I can't stop listening to The B-52's "Planet Claire". Yeeks. But there's actually something important and hopefully interesting to talk about today, so that's all the personal chatter you'll get from me.

   The GIA, as you all are probably aware by now, is one of the many gaming sites that's going broke due to lack of ad revenue. One thing that we've been mulling over for quite some time, and has been suggested to us numerous times, is to sell stuff. The most in-demand GIA merchandise, according to suggestees? T-shirts. And since we've got such a talented bunch of artists who regularly visit and/or contribute to this section, we've got a feeling someone out there is qualified to design it for us.

   And so we're having a bit of a contest, open to anyone who feels so inclined. Rules and guidelines are as follows:

1. No game characters can be involved in the design, as selling items with copyrighted characters would be infringement on our part. However, you may use Larissa and Kelvin, the GIA's oft-overlooked mascots.
2. It would be a good idea to keep a large, high-res version of the picture, though a smaller version is perfectly fine for the submission; if you're the winner, it'll come in handy for printing purposes.
3. The winner must be willing to release rights of their winning design to the GIA staff.
4. Send your entry to Nich Maragos, either as a file attachment or a URL where he can obtain the image, before Wednesday, May 2nd, 2001.
5. Entries will be judged by the staff of GIA, because we're just cool like that. The winner receives ... well, since we're broke, the first t-shirt printed with their design, a huge ego boost, and 10% of the current salary of the GIA staff*.

   And that's about it... so now, on to what you actually came here for: the fan art. Big update today - I think our artists are making up for the smaller one last time...

- Andrea Hartmann

^*Current salary of GIA staff is $0 per month before taxes.