Learning is Fun!: The Mexican Jumping Bean
Oh, British people! You can even make something so boring (but intriguing!) as a lesson about why the Mexican Jumping Bean jumps at all exciting! This video from the BBC show “Weird Nature”, via The Awl, is best experienced as every British-produced documentary is best experienced, after a hearty ingestion of hallucinatory drugs.
The lesson is fun enough – Spoiler: Something’s living inside of the beans! – but I’m just curious as to what the production meetings behind the video were like:
Producer: “I got it! We’ll use toys to show the various attributes of the Mexican Jumping Bean.”
Assistant: “Um, why?”
Producer: “Because the Mexican Jumping Bean is literally the ‘toy’ of nature!”
Assistant: “Okay …?”
Producer: “Also, I’m a little short this year and need to get my kid’s Christmas presents from somewhere.”
Assistant: “I’ll get F.A.O. Schwartz on the line.”
And scene!
About Rick Mosely Rick is the editor for TSB magazine.