I found this through Twitter, I think? A friend of mine posted a link to this article whose premise has crossed my mind countless times. For all the great innovations and ideas we have on a daily basis, only a tiny fraction ever come to fruition. How many times have you looked at a product or service and figured out a simple tweak that could make it much better? We think of these things in passing, not as realistic business opportunities. Most of us have jobs, and lives outside of those jobs, rendering a career as an inventor impossible. This article talks about how sometimes it might be best to just give the idea away in order to make it happen.
So I started thinking about all the great ideas I’ve had in my life. I constantly birth (what I feel are) intelligent, awesome ideas. Most of the time I never disclose them to anyone because I’m too paranoid. Sometimes I’ve gotten up the courage to blog about them. Other times they’ve just slipped out in conversation or blog posts. Here’s a list of ten ideas I’ve had that were taken from me.
The Top Ten Ideas I’ve Given Away In Order To Make Them Happen
10. A reality show about predators – It was March 14th, 2005. The first list I wrote for this website was five ideas for reality television programs I wanted to produce. One of them was called “The Neil World.” Technically it was about a sex offender being made to look like the quintessential pervert freak and stuck in general population at a state prison. Eight months later NBC aired an hour-long follow-up to a Dateline segment called “To Catch A Predator.” Soon after, the show became its own entity, a regular television series that used hidden camera investigations to catch child molesters. Although not a direct rip off of one of my ideas, I can’t help but think someone at NBC saw my specs and decided to try “To Catch A Predator” as an hour-long episode as opposed to a simple “Dateline NBC” segment.
09. Examination Of The Generation Gap – This was an idea of mine hatched in 2006. I invited anyone reading my website to join me in an AIM chat room dedicated to a generational roundtable discussion. Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers were all offered the chance to come together and figure out how we could better this country. A year later, USAToday examined the generation gap and found that the difference in cost of living between those in their mid-50s to mid-60s was $200,000 more than people in their 30s. What’s more, a blog called “Brazen Careerist” by Penelope Trunk offered a quiz in 2007 to help people determine what generation they belonged to. Odd, considering more than a year before that (April 2006) I clearly defined and renamed all the different generations from 1912-2006. How do I know Miss Trunk stole my idea? She reads this website. In 2009 she linked to Swan Fungus in an entry called “5 Emerging Trends From The Recession.”
08. The Cowboy Look – In November of 2005 I went out for a night in Jersey City dressed as a cowboy. Z was there. I then decided that the next big fashion trend that hipsters would go crazy for would include cowboy outfits. Yeah, I know Beck started that shit back in the early ’90s, but it disappeared for a really long time. Between when Beck wore cowboy hats, boots and flannel “cowboy” shirts, we had shit like JNCOs, No Fear shirts and skinny jeans. How many of you people living in Silverlake or Williamsburg can’t throw a rock without hitting some fauxhemian douchebag walking around in one of those patterned or flannel cowboy shirts and a pair of ratty blue jeans with boots? I see at least one cowboy hat a day in my neighborhood. I’m not going to claim that I re-started the cowboy look on that cold winter night in 2005, but I definitely called its revival. This is one idea I really don’t care about having given away, because I didn’t want any part of it. I left it for the scene kids.
07. Internet Mix Tapes – Listen, I don’t want to boast or anything, but I was accepted into the Hype Machine blog database pretty early on its existence. There are over 7,000 blogs in its database, and I was one of the first 500. And every Sunday since the first or second week of January in 2006 I have posted a new mix tape for my readers. Since then there have been websites like “Muxtapes” (or whatever it was called) and “A Mix Tape For You,” which is profiled in the very article which inspired this blog post. Hey, I know people have been making mix tapes since the advent of recordable audio tape. I’m not claiming I was the first person to ever compile one. I’m just saying I was the first blog to do it, and without me, all these mix tape websites would not exist. Is that so hard to believe?
06. My Theory On Electronic Communication Ruining The English Language – Lots of magazines and blogs have stolen theories of mine and put more effort into researching them. WIRED ripped off my theory about how children raised after the mainstream acceptance of the Internet are destroying the English language. You can read their article here. I don’t remember when I published that initial post about my theory, but I definitely wrote a paper about it my senior year in college so it’s probably in the archives from 2005. Find it yourself.
05. The Arcade Fire backlash – There’s a reason one of the rotating logos for this website includes the caption “Hated the Arcade Fire first.” A simple Google search returns over 361,000 websites detailing the backlash against Canada’s (by way of Texas) Springsteen-iest band. I don’t know if anyone has actually profited off hating the Arcade Fire, but if someone has, I’m pretty sure they owe their success to me. Personally, I’d like to see t-shirts emblazoned with the image of the wussy singer guy bashing his guitar into piece (not pieces, he was too weak to shatter it) on SNL captioned with the punny nickname “Wimp Butler”.
04. The Idea Of Stealing [redacted]’s Ideas – Back in December of 2006 I was granted a rare interview with famed person [redacted]. It was one of the more fascinating interviews in the history of Swan Fungus. At one point, Evan and I discussed his future plans. Evan told me that one of his greatest ideas was a guided tour of his life where Evan would be followed around by a paying tourist who would get to hear every single thought that crossed his mind. Why did he want to start a business that revolved around him speaking his every thought? Evan said, “I have a dream that someday someone will steal one of my observations, and run with it.” Well, guess what? According to this list, nine people have stolen ideas from me. The tenth person who stole something…was me. I stole Evan’s idea of letting people steal my ideas, and clearly it has worked. In case you are confused, here is how it works in the simplest of terms: I stole an idea from myself, and the idea was to let people steal my ideas.
03. “Evan’s Terrible Movie Vault” – Was an idea I conceptualized back in 2003 or 2004 when I had a LiveJournal. I had a recurring column where I would consume nefarious substances and watch horrible movies. Then I would review them…while under the influence. The series of writings was a hit among my LiveJournal readership. I mentioned “Evan’s Terrible Movie Vault” as a book idea on Swan Fungus many times early after the blog’s inception in 2005. Then one day I wrote about how I wanted to transform the book idea into a series of DVDs that featured my friends and I getting trashed and recording bonus audio commentaries for various movies. I got the idea from the additional audio commentary track on the BASEketball DVD, which I think is called “The Drunk Track.” Whatever, in 2007, the creators of MST3K decided to go back to mocking movies by releasing a series of DVDs which included an audio commentary track recorded for movies that didn’t already have one. It was a genius idea, I just wish I’d gotten to do it first. Oh, and by the way, it was MAXIM that totally bit my Terrible Movie Vault book idea. Their list sucks.
02. Top Ten Deaths Lists – In 2005 I started writing my annual “Top Ten Deaths” list, which is posted annually on a Friday in December. The inaugural “Top Ten Deaths” list was posted on Friday, December 9th, 2005. Two years later, in 2007, The New York Times decided that they were going to start compiling their own lists of ten notable deaths each December. You can perform Google searches for the notable deaths lists, and they back as far as ’07, but no earlier. I’m not saying that I was the first person to rank (and poke fun at) celebrity deaths as a year-end list, but I definitely did it before The New York Times did it. I mean, I know the print media industry is dead, but the Times could at least throw some credit my way if they’re going to start ripping content from bloggers.
01. Bum Advertising – In June of last year I printed a bunch of t-shirts with my face on them. I drove out to the Santa Monica pier and made my way back to my east-side apartment. Along the way I handed my t-shirts out to any homeless person I passed who would accept one. I called it The Great Swan Fungus Bum Advertising Push Of 2009. Nine months later, Hollywood producer David Permut paid a homeless man $100 to hold up a poster for the movie “Youth In Revolt” [story]. I’m not at all angry at this direct theft on the part of Mr. Permut. Hollywood gave up on original ideas a long, long time ago. The fact that this piece of shit copied my idea did not at all surprise me. It’s an amazing idea, and I clearly did it first. I’ve got bragging rights. How did that movie do, anyway? Oh, no one saw it? Awesome. Everyone’s seen Swan Fungus. Let that retard make headlines, I’m content just being the original — and most successful — bum advertiser in LA.
Nina Nastasia – You’re A Holy Man
