I am not Corey Feldman

Let me begin by being clear about this — I am not Corey Feldman. We happen to share the same birthday, but indeed, I am not Corey Feldman.

Around 2004, strangers were saying the following to me with increasing frequency: “You know. You sort of look like Corey Feldman.” I’d have a good laugh each time it happened, and eventually started using the acquisition that I looked like Corey Feldman to have my own bit of fun. The pinnacle moment being when it happened while I was at a small bar in Ashland, Wisconsin.

A man had spotted me from across the bar and must have made the comment to his friends that I looked like Feldman. The friend of the man came over and told me that the man had made the comment about me looking like Corey Feldman. Pouncing on the opportunity for comedy, I walked over to the man, shook his hand and said “Hi. I’m Corey.”

The reaction I received was simply amazing.

Flickr Tagging

Having fun with partially intoxicated people isn’t the point of this post though. The point is illustrate how the use of captions & titles can have a powerful effect when you are sharing your photography on sites like Flickr.

During the height of the you look like Corey Feldman craze, one of my friends did something very simple. She took a snap shot of my while I was at her house. Later she posted that picture on Flickr. Keeping up with the joke that I was really Corey Feldman, she titled and tagged the photo with the term Corey Feldman.

Two years later, something happened. Something that still gives me deep gut laughs. Something that I still think of as being one of the best Internet events to ever happen to me.

I am Corey Feldman?

In 2007, the parenting website parentdish.com ran an article about Corey Feldman and Corey Haim titled The Coreys are back: I feel old (but happy!).

The amazing part of the Corey article was that the included photo of the author’s favorite Corey, wasn’t a Corey at all. It was the photo of me that my friend had posted to Flickr, and had tagged with the term ‘Corey Feldman.’

The power of Flickr and its tagging ability has spoken. Because of it, I am now 78% certain that Corey Feldman wants me dead for taking away some of his glory. Sorry for stealing your glory Feldman. Should we need to fight to the death over this to leave the world with the one true Corey, hit me up and we’ll arrange a competition.