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10:05 PM, Sunday, August 30th, 2015:
 
I learned awhile back that the sureset sign that you're doing something well, is when you're contacted by a lawyer. In 2004, I made a parody of Amazon.com... Adamazon.com. It was goddamned perfect. In fact, it's still up...
 
Obviously, Amazon.com has changed in the past 11 years, but that is EXACTLY what it looked like in 2004. I killed myself one weekend to change my "projects" section of the site into this. It was a therapy to me. At the time I was just spinning and felt like such an extreme failure because none of these projects truly got me anywhere...
 
...and then I looked at that parody site I just made and realized:  "Holy shit, Adam - you're kind of a freak. A production freak." In less than a decade of being an adult, I had made a lifetime's worth of material and each piece was clearly painfully detailed and intense. From the cover art to liner notes to... I create like every second is my last. It's continued to this day and I do often look back and think "What the serious shit, man. Why do you produce so much?!?!"
 
Within 6 months, Amazon saw it and issued me a cease and desist. They wanted Adamazon.com to point to Amazon.com (my innocent "hey can it point to my own page on Amazon?!?!" didn't fly) and I changed it over for them. They thankfully didn't have an issue with me keeping it as a section on my site, but felt because of the fact that my version was identical, and that Adamazon.com is easily confused with Amazon.com if you're not paying attention... that it looked like it was sanctioned. I get it. They have to maintain control or else if I decided to make an inappropriate section on Adamazon (who, me?) suddenly they're part of it. It's funny, when it comes to these legal situations, I almost always side with the corporations. It's that logic part of my brain. Sorry to the populace that believes "DOWN WITH ALL CORPORATIONS"... there's certainly some evil ones out there, but what I did does indeed go beyond fair use, and they were very fair in how they dealt with it. Cut to Wednesday...
 
BOOM:
 
 
 
My first reaction? Which thing did it... Bob Gale reading my shirt about 300 times backstage at the Hollywood Bowl? My video on the Universal Backlot with my "modified" logo freaking EVERYWHERE including my shirt? Or finally, taking Lea Thompson into Dodger Stadium and getting press all over the world with, yes, my RentTheDelorean.com logo shirt on. Probably all 3. Heh. I was also relieved it had nothing to do with my business, just my logo. The renting of the car has already gone to court and the bottom line is, because they used a real car and not their own? They can't do much. For example, Warner Bros. bitch-slapped a guy renting a batmobile because, well, it's a batmobile - they own that. Modifying your own Delorean is very different case. Sure, they could lawyer you into the poor house if they wanted, but since we all do so much charity stuff and it keeps the movie relevant, they've wisely chosen to just let it be.
 
I spoke to other owners who use it and they were stunned, because truthfully? EVERYONE uses it. I mean everyone. Hell, some of the builders have the ACTUAL "Back to the Future" logo on their site! So why target me? Here's some of the other logos:
 
 
 
...and then there's mine:
 
 
Yeah, it's not even close. That's the exact, fucking, logo. I really took my time to make it perfect. The issue is the curve when introducing the letters that were never in the original...
 
 
It's fucking hard. However, the fact that the other logos look "off" a bit? Will probably keep them from getting a letter - so hat's off to them. It is funny how I picked up my car from a place that has the logo PAINTED ON THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING for crying out loud...
 
 
...and I get the letter. But again, it's somewhat flattering. I actually gave Bob shit last year when we were still talking about how bad his logo was and had actually started redoing it for him so it was perfect when it became pretty apparent our fighting wasn't going to cease. Ironically his lack of attention to detail probably keeps him safe.
 
All of this is just me rambling for The Journey because I like to talk. In reality, I replied to the attorney's letter within HOURS and said I would change it immediately. And I did. I only made it a spoof on the original because it seemed obvious and I knew I could make it look better than others who were using it. Other than 50,000 business cards (that I always forget to hand out anyway) there's no real cost to me and honestly? It allowed me to make a new animated logo with smoke for all of our videos:
 
 
And on the RentTheDelorean.com it actually looks better...
 
 
It really is a win-win when it's all said and done. It certainly brands me over the other cars and, well, I guess I get to give my OWN cease & desist if someone copies my logo. LMAO.
 
The craziest is thing is the amount of shit I have to accomplish by Universal's 9/7 deadline. That's the Labor Day Tournament which I was barely going to make anyway with all the building (yes, I decided to do the fucking trellace NOW - pretty much done though). Somehow I'm making it all happen. Very tired. Very ready for November.
 
Adam