With a $2100 price tag, you won't be bringing this pet home any time soon. But there's still something awesome about the idea of wearing the little guy from Gremlins on your skirt, even though he does make an odd protuberance. Designer Brian Lichtenberg recommends pairing the skirt with that weird t-shirt with the pyramids sewn into the shoulders. So you can have Stargate spaceships on your shoulders and 1980s mini-monsters on your crotch. Sounds like the perfect outfit to me.

via Alex and Chloe and Today and Tomorrow

The cells themselves, created at Sandia National Laboratories, are built using microelectronic and microelectromechanical processes, the same ones used for many of the smallest (and coolest) new microscopic machines.

As with any new and exciting technology, applications seem limitless. The current generation of photovoltaic cells are wafers around 6 square inches. In contrast, these tiny cells could be mounted on flexible substrates, such as on fabric or oddly shaped surfaces.

As an added bonus, the mass-produced micro-cells will also eventually be cheaper to make and install than current solar power cells. This could finally pave the way for buildings that pay their own energy costs with solar power. Or it could mean charging your iPod on the go from a solar-power-collecting shirt.

Glitter-sized solar photovoltaics produce competitive results [PhysOrg]

Tees from Unicorns Rock are $19, with free shipping. Now that's just rainbow barf magical. (I first spotted these tees on the awesome Hide Your Arms blog.)

Hot Topic's "funky cozy" will have you (or your loved one) looking like a hero in a half blanket/half shirt thingy for $28. Or, you could spring for 80sTees' $60 Shredder hoodie:

[via Geekologie]

OK, I admit it: These really are pieces of jewelry, created by twentieth century American artist John Paul Miller, who was fond of using precious metals and enamel to recreate spiders, insects, and various cephalopods. I love how these piece look beautiful and disturbing at once.

You can see more of Miller's work in this online gallery. [via feuilleton]

Since the mid-2000s, Mishka NYC has been at the vanguard of popular streetwear. A cornerstone of their success has been designing clothing influenced by gonzo horror, Z-grade sci-fi, and the overall dank and stanky underbelly of pop culture. Indeed, their gear is worn with equal aplomb by metalheads and hip-hoppers (Lil Jon and Lady Sovereign have sported Mishka in music videos), and the label's past collaborators have ranged from everyone from Iron Maiden album artist Derek Riggs to erotic photographer Ellen Stagg to electro-reggae supergroup Major Lazer.

Label heads Mikhail "Mike" Bortnik and Greg Rivera were nice enough to sit down with io9 and answer some questions about Mishka's design philosophy, winter line, and how Stan Lee cold lamps it at Comic-Con:

What's the Mishka origin story?

Mikhail Bortnik (left): It started sometime in '03. My job I was working at was going to close, so I decided to take a stab at t-shirt design, which I had wanted to do since college. This was about the same time I met Greg. A few months into it, I realized I was in over my head so I asked Greg to join on-board and sell the line. Greg immediately came on as a full-time partner. The basic idea was we wanted to sell street wear, but we soon realized there were so many fans who were into both street wear and scifi that there was absolutely no reason we couldn't incorporate these two things.

In terms of scifi, what were your earliest influences?

Greg Rivera (right): A lot of our influences have come from B-horror films, straight-up scifi films, and comic books, especially for Mike. I was big into horror comics when I was kid and also things like The Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside, anything with the ironic twist at the end. Both of us are also big toy fans. Being in our early thirties, we grew up with 1980s toys, which ended up being a huge influence in our designs.

MB: One example of this influence was in our Fall 2008 Skyway Trippers collection – we tweaked an Israeli Special Forces design to include the phrase "Spaceknights" in Russian, as a homage to the old Spaceknights comic and toy line.

ROM Spaceknight allusions? That's wild. On a similar note, Mishka has a roster of kaiju-like characters who appears on a lot of your apparel – i.e. the half-serpentine, half-ursine Death Adder and the Cyco Simon skull. What's the story behind them?

MB: Actually the notion of bringing characters into the clothing brand goes back to metal bands. Cyco Simon is a reference to [Megadeth's ] Vic Rattlehead and Eddie from Iron Maiden, and we wanted our own. As for the Death Adder, we use our designs to tell a story with him – he's often seen teaming up with our Soviet super-soldier character.

Are we going to see an Adult Swim series with these guys anytime soon?

MB: I'll be honest, Greg and I would love to be able to a comic book or cartoon series with them.

What was the first sci-fi influenced Mishka piece?

GR: "They Live" was probably one of the first ones. It's hard to remember since we've had so many designs over time.

One of my early favorites was your Judge Death-inspired "Kill Motherfucking Depeche Mode" logo.

MB: That was a mixing of the old Brian Bolland artwork with what people guessed [what the name of German industrial band] KMFDM stood for. KMFDM actually gave us a cease-and-desist for that one.

Really? Not the 2000 AD people?

MB: We figured we'd get something from them or Depeche Mode, but no, it was from the KMFDM people!

On a similar note, when was that moment when you said to yourselves, "Holy crap. We can't believe we just put that on a t-shirt."

MB: The "Tom of Eternia" t-shirt.

GR: Mike had the idea of doing a Tom of Finland-style shirt [featuring He-Man].

MB: If you've never hear of Tom of Finland, he's like the homoerotic artist. There was this impetus [to create this shirt] early on when someone made the comment that all we do is put naked girls and 80s cartoon characters on our shirts. Street wear on a whole seems more macho than we are as a brand, so Greg and I were like, let's do this.

GR: Our friend Robin Nishio – who is this amazing illustrator – met up with us and Mike pitched him the idea. Robin actually went and bought two big books on Tom of Finland and aped the style exactly. That was the coolest because we got so much shit from our customers because it was like, "Here's Skeletor as the master and He-Man down on his knees, gay porn style."

What sort of pieces are in the pipeline at the moment?

GR: We did this series of shirts for [the new heavy metal-themed video game] Brutal Legend and we're working with Dark Horse Comics on a project.

Oh wow, are you at the liberty to talk about that right now?

MB: Not really, but if anyone has followed our brand, you'll know that one particular Dark Horse character particularly sticks out.

As far as the Winter 2009 line goes, you seem to have strong robot theme going. You have the Terminator cyclops, the Decepticon hearse, and my favorite, the Ultron bear. Why robots this season?

MB: We've gone so far doing themes that this season just happened to be robots. This was probably one of our most rigid designs themes. The Ultron shirt's been particularly popular.

You guys hit up the San Diego Comic-Con this year. How was it being a street wear brand at what's been historically a comic and scifi show?

MB: We were selling some things there, but we were mostly there as fans.

GR: It's been a little calculated – and not to reveal all our secrets – but if a lot more other brands saw the potential of that market, you'd see a lot more people doing it. It's hard for us to do business, because Mike and I go and we're just geeking out. Besides going out there to meet Tim and Eric [from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!], we're both really into Japanese kaiju and we had the chance to show off our own kaiju designs.

MB: Comic-Con 2008 was my first one. We wanted to see the Lost panel, but after we saw it spilling into the street, we just said "fuck it" and went to the Battlestar Galactica panel. That crowd was pretty big too, but Dean Koontz was still speaking. So yeah, we killed two hours listening to Dean Koontz.

Any good Mishka Comic-Con party tales?

GR: We crashed an Activision party at the Hard Rock Café and saw Stan Lee. If you're at a Comic-Con party and you see Stan Lee, you know you're at the coolest party.

MB: He was just hanging out with this girl on his arm.

GR: (laughs) She looked like she was twenty years old.

MB: I don't if she was, like, hitting on him or he was hitting on her, but Stan Lee's exactly how you picture him. He really says "true believer."

I wouldn't want him any other way. Do you find yourselves getting calls from influences who've enjoyed your work?

MB: Other than the artists who we're huge fans of and end up working with – like Derek Riggs and L'Amour Supreme – no, not really. A lot of our influences are grumpy old men.

What would you say is the most quintessential Mishka design?

GR: On our first trip to Japan, we stayed in this little town outside of Tokyo and found all these old Japanese horror and sci-fi press kits. These kits would take the coolest part of the movie and turn it into poster art. We found this great Westworld kit and Mike added some comic book stuff, like Ultron and Cyborg from Teen Titans to the design. To this day, it's still one of my favorite ones.

MB: We also found this Motel Hell kit in which we used for our "Electric Funeral" shirt. We electrified the faces and it turned out great.

Alright guys - some final lightning round questions. Kim Cattrall in Big Trouble in Little China or Kirstie Alley in Wrath of Khan?

MB: Kim Cattrall. I'm a Next Generation fan, what can I say.

Zardoz or Troll 2?

GR: Troll 2.

MB: Zardoz.

Would you rather have John Carpenter compose you a personal theme song or direct a movie about your life?

MB: I'd rather have him direct the movie because then he'd have to compose the film's theme song.

Shit! I hadn't thought of that loophole. Any final words to io9 readers?

GR: By all means check Mishka out - you'll definitely find something you like.

Mishka apparel is available at their website and their Brooklyn store at 350 Broadway in Williamsburg, NYC. Store photography courtesy of Dave Digioia.

Corto Maltese was an extremely influential comic of the 60s and 70s, chronicling the laconic sea-captain's adventures in the early years of the 20th Century. Created by Hugo Pratt, Corto was a laid back rogue, whose adventures sprawled from the historic to the surreal, and influenced a generation of artists. He was recognizable enough that Dior used him in an ad campaign, and rivals Han Solo in rakish charm.

Maltese was usually seen in a black pea coat and white sailor's cap, the former of which was adopted by fashion designers this year in a line called "Hugo Pratt For Corto Maltese". Originally created by French designers Collette, the coats are now available throughout Italy. They can be found available in either short or long versions, with the option for a pre-aged look. So far, I've only found one place online that has any in stock, and they range in price from €300-€600. But what price is wearing something comic related that isn't a faded print t-shirt, or utterly tasteless?

Here's the new ad:

And here are his previous contributions to the Victoria's Secret advertising ouevre:

Fashion blogs have been pushing the meme that thigh-high boots are going "cyberpunk" lately, and this seems to originate with Fashionising.com, who included this paragraph in a roundup of recent boot styles:

Futurism/Cyberpunk: building upon the cyberpunk influences of recent years, some designers have thrown an element of dark futurism into the thigh-high boot mix. Particularly evident in the wound-and-bound effects of boots by Rodarte and Topshop Unique, this is a trend I expect we'll see more of in coming seasons.

Already, these "cyberpunk" boots have been seen on Twilight's Kristen Stewart (see picture) and Lindsay Lohan, among others. Here's a gallery of the boots most likely to plug your brain into cyberspace.

Hussein Chalayan adds garters to thigh-high boots. (Photo by Imaxtree, from New York Magazine.)

Jean-Paul Gaulthier, photo from Fashionising.com.

Rodarte.

Topshop Unique, from Fashionising.com.

Photoshoot from Numero Korea Magazine, via Fashionising.com.

Twilight star Kristen Stewart does a photoshoot for Allure Magazine wearing Rodarte boots. from Fashionising.com

Rodarte, from Fashionising.com.

Louis Vuitton, from Fashionising.com.

T-Shirts

Need some giant monsters in your life? Try Shanalogic's line of weird monstery goodness, including a demon-killing woman, the controversial Octophant, and the incomparable Rhinoblaster.

LikeMindedPeople has a nice series of dinosaur tees that I'm particularly fond of, such as this Bronotsaurus tee and this Stego!

Of course, the amazingness that is Threadless is packed with tees for your every nerdy whim. There's a whole collection of space-themed tees, including the crucial Disaster! model. There's also a dirty-minded robot tee, and a shark eating an airplane.

If you want tees with logos for businesses and companies from your favorite scifi movies, try Wake Up It's Time To Die. For $18, you could have a shirt that shows how much you love Encom or the Tyrell Corporation.

Mediocore has a shirt with a good-will slogan for all during this holiday season: "Be excellent to each other."

ReThink has a beautiful space shuttle tee that is a perfect memorial to our favorite soon-to-be-decommissioned NASA experiment.

Retropolis Transit Authority has a delightful line of retro-futurist shirts, and this year has given us a new one: the Space Pirate Career shirt (pictured above).

Coats & Hoodies

Need a scifi-themed coat to keep out the winter cold? You can get the Tenth Doctor's amazing trenchcoat - or his companion Martha's cute leather jacket via AbbyShot Clothiers. Yes, they are exact replicas of the costumes - approved by the BBC and everything! They may be a little pricey, but they look hot.

If you'd like something a little cheaper but still snuggly, why not try an io9 "space porn" hoodie, from Neighborhoodies? It's the perfect way to show your love for our regular feature that shows you the naked universe, from every angle. There are a few other io9 designs at Neighborhoodies too.

Scarves & Hats

Are you feeling zombified? Then how about a skull-and-bones scarf - these beauties are made by Aardvark for kids, but grownups can wear them too.

If you need to keep your head covered up, try this chainmail head accessory at ThinkGeek. Sound too crunchy? How about these soft, adorable cat demon hats from the anime Inuyasha? And then there are three different adorable Naruto hats to keep your head warm and give you additional ears.

Socks

And every nerd needs socks - that's just a fact of life. And there are two amazing places to get nerd footwear. Nothing beats a pair of Diesel Sweeties pixel socks featuring robots, space invaders, or gamer dice.

And if you need socks with anything from UFOs and the solar system, to ninjas and unicorns, you must peruse the merchandise at Sock It to Me. Crucially, Sock It To Me also sells stripey socks of every persuasion.

Joel Watson drew this strip for HijiNKS Ensue, his thrice weekly webcomic about technology and geek culture:

Naturally, this spurred an immediate demand for an actual Team Edward James Olmos shirt, and Watson has not disappointed. The Team EJO shirt is available for $20 at the HijiNKS Ensue store.

[HijiNKS Ensue]

Freire is a London-based costume and fashion designer who loves to borrow imagery from science fiction and fantasy to clothe her models. I've always thought that medieval retro would become a popular fashion someday, and Freire's lovely armor designs combine Arthurian mystique with 1940s glamour. Plus the green-skinned Amy Winehouse lookalike is sheer genius.

Check out more of Freire's designs, and find out where to see her next show, on her site.

Smackmaid

GreenLady Winehouse


Bad Goddess

Reveal the truth about Artoo's secret Skaro connection, and prove that you own the owner's manual for the droid, by getting the T-shirt today only. [TeeFury]

Conceived by concept designer Lasse Klein two years ago, the cow abduction lamp is finally a limited-edition reality. At $100 a pop, the lamp isn't cheap, but it's so awesome and well-made that I think it's worth it for anybody who needs the perfect cow abduction scene glowing in the window (or on the mantel, or next to your bed, or in the barn). Klein manufactured only a couple thousand of these babies, so get 'em while you can!

via Lasse Klein or Alien Abduction Lamp

Early concept design.

The first design for the lamp that Klein posted in 2007.



Glowing aliens!

These shirts all come from TopatoCo, which sells products from various webcomics creators. There are plenty more science and science-fiction themed shirts to be had, but here are some of the latest and greatest:

The awesome science kitty t-shirt is by Jeph Jacques, creator of Questionable Content, a webcomic about friendship, coffee, and perverted robots. $18.75 from TopatoCo.
Kate Beaton writes hilarious and irreverent comics about famous (and occasionally obscure) historical figures in Hark! A Vagrant. She's also a big believer in love in the face of radiation sickness, as evidenced by her Curies shirt. $19.75 from TopatoCo.
And this bit of Schultzy humor comes from Dresden Codak's Aaron Diaz, who drew it as a tribute to Kate Beaton's historical liberties. $18.75 from TopatoCo.
Now come on, did you really think that mammals survived the dinosaur apocalypse by burrowing underground? Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal reveals the very real debt we owe our reptilian saviors. $18.50 from TopatoCo.

You've got your frog vs. fly mitten pair, lion vs. gazelle, and whale vs. fish. I love the details here, like the fly wings spread across the top of your hand, and the fish smoochy-mouth at the ends of your fingers. Teach people at the bus stop about the way ecosystems work just by waving your hands. They're $26 per pair, which is a small price to pay to get a chance to wear a biology lesson on your hands all season.

Predator vs. Prey mittens from Uncommon Goods via Fashionably Geek

In anticipation of the Burton retrospective, which comes to the New York Museum of Modern Art this November, Harper's Bazaar asked Burton to dream up his fantasy fashion spread, one inspired by his own movies. Of course, these outfits will set you back a few thousand dollars apiece, to say nothing about the giant skeleton props.

Tim Burton's Magical Fashion [Harper's Bazaar via Super Punch]

Joy designed the costumes for that haven of hipster merchandising, Urban Outfitters, and they are on display at the company's Space 15 Twenty store in Los Angeles, which is currently hosting a Where the Wild Things Are art show. The costumes are for sale, with proceeds going to the Los Angeles chapter of Dave Eggers' non-profit 826.

Christian Joy & Where the Wild Things Are [Urban Outfitters via Superpunch]

A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.

What is wrong with me that I totally want to buy that now?

I'm also intrigued by the smell of Nyarlathotep:

Brooding, yet electric: the scent of buried secrets, roiling nightmares, the essence of the Crawling Chaos, the Father of Knives and Locusts, the Hunter in the Dark. This is the blackest of ritual incenses charged with flashes of ozone.

Seriously, I'm glad that goths are so entrepreneurial. There are many more lovely sniffs to be had here, from a perfume of the Deep Ones, to eau d'Herbert West. All are 5 ml for $15.

via Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs Thanks, Snackypants!