T-shirt #352 - Cub Fan - Bart Man

TODAY'S COUNT: 13 blog posts remaining in the T-shirt year!!

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T-shirt #352 - Cub Fan - Bart Man

Baseball season is upon us, and I am making my nefarious plans for my Fantasy Baseball Empire with my first draft tonight.

Actually, I am going to wing it. I don't have time to prepare my own stats log and analysis, so I am going with the work of Baseball Forecaster and my own reasonable intuition for this league, in which I placed eighth of twelve last year. I think I can beat that record.

I did not win any of my leagues last year. The best I finished was second out of eight. I finished fourth in the league I run (TIGER TOWNE), third of eight in a league run by my friend Craig, and sixth of twelve in a New England league. I was kicked out of a rotisserie league run by a crazy madman, so I decided to reboot his league with the other players who may well be disgruntled.

Today, I am renewing the "hiatus shirt" mandate in order to possibly catch up by Monday on the seven incomplete blog entries found elsewhere via my main address. They are now sufficiently buried so as not be so persistent to my psyche's wellness, and yet, I know they are there.

Several gravitational anomalies aligned in the galaxy to produce this blog, which originally had been schedule as not one other but two other shirts.

And then I saw this: 365 Days of KirbyTech, Day 66: The Finkatronic Ray, which reminded me of my Cub Fan Bart Man T-shirt as a herald (get it? If you're a comic geek given my picture of Homer-Galactus below, you will get it.) of SPRING and BASEBALL SEASON.

I have given shouts to both the BULLY SAYS COMICS OUGHTA BE FUN and the wonderful Pencil Ink blog, and this morning I decided to let those bloggers know of my appreciation for their efforts with comments on their sites.

Bully is doing a 365 Days of Kirby Tech series, which, yesterday, manifested as tech from the Simpsons comic. Wonderful stuff. Here's one of the pics he shared from Panels from "Captain Cupcake and Pieboy!" in Simpsons Super Spectacular #5 (July 2007), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by James Lloyd, inks by Andrew Pepoy, colors by Rick Reese, letters by Karen Bates.

Meanwhile, I decided to post -- pretty much -- just pictures today. So here, we go (with a little text in between, D'oh!!) Okay, Don't have a cow, man.

There are 21 entries (including today's) in my Baseball category, which is a sport name that -- as you may or may not know -- I like to deify with a capital letter.

I featured the shirt that goes with this hat in T-shirt #182.

Here's some text from that blog:

T-shirt #80: Detroit Tigers est. 1901 may be my best  Baseball post so far, though T-shirt #115: Chicago Cubs est. 1876 also shares a great deal of good Baseball stuff. I love the sense of history. I love the stats. I love my teams.

But it's all best summed up by this quote from the great Ernie Harwell:

"Baseball is a ballet without music. Drama without words. A carnival without kewpie dolls. Baseball is continuity. Pitch to pitch. Inning to inning. Season to season."

When I saw this T-shirt, I had to have one. I like the Simpsons, but I would not characterize myself as a massive Simpsons fan like some folks.

"Don't Have a Cow, Harry!" refers to Harry Caray, former announcer for the Chicago Cubs, who always used to say "Holy Cow!" and since Bart Simpson often says "Don't Have a Cow, Man" then this is a great joke connection.

Harry Caray died in 1998. Here's a little weird irony: in the 2003 playoffs, one of the Cubs few post-season appearances in the last 20 years. In October of 2003, the Cubs were playing in the National League Championship series against the Florida Marlins (who won the World Series that year), there's one incident that is defined as the losing moment for that Cubs team, preventing them from advancing to the World Series. It has come to be known as the STEVE BARTMAN INCIDENT.

Lifelong Cubs fan Steve Bartman interfered with a catch by Cubs outfielder Moisés Alou. Had Alou caught that ball for the out, the Cubs would have been four outs from the National League title and the World Series. As it turned out, the Cubs lost the game and eventually the series.

Get it? The shirt is "Bart Man" and is from Cubs merchandise no later than 1998 and possibly earlier, and yet it foreshadows the infamous "villain" of the Cubs' 2003 loss. Really, it's a sad thing. Steve Bartman is a well meaning Cubs fan who got caught up in the excitement of a ball coming his way and made a mistake, like we all do (make mistakes that is). It just so happened to be a mistake that is believed to have cost the Cubs a National League title and a shot at winning the World Series.

Remember how in yesterday's blog I mentioned saving time for date night with my lovely wife? Well, here's our sashimi/sushi dinner from Friday the 7th of March using a gift certificate given to use for Christmas.

We love delicious sashimi/sushi at KUMO.

YUM.

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This is the shirt I am actually
wearing today

OFFICIAL BOILERPLATE TEXT OF THE LAST TWENTY POSTS COUNTDOWN: Hi. Thanks for reading. I am posting this "boilerplate" text everyday for the last TWENTY posts in the T-SHIRT blog year, which started on March 22, 2013. I will close out daily transmission on March 21st, day 365 of my T-shirt blog-tastic extravaganza spectacular. I will give myself a short hiatus of total non-transmission or  publication for an as yet undetermined period of time, though I am estimating about two weeks. After my blog vacation hiatus, I will resume T-shirt posts on a regular basis, also as yet to be determined (weekly? Twice monthly?) to finish blogging about all the T-shirts that were not featured in the blog year. At some point, once I feel I am rolling along nicely, I will begin regular posting through my main blog: SENSE OF DOUBT. T-shirt posts will direct to the T-shirt blog from SENSE OF DOUBT. I will continue to post THE WEEKLY COMIC LIST, the features of occasional T-SHIRTS I AM WEARING THIS WEEK, book reviews, comic book reviews, and other popular culture nonsense as I have been for a year now but all will go up at SENSE OF DOUBT and some will direct back here to 365 T-SHIRTS. Ultimately, I will begin Internet publication of my fiction, primarily the comic book satire episodic story called POP! among other projects. So, in summary, 365 T-SHIRTS will continue though intermittently. SENSE OF DOUBT will host my main blog presence and fiction writing as well as links to any T-shirt posts shared here. I hope you will continue to follow me in my journey as a writer and a content provider. Thank you for your kind attention and time you have spent with me on this and/or any other day this year. I am humbled and blessed by your readership. - chris tower, blogger, originated 1403.02
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HIATUS TEXT: REVISED 1402.18:  I have been trying to maintain a hiatus from large or over involved blog posts beginning with the start date of my hiatus on January 20th (almost a month ago) during which time I logged 21 posts, which I consider "Hiatus Shirts." By this term, Hiatus Shirt, I mean the shirt is not one that would cause me to write a great deal on the subject it features. These are shirts about which I can write anything, either a lot or a very little. The hiatus will continue, though as it has for the last few weeks, not consecutively as I will continue to mix Hiatus and Non-Hiatus shirts. The blog's year (365 shirts) draws close to a close. (I like the double word use in that previous sentence.) I hope to finish strong with some good entries with high quality content and imagery on some beloved subjects. To earn this time, I will need to intersperse shirts of little consequence, what I have come to call Hiatus Shirts.

My original goal of working ahead remains. I need time to write the enormously lengthy text to complete the extensive love letter to certain beloved popular culture icons featured on my many special shirts. Even with "Hiatus Shirts," I will try to share some worthy content as I have either an idea, a new suggestion of something to read/look at/listen to, or another installment of my various features, such as the WHY T-SHIRTS item, the WEEKLY COMIC BOOK LISTS, and the SHIRT I AM ACTUALLY WEARING TODAY among others. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.

Thanks for reading. I am always honored that people have taken some of their valuable time to look at my ongoing web writing project. Keep checking this address. I promise to make it worthwhile.
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COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 13 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1403.08 - 13:11

T-shirt #343 - 50 Years of Peanuts Comics

T-shirt #343 - 50 Years of Peanuts Comics

DISCLAIMER

I am front loading the pictures today because I am very tempted to just let the pictures carry the content today. But no, I am a writer after all. So I write.

AN ASIDE ABOUT A FILM

I feel I should mention that I watched Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen last night with my wife. Typical Woody. A rehash of various themes he's explored before with some new elements. I liked it better than Purple Rose of Cairo. Woody has smartly transitioned to using actors, in this case Owen Wilson, who does a great Woody-esque performance, in roles he used to take himself.

Just had to get that bit out there. I liked Midnight in Paris. It's part of my WATCH ALL THE WOODY ALLEN MOVIES project. I refuse to let recent or even far past news events (smear campaigns) lessen my appreciation for Woody Allen's work as a filmmaker.

TODAY'S T-shirt

The Peanuts comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz is for me, like is for many of you, a treasure, a companion, a dear love, a favorite, a familiar friend, and an amazing, daily installment in the lives of these beloved characters.

Surely, the art and the comics can speak for themselves. I wish I had time to scour the entire history of the Peanuts strip, thousands and thousands of strips, to select the very best to share here. Instead, I share a selection gleaned from the Internet and some pictures of me with my shirt and my dog-eared Peanuts books.

I can also say, quite proudly, that I now have a beagle as a member of my family, my own personal Snoopy as I discussed in the entry for

 T-shirt #117: SNOOPY AND FRIEND AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY SATCHEL.

I love this picture of the Satchel boo as a puppy fitting on the dash of my wife's car.

I was already pre-disposed to love this beagle because of how much I love Snoopy and always have. My family knows about this affection and have given me many Snoopy themed cards over the years, Snoopy toys, books and comics, and surely, I had a Snoopy birthday cake. I also had (and I still have it, though it's not in use) a Snoopy bed spread.

I am amazed by the output of Peanuts comics over the years, exactly 50 years, as commemorated by this shirt. Schulz did not live much past his retirement, which he announced in late 1999 after learning of his fatal colon cancer. He died in February of 2000. His last strip (shown at top and the Sunday version farther below) was published the next day.

The legacy Schulz has left behind is staggering. In his lifetime, he produced 17, 897 strips total. Fantagraphics Books is publishing a set of COMPLETE PEANUTS, totaling 25 volumes, the last of which will be published in 2016.

I, too, miss Mr. Peppers. :-)

Thank you Charles M. Schulz. You have been missed every day since your passing though your characters live on.

Peanuts on Wikipedia

VARIOUS PEANUTS COMIC STRIPS & ART

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 22 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1402.27 - 18:59
final publication - 1403.03 - 8:10

T-shirt #328 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

HIATUS TEXT: I am taking a short hiatus. A "hiatus" for the 365 T-shirts Blog does not mean that there will not be shirts or that I will skip posting on any forthcoming day. There will be shirts. But the shirts will not be exciting or the featured shirts will not require me to write a small novel to properly generate the content I feel is sufficient. I created a category for my hiatus so as to group together those "easy" shirts that I consider to be "hiatus shirts." The goal of the hiatus is to fill in many blog days with easy shirts in order to complete longer love letters to beloved popular culture icons on more special shirts and to write more complex entries AHEAD OF TIME. The daily grind is becoming too much and causing me to fall behind and to be forced to post incomplete entries. I am hoping that a series of hiatus shirts will allow me to catch up, get ahead, and stay ahead. Ideally, I would like to be writing the bulk of each entry three days ahead while always working on at least one other. I have a lot of great shirts to share before the end of my blog year (after all I was just given SIXTEEN shirts for my birthday). Stay tuned. I promise to post the more interesting and longer T-shirt entries as I finish them. Thanks for reading. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.

T-shirt #328 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I had to post this as incomplete last night. I am now writing to you from the future. It's Thursday for me though this blog shows it is Wednesday.

It's time for some comedy in the form of the greatest comedy of all time: MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. Since this is supposedly HIATUS time for me, I am presenting again text from T-shirt #271 - SPAMALOT and a short bit from T-shirt #187 as both that shirt and this one were gifted to me by the Lord of Chaos.

But first, I would like to explain Grading Robot's ordeal.

Grading Robot has completed another arduous test of his grading prowess, rendering grades at a record speed though not in a record time. Grades were submitted one hour before the deadline, which I should congratulate myself is at least not one minute before the deadline. The main problem with grades for this school is that every week two sets of assignments (about 120 in all if every student submits which never happens) are due by Friday at 9 a.m. I get one set on Sunday night and the other on Monday night prior to that Friday deadline. Usually this haul is not so bad, especially with later assignments, as many students fail to submit. One week, out of 30 students, I had NINE submit the paper on time. It's easy to give zeroes. It's also easy to give 100/100. It's the grades in between that take time and consideration.

FINAL GRADES, which are what I just finished, are always due one day before the usual Friday deadline, so THURSDAY at 9 a.m. Since I am often up at 5 a.m. and grading feverishly to meet the Friday at 9 a.m. deadline, one can imagine that a deadline 24 hours earlier would send me into a panic. This is further compounded by how many late assignments I have. As students submit late work, I let it pile up until I have time go through it all as the new assignments, the on time assignments, are tied to that deadline that I have to meet each week. This semester I was good, and I dispensed with a big set of late work after week three of the five week term. But more built up since then, despite my cut offs and in some cases refusal to accept late work. So, starting Monday, I had two sets of assignments to grade and LATE WORK plus other classes and responsibilities.

I knew things were not going well when I did not get much accomplished Monday because of class, family, and assorted other obligations. Tuesday was crunch time, but I could see I would need every minute to make that Thursday morning deadline. Wednesday morning I had my programming  class to attend, and then other daily work, and so it was nearly 3 p.m. Wednesday before I could start to crank up Grading Robot to full power. I had dismissed the first two sets of assignments on Tuesday as they were easy. This left final drafts of persuasive essays and all the late work, over a dozen papers, to finish by 9 a.m. Thursday, permitting myself a decent night's sleep. I do not care how much work I have to do, I am not being paid enough to work late into the night. 9 p.m. is the latest I have ever worked for this job and that was too late and due to extenuating circumstances (staying up with Liesel or waiting for Liesel, I forget).

I did two things to speed up. I re-used grade feedback. If the student did not make any changes to the fourth assignment and basically submitted it again for the final draft fifth assignment, then why rewrite all the same comments? The grades were different, but the comments remained the same. Furthermore, if the student submitted late, essentially the Week Three-Week Five assignments were probably all the same or nearly. Once again, the same comments were warranted but with different grades as the preliminary draft (#3) is not held to the same standard as the final draft (#5). This saved me a lot of time as I was able to re-use grade feedback and clear out two late assignments by looking at and grading just one draft. As a result, Grading Robot graded at must faster pace and managed to get to bed at a decent hour, even sleeping in a little rather than bounding out of bed at 5 a.m.

Thanks for reading. I know that these ruminations on my process are probably much more fascinating to me than to anyone else, though I do like the act of writing down what I have done, how, and why.

But today's entry is dedicated to the very great and quite stupendous comedy: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (As for the picture above, this book is a great item to enjoy the film as, sadly, I cannot locate my DVD.

This LINK takes you to a group of nine movies which may be the entire movie of Monty Python and the Holy Grail broken into parts that You Tube will not remove (with German subtitles).

There is a smart chap who made a modern styled preview with action parts and scary parts of Monty Python and the Holy Grail that sells it as an action film.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Modern "Trailer"

By the time I started college, I knew Monty Python well and found many, many people who loved it, too. In fact, loving Monty Python seemed to be almost a requirement for admission to Kalamazoo College along with knowing the air velocity of a laden swallow.

Emphasizing this like-mindedness, this shirt was a gift from my best friend and college buddy Tom Meyers, who may love Monty Python more than I do (which is saying something) as he memorized the entire Word Association Football sketch. Though it was not a recent gift, so it does not qualify as a New T-shirt acquired since the blog's inception.

There are many, many subjects worth exploring about Monty Python, and I am not devoting the time and text to all of them at this juncture. There's the brilliant three-sided LP record Matching Tie and Handkerchief; the most ingenious comedy movie ever made: Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Live concerts like Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl and Secret Policeman's Other Ball;and the TV show that started it all Monty Python's Flying Circus, which wisely burned very bright for 45 episodes and stopped production before they ran it into the ground.

In part, I presented these videos before but I present them all again (plus one) because they are, in my opinion, some of the best (though maybe not definitively the best) bits from this great film.

THE VIDEOS

I am sure that every single person reading my blog has seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail at least once. If you have not seen it, this is something to dedicate yourself to IMMEDIATELY. If you do not have time to go get and watch the movie, then check out these favorite scenes of mine. If you have seen the movie, you will surely enjoy seeing these scenes again. I will try to keep my set of videos here to a minimum, but I would rather post the ENTIRE MOVIE, obviously. heh. "Obviously." Guard scene. But first, the full French Taunting sequence.

French Taunting - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

There's no reason that this scene should have been left out of Spamalot. Very silly. It's one of my very favorite bits in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Classic John Cleese: "She turned me into a newt" following the longest pause in comedy film: "I got better."


She's a witch!

Surely, no collection of videos for my favorite scenes Monty Python and the Holy Grail could leave out this completely hilarious and often quoted scene. LOVE IT!!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Guards Scene

Monty Python Holy Grail Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Monty Python And The Holy Grail - Help Help I'm Being Repressed

I know, I know. I am leaving out MANY great scenes. Though the KILLER RABBIT never did much for me, so not that one.

Hey, I said I would keep it to a minimum. Four is rather a lot, really. THREE. "Five sir." Five!
Sorry. I get carried away thinking about this movie. :-)

If you want to see more, go SEE THE MOVIE. Again, this LINK may help with that viewing option.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 37 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1402.12 - 19:27

T-shirt #193 - The Far Side

T-shirt #193 - The Far Side


MR. T-SHIRT BLOGGER'S OFFICIAL HIATUS TEXT - Mr. T-shirt Blogger (that's me) is on vacation in Hawaii until October 9th. Blog posts may be simple and brief during this time, or there may be many Hawaii pictures and updates. No promises. It's vacation.

When My wife an I got married four years ago (as of 10/3), we never took a honeymoon. With our difficult work schedules, there has never been a good time to schedule a trip. Given recent life events, we threw out caution and welcomed chaos and uncertainty. Carpe Diem! So, off we go (or by the time you read this, there we are).

Today's shirt - I think today's shirt was a gift. I cannot remember from whom. Isn't that terrible? It's the Far Side, of course. One of the great comic strips of all time, though I am not sure I put it in my top ten when I did my Calvin and Hobbes entry. If I update this entry, I may check this fact. If there's nothing here, then I am enjoying my vacation.

- chris tower - for 1309.30 - pre-written and scheduled.

T-shirt #187 - Monty Python's Flying Circus - My Brain Hurts

T-shirt #187 - Monty Python's Flying Circus - My Brain Hurts

I first discovered Monty Python's Flying Circus on a local PBS TV station, which did not come in well, on an old black and white set. I had no idea what I was seeing. It was the strangest thing. This must have been some time in the early 1970s. I had missed the titles, so I did not even know what it was called. But I loved it. It was strange and quirky and British. Living in middle America, I was fascinated and watched without knowing what I was watching.

No one in my school or small world knew what it was either. It was not until I met my friend Steve Curl (see T-shirt #81) that I found someone who had seen it, too, and knew what it was. Though, it is possible that I have forgotten the connections I made over Monty Python prior to meeting Steve with high school friends who may or may not be reading this and will be happy to correct me for historical accuracy.

By the time I started college, I knew Monty Python well and found many, many people who loved it, too. In fact, loving Monty Python seemed to be almost a requirement for admission to Kalamazoo College along with knowing the air velocity of a laden swallow.

Emphasizing this like-mindedness, this shirt was a gift from my best friend and college buddy Tom Meyers, who may love Monty Python more than I do (which is saying something) as he memorized the entire Word Association Football sketch. Though it was not a recent gift, so it does not qualify as a New T-shirt acquired since the blog's inception.

There are many, many subjects worth exploring about Monty Python, and I am not devoting the time and text to all of them at this juncture. There's the brilliant three-sided LP record Matching Tie and Handkerchief; the most ingenious comedy movie ever made: Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Live concerts like Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl and Secret Policeman's Other Ball; and the TV show that started it all Monty Python's Flying Circus, which wisely burned very bright for 45 episodes and stopped production before they ran it into the ground. The Wiki entry for Monty Python's Flying Circus does an excellent job with an overview of the great comedy show, and so, keeping to my short entries, I will leave it at that (and I have one more Monty Python shirt to feature some day anyway).

I am most excited to own all the Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes on DVD. After years of trying to find broadcasts and then recording some, it is nice to be able to watch the show whenever I feel like it.

The shirt calls up the famous Mr. Gumby sketch, which I have shared via video here (see below).

I will include links to two of my most favourite sketches, and possibly the great favourites of many readers: The Cheese Shop and The Dead Parrot. I could try to be all "cool" and "hip" and select lesser known sketches as favourites--after all I am rather fond of the Blancmange from Outer Space that wants to win Wimbeldon--but these are enduring favourites, so there you have it. I am also impressed with the many videos available on You Tube, including interviews with the comedians and writers. I will definitely be exploring for more content before my next Monty Python related post.

I would enjoy hearing from regular, semi-regular, and even occasional readers about your favourite sketches, movie scenes, or songs. After all, I do have that other shirt to feature, and it might be nice to have reader content to share.

Monty Python's Flying Circus - MY BRAIN HURTS!

The Cheese Shop sketch, Monty Python

Monty Python - Dead Parrot

From someone's DEVIANT ART page... brilliant.

- chris tower - 1309.24 - 8:15