Fakers

Sometimes it’s good to be a faker, sometimes it’s not.

James Campbell has shown up in full firefighter’s uniform at the World Trade Center, various train wrecks and wildfires, even at hurricane Katrina. But Mr. Campbell is a faker. Over the weekend Mr. Campbell was arrested for impersonating a fireman.

In Finland, Ochi Yosuke received kudos and a $3,400 first prize for winning the Air Guitar World Championship. Here it pays to be a faker: winning the real thing, for example, the International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship, only netted the winner $3,000.

At the MTV awards Britney Spears was unable to pull off being a faker, flubbing the lip-sync to her new song “Give Me More.”

But when they’re good, fakers make very good money and achieve great fame, especially when they’re actors. Keanu Reeves made over $150 million from The Matrix Reloaded and Bruce Willis $100 million from The Sixth Sense. Talk about gender income disparity: Julia Roberts tops the actress payday with only $25 million for Mona Lisa Smile.

Still, she did a lot better than James Campbell, who now faces felony charges and jail time, and Britney Spears, who faces public humiliation.