I Wasn't Staring, I Swear...

For some reason, the first two things I notice about a person are (1) his or her teeth, and (2) if he or she happens to be wearing a screen-printed t-shirt, what's printed on it. I realize that since I'm not a pervert, this makes me a bit strange (teeth?). But I can't help it. There are some companies out there that are printing some HILARIOUS things on t-shirts and selling them to just anybody. Can you believe that? It's not unusual to see me walking down a bustling street on a beautiful summer day like today, and suddenly fall down laughing because I just read someone's funny t-shirt. It's dangerous; I could hurt myself. In fact, it seems as though funny t-shirts have evolved into their own genre of fashion, because recently a Threadless retail store opened in my neighborhood, which in case you aren't already aware, is an ingeniously planned storefront devoted entirely to selling funny t-shirts on a rotating basis. Then I found out about Torsopants.com, which if you ask me is some of the most lethally funny stuff on the web.

And it seems that we Jews are right in the thick of all this funny t-shirt business. Building on the theme of Chicago pride that this blog has going, I read in this month's UR Chicago magazine about Kosher Ham t-shirts, which is owned and operated out of Roscoe Village. They've got some fun merch that would fall into both the Jewy and Gentiley categories, including a "think green" shirt which is both funny and something Stereo Sinai would get behind. But if you're looking for the real inside jokes, check out MOTs, which come from a very clever but also somewhat twisted place in the mind of someone on the West Coast, who surely went to Jewish day school and/or summer camp. They're also into social action, and you've got to yasher mad koach to them for that.

Maybe I have an abnormal sense of humor, but man, some of these shirts are really funny. Don't be surprised if at the next Stereo Sinai show you attend, you see me up on stage wearing one as part of my stage outfit...