But was she a Spitzer or a swallower?

[insert obligatory groans here]

I know, I know. But seriously. Someone had to ask. And since someone had to ask, someone had to make a ridiculous Spitzer t-shirt.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to CNN and check out the latest on NY Governor Elliot Spitzer and his high-priced stress relief.

This is the kind of controversy that just asks for merch. The formula is so simple:

Political figure + scandal = funny T-shirt.

Dick Cheney shooting his friend in the face was a big hit with the CafePress crowd; this story is even better given that hookers are a lot sexier than Dick Cheney or his hunting buddies (even when he's wearing a jaunty orange cap), and that New Yorkers are an outspoken bunch to begin with.

The "Falling from grace" story is always a big headline with the American public; we just loooooove to see people fall on their faces, don't we? It's perhaps not an admission we like to make, but it's true. Watching people fall down in real life is funny, as long as they're not seriously injured; watching people fall down metaphorically is downright fascinating for the American populace.

And where there's fascination *and outrage, there's a shirt in the making.

(Well, if you're me you'll default to the thong...)

Drink, Drink and Be Merry

With St. Pat's coming up, I was looking through the CafePress system today to see what our Shopkeepers had come up with this year.

What I found wasn't too surprising: 66,000 designs with the St. Patrick's Day tag, meaning that anyone looking for a St. Patrick's Day t-shirt is going to find something amusing.

What *did surprise me was the crossover between politics and St. Pat's...



Now I'm no politician, but I don't quite understand what this shirt has to do with politics *or St. Patrick's Day. Unless Barack Obama changes the spelling of his name to Barach O'Bama... (Hmm. Maybe that's not such a bad idea; perhaps such a change might prevent uninspired people from leaking photos in the name of the new all-American political pastime, fearmongering.)

Digression: a Haiku

The press must be bored
To pay this much mind to an
Old scrabook photo

In any case, after sifting through a lot of t-shirts for awhile and reflecting on the ever-amusing Alabama Leprechaun story, I began to reflect on the reasons behind booming T-shirt sales around what is traditionally a drinking holiday.

So, here's Leslie's Random Thoughts About St. Patrick's Day T-shirts. (Caveat: it's unlikely that these reflections will help you sell more t-shirts, but anything's possible):

1) St. Patrick's Day is about excess and celebration, and nothing says "excess" like a silly T-shirt to be worn on a day to celebrate the almighty party.

2) St. Patrick's Day is also about drinking, and (as per #1) drinking to excess is the order of the day. And since drinking a lot tends to lead to spills and falling down and occasionally losing clothing entirely and - when things go horribly wrong - projectile bodily fluids (note to self: avoid a shot called an "Irish car bomb," which can most definitely lead to things going horribly wrong), and a random T-shirt that says "Fight Me - I'm Irish!" doesn't look out of place with beer spilled down the front, it only seems natural that ordering a special T-shirt in preparation for this day makes some sort of logical sense.

In short: this is a day where a T-shirt can be disposable.

3) St. Patrick's Day celebrations, being heavily themed around drinking, tend to take place in bars. In bars, people tend to congregate in the hopes that they might attract a member of the opposite sex. Since we've already established that a themed St. Pat's T-shirt is a celebratory and practical thing to wear on this day, it makes sense that one might find a clever St. Pat's T-shirt in order to serve as an icebreaker. This saves everyone the trouble of that awkward "Do you come here often?" and can allow for entrance into a conversation about the shirt itself.

4) Being pinched is annoying. At the very least, you can spend $2 and order a button and avoid being descended upon by irritating friend and coworkers. (I know, that's not about T-shirts - but same principle, I'm just mentioning buttons for any thrifty folks out there who bruise easily.)

Anyway, I don't know that any of these insights are earth-shattering, but I do know that I am now somewhat motivated to order myself a T-shirt for this special day.

This, by virtue of combining politics and St. Pat's in a way that I can still understand after a few pints of Guinness, is my pick this year:

Buzz Cowboy FAQ

A haiku:

I like FAQ's
Let's get them out of the way
So we might move on

Q) What is this blog about?
A) This blog is about my general observations on life, the public discourse, and being noisy. Since I've been in the Marketing Department at CafePress since 2003 (and therefore have far too many t-shirts), chances are that I'll mention my general observations about Marketing, Buzz Marketing and its crossover into the online space, CafePress, and having far too many t-shirts.

I'll probably also mention my dogs because they wouldn't have it otherwise, and because I'm a VP of Bad Rap, and because everyone loves to talk about pit bulls. Well, maybe not everyone - and definitely not the right people, so I guess I'll talk about the dogs since, you know, I actually own them. (Many people who like to talk talk talk about pit bulls have never spent much time with or even met one at all.)

I might also mention food. Because I love food. I especially love good food (not necessarily expensive food - just good food), and am at present working on eating my way from one end of Telegraph Avenue to the other. Since food can arguably be a form of self-expression and since CafePress is all about one's fervent interests, I may work in a food column now and again.

Q) What's up with the haiku?
A) I like bad haiku
I don't know why I write them
But I just can't stop

Q) Why "Buzz Cowboy?"
A) BuzzMonkey sounded too much like a band.

Q) No, seriously.
A) Seriously. Also, the domain name was taken.

Q) So "Buzz Cowboy" doesn't mean anything?
A) I suppose it's something like a bumbling superhero who talks too much and a chaps-clad outlaw pioneering a new frontier and kicking up some dust.

Enjoy the blog.