Rock Bottom

This is one of those things that we should either loathe or love - there's no middle ground on something like this:

www.getdshirts.com

Vital news clippings here and here - (read the comments on that last one. Epic.)

Half of me wants to watch Screech go down in flames, the other half wants to see a storytale miraculous "It Could Happen to You" type ending to the saga. I'm sitting on the fence right now. Big time.

But personally, I think Screech screwed up by going the negative route with his idea. He's all about "sticking it to the man" and wants to prove somebody wrong. He blames everybody else. There's no fun involved. Sorry bro, but a $15 shirt with your unshaven mug on it ain't gonna cut the mustard - what's in it for us?

And that's where I think where the fine line is drawn between a "getting a house project" like mine and Screech's. He's using his celeb status to ask people to bail him out for his own personal mistakes, while I'm trying to build something from scratch. (Or as close to scratch as possible - hence the red paperclip.)

I personally guarantee I will never ask for anything or use whatever psuedo celeb status I might/might not have to try and get something for free. I've worked my ass off to get this far and I won't let any of you down in the "trading up to a house" department.

A lot of reporters have asked me if they can do an interview about one red paperclip for their story about 'cyber begging' - you know those websites where people screw up and max out their credit cards on clothes then realize they're screwed and ask the public at large to bail them out for free? I said yes to all of the interviews on the condition that the one red paperclip project is not cyber begging - it's a trading project. Cyber begging, in my mind, is a pitiful example of trying to get something for free. It's the online equivalent of panhandling instead of busking. It's what seperates uninspired greed-driven sites like this from magical sky-is-the-limit sites like this.

Now, I don't have a guitar in my hand and my music aptitude starts and stops with the keyboard bassline to My Perogative by Bobby Brown, but I truly feel like I'm busking around here instead of begging.

I really think Screech should set up a "Buy Screech a Guitar Fund", or better still, the "Buy Screech a Keytar fund." Now's that's something I'd toss a buck into.

Rock on - Kyle