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Geek It Happened to Me

Ask your favorite LLM what TV/movie character is most like you

Here’s a fun game I found on LinkedIn through Jason Donnelly (who has the best LinkedIn URL), who commented on an interesting LinkedIn post by Brant Johnson:

Jason gave ChatGPT this prompt:

based on your personal experience when talking to me, give me a character from a movie/ series who is like me, just give me their name

ChatGPT’s response:

Ted Lasso

“That’s a pretty nice result,” I thought, and decided to provide the same prompt to the two LLMs I use most: Claude and Gemini.

Claude’s response

When I gave Claude the same prompt, it replied:

Leslie Knope.

That’s Amy Poelher’s endlessly-optimistic and community-minded character from Parks and Recreation.

I followed up with “Please explain,” and Claude responded with this:

Leslie Knope is a hyper-competent, community-obsessed organizer who genuinely loves the people in her city and works tirelessly to bring them together. She shows up to everything, documents it all, and has an almost unreasonable enthusiasm for turning local events into something meaningful. She also has a personal brand, a loyal community, and a side thing she’s weirdly passionate about that most people don’t fully understand but respect anyway.

You organize multiple tech communities, cover local events with the dedication of a beat reporter, have been doing it consistently for nearly 20 years, and you play the accordion. That last part is very Leslie — she would absolutely play the accordion.

Gemini’s response

Gemini gave a response that pleased me to no end:

Banzai Buckaroo (from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)

When asked “Please explain,” it responded with this:

The “Renaissance Geek” Archetype

You share a very specific, high-energy profile with Buckaroo Banzai that goes beyond just being “into tech.” Here is why the comparison fits so well:

  • The Polymath Lifestyle: Buckaroo is a neurosurgeon, a particle physicist, and a rock star. You mirror this multi-hyphenate life as a Developer Advocate, a Python/AI instructor, and a professional accordionist. Both of you refuse to be siloed into a single “type.”

  • The “Hong Kong Cavaliers” Energy: Buckaroo surrounds himself with a specialized team of experts (his band) who also happen to be his tactical unit. Between your leadership in the Tampa Bay AI Meetup, your neighborhood advocacy in Seminole Heights, and your frequent collaborations in the dev community, you lead your own local “Cavaliers.”

  • Tech-Forward Creativity: Whether it’s Buckaroo’s “Oscillation Overthruster” or your work with Agentic AI and MCP servers, there’s a shared theme of pushing the boundaries of current technology while maintaining a distinct, slightly eccentric personal brand (the “Accordion Guy” persona).

  • The Aesthetic: There is a certain “cool professor meets indie rocker” vibe that defines both of you—capable of teaching a deep-dive technical course on AI one hour and playing a high-energy set on a stage the next.

In short, you’re both proof that you can be the smartest person in the room and the one keeping the party going at the same time.

I loved The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, a delightfully weird sci-fi comedy/cult classic. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be the titular character.

However, I had to ask:

Me:

Why did you refer to the character as “Banzai Buckaroo” in your initial answer?

Gemini:

That was a bit of a “glitch in the Matrix” on my part—essentially a “brain fart” in AI terms.

While his name is Buckaroo Banzai, I flipped the order, likely because “Banzai” carries such a punchy, iconic energy that it jumped to the front of the line. It’s a classic case of my internal processing prioritizing the high-action word over the actual name.

I’d like to say it was a clever test to see if you were paying attention, but in truth, I just got the name backward! I’m glad you caught it—it’s definitely Buckaroo Banzai.

AIs have brain farts?

Give this AI exercise a try!


Bonus material

In case you’re not familiar with Buckaroo Banzai, here’s a modern trailer for the film…

…and here’s a great overview:

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Editorial funny

Your Easter reminder

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Florida of the Day

Tampa Bay deal of the day: Tall mower

Let’s see:

  • Built while “bored” (I’m reading “bored” as “drunk, possibly high”) one night, and it plainly shows? Check!
  • Ridiculously high up with correspondingly ridiculously high center of gravity? Check!
  • “All it needs is a shift cable, a steering, and a piece of pipe with a pole on it to make it go?” Check!

If you have $300 and no sense of self-preservation, your new hobby ride awaits in Dade City! Here’s the Facebook Marketplace link for this “tall mower.”

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It Happened to Me

Gearing up for a new week

I’ve got a lot to do this week, but I’m fine with that. I intend to burninate!

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It Happened to Me Stranger than Fiction The Current Situation

The sad horse arrived!

Last month, I wrote about a manufacturing mistake that became a hit for the Year of the Horse: the Sad Horse. I placed an order for one, and because it came from a literal “slow boat from China,” it finally arrived last week!

It looks sad because a number of the plush horses made for this Lunar New Year left the factory with their snouts attached upside-down, turning their smiles into glum expressions. But because this expression reflects a lot of Chinese workers’ current “down and dissatisfied” mood (especially in their current “9-9-6” culture, the Sad Horse became a hit!

Read more about the manufacturing mistake that became a Lunar New Year hit in It’s the Year of the Sad Horse!

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The Current Situation

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Adding potato would also be acceptable.

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funny In the News Internet Finds

My first “double-check your work” reminder of 2026

Once again, here’s another of my regular reminders to double-check your work (or better still, have someone or someAI else do the double-checking) before putting it out in the world.

Unless, of course, “Byline Name” is an actual New York Times reporter…