What a great gag, to see Scooter whisked away from his new cushy Google job in The Muppets. With that scene, it seems like we’re finally getting a mini-comeback for the bespectacled gofer.
But really, I didn’t see this coming.
The TED Conference is going on right now, and none other than Scooter himself has made an appearance. As a presenter. You can’t make this stuff up. Here’s a description of his presentation according to the TED Blog:
On stage at TED2012 — the “Academy Awards for nerds,” as he put it — Scooter laid out his question: “Can Tactile Icons Survive in an Integer-Driven Environment?” In other words, MUPPETS vs. CGI! (Or “Formulas vs. Felt.”) In a breathtaking intellectual throwdown only a 2-foot-high Muppet could deliver, Scooter laid out a series of trenchant arguments that demolished the notion that computer-generated characters have surpassed puppets:
-CG can do 3D? Muppets have always been 3D.
-CG can do motion capture? Hand moves, puppet moves. Motion: captured.
-Artificial intelligence? “In all the years I’ve been with the Muppets, we’ve never done anything intelligent, artificial or otherwise.”
If we’re lucky, full video of Scooter’s appearance will show up soon. In the meantime, let’s just bask in the notion that something like this has actually happened in our lifetimes. Amazing.
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
