppke, stealer of images.

I did find a book creatively titled Labyrinthe: Leichte Schwere und ganz ganz Schwere, which according to Google Translate says Labyrinths: Light, heavy, and very, very heavy. It luckily had a link that looked like a preview link, and I was able to see inside part of the book.

Mr. Heppke has a website, and apparently several books. I know that print-on-demand can be looked down upon by “real” publishers, and these are considered “low content” books, but theft is theft.

I have been drawing mazes since I was a kid, maybe 4th grade or so? I have put a bunch up on the internet (especially at this blog among other older sites) for free over the years. I don’t need this dude or anybody stealing my stuff, taking credit for it, or making money off of it. Oh yeah, taking credit? Dude has stones. That sure looks like a © 2022 to me by his name in a book full of mazes that he didn’t draw.

Two of my mazes appear to have been pilfered:

Bruh took a bunch of mazes, but these are mine,

The original posts can be found here:

Help AiXeLsyD get to the AmericanMusic Café!
✍ Today’s Maze ✍

I know I have pinned them in the past, so they may be floating around there too. There are probably about 100 people on the planet who have heard, saw, heard about, or remember my old punk band, AiXeLsyD. Why take that maze? Our logo is right there beside a terrible drawing of my 1986 Buick SkyHawk. Weird. Also, it name drops Sheetz & Wendy’s as places to not stop (as well as a nudie bar). They may have a harder copyright infringement case than me? 🤣 I’m sure the maze is much older than 2012. The quality of the scan & the coloring is BAD.

The AiXeL-Mobile (1986 Buick SkyHawk)

I have thought about collecting all my old stuff for a book… but the thought of checking to see if they’re passable & providing solutions is overwhelming, and now that I put out You Can See Yourself Out, I feel like I have a level of quality that I need to maintain. Drawing the mazes & posting them has always kind of been a creative outlet & stress relief for me. I think I’d need to re-scan the pile of stuff that I have, and the stuff that I just posted to social media with phone pictures if I were to do it right… and include solitions.

I’m not doing art to get rich, or even make a living… but if I can fund keeping this blog AiXeLsyD13.com, and buy some art supplies, that would be awesome. I have made tens of dollars off of my books and merch. That’s not a complaint by any means, but some dude across the globe shouldn’t be making money off of my art. (As an aside, check this shit out! Art theft is rampant, and following @kilkennycat_art on Threads has opened my eyes to it.)

Which brings me to the other mazes here. I’m sure just by looking at the style, there’s a few mazes by renowned cartoonist, maze artist, & educational television host Joe Wos. I think there’s at least one by Sean C. Jackson. The cover appears to be by Brian Hilbert (Check out his Pittsburgh maze!).

Maze artists: Is your maze art here?

An index of stolen mazes assembled & being sold by Kurt Heppke.

I have tried to lift up other maze artists here. It’s a weird little niche. We gotta look out for each other, in my opinion. I did post about this issue on r/mazes, too.

I’m unsure of my next step. Is reaching out directly to Norderstedt Books on Demand and/or Kurt Heppke directly via email with some sort of cease and desist the way to go? Is that at all official? Is Google Translate even gonna get it right?

I don’t have any written verbiage here about my mazes being copyrighted, but I do have dated posts, and I think copyright is implied with any created works… no? I have no idea how any of it works really within the US, let alone internationally & specifically in Germany.

It also looks like this damn thing is available on more than a few sites:

…and so many more.

At any rate, I implore you to by mazes (or any art) from the artist through their official channels… or enjoy the many free mazes that are put out there by all of us.

So, Cease-and-Desist email or letter? DMCA Takedown? Both? Lawyer up? I’m assuming there is not much to financially recover with print-on-demand sales. I just don’t want anyone making money off of my art other than myself.

<shameless plug> Speaking of that, you can support your favorite punk rock letter-writing goofball maze artist by buying a copy of So I Finally Made a Maze Book or You Can See Yourself Out, or getting some cool swag from my TeePublic or RedBubble stores. </shameless plug> If you’re not inclined to make a purchase, that’s cool too. Maybe share the links, or just enjoy all the free mazes here, & check out all the other maze artists?

I look forward to your thoughts & advice in the comments!

Yinz like weird playlists?

Posted on by Standard Reply

I have been making goofy ones lately.

The latest one is Contradictions / Companions and it’s made up of songs that contradict or compliment each other. I mainly listen to Amazon Music, but this one was fun so I copied it to Spotify too.

Contradictions / Companions | Amazon Music

Contradictions / Companions | Spotify

I have a bunch more weird ones. Sometimes I reach out to Oddly Specific Playlists on Facebook or r/punk for help. Some have a specific order, some are designed for chaos goblins who always choose random.

Here’s some fun ones if you listen to Amazon, let me know if you want me to copy them to Spotify! (I usually do that with Tune My Music):

And there are plenty more weird ones. Lemme know if you check one out and think I’m missing some good obvious tracks that fit!

Wendy’s Forgot How to Melt Cheese 🤷

Posted on by Standard 3

Well, I’m on my old bullshit again. This is the part where I take an incredibly trivial thing that happened, and blow it wildly out of proportion. This is World (and Lunar) Domination. That joke is so old, the MySpace blog that initiated it is lost to time. I blame it all on my reading Idiot Letters.

I forgot that I blogged about Wendy’s not that long ago by sharing a pair of glorious Google Maps reviews. I guess I blogged about them way back in 2009 too. They never replied, apparently. Maybe I pick on them too much? Like this fork fail in 2012!

Sometimes I get responses, sometimes I don’t… but the mazes are fun. Aren’t they? (I’m looking at you Pizza Hut! Yes, you! I saw that dirty delete. But you too, La Choy, Pepperidge Farm, Aldi, & The Potato Conglomerate!)

I sent an email to Wendy’s the other day… via their customer service email. It was such a canned response, I got it twice. I used Gemini, ChatGPT, & Perplexity to help identify their executives and guess their email syntax, but I suppose I was blocked as spam for trying to email them all at once. And maybe for this attachment.

Wendy's Maze - They Need Help Melting Cheese

This is what I wrote…

From: Eric Aixelsyd<aixelsyd13(at)gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 1, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Subject: Wendy’s, are you OK? (Bridgeville, PA)
To: <customercare@wendys.com>, <kirk.tanner@wendys.com>
Cc: <digital@wendys.com>, <compliance@wendys.com>, <mediarelations@wendys.com>, <privacy@wendys.com>, <InvestorRelations@wendys.com>, <customercare@wendys.com>, <abigail.pringle@wendys.com>, <liliana.esposito@wendys.com>, <carl.loredo@wendys.com>, <mary.greenlee@wendys.com>, <coley.obrien@wendys.com>, <john.min@wendys.com>, <lindsay.radkoski@wendys.com>

Hello Ladies & Gentlemen of Wendy’s,

I write to you today with great concern.  Your location in Bridgeville Pennsylvania (which some locals on Facebook & Nextdoor will pedantically yet vehemently point out is in Collier Township and not Bridgeville proper) is in what could be fairly considered shambles.  The dining room is not clean.  There are no baked potatoes about ⅓ of the time when I try to order them.  Wait times for orders in the app can be excessive.  Earlier today, we stopped in for what we thought would be a quick early relaxing dinner after catching Karate Kid: Legends at the local movie theater. 

We should have ordered in the app.  That was my first mistake.  We ordered at the register and I asked if I could have a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, then a bacon & cheese baked potato.  After a long pause, the cashier looked to the kitchen and yelled to ask if there were any potatoes.  A disembodied voice answered “NO!“, so the cashier  laughed, looked at  me and repeated the rather rude “NO!”  Another long awkward pause later, I guessed I would take fries and an Iced Tea.  Well, my second surprise was that there is no more fresh brewed iced tea, but the swill that comes from the magical flavor selector Coca~Cola machine.

My wife did the rest of the ordering for her and the kids, and somehow it turned into a debacle much like the famous Abbott & Costello Who’s On First? bit… with items being grouped weird, & lacking a cup for water as well as notes to hold lettuce, tomato, & onion on a Dave’s single.  The shift manager had to be called over twice with an “I need your thumb!” while people behind us gathered & were wholly ignored.  In this kerfuffle, an employee noted the homemade “We need your $1’s” sign scrawled on an 8″x10″ sheet of paper.  The cashier adamantly expressed “We need that!” and a split second later, the shift manager angrily ripped it off the counter to the astonishment of the cashier.  This sign has been a feature there and at the drive-through window since COVID.  Who the hell pays in cash?

I think we technically stole a cup for water, but at total of $52.68 for four people, perhaps you can forgive us.  I mean, at this point who is robbing who?  If necessary, I will send a check to make it right.  Do people still use checks?  Maybe I can Venmo you.

Let me add some more context.  We got our burgers, chicken sandwiches, and sad french fries.  I chose Cherry Coke instead of tea, no big deal.  Since I had to settle for fries, I tried to get ketchup.  Both pumps were empty.  There was what I can only assume was a store manager sitting talking on the phone at the table literally closest to the ketchup dispensers who made no attempts to correct the issue.  I assume this was a store manager as he appeared to interview some poor unwitting soul who came in as I was trying to goad the last salvageable bits of sugary tomato sustenance out of their final home.  My wife, who was waiting for the kids’ Frosty shakes, told the cashier that the ketchup pumps were both empty and she was literally thrown some ketchup packets.  For the time allotted, it appears that the cows were milked fresh to create the ice cream.  I didn’t know there was that much room behind the fryers back there.  I commend your commitment to quality.

Now we get to the point that I just can’t get past.  I can sadly yet honestly overlook all of the above and chalk it up to a standard fast food experience these days.  What though, I’m sure you are wondering, could possibly have lodged itself so snugly in my proverbial craw?  Cheese.

That’s right, cheese.  How, my friends, does a restaurant that specializes in cheeseburgers… serve 4 sandwiches and not one of them has a slice of cheese that is remotely melted?  American cheese too!  If you look at American cheese too hard, it starts to melt.  I could maybe even give you that the Asiago on the chicken sandwiches had a higher melting point.  But, how tepid were those beef & chicken patties that it didn’t melt the cheese?  Shouldn’t the buns also be toasted on the grill?  Like cheese added to the burger on the grill and covered with a lid so it melts the cheese with steam?  Shouldn’t the chicken have come out of the fryer so hot that the cheese melted instantly upon contact?  Given the temperament of the employees, you can see why I didn’t dare complain then & there, lest I get cheese melted by being nestled in an armpit (or worse).

I really would like to know step-by-step what process you have for making burgers?  It surely could not have been followed properly in this instance.  

Also, are you OK?  How is this permissible or even passable?  Is no one from corporate checking on these locations?  Is there no oversight or secret shopper type program?  If there is, are these standards being met?  If you peep the Google reviews, the people have spoken.  It used to be that if a restaurant was out of something, they’d offer a discount for next time, a free item, or literally anything other than a blank stare.  I am not looking for free food.  I’m looking for a dining experience that matches the money paid, and this was definitely not it.

I have attached a maze for you.  It illustrates my frustration while attempting to bring some levity to the situation.  Perhaps while you try to navigate the correct maze path, you can contemplate the correct path to get this Wendy’s back on track.  Do we need to call Gordon Ramsay or Robert Irvine?  I really like a Wendy’s burger when it’s proper.  It’s got a great beef taste and used to have consistent quality.  The potatoes are great, but sometimes they too suffer from the cheese problem when the cheese sauce is topped with the shredded cheese.  I miss broccoli as an option for potato toppings.  They used to come out so hot that the steam could burn your face when you opened the container.  I miss those days.  Are customers too stupid now to avoid the steam?

I still just can’t understand how you can serve a cheeseburger without melted cheese at a restaurant founded on burgers.  🤯  What happened?  I remember the glory days of sun rooms, the salad & toppings bar.  How did we come to this?

I thank you for your time, and I appreciate you if you have managed to read this far.  I hope you find the time to respond, and I look forward to your thoughts.

Inquisitively.

-Eric

—

aixelsyd13.wordpress.com

This is what I got back:

From: Wendy’s Customer Care <customercare@wendys.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 2, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Subject: Wendy’s Customer Care [ thread::hsjDn4hRf3SLz4W3oE9RSDc:: ]
To: aixelsyd13(at)gmail.com <aixelsyd13(at)gmail.com>

Dear Eric,

Thank you very much for taking the time to let us know about your recent Wendy’s experience.

At Wendy’s, we strive to delight every customer. When your experience falls short, we are committed to making it right.

The details of your experience have been recorded in our system and shared with the franchise leadership team in charge of this restaurant. We hope you experience the quality and service that we expect on your next visit.

We have added a We Got You $ off in-app offer to your mobile account to use at any Wendy’s location. This offer is valid for 30 days from the date it was added. To find the offer from the Home page of the Wendy’s App, tap the ‘Offers’ option on the bottom menu bar. Then scroll to the bottom of the offers page and select the We Got You in-app offer. We recommend you check that the offer is applied before completing your order.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us and for being a Wendy’s customer!

Regards,

The Wendy’s Company

And then, I had to write to them again! I went a few days later, to a different Wendy’s, in a different state, to get a breakfast sandwich with that credit. Again… NO MELTED CHEESE! What is going on here? Who would happily eat this nonsense? Who would make a sandwich like that and think that’s OK? Apparently, everyone, at every Wendy’s, everywhere.

I did the survey on the receipt, and got this:

From: Moundsville 391 <moundsville00391@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 4, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Subject: Following Up
To: AiXeLsyD13(at)gmail.com <AiXeLsyD13(at)gmail.com>

Hello Eric, 

My name is Ryder and I am contacting you on behalf of Moundsville Wendy’s. We got your feedback about a recent visit and just wanted to thank you for the feedback, we strive to serve every customer to the best of our abilities. We would be glad to give you a replacement meal. 

Best Regards,

Ryder

I replied to that including my maze, and got nothing. I wrote about it to corporate again, and got THE SAME EXACT RESPONSE as the first email. I got $10 credit the 1st time, and $% the second time. I don’t want free food, I want good food. They won’t acknowledge the maze. Neither will their snarky Threads and 𝕏 Twitter accounts. 🤣 No response from FB Messenger, either.

View on Threads
https://www.threads.com/embed.js

I may have to move to snail mail.

Have any advice or similar experience?

Oh, I almost forgot. How are they going to make a burger with grilled cheese sandwiches as buns if they can’t melt cheese? This is absolute shenanigans.