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A survivor!

sweetie pie the sweet potato

Did you know morning glories are related to sweet potatoes? They are. Yuko gave this sweet potato a home in our living room, and it's doing quite well.

I don't think I actually knew what sweet potatoes even were until a few years ago - to this day my stomach turns at the horror of knowing what I missed out on.

Books are still up for sale! I added a handy sidebar link (finally).

Everyone - I think we want to try to do a run of new t-shirts for the holiday season. If we were to print one of the following two, which would you be more interested in?

The first shirt bears a quote from Hokusai that appeared as a postscript on One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji:

From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie.

Leave a note in the comments if you have interest one way or the other! Thanks. We're out!

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Comments

I'd go with the Hokusai quote. But both are great!

Now, what's the sweet potato's name?

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I absolutely LOVE the quote shirt!

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Both are cool, but the quote shirt is the one that I would get and wear.

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I completely agree. I love the quote, and I'd be more amenable to the lightning bolt if it were just the one.

I would actually lift the moratorium I have on buying shirts if the Hokusai one went on sale.

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TOTALLY the quote shirt. That is an awesome quote!

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Love the quote! It resonates with me. :D

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I would buy the lightning-bolt shirt. :) But that's just me. I like simple and bold designs. The other just feels cluttered.

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^

Exactly this.

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^
Ditto

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Same

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MTE

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I'm totally for the quote! I hope it'll fit nicely on a ladies' shirt too! :D

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Both shirts are awesome, both with their own appeal. The first one has a lot going on, with the lines from Hokusai and the wave being the key. But I worry that it might be a bit much, thought it's just me. The second one is nice and simple, which really draws me to it. I think you should go for the lightening shirt, but the Hokusai shirt is also a winner.

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I prefer and will purchase the lightning bolts from you dudes. True story, true facts, true experience!

The quote is excellent and lovely too. But I think I need to wear something KA-POWtastic.

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Love the quote shirt because I love how much it has going on.

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THE FIRST ONE. That Hokusai quote is amazing.

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I love the quote design, but think it would make a better poster than a shirt. I vote lightening bolts for a shirt!

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This, this this!
I think that would make a WONDERFUL poster, much more so than a shirt.
Think about it, the quote is too long for you to stop and let someone stare at your torso to read it, and it has a lot of art that people won't notice because it's all cluttered together. Add that to the fact that having a single rectangular area on a shirt with the image on it without any blending can look a little awkward, like a small poster is pinned on your chest rather than a piece of art on a shirt. That opinion might just be me, but I don't think it looks organic in the sense that the best shirt designs do. The art and the quote make so much sense as a poster, though, and I would so totally put it on my wall.

I vote lightning bolts for a shirt, quote for a poster.
Pretty please.

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totally agree. I like the print, too, but that much info is too much for a shirt.

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I agree.

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I CONCUR. There's so much goin on in the first shirt that I think people won't bother to read it theyll just ask "whats on your shirt?" Whereas in poster form I think people would admire it more. It's be cool to put above a desk.

Also, I like that wearing the lightning bolts is a little superhero-esque.

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Just making this comment thread longer to give it more weight

In fact, if you made the bolt a shirt and the quote a poster, it may very well be the first poster i EVER buy :D

As for the shirt...well i'll be saying SHAZAM! a whole lot more on campus

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I would also love to see the quote on a poster, specifically on matte paper.
I'd buy :)

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I agree 100%!!!! I would totally buy a giant poster of the 1st design :D

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They are right, I agree! Please also make a poster of the Hokusai shirt! I would buy it in a heartbeat, it would be amazing!

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I would buy the Hokusai quote poster in a heartbeat, and the lightning bolt t-shirt as well. Hell I'd buy them both as t-shirts in a heartbeat.

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Come to think of it, a poster would be better--I'd not want to beat the dickens out of that fantastic quote by washing my shirt.

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Agree - I'd love to have a giant poster with the quote design.

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The first one. But it's only because I'm an art (minor) student. It's inspirational to other artists, I think.

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I love the lightening bolt one. It would make me look like a being of pure ENERGY

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The top one - I love the detail.

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Love the top one.
by the way, how do you make shirts?

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DEFINITELY the first one. It's really unique and the quote is amazing. (Although as a Japanese major, I'm biased.) The other one would do well at like Threadless, but I think you guys should sell the Hokusai one only here. Just my thoughts :)

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Quote shirt!

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LOVE the quote. do the quote do the quote do the quote. It's deep and mysterious and wonderful.

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While I really like the quote, I'd rather own the lightning bolts shirt. :)

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The Hokusai quote shirt is glorious, I would definitely wear it.

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While the lightning bolt design looks awesome, the quote is even more awesome and would be epic as a t-shirt design. :D

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While I think the bolts are a stronger design as a shirt, that quote, and the way it's presented, are great. I'd buy a poster of the quote design for sure. If a poster weren't available, I guess I'd take it on a shirt before a lightning bolt tee.

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ALL THE WAY.

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I would definitely buy the Hokusai shirt.

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Yep, Hokusai

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Hokusai!

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Hokusai quote! I love it! :)

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I have always wanted that Hokusai shirt, I remember back when it was on Mutagenics and it was sold out in my size.

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I love the Hokusai shirt and want to buy it yesterday.

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BTW the sweet potato leaves are edible. Typically in Southeast Asia cuisine the young leaves are stir-fried.

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I'm not really feelin' either of them. No diss, but if I'm gonna rep Johnny Wander on a t-shirt, I would want something more tied in with the comic.

That said, I agree with the comments above: the Hokusai design is absolutely meant to be a large-scale print/poster, and the lightning bolts are the better t-shirt design.

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I'd be nice if both could be printed, but if I had to pick one, I'd say the lightning bolts look better as a T-Shirt.

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quote! definitely the quote! it is EPIC

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