Nxt Blog Index
February 25, 2009
25 (Mostly Fake) Things About Me

Trends, fads, memes, whatever you want to call them, can be an ugly and tragic thing. Sure, they seem fun at first. We all laugh the first time we're Rickrolled or see a rip-off of LOLCATs.
But the "25 Things About Me" explosion that has threatened to pull the Internet into a black hole has become an interesting - and bizarre - phenomenon.

We've gotten to the point where the inevitable backlash against 25 Things has gone from funny to boring and almost cliche.

(Do we all really want to know more random bits about each other? Will this be good for anything other than obscure trivia or potential blackmail?)

Still, I would feel I've failed you as a reader, no, a true friend, if I did not share these things with you. Besides, it's not often I get to just make stuff up when I'm writing.

So here before you is a list of 25 Mostly Fake Things About Me. The catch is that five of these things are actually true. Spot the truth and call it out in the comments.

25. I have dual citizenship in Canada. I only say I am from Minnesota to cover up my shame.

24. The first Halloween costume I chose for myself as a child was Morris Day of The Time.

23. I once got beaten up by Bernie Brewer, the Milwaukee Brewers mascot, who was on a smoke break.

22. Eating a pound of bacon makes my skin smell like Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

21. I was in a Super Bowl pre-game show.

20. I've been able to grow a beard since the age of 10.

19. I thought Edmund Muskie was the brand name for cheap gin before I moved to Maine.

18. I am the author of a screenplay about the life of a journalist. It's titled "For the Love of the Obit" and is a cross between "Remains of the Day" and "Turner & Hooch"

17. The film "E.T." scares the living crap out of me.

16. The first concert I ever went to was Steve Winwood. I was 8 years old and I cried.

15. As a kid I learned how to ride a bike on the streets of Amsterdam.

14. I am a Ferroequinologist.

13. I was once the drummer for a band called "Blunderbus." The band dumped me and would later become "Semisonic."

12. My mother gave me the middle name Eugene because she is a fan of Gene Hackman.

11. I've fallen asleep while covering news conferences.

10. I forgot to vote for Governor of Minnesota in 1998.

9. I have no feeling in my left index finger thanks to a deep fried cheese curd accident at the Minnesota State Fair.

8. I own a recliner once owned by the CEO of Best Buy.

7. The sound of Lou Dobbs' voice is comforting to me.

6. I once drove around the town of Standish looking for a lake home reportedly belonging to Tom Brady.

5. I was a teenage member of the Legion of Superheroes. My codename was "Diabetes Boy."

4. I think "They Live" is the best movie ever made.

3. My love of bacon was born out of a choking experience with a Jimmy Dean sausage pattie as a kid.

2. My first career in newspapers was as a cartoonist.

1. I am TC Munjoy.


Posted by at 04:09 PM

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Comments

I actually love reading the (real) "25 things" lists. But then again, I also enjoy hearing people relate their dreams, so I guess I'm just weird. Also, I have no idea which of these are true!

Posted by Liz
February 25, 2009 05:10 PM

24 is true. I've seen photos, or at least there is a really vivid mental picture of this that looks like a photo.

You, too, can see Justin bust a move at the next Miss Fairchild show. It's where all things Morris Day live and thrive.

Posted by Mookie
February 25, 2009 06:43 PM

My True guesses

- YOU'RE MUNJOY! I should have guessed!...actually I figured it was that disgruntled former employee guy about the spiked BUSH scoop, but guess not...or else maybe Gary Remal?

- You're a 1/2 Canadian citizen

- "They Live" IS the greatest movie ever...Roddy Piper was great and then that gag near the end when the now visibly alien alien says "what's wrong, baby" to the woman sure was funny.

- You were Morris Day for Halloween

- Plus that Brady thing sounds like a time waster that an editor would send a reporter after.

Posted by M C Gashouse
February 25, 2009 09:27 PM

#18 is false. The screenplay is much more like Tango & Cash. Other than that, they are all completely true. Especially #22.

Posted by boffo
February 26, 2009 08:09 AM

True-
24
15
17
11
8
How did I do?

Posted by JEB
February 26, 2009 02:21 PM

I know #2 is true.
I bet #6 is true.
I'm sure #11 is correct.
I think 10 might be true too.
And I'll say #21 for the fifth.

Posted by Head
February 26, 2009 03:12 PM

Liz - You gotta try harder than that

Mookie - False. And sadly I'll miss the Miss Fairchild show this weekend because of work.

Keep trying people!

Posted by Justin Ellis
February 26, 2009 03:13 PM

I know the correct answers but not sure if it is fair for family play this game! Your life may have been more interesting if some of the others were true!

Posted by Auntie
February 26, 2009 06:27 PM

Turner & Hootch...is that near madawaska?

Posted by yamo
February 26, 2009 07:21 PM

5 more (mostly fake) things about Justin:
1. 1st shaving experience was trimming the ends of eyebrows off.
2. After staying up all night, insisted on driving himself from Mpls. to Columbia MO to begin college career.
3. 1st animal as a child was a kitten to prepare him for future cleaning up of liter box for his dog.
4. As a four year old was forgotten to be picked up by aunt at daycare.
5. Attended the same high school as Prince.

Posted by Auntie
February 26, 2009 08:04 PM

I cannot confirm or deny the veracity of those 5 additional things about me. I should have planned for family involvement in this.

Posted by Justin Ellis
February 26, 2009 09:18 PM

Hey kid wish i had read this last week
and sorry auntie it wae not price but mat dillon .But u did forget him at the daycare wounder why? the 5 things are really only 4 it was not the strees of Amsterdam but Harrlem
lub ya
mom

Posted by victoria Ellis
March 3, 2009 01:23 PM

OK so are you going to tell us the answers or not?

Posted by M C Gashouse
March 4, 2009 09:13 AM

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Justin is a former newspaper intern and has the scar tissue to prove it. Justin has been a staff writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram since 2003, and in 2004 began writing a weekly column in the Monday Magazine.

If he had to pick a label, the column would fall under "youth culture," covering everything from high school dance etiquette, dealing with college debt, the resurgence of Roller Derby and Portland's one-of-a-kind music scene. This of course has not stopped him from answering letters to Santa Claus or writing about his experience riding shotgun in a drift car.

Justin is an export from the Midwest. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri and is originally from Minnesota. He enjoys bacon, cheap beer, redheads, Burt Reynolds jokes and wondering what the soundtrack to his life would sound like.

When he grows up he wants to be an international art thief. Or Captain America.

Until then he'll be bringing you dispatches about "the young people" and what they do.






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Bring on the Tights: Free Comic Book Day
Celebrating Vinyl at Enterprise Records
The NXT Roundtable: The economy & doughnuts
South by Southwest Interactive: Talking with Jay Smooth
The Night at Greendrinks
The NXT Roundtable
Day at the Newseum
Subject Bias: How to Feel
ROFLing with "Stuff White People Like"
Geekspeak with Pop Candy
A Green Eye for Fashion
Not My Job
What's next for Justin Alfond
Sittin' down with Stew n' Crew
Lessons with the Portland Music Foundation
Catching up with Opportunity Maine
Discussing Freedom Space
Spinout's Class of 2007
Free for All in Space
Flipping Records: WMPG's Annual Record Sale
An evening at the MECA art auction
Beats, award shows and life with Mike Clouds
The NXT Halloween Special
Chat with Davy Rothbart of FOUND Magazine
When Turtles Make Love *Warning: mature material
Derby night in America
The debut of Halo 3
A sit down with Santiago




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