August 20, 2009 - New album is done. Like my last album, it is on 12rec. You can download and/or stream it here. It was mostly recorded in Providence and Michigan, but also in Seattle too. It's mostly me playing, but also Michael played fiddle and harp. The cover is a wood cut done by Tsuru; you can see his other works here (Japanese only). That's it.
January 18, 2009 - I'm back from India and I've put up some new pictures from my trip. I'm still working on some new music and I hope to make some changes around the site in the next few weeks.
July 24, 2008 - Another long period of no updates. I've changed the music section to include some of the compilations that have included my songs. A new one is 12rec #50 which has a new track called "Song for Runner-Up." More to come.
November 12, 2007 - Though not technically an update, here are some mixes on the net that have included my music. The current and final Thirteen Songs mix "Last Call for Drinks", the blog netmuzyka (which I believe to be in Polish) featured one of my songs on their second complication called "Niesencja" which you can get here, and also the netlabel edition of the So The Wind podcast. That's all for now.
September 21, 2007 - It's been a long time since I have updated, but during the interval I moved from Lhasa to Providence, Rhode Island with stops in Shanghai, Toyama, Tokyo, Seattle, Savannah, and Michigan. I'm starting to get settled here and I finally have access to a scanner again so there is a new short comic soliloquy that I drew in Lhasa. It is called Who You Are. That's all for now.
May 10, 2007 - The video from my CCTV appearance is up as well as some photos from my trip to Samye Monastery.
April 1, 2007 - Another translation is up. This time it's The Three Main Aspects of the Path (lam gyi gtso bo rnam gsum) by Tsongkhapa.
March 22, 2007 - I've put up Chapter 3 of my translation of the The Elegant Sayings of Sakya Pandita (sa skya legs bshad). This one is "An Investigation of the Foolish" and it's in the translation section.
February 21, 2007 - My new album Cadenzas for English Speakers is up in the Music Section. It was produced entirely with samples and contains no sound made by me.
Download the whole record here.
Janurary 29, 2007 - Well, Taciturn is out now on 12rec. I've updated the Music Section and made some other minor changes. Enjoy.
Janurary 24, 2007 - I'm back in Lhasa now. The internet is still pretty slow from the earthquake in Taiwan, but I've uploaded some photos from my trip to Nepal. Also, the Taciturn album will be revamped and relased by 12rec soon. More updates to come.
December 27, 2006 - I'm leaving for Nepal today and the last Shuriken Jive comic is up.
December 22, 2006 - A new song called A Catholic Winter is in the Archive. More information on the track is on my blog here.
December 20, 2006 - More Shuriken Jive comics and some new pictures from my appearance in a CCTV Tibetan Losar Special.
November 28, 2006 - A new song called Golden Dust is in the Archive. More information on the track here.
November 26, 2006 - I've cleaned out some of the crap from the Non-Fiction section and added some of the writing I did for my blog. I've also given Translations their own section.
November 16, 2006 - A new song called Large Cataclysmic Flames & Smoke is in the Archive. More information on the track is on my blog here.
November 9, 2006 - I've put up zip files in the music section so it is easy to download an entire album at one time.
October 31, 2006 - A new song called The Self Breaks is in the Archive. More information on the track here.
October 22, 2006 - The second chapter of the Elegant Sayings of Sakya Pandita, entitled "An Investigation of the Noble" is online.
October 12, 2006 - New Shuriken Jive comic.
October 8, 2006 - I've put up the first chapter of my translation of the sa skya legs bshad or "The Elegant Sayings of Sakya Pandita" in the non-fiction section.
October 5, 2006 - New photos and videos from my trip to TrakYul.
September 27, 2006 - Still more drawings. This time it's Shuriken Jive : Nic & the Ninja. The plan is to put up a new one every friday for a while.
September 20, 2006 - More drawings. This time it's a bunch of comics I drew in 2005 starring myself entitled Vanity Comics : Comics By Nic About Nic. Only six deadly sins left ...
September 15, 2006 - Random Drawings #3 is now up in the Drawing section. Enjoy.
September 7, 2006 - I've added a new comic to the Drawing section. It's a Tibetan comic about a beetle and an ant called rtsa thang gi dpa' bo (Hero of the Grassland).
September 4, 2006 - In case you didn't notice, the site has a new look. I still haven't gotten all of the pictures up again but I'm working on it. I'm back in Lhasa now and I have some pictures up from my trip on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
July 11, 2006 - Just another note to anyone viewing this site that the AIM screenname "Philosophnic" is my only screenname. I've been told that someone using the screennames "davidpaulmerline" and "sunwayoff" has been IMing people and claiming to be me. These screennames are not me. Please don't believe any other screennames that claim to be originating from me that are not "philosophnic." In other news, I've been pretty busy with Sanskrit and things but I've been drawing a bit more and I'll get some new comics up when I am near a scanner again.
June 7, 2006 - I've posted a series of drawings I did when I first got to Lhasa called What am I Doing Here?. It's sort of a short comic soliloquy that I did when I was trying to adjust to being alone more and having every one I know on the other side of the planet. I never actually finished it because I did adjust to being in Lhasa and I stopped feeling so depressed, but I figured I might as well put them up anyway.
May 6, 2006 - I only have three days until I leave Lhasa so I've posted new pictres and videos in the gallery. The new stuff includes pictures from Winter Semester, my trip to Gyantse with Zumkyi and Choedron, and sports day at Tibet University. There are also new videos from this semester. In other news, I finished and posted the translation of the prayer based on chapter 10 of Shantideva's bodhicharyavatara. If you're curious there is a more detailed blog post. That's all for now.
April 4, 2006 - There are new pictures from Surpu and Drikung Monastery and also some videos in the gallery.
March 18, 2006 - I've been very sick lately but I managed to make it out to Samye monastery. There are new videos and pictures in the gallery.
February 16, 2006 - Okay so I put up a Gallery of most of the photos and videos I've taken so far. I put up the video hits and also pictures from Tibet University, Nepal, and India. But you can see all of them from the main page.
February 11, 2006 - I'm still living here at Tibet University in Lhasa, though there are no classes until March. A period of insomnia resulted in the Paranormal is Normal EP, which is up in Music section. They are all tracks that didn't fit on to Taciturn as I have no access to instruments, let alone recording equipment. I traveled around a bit and I have some photos up from Thailand and Laos (photos from India and Nepal to follow shortly) and from the trip to Shamrock, TX for a donegal beard growing contest. I wrote a short story while traveling called The Escalator. That's all for now. As always, check the blog for more detailed ramblings.
September 4, 2005 - It has been an amazing summer and I leave for China tomorrow to spend a year studying at Tibet University. This may be my last update for a while but it is quite large. My new album called Enenenen, en Enenene. (I may increase, I may not increase.) is up in the Music section and also a 4 song EP called Sick of Goodbyes. Since I am going to be gone so long Master Shake is no longer hosting the site. It is now being hosted through GoDaddy.com. I plan on still updating my blog and checking my e-mail while I am abroad.
April 15, 2005 - It has been quite a while. I finished my honors thesis in philosophy - it is called On Sincerity and is available online. I've added the rest of the mp3s for the Taciturn album in the Music section. And finally - my black and white photos from my summer in Tibet are up in the Photography section. Now that school is winding down (I graduate in two weeks!) I've more time so I hope to finish more comics and get some recording done. I've also started to update my blog again, so check that out if you are bored.
February 13, 2005 - I've been drawing more episodes of Out of Print so check those out. Other than that I spend the rest of my time thinking / reading about the thesis and growing my donegal beard (the moustache-less kind that Lincoln had) for a beard growing competition in Shamrock, TX.
January 18, 2005 - I'm finally done with the next installment of Out of Print. As you can see, I've also finished the website for the comic so check it out! When not drawing I have been hard at work thinking about sincerity. I'm lucky enough to have Prof. Stephen Darwall as my advisor. So far things have been going well.
January 12, 2005 - I didn't realize that it had been so long since my last update. I've been working on a longer philosophical work on sincerity which I'm really excited about. It will find its way here eventually (I know you're holding your breath). I've also started a comic strip called "Out of Print" - I am inking the second installment. They will be up in the Drawings section as soon as I finish. Musically I'm waiting on some tracks from Michael for an instrumental EP and I've been working on writing some pop songs that I plan on recording this summer. That's it for now.
November 15, 2004 - I've finally redone the Music section. There are three songs from the new record Taciturn, I will upload the others soon. I've also changed the Photo section a bit too.
October 19, 2004 - This weekend was a grand road trip from Ann Arbor to Omaha to visit friends and see one of my favorite bands Explosions in the Sky. I've put up pictures of the road trip (we managed to swing by John Wayne's birthplace) and the show too. Check them out in the Photography section. I'm putting the finishing touches on Taciturn and am working on getting some artwork together for the CD. Look for updates soon.
September 12, 2004 - After several months I am back in Ann Arbor with an internet connection. Tibet was amazing and I will have photos up as soon as I can. I still plan on revamping the music section as I am mixing the Taciturn album and working on recording three other EPs.
May 5, 2004 - The complete Works & Days, Lukewarm, and Either/Or albums are now up in mp3 format in the Music section. Also, I've changed the mix of the song "Paranormal is Normal" a bit; the new version is in the Archive. This will probably be my last update for a long time as I leave for Tibet very soon. Take care.
April 29, 2004 - I've added TWO new galleries to the Drawings section, one is a series done with pen on books that I've been working on and the other is a mix of watercolors, marker, and pencil drawings I've done this winter.
Also, I have decided to put up complete albums since I never really sell any CDs and it just ends up costing me more to burn CD-Rs and print artwork anyway. So I've put up the complete Stereo Sun album The Highs and Lows of Earth. This was the first album that I finished, recorded from 1999-2001 on my Tascam four-track. I hope to get the other albums up soon and perhaps revamp the entire Music section as I finish recording Taciturn. Other than that, finals are almost over and in an attempt to keep busy I've started a blog. I'm not sure that I will keep it up for very long but it will be interesting while it lasts.
April 17, 2004 - Well I'm in the middle of finals, but there are two new songs up in the Archive. One is an instrumental recorded for Taciturn that didn't quite fit in called "Paranormal is Normal". The other is a more traditional song that I wrote a few months ago called "Some Kind of Green". I might collect some of the better archive songs for an EP or something so I don't clutter it up. I've also finished a drawings set and I will get that up as soon as I get some more time.
March 31, 2004 - I put up a paper in the Philosophy section. It's on Kant's arguments in the Critique of Pure Reason to show that space is an intuition rather than a concept. Other than that I am worried about a big logic exam that I have tomorrow. That's all for now.
March 29, 2004 - Small update today for the Music section. Every once in a while a band I really dislike releases a song that I really like. In this case the band is The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the song is called “Maps” I really liked the song so last weekend I decided to record it my own way (without all the Punk Rock attitude junk) and it is up in the Archive. Anyway, in other news I've finished mixing two tracks for Taciturn and some other songs I've had sitting around, all of which will be up in the near future. Other than that I am getting excited for my trip to Tibet which leaves in about seven weeks!
March 22, 2004 - Although I haven't updated in a while lots of things have been happening. The tentative title for the instrumental album is "Taciturn" and two songs are finished and being mixed. Those songs (as well as a cover that I've recorded) will be up very soon. I'm also working on another drawing set which will be up as soon too. Other than that I've been going to class, working, and worrying about graduate school.
February 29, 2004 - As you may or may not have noticed, the site was down for a few weeks because my old server died. The site is now being brought to you by my new server, Master Shake. I've added my first digital recording to the Archive, it's a short song called Flint. I am currently finishing an instrumental album so I will be posting more bits of music very soon. My ArtConspricy Gallery has some new drawings and paintings which I will add high quality versions of here when I have a enough collected for a new set.
January 14, 2004 - I'm back in Ann Arbor now and I've started my classes now. I'm still working on finishing up an instrumental album. Not much to update, but I hope to have some mp3s or maybe a few papers in the next few weeks. Also, if you are Imed by someone called "davidpaulmerline" he or she is NOT Nic Bommarito despite his or her claims to the contrary. My IM is "Philosophnic" and that is the only screenname I use.
December 18, 2003 - Now that finals are over I've revamped the Drawings section. I've added two new galleries, one of drawings from the past semester and one of watercolors. Also the older drawings have been broken into smaller, more subject oriented galleries so that browsing will be easier. This will be my last update until well after the holiday season. I've got some music in the works and I'm going to try to record the drum tracks while I am home on break. So until next time, have a safe and happy holiday.
November 26, 2003 - I'm finally finished with papers for the semester so its a big update today. I've added three new papers to the Philosophy section; I am especially proud of An Evaluation of Dissimulation in Descartes' Meditations, so check it out if you are interested. I've changed the papers in so that they are now all in .pdf format. This means that if you don't have Acrobat Reader you have to get it to be able to read any of the papers. I've also added the rest of my pictures from the southwest, so there are THREE NEW ROLLS up in the Photography section, the new ones are black and white #5 and color rolls #2 and 3.
November 14, 2003 - So I've finally put up another roll from my trip to the southwest in the Photography section. I still have another roll of black and white and two color rolls which I will put up as soon as I can. In boring site news, I've reduced the image size of some of the older galleries so it should be easier to view the whole picture (and also load faster). I've also changed the Poetry section so that it is easier to read. I will have some new papers in the Philosophy section within the next few weeks.
October 19, 2003 - Big update for the Philosophy section; I've added three new papers so check them out. I've also made the font bigger and changed the background to white on my older papers so they are now much easier to read. More Photo galleries will be added as soon as I get some free time. As for music, I've finally started to write some non-instrumental music and I hope to have enough material to record a new album around christmas.
September 29, 2003 - It's hard to believe that it has been almost a month since my last update. I've added the first roll of black and white from my trip to the Southwest, it's in the Photography section. I took a total of 5 rolls on the trip so I'll try to get the rest up soon. I've been busy dealing with school and little else. I have been recording some new music which is a bit of a departure from my previous recordings. My main influences at the moment seem to be Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and the composer Arvo Pärt. I haven't been drawing or painting as much as I would like but I am working on 3 papers on Descartes, Mill, and Mozi/Kongzi respectively. If any of them are worth reading I'll put them up in the Writing section.
August 31, 2003 - I move back to Ann Arbor tomorrow so it may be a while until my next update. I bought multi-track recording software for my computer so I hope to learn to use that and record some songs that I have written. With the help of Michael I got the Theremin working and I hope to get some pictures and sound clips up soon. I also got my film back from my trip to the southwest and will have those pictures up as soon as I can.
August 21, 2003 - I've added a song to the Archive section; it's called PhD and was recorded for Lukewarm. I've also been trying to build a Theremin on my own and it has been pretty interesting. I'll put up some information and pictures of my progress in the near future. In other news, I've some new drawings up in my Art Conspiracy Gallery. I've been using watercolor paints with my drawings and I hope so do some stuff in watercolor alone pretty soon.
August 4, 2003 - I'm back at home now. The site was down for most of the time I was gone but the problem has been fixed. Big update though, I've finished mixing Either/Or so check it out and let me know what you think. I've also added a few Lukewarm. mp3s. I took 5 rolls worth of photos over my trip through the southwest and I'm very excited about them. I think that they are my best pictures yet and I will be putting them up as soon as I get them developed. In other news, this weekend I will be working at the Idlewild Jazz Festival helping out and taking pictures (I took some of the pictures from last year that are on the site). So if you like Jazz check it out. That's about all for now.
Nic
July 7, 2003 - Well the domain is up so someone might actually read this now. Tomorrow I'm off to road trip with Chris in the southwest until July 28th. I wrote and recorded a song yesterday (it's up in the Archives). I've also been mixing Either/Or and hope to put the finishing touches on it and wrap up the artwork when I get back. I'm taking a few rolls of film with me so hopefully when I get back there will be some photos up. Bye, Nic.
June 28, 2003 - Welcome to the internet home of all things Nic. I finally got a website and it's being hosted on my cool Server. Click on the menu items above to explore the site. Thanks, Nic.