Friday, March 14, 2008

Me, Myself, & Bob




by Phil Vischer
subtitle: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables
Nelson Books, 2006

If you haven't heard of VeggieTales (in which two key players are Larry the lovable cucumber and Bob the tomato, his straight sidekick), I have to wonder where you've been for the last ten years. Me, Myself, & Bob is the fascinating story of their creator, Phil Vischer, and the spectacular rise and fall of his animation studio, Big Idea Productions Inc.

Phil Vischer grew up in small town Iowa, in a very religious Christian family. His grandfather on his father's side was a big businessman, and his mother's father was a pastor. A bit of a loner with a quirky sense of humour, Phil had a vivid imagination and a passion for audiovisual media and computers. Some of the technical detail in his book is lost on me, but he does write with the layperson in mind, I think, and certainly his wit comes through loud and clear throughout the telling of his tale.

The best part of the book apart from the overall "story" takes place in the last three chapters where Phil shares the lessons he learned from Big Idea's explosion and its following implosion. They are lessons we can all benefit from and apply to our lives. Though what Phil, his family and colleagues went through was painful and difficult, Phil finds that God does indeed produce beauty from ashes.

1 comment:

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