simply brent

Brent | March 28, 2009

I just got back from my run.

As always, I was listening to my mp3 player (NOT an iPod, thank you). I have all sorts of music to fuel my workouts: rock, rap, pop, country, techno (thanks Dan!). Anything up-tempo. Bon Jovi’s song “Undivided” was rocking, and I really started to listen to the lyrics.

This song was written immediately after, and in direct response to, September 11th. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, who is from New Jersey, it had a very strong message: What the terrorists did only united us. Only made us strong again. We are pissed off, and we are gonna kick your ass.

Anyway, here are the lyrics to Undivided:

That was my brother lost in the rubble
That was my sister lost in the crush
That was our mothers, those were our children
That was our fathers, that was each of us.
A million prayers to God above
A million tears make an ocean of

One, for love
One, for truth
One, for me. One, for you.

I found spirit, they couldn’t ruin it
I found courage in the smoke and dust
I found faith in the songs you silenced
Deep down it’s ringing out in each of us
Yeah… yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

One, for love
One, for truth
One, for me. One, for you.

Where we once were divided, now we stand united
We stand as one… undivided.
How many hands? How many hearts?
How many dreams have been torn apart?
Enough! Enough!… The time has come to rise back up as

One, for love
One, for truth
One, for me. One, for you.

Where we once were divided, now we stand united
We stand as one… Undivided.

Listen to the song here.

Remember how you felt that day? Did you go out and buy a flag to fly at your house? Or get one of those car magnets that supported our Armed Forces? Or maybe you were mad enough you felt like you could personally go kick someone’s butt that even could have been a terrorist?

The question that struck me during my run was: Are we still that united? Do we still feel as bonded to our fellow Americans? To our leaders? Would we do just about anything for our country at this point? I don’t know about you, but I don’t EVER want to forget how our country pulled together that day, and in the following days and months.

Before we start flag-waving and you start singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, I’ll end it here. I just wanted to share my feelings listening to that song. It just reminded me of where we were not too long ago.

We live in a great country, fellow humans.

Category: Family, Friends, General | 2 Comments »
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Brent | March 28, 2009

Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory, don’t you think?

Man Bat has none of the charm, cuteness, or self-expressionism of other shirts. Man Bat is really just……peculiar. I mean, odd. When it first saw it, I think my brow furrowed and my head cocked to the side a little. Like, I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at. And I didn’t buy it.

Several months later, this shirt came to me as part of what woot calls “Randoms”. Where unannounced they will just post a blurry question mark, and you can buy, sight-unseen, mystery shirts. They come at a discounted price of $6, and you don’t know what you’ll get until you open the package. Fun.

Well, Man Bat came in my randoms, and it’s just kinda grown on me. I have taken to enjoy it’s inherent quirkiness, and the bizarre portrait of a Man-Bat creature. But a very sophisticated, old-world Man Bat. One of the great gimmicks that woot has is their item write-ups. Man Bat’s write up takes the form of a letter from him, to his sister. I’ll include it here, but only this once, ok?

September 3rd, 1841

Dearest Martha,

As I write this, the long summer is coming to a close. This year the town fathers decided to drain the pond. It has prevented a great many malaria deaths, but I have had precious little to eat. That fine coat your father made hangs large on me now. I fear you would not know me if you saw me.

The people in this town do not seem to care for me, although they are always polite. I think they see me as standoffish and aloof. I try to make friends but become confused by the noise in the town square. Sometimes it can be difficult to find my way home. Once I stayed in a boarding house but the landlady chased me out with a broom after a few hours so I no longer frequent that establishment.

I wish you were able to visit. I know the city is a long way away, but it can be very lonely here. I sometimes wish I were there with you, dangling from the heirloom chandelier and enjoying imported fruit. But I am determined to prove myself, and to make my fortune through honest living. And, God willing, I will succeed.

Please write me soon. I miss you terribly.

Yours lovingly,
Thomas

Category: Shirt of the Day | No Comments »
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Brent | March 27, 2009

Just call it Explanation for short.

This design had a big following, but never got printed at woot, either in the “Miniature Worlds” derby, nor a subsequent “Do-Over” Derby for faves that didn’t print. The artist is the ever-creative and original Jamie Marshall (“BootsBoots”). Her designs are always very clever, colorful, and fun. Jamie eventually put this design up at a place called Cameesa, which has a very different way it works. It’s called “Crowdfunding”, and basically artists put up designs, then people vote with their money. When a design has enough support, they print it. Very clever, and it ensures at least a certain level of sales and success.

The idea behind the design was that the “little man” inside you is apathetic, as indicated by playing video games and the eye roll, that the pictures explains the lack of motivation or passion for most things, except for playing video games. However, the first time I wore this shirt, I had someone say to me “Brent, that shirt is perfect for you. You are such a little kid at heart.”
HA! Wow, I had never looked at it from that perspective, but quite literally, yes, there is a little kid at the heart of this design!

So, for what it says about me personally, as well as the rich colors, creative concept, and the placement of left-center-shoulder, this is one of my faves.

Category: Shirt of the Day | 2 Comments »
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Brent | March 25, 2009

Category: General, Random | 1 Comment »
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Brent | March 25, 2009

Today’s shirt is Nanonauts. It’s one of my favorite shirts for several reasons. It’s my favorite color – navy blue (keep track, there will a quiz later), it seems to fit just right, and I really love the left-shoulder placement of the design. I love unconventional placements instead of always center – chest. It is just one of those designs that people like to look at, but I don’t have to explain anything.

The design came from woot’s “Miniature Worlds” derby, and was designed by Travis Gentry (“tgentry”). Travis is a woot juggernaut, seemingly always winning derbies and getting printed. Travis just makes great, wearable designs. The thought behind the design is, rather obviously, that there are teeny tiny people that work on our DNA.

There are some people I’ve ran across that their DNA workers seem to be on strike

Category: Shirt of the Day | 1 Comment »
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Brent | March 24, 2009

Recently I’ve been reminded of how blessed I am. I have a great family, several great friends, and co-workers that I really look forward to seeing every day. Those things cannot be purchased, traded for, or sold.
I once quoted myself, stating:

“We are not made to be independent. We should strive for INTERdependence. Our lives are meaningless if lived alone. Meaning is given to our lives through our connections to the people around us”

(click on pics for larger image)

While we’re here on this earth, we need to lift each other up, to comfort when times are bad, and to spur each other on to greatness.

Don’t miss out on the world going on around you. See how what you do impacts the lives of others. Invest in other people. You will not be disappointed in the return.

Peace.

Category: Family, Friends | 3 Comments »
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Brent | March 24, 2009

Almost all of the shirts I have I’ve had to buy. Pretty normal, right? Well, today’s shirt came to me free of charge, a sign of friendship and gratitude, a symbol of good will amongst fellow humans.
Nothing is Written is a beautiful design by Jimiyo, a great dude.
Check it out:

The story goes that I had made a post over at shirt.woot about a few shirts I had recently acquired. Through purchase or trade, it occurred to me that within a week I had gotten three different shirts from this designer Jimiyo. This struck me as pretty cool, because Jimiyo has been on the shirt design scene for quite some time, and has put out some epic designs. So I put up pics of the three shirts from Jimiyo, to show how cool they were, and encourage people to buy them before they were gone forever.

Next thing I know, I got a message from Jimiyo asking for my mailing information. He was just showing his gratitude for my support and patronage, he said, and wanted to send me a couple of his other designs that had been printed elsewhere. What a guy.

Oh, about the design itself. Jimi said the phrase “Nothing is Written” came to him from the movie “Lawrence of Arabia”, and “essentially, means that one can write their own destiny, despite what you think your lack of chances of success, nothing is written…”.

Great design. Great guy. Thanks, Jimi.

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Brent | March 23, 2009

OK, one of the things you need to know about me is I absolutely love all things Zombie. So of course I have lots and lots of Zombie shirts. Today’s is one of my favorites, it’s called Zombie Donkey.

There’s just something really funny about a mischievous kid riding a zombie with a brain on a stick as fuel. Of course it should be called Zombie Donkey!

When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, I would think instead of running with fear, and having all of the hysteria and chaos that the movies portray, we would be able to harness the labor force like this enterprising young man.

Oh, and make no mistake…..the Zombie Apocalypse WILL happen.

Just remember: Aim for the head.

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Brent | March 22, 2009

Today’s shirt is a bit of an icon. A legend in shirt.woot history. It’s called The Cake is a Liar, and the design is this:

And I suppose this would be as good as time as any to explain how shirt.woot works:
Every week, there is a derby theme that artists have to work under, and come up with a design that is relevant to that theme. People vote for the designs, and the winning design is printed on Friday, then 2nd and 3rd place are printed Saturday and Sunday. (The rest of the week are staff picks called “dailys”.)

From there, the shirt is placed in competition with the other printed shirts, and only the top 20 shirts (based on sales) remain available and continue being printed/sold. Woot calls this list of shirts The Reckoning List. When the sales of a shirt drop out of the top 20, the shirt will stop being sold and is no longer available. Ever.

OK, so knowing all that, I tell you that The Cake is a Liar is THE Longest Running Shirt in woot history. It is still available (click on the design to take you to it’s page), and has been on the Reckoning List for 71 weeks!!! Impressive, because most shirts fall out of favor quickly, and may only last 2-3 weeks.

The reference is two-fold. Coming from the “Nutrition” derby, it’s a funny little thing that a yummy piece of cake tries to convince you that it’s nutritious. I think we’ve all had that experience. The second reference is from the video game Portal. It’s a fantastic game, and throughout it, the computer system “Glados” tries to mislead you and convince you to give up your plan of escaping. Glados repeatedly tells you that there will be cake, tasty cake, at a party held in your honor. At the end of the game, you find scrawled on a wall, the markings of a previous escapee, telling you that no, it’s not true: The Cake is a Lie.

Oh, and the Portal game is included in a bundle of three games, in what the Evil Microsoft Corporation calls “The Orange Box”, hence the color of the shirt.

whew.

Category: Shirt of the Day | 1 Comment »
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Brent | March 21, 2009

OK, today’s shirt is called Nightmare Circus. It was a recent shirt that I’ve gotten from shirt.woot. Without going into a long-winded explanation of how shirt.woot works, the theme that this shirt was created under was “The Circus”, and it’s designer is “Drakxxx”, or Joel Rose, a fantastic artist with a flair for the macabre with great detail. See for yourself. By the way, click on the picture to take you to it’s home page if you’d like to buy it.

As a point of interest, on this shirt’s home page, I’m listed as the “First Sucker“, which is the term woot uses for the first person to buy the shirt when they go on sale. It’s an honor of distinction among the woot crowd

Category: Shirt of the Day | 3 Comments »
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