Saturday, August 28, 2010

Can You Smell It?


Smells like new chess shirts are on the way!

Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter on the main website to receive a full view of the shirts and a discount coupon!!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

U.S. Chess League


Once again, Endgame is very proud to be sponsoring a weekly Upset Prize for the United States Chess League.

Last night wrapped up Week One and the honors went to FM Tom Bartell for his victory over the veteran grandmaster Boris Gulko! Tom overcame a 158 point rating difference to defeat GM Gulko.

Hopefully we will be able to get some comments from the winner once he is finished celebrating his victory...

For further details and information on the U.S. Chess League, be sure to visit their homepage.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Things Will Never Be The Same

The other day when I was looking for a youtube video to post on my Sell Out thread, I came across this video and almost started crying...



These days are behind me. The days of watching bands play without a stage and fans singing so loud that you can't even hear the music. Everything sounds like shit, but feels beautiful.

When we were younger, we would make fun of the creepy old dude who would be watching the bands from the back of the club. I guess am now that guy. More of an observer than a participant.

Now you might say, "But John, you have a totally sweet ass chess t-shirt company and probably roll deep with hotties all around." Yes, that's true. But things are different now...you can't replace that feeling of screaming until you cough up blood and not caring about what tomorrow brings.

I was pissing on the desert sand.
When the desert whispered to me,
It said, "Isn't this a shame?
Things will never be the same."
-Iggy Pop (performed by)

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Sell Out?

Many people (especially kids) adopt a punker than thou attitude if a band starts to stray from the sound on their first demo...and invariably scream, "SELL OUT!"

As I get older, I am much more forgiving in my judgments and open to different styles.

A recent example is one of my favorite bands, Against Me! When the band first started it was nothing but acoustic guitars and screaming...now it is a much fuller and produced sound. I still like the new stuff, but admit that the earlier stuff is some of my all-time favorite.



versus...



In general, do you think bands "grow" into different sounds or do they "sell out" in a deliberate attempt to enter the mainstream?? And what does this have to do with chess shirts? Well, nothing really.