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The
Drinks Are On You - Cool Shit for Cool People
You
say "Offensive" like that's a bad thing.
Okay,
right off you need to know that this site is for grown-ups,
or at least for people who appear to be grown up. That includes
people who would look grown up if they weren't passed
out in the parking lot. Got it?
Now we've got that out
of the way, this site and its t-shirts are hilarious. You
don't often get smart and raunchy in the same package, but
if you were looking for the exception that proves the rule
- you've found it here.
"The
Drinks Are on You" has spilled
out of the overflowing mental glass of a designer who calls
herself midgetbigot. Midgetbigot has a delightfully demented
slant on life, the universe, and everything, and she shares
it with us on "barware" - not the glass kind you
drink from, but the kind you might be inclined to wear to
to the local dive. If you can handle the reaction.
The
site is easy on the eyes and the front page is a regular busy
box of things to look at and do - Internet Explorer users
can even play "Barlot Dress Up" by dragging
"The
Drinks Are On You" t shirts, paper doll style, onto
a virtual bar babe. I've got to say, this is pretty much the
opposite of what you'd expect, depending on where you've been,
of course. (Can you say, "Around the block"?)
There's more than one
way to get to the popular designs, but don't miss the main
sections:

Straight
Up
These
are billed as "Shirts to get you noticed", and boy,
will they. The absolute star of this little collection has
got to be the Las Vegas style, glitzy and glamorous "Welcome
to My Fabulous Vagina - What
Happens Here, Stays Here". But if that's a little
too noticeable you've also got some really original
kewpie doll and monkey designs and, you know, the more subtle
T-shirts like "Squeeze
me - I'm Tarty". This will seem much more subtle
after midnight.
The kewpies and monkeys
are available in kids' shirts and infant creepers, too, which
lands "The
Drinks Are On You" in that mythic place where Mature
Content and Kids' Clothes meet.

With a Twist
This
aisle's for "superheroes, monsters, mythical beings and
willing victims", but those damn evil monkeys from the
first section have found their way in too; we'd best leave
it to the superheroes to sort that out.
You'll
find more nicely rendered text design t shirts here, with
a personal label attitude rather than some of the outright
outrageous stuff we saw first. There's "Just
Like Snow White I Love Dwarves" - further mystifying
the whole question of "What's a midgetbigot, for cripes
sake?" - along with the good but oddly unsettling advice
of "Children
Shouldn't Play With Dead Things". But for my money
the girly "Unicorns
Are Stupid" gets major points for backhanded originality.
Nice one.

On the Rocks
Here
we've got the useful combination of designs on the front,
cocktail recipes on the back. I'd really like to see this
catch on with female bartenders - you know, the ones with
ADD - but that's probably just me.
Stand out is "I
Demand a Screaming Orgasm" with the useful ingredients
on the back. Stop looking like that. It's mainly vodka and
Irish Cream. Do I have to tell you everything?
Neat
Meaning,
well, without ice or other adulteration, or as in "Really
Neat".
It's not unusual to find
T-shirts with humorous text designs on them, but here - as
always
- "The
Drinks Are On You" has its own special twist. Try
on "But
Will You Google Me in the Morning?", "I
Can be Had", and "It's
True, I'm Just Not That Into You". The text designs
are handled awfully well and have a lot of style.
In the grand tradition of "I
This-and-That", don't miss "I
emotionally unavailable men". Another nice t-shirt
is a tattoo heart design labeled "Your
Name Here", but once again, for sheer you-won't-see-this-anywhere-else,
the evil kewpie doll goes to "Skin
Deep - And That's All I Have to Be".

What's not to like?
The
downside? That lively
home page is plain full of stuff, but there's not always
a clear path to the same stuff in the main sections. When
you go, be sure to scroll through the "New Junk"
list - heck, I almost missed "Nobody's
Wench". Once in the main sections, remember that
some of those nifty icons are sections unto themselves
But since the layout
really encourages you to dive in and explore, this isn't a
poison pill, not by any means. Dive in. Explore.
Take
it from me: any web site that quotes "Lydia, the Tattooed
Lady" has something special to offer.
Other than that, well,
these t-shirts aren't for everybody. They don't want to be.
You'll have a great time browsing the designs even if you'd
never wear one of the shirts, and - who knows? - you may know
someone who would. If you got a few drinks in 'em.
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