Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Holidays Keep Rockin’ At Beautiful/Decay

Hold your horses, shirt fans—there’s still plenty of holiday shirt-fun to be had! Beautiful/Decay’s online apparel shop recently released some new t-shirts and hoodies as part of it’s new Holiday Apparel line, and just in the nick of time (St. Nick?). Let the phantasmagoria begin!

eat-more-koogai-monsters-t-shirt-beautiful-decay-skwak.jpg
Eat More at Beautiful/Decay: $29.95

First up is Skwak’s Eat More, featuring what he describes as “a jumbled mass of Koogai monsters screaming in agony and self-disgust.” The shirt’s info page goes on to explain the Koogai, which are essentially a representation of contemporary culture: a culture that, as Skwak sees it, seems invested in “vomiting” on itself ecologically, socially, and intellectually. Skwak might as well use this unsettling menagerie to comment on the schizophrenia of post-modernism while he’s at it—the design is certainly frenzied enough!

Continue reading ‘Holidays Keep Rockin’ At Beautiful/Decay’

ElectroCity: Gaming for Environmental Responsibility

WARNING: No t-shirts are contained in this post.

ElectroCity Logo

In addition to the delightful pun, ElectroCity is a free online Flash game that has value: not merely entertainment value, but social, educational, and environmental (at the very least). Potentially a lot for a seemingly simplistic game to accomplish, but ElectroCity pulls it off with ease. If you’re in the mood for a refreshing gaming experience, I highly recommend playing ElectroCity.

ElectroCity Game Board
A sample game board of ElectroCity with windfarm, seaport, and ski resort.

Continue reading ‘ElectroCity: Gaming for Environmental Responsibility’

Abraham Lincoln: T-Shirt Superstar

Sixteenth president of the United States. The Great Liberator. Preserver of the Union. Possibly the greatest president in U.S. history. And a man with impeccable taste in facial hair.1 Behold Abraham Lincoln: t-shirt superstar.

It’s often much easier to pay homage to a person’s mythology rather than to probe both his strengths and faults through comprehensive study. While Lincoln’s mythology has been firmly established in homes and schools for many decades now, the Internet Age hasn’t really done anything to dispel the Fictionalized Biography Phenomenon, either.2

That said, I must admit that I do enjoy ridiculous perversions of history as much as the next guy. It’s no mystery, then, why I’m so enthralled with Enclothe’s latest and greatest t-shirt offering:


Abe at Enclothe: $19.00

Here, we are introduced to an alternate universe where the U.S. falls prey to the ravenous zombie virus in early 1864. With the zombie population rising at an exponential rate, who takes charge and quells the undead menace? Yes: Abraham Lincoln. I know that zombies are on the official list of Internet Things That We Should No Longer Find Interesting, but the vigilanteism inherent in both the post-apocalyptic wasteland and the wild west gives the pairing of Honest Abe and zombie hunting an appropriate appeal.

Also! If you buy two or more items at Enclothe before these holy days come to a close, they’ll reduce the cost of your order by 25%! Nice.

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Lincoln Shot First at Nightlight Press: $17.99

Witness yet another marriage of history and geekery with this shirt from Kristofer Straub, better known as the brains behind Starslip Crisis. Who knew that George Lucas’ revisionist practices affected our nation so drastically? It’s kind of unfortunate that Lincoln wasn’t a better shot, to be honest.


ABE/JFK Hoody at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: $60.00

Rounding up today’s peek into the past is this more cryptic offering from Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction. Rather than nerdifying iconic historical figures, AAMR instead chooses to surreptitiously whisper conspiracy theories to people via eye-catching apparel. They list some telling coincidences between the deaths of these two presidents at the hoodie’s product page, and to be honest, I think they’re onto something. You know, for a few months now, I’ve been setting up this undergr—say, do you hear helicopters?

Well, whether you know Mr. Lincoln’s personal affairs down to a T or whether you’re content in making up stuff about someone you’ve never met, you’ve got to admit—the Lincolnator ain’t going anywhere anytime soon!


1In so many words, anyway. History buffs need not remind us that such brief statements lack truthful nuance—or any truth at all, in fact—it’s just an intro, after all!
2“Chuck Norris’ tears can cure cancer! Too bad he never cries.” That sort of thing.

Indie Week is still going strong, here at Fantastic Bonanza at least!

New Eco-Conscious Releases at Imaginary Foundation

It’s amazing how frequently Imaginary Foundation come out with new designs, because they’re always of such high quality! With these releases, we see their designs continue to progress along a trend of environmentally positive messages, most notable previously with Think Globally. But natural imagery has pervaded Nick Philip’s designs at Imaginary Foundation from the get-go.

Sustainable Future - Nick Philip - Imaginary Foundation
Sustainable Future NEW! at Imaginary Foundation (also available for women)

What makes Sustainable Future especially notable is that it’s the first Imaginary Foundation design (that I know of, at least) printed on a 100% organic cotton tee.

One - Nick Philip - Imaginary Foundation
One NEW! at Imaginary Foundation (also available in white and silver)

When the environment and the habitability of our planet is concerned, boundaries are only a hindrance in solving our collective problems. Especially political, racial, and class divisions will have to be transcended to reach solutions.

Link: [Imaginary Foundation]
Expensiveness: $30

A New Sugary T-Shirt from District Cotton: Domino

Domino - District Cotton
Domino NEW! at District Cotton

Domino is the first in a series of t-shirt designs from District Cotton featuring landmarks in Brooklyn, New York. (As an aside, Diablo Cody reviewed District Cotton a few months ago [hat tip to Karl Long, Mr. Tcritic]. If you don’t know who Diablo Cody is, she wrote Juno!) This tee is available for both men and women and, like all of their garments, is printed on 100% organic cotton (they also deal in blanks).

Now, I don’t know much about Brooklyn. You should take that to mean I don’t know anything about Brooklyn. But I do know that Williamsburg is a pretty hip place (cf. Your Scene Sucks), and not only does the Domino sugar factory look like a pretty neat building, this design is just well assembled. The subtle flourishes are a really nice touch.

Link: [Domino at District Cotton]
Expensiveness: $24

This is the first post in Indie Week! Whoo!

Huge List of Holiday T-Shirt Sales!

The Daily Tee’s Holiday Season Sale Guide
The Daily Tee’s Guide to Holiday Season Sales

So far, Rangga has compiled a list of 30 t-shirt sales! But that doesn’t mean you should stop reading Fantastic Blognanza, because a bunch of the sales on that list are from here! So thanks to Rangga for putting together such a comprehensive list, and be sure to check it out!

Holiday Sale at Progresswear

Progresswear Holiday Sale

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Progresswear produce some superbly designed political tees. Everything about what they do, from their t-shirts to their site design to their promotional images, are well put together.

Culture Warrior - ProgresswearIntelligent Design Isn’t - Progresswear

Link: [Progresswear]
Expensiveness: $19.99/$21.99 + free shipping until sale ends
Should You Hurry: Sale ends January 10th, so you’ve got time