Matthew Wayne Selznick

All right, folks! Here?s a reminder that it pays to speak, to act.

Earlier this week, it came to my attention that Nike was using a knock-off of classic, iconic Minor Threat album cover art to promote a skateboarding tour.

Dischord Records never gave permission to use, never approved of, and never condoned the Nike ad campaign. In fact, they were diametrically opposed to it. Unfortunately, Dischord recognized that they didn’t have the financial resources to mount a legal battle against Nike.

So. I wrote a letter to Nike, essentially calling them out, and I spread the word to the folks on the Mike Watt discussion group on Yahoo!, and to my friends on MySpace. I encouraged everyone to contact their own mailing lists (most or many including many, many more people than I could reach) and we got viral on the whole thing.

Today, Nike issued an apology and removed the image from the media, both in print and online.

Fuck yeah.

I’m not saying I’m responsible. I’m saying it feels good to stand for DIY, for what’s right, and it feels good to be involved in something that … in a matter of less than 100 hours… changed the course of a megacorporation that has had a history of shitting on the little guy.

Yay us. Fuckin’ aye.

Oy, right now, mostly ebb. I’m sitting here knowing that I should be writing, it’s the time of day, the hour I reserve, when I should be working on “Brave Men Run.”

That takes some energy, though, especially since I’m in the last third of the book and things are cooking… it’s physically draining to write this part of the book, at least it is if I intend to do it right. And I intend to do it right.

It’s tough to find the energy to do the things I want to do… this is an old song I’m singing, I know, but it’s a melody that keeps getting stuck in my head! I know I can’t up and quit my job, and if I did, I’d have to replace it with another one, right? There’s no living off of my art, not yet, not for me. So I have to find the energy.

Right now, I don’t have it. So I sit and blog to you, dear reader(s), and when I’m done with this and the time is gone, I’ll be a little frustrated and feel the pressure of time and an empty legacy on the back of my neck and in my gut.

Yuck.

If you’re a philanthropic person with an extra fifty grand, here I am, man. I’m ready.

After many “yougottaseeits,” I finally spent a few hours to see “Sideways” I admit I’ve been gunshy; the last movie people raved about and insisted I’d like was “Lost In Translation,” and that was a piece of crap.

No, it was. You wanna make something outta it?

Anyhoo. “Sideways” was great. Nailed it. And what do you know, it had an actual story.

Nice job.

There’s more to it than that; it’s affected me, and I’m not sure where I am right now, in my head. It was a good time to watch it, that’s for sure, because I’ve been both of those guys at one point or another, or even at the same time.

These days, I’m certainly more Miles than Jack. Which is challenging, but honorable, and I can wake up in the morning not afraid of the mirror, you know?

One of these days, I’ll write about being a born-again moralist. Or something like that. For now: good movie, and a nice endcap to a fine, relaxed, reflective day yesterday, and a very satisfying evening with an old friend and her new husband. Finest kind, they are.

Two and a half days of vacation to go!

I wanted to see a friend tonight, watch him play some rock and roll… get out of the house, get out of town, be among strangers for a few hours.

Didn’t work out.

Circumstance and history and water pipes and distance and scars and animals and the road.

The desire to do the right thing, even if its not appreciated, or even recognized, or known.

I know.

That’s enough.

It was an interesting morning at the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media. First, a sprinkler valve on the expansive and well-appointed lawn burst, leading to a few hours’ of repair work and no water for cooking or showering for the on-site staff.

While waiting for pipe seal to dry, I pursued a very active thread at the Podcasters Yahoo Group. The essential question: would listeners donate money to offset the costs of podcasting, and would they do it often enough to avoid traditional advertising and sponsors? Or are we doomed to have commercials in our podcasts?

During the course of the discussion, I checked in with the Boing Boing newsfeed, and discovered a new site called PledgeBank. Essentially, this site encourages folks to pledge their support of something on the condition that others do so as well.

This dovetailed nicely with the discussion I’d been having all morning. So here it is:

I will contribute $5.00 each to five podcasters who are not supported by paid sponsors or paid advertising… if and only if twenty five other podcasters or listeners to podcasts do the same thing before July 14th, 2005.

Who’s game?

Full details.