At the VMAs, Miley Cyrus turned the entire nation into the high school principal from Footloose. And that’s sort of strange since people the same age as her can be seen performing every manner of sex act on every computer and phone on the dominant media of our age, the Internet. You know, the medium kids actually care about. So why is a higher value placed on Miley Cyrus’ chastity than young adults doing a lot more obscene things online than twerking? Is it because she’s a former Disney princess and some people had projected dreams of their own onto her? In addition to getting as much attention as possible, Cyrus acted out the way she did because she doesn’t want to live inside anyone else’s dreams, yours or Walt Disney’s. She wants to live her own dreams, which may be even worse, but at least they’re hers. In some ways, that’s healthier than people who play the game, maintain the facade, their whole lives.

So while I seem to be the rare person to think Miley backing her ass up isn’t akin morally to Assad using chemical weapons, I did have one great concern: What if one of those gigantic, drugged-out bears on the stage ate her? That would truly be horrible. But it turns out they were only people in bear costumes. Whew! Artist Todd James, who created the grizzly-on-molly designs, is profiled in a short piece by Stephanie Chan in the Hollywood Reporter. The opening:

“It’s clear that people were, uh, unhappy with Miley Cyrus‘ performance during MTV’s VMAs this year. However, one of the more memorable aspects of her shock-and-awe-inducing performance was the crew of massive, cartoonish teddy bears on stage. 

The man behind the sleepy-eyed beasts is New York-based contemporary artist Todd James, who began his career with graffiti, a 17-year-old tagging in the New York City subway system under the moniker REAS. His past work includes designing the Beastie Boys’ Brooklyn Dust Elephant emblem, as well as creating The Source magazine’s logo.

While James’ work is typically focused on colorful paintings and installations with a slight Japanese street-art bent, he told The Hollywood Reporter how his moment of grizzly VMA greatness came about — and how the 20-foot-tall background bear, 12 bubble-gum pink dancing bears and six twerking bear suits came to life.”