News

Happy early St. Patrick's Day!

We're celebrating with...tacos, I guess. Which may seem incongruous with a holiday chiefly associated with Ireland, but it's totally legit! Have you ever had a potato taco, my friends? If not, you are missing out. I'm in no way advising you to pour out your Jameson's or Guinness in favor of Centenario or Modelo this weekend — I'm not a monster, after all. All I'm saying is that you have options when it comes to honoring the patron saint of Ireland. Besides; have you ever looked at the Irish and Mexican flags side by side?

It's no coincidence that Irish-Mexican fusion is enough of a thing that there are THREE such competing theme restaurants in the midwest (Carlos O'Kelly's), southwest (Carlos O'Brien's), and mid-Atlantic (Carlos O'Charlie's). The great American melting pot in action!

Onward! This week on the podcast Meredith and I share a customer review, address the concerns of a recent troll regarding the authenticity of our art, talk about our recent adventures in end-of-life planning, dole out some deserved shout-outs, and (fittingly) lament the early demise of some of our favorite TV shows. Oh, Oliver also makes an appearance toward the end. Enjoy! Or don't...Tom. 😒

We've also been busy behind the scenes working on adding new shirt styles and improving the shopping experience on the site — stay tuned for those — along with our usual job of designing fab graphic apparel for your hot bod. Witness:

We'll be back next week with a new podcast episode, fresh designs, and other fun stuff! Please celebrate responsibly this weekend...but also have fun!

Peace, love, and (potato) tacos,

Matt

Welcome to our weekly Boredwalk Community series, where we ask Boredwalk fans fun questions! This week we're talking to Vanessa V. of Madison Heights MI, looking sharp in a Greetings from Hades Scoop Neck Fleece.

1. What's your actual day job and what's your dream day job?

My actual day job isn't too far off from my dream job. I'm an over the road semi truck driver. I get paid to travel, which is fantastic, and get weird looks when people see a 5'2" girl climb out of a massive 18 wheeler (especially in the summer when I'm driving around in lacy crop tops, flowy skirts, and combat boots, which is even better!)

But I suppose my true dream job would be to be a location scout for movies. Again, being paid to travel, but hopefully getting to see even better things. You're kinda limited on where you can go when your in a 60' long 80,000 pound vehicle. Plus I wouldn't get covered in rust, salt, mud, and fifth wheel grease...at least, I don't think I would.

2. What experience do you most want to cross off your bucket list?

Man, there are so many things I want to do! I've been sick my whole life, and when I was about 12 my doctors told me there was a good chance I wouldn't make it to my mid-20s. Well, I'm 33 now and feeling better then I've ever felt in my life, so I'm seizing every opportunity I have to live. I have pre-leukemia and Lupus (along with a million other health problems) so it's going to take some preparing, but I really want to travel the world. I want to see buildings that are older than America! I want to visit every country that I'm descended from — that's my biggest one. First I need a passport, though! This summer my sister and I are planning on visiting the places in Canada that our family settled back in the 1600s, but luckily I don't need a passport for that since I have an enhanced license. Yay for being from Michigan!

3. What keeps you up at night?

Probably how narrow-minded minded and biased a lot of people are. I just watched a video showing some people in their early 20s that were talking about how certain groups of people should be wiped out, and it scares me to know people actually think that way. Sure, we all have our preconceptions and biases, but seriously: we're all human and we need to treat each other with respect until we're given a reason not to.

I've had some interesting personal experiences out here on the road, from being told that "the only thing a woman should be doing in a truck is a man", to having a Georgia state trooper bang on my truck while I was sleeping and insist I show him my Class-A license because he thought I was a hooker! Then he yelled at me for leaving my husband and kids at home and gallivanting around the country...even though I'm not married and I don't have kids! Besides, if I was married I'd want a stay at home dad who'd be thrilled I was bringing home a big check!

4. You can curse a nemesis with a minor annoyance; what do you choose?

Eye twitching. Relentless, unending, eye twitching.

5. Where can the rest of the Boredwalk community find you?

Instagram: @vanessavetor

Twitter: @Gypsy_VanessaV (I'm not super-active on there, though!)

Want to be featured next? Shoot us an email at hello@boredwalk.com and we'll make it happen!

Happy International Women's Day, everybody! How are you celebrating? Let us know!

As you can see from the new design above, we've been feeling pretty zen about our time here on Earth — or at least trying to. No matter how good or bad things are going in your life, never forget that in the cosmic sense everything is temporary. Even the (small) blaze that my old man caused last weekend in my childhood home when he got a little aggressive saging his man cave in tribute to our dearly departed Luke Perry (RIP).

No, the previous sentence is not code for anything. That literally happened. My dad: twisted firestarter (also RIP to Keith Flint)! Moving on...

This week on the podcast we're chatting with visual effects artist David Cole. David has worked on some of Hollywood's biggest hits such as Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong, Fellowship of the Ring from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tron: Legacy, Life of Pi, and most recently the critically acclaimed (so many Oscar nominations, you guys!) Dick Cheney biopic Vice. He's kind of a big (unassuming, unfailingly humble and gracious) deal.

David tells us about the magic that colorists work behind the scenes to make the films we love, well, lovable. He shares his journey from Computer Science college student in Melbourne, Australia to working on some of the biggest films of all time in Los Angeles. He shares some of the mind meld collaboration that goes into creating movies we all love and dishes about Ang Lee's unconventional way of talking about color, the working conditions at Skywalker Ranch, and what it's like to look at nothing but (fake) blood & guts for hours upon hours...and get paid for it! 

You can follow Dave on Twitter @davec555!

That's it for now! We'll be back next week with fresh designs, new products, and another podcast episode! We hope you have a great weekend. Until next time...

Peace, love, and tacos,

Matt