New from Threadless. Ha!

From World Hum:

Poor Cameron Diaz. She was only going for the commie-chic, retro-kitsch look on her trip to Peru. Instead, she wound up offending Peruvians. On a visit to Machu Picchu Friday for the taping of a Canadian TV show called "4 Real," Diaz toted an olive green bag featuring a red star and the words "Serve the People" in Chinese. That old Mao-era propaganda is hip among many young people in China--the same crazy kids enjoying plates of "Socialist Economic Model" at Beijing's Red Capital Club. But is it hip in Peru? Not so much.

It evokes memories of Shining Path rebels, whose Maoist insurgency is blamed for tens of thousands of deaths.

She's since apologized, not realizing what the text on the bag said, nor its significance.

The last time I was in Chinatown, I saw this exact same bag, and other paraphernalia with both the red star and Mao's face, in several of the more trendy shops aimed at the tourists, and I turned around and walked right out before I could get too angry. According to the AP via the CBC, "The bags are marketed as fashion accessories in some world capitals," and this makes me want to smack someone. The man responsible for the "Great Leap Forward" that led to between 20 and 43 million deaths in China is now a fashion accessory.

Grrrr...

Photo by Karel Navarro/Associated Press

Newly reprinted and available from Threadless:



This one cracks me up. I also like how it requires not only knowledge of art history, but also of geek culture.

In my excitement, I couldn't find anyone to take a photo, so this one is in front of the bathroom mirror, and everything is, naturally, backwards.

Yay! My three Threadless tees arrived today, and they all fit perfectly! W00ts!

For a graduation present, my parents got me a gift certificate to Men's Wearhouse, on the assumption that I would be needing some nice dress clothes for whatever teaching gig I got afterward. (My parents are cool like that.) This was in May 2005. Unfortunately, dress clothes are not really my bag, and I discovered that the clothes I already owned worked perfectly fine for the classes I taught both at Wake Tech and St. Aug's.

However, I was left with this generous gift card that I was unsure I'd ever use.

The solution came this past week, when Janet mentioned how unbelievably heavy my black leather coat was (visible here). It's a coat I've worn for several years now, and yeah, it's heavy. And bulky. And as we're continuing to unburden ourselves with heavy things, the suggestion was made to sell it. And as much as I dig the coat, I had to agree. But even though we're moving to tropical Singapore, wouldn't I need a heavier coat in case we travel to colder climates? Like Bhutan or Mongolia (both of which I'd like to visit someday)?

Ah, my intelligent wife said, why not pick up a wool coat instead? They're much less heavy, and keep you lots warmer.

And then, ping! I remembered the gift card.

We drove over to the Men's Wearhouse is Cary yesterday, and I told the salesman what I was looking for. He pointed me to the only two styles they carried, one in black wool, and the other in grey cashmere. I tried them on and the cashmere coat fit as if it had been tailored to me. It looked great, and bonus: it was on sale. I said yup, and after a quick browse around the store to see if there was anything else I could pick up (nope), we headed to the register. Even though almost two years had passed since my parents gave me the gift card, it still worked fine, and there was even $60 left after the transaction.

So, after getting some lunch today at Cafe Carolina in Cameron Village (loaded baked potato soup in a sourdough bread bowl, awesome for the cold weather), Janet and I headed back and did a quick photo shoot in the area behind our duplex. There's this little fenced-in spot with bramble and overgrown tangles of bushes, as well as some old concrete benches, that seemed ideal. Janet snapped off about a dozen pictures, and this is my favorite:



The other top three can be found at my Flickr account.

So, anyone in the market for a gently used black leather coat?