I know somebody famous!!!

I was driving out to one of my local craft stores this afternoon, listening to public radio (WRVO, represent!), and Studio 360 was on. They were doing a show about youth (much like To the Best of Our Knowledge recently did, as I mentioned a couple posts ago). For part of that theme, they had a custom action figure made of the show's host. Pretty cool idea, right? Turns out I know the guy who made the action figure! No kidding! They were going on about how there's this company, Highly Flammable Toys, which is basically a one-man operation. It's this guy in Brooklyn who makes these custom action figures, to your specifications. And they said his name, Russ Tucker, and I was like, "I know that name!" And then Russ started talking, and I was like, "I know that voice! It's him!!" And now I get to be all gloating and proud, 'cause I know a guy who was interviewed on NPR for doing something really cool... Hee.

I know Russ from college - he lived down the hall from me in my dorm. He was, in fact, the guy I had a crush on my freshman year (I know, the freshman crush, how dorky can I get? But, seriously, look at him - scroll down, he's "the one with the beard" - obviously I'd be smitten. How could I possibly resist?). He was one of the guys behind this fantastic puppet show, The Day Room, on our college TV station. I was a cast member - my first ICTV experience (and one of my best ICTV experiences in general). It was just your average sitcom set in a mental health facility, only all the patients were puppets from children's shows, and they interacted with their human therapists. Okay, maybe it's kind of hard to explain, but it's really funny once you settle into the alternate reality (never a problem for me), and it was very well-written (no really! It won awards and stuff). Remember that show Greg the Bunny which was on Fox for all of three minutes? It was like that, only funnier. Russ was our puppet-making-master, and he also played the protagonist, Wenmouth, a little red puppet who was terrified of children (which made getting a job on a kids' TV show rather difficult for him). Even after I got over the embarrassing little crush thing, I still thought Russ was one of the coolest people on campus, and I'm really glad I got a chance to know him. The custom action figure thing seems right up his alley. If someone out there is doing it, I'm glad it's Russ.

I will, of course, be ordering my own action figure - once I've saved up the money. I figure that'll be right around the time I graduate from medical school (in, if all goes well, about seven years), because I'm anticipating being somewhat on the poor side until then. Naturally, custom action figures don't come cheap. But I do believe it's worth it. So if you want one, go, order one now! Tell 'im Madelaine from Maynard Hills sent you - see if it gets you anywhere. ;)