Sometimes simpler really is better. As is the case with this legal notepad-inspired TShirt from TheQuietLife.com, sometimes straightforward, clean emulation is the basis for great design. Or maybe I’ve just been writing too many notes lately.
‘Sheet of Paper’ by Christian Morin is $20. Thanks to ShirtFind for the discovery.
For those of you not familiar with Twitter, the Fail Whale is what is shown when the service is down. And during the month of June the Fail Whale’s appearances were proportional to his real life equivalent - that is, a lot. Burdened by the tremendous amount of free time suddenly on their hands twitter users started applying their copious skill to something productive - like making t-shirts.
This Fail Whale design comes from the ‘Fail Whale Cares’ shop on Zazzle.com. Pricing varies but, as pictured, most cost around $20. Where one site has a failure another has a booming business?
If you are on Twitter you can follow militant geek updates (that is, when its up). Just go to http://twitter.com/militantgeek for the latest on geek tees.
Seen via the O’Reilly blog is a fantastic interview with Syuzi Pakhchyan. She’s the author of a book called Fashioning Technology. From the description:
Throughout her new book, Syuzi demonstrates how to blend sewing and assembly techniques with traditional electronics to craft a new generation of cool and fashion-forward items like LED bracelets and chandeliers, a Space Invaders tote bag, Aerial the Birdie Brooch (a brooch that actually reacts–and “chirps”–to sunlight!), color-changing blinds, creative toys, and so much more.
The video embed below (note, toward the end she notes that this isn’t her day job):
Retro Campaigns is a T-Shirt site with a very interesting premise. They scour the campaign annuals, find some great campaigns of past elections, and put them on tees. Neat, but not very geeky - unless we’re talking about the campaign of Barry Goldwater.
Any sharp eyed chemists in the crowd have already worked out the cleverness behind this shirt. ‘Goldwater’ lends itself much better to a period table treatment than say ‘Obama’. Prices are $19.99. And its the best campaign/chemistry tee you’ll find until the presidential run of ‘Iron Ununpentium’.
The French have contributed many things to culture over the years: snail cuisine, stinky cheese, and an arrogance so pure it is now considered a source of national pride. You’ll notice that amazing tshirts are not in that list - till now.
This lovely Lego monkey comes from the all French site ‘Monsieur Poulet’. That’s “Mister Chicken” in english but, being French, even the silly name sounds rather pretentious. The plastic gorilla will cost twenty euros. Given the exchange rates its not for the faint of heart (or weak of wallet). But for those geeks that love their bricks this shirt is worth it.
(Please note: if reading this in a feed reader there’s an embedded flash comic strip above. If its stripped out you’ll need to view it on the website.)
I am loath to admit it but, yes, I have purchased ‘novelty’ t-shirts that were mass produced from a chain store. What’s worse, they cam pre-distressed as if they knew I was aching for indie hipness but couldn’t be bothered to spend the time and energy. Sure, there are some serviceable designs rocking a Wally-World near you. But lets think about what happens when you buy one -
So the lesson? Buy you’re undershirts in bulk from the big boxes. Buy your personal statements from an indie shop.
“That’s what she said” has always been the rejoinder of little thought and lesser class for decades. It’s currently enjoying a mild resurgence among those who miss that the Office’s Michael Scott isn’t a character to emulate.
Now, however, Cottyn has gone and created an eye-roller for the web 2.0 set. If you’ve got extra inventory of teal shirts you have to do something, I guess. Starts at $20.
There’s nothing wrong with a Dirty Harry reference in Teedom. Forget for a moment that the original Dirty Harry came out more than 35 years ago. Forget that anyone under 25 has no clue who Clint Eastwood is. Forget that the movie is only above average. The phrase “make my day” has transcended all of that and made it ripe for riffing on this shirt from Snorg Tees. You can get your bit of solar sarcasm for $16.95. Attribution goes to the TShirts around the Internet blog for the find.
It is with great shame that I’ve just realized there is no ‘Superhero’ geek tshirt category on MilitantGeek. Sure, we’ve got robot hero tees galore but the best previous fleshy hero homage I can point to is MacGyver. After I laid my peepers upon this shirt its all going to have to change.
Dutch Southern is a new TShirt company and if the rest of their designs are as clever and well drawn as ‘Fantastic Forefathers’ they’re going to be a smash. This beauty is $18 from their store page. Props to the T-Shirts Around the Internet Blog for the find.
As readers of this blog know I’m a sucker for a good schematically themed shirt. Make it a wearable schematic of an audio wonderland and you wouldn’t have to be this guy to appreciated it.
The creation comes by way of Alphabet Arm Design which is apparently big with music hipsters. My suggestion to them would be to forget the groupies and start applying some of their apparent skill at designing geek-themed T-Shirts. Not only does our dress code make us a possible target audience; unlike the fanzies we can actually afford your products. You can buy this gem for $16 from their store.
