You suck, Twitter!

Yesterday, I received this email from Richard Verducci, the originator of the BenLyonsFoReal Twitter page:

Hey Scott,
I feel awkward writing this but I wanted to thank you for shouting out Benlyonsforeal's twitter on your webpage. Unfortunately, it seems my little joke won't be able to continue. On May 28th Twitter suspended my account. I've submitted two tickets regarding the matter. The first was closed without answer, the second is still open and unresponded too. I don't think it takes a genius to figure with the current Tony La Russa case Twitter is probably cracking down on celebrity "impersonators" (though if anyone took that account seriously for a minute, I feel they deserve to be misled). Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the support and that I didn't just run out of steam or close up shop. Thanks for the support and for the Stop Ben Lyon's blog.
-Rich (BenLyonsFoReal)

So long, BenLyonsFoReal, we hardly knew ye . . .

Real Ben Lyons!

Those of you who followed the link to Erik Childress' page about Ben Lyons yesterday will already know by now that there is a new player in the "Ben Lyons Hate Storm". This one is BenLyonsforreal, a fake-Lyons Twitter account that is pretty damn funny.

I actually first found out about this Twitter page--is it called a page, like a Facebook/MySpace page?--from Ben Lyons himself, who "Tweeted" about it to let people know that it was an imposter. Not sure why he thought we wouldn't figure that out ourselves--all he really did was let us know about this Twitter-er, who we very well may have never heard of otherwise.

Anyway, here are my favorites "Tweets" so far:

• I gave 17 Again a rating of "rent it" because it's easier to talk about how cute Zach Efron is when you're in your own home.
  
  
• State of Play is an amazing movie about staying relevant in newspapers...LOL/JK, who reads newspapers? It's like twitter for geezers.
  
  
• Who remembers Gummybears? That'd be a great film! Gummybears: Premiering here and there...and everywhere.
  
  
• Fast and Furious should be renamed "Best and Bestestest". It took literally dozens of people to make that movie!
  
  
• Inglourious Basterds is going to be a riveting thrill ride about men transformed by mustaches. Best WWII movie ever!
  
  
• Many people call me a visionary. I respond with, "are you famous? let's take a picture together"
  
  
• I'm a movie dude! What the fuck does that mean? I don't know but it's better than being some fat fuck who's partner is a dead bald fuck

Read the BenLyonsForReal Twitter page here

Dropping knowledge 140 characters at a time

What would an overhyped fad be withouth Ben Lyons jumping on the bandwagon? I don't know, but it wouldn't be Twitter, because Ben Lyons recently signed up.

The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.His screen name is iamBenLyons--possibly a reference to his favorite movie?--and he has taken to posting pictures of his father posing with famous people (see picture at the right, snagged before it was removed).

I apologize in advance for any misrepresentations of Twitter I might convey, since I have not really gotten into it. Twitter basically looks like Facebook minus the good parts. But suddenly the media are all a-Twitter over this latest fad, especially after a number of members of Congress got caught "Tweeting" during Obama's speech to their entire branch of government. Or rather, their staff members were caught "Tweeting", which is just as bad since the whole point is for a person to give their own personal commentary to a broad audience. You'd think that would be the end of it, but you would be wrong.

There is something quite amusing about Lyons, who has never written an article or film review that anybody can account for, signing up for a service that requires him to constantly put his thoughts to text. I was going to say that he should just put all his tweets together and call it an article and be done with it--but then I read them, which include the following nuggets of wisdom:

• Watching THE PERFECT STORM. John C can do balance comedy and drama as good as anybody. Who else?
  
  
• My LA TWEETERS!! At 630pm on ABC please check out 'At The Movies'. We've got reviews of SUGAR, FAST & FURIOUS, and DVD picks. What up Mank!?
  
  
• Efron told my Footloose didnt happen cuz he wants new roles, new challenges, and to stop with the dancing! For now at least...
  
  
• 'Sorority Row' crew just arrived. Trailer reminds me of I Know What You Did Last Summer..
  

Yes, these are copy-and-pasted quotes. We can only wait for the moment when Lyons is caught tweeting in the middle of a movie . . . anybody want to start a pool?