Riding the coattails of the new Harrison Ford movie, a Seattle paper predictably ran this story about an obsessed Indiana Jones fan.

The genial and otherwise normal Kirkland man is a fan-extraordinaire of Indiana Jones and his celebrity alter-ego, Harrison Ford — and he’s got the movie posters, golden fertility idol, Indy pinball machine, miniature Ark of the Covenant, action figures and autographed photos to prove it.

It’s no longer surprising when I don’t know the subjects of these articles. Science fiction is the mainstream in America.

Once this type of thing was more uncommon, and I admit I did know the fan with the humongous collection of Star Wars stuff. And I had seen the fellow who changed his name to James T. Kirk and always wore gold velour shirts. Kirk also decorated his white Ford van to mimic a shuttlecraft, which attracted unfortunate attention from fascinated Canadian border guards when he drove to a Vancouver Westercon. They pulled him over to be searched while hundreds of other vehicles, including the van I was in, got waved right through.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the link.]