I did it. No one died. Everyone seemed to like it. I’ll put my recipe down here first & the shenanigans after that… because Threads gave me some shenanigans. Trigger warning for Nonnas worldwide:I put brown sugar in jarred sauce. Proceed with caution.
Preheat oven to 375° (Next time I may do 350° for a longer time, but we were in a but of a hurry.)
Brown the beef in a pan on the stove with some of all your spices to taste. (I could/should have included onion here.)
Mix the ricotta, one bag of the shredded cheese, the grated parmesan, a bit of the shredded parmesan, the eggs, fresh parsley, & shredded zucchini in a large bowl, again with all the spices including the garlic.
This filled two 9×13″ glass baking dishes for me. I think I layered them both a bit different. Follow your heart. Put sauce on the bottom, sprinkle in some brown sugar, the dry lasagna noodles, the ricotta mixture, the ground beef, some more shredded cheese, more sauce, more noodles, and just keep going. I did put a very little bit of water in the jars of sauce to swirl around & empty more.. and put that into the dishes too. Sprinkled cheese and made sure there was lots of sauce on top of each.
Cover them tightly with foil & put them in the oven for 50 minutes.
Take out, sprinkle on some more of the shredded parmesan, cook for another 10 minutes.
Pull out, rest for a bit, then serve.
Notes:
Like I said, lower & slower next time. Maybe 350° for an hour then uncover & go for another 15 minutes?
Carrots may be good in with the ground beef… and/or mushrooms?
Maybe spinach in the cheese mixture or as another layer. Let’s get some fiber up in here.
I don’t generally like sausage, but if you do it’d be good here for sure.
What would you do?
🍝
Readers, let me tell you… people have feelings about calling that strip of pasta a “lasagna noodle.” There is also the fact that “American” lasagna has ricotta, but traditional does not. I was even told that because I added shredded zucchini it is no longer lasagna. I have made it replacing the pasta with long thinly-sliced zucchini planks and still called it lasagna.
People have lost their damn minds. No one knows that food and language evolve over time and across regions and even households?
I did plug my ingredients list into Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to see what they would churn back out, but honestly I didn’t follow through with any of their advice.
I look forward to your thoughts about lasagna, your tips, tricks & recipes, and the nuance of semantics involving pasta naming conventions in the comments. How do you layer yours? I feel like I need a way deeper pan. Do you go “traditional” and eschew ricotta? Do you call lasagna noodles lasagna noodles or are you pretentious?
I felt like drawing another Halloween sort of maze. I will probably do some more. I wanted to give this a bit of color too. As always, I’d love it if you solved the maze on paper or on a screen, posted it so social media, & tagged me.
Have fun with this. Print it for your Halloween parties, to pass out with candy, or just for fun. Free to use, just don’t steal & sell it.
I really used to be super creeped out by spiders. Perhaps I should make a series of different kinds of spider mazes. The fly is kind of a blob here. I may do a cleaner version at some point. Still working out if I want the next book to have a theme or just be chaos (again).
You can get the black & white version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, mugs, & wall art at TeePublic & Redbubble.
You can also get the orange version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, hoodies, & aprons at TeePublic & Redbubble.
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 💀🦇🕸️🕷️
Here’s a few to do for free, and you can get ’em on some stuff at my TeePublic & RedBubble Stores! As always, if you try ’em, please share your solution & tag me on social media. I’m @AiXeLsyD13 on just about everything.
I drew this one quickly & did some color on it today. I really could have leaned into the pumpkin patch theme had I planned it out a bit better. What should I do for my next book? Holidays? Spooky stuff? Just mazes? Simple stuff? A mix?
I wanted to do some simple ones for merch, the food ones seem fun, and I wanted to do some more Halloween mazes.
Seriously, check this stuff out on all the merch! You can get it on a variety of things, and customize a lot of the colors.
Is there anything you’d like to see made into merch? Any of my mazes I have drawn, or have an idea for one?
Also… for the artists… Ever have a hard time drawing something simple? I could not settle on a bat shape for the maze. I worked up sketches, which I rarely do. I worked through a bunch of stuff & shared it on Instagram.
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:
✍️
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.
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!
I was hungry for meatloaf. I typically just wing it. Sometimes it’s the classic ketchup/mustard/BBQ (or A1) glaze. Sometimes there’s cheese. Sometimes it’s breadcrumbs. Sometimes it’s chunks of bread soaked in milk. Sometimes there’s shredded veggies like carrots or zucchini. Sometimes there’s hardboiled eggs inside & it’s wrapped in bacon. One time I made it in a crock pot just because someone said you shouldn’t, and meatloaf on the smoker is absolutely a win.
This was a win with the wife & kids, so I;’ll definitely be making it again!
I guess I like leftover meatloaf sandwiches enough to post about it on Threads not just once, but twice.
Tonight I had the idea to throw a bunch of stuff together, then tie it in to gravy & mashed potatoes. I could have sauteed onions & mushrooms, but this was quick easy weeknight dinner chaos. After the fact, I asked AI language models to help me write the recipe from the ingredients & prompts that I fed it, and this is what I got:
That’s fantastic! Thanks for the extra details—this sounds like a truly unique and delicious meatloaf. I’m especially impressed by the use of bread on the bottom to absorb grease and the beef bouillon in the mashed potatoes. Those are great pro tips!
Based on your ingredients and methods, here is a formatted recipe. Since you eyeballed a lot of the measurements, I’ve provided my best guess for the quantities. Feel free to adjust as you like for your blog post, since you’re the true master of this creation!
My “Crazy Good” Mushroom & Swiss Meatloaf Dinner
This recipe takes classic meatloaf and elevates it with a secret ingredient—a creamy mushroom sauce that’s mixed into the meat and used as a savory glaze. Served with cheesy mashed potatoes and a mushroom-loaded gravy, this is the ultimate comfort food meal.
Ingredients
For the Meatloaf:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. lean ground beef
½ cup panko bread crumbs
½ cup regular bread crumbs
1 cup crushed French fried onions
1⁄3 can (10.5 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
½ can (4 oz.)) mushrooms, stems & pieces, finely diced
¼ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère cheese blend
3 to 4 glugs of A1 steak sauce
1 tbsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend seasoning
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. seasoned salt
3 slices of white bread (for placing under the loaf)
For the Mushroom Glaze:
The remainder of the can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 to 4 glugs of A1 steak sauce
½ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère cheese blend
The remainder of the can of mushrooms, stems & pieces
½ cup whole French fried onions
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
On a sheet pan, arrange the three slices of white bread in a row. These will absorb the grease from the meatloaf.
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, lean ground beef, panko and regular bread crumbs, crushed French fried onions, cream of mushroom soup, diced mushrooms, shredded cheese, and A1 steak sauce.
Add the Mrs. Dash, ground mustard, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. Using your hands, mix all ingredients thoroughly until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and place it on top of the three slices of white bread on the sheet pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160°F (71°C) with a meat thermometer.
While the meatloaf is baking, prepare the glaze by mixing the remaining cream of mushroom soup, A1 steak sauce, cheese, and mushrooms in a small bowl.
After 1 hour and 15 minutes, remove the meatloaf from the oven. Spread the prepared glaze evenly over the top, then sprinkle the whole French fried onions on top.
Return the meatloaf to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the glaze is bubbly and the onions are golden brown. Let rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
Suggested Sides
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Prepare a box of instant mashed potatoes according to the package directions. For a savory twist, use a beef bouillon cube in place of salt. Add buttermilk along with the milk, and season with black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir in shredded cheese until it melts.
Mushroom Gravy
Prepare a packet of brown gravy mix. Once finished, stir in a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of mushrooms, and a handful of crushed French fried onions.
Sweet Paprika Carrots
Cook canned carrots with a bit of butter, a pinch of brown sugar, and a dash of paprika until heated through.
Your dinner sounds incredible! Would you like me to draft a more detailed blog post introduction or a full recipe card for you, or do you have enough to get started?
That sounds like a seriously comfort-food feast — meatloaf, cheesy potatoes, mushroom-onion gravy, and sweet carrots. Perfect blog material. I can help you format this into a clean recipe write-up, with estimated amounts for the “eyeballed” parts so it’s easy to follow but still keeps your personal style.
Here’s a draft you could paste into WordPress and tweak to taste:
Crazy Good Meatloaf Dinner 🍽️
This is one of those meals where everything came together just right — a loaded, flavorful meatloaf with a cheesy mushroom glaze, creamy mashed potatoes, savory gravy, and sweet carrots on the side.
Meatloaf
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb lean ground beef
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
½ cup regular bread crumbs
½ cup crushed French fried onions (plus more for topping)
1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup (divided)
1 small can mushrooms, stems & pieces or sliced (divided, finely dice half)
1 cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère cheese (divided)
2–3 Tbsp A1 steak sauce (plus more for glaze)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
½ tsp ground mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp season salt
3 slices white bread (to go under the loaf, absorbs grease)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a sheet pan with foil and place the 3 slices of white bread in the center.
In a large bowl, combine:
Ground beefs
⅓ of the mushroom soup
½ the can of mushrooms (finely diced)
A couple glugs of A1
About ½ cup shredded cheese
Bread crumbs, crushed fried onions, and all seasonings Mix gently until just combined.
Form mixture into a loaf on top of the bread slices.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze: Mix remaining mushroom soup, the rest of the mushrooms, a splash more A1, and ½ cup shredded cheese.
Spread glaze over meatloaf, top with more French fried onions, and return to oven for 15 minutes.
Check with a thermometer — internal temp should be 160°F.
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
1 box instant mashed potatoes
1 beef bouillon cube (use in the water instead of salt)
½ cup shredded cheese
2–3 Tbsp buttermilk (in addition to milk called for)
Black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder (to taste)
Instructions
Prepare potatoes according to box, replacing salt with beef bouillon.
Stir in cheese, buttermilk, and seasonings.
Mushroom-Onion Gravy
Ingredients
1 packet brown gravy mix (prepared according to directions)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms
¼ cup crushed French fried onions
Instructions
Prepare gravy mix.
Stir in mushroom soup, mushrooms, and fried onions. Simmer until thick and rich.
Brown Sugar Carrots
Ingredients
1 can sliced carrots (drained)
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp paprika
Instructions
Warm carrots in a pan with butter.
Add brown sugar and paprika, stir until glazed.
🔥 Plate it up: thick slices of meatloaf with mushroom glaze, a scoop of cheesy mashed potatoes covered in gravy, and sweet carrots on the side.
Do you want me to make the recipe section blog-ready with your voice (like you did with your pretzel blob post — casual, funny, irreverent), or do you prefer the cleaner, “recipe card” format for this one?
Perfect — what a feast! Let’s capture your meatloaf dinner in a polished, blog-ready recipe format. I’ll give you a structured version of your meatloaf (with estimated measurements based on typical ratios), plus your mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots as sides. You can edit the amounts if you think they’re too light or heavy compared to what you actually eyeballed.
🍽️ Mushroom-Swiss Meatloaf Dinner
This hearty meatloaf dinner is rich with beef, mushrooms, Swiss and Gruyère, and topped with a savory mushroom glaze and crispy onions. A full comfort food plate with cheesy mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and buttery carrots.
Meatloaf
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef (80/20 works well)
1 lb lean ground beef
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup regular breadcrumbs
½ cup crushed French fried onions
⅓ can (about 10 oz can) cream of mushroom soup (approx. ⅓ cup)
½ can mushroom stems & pieces (approx. ½ cup, chopped finely)
½ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère cheese blend
2–3 tablespoons A1 steak sauce (a few glugs)
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon ground mustard
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 slices white bread (to set loaf on while baking; absorbs grease)
Mushroom Glaze
Remaining cream of mushroom soup (~⅔ cup)
Remaining ½ can mushrooms (~½ cup, sliced)
¼–½ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère cheese
1–2 tablespoons A1 sauce
Handful of French fried onions (for topping)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the 3 slices of bread in the center (to act as a base for the meatloaf).
Mix the meatloaf: In a large bowl, combine ground beefs, breadcrumbs, crushed onions, mushroom soup (⅓ can), mushrooms (½ can, diced), shredded cheese (½ cup), A1, and seasonings. Mix until just combined — don’t overwork.
Form the loaf on top of the bread slices.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until nearly cooked through. Internal temp should be around 150°F.
Make the glaze: Stir together mushroom soup (remaining ⅔ can), mushrooms (remaining ½ can), cheese, and A1. Spread evenly over meatloaf, then top with French fried onions.
Return to oven for 15 minutes more, until internal temp reaches 160°F and glaze is bubbling.
Rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Cheesy Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
1 box instant mashed potatoes (prepared according to package)
1 beef bouillon cube (used in place of salt in boiling water)
½ cup shredded cheese (cheddar, Swiss, or blend)
½ cup milk + splash of buttermilk
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
Prepare boxed mashed potatoes, dissolving beef bouillon in water before adding potato flakes.
Stir in cheese, milk, and buttermilk.
Season with pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste.
Mushroom-Onion Brown Gravy
Ingredients
1 packet brown gravy mix (prepared according to package)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushroom stems & pieces, drained
½ cup French fried onions, crumbled
Instructions
Cook gravy mix as directed.
Stir in mushroom soup, mushrooms, and fried onions. Simmer until hot and thickened.
Candied Butter Carrots
Ingredients
1 can carrots, drained
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon paprika
Instructions
Heat carrots in a skillet with butter.
Stir in brown sugar and paprika.
Cook until glazed and heated through.
✅ Serving suggestion: Plate a hearty slice of meatloaf with a scoop of mashed potatoes topped with mushroom gravy, and a helping of sweet carrots on the side. Don’t forget extra crispy onions on top for crunch!
Would you like me to keep the recipe in a conversational, cozy “blogger” style (like a story around the dinner), or a sleek cookbook style (straight to the recipe)?
Absolutely, Eric—this meatloaf sounds like a punk rock symphony in casserole form. Let’s immortalize it with a blog-ready recipe that captures the chaos, comfort, and culinary swagger. I’ll format it with clear sections, estimated measurements, and your signature storytelling flair.
🧠 Eric’s “Dad Shit Deluxe” Meatloaf Dinner
A meatloaf so good it deserves its own zine spread.
🍖 Meatloaf Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb lean ground beef
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
½ cup regular breadcrumbs
½ cup crushed french fried onions
⅓ can (about 4–5 tbsp) cream of mushroom soup
½ can mushroom stems & pieces, finely diced
1–2 glugs A1 steak sauce (about 2 tbsp)
½ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère cheese
3 slices white bread (for under the loaf)
🧂 Seasonings (eyeballed, but here’s a guess)
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
½ tsp ground mustard
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp seasoned salt
🧪 Glaze Ingredients
Remaining cream of mushroom soup (~⅔ can)
Remaining mushrooms (~½ can), roughly chopped
1–2 more glugs A1 steak sauce
¼ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyère
Handful of whole french fried onions (for topping)
🔥 Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Form the loaf: Mix all meatloaf ingredients (except the white bread) in a large bowl. Shape into a loaf and place it directly on top of the 3 slices of white bread on a sheet pan. The bread will soak up grease and prevent burning.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Make the glaze: Combine remaining mushroom soup, mushrooms, A1, and cheese.
Top and finish: Spread glaze over the meatloaf, sprinkle with whole french fried onions, and return to oven for another 15 minutes.
Check internal temp: Use a meat thermometer to ensure it hits 160°F.
🥔 Sides That Slap
🧀 Beefed-Up Instant Mashed Potatoes
1 box instant mashed potatoes
1 beef bouillon cube (in water instead of salt)
½ cup shredded cheese
¼ cup buttermilk
½ tsp each: black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
Mix per box instructions, swapping salt for bouillon cube. Add cheese, buttermilk, and seasonings. Stir until creamy and punk-approved.
🍄 Mushroom Gravy Hack
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms
¼ cup crumbled french fried onions
Prepare gravy mix as directed. Stir in soup, mushrooms, and onions. Simmer until thick and glorious.
🥕 Sweet & Smoky Carrots
1 can sliced carrots
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
¼ tsp paprika
Heat carrots with butter, sugar, and paprika until glossy and tender. Serve with attitude.
Want to add a zine-style intro or a playlist pairing for the blog post? I’m ready to riff.
🐄🧀🍄🥔🥕
Somewhere in there, there’s a tight recipe. Again, I didn’t measure anything, I just dumped. I tried to use common ingredients. Maybe I’ll make it different next time. This was really good though, so I may stick to it.
Do you use any AI language models for anything? Do you ever ask them for assistance combining recipes or for cooking? I wonder if one of them would be better at combining all these than the others? I can’t decide which model did the best job.
On to the meatloaf… What tips & tricks do you have? I always to the bread one. Hit me up in the comments or on social media.
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.
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.
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!
So, I recently got an interesting message via my contact form:
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…
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.”
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 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.
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.)
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:
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.
Well then, it’s finally here. I finished maze book number two! This one is better than the last one, I promise. The first was sort of a test run just to see how Amazon KDP works. I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone that bought that book, but this one just objectively looks better and much more time was put into its creation. It ought to be much more challenging and enjoyable, IMHO.
This book a collection of a bunch more larger mazes, and a few small ones that I have been drawing since late 2023. There’s no common theme other than most of the mazes have a silly vibe. A few have no vibe at all. There’s aliens, rodents, yard work, holiday stuff, rock n’ roll, a treasure map, food, retail aversion, gross stuff, & more.
You Can See Yourself Out: A Collection of Fun, Irreverent, Festive, & Wild Hand-Drawn Mazes (Front Cover)
I hope you consider picking up a copy for yourself, & maybe even one for a friend? If not, just sharing the link to someone who you think may enjoy it, or just sharing it in general would be awesome.
The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9Y7SFXS and I’d love if you could share it, review it, favorite it or save it to a list… anything to help even if you’re not interested in a purchase. You could give me a good (or terrible) review or add it to your list on GoodReads too, if that’s your thing.
I had fun making a collage with punk ‘zine vibes for the cover. I busted out the mixed media, printed on weird paper, got two cutting, ripping, & coffee staining… and unearthed the leopard & cheetah print tape.
All of the mazes were hand-drawn, scanned in, edited (& “solved”) in paint.NET, & put together with Open Office. I haven’t stepped into the world of digital drawing yet, and I like my free programs. Someday, I’ll probably dive into GIMP a little more.
I love drawing the mazes, and it’s a great creative outlet like blogging or making music or playing out live. I’m sitting on a pile of old ones that I can convert into a book… but I need to make sure they’re all solvable and do the solutions.
Some are too big to fit on my scanner, and scanning with my phone has less than desirable results… so I’m gonna have to go somewhere like a FedEx Office store and hope they can help before they all disappear. I have a problem picking up any notebook that catches my eye and is the right price, regardless of size & paper type. I like the feel & the calming of pen on paper.
Because I have been excited about this, and I made a small collage with leftover bits, I popped up some new merch designs in my TeePublic & RedBubble stores with that new collage & the book cover images. I do have some older designs there with a few of the mazes that are featured in this book too. If you have an account & follow me on either of those sites, it may help my stuff get seen a bit more. I’d appreciate any form of liking/sharing/tagging if you’re so inclined!
In fact, check out all these designs from or inspired by the book, you can get them on all kinds of merch at each store! (I ordered a sticker, a magnet, a coffee cup, & a hoodie so I’m already in the hole.)
World (and Lunar) Domination 