'Rance' Blog Mystery: Six Degrees of Captain Hoof
Wednesday June 2, 2004
We still don't know the true identity of mystery celebrity blogger "Rance," but we're inching closer thanks to the efforts of Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes and Internet sleuth par excellence. Previous guesses have included George Clooney, Owen Wilson and any number of unknown celebrity wannabes, but Boese is pretty sure the real culprit is cartoonist / filmmaker / screenwriter Keith Thomson, or someone professionally associated with him.
His case is based on the discovery that within an hour of Rance's introductory posting last December, someone using the screen name "InvaderFromPluto" — which had been used before that to advertise short films made by Keith Thomson — was already hyping the blog in fan discussion groups. Following up, I found a 2002 newsgroup posting promoting another Keith Thomson film, this time signed by one "Captain Hoof." The URL of Rance's blog, in case you didn't know, is http://captainhoof.tripod.com/blog/. Coincidence? I think not.
• Update: Is Rance a Celebrity After All?
His case is based on the discovery that within an hour of Rance's introductory posting last December, someone using the screen name "InvaderFromPluto" — which had been used before that to advertise short films made by Keith Thomson — was already hyping the blog in fan discussion groups. Following up, I found a 2002 newsgroup posting promoting another Keith Thomson film, this time signed by one "Captain Hoof." The URL of Rance's blog, in case you didn't know, is http://captainhoof.tripod.com/blog/. Coincidence? I think not.
• Update: Is Rance a Celebrity After All?
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