I yam what I yam

 

Okay, it's Popeye the Sailor Man Day and I'm posting this image for obvious reasons. I can't sell you a t-shirt with the design because this technically is a violation of the Popeye copyright or trademark even though it isn't a sailor. In fact it is a starchy tuber with one eye and a lecherous grin. I imagine he has his starchy tuber eye on Olive Oyl.  Apparently he is unaware that she and Popeye are in a semi-committed relationship though Bluto is after her too.

When you think of it, Popeye isn't a very politically correct name because it makes fun of his physical appearance (which could be a physical deformity, too). And don't get me started about Wimpy, the mooch that is always trying to scam hamburgers out of people. 

Personally I think my starchy tuber version is a healthier role model than the archaic characters from the original Popeye.  He could really give Mr. Potato Head a run for his money.

Keep your eye on the doughnut

 

"Keep your eye on the doughnut and not the hole."

--David Lynch

I was sad to see that David Lynch died today. I always admired his quirkiness and loved his films (even if I didn't always understand them). I remember going to see "Blue Velvet" at the theater and being the only one in the audience laughing.  And I really loved the 1984 version of "Dune" that he directed. I had read all of the books and was blown away by the spectacle of it all. 

For some reason I never got into "Twin Peaks" when it was originally released. I do remember being at parties where some people had to go off into another room and watch it because they didn't want to miss an episode. 

I did like "The Elephant Man." 

I have to confess that half the time I didn't know they were David Lynch films. But I got so I could recognize the style and "weirder than shit" aspect of his stuff. It's like I can recognize a Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino film. But I think Lynch was a genius compared to them both. Especially Tarantino. I like his films, but he just seems like an asshole.

Not that any of them care what an over the hill blogger and t-shirt designer thinks.  And I suppose Lynch is beyond caring at this point.

Here's to you Mr. Lynch!

Hats off...

 

It's National Hat Day. So I tip my hat to it with a couple of hat designs.

The inspiration for these are the people who used to walk up and down the beaches in Mexico selling stuff ad nauseum while you lay their on your beach towels with tequila and cerveza hangovers. The hat vendors were always my favorite because they would wear multiple hats on their heads like this. 

My hat goes off to them.

Dunce more unto the breach

 

After five years working remotely, I have returned to the office three times a week. Good soldiers do what they are told.

I used to think the phrase was "Once more into the breech." But then again, I also confused it with the Charge of the Light Brigade when it is actually from Shakespeare's Henry V.  "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!"

Cheery thought. 

But back to my return to the workplace. It's okay I suppose. I keep reminding myself that I worked almost 50 years going into the workplace before the pandemic and we were forced to be at home. I was 16 when I got my first job. It was before personal computers and there was no other option than going into work.  Oh there was a brief period during the 1980s that I tried telecommuting a few days a week. But it was complicated and required having a Fax modem and proving to your boss that you weren't just staying home. I didn't really like it. I was still young and enjoyed the social life.

At my age there isn't much of a social life anyway. And as we know, I began turning invisible when I turned 40 and I am now practically non-existent. 

Duct, duct, goose

It's National Rubber Ducky Day.  So I took the high road and ignored it with this duct, duct, goose design. 

And this.

I don't suppose either means much to you.

 

Just clucking around

 

I branched out from t-shirts and offered this design as a pair of tube socks. It was a bold move on my part. Let's hope these socks don't suck. 

I also produced a pair with this design.

Whale. Oil. Beef. Hooked.

I'll milk this for all it's worth

 

It is National Milk Day. I acknowledge it because I can't bring myself to acknowledge National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day without throwing up a little in my mouth. Cows I can deal with.

Though not the smartest animals in the world, they are fairly innocuous. Though I did have one step on my bare foot when I was a kid and helping my friend (who lived on a farm) get the cows into pens to be milked. We were supposed to be going swimming in the creek next to his home and we couldn't until we got the cows milked. Thus I was barefoot and had a cow step on my foot. Fortunately there was a substantial amount of cow shit on the ground so my foot sank down into it when the cow stepped on it.

I do not hold a grudge. Though I will eat a hamburger now and then. 

Cry like an eagle

 

Today is Save the Eagles Day.  And I am assuming they are not talking about the "Hotel California" Eagles. I have a peaceful, easy feeling that they are talking about raptors (and not rappers). 

There I go slipping prayer into a post again.  My god.

City of Angels in flames

 

I am not a religious person. So by "pray for" the City of Angels I mean send everyone there positive thoughts. I do believe that we can influence our environments to a certain extent by the stuff we put out there. I did find it a weird juxtaposition with Los Angeles (the City of Angels) being on fire. It seems like a battle of heaven and hell.

I have always liked the L.A. area. It started when I was 16 and went there for the first time with my high school band to play at an L.A. Rams and S.F 49ers football game. It was the first time I'd been on an airplane. My first trip to Disneyland and the first time staying at a hotel without my family. It was memorable. 

Since there I have been to Disneyland more times than I care to say and I've gone to L.A. several times to produce television ads for my work. I've also been there for several conferences.  And I can tell you I always dug the vibe of the the area.  I even sort of like downtown L.A.  So I am sad that they are suffering from wildfires. 

I did create this t-shirt design, but I didn't promote it on Blue Sky. It seemed like it would be too much like I'm trying exploit the sorrows. Not everyone would realize that this is how I express myself and I would make maybe a dollar if I sold one of the designs. 

I did post this design for National Static Electricity Day.

And what does a Faraday Cage have to do with National Static Electricity Day, you ask? A Faraday Cage works by redistributing electric charge on its conductive surface. When a static electric field is applied to the cage, the charges in the cage material rearrange themselves to cancel the field's effects inside the enclosure. This is why sensitive electronic equipment can be protected from static electricity by being placed inside a Faraday Cage.

So there.  Not that anyone bought the damned shirt anyway. I seriously doubt that a majority of the people Blue Sky even know what a Faraday Cage is, let alone want a t-shirt about it.

But trust me, the right nerd audience would be snapping them up.

And I believe I was remiss yesterday by not acknowledging Elvis' 90th birthday.

I do believe that if he was alive today, he would be shooting holes in big screen televisions instead of these old tube things. 

He also wouldn't look like this anymore.  So I am grateful that Elvis didn't live to see 90 (or for us to see him at 90).

Thank you very much.

 

Toff we go, into the wild, blue blunder

 

It is National English Toffee Day. It is also National Bubble Bath Day. But bubble baths are right up there with Sea Monkeys to me in lies they told me as a child. As you know (and I mean my inner you that has read all of my posts), I bought Sea Monkeys as a boy, naively believing the ads that they were these amazing pets that you could train and hold circuses with. And of course Sea Monkeys are actually brine shrimp and don't really do anything. 

I watched commercials for Mr. Bubble bubble bath around the same time and believed that you could take a bubble bath that actually had bubbles that would surround you and last for hours. 

Of course, I discovered that Mr. Bubble was basically just soap that lathered up for a few minutes but then washed away and made you itchy. But I wanted to believe the lies ad agencies were selling.

But I digress.

Anyway, I didn't want to create a design for Bubble Bath Day so I went with National English Toffee Day. I like toffee.

My first attempt, however, was a bit disturbing.

ChatGPT couldn't explain to me why the Toff was missing a foot. But it did spit out the version I led with in this post. I didn't question why that toff was wearing short pants. At least it did have two feet.

I do believe I Toff protest too much.

Bring me a bauble for my head

 

It's National Bobblehead Day! And I don't think this is what they had in mind. But did you know that the term "bauble" used to refer to the staff a court jester carried that was often adorned with a small carved head or figurine. 

I kept asking Gemini and ChatGPT to give me an image for a "baublehead" and they kept showing me images of figures with a Christmas ornament on it because they are supposedly called baubles, too. 

Who would have thought? 

I jest you not.

Human Beans

 

It is National Bean Day! So I am posting this classy t-shirt design.  It is a fart, fart better thing I do now then I have ever done before. Play your cards right and you could be a King.

Or at least in line to be royalty.

Or at least understand the science. It's elementary.

I'm not pointing any fingers though.