T-shirt #312 - Centrals 2001

T-shirt #312 - Centrals 2001

Today's blog entry features another Ultimate tournament shirt, one I designed, one featuring a Calvin knock off drawing, and a collection of content in the entry that has nothing to do with the shirt, the great sport of Ultimate, or Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes fame.

I have more than one of these shirts, so I can post another one. In fact, I stuck at least one of these shirts in a drawer when I made them back in 2001, thinking that a time would come that I would want a crisp, clean, new version of the awesome shirt I made. not even realizing that I would strive to do color Calvin and Hobbes for the next two tournaments.

Instead of dwelling yet again on the sport of Ultimate, making shirts, and all that, I have for you the next installment of my "WHY T-SHIRTS?" series during my supposed "hiatus" and some random links and things that have been cluttering up the old desk space and noggin. Not much rhetoric on those just fun stuff to explore.

WHY T-SHIRTS EXPLANATORY BLURB
I am doing a series of snippets that will add up to a larger whole answering the "Why T-shirts?" or "What's with all the T-shirts?" question. I have also decided to include the previous items in an ever growing list, hence the "previous items" section next.

PREVIOUS ITEMS
#1: T-SHIRTS ARE COOL
#2: I BE BRANDED - CHOOSING TO ADVERTISE
#3: It's my tattoo
#4 PRIDE AND STATUS - "It's my thing."

TODAY'S ITEM - WHY T-SHIRTS #5 -  "LET ME GEEK FLAG FLY!!"

Most people reasonably educate in music of the 1960s and after will recognize my swipe and modification of a lyric from the  song "Almost Cut My Hair" from the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young album Déja Vu, which I listed on my top ten albums of all time list in T-shirt #292 - SPRINGSTEEN.

Wearing T-shirts is exactly like Neil sings, though he sings "letting my freak flag fly." I changed it to "geek flag" for obvious reasons. This has been what wearing these T-shirts has always been for me, though I have come more out of my geek shell in the last 312 days than ever before.

It's a geek flag. It's a freak flag. This is me in all my resplendent dorkness.

'Nuff said as the Great Stan "The Man" Lee always says.

RANDOM STUFF

The rest of the text in today's blog is dedicated to random stuff. If you like random stuff or glimpses into what's been pulling at my attention lately read on.

To start random stuff, I would like to share a blog entry called RANDOM UPDATE. My friend Walter Curley just posted this blog with pictures of t-shirts. What's the deal Walt? No selfies? Though COVET, especially the WONDER TWINS shirt.

Today I discovered a new web site for techie news. This may be old news to a lot of you.
re/code NET

I was drawn to Re/code after learning that Google bought the AI company Deepmind, which gave me all kinds of ideas.

If only I had stuck with computers. In 1978, I was programming on the high school Altair 8800 computer with a whopping 4K of RAM compared to the 6 gigabytes I am currently using (my laptop has 8 GB).

*SIGH*

Stephen Hawking has some new ideas about black holes. He's Stephen Hawking, so you have to take him seriously, though many physicists are scoffing.

Stephen Hawking's new theory on black holes


Some BITCH MAGAZINE fare, starting with a great comic about comics (and I may have to do more than post the link). Oh cool, I can post the whole thing...


"Don't be a dick!" A comic about how to talk about comics

Also, this next thing from BITCH MAGAZINE.

An Epic Feminist Edit-a-Thon Takes Aim at Wikipedia's Gender Gap

It's well known that female artists are underrepresented in art museums, but what about in our more modern and malleable institutions?
Next week, groups of artists and tech-savvy folks around the country are taking aim at gender imbalance in representation of female artists on Wikipedia. The "Art + Feminism Edit-a-Thon" being held in New York on February 1st has inspired simultaneous editing marathons in 17 other cities, all focused on adding more female artists to the public encyclopedia and fleshing out the meager entries of existing women artists.
The exciting thing about Wikipedia is that it's a cultural institution with very few gatekeepers. Artists don't have to impress a curator or strike it big at a fancy gallery show in order to get their work on the site. Instead, they or one of their fans just has to have the tech skills to create a Wikipedia entry. The huge number of people adding information to Wikipedia should theoretically mean that the ever-changing encyclopedia can present a more accurate and diverse portrait of American art than, say, the Met. But while anyone can edit Wikipedia pages, surveys show that the vast majority of people who actually do edit the site are men: less than 13 percent of people who create or change Wikipedia entries are women. 

Read on at the link above...



The photo (above) comes from multidisciplinary artist Krystal South's internet-exploration project Identify Yourself: IDENTIFY YOURSELF.

What has identity become, now that our social selves are laid bare online? How is identity established within the form-fields of Facebook? Our connections are tagged and bound to our profiles. These digital networks have not only transformed our societal structure, they have also re-shaped our internal selves.

Read more from IDENTIFY YOURSELF. Awesome STUFF.
*********************************************************************************

updating from 2023 with new content to make up for unavailable content.

The Psychedlic Experience short film 1965

Introduced by Timothy Leary with music by Ravi Shankar.

ॐ

*********************************************************************************

"The Psychedelic Experience" a beautiful 1965 short film that was so controversial the filmmaker had to leave town

POPKIN  12:55 PM THU SEP 23, 2021

"The Psychedelic Experience" is a beautiful short film created by San Francisco art teacher Jean Mayo and filmmaker Allan Willis in 1965. It includes contributions from Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and music from Ravi Shankar.

The film won a prize at the San Francisco film festival that year, but caused such a big controversy because of its title, that Mayo had to move to another town. 

This film begins with Timothy Leary saying "'Psychedelic' means 'mind expanding.' The psychedelic experience is a voyage inside. A trip into the countless galaxies of your own nervous system. For thousands of years, philosophers and poets have told mankind that there's more inside. That the reality of the external world is only one of millions of reality within the human nervous system."  Leary's visionary ideas are more important now than ever before. 

From Youtube:

"in 1965 san francisco art teacher jean mayo (now millay) and her good friend film maker allan willis set out to make a short experimental film and used materials close to hand to help the effects (soap bubbles etc…) but once completed it needed a name so they came up with 'the psychedelic experience'….Timothy leary/Ralph metzner were asked to contribute along with music by ravi shankar and his always brilliant tabla player alla rakha…it won a prize at the san francisco film festival held that year & then the troubles began….hippiedom was in its infancy and certain people were upset with a film named 'the psychedelic experience' so mayo had to leave her job and move along to another town!..when you think that two years later it was very passe to mention such words!..rare to find for many years and unseen it now makes an arrival here for your viewing pleasure.."

Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show

*********************************************************************************

David Bowie - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)

*********************************************************************************

Also, see I GUESS I KNOW ABOUT ORIGINAL SIN for bloggery committed in regards to this rare and unreleased Bowie cover.

Listen: Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde's Band Snowbird: "All Wishes Are Ghosts"




And lastly, Bully's Comics at Blogspot is doing a 365 Days of Kirby Tech, as in the far-out and freaky technology from comic books drawn by Jack Kirby.

Here's two bits. This stuff is great!!

DAY 9 -The Growth Machine






DAY 10 - Reed Richards' Heat Image Tracer






Read more at the links.
Classic stuff.

That's enough for today.

Almost caught up. One outstanding post to finish and than getting ahead as the hiatus was designed to help me do!

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.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 53 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.27 - 20:09

T-shirt #132: Detroit Tigers Stadium and Billy Sauce

T-shirt #132: Detroit Tigers, Tigers Stadium, and Billy's Hit-a-Ton Barbecue Sauce & A BIG ROUNDUP OF RANDOM STUFF!!

A GOOD DAY TO BE A DETROIT TIGERS FAN

Good morning from the Bloggy Carnival of Towerness. By the time I finished writing this one, it was no longer morning.

It's Wednesday the last day of July 2013, and it's a good day to be a Detroit Tigers fan.

I was actually watching last night, and I was actually hoping with the power of my mind and heart for the very outcome that occurred as Alex Avila clubbed a two-out, grand slam in the sixth off one of the best pitchers in Baseball, the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg. It was Avila's first career GRAND SALAMI.

Usually, if I send a Twitter message during a game, crowing about something that happens in the game, I jinx the outcome, and the Tigers lose. Last night, I sent the message, and the Tigers still won, by a score of 5-1.

In other Tigers news, a big trade went down last night that will bring Boston shortstop Julio Iglesias to the Tigers as a backup in case regular and All-Star shortstop Jhonny Peralta is suspended by the MLB on the bogus Biongenesis scandal. The Tigers gave up OF Avisail Garcia and RHP Brayan Villarreal in the deal.

Stories. I love Baseball's stories and I love its statistics. History and numbers. The history of numbers. The human interest of stories. The numbered story of history. The personalities and the oddities. Today, I am going to feature a little bit of all that delightful big country buffet in one roundup blog post.

DISLOYAL BARBECUE SAUCE

I have been disloyal.

I bought barbecue sauce featuring a Kansas City Royals player named Billy Butler or as he's known by the nickname: "Country Breakfast."

And this was not an impulse buy in the store. I sent away to Kansas City for this sauce and paid extra fees in Federal Express shipping.

In my defense, proceeds from the sale of the sauce benefit a Kansas City food pantry and community kitchen charity called the Bishop Sullivan Center.

Also, hey, I kind of like the Royals. There, I said it.

The Kansas City Royals would not be on my list of "most hated" Baseball teams. I kind of like the current crop of young players who are making a run in the AL Central. And I have always liked the franchise, going back to the days of George Brett. If a team is going to duke it out with the Tigers down the stretch, I would rather see the Royals in the fight than the Indians and Twins (whom I do hate) or even the Chicago White Sox (about whom I am on the fence).

Plus, I like Billy "Country Breakfast" Butler. He was a pick up on my main fantasy Baseball team a few years back (is anyone surprised that I play FANTASY BASEBALL? I thought not.), and he has "hit a ton" for me ever since.

Plus, in these days of summer, I am keen to try specialty BBQ sauce. And Kansas City intrigues me as a great place to visit.

And though the Royals have produced "Fear the Sauce" T-shirts, I do not expect to purchase and wear one of those shirts. Sauce for another team I will try; T-shirts for another team, a RIVAL team? No way.

If you are interested, here's some LINKS:

HIT-A-TON ROLLS OUT "FEAR THE SAUCE" SHIRTS

BIG LEAGUE STEW: BILLY GETS SAUCED

SALES BOOM FOR BILLY SAUCE!

BISHOP SULLIVAN CENTER - HIT-A-TON SAUCE

FANTASY BASEBALL

Is it any surprise that I play Fantasy Baseball? I thought not. I have played for many years and in many leagues. For the last ten years or so, I have run my own league: The Tiger Towne Baseball League. Our league eschews team stats like RBIs and runs and focuses on more individual stats like OBP and Total Bases.

In 2013, I chose to play in six leagues. I know this sounds like a lot, but it really isn't that difficult once the drafting is done at the beginning of the season. I am not in first place in any of these leagues. But I won each of my main two within the last few years, and I always place highly.

Every morning, I record the Tigers and Cubs scores on my own special log sheets. I read recaps just for those two games (three yesterday as the Cubs played a double-header), and then I study the box scores. After devoting some times and attention (while playing SportsCenter on the TV), I look at each box score from the day's games and watch for what a lot of my fantasy players are doing. After all of that, I set my fantasy lineups. I used to set the week in advance, but I have gotten away from that in an effort to save time on Sunday. This ritual may sound time consuming, but it only takes 30-60 minutes depending on how many non-sports Yahoo stories catch my eye, how tired I am, and if my fantasy teams need new players.

Patience is a virtue in Fantasy Baseball, but too much patience can be a killer. In several leagues, I drafted Victor Martinez because he would qualify as a catcher all season without playing catcher and would get more plate appearances than most catchers. But Victor struggled to start the season batting .221/.290/.274 in April with no homers and .235/.257/.333 in May with two homers. But things started to go up in June, and in July, Victor hit .380/.421/.580 with three homers, ELEVEN doubles, and an OPS of 1.001.

So that's patience, but one of my league mates could not be patient. He dropped Toronto 1B/3B Edwin Encarnación on April 15th just two weeks into the season (before Edwin even qualified at two positions) when Edwin got off to a lousy start at .184/.247/.386 with two homers. I snatched him off the waiver wire immediately. Edwin has gone on to hit 27 homers since April 15th. In July, he has hit .321/.432/.641 for an OPS of 1.073. Not patient enough. In fact, I just noticed that in this league I had not drafted VMart to start but grabbed him off waivers in the same player dump by my friend and his team the Fastball Flakes.

Now, not to say that I will hold on to a player past all reason. In some cases, I will give up on a player. I gambled that Encarnación had more upside than Adam LaRoche, and so I gave up on the Nationals' first baseman when I grabbed Encarnación. How did I fare? LaRoche has 14 homers, and Encarnación has 29. After a decent May and June, LaRoche is batting .167/.237/.298 in July with two homers.

I do switch out relievers a lot. I will rotate these guys based on who is hot and who is not, and who is accumulating HOLDS, which is the most overlooked stat in fantasy, while maintaining high strikeout numbers, low walks, and low ERAs.

It's also key to draft well and spot players who are not on anyone's radar but who are going to out perform top ranked players by miles and miles. Sometimes, I will not even draft these little known players or I will wait and draft them last. Some picks this year include Arizona's SP Patrick Corbin and Seattle's SP Hisashi Iwakuma. The main measure I like best for starting pitchers is the QUALITY START stat, which a pitcher earns if he throws at least six innings while giving up three runs or fewer. Without looking at other important pitching stats, Corbin's 18 Quality Starts puts him in first place in the majors along with Bartolo Colon, Adam Wainwright, Clayton Kershaw, and Travis Wood (many of whom were not the highly touted pitchers by fantasy "experts"). Iwakuma's 15 Quality Starts ranks him 21st on the list, still higher than so-called studs like Justin Verlander, Matt Cain, and CC Sabathia.

For more on Quality Starts and meaningful pitching stats, check out:

FACT OR FICTION: QUALITY STARTS A MISLEADING STAT

I may not be winning that league (I am in third and I am playing 4th place Fastball Flakes this week), but I am holding my own. I will make the playoffs if my team does not have an epic collapse. Still, as much as I banked on these pitchers, I am not leading the league in Quality Starts. I am 5th. However, I am leading this league in pitcher strikeouts, holds, saves,  wins, and WHIP. I am second in ERA. I am not leading in any offensive category, but I am holding my own with decent numbers.

Patience but not too much patience.

THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES AND WHY PITCHING AND DEFENSE MATTER

More on statistics. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, old school Baseball minds evaluated players on "gut" and not so much on numbers. When the old school Baseball scouts, managers, and coaches looked at stats, they looked at things like wins for pitchers and batting average for hitters as key factors. As it turns out, neither statistic is very useful for evaluating performance. As I already mentioned, Quality Starts is a much more revealing statistic for pitching performance than Wins totals. A case for this and other related measures can be made by looking at the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in first place in the NL Central after taking three games of a five game set (a four game series with a double header for a make up rained out game) from the previously NL Central leading St. Louis Cardinals.

How are they doing it? Not with offense. Their offense is anemic, ranking 20th in Total Bases, 22nd in Runs, and 20th in OPS in the Majors.

The story for the Pirates is pitching and defense and how these work together.

First, some stats history and then back to the Pirates and how this all relates. Bill James began publishing statistical analysis of Baseball in the late 1980s. By the mid-1990s, this stuff was immensely popular among Baseball geeks, like myself. However, most actual MLB teams were not making decisions based on these new statistical innovations (such as runs created, range factor, and win shares) until the coming of Billy Beane to the Oakland Athletics, a transformation immortalized by Micheal Lewis in the 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. In the book, two key measures helped Beane to make player decisions: drafting or acquiring players for whom a strong set of data existed (relying on high school stats or a scout's "gut" alone was not a good predictor), and the belief that offense is twice as important as defense. In other words, a team could absorb some losses and some of a player's mistakes to benefit from his increased On-Base Percentage and/or Runs Created numbers that translate to WINS and placement in the division.

However, since Moneyball, statistically-minded analysts have discovered that defense does matter, and how defense functions with pitching can make up for an anemic offense depending on divisional competition.

Though the Pittsburgh Pirates have the best ERA in the majors, they are 21st in Quality Starts, 6th in walks allowed, and 10th in strikeouts. So how are the Pirates then second in the MLB in wins by the pitching staff? It's a combination of pitching and defense.

The Pirates get more swinging strikes on bad balls than any team in the NL. When the opposing batters do make contact, the results are batted balls that are easy for the defense to gobble up. Between how well the pitchers fool batters and how easy the results are for the defense to handle, the Pirates may continue to win and stay atop the NL central, breaking a trend of 20 consecutive losing seasons, a record in North American team sports (not just Baseball).

I love this kind of statistical analysis to explain what we see in the standings. For the full explanation, see the following article.

PIRATES MAKING FIRST PLACE PITCH

MAX SCHERZER

It's difficult to have a favorite Detroit Tigers player. For a while, I was a Brandon Inge fan, and then an Alex Avila fan. But how could I not love Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera? And what about Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, Doug Fister, and Joaquin Benoit?

They are all favorites. They are all special because they are on my favorite team. Even when the Tigers acquire someone I did not like previously, such as Jose Valverde, I have to come to like the player because he is now a Detroit Tigers player.

I already liked Max Scherzer before reading the Sports Weekly article from July 18th, which is mostly cribbed from these articles by Jeff Seidel of the FREEP:

Detroit Tigers first-time All-Star Max Scherzer takes modesty, intellect to mound

and

Detroit Tigers' Max Scherzer (10-0) shows all his talent, strength.

There's also a good blog post here:

Five awesome things about AL All-Star starter Max Scherzer

What I read in these articles makes me love Max Scherzer all the more. He was an under-valued, smart pick up from the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he's having a career year following a very good year to prove it.
I learned how competitive he is, how much he studies the game, that he loves scuba diving, that he is a kid at heart, and most importantly that he's a life long learner, learning and reading all the time, getting into what he calls "Google Freefalls."

I also learned that his nickname on the team is "Mad Max."

Go Mad Max.

BASEBALL TEAMS - LOVED, LIKED, HATED

Because no one demanded it, but you are all wanting to see it, today's list of loved, liked, and hated MLB teams.

LOVED: The Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs!!

LIKED: In the AL: The Oakland Athletics, The Kansas City Royals, and the Tampa Bay Rays.
In the NL: The Washington Nationals, The Pittsburgh Pirates, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies.

HATED: In the AL: The Minnesota Twins, The Cleveland Indians, The New York Yankees.
In the NL: The St. Louis Cardinals, and The Atlanta Braves.

I am luke warm or on the fence about all the others.

As I conclude today's blog entry, the Tigers are about to start a day game against the Washington Nationals, whom they beat last night on Avila's Granny.

It's a good day to be a Detroit Tigers fan.

And just because I am not yet done with it, another photo of pages from the ticket book. There are more Tigers tickets in it than any other single thing.

GO TIGERS!!

- chris tower - 1307.31 - 13:01

T-Shirt #126: New York

T-Shirt #126: New York: Open 24 Hours

I lived in New York for a few months in 1985 while doing a college internship.

I lived on 46th street just off Broadway part of the time and on a boat on the Hudson River's 79th Street Boat Basin.

I worked at Marvel Comics. More to come about that experience.


The time I spent in New York forever changed me and my sense of identity.


I have been back many times to visit. More on the subject of New York in future entries as I have more than one T-shirt featuring the grand old Big Apple of Manhattan.

Grading robot is in full swing, so this one is short.

Ten great things about New York.

Not even the ten best things or my ten favourite things.

Just ten things, off the top of my head,

which you can see I have to hang onto in the picture above

or it won't stay sitting on my neck.

1. H&H Bagels - Broadway and 80th something - 83rd?
2. Art Museums - The Whitney, MOMA, the Guggenheim, Brooklyn
3. Tuna and Egg Salad sandwiches at 2 a.m. from the deli
4. The little park I found down Park Avenue by Gramercy
5. The secret door bookcase in the Magical Childe shoppe
6. Ray's Pizza by the Slice
7. Riding at the back or front of the subway train and watching the tunnels
8. Chinatown (just the whole thing basically, but definitely Wo Hop on Mott)
9. The Empire State (so you can always tell where you are)
10. The Village Voice (a good read)

I wish I had a picture of me in New York. Not sure that I do.

New York. It's just one of a few of my favorite things.

My Favorite Things - 

John Coltrane [FULL VERSION] HQ

WEEKLY COMIC BOOK STACK

Clone from Image Comics--which I am enjoying very much because of the great Juan Jose Ryp art--has fallen into the backlog along with some other comics I usually read every month pretty quickly (like Teen Titans). I expect to catch up with some reading marathons this weekend as I indulge in some quality time.

Aquaman continues to hold the top spot in its week. More interesting is how many slots Captain America jumps after I wrote T-shirt #106. Everything else holds pretty close to its previous position. I do prefer New Avengers, but I think it's been over a month since it came out as it was not released on June 24th according to T-shirt #99.

COMICS FOR 1307.24  (July 24, 2013)
Aquaman #22
Captain America #009
New Avengers (Infinity) #008
Young Avengers # 008
Hawkeye Annual  #1
Superior Spider-Man #014
The Flash #22
Batman/Superman #2
Justice League Dark (Trinity pt.3) #22
Uncanny Avengers #010
Lazarus #2
Hunger #001

BACK LOG
-Back log comics are not listed in any order.
Clone #9
Wolverine #007
Ultimate X-Men #29
Catwoman #22
Green Hornet #4
Teen Titans #22
Superman #22
Uncanny X-Force #004 (to go with the catch up from last week)

- chris tower - 1307.25 - 14:38

T-shirt #107: The Daily Planet, Random News, and the Missing Ring

T-shirt #107: The Daily Planet, Random News, and the Missing Ring

I promise for once this will be short. Or at least shorter. I have gone a little nuts lately, but, hey, time off, vacation, freedom, and thus more writing and time in research. I had some fun.

Yesterday (Friday July 5th), I had a haircut.

Here is a picture of me in the salon (left).

I was just out the door of my home and at the stop light at our nearest major intersection when I discovered that I had left the house without my wedding ring.

Had I not been late to my appointment at the salon, I would have turned around and retrieved my ring. But I did not, so I thought that this would be a cute picture. A thank you to Tim at Ultima Salon for the photo.


I hate being without my wedding ring. I only take it off to shower or wash my hands. But sometimes, I forget to put it back on, such as when I am doing dishes and get called away or when I am in a hurry and leave the house in a rush.

When I am without my wedding ring and I am not absolutely certain where it is, I feel PANIC. I am terrified of losing it. Though it's just a ring, it is a very important ring, and I am sentimental about it. Made of Tungsten, if I am ever seriously injured, I may lose a finger as the ring cannot be cut off. It would be great if I was able to slip it off in the middle of a serious accident. I will work on developing that super power.

Of course, this time, my ring was where I left it on the bathroom counter, and I was much relieved when I returned home and put it back on my finger. Whew!

I was so proud when I got married and had a wedding ring that I swore to never take it off except for bathing or dish washing and such things. I debated as to whether I should wear it playing Ultimate as it is a bit loose when my finger shrinks in the cold, but so far, in almost four years, it has not slipped off. This is the main source of the panic. I have no visible evidence of being married without the ring, which is troublesome in and of itself, and which I never do on purpose, and if I am away from home, I am afraid that it is lost. I have to check to make sure I know where it is, which I cannot do when I have left the house. I also panic a bit when I leave the house without a watch, and at least once a week, I double back to make sure I have shut the garage door.

I already featured my other Daily Planet shirt in T-shirt #42. So, not much today about the actual Daily Planet.

Since the Daily Planet is a "fictional" newspaper (though as Charles Skaggs will tell me it is real and he writes for it), I thought I would close today's entry with some "news" of my own in the form of lists as I know how you all love the lists.

Here are a few random lists of the things kicking around my brain lately: things to recommend and share.

TOP FIVE FAVORITE BLOG ENTRIES
Yes, this is completely self-serving and self-indulgent, but here are my top five favorite entries so far on this blog. If you have not read all of these, and if you have tuned in today, this may be a good sample for you. Thanks again for your kindness and your time. Granted, these are my favorites today. This is my own first impression choices of the moment. The list could change tomorrow as it is arbitrary in some respects. I probably could find better choices for numbers three and four, and I am only picking number two because of the video. (Though I am awfully fond of yesterday's T-shirt #106: Captain America.)

TOP FIVE FAVORITE BLOG ENTRIES

1. T-shirt #77: Narcissism
2. T-shirt #105: Ultimate Spider-Man (WITH  A VIDEO!!)
3. T-shirt #13: The Unlucky Red Shirt
4. T-shirt #98: Optic Nerve
5. T-shirt #64: Embrace Uncertainty; Question Everything

READ THESE BOOKS

If you asked me to name five books I have loved lately and read recently (as in during the last twelve months), here we go:

1. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
2. Ready, Player One - Ernest Cline
3. Red Shirts - John Scalzi
4. Gun Machine - Warren Ellis
5. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - by Michael Chabon

But really, out of this list, Ready, Player One by Ernest Cline is the most amazing. Everyone to whom I have recommended it has loved it, and the audio edition with narration by Wil Wheaton is fantastic! Beware. You will not be able to put it down.

I originally mentioned Ready, Player One in the entry for T-shirt #61, another post that could have made the top five and of which I am enormously proud. (See how I am sneaking in more than a top five in posts?)

MUSIC I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY

Again, a quick five items. Just the music that I have been listening to in the last two weeks, and in the case of number one, what I am listening to right now.

1. Spektrmodule podcasts
2. At Water's Edge podcasts
3. Love This Giant - David Byrne and St. Vincent
4. Out of the Woods Tracey Thorn
5. Destroyed - Moby

I wrote about Warren Ellis' Spektrmodule in T-shirt #75, another entry in which I take great pride. 

The Tracey Thorne album came up in T-shirt #97 and lists of most listened to albums. Of course, Moby being in the above list is proof that often when I choose to write about something, as I did with Moby in T-shirt #99, then I am inspired to listen. I am going to see David Byrne and St. Vincent in two days (on Monday July 8th), so expect more on this subject following that show.

AT WATER'S EDGE, which is a great ambient podcast/ radio show can be found via the following:

at water's edge

StillStream

and Rebecca Hilgraves (the host).

Lastly, FOOD ( a new category). Here are five foods that I love that sound good to me right now.

1. Oyako Don, Donburi
2. Sushi and Sashimi
3. Fried Rice
4. Kimchee
5. Spam Musubi

Do you sense a theme here?

Thank you for reading today's blog. I hope you found something of interest.

Leave me a comment!!

- chris tower - 1307.06 - 12:05

(And yes, for me, this is short!)