Comment: Love the pseudo-Soviet propaganda poster look, and yes, I also love the orange (which I a lot of people don't like, butIdo).
I was quite a Tetris fiend in high school/college. I wonder how I'd fare now, as it's been about that long since I've played it.
According to the boards on woot, the writing on the shirt translates as "Build as if you're building for yourself!", and the writing along the bottom reads "Let's gift happiness to this buildings future occupants!"
Seriously, I don't think I've ever bought a shirt off of woot as fast as I bought this one. :D
Why: LOST has long been one of my favorite shows, and it was about time I got a shirt commemorating it.
Comment: So, what did you think of the finale? I loved it personally. And no, it didn't quite "explain" every last thing, but I've said from the beginning that the island and all its "secrets" was just a giant MacGuffin, that the real "point" of the show was just to showcase some great characters (and, of course, actors), and in that sense I found the final episode quite satisfying (minor quibbles aside). I'm frankly surprised that they "explained" as much as they did. And anyway, the more I read other people's theories of what it all "means", the more it makes sense (plotwise).
Anyway, from threadless comes this great shirt. Like I've said in the past, I much prefer shirts like these to ones that simply have the movie/show/what-have-you's name and logo on it. This one in particular is quite "Easter egg-y" - even I haven't finished examining all the details yet, let alone counting to make sure there really are 108 objects on display. :p
Tag.
Seriously, like the show itself, hours of fun just exploring, examining, reliving.
Comment: Lava-Roid is the creation of my good friend Kevin Conn. You might know him from his stand-up act, his always-informative Twitter account, and his numerous appearances as his characters Unemployed Skeletor and Fake Alan Moore.
You can learn all about Lava-Roid (and Kevin) here. We'll just say that he's a superhero with some rather...unique...abilities. There is a comic and a couple teaser images and trailers out right now - stay tuned for the movie and web show!
Why: It's always hard for me to turn down any robot (or robot-related) shirt, and this one was particularly cute.
Comment: I love the detail on this shirt. Notice how the different "weight" pencil-lines on the robot, the cloud, and the cliff give it a great feeling of differing textures. I know this sort of thing is just drawing-101, but for me stuff like this always feels like a minor miracle.
The lightning bolts, some of the cloud, and the outline of the robot actually glow in the dark! Though when I tried to take a picture of it, it came out like this:
Not joking! There's a much better look here. Maybe if I could borrow a blacklight from somebody...
Why: I love the Browncoats of NYC logo, and wanted it on a t-shirt.
Comment: To go along with yesterday's shirt, I thought I'd continue on with the Browncoats theme and post this one. Unfortunately...ugh, where to begin? One thing I've always learned to ask when ordering a shirt - is the design a silkscreen or an iron-on? This shirt is an iron-on, and not even a good quality one at that, especially on a thin 60/40 shirt - it just feels like someone has hot-glued a piece of card stock on your chest.
Look at how big and obnoxious the warning "tag" is, and it doesn't even come off. You can see on the top corners where I tried to peel it off, to no avail. The worst part is that it still feels like a huge, thick sticker stuck on the inside of your shirt, only it won't come off, ever. That thing is fused on there real good.
So in case you couldn't tell, I'm very unhappy with this shirt. It's a shame because I still love that logo. Chalk another one up to great design/terrible shirt, I guess. :(
Comment: Can't Stop the Serenity is an annual international event where screenings of Joss Whedon's movie Serenity raise money for Equality Now, a charity dedicated to fighting for women's rights around the world. The screenings are typically accompanied by parties and/or dinners, and are usually held during the last weekend in June, though I understand that starting this year they've stretched the "official" period over several months.
Definitely check out the Can't Stop the Serenity website to find an event near you - always a fun place to make friends, see an excellent movie, and support a great charity.
Comment: Are you watching the World Cup? If you're not, why the hell not? It's exciting, fast-paced (most of the time), fun, there's no commercials, and even when there's not a million goals (or maybe because there's not), each goal you do get is epic.
Well, the good news is that USA won their group stage and are playing their second round match TODAY at 2:30 PM. There's still time (unless you're reading this too late, in which case, too bad - unless we made it into the quarterfinals, in which case, there's still time!) to find a bar, a party, a friend's house, a store, a street corner, wherever there's a TV and other people watching. Because there is nothing more fun than watching a match in a room (or stadium) full of fans, especially when something truly magic happens:
Anyway, back to the shirt. It's gorgeous, isn't it? I love the brushstrokes and all the details. Even down to the reflection in the visor. I mean, look at it! Beautiful.
Can you believe I almost passed on this shirt because I'd been buying so many woot shirts lately? I had no idea how close they were to selling out before I finally made up my mind to buy it. Man, I would have (bicycle-)kicked myself if I had missed out on this one. Beautiful, beautiful shirt.
Why: Again, clever/cute Star Wars shirt. Also enjoyed the holiday theme.
Comment: Merry Half-Xmas, everyone! I, of course, wanted to save this shirt until it was more seasonal, but unless I find a new stash of shirts hidden around here somewhere, I'm not gonna get that far (I know I have a whole bunch of band shirts I wore in college that wouldn't fit me anywhere, but I've either since thrown them away or put them in "cold storage").
I love the details on this shirt - did you notice that the "snowflakes" are in fact Imperial insignia? I also love how the artist is able to capture the "expression" on the AT-AT's "face" - especially impressive considering that said "face" consists of a single red bar of windshield.
I also really like the cool, slate blue of the shirt, which really sets off all of the nice whites in the design.
In short, an excellent and beautiful shirt that I can only really wear once a year (or twice, depending on my laundry cycle that week/those weeks).
Why: It was a different color than the other running shirts I have.
Comment: Last one, I promise!
This shirt, too, is 100% polyester, but has a different "feel" to it than the other two. The red one is not as "shiny" as the white one, but feels pretty much as "slick". This one, on the other hand, has quite a "textured" feel to it - so much so that I wouldn't have been shocked to hear that it had at least some cotton content to it. But no, 100% polyester (excluding the Nike emblem), just like the other two. Weird. Yay, synthetics.
Why: I needed more shirts for running. Cotton shirts get heavy when drenched.
Comment: Here's a red shirt to go with yesterday's white one, though if you look carefully you'll notice that it's not the same shirt - the white one has that extra stitching and panels along the sides (I don't know the terminology), whereas this one is just flat, front-and-back.
Again, the 100% polyester is pleasantly lightweight, and also shiny and smooth and is supposed to "wick" the sweat away from your body, which I guess I don't really understand - where does it go, then? :s
Comment: Is this cheating? This shirt seems more like athletic equipment than an actual t-shirt shirt, i.e., I would never wear this to any place or activity other than running. But I don't know, maybe someone would. You've seen those people, perpetually dressed like they're on their way to work out - running shoes, shiny shorts, workout shirts, fingerless gloves - just sitting in the movie theater, riding the train, shopping for groceries, just hanging out. Like my building super (who, if he owns a single shirt with sleeves on it, I've certainly never seen it). So, I guess this one is sufficiently t-shirt-like to be acceptable for this blog.
This shirt is 100% polyester, shiny and smooth and makes me feel like I'm from the future when I wear it.
Size: M Where: Gift shop at the Four Seasons Manele Bay, Lana'i, Hawai'i
Why: I liked the spinner dolphin. The shirt also came in blue, green, grey, and a bunch of other colors, but I just went with the red.
Comment: I had thought you pronounced "Manele" to rhyme with "Mandalay", but it actually sounds closer to "Manila", with the stress on the middle syllable, not the end.
Why: Cute owl, pleasant graphic with lots of nice details (see the bag of mice?), I liked the cool blues and silver on black palette.
Comment: Drinking problem aside (tsk, tsk, so many bottles...), this owl seems like a pretty cool cat. Retro furniture and decor, old-school tube-TV with rabbit ears. In whose house do you imagine it's plugged in?
As an added bonus, here's a picture of the tag from another woot shirt I have, which I noticed for the very first time tonight as I was cutting it off. Silly.
Comment: Patlabor's great and it certainly has it's following, but it's nowhere near as famous as some other, more merchandise-heavy shows, like Macross, or Evangelion, or Bebop. In fact, the only Patlabor shirt I was ever able to find before this one was an officially licensed affair that was pretty much a big cast shot (I didn't buy it - it was like $40 anyway). That's why I jumped at this shirt when I finally found it (and glad that I did, as the store no longer appears to be around).
The very subtle background "bolt" graphic is even more subtle in real life - I'm not sure I've even ever noticed them until I took these pictures.
I don't have any tattoos and don't have any actual plans as of yet to get one, but I've already decided that if I do, it will be of the Patlabor/Headgear logo (without the text), which is more or less a cleaner, black and white line-art version of the image on this shirt. I wish I could find a good, big image online that I could link to, but for some reason it's proven impossible to find. I suppose were it easier to find, I might even have that tattoo by now. :p
Size: M Where: Got it at MoCCA Art Fest, via Squidfire
Why: I love the detailed line-work on the whale, and his expression is pretty priceless. As is, of course, the kitty.
Tag, in sparkly ink (fading).
Comment: I've talked about Squidfire shirts before. Lots of cool, fun designs. This particular one quickly became a favorite. From this blog you can see how many shirts I have, and you could probably correctly guess that not many of them get much repeat use. This shirt is one of those that I wear all the time.
Comment: I was way on the fence on this shirt when it first came around, and ultimately let it pass. While it was funny and cute, I don't know, it seemed a little mean-spirited, maybe. Cynical.
I was just starting on my marathon fundraising (by the way, have you given yet? :D) when this shirt came back via one of woot's many "Reckoning" sales, and at a second look I decided that the cuteness outweighed the cynicism. Come on. I was running, and I was trying to raise money. It fit.
One thing that doesn't fit (and continues to kind of bug me about the shirt) is that bit of circle right under the "1982" that's a different color from the rest of the circle. What's up with that?
Size: L? Where: I want to say K-Mart, but honestly I have no idea.
Why: Who knows? It's red and it has long sleeves.
Comment: I bought this one at the same time that I bought the matching blue one that I showed you earlier. I do this thing sometimes where I'll buy two of basically the same thing, just because. I don't know what it is, like paying tribute to the inherent symmetry of the world, or something. I think it's mainly because I'm lazy, and if one of them gets a hole in it or something I won't have to worry about going all the way to the store to get another one.
Which reminds me of a site that Laura sent me the other morning, Manpacks - a sort of "subscription" service that will send you socks, undershirts, and underwear in the mail. Because you might forget. I find the whole thing hilarious yet also very useful, and somehow, oddly poignant.
Size: L Where: Shan got it for me when she went to see a performance of Whisper House in San Diego.
Why: Both Shan and I are huge Duncan Sheik fans and had gone to see a staged reading of this show at Vassar College last summer. We discussed, vaguely, maybe going to San Diego to see the full production in the winter, but this and that and I wound up not going while Shan wound up doing so.
Comment: Not having seen the actual, full production myself, I can't say whether or not Shan and I are in full agreement about what did and did not "work" about the show. What we do agree on, however, is that the image on this shirt (also used on posters, postcards, the program, official press, etc.) is...pretty bad. Really really pretty bad. When we first saw it on the website, we assumed that it was just some cheesy, stock, placeholder image, something photoshopped together over lunch by a temp (and not even the good temp, but the new one) just so that the website would have something there until the official images came in. Imagine our dismayed amazement as the weeks and months went by, and in the end it turned out that this was the official image?
The Old Globe Theatre logo on the back of the shirt.
