Have you heard of Fake Steve Jobs? This blog - a Blogger site, no less - was started anonymously by someone who used it as a forum to poke fun at Apple's CEO.
It gradually built something of a cult following in geek circles. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and Mr. Jobs himself both admitted reading the site - and being amused by it. Well, the fun came to a screeching halt earlier this week when FSJ, as he's come to be known, was outed (click here for the ritual outing.)
Weirdly, I've got a personal connection to all of this. It's convoluted, so bear with me:
Brad Stone is a reporter for the New York Times. He broke the story that FSJ was actually Daniel Lyons, a writer for Forbes. My connection? Both of these individuals have, at different times, interviewed me for stories they've written. Mr. Lyons quoted me in a piece on IBM and Lotus Notes, while Mr. Stone included my comments in an article on Motorola's crashing fortunes. Here are the two links to the earlier blog postings:
Your turn: Does this mean I should start wearing black jeans and turtlenecks like the real Steve Jobs? Ever had a bizarrely tangential brush with fame?
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# 23 of MY THIRTY DAYS OF THANKSGIVING
5 hours ago
15 comments:
You're funny! This story makes me laugh........
hmmmmm.....whats the word you used Carmi? Tangential? I like that word.......ok....let's see....my husband has "dined out" on his one moment of tangentialness....he shared a locker room with Frank Mahovlich. I guess theres a reason for his nickname...:)
what else.....a good friend met Jim Nabors/Gomer Pyle at a hotel in Montreal where my friend's wife was involved in an MBA study weekend. Gomer invited my friend to meet up to watch an NFL game. When they settled in to watch the kick off....Gomer hit on my friend. Golly!
I have no idea why these two examples came to mind first....hope they made you laugh. AND they are both true!!
Brushes with fame are great. You may not get all the glory, but you don't have to deal with all the mess that comes from bad publicity either. Not too hot, not too cold.... just right. That's how I would describe a brush with fame.
Good for you!
Uh, that IS you, isn't it??
I didn't recognize you. Do you always dress like Steve Jobs? :-)
I just read about this this week sometimes....yesterday I think.
Should we be asking for autographs next?? My closest brush with fame was when I emceed some event when I was teaching with some guy in a popular band came back to his high school! whew hoo!
This is funny!
My own personal brushes with fame...I worked as a Special Assistance Rep for USAirways in the Pittsburgh airport. I had Little Richard on my golf cart and got a forgotten ticket for Brooks of Brooks and Dunn country duo. Little Richard was a funny guy and Brooks was very polite.I was also on a plane with all the ice skating stars one year and ended up talking to Oksana Byoul (I know I misspelled that) while waiting to get off the plane.
My only other tangential is my mom met Andre the Giant years ago when she was out on the town with some friends. She said she thought she had been drinking WAY too much when she looked up and saw a guy that took up the whole side of the bar by himself. They all hung out for the evening and she said he was one of the nicest people she had ever met.
i followed the fake Steve jobs yesterday i think from the NY times post.....did not know the road will lead me to Carmi ..:)
Guess this will be my tangential brush with fame...i am on your Blogroll , am I not???.......haha!!!
More like a brush with infame! But I digress... or should I say tangent? I have been associated with a famous person or two, but never to the point of my name being named. Not yet anyway.
Michele sent me,
Mike
Did not realize I was in the 'presence' of a famous person! LOL!
Thanks for your comments on my site, Carmi and thanks for enlightening me today: I must admit I had to look up the word 'tangentialness'!! Its fun to learn something new every day!
No brushes with fame here that I can think of at the moment. I had read something about the that outing I believe. Its funny that it came around to you.
Michele sent me today!
GOOD WORD... I had to look it up. Brushes with fame are better than the actual fame :-)
Actually I have had a few of these and I should blog about them sometime. I guess everyone gets their 15 minutes of celebrity connection.
The whole "six degrees of separation" thing?
Well, my sister knew Brad Delp, who was the lead singer for Boston and for a Beatles' tribute band called BeatleJuice. Brad Delp was good friends with Kevin Bacon...guess that's my tangenital connection...
oops! Forgot to say, Michele sent me!!!
Commented earlier but hey, Michele sent me.
My Dad was interviewed once for CNN on how Airlines handle large bad weather systems. So I have a 15 minutes of fame Dad. (He's actually a really humble guy and was reluctant to do the interview)
Have a great weekend Carmi.
Carmi,
I can honestly say that I've never had a bizarrely tangential brush with fame. Hmmm... or does this count? Standing in a crowd of onlookers whilst Queen Elizabeth II passed by slowly waving to us all...
Thankful that it is Thursday,
Enid
Carmi! It's been WAY too long since I've visited. In fact, I think you've visited me TWICE since I've last been here. Sorry.
I commented on this because I just read about FSJ. I'm not an Apple enthusiast, nor do I know anything about computers but it sounds like a funny idea. This is sorta like six degrees of Kevin Bacon, right?
Hope you're well. Take care.
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