And behold, I saw another rider on a blue horse, and his name was
Brian, and he unleashed unverified voracity upon a third of the earth."

This is the fourteenth entry of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that will enable MgoBlog readers to vote for upcoming designs in the new MGoBlogStore.

I've been working on a general MGoBlog shirt since the very beginning, and have had varying degrees of success.  This single design pretty much sums up my experience with this project altogether-- it's just really really hard to please a large group of people.  Everyone has different expectations, and it's inevitable that nothing can make everyone happy.  Even more so, trying to consciously please a specific portion of the crowd means that another portion of the group feels ignored or rejected.

MGoBlog itself means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and trying to put together an identity for it is a delicate and near-impossible act of trying to please as many people while alienating as few as possible.  I tried several different approaches.  I branched one off of the logo I created for this contest itself, and some people rejected it, which is their right (I have no right to tell someone not to react to my art a certain way).  I listened to many people asking for a logo based on the MGoPoints arrows, which several people then disagreed  with.  I even played around with the menu bar icon as a logo, but nothing really seemed right.


CLICK HERE FOR DETAIL

So in the end, I went back to the source, and created this shirt from Brian's own avatar.  And no, that doesn't mean Brian's creating his own 3-D IMAX CGI sci-fi space opera about ten-foot tall blue aliens-- Although BOY would I love to see THAT opus of sarcasm.  No, this design is his own profile image, tweaked a bit for single color reproduction.  There might be some licensing issues but it's really not a true block M, so I'm hoping this isn't a big deal, but if need be we can jump this hurdle when the time comes.

I'd like to think of this shirt as a celebration of the mythical half-man, half-hair creature that makes this place possible.  Here's to Brian!  HUZZAH!!

Time to vote.  What do you guys think?

***** Five Stars: Avatar will be the greatest cinematic moment since Strange Brew.
**** Four Stars:  Avatar will be a kick ass sci-fi movie, but will re-invent nothing.
*** Three Stars: Pretty cool-- but there's no zombies, or Megan Fox.  Fail.
** Two Stars: The plot seems slow, tedious. I'll stay home and read instead.
* One Star: Avatar will suck.  Movies are for losers who can't afford an XBox.

As I discussed earlier today, Brian and I decided to switch things up a bit-- we're showcasing two designs today so that the initial 15 shirts can be wrapped up tomorrow.  THEN, on Friday, you can look forward to the final MGOSHIRT ALERT DEATHMATCH ELIMINATION ROUND, where the top 4 shirts as voted by the MGoCommunity will be voted on again to decide which design will make its way into the MGoBlogStore.  Voting begins Friday, with the final tally being taken on Sunday night.

Tomorrow will then mark the fifteenth and last entry in this shirt design project... It's time for this designer to stop being so damn productive so I can properly engage myself in the upcoming season.  So look tomorrow for the final preliminary edition of-- MGoShirt Alert!

PS - NO, I will not unveil the OSU shirt, at least not for now.  Perhaps I'll keep it until a very bitter loss has us all in the dumps, and not even Brian's damn kittens can make anyone smile.  Perhaps then, my offensive apparel will...  That is all.