Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Guy With The Coconuts

So my youngest sister and I were filming some stuff today that won't be online until early October. We walked up the street to a pavilion thing that we wanted to take some footage at.
On our way there, Sarah (who was carrying the tripod and the camera, although I'd offered) said "I'm kind of like your guy with the coconuts." I laughed, but it was true enough.


Later, she said "No one thinks much about the guy with the coconuts. Except that it's actually kind of a fun job."


I found this immensely interesting. It's true enough. The main characters in stories are always the heroes. The people  interviewed by the news people are always the "heroes," or Big Important People. So much attention is turned toward the BIPs, that the sidekicks (the guys with the coconuts, so to speak) get overlooked. 


Like Ezra suggested about Paige in Ascension (that she shouldn't be the person who takes down the Officiator and their general society), sometimes its more interesting to view things from the sidelines. Hindsight is 20/20 (usually), yes, but is being a fly on the wall not also similar? Sure, you can't see all of the motivation and the hidden information, but there's a certain level of insight that comes from being removed from the situation.


Besides, where would Harry be without Ron and Hermione? Sure, they do a heck of a lot more than carrying Harry's baggage, but they're still sidekicks. These guys are important, and sometimes they don't get enough love from the authors.


Even though Paige isn't going to be a sidekick. She's a die-hard citizen of Mt. Nirvana. She's completely dedicated to what they do.


Then there's Colin, who very well could be the main character, except I find Reymfla more interesting, plus it started out from her perspective before I knew Colin very well.


The thing we were filming is rather cheesy, but also rather good. It's not a skit/movie trailer like I've done in the past. We sort of invented a talk show, except it's a joke, except we're serious. You'll see when I upload it. We even have a special theme song (although I need to design a cool opening title video sequence. Any ideas on what program I should use?).


It's difficult to write a blog post while listening to John Green add the words "In Your Pants" to the ends of book titles. It's also hard when Hank starts singing "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone (From Your Pants)." Oh, the early episodes of Brotherhood 2.0, how I've missed you. So much singing went on back then, and they were so awkward, but I loved them. (I recently found a zip file of segments of 50 of their first year of videos and have them playing in the background.)


"George W. Bush is so incompetent that he failed to to poop IN my pants, although he managed to poop NEAR my pants and then later stated that he had never intended to poop in my pants and that no one in his administration had EVER talked about pooping in ANYONE'S pants. After seeing his poop, I can report that it looks EXACTLY like bull shit. (To camera) Wow, those guys must be selling the President's war plan." - John Green in his short story "Everyone Poops In My Pants, by Hank Green"

2 comments:

  1. I love the early vlogbrothers videos! I've missed "Everyone Poops in My Pants." :D

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  2. I see Gryffon as the important guy with the coconuts. He's not the main character, not directly, but he's the one I want to be remembered the most--kind of like how the Mad Hatter is on so many Alice posters, but Alice herself is the central viewpoint.

    As of last night, he has taken up a guiding type of character, slightly similar to Halt the Ranger--only quite different.

    And I always liked the guy with the coconuts. :)

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