So I’m watching Bored to Death on HBO, the new film noir/comedy series starring Jason Schwartzman. We had recorded several episodes on our DVR, and my husband was zipping through the in-between filler stuff to get to the next episode, when I yelled “STOP!!!”

Him: “What?”
Me: “Was that a Twitter quote I just saw on the screen?”
Him: “What do you mean?”
Me: “I mean instead of quoting a movie critic about this series, they quoted a tweeter.”

Ken cycled back through the previous frames, and sure enough, there it was:

@plectrude's review

Who or what is “plectrude”? A new arts magazine? A grandmother from Sheboygan? The pimply teen across the street? I decided to find out. I looked up the @plectrude account on Twitter, which said it was a person in Romania with 33 followers. Ken suspected it was a front for HBO. I sent them the following tweet:

Shortly afterward, I got a reply:

@thepegisin yes, I know. they asked for my permission :) thank you so much for that still. is it ok if I post it on my blog? :D

I said of course, and later found this blog post. If her bio is accurate, @plectrude is a 23-year-old woman from Romania. You can read more about her at her blog, potential hikikomori.

Or she’s a front for HBO, and I fell for it. You decide.