Guest Post! Casey Miller pt. 2

And now, the epic conclusion to...
"Idolatry and Identity as Illustrated by The Muppets"

IDENTITY-

Let me start this next section, which I promise will tie back to the first, with another analogy to the Muppets. This time I want you to consider Elmo, and his Puppet master Kevin Clash. Now, Kevin Clash was not the first to control Elmo. You can watch episodes from before he came on and see for yourself. It is a strange thing to watch. I find myself thinking "WHAT! That's not Elmo! Who IS that? Some imposter, I'd wager!" When someone else controls Elmo, he still looks and maybe even acts a little like Elmo, but he is not Elmo. This can even be seen, though not as obviously, in the new Muppet movie. Most of the original puppeteers and writers are gone. While Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the rest all look and act like they used to, there is something missing. They're just people with a puppet on their arm trying to ACT like Kermit or Miss Piggy. While they may do a pretty good imitation, it's still just a copy; a vestige of what the original actors and writers created. Elmo is only Elmo on the arm of Kevin Clash, Kermit is only Kermit on the arm of Jim Henson and Miss Piggy is only Piggy on the arm of Frank Oz. 

The Junkyard Pt. 2

“And every time the herald Cherub sings we rattle with the car parts” – Page France

Charlie never liked being short. He never particularly liked the way people were (literally) looking down at him. He was just as able as other kids; in fact he was incredibly athletic. He could climb rope twice as fast as Jake and when you really think about it he would have to do twice as much work because he’s nearly half Jake’s size. So, adjusting for inflation, Charlie was the best rope climber by nearly 4 times… but Charlie hated math.

The real real REAL real problem with Joseph Kony and Invisible Children

I figured I'd write a post about all the controversy so that I can consider myself a real blogger. So here it is:

Guest Post! Casey Miller Pt. 1

I have been pestering my good friend Casey Miller to write an post for this blog basically since it started (which was really only 4 months ago, crazy!) Now he has finally followed through and in spades! He gave me such a comprehensive post that I figured I'd split it in two pieces and ration out the awesomeness. It will probably be another 4 months before you get a post of this awesomeness so take it in stride guys. And without further ado...

Idolatry and Identity as Illustrated by The Muppets

All throughout my childhood, the Muppets have been instrumental in my development. In fact, one could argue that without the Muppets, I might not even exist. You see, my parents first date was to see the Muppet movie. If their first date had been, say, skydiving, I might be a 6 foot tall 20-year-old named Whiz, or a lady soccer player named Nance. Really, I could have been anything, because we have no idea what happens when someone changes even the smallest piece of history. None of this, however, is relevant, because I am me, and in some large or small but nevertheless significant way, I am who I am because of the Muppets. My parents had Christmas ornaments of Kermit and Miss Piggy on our tree every year since before I was born, I watched Sesame Street and reruns of The Muppet Show all through my younger years, and no Christmas season is complete without the ceremonial watching of "A Muppet Christmas Carol". I grew to love the characters, the humor, the silliness, and the heart that is so evident in the Muppets, and it is these things that lead me to my passion for sculpture and puppetry today. 

The Junkyard pt. 1

"You, me, and all the kings and queens. Buried in The Junkyard."- Page France

“Here’s the problem with math class. It’s basically a waste of time. I got it back in Algebra, it was like ‘how do I solve this crazy life problem’ but now it’s like Geometry and I’m like, ‘I’m not building a tree house or anything anytime soon so I should be fine’ and I’m pretty sure Ms. Franklin hates me or something cause she moved me away from Marlene, and I know she has a weird name, but whatever she’s kind of cute, ya know? And Ms. Franklin embarrassed me in front of the class and was like ‘stop flirting and come up to the front Mr. Serrano’ it’s just rude is all, ya know?”

“I’ll give you 5 bucks to climb that tree.”

Some Nights.

"So this is it? I sold my soul for this? I washed my hands of that for this? I miss my mom and dad for this? No. When I see stars, when I see stars that's all they are but when I hear a song it sounds like a swan."
-Fun. "Some Nights"

I sat down with Kate last night and I asked her a really tough question.

"What do you want?"

Conflict and Story

So here's a little bit of Homework to start of this post:
First, watch this-
http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story.html


Andrew Stanton is one of my favorite writer-directors, mostly because Wall-E is one of the best movies ever made. Excuse the language in the first joke but otherwise enjoy the video liberally!


Then read this post from Donald Miller-
"All great stories pass through conflict. The most boring characters are non-confrontational."


We are authoring our stories right now.