Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Jan. 7, 1999, edition 1 / Page 17
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RELIGION e. * * ? Video series uses vegetables to teach Bible lessons By DEBRA HALE SHELTON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS . CHICAGO - When was the last time you saw a cucumber with bulging cheeks puffing on a tuba? How about a singing toma to 01; an airborne carrot with yel low pigtails and freckles? Make them Bible-thumping veggies, and you have the recipe for "VeggieTales," a series of wildly popular animated videos aimed at teaching children bibli cal stories and values. They're not the "The Prince of Egypt," but they are hot. Chica go-based Big Idea Productions, Inc., which produces the videos, has sold about 7 million copies since 1993 - 4 million this year - and has released three veggie music albums and six books. These brightly colored veg gies, who blend rhyming rap with silly tunes and a bit of blues, star in the top 10 selections on the Christian Booksellers Associa tion's video bestseller list. Among all children's videos - not just reli gious ones - four "VeggieTales" videos recently ranked in the top 30 sellers, according to VideoScan. The tales' hosts are the good hearted but gullible Larry the Cucumber and his big-eyed, wiser ? sidekick. Bob the Tomato. Larry and Bob - described by the company's founder as the "Abbott and Costello of the veg etable kingdom" - appear in all of the series' videos. Guest stars include the likes of 3-year-old Junior Asparagus; his best friend, Laura the Carrot; Madame Blue berry; and a zucchini portraying Moses. <*The veggies retell Bible stories like David and Goliath and the Good Samaritan in the hopes of teaching basic values like loving your neighbor and telling the truth. For example, "Rack, Shack & Benny" uses chocolate bunnies to retell the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abedncgo and the fierw furnace. The story shows evei7one else eating as much candy as they want and some get ting sick while Junior Asparagus remembers what his mother taught him and resists peer pres sure. Most of the stories come from the Old Testament because "We made a rule very early on that we would not portray Jesus as a veg ctable," said Phil Vischer, the founder of Big Idea and co-cre ator of "VeggieTales." Vischer provides the calming voice of Bob the Tomato, while Mike Nawrocki, writer and direc tor at Big Idea, provides Larry the' Cucumber's voice. , The videos are aimed at chil dren ages 3 to 9. But with spoofs of Monty Python, Dr. Seuss, "Gilligan's Island" and even "Madame Bovary," the tales also appeal to college students, who have begun holding "Veggi eTales" parties. 3 "It almost has like a cult fol lowing among college students," said Tim Burton, manager of Baptist Bookstore in Chat tanooga, Tenn., where 1,200 peo ple turned out to watch the "Madame Blueberry" video when ? it was released last summer. That day, Burton sold about 500 copies of "VeggieTales" videos, which now number 11 and run about 30 minutes each. Like other retailers, the store also offers veggie paraphernalia toys, stationery, ties, postcards, diaries and more. Christian Taylor of the Chica go suburb of Wheaton said her 2 year-old son is "addicted" to "VeggieTales." "He asks me to watch 'Veggi .eTales* all the time" and dances to ' the music, she said. Her 8-year old son understands the videos' value discussions and watches "them over and over again." Vischer, 32, thinks the videos, which sell for $12.99 to $14.99 each, are popular because "Par ents are just really excited to see something that really reflect^ their values and they can trust." The popularity is reflected ih his company's growth - from a staff of six or so in 1994 to 70 now. Big Idea also has expanded its sales,, now offering some of the videos in mass-market stores instead of just Christian book stores. As for Bob the Tomato, he lets the audience know he's clearly sold on the series when he recites the opening lyrics to the show's theme song. "If you like to talk to toma toes, if a squash can make you smile, if you like to waltz with potatoes up and down the pro duce aisle, have we got a show for you," he sings as Larry the Cucumber makes not-so-lyrical music on his tuba. Convicted arsonists make video for Wee Department THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MOBILE, Ala. - Five young people convicted of burning a rural black church in southwest Alabama appear in a videotape prepared for the Justice Depart ment that warns youths around the country about the penalties for arson. The five whites, who were between 18 and 21 years old at the time of the fire, were convicted in federal court for burning the St. Joe Baptist Church on July 3, 1997. The stiffest penalty went to Alan Odom, who got 15 years under a federal arson statute that had been recently strengthened after a rash of church burnings, some racially motivated. Odom said race wasn't a motive for the fire. "We did it, I guess, just trying to act macho," he said. "Fifteen years - it's hard to get up and face every morning," Odom says on the video made by Trident Productions Inc. of Charleston, S.C. Trident selected the case and shot the film earlier this year. The film also includes a Florida case. Michael Woods and Odom set the fire, according to testimony "I just wanted to fit in with everybody else," Woods said. "I didn't want to be a weenie, I guess I'd rather be called a weenie every day than be locked in here. I don't care what you call me." Woods, Odom and three others -"Jeremy Boone, Brandy Boone and John Kenneth Cumbie - all bbgan federal prison terms last year, their sentences ranging from 41 months to the 15 years given to Odom. The Justice Department com missioned the $75,000 video, titled "Burned: The Consequences of Juvenile Arson," and plans to dis tribute 10,000 copies to -high schools all over the country, said Carol Winfield with the Justice Department. . - "Obviously, weYe going to have to target some areas," where teens have committed arson, especially involving churches, she said. "Many teens aren't aware that arson is a crime They think, 'Oh, we'll just set a fire,'. " said Pat Mieszala, a nurse who specializes in burn cases and who is a consul tant for the film. "The video points out a couple of things. It's not something to goof around with. You don't have to be the one to light the match to get in trouble." The St. Joe arsonists were interviewed in prison, with the exception of Jeremy Boone, who was still free on bond at the time. Odom, Woods and Cumbie are seen sharing the same small cell in Baldwin County, eating and play ing cards. Brandy Boone was interviewed in a Tallahassee, Fla., prison. According to testimony, she used a racial slur in encouraging the group to set fire to a black church. She was pregnant when she began her sentence. "I won't get to see my baby. I'll have to come back here," Boone said. "If I don't get out next year, he or she will probably be two years old when I get out." Cumbie's lawyer Dennis Kniz ley said the five contributed to the video voluntarily and they do not anticipate a break in their sen tences for helping. ? KTSTV| ???wl^B ^KRV^Ev^VITS^En I ^K9 BT^^KmU&mVfl 11 ? H ? H ?H <? ? ? ^^^^HBiffVHSilVw^^VwuuRifllEuT^^^^il aiiVil^^^^^H t ? ? ? H I (
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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