This blog should be sub-titled: a journal of my life in geek.
I get my geek on with things about which I am geeky: comic books, Baseball, Ultimate, science fiction, my favorite bands, books I have read and loved, and Jungian psychology to name some of the most frequently traversed subjects.
I began this project simply as a way to count my T-shirts. I own a lot of T-shirts. But how many do I have? Do I have 365? We shall find out.
When I started this blog, I thought about how each T-shirt means something to me. I bought it for a reason, after all. I set myself the task to post an entry about a new T-shirt every day as a way to simply write something every day, a warm up for writing fiction, which is my passion. Writing is like exercise. Warm ups are good for exercise. But after completing a month of blogging about T-shirts, I have learned that this blog serves as a journal; it documents my life in geek, sort of a tour of my interests in pop culture. The blog serves as a tool for self-inventory, for assessment and analysis of self and the origins of self, for stepping through the process of individuation in catalogues, lists, and ranks.
The blog also made me aware that I have some serious gaps in my T-shirt ownership, and I am in the process of collecting some new T-shirts for several of the great popular culture icons that I truly love. Stay tuned.
I was also a bit surprised that people checked out my blog and continue to check it, read it, and even comment on it. I am very appreciative of this readership. Please feel free to share your thoughts in my comments section. I will respond.
Also, please note that I have moved the original introductory text to the side bar. And now, I present to you the most recent entry of 365 T-shirts: a journal of my life in geek. Thank you for reading.
(Second Update - 1310.24. First Update - 1306.05 Originally Posted - 1304.25.)
Showing posts with label Shirts By Color - Purple and Pink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shirts By Color - Purple and Pink. Show all posts
Because of the delays caused by Friday the Thirteenth and yesterday's entry that took two days to complete, I am going easy today. Here's a tight Under Armor sports shirt that simply allows me to do whatever I want with content.
Today's content will be various shots of my office and of the puppy.
Happy Saturday.
Hope to see you back here tomorrow.
COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 97 shirts remaining
- chris tower
1312.14
14:54
T-shirt #255 - Ani DiFranco Purple Every Tool is a weapon if you hold it right
I dreamed about Ani DiFranco last night. She was at my house, and I was interviewing her for some article I was going to write. I had to confess that I have not liked, though I have not really listened to, any albums since Educated Guess (2004), and really, Revelling/Reckoning (2001) was the last album by her that really spoke strongly to me.
Ani took this in stride and told me she understood, though she encouraged me to give her more recent works another listen or twelve.
And so I invited her to the Dinner Party.
I have already written about Ani DiFranco in T-shirt #121 and T-shirt #173 because I own four Ani shirts and a hat.
I have seen Ani DiFranco in concert eight times.
I like this shirt. I like purple. I am going to present a few more videos that I have not yet presented. In T-shirt #173, I shared videos for "Swan Dive" and "Gravel." In T-shirt #121, I presented videos for 'your Next Bold Move," School Night," and the poem "Grand Canyon."
Mr. T-shirt Blogging Man is taking a little hiatus to get work done and get ahead on the blog in general longer entries for the blog. Obviously, I am not going to miss any days as I committed to posting on 365 consecutive days, but I am going content light (or lite if you prefer) for the next three or four entries.
Here's some videos of Ani DiFranco music.
Welcome to the Dinner Party, Ani.
Ani DiFranco - To the Teeth
Ani DiFranco - 32 Flavors (HQ)
Ani DiFranco - Grey
Ani DiFranco Shy
Ani DiFranco - Untouchable Face | Live in New York | Moshcam
T-shirt #237 - KUDL Retro 2007 Logo Purple Long Sleeved T-shirt
It is getting to the point that I do not remember which shirts I have featured in some categories. I just took a picture of myself, which I might as well share, in a shirt I have already featured.
On a side note, I am coming up with all kinds of way to misspell "shirt." I doubt too many of these make it through; however, when I have short instead of shirt, the spell check will not catch it.
Anyway, I had wanted to save the purple retro-2007 shirt for next week to get more candid photos out in the world and tell the story of the shirt order saga, which is still ongoing. I will still tell the story. But it may wait for next week.
I may find by year's end that the more amazing thing is not how many shirts I own, but how many KUDL specific shirts I own.
How many do I really need?
This is short today. Grading Robot's deadline is tomorrow morning. Grading Robot would have an easier time if everything else stopped, and all Grading Robot would have to do is the work Grading Robot is designed to do.
Alas, this is not the case.
Stop the world. I want to get off.
Almost done re-reading Ender's Game.
Loaded up on Greek Mythology video last night and had a good discussion about the mythology of ETs and UFOs.
Woke up in the middle of the night by malfunctioning smoke detector, adding one more thing to my to do list, which is quite long a brutal. Luckily, the break for grading robot should allow for completion of many of these tasks.
For your edification and amusement, I present again a former grading robot content, which I had already presented a second time in T-shirt #208. And now for a third time, content from the classic T-shirt #36.
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow once Grading Robot has powered down to half power (as there are still four other classes that need grades).
See what I mean? Grading robot. The only way to survive such a work load is to streamline the process, find ways to speed up the repetitive feedback, and watch the clock. It's all about rhythm, repetition, and a certain tempo. Even so, grading written assignments can be quite time consuming as each student receives individual feedback. Yet, the process is much like Kraftwerk's music. Clockwork grading machine. Machine, Machine.
"We are the robots."
GRADING ROBOT.
So, this Kraftwerk shirt really calls to mind the idea of my work as Grading Robot; this is one of Kraftwerk's robot shirts. (I have another; stay tuned.) The shirt's image is just the kind of thing I love. It would be even better if Kraftwerk's name was not on the shirt. The image speaks volumes.
Damn, I love this shirt.
I have reams of material to assault your senses about Kraftwerk, but today's post is dedicated to how I think of myself as Grading Robot when I wear this shirt (and often when I am not wearing this shirt). In perspective, I am operating on--at best--six hours of sleep. I got up at 5 a.m. this morning to finish grades due at 9 a.m., which sounds easy enough, and it is when I am not so exhausted. But the work is repetitive and only takes a small portion of my brain capacity.
I questioned the wisdom of presenting another KUDL shirt for the third day in a row. But it is KUDL Monday, and it's a very special Monday. Today, August 5th, marks the last Monday of the KUDL 2013 summer season.
Also, tonight we will host the first two games of our 2013 tournament, playing the rest of the games on Saturday, August 10th.
So far in the history of this blog, I have featured 14 KUDL shirts or Ultimate shirts with KUDL related photos. I have featured shirts from every year of KUDL (2007-2013), except the very first year, when we were called KUSS: Kalamazoo Ultimate Summer Syndicate (2006).
I drafted what I thought was a rocking and awesome team, but somehow, through no my fault of my own (or at least that is my story), we did not win a single game. Not one. I do not remember too many more details of whether we played close games or how often we were blown out. I do not remember scores or statistics from our year of loss. But I do have some nifty photos. And in keeping with the short and fun posts, I present another series of photos. Don't say that I did not warn you.
From KUSS costume night with Ed Kenny
From KUSS costume night: team captains (Ryan Kircher not pictured) L-R: me, Ed Kenny, Kent Elliott, Matt Frayer, and Dan Lipson
Bobby Frantz and Miah Newhouse
L-R: Miah, Van, me, Touchdown Jesus, Tiffany Gleason, Hari Johnson, Melissa McKim, Stu Gulliver, Bobby Frantz, and ...? I forget
L-R: Hari, TDJ Walters, Van, Craig Schram, Miah, Lanny Potts, mem Stu, ??, ??, Dave Schram
Greg "Van" Isom happy with his award
Watching the KUSS finals and keeping score Me, Ali Almadari, Van, Ryan TDJ Walters
Team Purple cheers to lift its spirits before another loss.
What you will find here are some photos of recent events with captions, and a few links of some good, recent blog things that have caught my attention. If you need something to read, check out some of these.
Photos to the right are actually two different photos with very subtle differences.
Today's shirt is the Pink KUDL 2013 shirt. I wanted to have pink as our team color this year but was beaten to it by Will Maddix and his color theft (as I like to tease him). The pink team won no games all season until they beat our Light Blue team by two points two weeks ago. Fitting and ironic.
RECENT PHOTOS
Grading Robot rarely has a day off. A true day off. None of these days (Friday-Sunday, today) have been completely work free, but they have been more work free than usual. Today, Sunday, only a very little work needs to be done, and it is not the kind of work that will require powering up Grading Robot. The man-machine goes back online tomorrow (Monday).
In taking off as much time as possible from work and sort of taking off the weekend from the blog, I managed to attend Day Three of the Fab MagiCelebration in Colon, Michigan on Friday, and I rode about 20 miles of the Kal Haven Trail (about 10 out to Kendall and 10 back) with my friend Chris Dilley yesterday, Saturday. Two Bucket List items down.
BTW, there's a nice little old style general store right off the trail in Kendall. It's awesome. I recommend the ride to the general store and back. I should have taken a picture of the general store. Maybe next time.
Here's some photos (with comments and some captions)...
Here's me posing with this handsome bunny in front the Fab Magic Shop,
not to be confused with Abbott's.
This is Abbott's or MECCA for magicians.
It has not changed much in the last 30 some years.
Here's a beautiful depiction of what's happening in Colon:
Two different magic fests, two different companies,
two different weeks.
This all seems a bit silly that there are TWO different magical conventions and that this silliness has been going on for ten years as this was the 10th annual Fab MagiCelebration is all the more silly.
Silly, silly, SILLY. But it is more magic for people and more business into Colon, so it's not all bad.
Find other Wiki links off the page above if interested.
Above you will see two different pictures, On the left, a very nice photo of Ivan and me taken by the helpful young man who showed us magic and sold us magic at Abbott's. This is an interior shot of Abbott's.
On the right is a poster display at the third magic shop in Colon: Sterlini, which is next door to Fab Magic on the main drag in Colon: State Street.
Close up of the Doug Henning costume from Broadway's The Magic Show. I did not ask if this is replica or the actual costume. Given its display and prominence, I suspect it may be the original, though there may have been more than one costume.
I am going to include all the Amazing Billini pictures even though some are blurred. Even the blurred ones give the effect of the startling magic taking place in the Fab Magic Shop for the free magic show on Friday August 2nd 2013 during the Fab MagiCelebration.
This is funny. Apparently, there is an Amazing Billini in England that is different than this Amazing Billini featured here. The Amazing Billini featured here does not have a web presence that I could find.
Billini doing something amazing with tubes
Billini explaining his grandmother's spirit is
in the book he's holding. Why does that guy have such a big hat on
that blocks my view? ASSHAT!
Ye Olde milk jug trick, though a bit blurry. Probably because
of the asshat with the huge HAT!!
I almost asked him to remove his hat.
Billini did a good olde fashioned kid-centered magic show
Billini's Zombie illusion
Billini was very hot and had to wipe his head a lot
Not that he's doing that in this picture,
but I wanted to mention it.
Billini used many volunteers, which was nice to see.
Finale: Billini magically produced chocolates that he
threw to the audience
Here's some of the most impressive magic we saw Friday night.
T-shirt #113: David Byrne & St. Vincent - Michigan Theater Ann Arbor July 8, 2013
Concerts are great fun. I love going to concerts. I had been looking forward to this one for months. I debated buying a shirt. I actually wanted one of the women's cuts, which featured a better design.
Usually, though there are rare exceptions, concerts increase the enjoyment of the music by an exponential factor. However, sometimes, as my friend Erik Pye was quick to point out, the studio-recorded music becomes somewhat disappointing because it does not sound like the live music.
In this case, my enjoyment of Love This Giant by David Byrne and St. Vincent, which was already high, has increased because of the concert.
Today I present the resources for you, dear reader, to explore this great art if you wish.
Though the concert was not the best I have ever seen, it was very good. I have some great shows and so it's tough to break the top ten of my concerts. But I do encourage everyone to go see David Byrne and St. Vincent if you get the chance.
Given that the title of David Byrne and St. Vincent's album comes from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," and many lyrics were drawn from Whitman, which inspired me to look at the poem again, so I was tempted to dedicate myself to weekly explorations of the poem's 51 stanzas. I am not starting this today, but this idea is on one of the mind stove's burners and it's simmering.
At the concert, David Byrne dedicated "Outside of Space and Time" to the Higgs-Boson Particle.
David Byrne & St. Vincent - Outside of Space and Time
- Live @ Orpheum in Boston
I have no good pictures from the Ann Arbor show, but Annie (St. Vincent) Kelly has dyed her hair blonde.
photos by Amanda Hatfield and Chris La Putt @ BrooklynVegan.com
SET LIST FOR CONCERT AT THE MICHIGAN THEATRE ANN ARBOR 1307.08
photos by Amanda Hatfield and Chris La Putt @ BrooklynVegan.com
MY TWO FAVORITE SONGS FROM LOVE THIS GIANT
"Ice Age"
"Outside of Space and Time"
Sneaking in as a new favorite: "I am an Ape"
Honorable mention: "Lazarus"
TOP TEN FAVORITE TALKING HEADS SONGS
"This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"
"The Great Curve"
"I Zimbra"
"No Compassion"
"Road to Nowhere"
"Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)"
"Life During Wartime"
"Don't Worry about the Government"
"Burning Down the House"
"Seen and Not Seen"
David Byrne & St. Vincent - Marrow
Now, the usual weekly thing. The comic book stack. Not much to report except that some of the books I am usually caught up on have fallen into the backlog (such as Nightwing and Buffy) simply because I do not have enough time to read everything right now. And one title, Ultimates, has come back into the current fold as I read my backlog of the comic, though I am questioning why I still buy it. But the biggest news of the week is the Paul Chadwick book!! Yay!
I do want to point out the mix of DC and Marvel comics in the top 6-7 comics in the stack.
WEEKLY COMIC BOOK STACK
COMICS FOR JULY 10TH
The Walking Dead #112
Superman Unchained #2
Young Avengers #007
Justice League #22
Daredevil #028
Batman #22
The Superior Spider-Man #013
Uncanny X-Men #008
Hawkeye #012
Batgirl #22
The Fearless Defenders #6
America's Got Powers #6 of 7
Wolverine #006
Indestructible Hulk #010
Secret Avengers #006
The Ultimates #27
Great Pacific #8
Sheltered #1 (Recommended by Andrew at Fanfare)
Ten Grand #2 (as I noticed I did not have it when I bought #3)
BACKLOG
Nightwing #22
World's Finest - Huntress and Power Girl - #14
Astro City #2
Avengers Arena #012
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 9 - #23
SPECIAL PURCHASE
Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos illustrated by Paul Chadwick and Ken Steacy
photos by Amanda Hatfield and Chris La Putt @ BrooklynVegan.com
My heart stopped when this song started at the concert.
"Love me until my heart stops, love me until I'm dead."
David Byrne & St. Vincent - This Must Be The Place HD Live
Maybe I have a little crush on Annie Kelly (St. Vincent)?
photos by Amanda Hatfield and Chris La Putt @ BrooklynVegan.com
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T-shirt #255 - Ani DiFranco Purple Every Tool is a weapon if you hold it right.jpg)
On a side note, I am coming up with all kinds of way to misspell "shirt." I doubt too many of these make it through; however, when I have short instead of shirt, the spell check will not catch it.
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T-shirt #137: KUDL - KUSS - Purple - 2006.jpg)
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T-shirt #136: KUDL 2013: Pink.jpg)
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