Keep Austin Weird: the real story

I am so sick of the commercial "Keep Austin Weird" crap. But I had not realized there is a richer, sadder, story behind it:

The folks at Absolutely Austin (a.k.a. Nobonz, Outhouse Design, Udamon, etc.), who make most of the T-shirts, hats, and some of the bumperstickers you see, got the trademark for "Keep Austin Weird" in October 2003. We realize most people don't care, and for good reasons. We invented the phrase, did the original bumperstickers, and put up this website before they were out of their diapers, so forgive us for being a touch defensive and probably egotistic.

The real problem with this turn of events is that it points out the boring irony of the entire "movement" (to use a grandiose term). It was a small attempt to counter Austin's descent into rampant commercialism and over-development. Absolutely Austin getting the trademark rather than letting this chicken run free is a sad proof that commercialism is winning. Most people probably think of Keep Austin Weird as a marketing slogan rather than our original attempt to highlight those aspects of our town that are really weird. Making money isn't high on that list. And they are enforcing the trademark, getting desist orders to folks who were making T-shirts.