Sunday, 20 May 2012 00:35

Mike Mitchell, the artist who created the now-iconic “I’m With CoCo” image of Conan O’Brien that has circulated through Facebook profile pictures and blogs since NBC’s The Tonight Show scheduling controversy, told TMZ that he’s been paid by Conan’s producers for the right to use the image during Conan’s impending “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.”

Sunday, 20 May 2012 00:35

A t-shirt isn’t just a cotton garment, it’s a form of communication, a personal billboard that lets you get a message out to the world in a medium that offers the minimum of effort.

Whether your geek tendencies lean towards gaming, Apple, space, film or social media, we’ve got a sassy selection of tees that will have you reaching for the plastic before you can say “medium, in blue, please.”

After all, why go plain-chested when you can be spreading the word of geek? Emblazon your chest pronto with a themed tee that says it all.

Amazing Apple Tees

Apple fans tend to lean towards the fanatic side of fandom, and as such provide a ripe market for t-shirt designers to exploit. Heck, there’ve been so many Apple-flavored tees over the years some bloke has written a book about it. These three designs offer a call for Jobs to be President (after all, he’s no slouch in the success department) from Insanely Great Tees, a New York-based Apple tee specialist, a photo-real Mac from Print Liberation’s “Great Moments of the 20th Century” series and a cunning mash-up from MightTees which mixes Jobs and a Mac with John Cusack’s boombox-wielding Lloyd Dobler.

Cost: From left to right – $19, $18, $31.99

Magnificent Meme Tees

Nod to classic, recent and current memes with this trio of tees that celebrates the wonder of LOL cats with ThinkGeek’s customizable “im in ur” tee complete with wash-off-able marker pen, the randomness of keyboard cat with an instantly recognizable line drawing from Nerdy Shirts, and make a super in-the-know reference to Chat Roulette with the “Nexted” design from WeSaySo over on Spreadshirt.

Cost: From left to right – $19.99, $19.99, from $14.90

Fantastic Film Tees

While what makes a “geek film” is wide open for discussion, geeky film-lovers will no doubt appreciate a tee that references a fave flick in a subtle, insider sort of way. Here then, are three examples of such a garment, with a t-shirt promoting the Lighthouse Lounge made by LastExitToNowhere (the absolute t-shirt authority on made-up companies from films – recommended for a browse), an Inigo Montoya name tag from ThinkGeek, and a colorful effort celebrating the league championship win of the Rollers from 80sTees. Can you name all the films?

Cost: From left to right – approx $32, from $17.99, $20

Great Gaming Tees

The world of video games lends itself to t-shirts very well indeed thanks to its graphical nature. No matter what kind of gamer you are, you can be sure there’s a tee out there for you. We’ve plucked three from the internets that made us smile. Tell those young whippersnappers that you’re “classically trained” with this dark blue design from 80sTees, see behind-the-scenes at the space invader training academy thanks to Threadless, while ShirtCity’s video game t-shirt shows the evolution of the game controller across multiple platforms.

Cost: From left to right – $20, $18, $22,95

Rad Robot Tees

Everyone loves robots but as we haven’t yet managed to get to the stage where we can have our own robo-buddy, we can at least have a few decorating our clothing. There’s more than a few — 51 in fact — decorating ChopShop’s WeRobot tee. As well as the 50-plus bots it boasts glow in the dark eyes for the robots drawn from film, TV, literature, video games and more. “Robots Can’t Smile” is a whimsical take on a robot-themed tee from Design By Human’s il_Mostro, while RedBubble’s robots are livening things up by doing the YMCA dance.

Cost: From left to right – $20, $19, from $24.74

Marvelous Music Tees

While we wouldn’t dream about treading on that oh-so-personal area that is music taste, as far as t-shirts go, what we can offer is a selection of fun music-themed shirts. First up is Five Crown’s melting guitar, familiar to anyone who has seen the recent iPod nano ads, although we’re certainly not making any kind of comment about which came first. This is followed by a classic blank cassette tee from Forever21 which should appeal to anyone old enough to remember the pleasure of possibility a blank tape used to present. We round off the three with another Five Crown’s design that sees vinyl getting the spotlight – perfect for anyone who still enjoys sticking a record on the turntable.

Cost: From left to right – $26.99, $24.99, $14.90

Spiffy Space Tees

Rather than go down the NASA tee route (we’re so over that) we’ve got three space-themed shirts for your consideration. First up is “A Flying Dog in Outer Space” from Threadless that see’s man’s best friend conquer the final frontier complete with helmet and doggie jet pack. We stay space exploration-related with the next t-shirt, an Etsy offering that depicts the Pioneer Plaque (familiar to space geeks everywhere), the pictorial guide to life on Earth stuck on Pioneer 10 and 11 in case they were intercepted by alien lifeforms. Last up is “Spacemen Rock,” another colorful effort from Threadless, which has four astronauts getting their groove on.

Cost: From left to right – $18, $14, $20

Super Social Media Tees

You’re well taken care of over on Zazzle for your Mashable t-shirts needs – where there are tons of designs to chose from that are customizable in enough ways to make your brain boggle. Next up, you can social bookmark yourself in the real world with this text-based effort from Nerdy Shirts. Finally, Twitter users get a “Follower” option from ShirtCity.

Cost: From left to right – Varies, $19.97, $19.95

Groovy Google Tees

What could be better than a t-shirt with the Android robot on it? How about the Android robot walking a dog? An official gProduct, its coolness is only eclipsed by our next g-themed option – the Sesame Street-themed doodles now available as tees from the Google Store. Big Bird is our fave, but there’s also Elmo and The Count options. While you’re asking yourself how your wardrobe has survived so long without Sesame Street/Google tees, take a look at our last option from CultClassicTs, which asks another question – what would Larry & Sergey do? (Answer: acquire it, shut it down, open in again in restricted beta and fail to integrate it in other Google products).

Cost: From left to right – from $14.80, $20.10, $22.99

What geeky t-shirts are in your wardrobe? Let us know in the comments.

Reviews: Android, Google, Mashable, Twitter

Tags: apple, geek, Google, t-shirts, tees, twitter

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