Preshrunk

Holy crap! I didn't think you guys were really going to take me seriously when I asked you to nominate Preshrunk for a 2005 Bloggie. But lo and behold, we're on the ballot for "Best New Weblog". That's awesome of y'all, especially since we're less than a month old. To be perfectly honest, it sort of makes me get a bit choked up.

The competition is pretty fierce though. We're up against a British expat living in Paris, funny commentary on lame photos, a horrible tragedy and a Gawker Media blog.

Yeah, we're probably going to get our ass handed to us. If not by the South East Asia Tsunami Blog, then by Defamer. Still, we urge you to vote early [and often, if possible]. Thanks again for nominating us!

Preshrunk reader David McCreath pointed out that Brian Wood's Northern Boy is having a Valentine's Day sale. Two shirts of your choice are going for the low, low price of $22.00 - which includes shipping. Sweet Jesus! Sure, his catalog is limited to 6 shirts, but they're all really great.

Brian Wood is best known for Channel Zero, a beautiful and solidly written illustrated novel. He's also done work for Rockstar, Vertigo/DC and Punk Planet. I have no idea how much he charges for illustrations, but I'd kill to have him do a proper header graphic for the site. Maybe one day we can afford him...

Update: Between the link from this site and a mention on Warren Ellis' blog, the sale had to end a bit earlier than expected. That said, the shirts are still a steal at $15.00 a piece.

$15.00 | PayPal | URL

Dear Tiny Factory,

You probably hear this all the time, but please cosider having our babies. We could make beautiful t-shirts together. We're no Gothamist... but honestly, who is?

We're absolutely enamored with your Vespa shirt. There's something about a scooter on baby blue that just makes our nipples hard. Okay, that was probably too much information. If that scared you off, c'est la vie. If it didn't, drop us an e-mail...

Yours Truly,
Preshrunk

$24.00 | PayPal | URL

Santa Barbara's The Human Effort has a freakin' sweet series of tees. They've gone and made a shirt with a different bit of art for each letter of the alphabet. All of the drawings are quality stuff, but the ant has to be my favorite. There's something about an ant being paired with the word anarchy that makes my naughty bits tingle.

If loving this shirt is wrong, I don't want to be right...

$25.00 | PayPal | URL

+ Preshrunk reader Matt Rennick has a good eye. Allegedly, the models on I Stole Brad were nicked from an old revision of the American Apparel web site. I thought the girls looked familiar when I was readying the link to the shirt yesterday...

+ Jed from the .au sent us this note:

Be thankful you live in the US. I live in Australia tried to order a Veer t-shirt, but the quote on shipping was $US40. Given that most online stores ship t-shirt for around $US10, this seems a little steep. I emailed them, but apparently that's the only international shipping option they
offer.

$40 for shipping to Australia is a bit rich. The package would have to be hand delivered by a Aboriginal tribesman riding a dingo to make it worth that sort of cheddar.

For the LDS peeps in the house, this one's sure to be a hit at your next noncommittal make-out party. As someone who's dated one, this shirt sums up Mormons nicely. The Church is pretty much the enemy of fun. Alcohol, caffeine and premarital sex are strictly prohibited.

So what does that leave you with? Virgin Pina Coladas, Sierra Mist and holding hands. Bollocks to that. I'd rather take my chances in hell than give up Newcastle for the rest of my life. Sorry Heavenly Father.

$15.99 | Credit | URL

Were someone to ask me what my favorite magazine is, I'd say Giant Robot without hesitation. They're only a quarterly, but they've managed to cover almost every imaginable facet of Asian pop culture since 1994.

I met the GR staff at a zine fest back in Orange around 1996. All of them were really nice folks who seemed really happy that their humble little mag had struck a chord with so many people. They gave me a whole mess of stickers and a couple back issues in trade for my folded over little eight page rag. I thought that they were gods at the time... and in a way, I still sorta do.

Last year, Giant Robot released their 10th anniversary shirt - a breezy logotype done up in Helvetica. If they had a size larger than XL, I'd get one for all the swag they hooked me up with back in the day. Even if my mom did "accidentally" throw it all out a week after I met them...

$18.00 | Credit | URL

I could say that I'm throwing a bone to our female readers, but I won't lie to you. The only reason we're featuring this shirt is because our click-through rate spikes when we post pictures that feature modestly hot chicks.

Some of you guys are really lonely, aren't you? It's almost enough to drive us to run SuicideGirls banners on the site...

But anyway, we're glad to see someone has supressed their shame reflex long enough to turn a profit on the Pitt/Aniston breakup. You go, boy/girl.

$16.99 | PayPal | URL [via]

I wouldn't go so far as to call the Notorious B.I.G. a modern day Che Guevara, but his impact on hip hop has elevated him to icon status. That's why I'm in love with this number over at Turntable Lab. It's a visual mash up of Che and Biggie that seems to urge people to rise up and take back hip hop. His somber stare acting as a call to arms. Pleading with you to take back an artform that's lost its edge and has basically become pop music.

Of course, I could just be overreacting and it might just be a clever t-shirt...

$24.00 | Credit | URL

If you've spent any time doing heavy print or web design, you'll appreciate this one from the peeps over at Veer. Lorem ipsum is the oldest example of what's known in publishing circles as as "dummy" or "placeholder" text. Allegedly copied from Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum, Lorem ipsum and its derivatives have been in use since the 1500's.

For any of you who happen to know a design geek with an upcoming birthday, this would make a lovely present. Anything in Veer's online store would, actually. Seeing as how we're a t-shirt weblog though, we've sorta have to give the apparel a higher recommendation.

$22.00 | Credit | URL