Nicolas F. R. A. PradoModify

2025-12-29 11:00:00

This year I bought more shirts than ever. Mostly because I decided to go to as many concerts as I possibly could.

With the year coming to a close, I thought this would be a good moment to look back at the shirts I collected throughout the year and see the story that they tell. So here it is, my 2025 retrospective through shirts:

From top left to bottom right:

• Row 1, Column 1: March. Went to a Three Days Grace and Disturbed concert. Three Days Grace was my favorite band as a teenager, and on the day of the concert I found out that Adam Gontier, the lead singer, who had left the band several years before, had just joined back. That show was a dream come true for my inner teenager.
• 1-2: March. I saw someone wearing this shirt in a picture of a local volunteering group I was part of and immediately asked where I could buy one. In fact I bought two extra to gift them to friends. It has been my most popular shirt by far, with many compliments received on different occasions and someone once even asked me if they could take a picture of it. If you also love it, check it out here: https://mtpfriends.bigcartel.com/product/what-s-more-punk-adult-t-shirt
• 1-3: April. Went to a social event in the neighborhood, and saw a local, and pretty good, band called Lolux.
• 1-4: May. Went to a Bloc Party concert at the Forest Hills Stadium. I came out of it feeling underwhelmed by the sound quality but it was fun nevertheless. Plus it made me discover Forest Hills, which I found a very quaint neighborhood that is hard to believe exists in New York City.
• 2-1: June. Wonderville is simply put my favorite place in NYC. As they put it, they're "Brooklyn’s home for independently made arcade games". The place looks very much cyberpunk-y, the games are all free to play, and they frequently have unique events, from livecoding to game jams to beyblade tournaments. This shirt was made to commemorate their 6 year anninversary, which I pre-ordered but ended up not making it to the party. I grabbed the shirt a few weeks later when I went there to show the place to a friend that was visiting NYC, something that has become a tradition for me (this is the third visiting friend I bring there).
• 2-2: June. Went to a Godspeed You! Black Emperor concert in Norwalk, CT. The 1-hour train ride to a small town definitely added to the vibe. The concert was really unique, featuring a stage that was almost completely dark with hand-crafted film projections showing behind, and a sound that would slowly build up from a lonely silence to an overwhelming array of layered distorted guitars and violins. Listen to Sleep to get a glimpse of it, but seeing it live was something else.
• 2-3: July. Went to a live Welcome to Night Vale show in Brooklyn. I used to listen to this podcast while in college, so it was quite nostalgic to hear it again, and seeing it live, with crowd interactions made it even more fun.
• 2-4: July. Went to see Creed at the Jones Beach Theater. Beautiful outdoor venue facing the sea, and it was awesome to hear them live. This was the first concert that I went with my mom and the fact that we took a train there and stayed at a hotel until the next day made it feel like a short vacation trip.
• 3-1: July. I love post-rock, and small concerts, so even though I had only listened to a single album from We Lost the Sea many years before, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to see them for just 25$. It was a blast, those cheap small concerts are the best.
• 3-2: August. In contrast, shortly after I payed 171$, the most expensive tickets of my life, to see Linkin Park at the Prudential Center in Newark. The view was good, but my seat was so far high that I felt detached from the concert. Also despite getting this shirt in the same size I always get them, this one is absolutely huge.
• 3-3: August. Went again to the Forest Hills Stadium, this time to see The Black Keys with a friend. It started raining heavily (ironically given the shirt text) shortly after they started playing, but luckily it stopped in time for the show to resume, despite being a bit shorter.
• 3-4: September. Went to see Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace (again!). Despite being my favorite band as a teen, seeing TDG this second time was much worse, and gave me the feeling it's not worth it to see a band twice. They played pretty much all the same songs, and this time they had a big screen behind showing clumsy visuals that were clearly AI-generated. Thankfully Breaking Benjamin was fantastic and made it worth it.
• 4-1: October. The night before heading out on a trip, I saw Anamanaguchi at the Brooklyn Steel. I only knew two of their songs, of which they only played one, but I really liked their new album that I first heard at their concert. They also played Hopes and Dreams from Undertale, to celebrate the creator's birthday, and that made this a unique and unforgettable experience.
• 4-2: October. I spent the largest part of October on a road trip throughout California with a friend as I mentioned in the "Song of the Month: Christopher Cross - Sailing" post. There were many natural wonders, but my favorite were the sequoias at Sequoia National Park. That's why I had to stop at the gift shop at the park and get a shirt (and pins!) as mementos of this wonderful place.
• 4-3: November. And to finish off the year, saw Of Monsters and Men at the Brooklyn Paramount with my girlfriend. The pit was pretty busy so it was hard to see at times, but the venue was really gorgeous and we had a good time. This shirt is a long sleeve, the first one I got in over ten years, and it's so pretty. I think it's my favorite shirt of the year.

2025-12-01 11:00:00

Slightly late for November, but better late than never!

As November rolled by, and the Christmas mood took over, I put on an old school Christmas songs playlist on YouTube.

Many of the songs I was hearing for the first time. A few of my favorites were Carol of the Bells, The First Noel and Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

But my favorite of all has to be "Do You Hear What I Hear?", particularly the version sung by Andy Williams, so that's my pick for the month:

Andy Williams - Do You Hear What I Hear?

2025-10-28 11:00:00

This month I went on a two week long road trip through California with a friend. We sailed on Lake Tahoe, walked over sand dunes in Death Valley, and hiked between the mountains in Yosemite Valley. We saw the oldest trees on Earth at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, and also the largest trees, at Sequoia National Park, through a mysterious fog.

We listened to many songs throughout the trip, but there was one that popped up and seemingly immediately won my friend over, as he kept putting it back on time and again. It is indeed a beautiful song, and will forever carry the memory of this amazing trip. It is my pick for this month:

Christopher Cross - Sailing

2025-09-30 11:00:00

My pick for song of the month this time around is a track that played at Spectacle Theater before the movie started (the movie was Mirage Men (2013), by the way). The lyrics are very poetic, and the instrumentation has this eerie and underground feel to it. It's a great song on its own, but it was elevated by being played at one of my favorite places in NYC and perfectly matching the vibe.

Check it out:

Moin - Lift You

2025-09-04 11:00:00

It's been almost two years since I posted the "Collecting pins" post! It's time I shared an update.

Somewhere along the way I decided to get more organized and started a spreadsheet to track all the details about my pin collection (has this crossed the line to the unhealthy hobby territory yet?). The main thing I wanted to have was a clear history of the collection: when, where and how was each pin added to the collection. And after spending a lot of time filling in the blanks, today I can finally share it!

So here it is, my current pin collection, with 128 pins and filling up two and a half display cases, summarized in three images and a table:

[*] The Collabora's Logo pin is not in the display since it's magnetic, but you can see it in the previous blog post.

The full spreadsheet wouldn't fit comfortably in this page, so the table above contains only the main columns. You can download the full spreadsheet from the link below which also includes the pin's authenticity, maker and additional comments:

Pins spreadsheet

2025-08-31 11:00:00

Just two days ago I went to an immersive theatrical experience called Viola's Room. It started in a girl's bedroom with dim lighting and a few beds made on the floor as in a sleepover. On the headphones, a beautiful song started playing. The moment was so magical it's hard to describe. I felt like a kid again for a second. And I knew I'd always remember this moment in the future (dès vu). If you have the chance to go, I deeply recommend it.

Anyway, the song that was playing, as I later found out, is my song of the month for August:

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun