11/03/2007
Outsider Art you can Wear
There is a wild and woolly world of specialist t-shirt presses on the internet. Any/all tastes are catered to...for example, Threadless manages the DIY vogue, the more commercialized 80s Tees is a brash nostalgia merchant, and Rotten Cotton hits the Goth crowd with blood, guts, gore, and skimpy models. However, the real champion right now (as far as I am concerned) is Strange Vice, a wonderfully small press dedicated to amazing shirts for film buffs.
Having eschewed buying tee shirts for over a year, I feel that it is high time to make an investment. I don't care for branding any more. I don't feel all that passionate about any bands currently touring and selling merch. I'd rather not only wear black tee shirts (the prangs of fascism prick my spine). My solution? Look for t shirts with the logos of obsolete video companies. I still hunt for movies at least twice a month. Though I'm waist-deep in DVDs as is, I hold a special place on my living room floor for obscure VHS. Recent purchases include REMOTE CONTROL (1987), MCVICAR (1980), PRAYER OF THE ROLLERBOYS (1991) and SHATTER (1974). These awful companies - with names like Vestron Video, MEDIA, Cannon, IVE and Avid Entertainment - released some of the best (truly) and most of the worst (double plus truly) of the 80s and early 90s. Rotten Cotton sells a Cannon Shirt. But Strange Vice has Vestron, MEDIA, Lightning Video (ugh), Regal Video, and so many other bygone losers. As if this were not enough, they also have shirts pertaining to such great films as EL TOPO, AGUIRRE WRATH OF GOD, THE SEVENTH SEAL, and BLACK SUNDAY. Their specialty is Italian genres, especially Spag. Westerns, crime films, and the spectrum of horror.
Next time you see me, I'll be in my MEDIA shirt. ¶ 12:41 AM
Having eschewed buying tee shirts for over a year, I feel that it is high time to make an investment. I don't care for branding any more. I don't feel all that passionate about any bands currently touring and selling merch. I'd rather not only wear black tee shirts (the prangs of fascism prick my spine). My solution? Look for t shirts with the logos of obsolete video companies. I still hunt for movies at least twice a month. Though I'm waist-deep in DVDs as is, I hold a special place on my living room floor for obscure VHS. Recent purchases include REMOTE CONTROL (1987), MCVICAR (1980), PRAYER OF THE ROLLERBOYS (1991) and SHATTER (1974). These awful companies - with names like Vestron Video, MEDIA, Cannon, IVE and Avid Entertainment - released some of the best (truly) and most of the worst (double plus truly) of the 80s and early 90s. Rotten Cotton sells a Cannon Shirt. But Strange Vice has Vestron, MEDIA, Lightning Video (ugh), Regal Video, and so many other bygone losers. As if this were not enough, they also have shirts pertaining to such great films as EL TOPO, AGUIRRE WRATH OF GOD, THE SEVENTH SEAL, and BLACK SUNDAY. Their specialty is Italian genres, especially Spag. Westerns, crime films, and the spectrum of horror.
Next time you see me, I'll be in my MEDIA shirt. ¶ 12:41 AM
