wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka

Date: 5th – 12th of February

bought: Far East Plaza

brand: ???

size: Large

price: 20 Singapore Dollars

colour: Green Mitsubishis, Green Bolts, Green Clovers

why: because these video games affect us more than we know

Tee 6/6 the final of the Qantas collection.

“If Pac Man had affected us as kids we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.”

There is apparently some debate over the etymology of this quote. It’s been claimed by an English comedian and also by variations of Nintendo employees. Either way it is unimportant. What is important is the existence of Pac Man as a pop culture icon. This is not the only Pac Man themed tee in my collection and that means, if I am as culturally relevant as I believe myself to be, this game has affected us all, and by us I mean those from a certain time and a certain place. We all remember the wonder these video games held, a hope for the future. The hope of hoverboards and Nike’s with self-tightening laces. So what happened? It’s 2012. Where is my hoverboard? Where are my sneakers?

Where are my reckless uncontrollable consumerist values…

Ice Cream Is Gonna Save The Day

Date: 29^th of January – the 5^th of February

bought: Far East Plaza
brand: ???
size: Medium
price: 20 Singapore Dollars
colour: ice cream pie in the sky blue
why: cuz ice cream… is gonna save the day

Tee 5 of Qantas Collection sees us brought to a Miazake like world where monsters and small children enjoy ice creams together. This year we are gifted with an extra day. A day to do all those things you keep putting off. In my case it’s writing the one tee a week entry for the first week of February. This extra day means that I am less than a month behind schedule for putting up my collection of tees, but only until tomorrow when that all exciting month of March rears its head.

I really don’t have much else to say this week so I guess I’ll have to let this tee speak for itself.

Peace.

HADOUKEN!!!!!

Date: 22nd – 29th of January
bought: Far East Plaza
brand: Street Fighter II
size: Medium
price: 18 Singapore Dollars
colour: STONE cold steve austin
why: cause Zangief has a low cut vest and a sailor tat

“Airlines have this policy about vibrating luggage. Throwers don't worry about ticking, cause modern bombs don't tick. But when a suitcase vibrates, then the thrower's gotta call the police. 9 times out of 10, it's an electric razor, but every once in a while... It's a dildo. Of course, it's company policy never to imply ownership in the event of a dildo. We have to use the indefinite article

A dildo.

Never

YOUR dildo.”

I don’t know about that airline policy, but I do know this. Airlines will shell out cash when they lose your luggage. So when you buy a whole bunch of tees from the Far East Plaza, you can think of it as corporate sponsorship.

Here we have tee 4 of the Qantas collection. It was the least they could do for stranding me in Singapore without my Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here vinyl, picked fresh from a Parisian flea market. So even though oneteeaweek had nothing to do with helping me pay for my addictions I still consider it one step closer to being paid to have style and what could be more stylish than an Asian guy in a Street Fighter tee. Maybe only if it were a Street Fighter II Turbo tee.

I predict a riot

Date: 15th – 22^nd of January
bought: Far East Plaza
brand: ???
size: Medium
price: 20 Singapore Dollars
colour: Khaki
why: Conceptual Brilliance…

Singapore… 30 degree heat and %100 humidity day in day out. Having spent the last month walking the streets of London and Paris it’s time to do some real shopping. For cheap tees and prints you’re not likely to see anywhere else I’ll take Orchard road over the Champs Elysees any day of the week. There’s something for everyone. Singapore has this odd relationship between east and west, not just east and west but between those with money and the rest of us. This city has the most amazing eclectic mix of life. The heat and the aroma of Asia with a decidedly European feel. In most of the cities I’ve been to you’ll find the high end shops all grouped together, in ultraclean marble clad malls where people with expensive tastes have shop doors opened for them and concierges to carry their bags. On Orchard road the mall with all the Louis Vuitton, Cartier, A.Testoni and IWC shops is across the street from the mall filled with local designers and tiny stalls selling whatever they can. Further down the road there is a stripclub right next door to the Steinway piano shop.

In this island country with its history of old colonial cleanliness and anti-chewing gum laws we see that the world… our world… is too small to separate the masses from the elite.

And why would you even want to try.

Einstein Motherf**ker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zki15oLJx9k&feature=related

Date: 8-15 of January
bought: Far East Plaza
brand: ???
size: Medium
price: 20 Singapore Dollars
colour: Black Hole
why: Semi Naked Ladies, Albert Einstein... you do the math

Second installment of the 'Qantas Collection'.

Day 2 at Heathrow airport, trying to hop a flight to Asia. Hong Kong, Singapore anywhere that would have me on my way back home. So I step up to the check in counter, the flights are full but if I’m lucky someone won’t turn up and I’ll get a seat. If I’m not lucky the trainee at the desk will check me in take my bags and lose my luggage.

Day 3 Heathrow airport. This time I get a seat, and with no luggage to check in I fly out to Singapore hoping my suitcase, laden with all my european treasures and some very important tees, will be waiting for me. Wishful thinking. So I arrive with only the clothes on my back. But there are worse fates in this world than being in Singapore with a need to shop.

Tune in next week for another installment of the 'Qantas Collection'

Whale of a Tale

So it’s been a while since I’ve done this. Has it been a month? Or has it been 12? Two years ago we got close. Close to the completion of 52 tees in a year, we fell an agonizing 8 tees short. To be honest I probably bought more than I needed. The tees were infallible it is only I who failed you. It’s not like I’ve stopped buying tees either it’s just that you’ve stopped hearing about it. Like the universe my collection must expand, maybe just a few more tees and it will be complete. Or maybe I will be complete. As if a man could be complete, and if he could, as if it could be achieved by such a consumerist practice.

Our one chance is that of a fresh start. And I mean PHRESH. A new year brings new challenges and also a new format for oneteeaweek. Over the course of my blogging adventures my older tees have grown jealous. Jealous of the internet fame that has been granted to all my shiny new ones. so… from here on in YOU the reader may at times find yourself traveling in time. Into the past. My past. Looking for hints and clues for the reason I am obsessed with these sweet, sweet tees. but do not despair. For there will be more tees, both new and old.

Whatever… let’s do it
just for the hell of itjust for the love of it

Date: 1-8 of January
bought: Far East Plaza
brand: ???
size: medium
price: 20 Singapore Dollars
colour: blue whale/grey whale
why: because the government doesn’t care if you bring a whaler into Australian waters (come on Julia get your shit together)

Over the next few posts I will reveal the ‘Qantas - Singapore Collection’ an array of tees purchased on my recent visit to the land of the lion. First on the list is this whale of a tee. It has a slight ‘le chat noir’ poster feel to it. I’m pretty sure this tee is a rip off of a design by those all powerful online tee mongers threadless.

Next week? Find out why it’s called the Qantas collection

Peace.

THIS IS FASHION...

date 21/10 - 28/10 bought: savers
brand: fashion
size: small
price: $3.99
colour: "vight"
why: because the mankeenie is so 2006
spotted: sipping sangria in saint kilda pre-parklife 2010

i'm still not sure exactly who is it that makes these amazing tees but maybe bruno knows. because he knows fashion, he knows cool. or maybe its not really about bruno maybe its all just me. after all i am the one with an exponentially growing collection of tees. i like to think that as my wardrobe grows so too does my cool.

a little arrogance is a good thing. just remember its not arrogance if you can back it up... and by the end of the year fifty two of the best, random, kickass tee shirts have got my back.

my front

my shoulders

and the upper half of my biceps