Fear Less

Today's mail

I want to tell you about one of my favorite “Let’s save the planet” blogs, FearLess Revolution. That website sprang out of a place dubbed the “Fearless Cottage” in Boulder, Colorado, that was founded by Alex Bogusky, his wife Ana, and Rob Schuham.  If you’re wondering how this relates to Brammofan, well, you haven’t been paying attention.

Go back and read some of my posts tagged CP+B, which was the advertising agency (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) that Alex Bogusky (the B, obviously, in CP+B) ran.  Around the time I started blogging as Brammofan, Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher bid on eBay and “bought” 17 summer interns from CP+B. I had a great time that summer – 2009 – covering their antics, which included an attempt at making a logo for Brammo and a pretty nifty music video that included some great Brammo footage before the Enertia entered full production.

The biggest “campaign” in which CP+B participated was, without a doubt, the Shocking Barack saga.  More than just a story of two guys on Brammo Enertias traveling from Detroit to Washington, D.C. to give Obama an electric motorcycle, it became an internet phenomenon – followed by hundreds, then thousands, then… who knows how many people before it ended.

You know what?  This is not a story about Brammo or CP+B or Shocking Barack.  This is story about fearing less.

A couple weeks ago, the FearLess Revolution blog announced a little contest.  (I’m not going to get side-tracked here, but Bogusky and Brammo used to be really into contests – search for it).  It was a contest to name a new “Occupy Wall Street” themed flavor of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.  Since I love ice cream and contests, I figured I’d give it a shot.  My entry: “OccuPie Wallnut Street – A delicious mix of walnuts, pie crust and the tears of the oppressed majority.”

After pleading on Twitter and on Facebook for my friends and followers to vote early and often, it turned out that I won!  Thrilled, I was, and especially because the prize was quite a treasure: a FearLess t-shirt.  These shirts are pretty awesome and you should go order one before they run out.   Just make sure it’s appropriate – since I have kids around here, I got the “Fear Less Love More” shirt.  (They just came out with the ”Kill Less F@ck More” shirt – uncensored, which I would love, if I were a college freshman again).

Here’s where the “Fear Less” lesson comes in:  One of Bogusky’s lackeys employees sent me an email requesting my size and a mailing address.  I responded with the appropriate answers and then, PUSHED PAST MY FEAR OF ASKING FOR WHAT I WANT.  Here’s what I wrote:

I would like to request a handwritten and signed note by Alex expressing the “thanks of a grateful nation” or at least the thanks of a grateful FearLess Force, and a hand-drawn picture of a rodent or other small mammal of his choice.  I will settle for less, but I have learned to be FearLess when I make these special requests.

And here are the results:

My very cool Fear Less Love More t-shirt - a $25.00 Value!

A little closer, on that post-it:

Yep. It's a small mammal.

So… he took my request VERY literally – the damn thing is almost microscopic.  Yeah, leave it to that ol’ comedian, Alex.  Okay, so no “thanks of a grateful FearLess nation,” but I did say that I would settle for less.

The takeaway:  If your dream is to one day own an original piece of art, signed by the artist, then you’re going to have to push outside your comfort zone to get it.  I did, and now that little Post-It note is framed, hanging in my living room, right where I imagined, long ago, it would be.  You don’t believe me?

Fear Less.  Love More.  Dream Big.

Birds by Audubon, Small Burrowing Mammal by Bogusky

Time to buy a Brammo

Perusing eBay a couple weeks ago, I found someone selling many different automotive and motorcycle-branded clocks.  Imagine my surprise when I came across an item with the title: Brammo Motorcycle Dirt Bike Logo Wall Clock Sign.

What on Earth?  Sure, we know that Brammo has delved into the dirt bike genre:

But those bikes were specially made for a Jackie Chan movie.

When I saw what the guy was selling, I had to have one of my own.  Here it is, hanging on my wall, in all of its copyright-flaunting glory:

Brammo Time

Actually, I’m not sure if the design was ever properly copyrighted, but it was, nevertheless, familiar to me.  It was one of the finalists in the infamous Brammo Logo Design contest, from September 2009.  This entry, although it did not win the actual logo contest, was awarded one of the $1000 prizes, and was marked as the “favorite for t-shirt use.” I don’t know if the designer of this logo, a user on the CrowdSpring site who called himself “cre8tiv”, knows about this current use of his design, or if he would care, but it makes for a cool clock for my office.

I just checked the contract that covered this design contest, and it specifies that the design is a “work for hire” under the copyright laws, and that the “buyer” is, not Brammo, but “Crispin, Porter and Bogusky.” CP+B, as I’m sure you Brammo Fans remember, is the agency behind the “Shocking Barack” saga and the home of the interns who were purchased by Brammo in an eBay slave auction.

The partnership between CP+B and Brammo isn’t what one would call “active” right now, but I still have hope that one day they’ll get together for another great campaign like the Shocking Barack trip.  Maybe when the Empulse begins production we’ll see another of those trips that increases awareness of EVs, while at the same time, points out the shortcomings of their limited range.  I’m starting to get a bit misty eyed over the memories of that trip, so I’ll break here and

Brammofan Motorcycle of the Year – 2010

Rhapsody in Blue

(Kansas City, Missouri, December 7, 2010) – Brammofan, the blog with the mission of “covering the momentum of Enertia” has announced the awardee of its coveted “Brammofan Motorcycle of the Year” award for 2010.  This year’s recipient: the 2010 Brammo Enertia.

Artist's re-creation of actual trophy.

Brammofan, a/k/a Harry Mallin, announced the award today to a packed house of media representatives and electric vehicle dignitaries attending the first annual “Brammofantasy Ball” in the spacious Shawnee Ballroom at the White Haven Motel, Overland Park, Kansas.  Holding the golden lightning bolt trophy above his head, like Zeus upon Mt. Olympus, Mallin broke the news to the surprised crowd.  ”Enertia!” he bellowed.

“We were totally surprised” said one attendee.

“I am thrilled to finally share the recipient of this year’s award,” said Brammofan.  ”The Brammo Enertia is already the recipient of several awards, but I’m sure the gang in Ashland has saved a special spot in the trophy case for this one.”

Craig Bramscher, Brammo CEO, was unavailable for comment, but Adrian Stewart, Brammo Director of Channel Development, who was also unavailable for comment, would likely say something British and zany, like “we’re thrilled to get this award. Bloody thrilled. It’s all part of our cunning plan to save the planet. Cheerio.”

Brammofan will be announcing other awards throughout the remaining days of 2010.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to announce the Past Tense Intransitive Verb of 2011.  ’Thrilled,’ of course, was the winner of the PTIV for 2010 and it was put to good use in many press releases.  Many.  I don’t want to give you any useful clues for what 2011 holds, but let me state that you just might be titillated to finally hear what it will be,” said Brammofan.

Brammofan also screened the following teaser from the epic film about Brammo that he is producing in conjunction with Spielberg*.

*Izzy Spielberg. No relation.

Stay tuned for more surprising announcements coming later this month.  And yes, Bill, there will be a Brammo Babe of the Year award.

ShockingBarack, Redux

After months of silence, the ShockingBarack channel on YouTube posted a new video, moments ago.  It does a great job of capturing the excitement and momentum of the story of Brian Wismann of Brammo and Dave Schiff of CP+B traveling from Detroit to Washington, D.C., to try to give a Brammo Enertia to the President.  I’m not sure who decided to resurrect the story, but I’m glad they did:

Jackie Chan Teams With Brammo

Asian Rush Hour to Include Brammo Enertia

Lots of hints about this partnership have been popping up here and there, but now it is (semi) official:  Jackie Chan’s company, JCAM Advanced Mobility Company, Ltd., has agreed to be the distributor of the Brammo Enertia through its outlets in Hong Kong and Singapore.

"I'm on my Brammo and you know I'm straight cruisin'..."

If you’re wondering what they think about the Enertia in Hong Kong, it’s pretty clear:

"Bike Cool"

The deal will have Jackie Chan’s award winning JCAM EV sales company selling Brammo Enertias through its retail stores in Hong Kong  and Singapore.

Frequent readers of this blog know all there is to know about Brammo, but what about JCAM?  Here’s the 411:

JCAM Advanced Mobility Company Ltd. (JCAM) is a Hong Kong based vehicle Distribution Company established in 2005. Co-founded by megastar Jackie Chan, its primary business focus is to identify, qualify, market, and support transportation innovation that produce zero emissions and which are technologically stunning. Within the first four years of operation JCAM has grown into a company with diverse and growing business interests all related to sustainable transportation, operating in six countries and has earned Hong Kong Business’s High-Flyers Outstanding Enterprises Award (Modern Alternative Technology).

The mission of JCAM is to work closely with groups critical to facilitating a successful culture change from conventional combustion driven vehicles to electric vehicles (EV’s) as well as other clean transportation options. These groups include vehicle manufacturers, local regulators, and targeted end user groups all of which have their own objectives, reservations, and needs and all of which JCAM as a product marketing and distribution organization has regular contact with.  With creative marketing and intelligent education programs JCAM is dedicated to generating excitement and demand while proving and building desirability, credibility, and reliability for some of the most awesome and advanced vehicles available.

Furthermore, what’s a post on Brammofan without amazingly unbelievable and unsupported speculation?  (New readers, Please Note: Any resemblance between Brammofan and an actual Journalist is entirely coincidental and not visible without a lot of squinting on your part.  Avoid eye strain and just go with the flow).

Well, here goes:

Jackie’s making a movie called “Chinese Zodiac” that has him reprising the role of “Asian Hawk” that he played in Fei ying gai wak.  Surely you remember Fei ying gai wak? Okay, it was called Operation Condor (Armour of God, II) here in the US.  Remember? Come on!  He was in that amazing fight where he did those crazy stunts?  No?  Okay, so it looked like he was totally outgunned, outmanned, and that it was all going to end poorly, but then he did that astounding flip-kick-donkey-punch  . . .  and seriously kicked some Nazi butt?  Yes!  I knew you’d remember.  Well “Chinese Zodiac”  is going to be the sequel.  And word on the street is:

The movie is going to have an Enertia in it. I haven’t heard anything more than that, so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone getting their head knocked with a certain electric motorcycle’s rear tire that has their number on it.  And the chase scene?  This has ELECTRO- AWESOME written all over it.  (as long as it doesn’t last longer than about 40 miles, but what great chase scene does?)

So stay tuned, get your popcorn popping, and if you’re a new reader from Singapore or Hong Kong, why are you reading this?  Get out there and buy a Brammo!

Oh, and HI Jackie!