Lovely Dark + Deep

One of the reasons I should read blogs more often is to freshen this one up... all it takes is one new site to potentially open me up from just chatting up the big boys, and in the long run that's a much bigger goal. I'm lucky to have a handful of aces up my sleeve that I've culled from various places, but now and then I'm totally in the mood for something to shake things up.

Enter Miles to Go, shirt.woot's side deal of the day, which has some stuff you should definitely go check out. Their name quite obviously comes from Robert Frost, and their catalog has a very similar mood to that final stanza. Also helpful: the name makes their branding easier to swallow, allowing it to integrate as part of the tee itself. I'm a pretty big opponent of branding, so I find it a nice touch that the few branded options are able to slip through tastefully.

The standout in the catalog is Hades, which has a dark beauty to it. The grayscale illustration definitely has a black metal/necronomicon vibe to it, but the lines and shades make it alluring, not overpowering. It captures the fear of death with the reality of it, making its ruler not a ghoul but a lord, to be feared but also respected. That's probably the strongest overall bit about it, that willingness to not go over the top while not diminishing the subject. I personally cannot stop looking at the head area. I'm struck by the minimalist face, the curves of the horns, the cascading beard... I'm not about to presume this is not going to find most favor with a more gothic, darker audience, but I see no reason to believe it cannot be more.

The prices are on the high end of reasonable, but with part of that tag going to super soft discharge prints, they seem entirely worth the price. If the shirts still seem too rich for your blood, consider the pot sweetened even more: as part of the side deal, MtG is offering a coupon code: "woot" will get you 25% off your order from now until the end of Black Friday. If you're intrigued, as I am, you should definitely put an order in now-ish to take advantage.