Girl Across the Bar

I've been ignoring this blog lately, but you know, life gets busy and t-shirts are easier to ignore than say, a cold beer and a hot date. Speaking of which, I saw a girl at Linda's Tavern the other night wearing this shirt, and I had to ask her where she bought it. She turned out to be pretty cool, even for a girl who would buy a shirt like this. Even cooler to me, right?

Less is NOT More

People either love Will Ferrell or they hate him. I fall firmly in the love camp, and his years on SNL were some of the best, in my opinion. I can't help but imagine his sick, hairy belly bouncing around the sound studio whenever I see this shirt from Busted Tees. If you've never seen it, you can watch this bastardized version of the More Cowbell Skit (since NBC keeps pulling the real deal whenever someone tries to post it).

Same, Same

Wear it out, break it in: this one's a keeper. Lovin' the font and the starburst-y things on this tone-on-tone number from The Ryde. It's a great shirt for a Wednesday.

Arizona Desteenations

As a kid, my family would take long road trips touring the U.S. in our 1979 Airstream, and my greatest memories are a winter trip we took around Arizona. My parents were only slightly obsessed with Route 66, and we made a lot of stops at dingy diners and crazy old places like the Museum Club in Flagstaff. I had forgotten all about this place until I was checking out the new t-shirts at Desteenation the other day. Thanks for the memories...

Looks like they're adding some cool t-shirts from AZ. They've got a few new ones this week.

Swag: Thanks but No Thanks

Charlie over at at Kindred offered to send me a free t-shirt. Nice of him. But it brought up a new issue for me...

Even though I really love this shirt, I think I'm going to buy it myself. I'm a little sketched about companies sending me free stuff to write about their products (not that there's anything wrong with asking if you can send me presents). I just want to feel completely free to say whatever I want. Usually, I prefer to keep it positive and only blog about shirts and companies I like, but I also want to just be a guy who likes a t-shirt and shares it with his friends. You know?

So thanks Charlie. You've got some cool art, and the little descriptions are killer. Rickshaws are cool.

Burn it up!

I just discovered People Like Us, and I feel like I've been under a rock or something. Their site is so totally the coolest. Love the 'What's in Stock' feature, even if it is complete BS (who knows?), and their Artist and Design tabs for each shirt are hilarious. Here's a little snippet of the designer's comments about this t-shirt:

It could be a moving tribute to Lt. Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw who died a top gun. RIP Goose. It could also be a showcase of one of the most excellent paper airplane designs of this century or last. Perhaps just the best t-shirt on the planet... You decide.

Awesome.

On Blogging Vacation

You know how when you start doing 'important' stuff in your real life, blogging gets a seat on the backburner. That's been me lately, obviously. Met a girl. Went to Hawaii. Bought some t-shirts. Didn't have a whole lot of time to write.

I finally took advantage of all my saved-up vacation time and went over to Kona for a little sunshine. This winter in Seattle has been beyond brutal. So, I'm sitting in my hotel room, flippin' channels with a cup of coffee (can you believe the hotel gives you Starbucks with the coffeemaker--unbelieveable), and what do I see? An ad for Desteenation Shirt Co. in Kailua. WTF? As I've said before, I'm totally into this t-shirt company, and now it seems like they're following me or something.

Anyway, I walked down to the Kona Inn shopping center (very touristy, by the way), and couldn't believe all the cool places on their wall. I pretty much planned my entire Big Island exploration right there in that t-shirt shop. I'll give you a shirt/place rundown after I unpack and do my pile 'o laundry this weekend.

Oh yeah, turns out the little hottie in this video works at the Kona store (and she's jailbait).

Lebowski

Best movie ever. Seriously. If you didn't like The Big Lebowski then we will never be friends. I have no patience for you. The Dude is one of the greatest characters ever put on film, and anyone who knows me in the real world (and I guess now, online) can attest to my man-crush on Sam Elliot. His scenes in this movie are beyond brilliant.

I plan to get me one of these Dude Abides t-shirts and wear it around my apartment . In my bathrobe.

Make your own adventure

I just lost the last hour screwing around over at Innertee. It's my favorite new time-suck. I spent ages picking out three different designs, agonized over the placement and color and then happened to click back to the homepage and fell in love with this shirt done by another customer. Typical.

Bookish

Ian Leino's Voyage to Discovery tee over at Threadless is right up my alley. Love the design. The obscured book spines and the ripped pages--the pop-up effect is original and something I just want to wear. Add to that the fact that I can get it in a brown, long-sleeved shirt, and I am sold.

Bauhaus T-shirt

Desteenation just launched the Bauhaus t-shirt, which is from my local coffeehouse where I stop almost every day to load up on my first quad americano of the day (I know, my addiction is out of control). The coffee at this place is awesome, and it just has that perfect neighborbood hangout feel. As for the shirt, I'm loving that Desteenation is offering this one on American Apparel, and those colors are calling my name. I can't wait to get it (ordered it online this time 'cuz I won't be down in Fremont this week, and plus they've got Free Shipping) and wear it in when I pick up my morning buzz this week.

Rapture's a bitch

One of my all-time favorite shirt designs that I can't bring myself to buy because I can't imagine myself wearing is this one by Sack Wear. Whenever I look at their site, I imagine a bunch of people sitting around coming up with this shit, and I wish I were a fly on the wall. Most of my day is spent surrounded by geeks talking about code. No humor whatsoever.

I'm off to get drilled this afternoon. So I set myself up with five new Netflix movies (yes, I'm a five-at-a-timer, so what?) to get me through a potentially painful weekend on the couch, doped up on Vic0din. It's a good excuse to vegetate for days on end.

T-shirt folding movie, Island Style

Desteenation Shirt Co. has their very own folding movie on youtube. It's in the same style as that Japanese one we've all seen before, but I like their spin. And the little hottie in the bikini doesn't hurt matters either... I commented on the vid, and they wrote back to say they're planning more videos soon. I can't wait to see what other cool stuff these guys produce.

Down to the Roots

Toothaches are on the brain. I'm going in for a dreaded root canal tomorrow (yikes!), and as I was trolling around some t-shirt sites this morning I found this awesome design on Fantastic Bonanza. I like that they use enviro-friendly inks and print on American Apparel, and it's great to see the t-shirts on real people on their site.

Attack of the Arrows

Barry's Farm t-shirts like this one crack me up, and so does Barry. If you haven't checked out this guy's stuff yet, I'm happy to point you at him. His use of color is modern and very hip, and as I've said before I'm a sucker for a brown shirt.

Cock Shirt

Amtrea's catalog is, shall we say, skinny at the moment, but what t-shirts they do have are kick-ass. This rooster shirt is my personal fave.

Tractor tees are all over town

I kept seeing this shirt around town, and finally stopped a guy to ask where he got it. It's a shirt from the Tractor Tavern in Ballard, but the guy bought at this t-shirt shop called Desteenation in Fremont. We talked about t-shirts for a couple minutes while waiting for the bus, and he convinced me I had to go check this place out.

Desteenation Shirt Co. Mark my words, people, this place is going to be huge. The idea is fucking brilliant. Not all the designs jumped out at me, but that wasn't the point. All the shirts they sell are from real, local places. Like the 5 Point Cafe and Neumo's and 9lb. Hammer and the Deluxe and the Buckaroo. After staring dumbfounded at their wall of shirts, I realized there were about 15 places I really wanted to check out. Whoever is out there choosing the shirts is doing an awesome job keeping it diverse and real. They don't just have bar shirts - there are some record stores, hardware stores, barber shops, etc.

I got all my Christmas shopping done. In one store.

Panic Goods

The geek in me loves Panic's Spinner shirt. It's one of those images that people look at and don't immediately register as something from a computer. You know? Also, I just love the Panic shopping experience. Their cart is so elegant: drag and drop the shirt and checkout all on one page. Sweet.