🪄 Inneresting #130 - If you believe that...
Movie magic, con-artistry, conspiracy, and world-building.
Jolson sang, Barrymore spoke, Garbo laughed, and now Kermit the Frog rides a bicycle. The Muppet Movie not only stars the Muppets but, for the first time, shows us their feet. And if you can figure out how they were able to show Kermit pedaling across the screen, then you are less a romantic than I am: I prefer to believe he did it himself.
— Roger Ebert, review of The Muppet Movie
You’ve got to believe
You make the rules - As part of a larger talk, Andrew Stanton explains the relationship between a solid premise and the audience suspending their disbelief. Robert Wood discusses the difference between writing toward realism versus verisimilitude.
Who convinces us to believe - Maria Nance looks at why Muppets make us want to believe they’re more than just puppets. Armaan Uplekar connects how a story’s point-of-view character can help a fictional world feel plausible. Beth Hill focuses on how fictional characters need to show they believe their world is real.
Building belief from nothing - Ben Carlson draws comparisons between Sam Bankman-Fried and notorious fraud, The Match King. Zach Mortice digs into an architectural conspiracy about a hidden, globe-spanning empire.
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Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Matthias Ott looks at the tug-of-war between working creatively vs. working efficiently.
Other Inneresting Things…
Molly Crabapple and Astra Taylor illustrate an argument about the need for a debt Jubilee.
Johnny Waldman highlights the Amaterasu Railway’s switch to biodiesel made from Leftover Ramen broth.
Tom Scott learns how the USPS deciphers unreadable addresses on mail.
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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