T-shirt Zeitgeist
Among the fun folks who joined us for last night's BB/BBtv/Laughing Squid/NextNewNetworks/Metblogs Drinkup in San Francisco was Tcritic founder Karl Long.
He put together the amazing "prez dispenser" t-shirt previously blogged on Laughing Squid. Karl explains that this shirt was "based on a linocut print from local artist Eric Rewitzer who does some wonderful prints." Linocut, shown above at left.
I also dig the "Under New Management" shirt Karl pointed us to, from Print Liberation, shown above right.
the latest
latest episodes
yay prez dispenser!
I was thinking of a great Christmas stocking stuffer: "Hope on a Rope," which of course would bear the likeness of our new Prez carved into a quality man's bath soap.
A friend of mine is DC put together a shirt:
http://www.ournightmareisover.com/
Asura: Well, they're quite subtle ;-)
The thing I like most about the Under New Management design is the inappropriate dash plazement. I think it lends a certain rebelliousness to the already awesome layout.
Gorilla, the vector cartoonist of Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, is on a roll. I like this one a lot.
#2 - Um, an effigy of Obama hanging from a rope? Are you f-in serious?
cool designs!
plus, its nice to see that the comment section apologists have officially left the building. I admire BB for not pretending that the 2008 election didn't exist just to maintain some type of forced neutrality.
Hey, you can wear the t-shirt at least every 8 years!
#2 - Someone got there first: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_7&listing_id=16801866
GO! Mr Prez!
i always support you!
i was really grokking the "hope on a rope" idea until Artbot (#7) connected some dots for me, and now i'm feeling shocked and a bit embarassed that i thought it was a good idea, too.
I really like that Under New Management one.
I am glad that Obama is el presidente for a lot of reasons. Well, I take that back. Not really a lot. It mostly it is just one big reason. It will be nice to not be horribly embarrassed every single time I leave the country or deal with non-Americans (which is fairly often being a technical person in an international company). I call it bonus points that I can now go back to being a cocky jackass about American exceptionalism.
Sadly, I am far too cynical/realistic to expect much beyond that.
I personally don't find Obama all that exceptional or unique in terms of policy. I don't think that he is much different from Bill Clinton in terms of policy solutions. It is better than Bush for sure, but I don't really expect the skies to open up and rain money while we all hold hands and celebrate eternal peace and harmony. The worlds problems are still going to be there at the end of the day.
The Economy: There is little he can do that any old Republican wouldn't do. Sure, he might implement regulation that a Republican might not, and that might advert another catastrophe in a couple of decades, but it does nothing now. Telling banks to not over reach after their arms have been hacked off is meaningless at this point. It is pretty safe to say that they bad behavior is done and over with for a good long while irregardless of what regulations are implemented. Obama is going to pump out another stimulus package (like any Republican would have), government revenue is going to drop while corporate revenue falls just as fast. There is going to be no one to tax and not enough money to pay for all shinny toys he wants to hand out, health care included. Corporations that toss out jobs and the government that toss out services will be roughly equally miserable for the next few years. Oh, and the rest of the world? You guys a fucked too. Sorry.
Teh World: Obama buys some good will if you are an American tourist, but in diplomatic terms, I don't think it is going to make a damned bit of difference. At best, it might give some nations an opening to back down while saving face. Those who want to back down can, but everyone else is going to be just a belligerent. There might be an opening in Iran if Iran actually has any willingness to back off. They could claim victory when Obama shakes a few hands and opens an embassy and hands out hugs and economic treats. Other than that, Obama doesn't solve much else. China will still want to stomp Taiwan, Russia will still want to stomp its former allies, Pakistan is still going to be powerless to get its little Taliban problem under control, and the Jews and Arabs are going to continue trying the throttle each other to death until they are both dead or god puts his foot down and sorts that shit out all biblical style.
Afghanistan: Obama changes pretty much nothing here. McCain and Obama fought a battle of rhetoric over Iraq and Afghanistan. The truth is, both of them are all for getting the hell out of Iraq and stuffing troops in Afghanistan. Eh, maybe Obama will draw down a little faster than McCain, but not by much. A few more troops in Afghanistan is hardly going to make that little hell hole any more pleasant.
So, hurray for Obama and hurray that I don't have to be embarrassed by what a fucking dolt my president is. That said, when it is all said and done the world still pretty much sucks as much as it did a week ago, and Obama isn't going to change it any time soon. The cult of personality thing is fun, but my heart really just can't get into it.
I has a happy... and it is Barack!
http://www.cafepress.com/ihaza
My favorite: Barack. Paper. Scissors.
he even beats paper!
Good stuff! I'm glad T-Critic is making shirts now. Can't think of a better company to do that.
I also put together this shirt to commemorate the historic electoral map that gave Obama OH, FL, CO, NM and NV:
http://www.zazzle.com/11_04_08_commemorating_obamas_historic_win_shirt-235485123651286404
Well, it might seem insensitive through certain lenses, but I dunno if anyone can fault you for not even thinking about race at the time.
Far healthier to forget the issue from time to time than to obsess over it, after all.
Thanks so much everyone, I think the Obama effect is going to continue to be significant inspiration for all kinds of art, design, and of course T-shirts. I think the concept of the American Dream is back, the passion I hear in everyday conversation about this change is amazing. I hope that i'm not back to being my old cynical self in 6 months, but right now, I may not be American (from the UK) but i'm very proud of America.
I'm also looking for more designers, feel free to email me at contact at tcritic dot come or DM me on twitter http://twitter.com/karllong - I always promote the artist as much as the shirt, and the designers get ongoing residuals for as along as i'm printing the shirts. I'm bootstrapping right now but I have some amazing plans in the works :-)
MoveOn.org is offering free Sheply "Yes We Did" stickers.
And they're totally frigging awesome.
The first one is free; donate a few bucks to get more.
Not once did I consider the alternative gestalt of my "hope on a rope" idea until post #7 brought it up. I consider it a good thing that race is not the first thing I think of when I see or hear Obama. But I do see how it could be taken as offensive.
Before I posted I did what any young person would do first: I Googled the phrase. There were about 5000 hits, mostly about a band from Pittsburgh.
And, of course I should have known: somebody else already thought of it