Personnel File Card
SUBJECT CODE NAME: SPACE MONKEY X
Real Name: Rob Lammle
DOB: pre-Reagan Administration
Place of Origin: A town of 1,500 white Protestants in Central Illinois
Current Base of Operations: A city of 57,000 mostly-white, mostly-Protestants near St. Louis, MO
Marital Status: Couldn’t Be Happier
Parental Status: Couldn’t Be Prouder
Current Occupation: Cartographer (No, really!)
Hobbies/Interests: Movies, Books, Amateur Pop Culture Historian, Collector of Stuff That His Kids Don’t Care About, Limited Palate Foodie, Dad Joke Teller
In a previous life, I wrote for Mental Floss Magazine, Mashable, wrote a single article for Entrepreneur Magazine, and did some copywriting and creative brainstorming for a handful of marketing campaigns that have long since been replaced. While at Mental Floss, I had quite a few stories go semi-viral, and some that were even reprinted on CNN.com.
I also had some of the best personal experiences of my life while writing for Mental Floss. This includes working directly with childhood heroes like Tom Ruegger, creator of Animaniacs and Tiny Toons, and Peter Laird, one of the co-creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for articles about their respective properties.
There’s also the time one of my stories helped dig up a very rare, very expensive video game that sold on eBay for $31,600. Sadly, I did not get a finder’s fee.
Despite all of these chances for success, my biggest “hit” to-date has been The Thing Read-Along Record Book. I decided it would be fun to make a read-along record book for films that would have never gotten a read-along record book, and the first one that came to mind was John Carpenter’s 1982 cult classic, The Thing. I got some friends to record lines, I used the film’s original score and occasionally the sound effects, and even put together a PDF record book so you could follow along. I made it it into a YouTube video and it made the movie geek news cycle for a few days, landing at big name sites like The Onion A.V. Club, io9, and Den of Geek, among others.
I also went viral with a tweet about one of the kids from Home Improvement. The internet is a weird place, man…
Today, I write for pleasure, I make board games that only my family will probably ever play, I make podcasts that no one listens to, and I like to collect stuff connected to my childhood that my kids will probably chuck in a Dumpster when I’m gone.
If you feel the need to reach me, try sending me an email.