A DILEMMA

Here's the thing. I -- I mean, a friend of mine -- was bored one day last year and created a fake blog that was supposedly written by a semi-famous person who was in the news a lot at the time. It got linked to by a couple of hipper-than-thou Web sites, and suddenly it got lots of traffic -- lots more than this, I mean his, site.

Anyway. This particular person's back in the news at the moment, and I'm--I mean, my friend is getting e-mails from news organizations, thinking he's the actual person who's being parodied. It's not like I -- I mean he -- is the master of subtlety, mind you, so it's pretty clear the site is a fake. And if it wasn't clear, the word "parody" in the rail should have dispelled any lingering doubts. But all of the sudden he's getting e-mailed interview requests from the like of Fox News and something that the reporter called "the Newsweek of Brazil." It's only a matter of time before a real news organization drops an e-mail my--I mean, his--way.

My friend -- let's just call him "Earl" -- is kind of bored at the moment, so he's actually tempted to take these folks up on their offer and see how far he can play this prank out. I mean, who's going to know the difference in Brazil, right? Of course, by an incredble coincidence far too bizarre to contemplate, "Earl" is a journalist, too. So doing so would be, as they say in the biz, "bad."

Oh, well. Maybe once "Earl" retires and devotes the bulk of his writing to crotchety letters to the editor, he'll be able to engage in such shennanigans. But for now, this will have to remain the most closely guarded secret since this incredible conspiracy.