Pretentious, sublime, or an equal measure of both? You make the call. The whole director T-shirt line can be seen at the Cinefile Web site. I like the idea behind the Herzog shirt, but the distance between Danzig and the director of Aguirre, the Wrath of God might be too big a conceptual leap for most. I’ve always wanted a De Palma shirt too, but I’m not a fan of the original Def Leppard logo that’s been adapted for the shirt. And as much as the grafting of the two names works, I could never wear a Van Halen-derived Von Trier T-shirt, no matter how hard Lars rocks the cradle. For me, Ozu is the best because I love the man's films, it’s a big, clean image, the phonetic connection linking the filmmaker and the shrunken, fuzzy-headed rock god is as precise and clear as the difference between their outputs is vast and unbridgeable, and it’s probably the one I personally would look the least dopey wearing. (Please, if you see me sporting it someday and it turns out I’m wrong, just leave me to my illusions…) And speaking of nifty T-shirts, there’s a great selection of must-haves for the film-geek in your family to be found here. Remember, Father’s Day is a-comin’! (And I get dibs on the one for R.D. Trucking.)
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I honestly think these are pretty funny, and I don't think the conceptual leap between, for instance, Herzog and Danzig should matter in the least, as that strikes me as most of the point. It just seems like a clever, slightly absurd gag. At the same time, the conversations I can see my self getting into trying to explain what my T-shirt means make the whole thing sound like too much of a hassle, so I probably won't be getting one.
ReplyDeleteAw, geez. I shouldn't be spending money on t-shirts right now, but Last Exit to Nowhere has one advertising KAB Radio 1340 from The Fog . . .
ReplyDeleteI think so, too, Bill-- they are funny (and maybe a bit pretentious too, but who cares?). I guess I wasn't so much really worried about any real distance between Herzog and Danzig-- I was just initially flummoxed, being well outside the head-banger demographic, as to what logo was being referenced. But the absurdity of the whole enterprise really should trump everything else. And you bring up a good point about having to explain the damn thing. Whenever I get something like this, I am careful where I wear it-- no putting it on in my hometown for fear of having to go through exactly what you describe.
ReplyDeleteAndy: Last Exit to Nowhere had featured (until recently, I guess) one that I wish I'd ordered, because it now seems to have vanished: it was a worn-looking logo for Cahulawassee River Tours, with a catch phrase something along the lines of, "See it before it's gone!"
What would the 'Tarkovsky T' look like I wonder.
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