'snu zbq?

Beautiful/Decay Magazine

2011-02-21T17:50:00.005-04:00

The best art magazine you can't buy in a store anymore: Beautiful/Decay has been around for a number of years and never fails to please.

Unfortunately a couple of years ago they stopped distributing their books through magazine stores, opting to make it subscription only. As a result I haven't seen a physical issue in quite some time.

The nice thing is, the subscription issues are completely ad-free and come with lots of bonuses. I am hoping to get a subscription soon. They also make a line of pretty sweet t-shirts.

The other nice thing is that they have a great web site and blog which is updated daily with tons of gorgeous eye candy from around the art world. I have discovered so many amazing artists this way. Keep it real, B/D, you're an inspiration.

Some shirts

2011-02-20T11:48:00.013-04:00

Here are some new-ish shirts. Some are shirts I already had that I've been messing about with.

Aibonoid by Hutch on a v-neck tank top. hutchpiece.co.uk

Tug by Thom Phoenix on an asphalt t-shirt. I'll be printing more of these soon.

Carbot by Slawek Kasolka on a v-neck.

Hutch/Steven Charles Schmidt mash-up. Mash-ups are fun and I will be doing many more this year! hutchpiece.co.uk scs3000.com

Carbot by Slawek Kasolka on a v-neck tank top.

Carbot by Slawek Kasolka on a red/yellow raglan.

Amilia by Thom Phoenix on a bleached/stressed raglan.

Aibonoid by Hutch on a raglan. hutchpiece.co.uk

Hope to be printing some fresh new shirts in the coming week, so I'll keep ya posted when I do. Rock n' roll.

Claudio Parentela

2011-02-18T12:13:00.009-04:00

One of my favorite artists to have had the pleasure of working with over the last few years is Italy's Claudio Parentela.
When I first encountered his work several years ago his stuff was primarily black and white drawings made with marker- raw, blunt, almost childish images from the subconscious.

As time went on he started experimenting with color and his art started taking on a real vibrancy.

Over the last couple of years he's started incorporating elements of photo collage into his work, combining it with his drawing skills to make a new creation that thrills and excites.

We will be doing a new full-color shirt with Claudio within the next month or so, and we're really excited about that.

Claudio's work can be see on his Facebook page or his web site.

Woops

2010-12-22T19:19:00.002-04:00

I wonder how many people actually noticed that under my "30 shirts in 30 days" post I had a cute picture of a bunch of shirts. How many shirts? 29 of them! Not 30. So since I'm a little slow on the uptake at times, I only noticed that this afternoon. Figured out which shirt was missing, and hey, it's this one. Carry on then.

Giant Astronaut Invasion by Steven Charles Schmidt on a S black t-shirt. Printed October 2010.
This is a discharge and process color print on a bleached t-shirt. The print has been stressed by bleach as well, so is deliberately faded. Shirt by Alstyle Apparel.
Click image for more information. Click here to buy this shirt.

30 shirts, 30 days

2010-12-19T22:29:00.004-04:00

Never one to resist the opportunity to continuously muck things up, I`ve decided to change how things work on the site again. I was starting to find it a bit unwieldy having a larger number of shirts on the site and was a little overwhelmed at the prospect of adding another 74 that I just completed. I thought it might be cool to try something where every 30 days I put up 30 completely random shirts, and only make them available for that month. That way I would be able to easily keep track of them and there would always be something different up every month. And so I present to you: 30 shirts, 30 days. 28 of these are completely new and have never been on this site before! I trust you will find something to ogle:

That first number might go up and that second number might go down as we go on with the year, it`s up to you really.
I`ve made a few other li`l changes to things around here. For starters, we are back to regular ol` prices on shirts- the whole "pay what you want" idea didn`t exactly pan out. The good news is, the prices are lower than before. I`ve also added a non-Flash gallery option to the store, since I was getting some very rare comments from some people saying that the Flash galleries weren`t loading for them, and for others that find they load a little slower at times.

Ummm....happy festive holidays to everyone and all that jazz, I`ll be taking a slow train to New Brunswick for the break and hoping and believing in better times, straight ahead for 2011. Great expectations to all you and yours.

Taking Care of the Cats black t-shirt

2010-12-04T16:44:00.001-04:00

Taking Care of the Cats by James Kirkpatrick on a black t-shirt. Also available in camel brown and red. Printed April 2010.
Shirt by Alstyle Apparel.
Click image for more information. Click here to bid on this shirt.

Spycke S royal v-neck tank top

2010-11-29T07:54:00.001-04:00

Spycke by Vallois Loic on a S royal v-neck tank top. Printed July 2010. Sewn by Mary Hoopey, October 2010.

Click image for more information. Click here to bid on this shirt.

Food Chain M white cap sleeve raglan

2010-11-26T12:42:00.001-04:00

Food Chain by Thom Larsen on a M whiteblack cap sleeve raglan. Printed August 2010.

Click image for more information. Click here to bid on this shirt.

1984 XL white ladies' t-shirt

2010-11-24T21:52:00.000-04:00

1984 by Robin Antiga on a XL white ladie's t-shirt. Printed February 2007.
Shirt by American Apparel.
Click image for more information. Click here to bid on this shirt.

No Wrath Medium pink cap sleeve raglan

2010-11-23T22:27:00.001-04:00

No Wrath by Thom Phoenix on a M pink cap sleeve raglan. Printed August 2010.

Click image for more information. Click here to bid on this shirt.

Thanks, "instablog"!

A Boatload of Trouble

2010-11-23T14:24:00.009-04:00

Happy Tuesday, one and all. I just posted about 30 new shirts to the database, so there should be a whole lot more eye candy for you to trip through today. I was going to release them slowly, one per day, but a little faerie told me I should just go ahead and put 'em all up at once.

So instead of making you wait for a new shirt every day, I just thought I'd make them all available at once, and then annoy you to death by blogging about a different shirt every day. And now, thanks to my all-new superconvenient instablog (patent pending), I'll be able to do that in under a minute. And you can too. With one click just highlight the instablog text, a quick ctrl-c and you have an instant blog post complete with picture, information and links. It certainly appeals to my inner lazy bastard, so I thought it might yours as well. As a matter of fact, I'm going to give it a try this afternoon. After I've had my 3 hour nap of course.........

New shirt: Amilia on a yellow/orange v-neck

2010-11-17T19:22:00.008-04:00

Amilia on a yellow/orange v-neck

Sewn by Mary Hoopey in October 2010. Size medium- chest 34", height 24". This is a one of a kind item. Click images to see more.

Pay What Thou Wilt

2010-11-16T23:32:00.004-04:00

When I re-launched this web site last week, I had a hard time deciding how to set the prices. The shirts, particularly the new ladies' shirts, are expensive and time-consuming to produce. Many of them take well over an hour to create. So it's a tough call. I have already heard from people who say the prices were too high, and others telling me I should be charging more. I was thinking about this the other night when I thought: Hmmm. Why have any prices at all?

Of course, I'm not talking about giving away my shirts, though certainly if I were a billionaire I probably would consider something of the sort. I'm talking about you, the customer, telling me how much you're willing to pay for them. In short, pay what thou wilt.

This, as some of you probably know, is not an entirely new idea: Radiohead did it last year with their "In Rainbows" album, allowing people to pay what they wanted for it. But what I have set up is not quite the same: I'm not letting my shirts go for a song. I want you to write to me and tell me how much you're willing to pay for the shirt you want, and then I will decide whether or not to sell it to you for that price. If not, I will write you back, and you can make a counter offer if you like. If I do decide it's a fair offer, I will send you payment instructions and the shirt is yours.

You may be thinking that you'll probably just get outbid. Well, that may be the case, but not neccesarily. I'm willing to consider barter. I'm willing to trade services or artwork for shirts. And I'm even willing to sell you that shirt for less than someone else's bid if you can make a compelling enough argument about why you need it. In short, consider Zero Boutique a kind of online Middle Eastern bazaar. Haggling is not only permitted, it's encouraged.

I'm not sure how long this experiment will last. If it's a success, I will keep it like this. If not, I'll go back to setting prices on things. But I am willing to give it a try. So I'm hoping you are too.

Next by Slawek Kosolka on a dyed ladies' t-shirt

2010-11-14T19:09:00.004-04:00

Originally uploaded by zeebeekyoo.

Next by Slawek Kosolka on a dyed small white ladies' t-shirt, dyed blue. Shirt is by American Apparel. Chest 30", Height 25". This is a one of a kind item! It will be reprinted but not in these colors.

Click here to purchase for $32.00

So I've had a bit of feedback about the new gui, and while many people like the look of it, some have told me that the Flash galleries tend to load somewhat slowly and it's frustrating having to click through every shirt. So 2 things I'm going to do: first, have a non-Flash option, and secondly, make a page where you can get a quick look at all the currently available shirts in one place. That should ease the strain for some of you with slower connections/less time to wait.

I've got a lot of shirts to put up yet, which I hope to start doing very soon, and there are a ton in production right now. All told, there should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 new shirts by the new year. Just trying to streamline everything at this point: it's a long process, especially the numbering and cataloging of each shirt.

Well, happy Sunday. News at eleven.

Spiral Stairs on a Red/Yellow Cap Sleeved Raglan

2010-11-10T19:09:00.005-04:00

front2 (4), originally uploaded by zeebeekyoo.

Spiral Stairs on a medium red/yellow capsleeved raglan.
Flickr Gallery

Yety tan/brown cap sleeved raglan

2010-11-09T11:37:00.004-04:00

front2 (4), originally uploaded by zeebeekyoo.

Yety by Vallois Loic on a M tan/brown cap sleeved raglan.
Click here for Flickr Gallery.

"What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been"

2010-11-08T19:51:00.008-04:00

So yeah. A year. Actually, over a year. Since I last put anything on this web site, that is. Well, I could give you a song and dance about why Zero Boutique has been in limbo for such a long time, but the long and the short of it is this: I basically lost interest in running a t-shirt company. Pretty much. Oh, I didn't lose interest in printing or designing or working with amazing talented artists or screen printing, I didn't stop having more ideas than I knew what to do with, I didn't even stop liking t-shirts (in fact I'm still quite fond of them). I did, however, lose interest in being one of thousands of t-shirt companies out there all basically doing the exact same thing, in a kind of race to the bottom. I was feeling lost in a sea of sameness, and I knew Zero Boutique didn't fit into that world, and that it was destined for more than that.

The answer, I decided a couple of years ago, was to actually move in the direction of following an even older dream, a dream I had abandoned in my younger years as impractical: that of making my own clothing. But not just a bit of cut and sew. I really wanted to do it with much bigger prints, using lots of different, softer inks and techniques than I was used to. Once I got my print shop moved out into my garage last year, I started slowly moving in that direction. It took a long time to build up some new skills and acquire the different machinery and materials I would need in order to do the things I wanted to do, and that's still an ongoing (probably endless) process. But I feel like I've finally reached the first of hopefully many more stages towards bringing the clothing I see in my mind to life. And that's exciting.

These 21 shirts I have posted today represent the first results of these early experiments. I hope you like them as much as I do. Not only are the styles new, much of the art is new as well. There's a new piece from our old friend James Kirkpatrick (Thesis). 2 new amazing pieces from a French artist named Vallois Loic. Tons of eye candy from resident screwball Thom Phoenix. A classic collage piece by Steven Charles Schmidt. And a lot more! I'm also very excited because with these new shirts I have implemented another old dream: the individual numbering of each and every shirt, with permanent serial codes printed under the collar on the inside. Each Zero Boutique shirt will henceforth be much like a numbered print, with its production information traceable online.*

So it might be hard to tell, but I'm pretty amped up right about now. This is the beginning of a new day for Zero Boutique. There are already many more shirts where these came from, and I will be posting more in the days and weeks ahead. I would like to acknowledge Mary Hoopey, the seamstress who put these shirts together for me, for her amazing talent and skill. She is incredible and I hope to work with her for many years to come.

For now, please enjoy the show. I will post some pics soon. Cheerio!

*not live yet, but will be soon

zbq m.i.a.?

2010-07-17T16:51:00.003-03:00

hello peoples of earth. i realize it has been many, many moons since i last made any contact with the outside world, at least through this site. i know some of you are still out there, because i get a handful of new twitter followers every month, and there are some signs of life (someone bought a shirt today!) so i just thought maybe i should say hello, not dead, and haven't forgotten about the ZB. in fact, far from it. i am busy at work on some very big ideas, ideas which have taken a long time to incubate due to the fact that i am trying a lot of different techniques, ink and equipment i've never used before. i have printed some stuff already, but i've always been a fan of the big splash, so i'm holding out until i can do it right and proper. this may actually take another month or 2, maybe even 3. but i'll try to start posting in here a bit more to give you some tantalizing morsels that will hopefully whet your appetite for what's to come. you can actually see some of these morsels if you join the ZBQ Fan Club on facebook. for now, my laptop battery is about to die, so i will bid you adieu. au prochaine.......

my name is jason.....

2009-11-30T01:13:00.002-04:00

...and i print t-shirts in my garage

$12 shirt sale and a new pre-order shirt too!

2009-11-26T10:32:00.006-04:00

so how do you like the new site reno? i spent many late nights this past week & a half working on it, so i hope it pleases you. things have been simplified quite a lot- i think you'll find the store loads a lot quicker and the layout is a lot less confusing. but that's not the only good news.....

first off, all shirts have been marked down to only $12, including ladies' tees. these prices will stay in effect through december. everything ordered up to december 10th will ship in time for christmas. shipping is free for your second shirt, and free for your whole order if you order 7 shirts or more!

it's pre-order time again! i'm happy to announce that we're doing a run of every color variation we have ever done of killbots, including 2 new variations never to be seen again: limebots and, how could i resist, xmasbots. they're joined by their little robotic friends killbots 2, killbots (red & grey), icebots, grisbots and pinkbots. the pre-order ends on december 3rd!!!

i hope to be doing a lot more crazy color variations of many of your favorite prints, as well as a lot of new ones, in the new year. so keep your eyes on this space.

12 FREAKIN BUCKS. JEEZ LOUISE.

2009-11-02T20:17:00.005-04:00

pre-ordered shirts are back, and cheaper than ever!! now you can get yourself a one-of-a-kind zb t-shirt for only 12 BUCKS. that's right! every 2 weeks i'll post a different design available for pre-order for 7 days. you can have any choice of style, color or size you like for twelve measly dollars (14 for american apparel guys or ladies' tees). today's design is 666, with 2 other brand new color variations never to be reprinted: 666 red and 666 turquoise. 12. freakin'. dollars. people.

this design is available for pre-order until midnight, november 10th, 2009. after that stock will be pretty scant or possibly nonexistent, and the prices will go back up by 4 dollars to their regular prices.

want to see your favorite design reprinted soon? well you can either vote for it or actually reserve the tee of your choice. the more reservations & votes we get for a particular design, the more likely we are to reprint it soon.

so i have actually moved all of my printing stuff into my landlord's garage. it's a little strange. i'm still in the process of insulating the walls, so it's pretty chilly out there at night. once i get that insulation up and a wall built in front of the drafty garage doors it shouldn't be too bad. still, it's a little weird.

hoping by january to be printing mostly, if not entirely, on organic t-shirts, and switching to a more environmentally nice way of printing shirts as well in terms of the ink and the cleanup materials. it may mean i need to charge an extra dollar or so, we'll have to see i suppose. but it's something i've been meaning to do for a very long time, and right now seems like as good a time as any. seize ya soon peepz.

zbq undies are GO

2009-10-20T23:03:00.006-03:00

so after years of trying to get these things done, by anyone for any price, i finally got fed up this summer and decided to buy myself a sewing machine and try making the damn underwear myself. and lo and behold, it was pretty tough, but not as hard as i had anticipated, and 6 weeks later i actually have my first batch of wearable women's underwear finished and ready for primetime!

hope you like those! the images link to the ebay auctions. first bid is set to only 49 cents for each pair, with no reserve! the auctions all end on october 25th.

i will be setting up an "undies page" here on the site at some point but i need to make a lot more of these things first. so for now i'm just going to put a few pairs up on ebay and possibly some other spots, and when i do i'll be sure to keep all y'all posted if you'll just be so kind as to keep your eyes trained on this here space.

i also hope you like the newest set of pictures i put up the other day. jacqui is a voluptuous vixen from hali with looks that kill. me likey.

besides that, things are changing in my world in other ways. i will no longer be sharing space with 2 other printing companies as of the end of this month. i'm actually going to be building a shop in my landlord's garage and attempting to print t-shirts literally in my own backyard. i'm pretty stoked but also kind of intimidated by the renos. but i have some good help and i'm pretty excited to make it work!! it's going to be great. there may be some down time where i can't really print much at all, but hopefully not too long.

oh and one more thing before i forget- i'm lowering all shirt prices to what they were back in 2001: that is, $16 each ($1 more for ladies & other styles). shipping is no longer free, but you'll still be saving a lot more compared to the old prices. i'll make a more formal announcement on my next post. but the prices are down now, and they'll be staying there for a long time.

and whither thou, t-shirts? i'm not sure when i'm going to get around to those next. i've got some skirts to finish printing, then i may start on some zbq throw pillows i've been thinking about. t-shirts are definitely in the cards. but i'm playing with a bigger deck now. can i deal you in?

oh happy day!

2009-09-17T21:51:00.003-03:00

i'm back y'all! didja miss me? not really? well, how about some new shirts then? i've got a doozy for ya. happy day is yet another slawek kasolka creation.

having been married briefly myself way back in the dark ages, i can testify that "wedded bliss" is usually anything but. that's why within 2 seconds of viewing this piece of artwork, i knew that i had to put it on t-shirts. and that's just what i've done. so until midnight, september 30th, 2009, happy day will be available for pre-order on your choice of style, color and size, for $3 less than our usual prices. so, much like getting married too young and for the wrong reasons, i urge you to rush into this decision and not consider the consequences, then spend the rest of your life lamenting your lost youth and fighting back the bitter tears of regret. actually, hold the phone- these are t-shirts we're talking about, right? i highly doubt you're going to regret it that much- and hey, if you do, we do have a money-back guarantee.

i realize how long it's been since my last post. i kind of went on a mental vacation there in august- just didn't really feel much like working, so i eneavored to avoid it as much as possible. and let me tell you, it was gooood. but i'm back in the saddle again, and there are great things in store for zb. i've got a ton of new shirt designs coming and there's some zb clothing on its way too. i've already got some skirts made and ready for your eyeballs, now i'm just trying to get this underwear done up in time for christmas. i've had a hell of a time trying to find a reliable seamstress- it seems that they all are, by definition, completely crackers- so i went out and bought a sewing machine and i'm going to try and make 'em myself. i have done a bit of sewing in the past, so hopefully it won't be a complete disaster, or take me years. maybe i'll discover what it is that seems to turn seamstresses into lunatics! in the meantime, i'm still open to working with talented people, so if you are a seamstress who thinks you jmight like to help me create some ladies' underwear, feel free to drop me a line. in the meantime, you know where to find me......

....and the beat goes on

2009-08-11T16:06:00.005-03:00

hey kids! hope y'all are having a pretty okey dokey summer. me? i can't complain too loudly, except that i've been pretty much living at the print shop trying to get caught up with custom shirts (or wait a sec, was that avoiding the print shop at all costs to go swimming? i can't quite remember). in any case, i've managed to squeeze out a few items for this here web site. and so, in stock and ready for shipping we have some next please shirts for you. please and thank you!

if you hadn't noticed, i also recently posted some inverse princess, ice princess and orange princess shirts as well. stock is pretty limited so they probably won't be around for very long....

and if that's not exciting enough for you, there's a new shirt of the week available for pre-order until august 15th: team evil (and it's more feminine side, team evil pink) were last printed about 3 years ago and in all likelihood won't be printed again for quite some time. 3 bucks less than our regular prices, and we ship internationally for FREE.

so yeah, pretty slack on the ol' bloggo, unfortunately, but things should be calming down soon so hopefully i'll have time for more updates. in the meantime, enjoy the eye candy in the slideshow and stay tuned for a brand new print in less than a week. to the beat y'all......

next please!!!!!

2009-07-17T13:31:00.004-03:00

i'm always happy to post a new shirt design. it fills me with so much warmth, in fact, that i wish i could do it every single day. i suspect, however, that the appeal might wear off over time and i'd grow bored- sort of like if every morning was christmas. then again, i'd have a brand new shirt to wear every single day for the rest of my life, so actually scratch that.

i'll work on that daily t-shirt thing, but in the meantime we'll have to go with a new one every 2 weeks or so. and today is just such a day. i have for you a brand new print from our special fellow canadian and very talented friend, mr. slawek kasolka. next please is a nice wide print that extends completely across the chest on most shirt sizes. i like it quite a lot actually.

next please is available for pre-order for the next 9 days or so- until midnight, july 26th, you can pre-order this print on any color or style of your choice, for 3 dollars less than the usual price. shipping, mais bien sur, is gratis of course. cos that's just how we roll.

all the time, phife

2009-07-16T01:46:00.008-03:00

so you have probably noticed a few things moving and shifting around here on ye olde tyme web site. i've been busy at work on a nice new reno for the store and, for that matter, the whole site, and that's one of the reasons you haven't heard from me in a while. i get my head buried in something and find it hard to put my attention elsewhere until it's finished. well, this ain't quite finished, but it's pretty dang close. brownie points for spotting glitches though.

a few improvements over the last shirt store: no more scrolling frame on the left side of the screen, the ability to browse through the entire collection much more intuitively and a new color & layout which are much easier on the eyes. might take some getting used to, but i think it makes more sense. if you're confused you can read all about V1SV11 in the faq page.

i've also posted a whole new flash slideshow which you may have noticed on your way in. the gallery is scaleable to full screen and will soon be stuffed with more eye candy (both new and old) than you'll be able to physically handle with your raw human eyeballs. f'realz. for today, i have posted a nice set of a local model named theresa, who got to wear some of our latest stuff (including a few things that aren't even available on the site yet). hope yer diggin' it, definitely more to come. if you would like to do some modeling for zb feel free to drop me a line.

brand spanking new tee shirt will be posted before the weekend!! millions set to start kicking thee arse once they get greedy paws upon new teeeeeshirrts from la zeebeeque. signing out, rover dog alpha.

princess pea

2009-06-24T00:08:00.005-03:00

ghetto P started out back in 2004 as ghetto princess, a design sent to us by a certain artist who was later caught stealing tons of ideas and reselling them- including that one. that sucked, but as a result of that experience we met the real artist behind the lady with the boombox, pat hamou, and he graciously agreed to sell us the rights to the design. and so the little lady lived on, in many different forms.

all of these variations of our lady of perpetual beats- ghetto P, inverse princess, ice princess, orange princess, pink princess and blue princess- are now available for pre-order on your choice of any style, color or size we carry, for $3 less than our usual prices, until july 1st, 2009 at midnight. that's canada day for all youse ignoramusses out there.

so yeah, it's been a pretty long minute but the print shop is getting slammed right now- we're barely keeping up with it. that's taken up a lot of my time, but i've also managed to print quite a few new items for zb and have been working on a really cool site redesign. also been seeing a lot of really cheesy movies with my son aaaand.... printing more t-shirts. that's pretty much what i do. more soon.

these were triple dipped

2009-06-09T21:47:00.006-03:00

been doing some t-shirt printing and stuff. those were double dipped is a 6 color print based on a photo collage created by painter peter goode. we used to print the original on shirts using transfers (see peter's LOVECATS gallery for the original artwork). anyway yeah. cool piece of art, and i hope to be doing more of his stuff in the very near future. i've only got a few of these shirts, and they probably won't be printed in this form again. next time i do this one it will probably be a completely different approach.

oh yeah, i found my batteries.

lucha cigaro is available for pre-order for about 3 days, 3 dollars less than our regular prices and available on your choice of just about anything.

i also printed a few white masqs et parfums t-shirts (yeah, me!). those will also likely not be printed again for a purty long time.

oh and while i'm here, did i mention that there are 2 new polo shirts in
prep school? i didn't? oh well.

that's it for now, but plenty of goodies coming your way very soon. stand by chidlins.

that party last night....

2009-06-04T23:40:00.004-03:00

so... new shirt posted today, whah? lucha cigaro is yet another wrestler shirt- sensing a theme here?- and it's available for pre-order until june 11th. and yada yada and so on and so forth.

i have shirts but can't find batteries for my cam so you'll have to wait a day or 2 for pics. the design is huge and printed with "softhand" ink, so it's a really nice breathable, soft print.

i also (as you may or may not have noticed) pumped up stock in 1984 and 1984 yellow. if you like the l.a. lakers, check out the lakers version. and lots of 2X and 3X shirts for you bigger dudes.

so yeah, been AWOL for a minute or 2, just been swamped with printing custom work, and also working on some site stuff behind the scenes. watch for a nice new gallery coming really soon. a lot of new eye candy coming your way.

if you're still paying attention at this point, you're in luck. just for you (yes, you!) this week, until june 10th, order any shirt and get a second one of your choice abfab free. just mention your choice in the "comments" section before you check out.

dolla dolla coin y'all....

2009-05-25T00:18:00.004-03:00

good day, kidlets! i'm happy to announce that at long last, we now have a working affiliate program on this web site. i attempted something like this a few years ago, but it wasn't very well designed. this is simple and robust- no forms to fill out or personal information to divulge. you simply add your email on to the end of a URL, and when anyone who follows that link buys something from this site (even if it's weeks or months from now), you instantly get an e-mail notification and, if you have paypal, get paid $5 within 24 hours!! if you have a very popular blog or web site, lots of friends online or even if you just want to save $5 on your next order, you should really consider giving it a test run. go take a peak and see if it's for you.

and to help you in your moneymaking efforts, i've posted a ton of new zbq banners and links for you to use. so go nuts.

but that's not all the good news i have today- aw no. i've also completed the new zbq shopping cart, which i think is a bit friendlier than the paypal cart. it allows you to monitor the contents of your cart without leaving the site, add or remove items very easily, plus you get a cool 4% discount for each additional item you add. order 4 shirts and save 12%, order 8 shirts and save 28%. order 12 shirts or more and you automatically get the wholesale rate, which is nearly half price! you can't really beat it with a stick, especially when you consider that shipping is still (and will remain) absolutely free for any and all customers, ad infinitum. damn we rule.

as if that weren't enough excitement for one day, there's a new "pre-order" shirt of the week up today: crushR is yet another wrestler-themed shirt of awesomeness. available on your choice of style, color and size, at $3 off our regular price, until midnight june 1st.

wowzers! more to come. get it in ya.

sham who?

2009-05-23T01:26:00.001-03:00

pigeon ATAK!

2009-05-21T23:26:00.005-03:00

just posted new stock, fresh and ready for shipping, in ATAK. mostly sport grey tees, but also threw a 3X american apparel slate in there as well.

in my travels i also discovered a couple of shirts that had been overlooked: an XL ATAK (red) on royal blue and a couple of white krushbot tees: one white, one 3X. if you're paying attention. remember, shipping is free kids- even for international orders.

so i've been working away on the customized zbq shopping cart, and i'm incredibly close to finishing. what's so great about that, you may ask? well, for starters, it's going to save you money. how so? well, if you order more than one shirt at a time, you'll save 4% for each additional shirt you order. that may not seem that impressive, but it adds up fast. and thanks to the built-in affiliate program it can even make you money too: without even having to sign up or fill in one form, you'll be able to participate in our affiliate program, where we will pay you $5 for each and every sale you send our way. and that of course includes your own orders! so if you buy a shirt using your unique affiliate ID, you automatically receive a $5 discount just for participating. and if you can get a bunch of other people to buy stuff, you'll be rich in no time. rich, i tells ya! i'm hoping to get it all up and running by tomorrow (friday) night, if not by the end of the weekend for sure. so keep yer eyeballs peeled.

les masqs et les parfums

2009-05-16T08:34:00.003-03:00

new shirt print posted today- masqs et parfums is based on a photo by our favorite photographer, montreal's nico stinghe. this print is available for pre-order on your choice of style, color or size of shirt, for $3 off the regular price, until may 23rd, 2009.

you can check out more of nico's stuff by perusing his LOVECATS galleries here, here, here or here, or check out his ever-evolving website, anothersidewalk.tv.

i'm leaving town for a few days, so you might not hear from me for a little bit. more shenanigans next week.

contest shmontest

2009-05-14T23:46:00.003-03:00

okay, now i remember why i never have contests.....no one freakin' enters them. how do you expect to win anything if you don't take 30 seconds to enter? that being said, we did at least get 3 people off their lazy duffs long enough to string a few letters on their keyboards together to answer our current ongoing contest question, which is "what can we do to improve this site?". and here they are......

different backgrounds with each new refresh -javier

have a section for underwear, boy and girl underwear, and different styles as well -micah baker

put up more sexy women(: -saul

ok, so those are all good. i think having different backgrounds with each refresh is a neat idea, but might get very distracting. the undies are already on the way, in fact i'm going to be working on those next week. and i'm also working on getting a lot more pictures of sexy women very soon- that's always a nice perk, if you'll excuse the term. so anyway, i'm going to give the free shirt to saul, because he used a smily. no other reason really, it's pretty arbitrary. don't like it? well, enter the damn contest yourself, or if you're that much of a wussbag get your mom to do it for you.

so, only about 24 hours left to pre-order ATAK, then i'll be posting an entirely new shirt design early on saturday morning. 'til then amigos.......

to boldly go....

2009-05-11T23:47:00.004-03:00

it's the number 1 flick in north america right now, so i'm sure i don't need to tell you how FREAKING AMAZING the new star trek movie is, but just in case: THE NEW STAR TREK MOVIE IS F**CKING INCREDIBLE!! as a kid who grew up watching the original series and was disappointed by the tepid bland pablum of "the next generation" and all of the other namby-pamby series that followed it, this movie was a breath of fresh air and a true return to everything that made star trek great in the first place. captain kirk hitting on everything that walks, shit blowing up left and right, crew members in mini-skirts and bad scottish accents- it's all here, and so much more. well-written, well-cast, and extremely well-executed. if you haven't seen it yet, you need to- now. i know i will be again. hoot!

and just because, here's another set of nico stinghe's awesome photographs. nico will hopefully be shooting the new zbq catalogue later this year, and the next new shirt design is also based on one of his photos. did i mention that i like his stuff? well i do. yes, i think i do.

word.

ATAK of the killer t-shirts

2009-05-08T19:56:00.004-03:00

so i was hoping to post a brand new shirt today and i spent the morning trying to print a prototype. but, as so often happens with screen printing, the print wasn't really working as planned, so now it's "back to the drawing board" and hopefully we'll get it done next week. so in the meantime, i thought i'd make another print available for pre-order 'til then. robin antiga's ATAK is one of the older prints we've done on shirts, going back to about 2004, and is still one of my favorites.

and just to keep things interesting, i'm also making another color variation available as well: ATAK (red).

these shirts will be available for pre-order on any size, color or style of your choice, and at a $3 discount, until midnight may 15th. after this run we'll probably be cleaning out the screens, so there's a good chance it won't be printed again for a long time. you have been warned!!

krushty

2009-05-07T19:24:00.005-03:00

just posted some krushbot shirts to the database- got some black, asphalt and royal blue t-shirts in stock and ready for immediate shipment.

started working on a new print today, i'm hoping to wrap it up tomorrow and be able to get it online for pre-orders by tomorrow night!

did you know that i do custom shirt printing? well, i do. in fact, i do it so much that i'm thinking of posting some pictures of some of the stuff i do from time to time. i just did these really cool hoodies for a local comic book shop the other day, and last week i did like 360 shirts for a band from ottawa called today i caught the plague. if you are looking for a reliable screen printer to help you out with your band, t-shirt line or team shirts, you could do worse than me. i've been doing this for about 12 years and, i dare say, i'm starting to get pretty good at it. so if you're interested write me at zero@zeroboutique.com.

coming soon: some fresh new polo shirts in prepschool, a contest winner, another LOVECATS set and much more. glee!

speaking of t-shirts (and such)...

2009-05-06T00:24:00.005-03:00

just posted some speaking of shirts to the database- everything you see is in stock and available for immediate, free, shipping anywhere in the world. in stock shirts always go in the mail within 24 hours- often much quicker.

so you may have noticed i didn't put up a "shirt of the week" this week. that's because i'm working on a new print that i really wanted to put up next, but it's taking a little longer than expected. plus i'm just getting caught up with printing the last batch of pre-ordered shirts (that being krushbot- and there should be some of those going up on the site within a day or 2 as well). when i decided to do this pre-order thing again, i said i wouldn't allow myself to fall behind- so if that means there are some weeks when nothing is available for pre-order, then so be it. keeps things a little more interesting, anyway. i should have something new for you by the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled.

loving the new shop! if you're in halifax come by and say hi- we're at 2823 isleville (one street west of agricola, just north of almon). we don't have the store set up yet, but it should be some time before the end of may. i'll post some pictures here when the place is looking a little more presentable.....getting some contest entries so i will see about announcing a winner by the weekend as well. get a crack at a free shirt, folks- you'll find the contest on the right hand side of the blog (or possibly on the bottom if you're on a low res monitor). peace out and talk soon.

give a tip, get a tee

2009-04-30T23:37:00.004-03:00

so i used to be really good with contests on this site, then i got lazy. then i kind of got good again, then i got lazy again. i guess you just have to kind of get lucky with me when it comes to contests. but if you like contests, you're in luck again. i've decided to make a little contest area on the right hand side of this blog, so it's going to be something i'm going to try and keep going on a semi-regular basis. as long as i get a few entries, i'll give away a shirt a week. if no one or practically no one enters, it might take a little longer.

so for now, i'm looking for some constructive criticism to help me improve this site, and i'm willing to give away zb merch in exchange for it. i do occasionally get some suggestions for ways i can fix things up, and i often will take steps to act on those suggestions. but i guess what i'm trying to say is that i want more feedback. sometimes working on the same web site for years on end you can kind of get tunnel vision and lose touch with what the average person might think. something i think is brilliant might just be confusing to most people. so let me have it, folks! don't hold back. i'm a big boy and i can take it. and hey, you just might get some free shwag in the process.

then again, if you think the site is perfect as is, you can tell me that too. i'm open to having my ego pumped up even bigger than it already is. oh, and i'll publish all entries here as well.

1 day left to pre-order krushbot, folks. get it in ya!

new brunswick tuxedo

2009-04-28T23:11:00.002-03:00

meet miss jarrah who, like me, comes from the snowy land of trees known as new brunswick, canada. this should pretty much reassure everyone that there's a lot more to n.b. than loggers, moose and tim hortons. here's hoping we see a lot more of miss jarrah in the near future as well.

i've got a krush on you

2009-04-24T23:51:00.003-03:00

well, you asked for it: ira shain's krushbot received a krushing 1811 votes to bring it back, far more than any other design, and we paid attention. so for the next week, until midnight may 1st, krushbot is available on your choice of t-shirt, hoody, raglan or 7 other styles, in any color or size you can imagine. you pick it, we'll print it for you- and for 3 dollars less than any other shirt on the site. factor in the FREE shipping (even for international customers) and we're pretty much krushing the competition. ok, i've run out of "krush" jokes, insert your own here.

coming soon: a new contest in which you get to tell me what i should do to improve this web site, a shopping cart that will give you a bigger discount with every new shirt you add to your cart, an affilliate program that puts $5 in your pocket with every single customer you send our way, and much more. keep your dials locked.

superbly delicious

2009-04-24T08:08:00.001-03:00

well, speaking of is now spoken for. no more pre-orders, but we're printing some in the next few days and so i will be posting stock sometime next week. krushbot is coming but it's not quite ready yet- should be ready for pre-order sometime in the next day or 2.
to keep you amused in the meantime, here's a new set of pics in LOVECATS for your viewing pleasure: superlicious 6.

i'm krushing your head.....

2009-04-21T00:16:00.002-03:00

friday, folks. krushbot is coming for you. one week only.

only 2 days left to preorder speaking of! git it while it's gutte.

speaking of awesome....

2009-04-14T23:36:00.005-03:00

today is truly a great day for zbq. for starters, it's moving day: we're finally moving into our new digs, and i couldn't be more excited. not only is it within easy biking distance of my apartment, it's got cool checkerboard tile floors, plenty of sunlight and will even have a little storefront! considering our last shop was in an industrial park a 45 minute bus ride away, it's a huge improvement. i'll keep you posted on developments as they unwind.

but the other reason i'm excited today is that we are starting a whole new thing on this site today: well, a new thing that's kind of an old thing with a new twist. starting today, once a week i will post a different shirt on the site that will be available on every single color, style and size that we can get from our suppliers. for one week, you will be able to choose from about 40 different colors in 11 different styles of garments, and do it for 3 dollars less than our regular prices! once the week is up, i print & ship everything that's been ordered, a new design is posted and the last one goes into the vault indefinitely. of course i will be using this new system to feature a lot of new designs, but i'll also be bringing back many old favorites as well.

but this week i am super happy to be making a brand new todd marrone print available for pre-order:
speaking of was created by todd just for us, and i think is quite striking. it may be the most "un-zbq-like" zbq print we've ever done.

fave this on rumplo
love this on emptees

i hope you like it!

since this is the first time we're doing this, it will actually be available for 8 days this time: until midnight, april 23rd. in a few days i will give you a sneak peek of the next print to go up (hint: it's an old one that people have been demanding i bring back for years now).

i'm also happy to announce that we're once again using american apparel for all ladies' tees, ringers and baseball shirts, and certain guys' tees such as grass, hot pink, aqua, striped heather and other "funky" colors are amapp as well. and of course the leisure shirts and track jackets are still made by american apparel. regular colored tees, zip-ups and hoods are made by alstyle, but if you prefer american for those and you're willing to pay a little more, just mention it when you order in the "comments to seller" section.

search me

2009-04-13T23:17:00.002-03:00

oops! i just caught a pretty embarassing boo boo. i realized that the search page wasn't showing any of the last 10 or 12 designs that had been posted on the site. if you were using the search feature and found that the selection was a little slim, that could explain why. the good news is, you still have 24 hours to use a (now) fully functioning search feature and get your shirts for half price! so don't sleep, hotpants.

marrone-a-go-go!

2009-04-13T12:13:00.006-03:00

in anticipation of our new todd marrone print which will be available starting on wednesday, i've added a whole bunch of art to his LOVECATS gallery for you to enjoy. todd was one of the first artists whose stuff i put on shirts, back in 2000, and since then his body of work has grown only more impressive and voluminous (he has got to be one of the most prolific artists of all time). of course, if you want more marrone you can always check out his site. but you'll find a nice cross section of some of his work in LOVECATS, which will hopefully get you excited for wednesday when we present the new marrone tee (see blog post below)!

new buttons!

2009-04-11T22:53:00.006-03:00

i just posted the latest set of 35 1 inch buttons! check 'em out below or go to the button page to see all buttons available. buttons are $1 each, or you can buy the whole set of 35 for $20.

click here to order the whole set (35 buttons) for $20!

only 3 days left to take advantage of the sale: all shirts are marked down to half price until midnight, april 14th. after that there may not be another sale until the autumn, or possibly even next boxing day. don't say i didn't warn ya!

preview-a-rama

2009-04-10T06:36:00.008-03:00

some of you may remember a time on this site when we did things a little differently. there was period during 2005 and 2006 when you could have your favorite shirt design printed on any style, color or size of shirt of your choice. nothing was ever "out of stock" because everything was made to order. that made for a really cool range of choices, but from our perspective was a bit of a logistical nightmare, and often meant people had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for their orders. well, part of the problem was that we'd only print the shirts once a month, and the other issue was that we'd have to print anywhere from 12 to 20 different designs at the end of that month, and it would sometimes take forever. so we discontinued doing it. but i always kind of regretted taking that choice away from people.
so i got to thinking the other night: why not just take the negatives out of the equation, and leave the positives? in other words, print once per week instead of once per month, and instead of trying to print a ton of different designs, just print one at a time? so, genius that i am, that is exactly what i'm going to do. starting on april 16th, next thursday, i'll make one design per week available on a "pre-order" basis. you'll be able to choose from 10 different styles, every color in the rainbow (as well as some that aren't in the rainbow, like camoflage) and of course your own size, and they'll even be $3 less than our regular in stock items! at the end of the first week, i'll print 'em up and send 'em out. and for the first print we'll be doing a brand new todd marrone design called speaking of. just to whet yer whistle, i printed a couple last night, and here's what they look like:

excited yet? i am.

and since i'm in a teasing, preview-y kind of mood, i've got the first few prototype pairs of zbq undies finished, so here's a little sneak peek at those:

and no, that's not a really pasty girl wearing those, that's the shop mannequin, beatrice. she definitely needs some sun. we'll be going into production with these within a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

should be posting the next set of buttons later tonight. have a good good friday.

don't be so stinghe

2009-04-07T00:13:00.004-03:00

i don't know from photography, but, as the old saying goes, "i know what i like." and i like nico stinghe's photography very, very much. nico has been producing his surreal, gritty yet glamorous work from his home in montreal for several years now, and it never fails to shock, tittilate and inspire. he was behind one of our most controversial prints, montreal, and has collaborated with me on 2 new prints which will be available on zbq shirts in the very near future. for now, i'm happy to present a new set of his work in LOVECATS. and if you're like me and you just can't seem to get enough nico, be sure to check out his web site at anothersidewalk.tv and follow the links to his blog and eerie youtube videos. tres bon!

i'd like to give a quick shout-out to a new shirt blog i just discovered, by way of their discovering me: t-shirt connoisseur. it's short and to the point, and the writer seems to have good taste in shirts (well, obviously). i've added it to our brand new blog roll which can be found to the right if you scroll up a bit. if you've got a blog about t-shirts, art or other wacky/cool/interesting topics you'd like to have added to the roll, drop me a line. les nouveaux boutons venant bientôt, mes amis!!

who watches the watchmen?

2009-04-03T20:42:00.010-03:00

apparently, no one. which is a real shame- it's a pretty amazing movie. i finally got out to see it the other night- though i missed the imax 3d version, dammit- and there were only 6 of us in the theatre. as a huge fan of the original comic from the eighties, i tried to keep my expectations realistic. so did it live up to the comic? in my opinion, almost- but not quite. but it wasn't for lack of effort. the central themes and characters of alan moore's masterpiece were more or less intact, visually it was truly a feast for the eyes and at nearly 3 hours, fast paced enough that it felt more like an hour. i guess really my only complaint about the movie- and this might seem strange- is that it was almost too faithful to the comic. comics are a different medium from film, and by sticking with the book's dialogue and story practically verbatim, i felt that maybe there was some potential for more character development that didn't get explored as deeply as it could have. but really, i'm nitpicking. the watchmen is an excellent movie, one of (if not the) best comic adaptations ever made. rorschach, my favorite character, is superbly rendered, dr. manhatten is just plain freakin' cool, and i am officially in love with malin ackerman, who plays the incredibly sexy silk spectre 2. well done, folks.

mmmmmmmm.

oh yeah, i'm now a trend whore like the rest of you. that's right, ZBQ is now on twitter. i'm so ashamed.

princess geisha

2009-04-01T00:03:00.005-03:00

i've been kind of slacking on posting new pictures in LOVECATS, but tonight i prepped 6 new sets of photos for your viewing pleasure, and these i will be posting every few days over the next couple of weeks. the first of these, as promised some time ago, is of our friend jezebelle, a fellow canadian, a little kinky and crazy like many of us in the great white north, and the owner and main subject of her very nsfw web site. more pictures to come........

sale is still on.....props to a few blogs for their recent zbq posts: shirts on sale, shirts around the internet and the t-shirt review. these are all awesome blogs and you should support them!......i should be posting a new set of buttons very soon- within the first week of april....working on about 12-15 new zbq shirt prints, once they're all ready i hope to be posting a new one every 2-3 weeks or so....we're moving in mid-april, i'll be sure to post some new pictures of our awesome new spot. promise that you'll visit me if you're ever in halifax!!!

half price moving sale- happy spring!!

2009-03-27T14:34:00.003-03:00

good news for your and for us today. first of all, the good news for us- our print shop is moving to a new, better location which will have a small storefront. we're really looking forward to it! unfortunately, moving costs a lot of money. and that's where the good news for you comes in: i've marked ALL shirts down by a full HALF PRICE until april 14th to help pay for the move. it's spring time, kids! the sun is shining, and a cool new zbq t-shirt is just what the doc ordered! so help fund our move and get some cheap duds in the process. and remember, shipping is always free!!

so say we all

2009-03-21T20:25:00.004-03:00

so- it's really all over. hard to believe. i have to say, the final episode of battlestar galactica, by far my favorite tv show over the last few years, was a little disappointing. not a lot, just a little. maybe i've just come to expect a constant struggle- neverending conflict, pain, pathos and misery- from bsg. in that regard, the first half of the episode certainly didn't disappoint. but then the second half was all about resolution, joy, life and finding destiny- boooring. don't get me wrong, i'm very glad things ended the way they did. i just felt it was a little clumsy, there were still many unanswered questions (what they hell was kara? i guess we'll never know) and many of the questions that were answered were done so i felt in a very haphazard way. but overall the producers did an admirable job of tying the whole 4 years together, and i thought the way they brought in the subtle commentary at the end about the direction of our modern world was well done as well. i guess i just.....frakk it, i just wish it wasn't over. i'm going to go cry in my ambrosia now.

inches of pleasure

2009-03-19T21:49:00.008-03:00

do you like 1 inch buttons? well so do we. we've been making 1 inch ZBQ buttons for a few years now, but up until now there was no way to get one except by buying a shirt and hoping we remembered to toss a free one in the package. well, i've just created a new page where you can purchase some of these wonderful li'l buttons for only 1 dollar each- shipping included! the buttons will be released in series of 35 every few weeks, and you have the option of purchasing the complete series for only $20 as well (saving you money and making you look 35 times as cool). so press the panic button already!!!

i'm caught up with BSG now and there's nothing left to do but wait for the end tomorrow. i can't believe they're going to actually wrap up this whole frakkin' series in only 2 hours, but i sure am looking forward to it. so what if my life will be completely devoid of meaning after tomorrow night? well, at least until season 3 of madmen starts, anyway.....

mr. dandy interviewee

2009-03-18T23:07:00.006-03:00

i'm a raging egomaniac, so i love getting interviewed. it gives me something to read when i need to remind myself how truly great i am. once in a while other people notice. this week it's alan from one of my favorite t-shirt blogs, the t-shirt review. he sent me some really interesting questions, and i answered those questions with mind-numbing verve and vigour. to read the interview and bask in my glory click here.

seriously though, i'm generally a pretty humble guy. in fact, i'm great at being humble- much better than you, i'm sure.

krystle!!

so i've been wrestling all week with this bloody shitbox of a computer, but in the last 2 days i finally 1) got my printer working again and 2) got the sound working (though it took buying another sound card). consequently, i'm finally able to get caught up on the last 2 weeks of battlestar galactica before the big series finale on friday. actually, i only have one more episode to watch, which i plan on doing right after i post this blog. excited but sad to see the series go. however, it's good to end things on a high note- how long could they have realistically dragged the storyline on for? friday should be a doozy.

and no, i haven't seen watchmen yet- hoping to tomorrow- but yesterday i finally got out to see the 3-d version of coraline, which is just a superb movie in every way imaginable. you should see it while it's still in theatres if you have any appreciation for excellence. i was pretty impressed with the 3-d too- it's the first of the "new 3-d" movies i've seen, and it was very well done.

new shirts! hot damn.

2009-03-09T00:15:00.006-03:00

i always get a little excited when i post brand new shirt designs. this shirt in particular, however, i am quite worked up about: it was created by one of halifax's most well-known and productive graffitti artists, deza, and is kind of a landmark print for us. fast times is the widest print we've ever done on a t-shirt- in fact, in order to print it, we actually had to physically cut the shirts, print them, then get a tailor to sew them back together. the result is a freakshow print that wraps from the front to the back and must be seen to be believed:

much props to mr. dezzy-dez for such a sick piece of artwork, and here's hoping we see more from him in the not-too-distant future!

as if that weren't enough excitement for one day, i also found time to post some new deadphones shirts in prep school. being well-dressed was never so much fun:

so my computer shit the bed on the weekend- not sure if it was a virus or what, but it suddenly decided to stop booting up. after much wrangling and wrestling, i was forced to reinstall windows and consequently lost all of my e-mail from the last several months (soooo awesome). as a result, if you had written me recently there's a good chance i wasn't able to get back to you, and that's precisely why. specifically there was one guy that wrote me about featuring zbq in a california-based magazine: if you're out there, please write me back!!!

haven't seen the last BSG yet as my computer woes took up most of my time & energy this weekend, and i haven't seen the watchmen yet either. heading to the imax at some point this week to check that out for sure!! i'll report back on both when i get a chance. happy daylight savings day and keep it real kids!

you're dead, phones

2009-03-04T22:26:00.005-04:00

just topped up stock in deadphones- there are now a ton of tan t-shirts (including some 2x and 3x), some black tees and one (yes, one) white/navy baseball shirt.

the above photo of a deadphones-wearing cardboard box was submitted by zb superfan alex chittock on our facebook group. you know how easy it is to post pictures on facebook, right? well, mr. chittock took 2 seconds out of his day to put a couple on our small but growing group, and now he's freakin' famous! so yeah, you should totally join and put some photos on there- then you could be famous too. maybe even wind up with your own tv special, like cheryl tiegs or tiny tim.

coming in the next day or 2: new polo shirts in prepschool and a BRAND SPANKIN' NEW zbq shirt none of you have ever seen before (unless you're one of the dudes from the print shop, and you guys don't count). as pinhead liked to say, "i have such sights to show you..."

alternative press is go!

2009-03-03T21:54:00.006-04:00

hello to everyone finding this site for the first time via the article which appears in the brand new issue of alternative press. if you haven't checked out AP, you really should: it's a cool magazine and the latest issue features "100 bands you need to know." the article on ZB appears on page 51 in the "AP style" section and features my glorious ugly mug in living color. it's a great interview, but i think i may have alienated a good 2/3rds of the readership when i dissed "emo haircuts" and "douchebag shirts"- when i opened the magazine all i saw were emo haircuts and douchebag shirts! ah well. if you're too lazy to go to the magazine store, click on the pic below for a full sized scan:

and in all seriousness, you should check out alternative press when you get a chance, it's a great mag. happy tuesday!

monday musings

2009-03-02T17:08:00.003-04:00

more ms. krystle....

so that last BSG was pretty intense- that's more what i'm talkin' about! betrayal, lust, greed, violence, mental breakdown- you know, all the great things we've come to expect from the best science fiction show in history. of course, i'm pretty disappointed in boomer, but she's let everyone down before. i guess she's just following her prime directive or whatever. and what up with madame president? is she dead or what? this is heating up now folks! can't wait for friday!

of course, now i'm getting super excited for the watchmen movie, which will be released in the states this week but not sure about up here in canada. there's an imax version too, and i'm all over that. my expectations are so incredibly high that it's almost bound to disappoint on some level, but from all the trailers and clips i've seen, it looks pretty freakin' amazing. stokedefied!!

prep, jock, or stoner?

2009-02-25T22:40:00.004-04:00

remember when the world was a simpler place and everyone fit neatly into some easy-to-define pigeonhole? back in those days there wasn't a lot of crossover- you were either one thing or another. the punks thought the metalheads were stupid, the "preppies" thought they were better than everyone else and the jocks were a roving gang of neanderthals that beat up anyone that got in their way. ah, the eighties. then one day one of those punk kids showed up for school wearing a metallica t-shirt. a jock got a mohawk, or one of the headbangers decided to cut all of his hair off. things started to shift and kind of melt together, and the social divisions weren't as easy to delineate. or maybe i just graduated from high school and none of that stuff seemed to matter anymore. either way, back in those days i wouldn't have been caught dead wearing a polo shirt- my friends (i was in the punk camp) would have laughed me out of their group and the "preps" would have seen it as a pathetic attempt to fit in with theirs. thank god we've evolved beyond all that! these days you can listen to whatever the hell you want to and have a lot more freedom in how you dress without being immediately lumped in one category or another. and you know what? i like some polo shirts- they're comfy and stylish. but i think they look way cooler with one of our prints on them. so i went out and bought some used polos and printed some of our designs all over them. the result is prep school, a page that features the first few of these experiments. hope you like 'em.

mention code "PREPSTER" in the "comments to seller" section of your shopping cart for a 10% refund. good until march 1st. now let your inner conformist out to play!

tuesday preversions

2009-02-24T08:31:00.002-04:00

another pic of jezebelle to perk up your morning.

yes, i'm still working on the zb undies, there are just a lot of obstacles to doing them the way i want them done. but they are coming!

so yeah, BSG the other night basically degenerated into a frakkin' soap opera. "oooh tigh, who do you love more? he never loved me, he loved you! you know who he REALLY loves? bill adama that's who! tell her you love her, tigh, she needs to hear it! show her your love!" for an old bald dude with an eye patch, this guy sure manages to pull a lot of high maintenance cylon ass. that's nice and everything, but can we get back to the actual story line now? i find myself wondering where the hell this is all going and thinking maybe they should have just cut things off last season. but despite a couple of episodes that were kind of dead in the water, it's still the best show on television right now and they haven't disappointed me yet. no matter how they wind things up, i'm sure it's going to be pretty impressive. maybe i'm just dreading the end- i find myself getting emotional now when i hear the theme music, because i realize there are only a few episodes left- and so i'm expecting to be blown out of my seat every time. ah well. granny was a power sander.

coming very shortly: the polo shirts i posted on ebay didn't sell, so i'm going to be making them available on here. and hopefully pins shortly after that as well. keep your eyes out for dradis contact.

MJcute

2009-02-19T22:42:00.005-04:00

more pics of cute li'l krystle wearing her MJQ (yellow) shirt posted this evening. more to come.

if you haven't seen vbs tv yet, first of all you have no idea of what you're missing out on. secondly i am incredibly jealous of you because now you get to discover all of the amazing programs this online tv station, run by vice magazine, has to offer. it will consume your life and you'll never want to turn your television on again. well, my favorite show on vbs is definitely art talk, which as its title suggests explores the world of art and gives a lot of insight into the creative process of some of today's most brilliant artists. it may actually inspire you to want to create your own art, which i find it has done for me several times.

working on a brand new design, the print is kind of complex but i'm hoping to have them finished and posted hopefully by this time next week. yip!

alcoholics 'r' us

2009-02-17T08:48:00.010-04:00

here in nova scotia where i live, alcohol isn't so much something people do to unwind now and then as it is a daily way of life. everyone's an enabler, and you don't have a problem unless you're face down in the gutter or beating your kids. now, i enjoy a couple of beers here and there as much as the next bluenoser, but i know a problem drinker when i see one. that's why i thought this huge picture that's posted outside a new liquor store near where i live was so funny.

might not look that strange when you first glance at it, but take a closer look at some of these peoples' faces:

little bleary, are we? i think she needs some sleep. for like 5 days straight.

hey haggard henrietta, why don't you ease back on the bottle for 5 minutes? might do you some good.

"dude! just one more bump! i swear i'm good to go! huhuhuhuhu!" could you do me a favor and just kind of not breath on me?

"what? i've only smoked 36 cigarettes today. has anyone seen my self-esteem?" yeesh.

wow, if this is supposed to be a way of enticing me to go get liquored tonight, i think i'll pass. if these are the best models they could find to promote the "drinking lifestyle" in our fair province, maybe we have a bigger problem than i thought.

DISCOUNT CODE FOR THE WEEK: mention code "ALKEE" in the "message to seller" section of your shopping cart for a 10% refund on your order (refunds can only be sent to those with Paypal accounts). good 'til end of the day, february 21st. now drink up.

shipping now free, shirt prices to go up

2009-02-14T15:03:00.005-04:00

hey kids, how's your saturday treating ya? i have some good news today- shipping on zeroboutique.com is now COMPLETELY FREE from now on- that's right, no hidden costs, the price you see is the price you pay. and don't forget that we ship INTERNATIONALLY as well- anywhere in the world!

unfortunately, however, due to the rising costs of doing business in this day and age, our shirt prices will be going up next week- quite dramatically, i'm afraid. however, i will wait one full week- until saturday, february 21st, to change the prices. that gives you a nice "window of opportunity" to get the shirts at the old prices and pay nothing for shipping. so consider yourselves warned.

ah, pippi- what a breath of fresh air in this dreary world. i really must get more pictures of that girl up on this site soon.

so i did watch BSG last night, and it was a doozy, but unfortunately i missed the first 10 minutes so i was kind of confused. i know there was a lot of light shed on the whole cylon/human history, but i'll need to watch it again to really absorb it properly. what an awesome frakkin' show.

ZBQ on facebook

2009-02-13T16:06:00.002-04:00

yes it's true, we've finally succumbed and created a "ZBQ fan club" over on ye olde fakebook: click here to join or just search "ZBQ fan club" the next time you're getting some "face time." members will be privy to all sorts of neat contests, exclusive deals and cool announcements. plus if you post some pics or videos of you or your friends rockin' the q, there's no telling what kind of sweetness might be in store for you...

i've posted a couple of new pictures today of our good friend krystle wearing her wicked lucha sportivo shirt. there should be a whole set of new pics from krystle coming in LOVECATS very soon.

so i'm trying this new diet- not to lose weight, but to try to reduce the amount of pain in my body. for the past several years i've had a lot of issues with joint & muscle pains, and it's really been a drag at times. but last week i chanced upon this article about foods in the "nightshade" family- specifically tomatoes, potatoes, and most types of peppers. apparently there is a chemical in these foods (the name eludes me) which some people have a high sensitivity to and which causes these people a lot of inflammation in their joints (which, of course, leads to pain). well, i eat a lot of tomatoes and peppers- i loves me some hot sauce on just about everything. but for the next 3 months i am giving up these foods to see if there is any difference in my pain levels. as much as i do love those foods, i'd rather be pain-free. i'll keep you posted on how it's working out.

new BSG tonight children- i hate to say it, but what else can possibly go wrong? hasn't this crew been through enough already? then again, we wouldn't watch if everything was just hunky-dory, now would we? it would be nice to see them get a break now and then though. you da man, adama.

as per our discussion

2009-02-10T21:35:00.007-04:00

do you know what day it is today children? it's new shirt day at zbq, that's what. today i'm very pleased to be posting a brand new shirt design, one that i've been planning to print for a very long time. per is an original piece of artwork created by our good friend thesis sahib, who you may remember as the creator of jigsaw and ahriman some years ago. this is a huge, beautiful 6 color print, and i hope you love it as much as i do. available on tan, cream and silver grey t-shirts.

favorite this tee on rumplo!

i've also reprinted an old favorite that's been out of print for quite a while: motherhood. what's not to love about giraffes? i want one for a pet, like dewey cox. this one i've printed on grass green, mustard, tan and cream shirts.

favorite this tee on rumplo!

and due to popular demand, i made sure to print a few 2x and 3x shirts for those that seek such items. talk soon.

rock n' roll geisha

2009-02-09T09:57:00.003-04:00

say hi to jezebelle. jez runs her own "empowerment workshop" over at rock n' roll geishas (definitely NSFW), and she was nice enough to send us some pics recently. we're collaborating on a new shirt design with jez, and you'll be seeing much more of her in LOVECATS soon as well. enjoy in good health.

i feel as if i should comment on the last episode of battlestar galactica, but there's not much to say, is there? the whole mutiny thing was really just kind of a distraction, because we all knew it wouldn't last. still, i think they had to get rid of tom zarek at some point as he was always going to be a thorn, and gaeta was just plain annoying anyway, so good riddance there. i'm still a little shocked that they killed the whole quorum in cold blood. even though i hated those characters (zarek & felix), i sympathized with why they were doing what they did, especially in light of felix's insights into the cylon mentality while lost on that ship with one, and i still have misgivings about trusting those frakkin' toasters.

my big prediction for the end of the series? we find out that, in fact, humans were originally created by cylons- i.e., humans, in fact are cylons. chew on that for a while.

new year, new colors, new butt

2009-02-08T11:43:00.002-04:00

so i've changed the colors around on the site to a warmer and cheerier golden yellow, to help us feel a little warmer and cheerier during this drab and chilly time of year. hope it's appreciated out there :). to that end, here's something else a little warm and cheery for your sunday:

thrillbots

2009-02-04T21:15:00.007-04:00

this year is getting off to a "bang" with more new shirts posted today: killbots 2, an orange & yellow variation on
keeley's badass robots. this was actually the first version of this design that i printed large on the bottom of the shirt: the original print had the little metal dudes smaller & centered on the front (see the original killbots). since then i've done quite a few variations on the theme: pinkbots, icebots, grisbots and killbots (red & grey), but i'd have to say that this color scheme is probably my favorite. maybe it's because it's cold outside, and orange & yellow makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside (i've also grown a winter beard this month, so i'm actually warm & fuzzy outside right now too). anyway, there are a bunch of new killbots 2 red, mustard and royal blue tees, and a very limited selection of ladies' tees as well, so feel free to join me in the warm & fuzzy bliss mode.

probably be about another week at least before i get some new stuff up. talk to ya soon.

gaeta must die

2009-02-03T08:44:00.007-04:00

OK, so the sale is now over. if you snost, then you lost- there's always next year. or you could join our newsletter- newsletter subscribers always get sweet deals and are up on all the latest zb developments. just sayin' is all.

alright, so enough about that- can we get back to what's important? namely, the new episodes of battlestar frakkin' galactica, of course. the first 3 episodes in this final run have not disappointed at all- the usual pathos and chaos one has grown to expect from BSG. i will elaborate more later, but i just wanted to say that that smarmy little greasebag, felix gaeta, will be getting his comeuppance, and i for one am looking forward to it. what is it about gaeta i dislike so much? i'm not really sure. could be his "wet look" perm. could be his naked hunger for power disguised as some kind of nobility. i think he's just like one of those unpopular kids from school who, instead of doing something productive and using his outsider status to better himself, plots to get revenge on everyone instead by commandeering a battleship. dude definitely needs to go. adama's going to have a good time making that little bastard pay for this little insurrection, and i'm going to have an even better time watching it. can't wait to see what happens this week.

happy birthday to Z...and to me

2009-02-02T14:24:00.008-04:00

howdy y'all....yes as you may have surmised from the post title, today (february 2nd) is the birthday of this site, and also mine as well. 7 years ago today zero23.com migrated over to this new domain, and 39 years ago larry and trudy larsen found themselves with a brand new bundle of joy in the form of one cute l'il me!

today is also the LAST DAY OF THE BOXING WEEK SALE folks- shirts will be going up to $18 starting tomorrow! so get 'em while the gettin's good!

so to help celebrate this magickal day, i have posted some new le punk t-shirts, since you done went and bought all of the old ones. these ones are on mustard tees and look scrumdiddlyumpcious. and we also still have a few of the white ladies' tees left as well.

damn, who is that handsome devil?

i've also printed this amazing robin antiga creation on some vintage polo shirts, which are up for sale on ebay. the auction ends in one week. click on the shirt to be taken to the auction:

more goodies coming soon! stay tooned kidz!!!

happy new(ish) year

2009-01-02T11:06:00.002-04:00

i'm more excited that 2008 is finally over than anything. seriously, '08 was a pretty tough one for me and for a lot of people i know. right now i'm just grateful for having survived it. so to help celebrate this momentous passing, i've decided to extend our "boxing week sale" right up until february! all shirts are still on sale for the same low low prices, and i'm still offering free shipping, but now it's for orders of $40 or more. help me get rid of a bunch of old stock, so i can start printing fresh new stuff for 2009.
i'd also like to take a moment to thank everyone who bought something from this site last year. this is a tough game, and every shirt sold represents a small victory and helps us to keep everything going that much easier. here's hoping you have a great new year. be cool, stay warm, and take good care of the ones you love.

...and to all a cheap t-shirt

2008-12-25T23:42:00.005-04:00

happy quasi-religious festivities, world! we're entering a new year filled with a lot of uncertainty. the economy is in the toilet and the world continues to be even more unpredictable and unstable than ever.

but despite everything, there's a lot more hope around these days. people are trying to shed the bitterness and cynicism of the first decade of this century, and to think of ways we can all work together to get through these tough times. it's not about "me" anymore, people. if we're going to survive, it has to start being about "us."

this was a tough year for me. i lost 2 people who were close to me and went through a lot of physical & financial torment. this was the year that i really made a big push to try and get zbq back on the map- i printed tons of t-shirts, gave the site a dramatic overhaul, invested in some advertising and generally tried to pimp it out as much as i could. but then in october, the financial system took a nose-dive, and it suddenly became ten times harder to separate anyone from their money for anything, let alone t-shirts. i find myself facing 2009 with an apartment full of shirts and an empty bank account.

and that's where you all come in. i need to move some of these shirts, and i'm hoping that this week you can help me, and get some dirt cheap clothing in the process. and so until january 1st, every single shirt on this site has been marked down to at least $12, and many shirts have been knocked down as low as $8. what's more, shipping is now free if you order 3 shirts or more. this sale will continue until midnight pacific time, january 1st. even the zip-ups and trackjackets (view here) have been reduced to only $28 each- a steal!

there have been a lot of frustrations this year, trying to get this thing rolling again. i've come to accept that the past is the past and maybe i'll never make a living off of this one enterprise again. and i'm ok with that. it certainly doesn't mean i'm going to stop. i already tried that, remember? i could no more stop printing t-shirts than i could breathing. and i've got a lot of big things up my sleeve for the ol' q- lots of new designs, clothes, hopefully a physical store at some point. but i'm not going to try and make this the be-all and end-all of my existence any longer. i've got to diversify if i'm going to survive. in a way, it's better that way- with less pressure to sell a zillion tees just to pay the bills, maybe i can just do it because i enjoy doing it. of course, that's how it's always been- the stress wouldn't be worth it if i didn't get such a kick out of the whole thing. but doing it 24/7 makes me mental. maybe there is some wisdom to the old adage that if you love something, don't make it your profession- make it your hobby.

my sincere wish for everyone reading this blog, or for anyone else out there for that matter, is that you find your true path in this life, the reason you were put on this earth. that's all any of us are looking for. have a great new year.

p.s. just like to thank a few blogs for recent zbq posts :t-shirts around the internet, iloveyourtshirt.com and color overload. peace n' luv.

track jackets and zip-ups and rock banners, oh my

2008-12-06T22:48:00.010-04:00

when i say i`m going to do something, i usually wind up doing it. sometimes it takes me a while though. people have been telling me to print more track jackets and zip-up hoodies for years now, and i always say the same thing: "yeah, i`m going to do that soon. real soon."
well, soon is now kids, and i hope that it's also permanent. i made up a few zips and tracks last week, and i think they look pretty good.

the track jackets, of course, are made by our good friends at american apparel, while the rugged zips are alstyle, who make excellent hoodies (double layered hood, super thick fleece, metal grommets for the hood string). i am hoping to print more in the near future, but stock is limited and what is up now will be all that's available before our christmas shipping deadline on december 15th.

i'm also happy to announce that the first batch of zbq rock banners has been created and posted! these banners are hand screened on 100% cloth and feature robin antiga's iconic 1984. the banners are hemmed along the edges to prevent fraying and the like. anyway it was a lot of fun making these, i'm really getting into bigger and bigger prints so i hope to do more intricate banners in the future. but for now i hope you like these.....

so yeah, we did a contest a couple of weeks ago, and actually got quite a few entries. alex chittock, morgan gibson and christopher wilson each picked up a free tee of their choice just for taking a few moments to drop me a line. and so how about another one? this is for anyone who's followed this site for more than 4 years, or just wants to take a wild guess. anyway, back in the dark ages we used to print all of our shirts using heat transfers. in 2003 we started selling screen printed shirts and in 2004 switched over completely, dropping the transfers. but when we did we kept 4 of the old designs. the first 2 people to name at least 1 of these will get themselves a free shirt. if you can name 3, you can have 2 shirts. and naming all 4 will get you 3 freakin' free shirts. i'll even give you a hint: one of the designs has quite a few different color variations, and is currently available in stock. send your answer to zero@zeroboutique.com and you could be on your way to free shirt xanadu. for fairness i'll ask that anyone who's won a contest with us for at least the last 6 months kindly abstain from entering (unless you're just trying to get brownie points).

more new LOVECATS art and pinup sets coming very soon.....as mentioned, CHRISTMAS SHIPPING DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15TH....here in canada, sales of prorogies have skyrocketed......undies are still on the way but will definitely be after the new year.......

*wipes sweaty brow and heaves a sigh of relief

2008-12-05T13:18:00.004-04:00

ok, so about 14 hours later i finally figured out the problem. if you have any familiarity with php, you'll probably empathize with me: it came down to forgetting one extra "equal" sign. for want of an equal sign did my kingdom almost fall!!!
so yeah, we're back up, the store works and if you're smart you'll check out the 11998844 track jackets and zip-ups before i even get a chance to make an official post about them later this afternoon....
there is a gawd and s/he is indeed merciful! praise allah jeebus. talk to you soon.

technical ecstasy

2008-12-04T23:26:00.008-04:00

so i'm working away on my site today, and everything's going hunky-dory, when suddenly things just start going wrong with my database. the store, at the moment, doesn't appear to be working. there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it- i didn't change anything, but for some reason it's having a hard time making one particular connection to the database. for a while it worked again tonight, and now it appears to have decided not to co-operate any longer. so i'm hoping maybe my host is just tinkering with the SQL a bit and things will settle back down to normal tomorrow. but i'm kind of worried because this site still runs on PHP4 and i know my host is trying to move everything to 5. anyway, if anyone out there knows anything about this stuff and they want a free t-shirt for helping me, you're welcome to try: write me at snuzbq@gmail.com.
in other, better and cooler news, i have at long last posted the new zbq rock banners, and they're shmokin'. i also printed a bunch of nifty 11998844 track jackets and zip-up hoodies, and i just posted them today. for some strange stupid reason, the shopping cart links still appear to work on that page- i don't understand it at all. but if you fancy one of those, it should work. (update- only the track jackets seem to work now. for no apparent reason)

hope to have this whole mess straightened away by tomorrow at the latest. sorry for any incon.

into the sea, you and me

2008-11-26T23:36:00.006-04:00

2 new LOVECATS sets posted today: the loverly miss krystle from los angeles, california, and another short set from our montreal friend miss holly. enjoie, svp.

interesting tidbit about krystle: she just scored herself some free zbq shirts. how did she do it? all she had to do was to send us some beautiful pictures and promise to take more with the shirts we send her. if she does, and we have no doubt that she will, we'll send her more free stuff. sounds like fun, dunnit? if you think you might like to model for us and get some cool zb duds in the process, head to the LOVECATS join page. at this time we're mostly looking for ladies, though dudes are welcome to try.

hey, even if you don't want to be a part of the CATS, if you have a zbq shirt already you can get $3 off your next purchase for every picture you send us of yourself wearing your shirt that we use on this site. you can e-mail pics to us at snuzbq@gmail.com or use the upload form on the join page. for some dumb reason the upload form currently only works in firefox, safari & chrome (oh well).

LOVECATS is about more than just cheesecake though- there is a small but cool art channel which i hope to be growing quite quickly over the next little while. for starters, i'll be trying to archive all of the past and present zbq artists' work, so you'll be able to see it all in one place. i'm actively seeking visual artists of any medium who want to display their work. if you think you might be interested head to the join page.

thassall fer today, shweetums. contest winners will be announced and a new contest posted by the weekend. we're days away from rock banners, track jackets and zip-ups (in very limited supply). keep 'em peeled..............

2 new shirts and a bottle o' rye

2008-11-20T17:57:00.008-04:00

howdy and happy thursday evening to you. as promised, i have posted 2 new prints today: wired blind and motherhood (white). well, newish anyway. motherhood (white) is another variation on motherhood, and wired blind is a variation on jade starr, a la neon yellow.

actually the title for wired blind came from a mister eliza supzsia, way back in the spring when i got off my lazy ass long enough to actually have a contest on this site (a sad situation i hope to remedy post haste- see below). i was trying to come up for a name for what is now called jade starr, so i held a contest. what if you held a contest and nobody came? well that's exactly what happened. but you know who did come to the party? elias. only elias. and elias was kind and generous enough to provide us with not 1, not 2, but 5 name suggestions: wired blind, deadly glow, silhouette, bright box and comfort inn. unfortunately by this point the deadline had passed so i had settled on jade starr, and damned if i was going to spend 15 minutes going into the database to change the name. but i kept elias's ideas, and since i decided to use one of them for this new variation of jade, in the spirit of the original contest i have offered him a free shirt. you just better hope he doesn't choose one of these wired blind shirts: there are only a handful, and since i just washed out several of the screens from that print it's unlikely to be printed again for a very long time (ditto for jade btw).

and in the spirit of the last contest, i think maybe it's time for a new one! so let's see...how about a little treasure hunt? hmmmm....... ok, i want you to find 3 designs in the store that only have one color and one style left. i think there are at least 4 or 5, so it shouldn't be that hard. the first 3 people to e-mail me a list of these 3 shirt designs will win a shirt of their choice, as long as it's in stock. remember- people don't usually bother taking the time to enter these things, so your chances are probably better than you think. although i may have just skewed that a little....

the first batch of zbq rock banners are finished and will be going up on the site within a week or less! and yes undies are still coming, but can't say for sure whether they'll be in time for xmush......2 new LOVECATS sets should be going live sometime within the next few days as well.....watch for in stock 11998844 track jackets within 2 weeks or less, in fairly limited numbers.....shirt designs on the backburner at the moment include something from our old friend thesis, halifax legend deza, a few undead flapper girls, alien centerfolds, washed up wrestlers and more giant oversized versions of some of our older classics. in short, 09 is lookin' busy, son. hop on board.

shake ya groove thing yeah yeah (show em how you do it now)

2008-11-12T02:20:00.021-04:00

well that only took forever. a little while ago i decided to print about 600 shirts for the site, spruce the place up a bit with some minor updates & new features and eye candy. i figured i'd have it all wrapped up in 2, maybe 3 weeks. only thing is, it took me 2 freakin' months. but print those shirts i did, and i done posted 'em on my here web page for all y'all to freak on.

so let's get to it! first of all, i'm always the most jazzed about new prints, so i'm really happy to be posting a total of 4 completely new designs this week. first up, an update wouldn't be an update without a new robin antiga print: le punk.

i also brought back some more antiga mayhem with lots of new stock in 1984 and 11998844, plus a new variation called 11998844 brown.

next we have another re-visitation from an old zbq alumnus-jason nelson returns with the charming miss mind machine mary (and the mandatory mind machine mary inverse, bien sur):

i've also re-printed a batch of the first image of jason's we printed back in 2005: rEVELATIO (and rEVELATIO inverse, just because).

slawek kosolka has been a plumb first base runner and looks set to become a full-on heavy hitter this season with his third zbq print: 666.

and just because we love him so much, and because he is canadian, but mostly because we love him, i was very happy to reprint 3 more batches of slawek's particular brand of ocular discourse: deadphones, carbot and carbotorange.

but i didn't let the artists have all the fun. i managed to find time to cook up a new zbq in-house 6 color design: lucha sportivo.

and while we're on the subject of zb in-house designs and collabs, i also squeezed in some new prints from some old favorites (and variations thereof): vampire in paris, hawaii 84, hawaii 2084, undebs, war is hell (grey), goldie silver, jade starr, bikini landscape (grey), che grovera, our man in paris, the fall of kate, true confessions, white wasp and blood. cheez!

oh, and did i mention i also printed a bunch of guys' and girls' killbots (red & grey) tees? because, like, i did.keeley is the bomb guy. not girl. because that would mean he was not a guy. check out keeley's site at bloo empire.

so there you go. all told, 29 prints topped up, with 2 more coming later this week. hope you enjoy! guys' tees are $16 each, ladies' are $18, everything ships air within 24 hours. and up until christmas, we're having a "for anyone who's paying attention" sale. if you're still paying attention at this point, i'll let you in on a little secret: (pssst)....up until the end of the year, all shirts are buy 3 & get one free (ssshhhh)....all you need to do is to add the first 3 shirts to your shopping cart and then enter your choice for your free shirt in the "message to seller" section of the cart before checking out. i'm no good at math, but i do know that adds up to some pretty cheap nifty t-shirts for your holiday cheer-speadin' and such. it's beautiful baby.

and speaking of beautiful, do you recall me mentioning something about bringing thezerokidz back? you do? because that's just not going to happen. i have, however, cooked up a whole new page called LOVECATS which features most of the old zerokidz picture sets, as well as an art section with a starter selection of some of the artists we've worked with over the years.

i'll have more on LOVECATS in a few days. right now, poppa needs his beauty rest. sweet dreams.

obamania

2008-11-05T13:50:00.002-04:00

i'd just like to send out a big congratulations to our friends in the usa from your t-shirt selling neighbors up here in canada on the election of barack obama yesterday. yipee!! the collective sigh of relief was heard around the planet. can we get on with creating a livable world for our children now? i hope so. best of luck to to the new president-elect.

oodles of noodles

2008-10-30T01:15:00.003-03:00

so, yeah, you may have noticed things getting moved around here a bit lately. just a bit of streamlining- everything is basically here now. no splash page or home page anymore, instead the entire site is accessible through the store. the entire site basically is the store.
what's more, i've added a mountain of new prints to the database, including some new stuff i'm pretty excited about. i will be giving the rundown on that in a day or two. all shirts shown as in stock ship out within 24 hours. all tees are now only $16.00 (ladies' tees are $18.00) for as long as we can afford to keep them that low. giddyup.
so i'm still in school and it's kind of wearing me down. i really don't have the wherewithal for this new-fangled IT industry, and don't think i'm going to make it past this semester. buy a t-shirt so i can quit school and do what i do best- making you look good. pizzizzle.

hey peepz

2008-10-01T22:40:00.003-03:00

i know it's been a long time since i last updated, and i do apologize for that. i started school last month- i'm taking IT at the local community college, a 2 year program, and that's been kind of dominating my time and energy. but i've also been printing a LOT of new shirts, and i will probably be starting to post those within a week or so. in fact, there are going to be a lot of new things happening on this site very soon, so keep your eyes peeled: new shirts, undies, rock banners and the return of zerokidz (albeit in a different form). i have a laptop now as well and since i'm spending a lot more time in front of the computer screen these days, i'm hoping to start posting a lot more updates to this blog. might not always be t-shirt related- i'll likely subject you to my boring opinions on current movies, tv shows and world events- more or less just to keep something new up here for those that like to check in from time to time.

speaking of which, my current fixation is mad men, the show about a madison avenue advertising agency based in 1960. what a superb show! i believe it just won an emmy for best drama. don draper is my personal jesus. drinking and smoking all day at work? damn, those must have been the days.....

some old sh*t

2008-09-02T14:02:00.003-03:00

so this was moving week for me, and as i was going through some old stuff i chanced upon a few shirts i had forgotten about. so i've posted them on the site for your edification: sundown (black and red XL t-shirts, only a handful of these left), an XL asphalt girly the fall of kate, a 3X asphalt venla and an XL olive girly venla.

and good news peeps! i got to thinking about how ending an "end of summer sale" on september 2nd didn't really seem fair, since the "end of summer" doesn't technically happen for another 3 weeks. and so i've extended the sale until september 21st!! all tees, ladies' tees and everything else are still on for only $14.80 apiece. call it my way of trying to make the summer last just a little bit longer. you're welcome.

even more new stock...

2008-08-26T23:10:00.004-03:00

a few more shirts added this evening: some black birdman (white) tees and a handful of gold goldies. 1984 red and blood t-shirts have already sold out. yes, just like that. and of course don't forget that ALL of our shirts are on sale for the low low price of $14.80 apiece (just until september 2nd), so git 'em while the gittin's good, y'all.

end of summer sale- all shirts only $14.80

2008-08-25T11:39:00.006-03:00

that's right, your eyes do not deceive you- i have marked down ALL shirts- whether they be t-shirts, bballs, girly tees or longsleeves- to a paltry $14.80 each to help take the sting out of the end of summer and clear out our stock room a little bit. the sale runs this week only until september 2nd, 2008.

as if that weren't exciting enough, i have posted new stock in the following prints (and of course they are on sale too): goldie (silver), 1984 red, blood, 1984 and goldie. at this price, they won't last long, so don't sleep!

and don't get too depressed- summer will be back some day, i promise. i think i'm going to go curl up and hide somewhere and just cry now. hold me.

everyone loves us

2008-08-20T22:34:00.004-03:00

2 SWEET new posts about zbq on 2 of my favorite t-shirt blogs this week:

i love your t-shirt (one of the original shirt blogs out there, and still one of the best by far)

and

buy-tees (terrible name, amazing blog, really cool post)

hope you're having a great summer! i'm printing up some new stock which i am hoping will go live by this weekend. also a brand new robin antiga print coming very soon as well. toodle-oo!!

new stock is go

2008-08-07T18:08:00.005-03:00

hey folks! first off, if you slept on 1984 yellow or the brown orange princess tees, you're out of luck- they've already sold out. make a mental note if there's anything else you see that you want- it might not be there the next time you check!

but it's not all bad news! i've been printing shirts like a shirt-printing beaver (if you can imagine such a thing) and last night i posted the fruits of my labor for your enjoyment. first off, a new shirt: the zb is a humongous zbq logo (over 20 inches wide) that wraps from the front to the back of the shirt. it's so big, we can only fit it on large (or bigger) guys' tees.

i've also added a ton of t-shirts (and a few ladies' tees) to 2 old favorites that haven't been made available for quite a long time: carbot and dumptruckgiraffe.

this will likely be the last new shirts i post for at least 2 weeks or so.

i'd like to thank comic dorkscast for linking us recently, and for a cool comic-themed blog. want to get your page plugged? just link us using one of our handy banners (or a simple text link will suffice) and we'll be sure to return the favor.

OK then

2008-08-01T00:20:00.016-03:00

so first off, just have to mention this awesome post about zbq on color overload, a nifty shirt blog. thanks to gino and crew for that, and watch for their own shirt line as well.

so i hope maybe you've had a chance to have a peak at VISV10, our new shirt store, but if not i would urge you to check it out, and should you have any questions about how things work it's pretty much all covered in the faq. i guess by far my favorite new feature of the store is the search engine, which allows you to quickly and easily search through our available inventory for any specific style or size you might be looking for. i know that in the past some people complained that it took too long to look through everything to find that one certain color/size/print combination. but now you can do it in seconds! to try the search just click on the magnifying glass button in the store and you're golden.

as well as the new look/feel/function of the store, i have added a bunch of new inventory in several designs, as well as posting a new(ish) print: a creepy black & white version of jade starr called jade ghost. in addition, there is new stock in killbots (red & grey), 11998844, orange princess, pink princess and 1984 yellow. so go get 'em.

just saw the new batman flick- i know, i'm 3 weeks behind everyone else, so what- and it was killer. ledger's performance was really impressive (not to mention bale's), and there were a lot of interesting issues raised throughout the film about wrong and right and what they really mean. i did feel that maybe they tried to cram a little too much into one movie- at 2 & 1/2 hours, there wasn't a whole lot of downtime and it was kind of exhausting at times- but overall one of the best super hero flicks i've ever seen. and yes, i know you've all already seen it 18 times, but it's my blog and i'll be behind the times if i want to.

of course, for me the most highly anticipated flick of my entire adult life would easily be the watchmen movie. that comic book had an incredibly profound effect on me when it came out- it is, in my opinion, a profound work of art. i've been a huge alan moore fanatic for many years (still have every issue of miracleman), and it's incredibly thrilling to be seeing this project come to life in such a big scale. v for vendetta was amazing, so i'm really hoping they hit one out of the ballpark with this one, because it is a truly epic story.

anyway, yeah. reformed comic geek, right here.

oh and hey, just for reading this far: until next thursday, august 7th at midnight pst, buy 2 shirts and get a third shirt absolutely free. it's as simple as telling us in the "comments" section of your paypal shopping cart what your third choice is (just please make sure it's something that's actually in stock). ah, summer. it makes me all giddy and generous inside.

VISV10 is live

2008-07-29T05:39:00.005-03:00

what the hell is a VISV10? you may be asking right about now. well, VISV10 is the latest version of our online shirt store, and this is the best one yet. it's really super duper awesome. really! you're just going to have to trust me on this, because from where i'm sitting, it's nearly 6 am and i've been up all night getting this bitch ready for prime time, and, well, poppa needs his beauty rest or he turns into one ugly mother. so what i'm really trying to say is ch-ch-check it out yourself and when i have a little more mental clarity in a day or two i'll give you the complete rundown. enjoy!

MIA?

2008-07-27T15:39:00.007-03:00

no, i'm still alive, just been tending to a lot of other matters of late. my son is out of school for the summer so keeping him amused takes up a lot of my time. but i've also been hard at work on the site- i know, i can't leave well enough alone- and preparing to launch a completely new store within a matter of days. for the first time ever, the in stock page and the visualiser will be merged together into one beautiful animal. so you'll be able to browse through our entire collection of designs while simultaneously seeing the shirts that we have in stock, and ordering them if you so desire (no more toggling between 2 different pages). you'll still be able to reserve shirts for future print runs or vote for your favorites, but there's also a really sweet new search feature: with the click of a button, you'll be able to see everything we have in stock in your choice of style and size- no more clicking through for hours hoping to find that medium red t-shirt you wanted. it's pretty much wicked awse.

once the new store in launched later this week, we will no longer be taking pre-orders on the site (the visualiser is still open for business for a few more days until the new store goes live). as i suspected might happen, things started off really well in june and then started kind of slipping behind a bit. most people got their gear pretty quickly, but there were people waiting longer than they'd hoped for their shirts- that's not what we're about. not anymore. from now on everything you order is guaranteed to be in stock and to ship within 24 hours. and we're working to get our stock levels up as high as possible, so you should be seeing a much better selection on here very soon. we'll be starting this week with about 70 new shirts to tickle your fancy. the other good news is that shirts will be $4 less than they are now in the visualiser- so only $20 for tees and $22 for ladies' stuff. the really good news? in stock shirts are currently only $16 and will stay that way until the new page is launched, sometime this week but no later than august 1st.

oh and the last bit of good news for today- the sun is shining. peace, kids!!

crushR!!!!!!

2008-07-04T22:21:00.004-03:00

here are some pics of crushR shirts i forgot to post last week. grrrgle!!

and also, did i mention that the shirts in the in stock page are $8 cheaper than they are in the visualiser? i didn't? well, they are. you get 'em a lot faster, too. just sayin' is all.

in stock!!!

2008-07-04T09:47:00.004-03:00

the in stock page is now live again!! all shirts shown are in stock and ready for shipping within 24 hours. when you place an order we print the shipping label right away and it goes out the next business day via airmail. but selection is very limited right now, so if you see something you like don't sleep on it!!

juleye candy

2008-07-04T00:11:00.007-03:00

that time has come again, and as the seasons turn, so must the rotation of designs available for order. doesn't sound too poetic, does it? i'm-a shut my yap now and let the pictures do the talking.

unfortunately there are no brand new designs this time around. but we have brought back some goodness from the vault with some new colorful twists thrown in for good measure. case in point: the classic, the original, robin antiga's 1984, which we originally started printing nearly 5 years ago, and its newborn baby cousin, 1984 (red).

next up is another oldy from the wayback machine. blood was a print i put together based on a photo from one of amina munster's early suicide girls sets. sepia blood is a "sepiatone" variation of the first print, based on the sepia tone of the original photo set. and cold blood is pretty self-explanatory: the "ice queen" version of blood. after this print run is finished i will be washing out the screens and very likely not printing it again, at least for this site.

speaking of retiring prints, it's also likely that little miss goldie will be hanging up her spurs for good after this print run. so we decided to let her long-lost cousin goldie (silver) tag along for one last ride.

and finally, one of my all-time favorites which will not be retired any time soon, robin antiga's birdman (orange) and, just because we've never offered this print in white before and it looks really cool in white, birdman (white).

the new order deadline is july 23rd. the in stock page will be back online tomorrow! happy belated canada day to my fellow canuckians and of course independence day to our fine neighbors south of this border! drink a cold something for me. hoot, holler etc.....

again with the pictures, this one

2008-06-27T00:12:00.003-03:00

i keep losing cameras! luckily i only buy cheap used digicams, so it's kind of like losing a crappy pair of sneakers. however, i just bought another cam the other day (thank jeebus for kijiji) so i took the opportunity to take a few snaps of some of the latest prints that have been cooking through the conveyer belt as of late. for more pictures and/or to view more about the shirt in question, just click on the pic.

1984 charcoal (viva antiga)

ATAK (red)

men in orange

killbots (red & grey) did you know that my high school colors were red and grey?

1984 (yellow) i'm feelin' the camo.

sorry to say, none of these shirts are currently available for order. you'll have to wait another 6 months for that. boo hiss.

hey, i did get one entry for our contest, and i will be giving that man a couple of free shirts whether i use his ideas or not (i probably will, he sent a few and a couple of them are quite good). but seeing as i'm a super lazy ass layabout it will probably take me a little while yet to post that information, so feel free to enter yourself and possibly win some zb goodness.

shirts are 95% printed and are shipping this week. unfortunately the
11998844 track jackets and zip-ups have been delayed for another few days, but those will go out soon. everyone else that ordered stuff before the june 8th deadline will be seeing that stuff very shortly. and don't forget that the next deadline is coming up fast- july 2nd, the day after canada day of course, which will be midnight, next wednesday.

one more little tidbit: i am doing an inventory of shirts i have on hand and will be working to bring back the in stock page, hopefully by as soon as the end of this weekend, for those who like their shirts both fresh and fast. the cool thing is that there will be some new stuff in there as well as a few older classics; as we go through and print new shirts every 3 weeks we inevitably print a few extras, and those i will post on the in stock page on an ongoing basis as well. because life is all about choice. is it not?

nwo v. holy frack

2008-06-24T23:17:00.001-03:00

defaced

2008-06-16T19:06:00.002-03:00

does what happens in the facebook stay in the facebook?

print update

2008-06-15T14:24:00.004-03:00

we're still waiting for the blanks to arrive for the last batch of shirts- the supplier messed up and they wound up sitting in their warehouse for 3 days before they actually got sent... >:( so anyway it means we won't be able to start printing until tuesday, however everything should be completely wrapped up by friday, after which all of the remaining orders will be sent via airmail. many of you could potentially be seeing your stuff by the following week (june 23-27) and almost everybody should have their gear by july- just in time for summer.

plug alert: i've been a fan of group hug for a while now: the confession site is a cool concept that works well in the context of the internet. i recently discovered another similar site called creepy confessions that does more or less the same thing, but with a definite element of badassery added for good measure. because what's the point of being bad if no one knows about it?

oh my frackin' gods

2008-06-14T23:07:00.009-03:00

if you can't tell from this post's headline, i am a fan of battlestar galactica. i think it's the best sf show of all time, and possibly the best show period. so yeah, i like it a little. so this post is about bsg and if you ain't down with the bsg then you ain't down with me.

so did you see "revelations" last night?

spoiler alert

i thought it was overall kind of a weak episode, that is until the end of course, which was mind-blowing. the whole thing just had a rushed feel, like they were trying to cram so much stuff into one hour that there was no time to explore the ramifications of what was happening. i mean appollo giving the coordinates of earth to the cylons just like that? and then adama being just kind of ok with it? granted, he had just discovered that his best friend was a toaster and he was probably in shock, but still, come on. it was just all a little hard to swallow. it doesn't help that i don't nor have i ever liked appollo- he's a whiny, bitchy spoiled hothead, and it's hard to feel empathy for him. and this episode seemed to focus on him a lot, which was boo.

however that ending!! of course one of the huge questions for this season was "if they find earth, when exactly in earth's history will they arrive?" i was kind of rooting for present day earth, either that or back in the paleolithic age, but honestly for some reason i just didn't see a post-apocalyptic earth coming. what a great fracking way to end the search for earth- and so in tune with the whole overarching struggle the surviving humans (and now cylons) have gone through: just when freedom seems within grasp, a new problem presents itself.

so apparently there will be no new episodes for at least several months. fracking hell.

anyway enough about that. zbq rock banners coming to a bedroom near you. bigger prints. more styles. less filler, more killer. always on zb radio.

new prints for june

2008-06-10T20:46:00.006-03:00

june is a nice month. why can't it be june all the time? there ought to be a law.

as threatened, june 9th has come and gone and so have the 9 prints that were available for order- in the zbq vault for at least 6 months. but in their place i bring you 9 other morsels of deliciousness for your amygdala to fillibrate.

what if you threw a contest and noone came? a few days ago i posted a contest looking for help in naming this next print. well, maybe 3 days just wasn't long enough, because noone took the bait. not wanting to call it "no name", i decided to name it jade starr because, well, that's the girl's name. if you can come up with a better one i'll still consider changing it and giving you the free shirts! but it better be a good one. thanks to eon mckai for the photo that inspired this design.

i'm happy to have another new print to offer you today: meet duvelle.

the rest of this month's batch of goodies are a mix of old and new. first up: robin antiga's 1948 inverse and 1948 blue

another creepy favorite from way back with a new twist: white wasp and white wasp (pink)

proving your vote does count: manko received a lot of votes, so i brought it back. i'll be watching the vote tallies to decide what to bring back in july.

remember the ghetto princess? yeah, so do i. and i still love her. so here are 2 variations on her loveliness for you: orange princess and pink princess.

new order deadline is july 2nd. happy june!

all city, new art

2008-06-07T16:51:00.011-03:00

locals only: i will be giving away shirts tonight (saturday june 7th) at all city, the soul/funk/disco/r&b night at the tribeca (1583 granville). the only stipulation of getting a shirt is that you have to put it on right away and then dance with it on. but not like a fake dance you're just doing to get the shirt- you have to really mean it (i find that liquor can help with that). and thanks to djs jorun, gordski and double a's extra helpings of motown, stevie wonder, chic, kool & the gang, parliament and way more funke by the tonne than could possibly be measured by instruments known to man, that's not usually a problem.

working behind the scenes on some new zb freshosity for ya eyeballs: several in-house designs, some amazing new things from robin antiga, slawek kasolka and (possibly, fingers crossed) jason nelson as well. only 2 days left to order the current selection of prints: on tuesday june 10th i will be posting 9 new prints and these 9 will go into the vault for a minimum of 6 months:





rollin' rollin' rollin'....