Monday, September 30, 2013

Earth's Mightiest Heroes

A bit of a stream of consciousness here, I hope you'll forgive me, but it has been a while since I posted ;)
If you know me personally, then you know that I've always got like 100 project ideas running around in my head, coming up with more all the time, but this one is still there, it hasn't gone away in my mind. My life certainly changed the day that I became a father. It was certainly altered the day that I lost mine. The two events happened so close to each other that it was a bit overwhelming for me.
I recently read an article that was commenting about how you become a man either the day that you become a father, or the day the you lose yours. I guess for me, I've finally grown up. In the process, taking care of my family has become my sole priority.
It sounds incredibly selfish to admit that, but I do need to get and keep things on a solid footing in my personal life. When I was behind this project 100%, one of the things that I found was that there are a lot of people interested in or already doing something like this. The problem is that they aren't united. Everyone is just out there getting their piece, but they are small bites, and this issue still isn't being resolved. I'm feel like the need isn't to create a new entity, but to unite the ones that exist. I don't know if or how that will happen, because like a lot of things in this world, everyone has their own ideas about it, their own agenda, their own ego. Not sure how to work around that.
Recently I thought I might be on to something. I made up a parody logo for the Los Angeles Dodgers when the team was sold last year to an ownership group that included Magic Johnson. It was a simple baseball Dodger type logo that read "The Magic is Back".
http://www.cafepress.com/dd/78006738
About a year later, the team started giving away a shirt with almost the very SAME design!! I contacted them about it, let them know about my design. I was never thinking "Oh, here comes a big payday, I'm going to sue the Dodgers!!". If anything, I wanted to talk to them about using the logo for their products on an official basis, and in the process talk to them more about my plans to create this moto ride event to end homelessness. The Dodgers were one of the few entities to return my emails about the event so it seemed like a good path to take. Unfortunately, instead of all that, they called me and said they would take legal action against me if I keep selling this product. Apparently the man who called me doesn't know about the right to fair use or the meaning of the word "parody". Oh well.
The good news is that people are coming up with things. Every once in a while I'll run across something so simple that I think "wow, why didn't I come up with that!?!?!". This is one of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JruGsJLLdwI
A lot of people are calling me Captain America these days. Maybe I'll go out in Captain America gear and help out people in LA in a similar fashion. Thanks to the guy who went out and did this as Iron Man. It's very inspirational.