I'm sure most of you out there have either seen or heard of the movie National Lampoon's - "Van Wilder" starring the always slutty Tara Reid and the almost really funny Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds plays Van, a college senior in his 7th year who is the beloved "big man on campus" hosting parties galore, solving everyone's problems, and is generally well respected by the entire student body. Check out the full plot summary here if you are interested.

The movie of course is fiction... or is it? The University of Wisconsin has their own real life Van Wilder in the form of 12th year college senior Johnny Lechner. The odd thing is about the perpetual slacker, Lechner has parlayed his life as a perpetual student into a lucrative personal brand. He's currently recording his 5th CD, beginning his first of two books, preparing a graduation speech, and still finds time to party with his friends. He has been featured on various TV programs such as Late Night with David Letterman, Good Morning America, and Inside Edition. See the New York Times article here. The National Lampoon offered him a job after graduation, and to pick up the tab for Johnny's upcoming year of school and sponsor his graduation party.

Now I'm certainly not impressed by a 12th year undergrad, but unlike the fictional Van Wilder he's at least accomplished some things in his decade-plus in school. You can check out some of his accomplishments here at the bottom of the page.

I haven't been able to find any documentation that Lechner was the actual basis for Van Wilder, but they do bear a slight resemblance to each other:

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:56 PM