Because I’m a total sucker for things Dinosaur and Steampunk, I pretty much completely caved and bought this Clockwork Dinosaurs t-shirt which combines the best of both. Available on Shirt.woot.com today for $10 (free shipping; $15, free shipping after today). Yes, I realize I don’t need any more t-shirts — but they’re giant mechanical steam-powered dinosaurs - how could I possibly resist? Kudos goes to Drakxxx, the designer who won this particular Shirt.Woot Derby. Nice work man. Keep it up.

Our “t-shirt of the week” nod goes to “Tentacle Reaches for Grenade” by artist Kevin Hayden. It just so happens Kevin and his fiance, Liaa, recently opened their online store at Etsy.com, making their notable designs available to all you wily denizens of the world-wide-web-star.

This shirt is for the octopus/squid/Lovecraft enthusiast, whether he or she be amateur or avid. It also works well for the nihilist who fancies abstract symbolism. So, really, who would’nt buy this shirt? I think those two categories pretty much cover everyone in the entire human race.

The best part of this shirt? Well, besides Kevin’s funky illustration/painting style, each shirt was silk-screened by hand, meaning your t-shirt really is a piece of art. Fancy that!

I don’t think you’re fancy-ing loudly enough. You better work on that.

See how energized I am by this new column idea? Already I’m writing about my second “t-shirt of the week.” Oh the ecstatic incongruity.

I would’ve saved this one for next week, but given its short span of appropriateness, the time for action is now my friends. This shirt is called “KTHXBYE07” and is made available by shirt.woot.com. Read it slowly and it will make more sense. This one is highlighted because 1) sooo true and b) it made me laugh out loud (because if you can’t laugh, you’re gonna cry). So, buy this shirt and make it clear to all your friends and neighbors that you think 2007 can suck it, and that it shouldn’t let the screen door hit it where the good lord split it.

Its no secret that I love t-shirts. They are, in fact, my favorite apparel. I love them so much, in fact, that I collect them in a fashion (no pun intended) that probably borderlines addiction. Some people take in cats, others shoot black tar heroin…I collect t-shirts (much to my wife’s chagrin).

So, as an idea for a new 79soul weekly feature, I’m going to offer up a “T-Shirt” of the week column. Don’t let the name fool you though– sometimes there may be two or even three t-shirts of the week…or sometimes there may be none! Oh, the suspense! I will do my best, however, to share with you t-shirts that I think are purchase worthy, and deserving of your hard earned cash.

The inaugural “T-Shirt” of the week goes to “Push My Buttons,” available from Threadless.com. Believe me, its hard to come up with a good, large-scale design that won’t make the wearer look like some kind of freakish walking billboard, but Tony Aguero has managed to do just that with his button-pushing themed shirt. And what’s more, it prompts interaction from those around you, which means those late nights at the bar just got a whole lot more interesting. As for the color, brown shirts usually come off so…um… brown; but this one, with its playskool color scheme and its mixed media art work screams to the world, “Hey, poke me in the belly button!”. And thats something everyone can enjoy.

Since I’m all about the cheesey t-shirts in our new 79soul.com Shoppe today, I went ahead and added another design to commemorate another ridiculous “news” story. Proudly presenting “Stealing Las Vegas” on a fashionable ringer T. Available only at the 79soul.com Shoppe.

Talk about having a bad couple of years. I almost feel bad for John Kerry…its like he was cursed by a gypsy at some point to have scandal and embarrassment follow him wherever he goes. For a point of reference, watch the video. This whole thing has had my mind reeling so hard that I felt compelled to design a t-shirt based on it and open a Cafe press store: http://www.cafepress.com/79soul

When I first heard about this on the local news last night, I was more than curious. First I heard their take on it (as a rule, I trust local news about as far as I can throw it), then I heard a bit more about it again this morning on The Today Show. Finally, given that there were an insane number of amateur videographers in the audience, I gave it a look up on YouTube.

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