Boston-based comedian Paul Kafasis has shared a very funny post on his blog One Foot Tsunami. After endlessly watching the “Date Night” TV ad in which Samuel L. Jackson works with Siri to prepare a romantic evening of gazpacho consumption, he decided to cook up a real-world test.

It was bad enough when Kafasis articulated to Siri the words, “Remind me to put the gazpacho on ice in an hour.” But things got really dicey when he then used a recording of Jackson mouthing the dialogue. Kafasis’ Siri responded with:

- Call Mirium Booksbaum
- Call Anna-Genelle Harev
- Call Ron Ridenhour

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What is it about Stanley Kubrick and low-level British con men?

First there was Alan Conway, a travel agent turned impersonator, who went around in the 1990s pretending to be Kubrick and whose unlikely success was the basis of the 2005 movie Color Me Kubrick, starring John Malkovich. Now comes news, via UK’s Bury Free Press, of another eyes-wide-open scammer:

A Finningham man, who posed as a successful Hollywood filmmaker to con two aspiring screenwriters out of 121,000 pounds, has been jailed for three and a half years.

Richard Maskery, 42, claimed he was a protégé of legendary director Stanley Kubrick and was involved in producing Tom Cruise films, including Mission Impossible. He convinced the screenwriters he was negotiating with stars and leading Hollywood directors and extracted nearly 55,000 pounds of their savings to finance the project.

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Go on and read the whole interview by Logan Hill…it’s worth it.

We like how Dave Eggers got the gig. It’s every fanboy’s ultimate fantasy:

How did you hook up with Spike Jonze?

I wrote him a fan letter for Being John Malkovich. And I was a longtime worshipper of Maurice. I grew up wanting to be a writer and illustrator of children’s books – I still have a lot of books I did as a kid. So it was a ridiculous combination: I was a fanboy of both.

Proof flattery will get you everywhere.

(Photo: Maria Laura Antonelli/Rex USA)

We don’t normally offer double-features in this here space, but the Orange County Register has worked hard to market columnists Peter Larsen (aka Pedro) and Michael Hewitt (The Watcher) as a single, uber-hip brand, so we’re going to aid and abet and hit them with our patented stupid questions:

1. What newspapers do you read? Michael Hewitt: The Register and the Times, of course. And the Grunion Gazette, the local weekly.
Peter Larsen: The Orange County Register with breakfast, the LA Times from the recycling bin at work and the NY Times and Washington Post online when I think to look

2. Which ones do you move your lips to while reading?
MH: Do you mean when I’m swearing under my breath at Kobe?
PL: Giant head = lots of brains = ability to read with mouth closed.

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