Why is the Judge called the Judge?
No clue. It just sounded good.

Is there a real life precedent for the kind of hoax that Scott's proposing?
None that I'm aware of.

Where did you get the idea for the hoax?
Back in 1998, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal first broke, I initially wondered if maybe it was a clever ploy by the Clinton handlers to upstage and ultimately defuse the Paula Jones crisis. My theory didn't last very long.

Hunta readily dismisses the possibility that Tupac faked his own death. I assume you feel the same way?
Let's just say I won't be wearing any "2Pac Lives" T-shirts anytime soon.

Look, in order for Tupac to fake his own death, the conspiracy/hoax would have involve over a hundred people, including many members of Death Row Records, the Las Vegas Police Department, the hospital where Tupac "died", the county coroner's office, and a whole mess of other key organizations. And it would have to be planned out months, if not years, in advance. Is it impossible? No. It's just not very likely.

On page 113, Hunta insinuates that Tupac's murder was arranged and/or perpetrated by the Notorious B.I.G. You agree?
There are all kinds of conspiracy theories floating around about this, and even a documentary or two. Personally, I'm skeptical. But what do I know?

What's the significance of Madison being born on Black Monday?
None to me, but Madison seems to make an awfully big deal about it.

Scott tells Madison that the U.S. is only six percent of the world's population, and yet we consume 57% of the world's advertising. Where did you get this figure?
I got it from The Age of Propaganda, an excellent book by Eliot Aronson and Anthony Pratkanis. They, according to footnotes, culled it from various issues of American Demographics magazine, plus information from the 2000 U.S. Census.

On page 122, Scott highlights three ads from an old issue of Brandweek. Are those real ads?
They were. The first two (for The Learning Network and Tripod) were pulled directly from a 2001 issue of Brandweek. The MTV ad ("Buy This 24-Year-Old and Get His Friends Absolutely Free") was taken from Jean Kilbourne's terrific book, Can't Buy Me Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel.

Why is Madison so determined to get away from her mother?
Although Scott doesn't learn it until much later in the book, Jean is in the middle of a nasty divorce with Madison's stepfather. As such, things are pretty damn tense in the Spelling/McKnight household.