"I don't know what the hell is going on," Shakir says. "It's crazy."

Following my week-long search for some basic NBA-wear, I must admit that the same sentiment crossed my mind.

What had me puzzled? The white tee, and it's prevalence at the various athletic apparel shops I visited, most notoriously the Foot Locker at the West Manchester Mall. Picture the entire center section of the Foot Locker store covered by 4 gigantic shelving units holding nothing but plain tee shirts, half of which were plain white tee shirts! And their sales-zebras still had the nerve to dress up like refs. You sell white tees... Line Judges are in no way symbolic of me sleeping!

"If you can go to the store and buy five shirts for $25, that's your whole week," explains Myorr Janha.

My eyes and ears have told me that the white tee has become a staple of hip-hop culture. I respect the trend as a spirited take-back mission and figure it was born of inner-city economics. Rather than sweat name-brand, higher-priced merchandise, why not make what many kids in poor areas were relegated to wearing the style? Then if you can pinch enough, go name-brand on the sneakers since you can wear those everyday. It's a sound strategy without a doubt.

But the irony in all of this is that the Foot Lockers and Finish Lines were the stores peddling the then trendy officially licensed league/player merchandise and sneaker brand duds. I guess the take-back is in full-effect. And I'm out a Spurs shirt.


I thought I'd get Googley and see what the tangled web had to say about this white tee shirt trend. The article quoted throughout this post, "XXXXXXXL", provided at-length coverage. (Pun intended!) It's really a pretty interesting and entertaining write-up. They hint at my theory behind the trend, as well as others including:

"There's the idea of not only living large, but living extra-large, and wearing a long shirt that goes down to your knees is a bold statement. You'll get noticed."

"...they mimic and glorify a violent prison culture, where beltless cons stash contraband in the folds of one-size-fits-all uniforms."

"The culture of the customer is so everyone will look the same," says Stuart Silberman, vice president of marketing at Changes, a nine-store chain of urban menswear stores based in Baltimore that has been stocking tall tees since 2002. "If the cops are looking for a suspect, he's invariably wearing a long white T-shirt with long shorts. So they can't be identified. That was the real reason it all started."

The last of which is refuted by my favorite quote of the article:

"In my neighborhood, we all wear the same stuff, so me, I had to change my dress code up," ... "I wear different things from everybody else, so now when [the cops] run up on me, they don't get confused."

Finally an explanation as to why Burlington Coat Factory thought they could sell a Fat Lever college jersey. And at the same time an explanation as to why I can no longer find a Fat Lever college jersey at Burlington Coat Factory.

Labels: rants, research

• First off... the Wiz. Playing short-handed in round one against Cleveland was definitely a worst-case scenario. They learned absolutely nothing about their ball club and will undoubtedly move forward with the same make-up and strategy that they've had the past few seasons. The run-and-gun/no defense thing just can't work, which leads me to my next bullet...
  
  
• I'm actually pleased the wheels fell off the Warriors and Suns bandwagons last round. Their brand of ball may have made Bo Kimble a lottery pick, but it ain't gonna win championships. Sure it was exciting and oftentimes well-played, but at some point you've got to play some D. Good riddance small-ball!
  
  
• If there were to ever be a sequel to "Eight Men Out", the Spurs game 3 performance against the Jazz could easily be your storyline. I don't know who pulled those strings, but that was a giveaway. Each Tim Duncan foul was like Eddie grooving one in the movie. Jazz fans crying about flops today should just be happy the series wasn't allowed to be over yet.
  
  
• Also: Gilbert breaks down the Blazers and Sam Vincent is once again linked to Michael Jordan

Labels: NBA, WashWiz

Visits to Deep Creek are commonplace and rarely blog-worthy. But during this trip OJ was in the news for some reason and I witnessed first-hand someone who seriously thinks Ron Goldman was simply being nice and returning a stranger's glasses from the restaurant he was working at. If you like Chris Rock's OJ rant, you might too find this amusing.

Okay, so Dr. Katz wasn't technically a Saturday morning cartoon. But he was animated and his show was clutch. I didn't realize the late Mitch Hedberg was on an episode, but You Tube's well-informed:



This is definitely a keepsake for Hedberg fans as his classic jokes are brought to life via squiggly animation. If only Dr. Katz would've interjected a bit more, we might have more "I can't do a back-flip... much less several... simultaneously with two other guys."

Wiki Dr. Katz

Labels: Saturday Morning Cartoons

When I first came across the site linked below, I thought "now that's a great use of flash." After pulling and sliding the tab for awhile, I thought I'd give it a right-click to be sure. Much to my bewilderment, it wasn't flash at all. Can you believe it?

http://www.orionadvisor.com/public/

A view of the source code indicates that it's javascript. Maybe Jarva was onto something back at SWAT when he just called everything a java.

Labels: props, web design

A semi ho-hum edition of A.I. failed to inspire me enough to light up Blogger.com very often this year, so with the help of the SusCom Idol Super Pool 2's blog I'll attempt to straighten the whole season out...

• 02/21/07 - Remember Amy Krebs? Man, she got a raw deal.
  
  
• 02/28/07 - Kenny says "I'm voting to axe her (Leslie Hunt) every week even if it costs me the championship." He says it as though he knew the championship was his and only Leslie Hunt stood in the way. She was tossed the next night.
  
  
• 03/08/07 - Randy starts talking about somebody's boots, I think maybe Lakisha's. This fittingly reflects the viewing audience's growing infatuation with contestants' wardrobe and appearance.
  
  
• 03/10/07 - Todd K declares his "new favorite imprecation to be 'Haley Scarnato!'" May I request a more extensive list of favorite imprecations? Oh, and thanks for the new word.
  
  
• 03/14/07 - Haley Scarnato! cries like a baby, which needs to be grounds for an automatic boot in season 7. Much angst is building among SusCom Idol Poolers regarding Sanjaya's popularity.
  
  
• 03/21/07 - My pick to win it all gets a premature send-off. Kenneth Lee takes a lead in the Pool that he will never relinquish.
  
  
• 03/26/07 - Don't hate, prognosticate: MJ and Todd K correctly identify this season's winner nearly two months in advance. Look, I turned the other cheek to the support of Ozzie Smith's son, but I refuse to accept support of Phillippi Sparks' daughter! E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!!
  
  
• 03/27/07 - Stefani seemed kind of nerdy.
  
  
• 04/04/07 - It's a good week to be a crooner as Tony Bennett guests on Standards Night. Unfortunately niether Clay Aiken, John Stevens nor David Radford are among season 6's hopefuls.
  
  
• 04/11/07 - SusCom Idol Poolers unite! A nearly unanimous (9 of 11) combo of Phil and Haley are selected to fair the poorest. Well played by most as Haley Scarnato! is sent packing.
  
  
• 04/17/07 - Todd K questions Phil Stacy's country roots all the while wondering if he's the "dorkiest guy ever"?
  
  
• 04/18/07 - That crying girl's life has taken a devastating turn: Sanjaya Malakar was voted off American Idol.
  
  
• 04/24/07 - The much hyped Idol Gives Back show probably was the season's highlight, far out-dazzling the finale. Still not sure what to think about those bed nets though.
  
  
• 05/02/07 - Prior to double-elimination night, Flood mixes a rare comment in with his picks, going the political route with a Mission Accomplished jab.
  
  
• 05/03/07 - I said it once and I'll say it again: I'm convinced one of the following is true: 1) These aren't contestants, they're dominoes; or 2) Cowell was privy to the ribbon show's voting results and shaped his comments accordingly to satisfy his sweltering ego!
  
  
• 05/09/07 - Some are growing tired of Blake's beat-boxing while others are growing tired of awkward, painful performances by past-their-prime entertainers. Additionally, I must admit Idol's honesty with Sparks to close last night's show regained some credibility with me.
  
  
• 05/16/07 - The judging panel's incessant reminders that "this is a singing competition" come one week too late as Doolittle is sent home. Nevermind Allison's gut - eventual Idol Pool bronze-trophy winning Todd K was the only one who saw it coming.
  
  
• 05/22/07 - Blake Lewis delivers an encore performance of his Bon Jovi cover to open the performance side of the finale. Daughtry, who covered Bon Jovi quite successfully last season, closes it.
  
  
• 05/23/07 - The World's Greatest Entertainer Doug E. Fresh challenges soon-to-be runner-up Blake Lewis to a duel... the kind of duel in which only the bravest of men will partake... a reproduction of drum sounds using one's voice, mouth, and nasal cavity duel! I'm disappointed that Rose Radio has yet to give Doug Fresh the post-Idol-appearance love that it has shown others. I wouldn't mind a little "Cut That Zero" or "All The Way To Heaven" today. Oh, did anything else happen on the finale?
  

Labels: AI, MJ wants to be on my blog more, tape-delayed blog

The results are in and Dial Idol has spoken:

Count me as "not a fan" of this outcome. I've never been a Jordin Sparks pep rally attendee because A) her dad was a New York Giant and B) she just hasn't sounded that unique or consistent to me. I won't get too fired up about the result though because it's reasonable to say she probably was the better singer of the final two, and as The Dawg pointed out last night, this is a singing competition.

So what happens to beat-box Blake? History hasn't been too kind to the show's runners-up with the exception of Clay Aiken. Guarini, Degarmo, Bob Ice, McPhee... strugglin'. Can Blake break the curse? Will he be able to assert more of himself and his creativity into an album as a runner-up? Will I soon hear "pfffft, batp, shpoom, poom, batp" on Rose Radio?

Labels: AI

April was a lousy month to shelf the blog. So I figured I'd recap some of the month's highlights.

First off, MJ turned the big 2-7, her first b-day as a mom. The 3 of us had a chance to spend a fun afternoon at the park.

Labels: Mallory, MJ wants to be on my blog more

Not sure where this falls in the annals of animation, but you can't beat the intro. Roll with Kid 'N' Play, now everybody say:



Wiki Kid 'N' Play

Labels: Saturday Morning Cartoons

"I'm back."

So it's been about a month since my last post, plenty long enough to be put officially on notice. And I realize that I need to make a splash if I ever hope to regain the readership of my 5 & 1/2 loyals. (That figure might be a reach actually.) With the pressure to deliver staring me down with raised eyebrow, I give you...


... the best icon I've seen on the worldwide during my hiatus! Isn't this a great "Contact Us" icon? Sure this features an obvious means of communication, but IntelliContact managed to use a phone style that's familiar in the real-world, but uncommon as an icon. I say a job well done IC.

Won't you agree?

Labels: props, web design, work