So the Original DB Export Beer is back after 50 years:
The original ‘Black Budget’ beating beer. It’s the beer that not only took on a Government but also took on the best beers in the world and won. The first New Zealand beer to win Best Beer in the World - in any class - at the International Brewing Awards in 1968.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the original DB Export Beer is once again available for your drinking pleasure, at an agreeably affordable price. It’s available as a two-pack of 745ml quart bottle at any good beer retailer, or over the bar in NZ’s finest establishments, for a limited time. Check out the video here.
I wasn’t around when it came out first time round; I’m only 24 years old. I wasn’t even a fart in the sky then. That’s what my older brothers used to say I was before I was born – ‘a fart in the sky’. Charming.
I was around last Wednesday however. Which is lucky, considering how things unfolded. We got some tickets to the excellent Banksy documentary ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’. Sidenote: definitely go and see that man. It’s legit. And as it is done, we had a few beers before we went to the 8.30 screening.
Earlier that day DB were kind enough to send over a box of their new DB Export Beer. After impatiently cooling it in the freezer for 15 minutes, we all got in to it. I must say, it’s pretty cool sitting back to open those big ‘swapper sized’ bottles. You kinda feel like Andy Dufresne from ‘Shawshank’ in that scene on the roof. “…a man workin' outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds”. We weren’t working, and we weren’t outside; but that bottle of beer made me feel like a man.
Plug: We've made the DB Export Beer t-shirt as well, and if you buy a t-shirt, you get a free bottle opener. And you can never have enough bottle openers. Those things are like gold.
After the movie we popped in to Giapo - the Genuine Italian Gelato store - where our behavior was anything but manly. I could explain, but there’s really very little need to if you watch this video. Outrageous.
I must apologise for the lack of blog posts over the last few weeks. I apologise like this whenever I get lazy with the blogs. I think it’s because I’m not really that big in to blogging. You see, we all like the internet here – no doubt; but I mainly use it to read about football, Andy for muscle videos, Rob to look for wedding rings, Fran to find out what’s mainsteam and no longer cool, Phil for scooter forums (nsfw), and Hayden uses it for hotmail. And I guess we all use it to bring you mrvintage.co.nz.
I get given a lot of great ideas to blog about, but sometimes I just don’t feel the vibe. But I digress. The reason for my profligacy in the blogging department lately has been a week and a half long excursion to Perth, Australia, for the wedding of my good friends Rhys and Bonnie. I love Weddings, and being a groomsmen meant I was able to make use of the tie I ordinarily wouldn’t have worn; fastening it around my head for the dance portion of the evening.
Whilst there, I had the pleasure of hanging with some extremely talented people. Two of those people, Simon and Sophia, run a photography/stop-motion video/design company – Bayly and Moore. They made a neat stop-motion video that I think perfectly shows some of the emotion and preparation that went in to the wedding day. Here’s their stop motion video for Bonnie and Rhys’ Wedding day.
p.s. If you like it and are planning on getting married like Rob, I suggest visiting their website (www.baylymoore.com) and getting in touch with them. They’re good at what they do. Like, really good.
As many of you may have already noticed, the Christchurch t-shirts are no longer being sold. Unfortunately we’ve had to take down the tees, and we apologise to any of you in Christchurch that missed out on a t-shirt.
The Red Cross were in touch with us yesterday; and despite being extremely appreciative and thankful for what we’ve been able to raise for them and the effort we put in – they asked that the t-shirt be pulled from the site.
From the outset (despite what you may think of us), it was never our intention to upset anyone or capitalise on anyone’s misfortune. The t-shirt, as with all other charitable t-shirts we’ve run over the years – for both emergency appeals and standard charity appeals – was created to help people in need.
Obviously, we understand the position the Red Cross are in, and we’re certainly not wanting to put any further stress on what is already a terrible and traumatic natural disaster – so the t-shirts go.
At this point - and in no way is this a tooting of our own horn – we’d like to finish with what we’ve been able to raise for the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal - with your help of course.
We’re stoked to announce that we’ve ended up raising $9,394.13 from the sales alone, and have also decided to top that up with a further $2,000 to make a grand total of $11,394.13 that will be sent to the Red Cross early next week.
We’d like to thank you for all the support, criticism and feedback we’ve received through the many blogs, emails, facebook posts and tweets. We’ve learnt a lot from the whole ordeal.
We just wanted to touch on a few things that have come to light over the last day or two since we released our Christchurch Earthquake Relief Tee, and the resulting Sideswipe piece Ana Samways was nice enough to write for us. Her article’s here, with a few inconsistencies.
The t-shirt is $19.95, not $29.95.
It costs more than $6 to make our t-shirts.
$6 doesn’t even cover the cost of the t-shirt itself.
Production costs also include re-labelling, printing, ink, design costs and man-hours.
The reason we’re even addressing this issue is basically because it really pisses us off. BUT, it gives us a chance to be a bit more open about what we do, and why we’re doing it. So this is us opening up; about the Christchurch Appeal t-shirt, and our charity work in general.
1. Why t-shirts? People like wearing t-shirts that support charities because it shows they’re supporting something - much like you would wear a pin for breast cancer, a sticker for Greenpeace, or a daffodil for daffodil day. It’s not like people need the recognition, but it raises awareness to others, and it encourages other people to support as well. It helps in monetary terms, raises awareness for their cause, their appeal week(s), and their brands.
2. Some people – for one reason or another – might not feel compelled to give a straight donation. If those people feel more comfortable giving by way of buying a charitable t-shirt, isn’t it better that they give that way than not at all? As far as we’re concerned, if one person buys a t-shirt that otherwise wouldn’t have donated, it’s all worth it.
3. Yes, we send out press releases for these t-shirts. Contrived? I guess you could look at it that way. I’d go more along the lines of “the more people see it, the more money we can raise for the charity”. Simple, and thanks for the press there Ana.
4. We’re a small company. Yeah, we’ve got a sparkly website that apparently makes us seem like we’re swimming in money – we’re not. We try to help as much as we can with these t-shirts. Not because we have to, not to make money, but to help. We’re not millionaires, we’re not able to make big lump donations, so we do what we can.
5. While it would be reckless to go in to specifics, I will say this. With a 25% donation on a $19.95 t-shirt, we’re barely making any profit on these t-shirts. We’re not losing money, but we’re certainly not making a killing. You won’t find us at the dogs this weekend, that’s for sure. In fact, we’ll probably be printing these Christchurch Quake t-shirts.
So yeah, we’re extremely disappointed that the views of one person have become so publicly aired – but we do know, from all the kind words we received yesterday, that they are just the opinions of one journalist blogger. But it is a bit of a kick in the guts when you raise a whole bunch of money for a worthy cause, and someone comes along so carelessly and gives you shit for it.
And really, what message does it give out to other small businesses. It sure as heck-fire doesn’t encourage people to get out there and give a helping hand. But it won’t deter us. 50 cent got shot 9 times and he’s still going. He’s a real talk gangsta, and so are we.
ANA. It’s really easy to sit back in your ergonomically designed computer chair and surf the Internet, picking out little things and printing them. It’s harder to actually do something about it. Luckily, we’re giving you the chance to.
THIS brand new ‘Ana Samways donation t-shirt’ is available for $1000 online at www.mrvintage.co.nz - just for you. There’s but one t-shirt being printed that reads “I Love Sideswipe” in a lovely little pink heart
100% of the $1,000 will go straight to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal, and if you’re cool enough to make this donation – WE’LL MATCH YOUR $1000. Everybody wins, especially Christchurch ☺
One of our Designers, Josh Paki, is helping out with this exhibition that looks pretty cool. You should pop in and check it out.
This photographic exhibition tells the story of life in Wesley / Mt Roskill through the lens of young people in the area. These photographs provide an interesting insight into what it means to be a member of the Wesley and Mt Roskill community. The group’s aim was to capture their own community as seen through their own eyes
The photos chosen by the group for the show are displayed in a manner that pays homage to the Polynesian family lounge room. The pictures are displayed in frames reminiscent of the aforementioned, borrowing from the way that families honour both the dead and living by placing them in a highly visible site for both the inhabitants and visitors to see.
You’ve probably seen it by now – but the Auckland City Mission have an awesome campaign running at the moment that we’re proud to be supporting.
The Auckland City Mission think it’s pretty stink how people in poverty suffer. They dedicate their lives to it. They also think it’s super stink how much more people suffer when it’s freezing cold in Winter.They’ve dedicated this week to really helping out people suffering this Winter. ASB have come to the party in a big way, contributing $40,000 cold hard cash (lol) to the Auckland City Mission.
The money’s in the safe; the safe’s in the ice - You can free the safe. Simply txt 305 with your initials and your choice of FIRE, STEAM, OR WATER to melt the safe. then watch it at www.icemission.co.nz We’ve done it, and it’s wicked fun. Here’s a screen shot of our effort. It only came up with MR but, MRV didn’t fit. I’m an idiot.
Do it. It's good and will make you feel a little bit warm and fuzzy inside.
Big ups to all the dudes on twitter helping out too. @Giapo, @UrgentCouriers, @ASBBank, @VodafoneNZ etc… goooood shiiiitttt.
The crafty cats over at www.MusicHy.pe have done it again. You might have seen their Mint Chicks USB they did a while back, which was sweet. Well... now they've managed to get the top 12 emerging NZ Indie artists together to make one sweet little mix tape. Packaged on this nifty little cassette USB, we're lucky enough to have 2 to give away.
We've decided to make it easy for you, just buy one of these NZ Indie Mix Tape t-shirts that you would've bought anyway - and the first two to purchase them will get themselves a Mix Tape USB. If you missed out on winning one, you can just buy it here.
In a bid to out-indie Fran, two of my three flatmates are actually featured on this compilation. the other one has a grammy nomination. nbd. no big deal.
Every now and then a blog will come along and just completely blow your mind. For me, that blog is ‘Stuff in my mouth’. Hearing the name, you’d probably (and perhaps reasonably) assume that this blog is one that carries rather questionable content. Not so.
Over the past year or so this fantastic girl and her fantastic little friend have humoured me with the various little items they’ve found time to photograph in their mouths. The items vary. From 14 Giant Jaffa’s, to 22 pencils, to a Dick Tracy figurine – their witty word play and deadpan expressions have always left me extremely satisfied. I’ve no recollection of how I stumbled across this blog; I can only praise the heavens that such a miraculous gift came in to my life. I suggest you try it.
Smokefreerockquest is something of an institution in New Zealand these days. Since 1989, the nationwide youth event has been helping young musicians realise their ability, and at the same time encourage their peers to support 100% NZ Music.
You only have to look at the list of successful bands that have been brought through the ‘rockquest system’ currently in the NZ Music scene. Check it out: Evermore, Die!Die!Die!, the Datsuns, Brooke Fraser, Anika Moa, Cut off your Hands, Flight of the Conchords, The Electric Confectionaires, Elemeno P, So So Modern, Midnight Youth, Bang!Bang!Eche! Steriogram, Lady Hawke, Minuit, Fat Freddys Drop, Aaradhna, Atlas, The Feelers, The Blackseeds, Nesian Mystic, Bic Runga, The Have, Fur Patrol, Liam Finn, Pine, King Kapisi, and The Checks. Impressive.
So yeah, the 2010 programme has kicked off and if you want a piece just click fru to their site here. or check out the dates listed below. OH YEAH - and BUY the tees here.
Dates:
AUCKLAND CENTRAL Final - Sat 22nd May
AUCKLAND EAST Final - Sat 19th June
AUCKLAND WEST Final - Fri 28th May
BAY OF PLENTY Final - Fri 25th June
CANTERBURY Finals - Fri 11th June & Sat 12th June
CENTRAL OTAGO (WANAKA/QUEENSTOWN) Final - Sat 24th July
When you put two grown men with an enthusiastic passion for unknown species of animals in the same room, you’re going to get some entertaining conversation. When those two people are Rhys Darby and David Farrier, you’ve got yourself a radio show and that radio show is called the Cryptid Factor. And when there is a show as good as the Cryptid Factor floating around the airwaves, it’s usually a good idea to make a t-shirt for that show, so that’s just what we’ve done. check out the Official Cryptid Factor t-shirts and singlets.
If you’ve not heard the show on 95.0 bFM, I suggest you tune in on Sundays from 9am-11am. They’re also doing 3 live shows at the comedy festival, want to go? You can follow them or you can become a fan or you can do both both. I've done both and it's worked out great for me.
