Pseudonyms

Not being a rabid fan of Hunter S Thompson, Jerry Seinfeld, Beck, Leno, or their literary agents, I somehow missed the original brouhaha about Asterisk, the pranksterish pseudonym of some reasonably well-known writer/comedic person (rumors have/had it to be either Thompson himself or Jerry Seinfeld).

A rant-filled fax sent--seemingly from HST--to HST's agent complained that some Asterisk was ripping HST off, but it turns out the fax itself was from Asterisk in the style of HST. Anyway, now 3AM Magazine has an interview with the as-yet-unidentified Asterisk. The Beck connection? A Spike Magazine reader named Andreas Gursky [thunk! Um, Spike, I think you dropped something.] pointed out a Fimoculous anecdote where Beck asked Seinfeld who Asterisk is during a taping of Jay Leno.

As a media circle jerk, it's a bit tiresome, but because The Animated Musical has some pseudonymous characters in it, the idea's been on my mind. Recently, a greg.org reader and very respected editor [thunk!] suggested I employ a pseudonym to write on topics other than my film projects. With the advent of online communication, pseudonyms aren't just for Deep Throat anymore. In a world of complete Googlability, compartmentalizing one's thoughts/activities/output is probably not all bad. But after you've admitted you liked Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I figure there's nothing left to hide.