JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

The World Domination shirts have arrived, and will soon be available at our online store. The first edition says “You can’t rule the world if you can’t decide what to order”, and is dedicated to highly opinionated people who don’t understand “option paralysis”.

Our shirts are manufactured right in the nexus of World Domination, the Philippines. Made of durable, stretchable, color-fast 100 percent cotton with satin or mesh accents, they are understated but unmistakable.

World Domination shirts come in three colors: black with green satin accent, neon fuchsia with navy satin, and blue-violet with beige mesh. We have them in girls’ sizes, Small, Medium and Large.

Each shirt costs Php299, and there’s a charge of about Php60 (we’ll check) for deliveries.

Be the first to stand up for World Domination. Pre-order your shirts today by emailing saffron.safin@gmail.com with your details: color/s, size/s, and delivery address. Our elves will get back to you as soon as the online store opens.

They forgot seamen. Seafarers.

Zoom-able version at Doghouse Diaries. via io9.

Last month we announced our impending line of World Domination t-shirts and asked you for your opinions and suggestions. Thanks for the feedback.

The first edition of the World Domination t-shirts will be available online in November (Just in time to take your Xmas money!), and later in selected retail outlets. We’ve decided on the following colors:

Black, neon pink, and purple-gray. Shirts for girls (and girly boys), available in S, M, L, XL. The colors of the satin collars vary.

We’re deciding on the text for the shirts. If you have any vehement requests, let us know.

You asked for longer sleeves, so voila.

We’re still working on the shirts for boys, and testing the strength of the material for the shirts with overlays.

All t-shirts are made of 100 percent cotton, and maintain their color after dozens of washings (We know, we tested them.) Tentative retail price: Php250. Bulk discounts available on online sales. If you’d like to be a dealer of our World Domination t-shirts, email saffron.safin@gmail.com.

Reader scheherazade asks if we have plans of compiling our interviews/profiles into a book, and silentfollower wants to read an article about Joel Torre. In fact we interviewed JT for a cover story in Flip 11 years ago. And we just found 20 copies of that issue in a box buried under a pile of books.

Flip: The Official Guide to World Domination, issue # 3. Contains essays by Lav Diaz, Tad Ermitaño, Tina Cuyugan, Adel Gabot, Gemino Abad and Ramon Sunico, an article on motorcycling by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, a treatise on economic competitiveness by Anton Periquet, an investigative report on video piracy by Roby Alampay, ruminations on Tom Babauta by Ige Ramos, Gabe Mercado’s groundbreaking research into the single most popular room service item in Metro Manila’s motels: crispy pata, a Bohol travelogue by Francine Medina, a fashion editorial by Joyce Fernandez, Buddha Boy’s advice column You’ve Got A Problem, our story on Joel Torre, and more.

This stash of Flip magazines will go on sale at JT’s Manukan branches next week. The magazine no longer exists, so this is a collector’s item, which will go for, hmmm, Php250 each. If you want to buy a copy, post your reservation in Comments before Friday and specify which JT’s branch is nearest you. The rest will be available at JT’s Manukan branches, where you can get Gus Fring, este, JT to sign your copy. Wait, we don’t know where he will be, so we’ll ask him to sign all the copies.

JT’s Manukan has branches at Granada corner Valencia St; Ortigas Avenue near Greenhills, SJ; Malugay corner Buendia in Makati; Sgt. Esguerra St. near Tomas Morato QC; Home Depot on Julia Vargas in Pasig; Katipunan, QC; Eastwood City Walk; McKinley Hill, Bonifacio; and Banawe Ave, QC.

* * * * *
Okay, copies have been reserved for:
qbeng – Eastwood City Walk branch
silentfollower – Julia Vargas
greeneggsnham – Malugay
bipolar – Sgt Esguerra
wangbumaximus21 – Katipunan
zos – Katipunan
japz20 – Katipunan
We’ll drop off the copies for JT to sign this weekend, then they will be sent to the branches where you can get them. They should be there by the middle of next week. Thanks.

Update: The magazines have been delivered to the branches and may be claimed from the cashiers. For Malugay, look for Che or Jecel. For Scout Esguerra, Arlene or Grace; Katipunan, Cherry or Daris; and at Julia Vargas, Michelle or Karen. Thank you for waiting!

Our enterprising friend is coming up with a line of T-shirts called World Domination, featuring things we have said or written. We’ve been talking about the design for some time.

If we had our way, all T-shirts would be black or white (or a single dark hue), with a line of text. We like basic and stark—we’re strange enough on our own. The shirt-maker said our idea was too severe; we want to reach the mass market and the buyers would like a bit more pizzazz. We didn’t want anything cartoony or obvious. Finally the shirt-maker suggested a translucent overlay.

What do you think? Would you buy this shirt? Target retail price: under Php300.

They could also make variants without overlays, with satin necklines in lighter shades and text to match.

Are there any lines we’ve written that you’d like to see on a t-shirt? Let us know. If the t-shirt gets made, we’ll send you one.

Naturally Koosi thinks she should be on any shirt.

Sorry we don’t have a proper picture, but here’s a jar of marbles.

Somewhere, someone is already writing a pitch for an indie movie.

The Strange Sexual Quirk of Filipino Seafarers
by Ryan Jacobs

When Norwegian anthropologist Gunnar Lamvik first began living in Iloilo city, a seafaring haven in the southern Philippines, he sensed he wasn’t getting the richest and most detailed information about the shipping experience from interviews with his neighbors, who were home on two-month vacations from 10 months at sea. To crack the cultural mystery of any total institution, you have to go inside, he reasoned. “If you [want] a feeling of a seafarer’s life, you have to be at sea with them when they are open,” said Lamvik, who now studies how cultural differences affect occupational safety at a Norway-based think-tank called SINTEF. “It’s important to be on board for some time, and build trust. That’s the crucial thing to do.”

Many Filipino sailors make small incisions in their penises and slide tiny plastic or stone balls — the size of M&M’s — underneath the skin in order to enhance sexual pleasure for prostitutes and other women they encounter in port cities, especially in Rio de Janeiro. “This ‘secret weapon of the Filipinos,’ as a second mate phrased it, has therefore obviously something to do,” Lamvik wrote in his thesis, “‘with the fact that ‘the Filipinos are so small, and the Brazilian women are so big’ as another second mate put it.”

Read the article at The Atlantic.

Thanks to Chus for the link.