'Bad Day' Net hero hails from Durango Copyright © 1998 The Durango Herald. All rights reserved. Herald/Jerry McBride VINNY LICCIARDI clowns around Tuesday at Loronix Information Systems south of Durango. June 8, 1998 By Lewis McCool Herald Technology Editor Is Letterman in Vinny Licciardi’s future? The anonymous star of the Internet hit video "Having a Bad Day?" has emerged from obscurity to claim more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame. He’s become a Net icon. "It’s incredible. It’s a trip. I feel like a Web superstar," Licciardi, 35, said in a telephone interview Monday. It all started with a promotional CD-ROM made nearly three years ago by his employer, Durango’s own Loronix Information Systems. Two or three months ago, someone extracted a 25-second video clip showing an angry worker bashing his computer and posted it on the Web where it quickly attracted an international cult following among cubicle dwellers of the Dilbert Age. Details will follow, but if you’re sitting at your computer, pick a search engine, Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot or whatever, and key in "badday." Chances are you’ll be directed to Licciardi’s staged rage. "It’s a funny, funny clip," he said. The chain of events that made Licciardi a cult hero came as a surprise to all involved. "It was just a clip in a sales CD," he said. "We just needed something to record." So to demonstrate the company’s digital video security system, Licciardi, Loronix’s shipping manager, became an actor. He also stars in a staged robbery, tossing computers into a truck, and as an employee faking a worker’s compensation claim. But those clips have yet to attract a broad audience. The Wall Street Journal printed an article on the phenomenon Friday: "A Mysterious New Hero Emerges in the Battle of Man vs. Machine." After a tip from the wife of a Loronix official, a Journal reporter called the company for confirmation Saturday and disclosed Licciardi’s identity in the Monday edition: "Computer Basher’s Identity on Internet Is Revealed." The article sported a Durango dateline. Licciardi appeared live on CNBC’s "Power Lunch" investment program Monday after the show featured the anonymous bashing clip Friday. Loronix flew "Mr. Bad Day" on the corporate jet to the NBC affiliate in Albuquerque for Monday’s telecast. He was scheduled to appear on the network’s "Equal Time" program Tuesday night. The show is hosted by Bay Buchanan, sister of commentator and presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Several Web sites are dedicated to Licciardi’s video, including versions in French, Spanish, Dutch and German, and online chats have debated the validity and the source of the clip. The clip is a popular e-mail attachment, making the rounds with office workers around the world. The original five-megabyte version has been reduced to less than 500 kilobytes and is widely available on the Web. For the moment, a link is available from the CNBC homepage (www.cnbc.com). Loronix officials love the publicity. "We are quite happy," said Chief Financial Officer Jon Lupia. "There’s an awful lot of free publicity." While the publicity hasn’t dramatically boosted the company’s stock price, the volume of shares traded has soared. Tuesday, the company announced a deal to provide the department store division of Dayton Hudson with its surveillance system, so the financial impact of the Licciardi revelation has been hard to determine, Lupia said. Still, the publicity has spread the name of Loronix – and Licciardi – around the globe. "It’s pretty wild," Licciardi said. Now he’s waiting for David Letterman or Jay Leno to call. A guest spot on "Ally McBeal" would be nice, too. (A typical Web site dedicated to the Licciardi clip is http://wwwcn.cern.ch/~rigaut/badday.html.)