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Bamboo is the answer

Op: Thursday at 12:30 pm, in: In english

Yesterday, the mysterious T_shirt sent out a message on twitter: “I have 5 T-shirt friends looking for a new home – http://tinyurl.com/yr7clv“.
And on that site: “The first one to guess who actually sent those t-shirts and/or what the answer to the riddle is, gets a free t-shirt AND gets to make 5 other people happy with one too! Ra-ra-ra!”

I’ve got a partial solution: the answer to the riddle = bamboo. Them t-shirts are mine…

Quick recap of this story.

On December 15th, a lot of high-ranking Belgian bloggers received a mysterious package in the post, containing a black t-shirt, with the words “twitter.com/t_shirt. What are you wearing?”. No sender. Label cut out of the shirt. Here’s a few of their posts: Clo/Bnox (I’m really sorry to hear about her father’s death just now…), Everybody needs Somebaudy, Netlash, Bvlg, Maarten Schenk, Clopin, Blogweary Michel, Atog, Blogging the News, E-mich …
T_shirt then started spreading cryptic clues around and about. Later E-mich found out that it was robinwauters was the guy spreading these clues. He then changed his question to “who sent out the t_shirts” and “what is the answer to the riddle”.

The twitter clues and how they relate to bamboo:

Giorgetto Giugiaro, eat me! (December 10, 2007)

An italian designer. Some of his most famous designs were for FIAT, among which the FIAT Panda. And a pande eats… bamboo.

You know, @netlash isn’t the only one who made a movie about me. I also tricked Lee into doing one about me (December 15, 2007)

That’s Ang Lee‘s wonderful fighting choreography in a bamboo wood in “The House of Daggers”.

I come in peace, and a thousand species (December 17, 2007)

Yes there’s lots of different bamboo’s. And they are peaceful.

If I were a boxer, I’d be a champion in the lightweight division: I’m light, strong and extremely durable. (December 25, 2007)

That’s for bantam, a piece of bamboo

I’m food for some creatures, the cause of death for others (December 21, 2007)

That would be food for the panda. The only animal that can digest bamboo.

I’m on Photobucket now, can you find me? (December 19, 2007)

Nope.

Part of me was in ‘Monsters Inc.’ (December 18, 2007)

Part of you is “Boo”. Which is a character in Monsters Inc.

Pretty conclusive evidence, no?
But now I still don’t know the answer to the other part of the question:

Who sent out those T-shirts?

Here’s a few candidates:

• Takehiro Itoi? Which is the name of the Twitter author if you go to twitter.com/bamboo. If he starts twittering now I’m his first contact, maybe that’s where the story goes now?
• A Bamboo bike frame manufacturer?
• The Asus Eco Book PC – a prototype of a PC with a bamboo casing. Unlikely, as it is a prototype. And prototype generally don’t do marketing fuzz. Unless you’re the “world changing invention” which later turns out to be the Segway.
• The Wacom Bamboo tablet? How cool would that be?  Although it would have been even cooler if the suspected marketing would have been for this überawesome tablet.
• Bamboo.be – a shop with “Une sélection de produits éthiques, bio, durables” in Brussels. Not likely.
• Bamboe.be – dé speciaalzaak in Europe voor Lloyd Loom van Vincent Sheppard, rotan, pitriet, teak en alle meubelen in duurzaam kunstvlechtwerk.. Even more unlikely.
• WWF. Connection: the bamboo-eating Panda-logo.  A new campaign to make you aware of the ecological impact of clothing or something of the kind?
• Bamboo textile. Which would make sense, as the question on the t-shirt = “What are you wearing?”.
• Fiat?  Presenting some new version of the Fiat Panda at the Brussels car show?

Hope somebody cracks that fast.

Tags: bamboe, bamboo, t-shirt
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