Celeb Praise & Endorsements
2008, March 14th
I gleefully delivered a set of Jesus Dressup magnets to Richard Dawkins at a Barnes & Noble booksigning just in time for Easter. (Also included in gift package: 1 "Heaven Is Awesome" flyer).
2006, April 28th
Sarah Silverman is WAY too adorable. And she was all smiles when I approached her telling her that I loved Jesus Is Magic then presenting her with a set of my magnets. This photo I took later appeared in the LA Times.
2006, March 28th
"NormalBobSmith.com is a fabulous site. Normal Bob Smith is a beautiful writer and a great artist, and he does the Jesus Dress Up magnets, which I have a set of in my home."
Penn Jillette, PennRadio.com.
Of course I am flattered to no end by Penn's comments. I have enjoyed his comedy and magic since the early days of Saturday Night Live, and his show BullShit I've praised on my site.
2005, June 10th
I've seen Janeane Garofalo around NYC for a while now but this was the first good opportunity I had to approach her and ask her to pose with the magnets. She was so sweet and insisted on paying me for the set I wanted to give her.
2004, June 26th
I have to admit that this picture is all blurry because I was actually nervous taking David Cross' picture. I mean, fuck. It's David Fucking Cross! But I was thrilled when he told me that he'd heard of the site and been there before. Those are 'God Is Fake' fliers he's holdin' onto in his other hand.
2004, June 15th
Jim Jarmusch is a film director that I grew up with. He directed such greats as Stranger Than Paradise, Down By Law, and Night on Earth. I saw Jim in the East Village and when I told him about Jesus Dress Up, he told me he was already a fan! Unbelievable.
2004, March
When the magnets made the news for being thrown out of Urban Outfitters even Ed Koch had somethin' to say on Scarborough Country. He said the magnets were "Offensive," and even called all of us involved (me and Urban) "schmucks!" can you believe it? "Schmucks!!!" Read the transcript for yourself!
2004, November 14th
Not only did John Waters love the magnets but he suggested taking a picture with them for maybe some free publicity! Thanks John!
2002, October
Captain Sensible of The Damned told me he loved my site. Nothing compares to getting praise from the one you once praised. I got to meet him and the band backstage and the works. Read more about that in the left side bar of punk mail.
|
|
 |
2008, Oct
Focus magazine published information about Jesus Dress Up magnets in their Oct '08 issue resulting in a Catholic activist protest. The Media Ethic Council (Warsaw, November 5, 2008) criticised the publication and reminded Focus that respect and tolerance for religions are priorities of the Media Ethic Chart.
[indeks73.pl] |
Any improvement on my translation of these articles would be greatly appreciated.
|
2008, Sept 9th - Dec 1st, Spanish & French press
So the story goes like this: I plant Jesus Dress Up on the shelves of Toy-R-Us, Times Square (Sept 9th, 08) as described in the sidebar on page 382 of Hate Mail. After my exit a Spanish man on vacation with his family walks into that Toys-R-Us, sees the magnets, can't find anyone to assist him with his complaint, so when he returns to Spain he phones 1-800-ToysRUs and gets the brush off: "We sell all types of products" [elConfidential]. Sooo he takes the story to the internet, someone doesn't do their research and Le Figaro News cries "Boycott!" Gossip spreads faster than fact and before you know it the internet's steaming with rumors, trumping it up to the Hitler\KKK version & speculation that Toys-R-Us is sidestepping the controversy with the excuse: "some individual operated on his own!" [Hazteoir.org] even though "the product was perfectly identified with bar code and price!" [Padre Rayito] Anyhow, the matter and the magnets have all been turned over to their legal department [Unitas.fr], and I'm happy to say it's all come full circle and found itself right back here to the States. [Myspace]
|
 |
2006, August
I was hired to do several celebrity dressup games, one of which was Mel Gibson, and it appeared on Fox News. "No response from Mel's camp yet!" |
 |
2005
I was asked to be part of a film about 7 different Bob Smiths, each of us more bizarre than the next. Neil Abramson's Bob Smith, USA is one of the funniest movies you'll ever see, featuring me, my magnets, The Unholy Army of Catholic School Girls, and even my folks! |
 |
2004, March
The Catholic Standard Times made my day finally being the first to give me credit for Jesus Dress Up, even talking about my Unholy Army, God Is Fake pamphlets, even my personalized Dress Up Revenge page! Needless to say they only had negative things to say. It's a fun article. |
|
2004, March 24th
My favorite press is the religious press. That's when I know I'm doing somethin' right. This is what ChristiansUnite.com had to say about Urban Outfitters and my kooky magnetic game. |
 |
2004, March
The controversy of Jesus Dress Up fridge magnets being sold at Urban Outfitters appears on Telemundo news, "al Rojo Vivo." Reporter shows magnets to shoppers, including a priest, and gets several negative reviews. |
 |
2004, March
I got a phone call from Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. They wanted to feature my magnets on the show. It was a great show with guests Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall), Greg Giraldo and Kathy Griffin. Click here to view. |
 |
2004, March 16th
Everything changed when NBC Philadelphia did a story on my magnets. I made hundreds of sales off my site, other news affiliates picked up the story to run along side Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ stories, and a few days later Urban dropped my product from their shelves (March 17th, 2004). |
 |
2004, March
One of my favorite magazines, The Face, featured my magnets and they even went so far as to tell about my shananagans with dressing up as Satan and running around Manhattan with my Unholy Army of Catholic School Girls. Click and see! |
 |
2003, April 22nd
Chicago's Daily Harold gave the American Atheists a hard time for inviting me to speak at their convention on Easter 2003. |
 |
2001, December 15th
Mancow Meuller had a popular show in Chicago for jocks and meatheads. His people emailed me pretending that they were all into the site, but I knew better. Everyone in Chicago knows that not only does Mancow suck, but another part of his act is pretending to be a good Christian. I got a lot of other radio shows after this one wanting to interview me, but no word from Howard yet. I'm not holding my breath for that. You can hear the actual Mancow interview here. |
 |
2001, Jan/Feb
One of the first big mentions I'd ever received was in the Jan/Feb '01 issue of FHM magazine. I remember it was a coworker of mine that discovered it on his lunch break, and he dropped the issue on my desk in front of me to page 28 just like you see in the movies when people slap down the morning headline. FHM gave Jesus Dressup a raving review, but notice when this was published I didn't have the URL "jesusdressup.com" yet, and instead the plug directed people to "www.normalbobsmith.com/jesusdressup.html."
They were the first major publication to give me the time of day. After that my webpage started to become a news item. |
|
