There are all sorts of places a story wants to go that you can't imagine at the time you create it.

When you create something, you want it to be epic, to have a life of its own. But to give it a life that's timeless you need to let others own it for themselves.

In this way, most epic stories move beyond their creator and become something Other.

For instance, Apple created the iPhone. But there are users who demand to use cool things, and developers who make cool things happen - together they make the iPhone epic.

People you don't know, people you've never even met, will pass on your story, but only if you hold it with an open hand. If you create something and say It's mine!, you come off like Gollum in a cave.

But real stories, true stories, stories with momentum, they take on a life of their own that is much bigger than us nitwits who create them.

This is why we at Lilipip have an affinity for stories like Knocking Live. Here's a little app that allows you to stream video from phone to phone, getting used in ways its creator hadn't even considered - deaf people are signing to each other, blind people stream a restaurant menu so a friend can read it to them, families are staying connected while separated by great distance.

And because these stories were bursting out of the platform box, Knocking Live followed its own story where it wanted to go -- by creating a cross-platform app, giving its users the ability to stream video between an iPhone and an Android phone.

The universe is full of recurring themes, and in this age of the mash-up, creators can't afford to hold their creations with a closed fist.

And with that being said, I give you APPATAR...

Like most websites, yours likely has two types of visitors.

First you have the regulars. They like what you have to offer - your product, your service, your concept. They keep coming back because they just love that thing you do.

These are the veterans.

Then there are people who have no idea who you are or what you do or whether you are worthy of their money and time. Maybe you were the fourth link down on a Google search, and now you have the moment, you own it, you better never let it go.

(Sorry. I really like Eminem.)

These are the virgins.

A one minute video about your product, concept, or service helps distill your Big Idea - gets it down to a succinct story to show what problem you are solving.

But a video isn't just for the virgins who come knocking. Sometimes you get a special kind of veteran, called a fan. They love what you do and want to hook you up with people you've never met.

They know virgins you don't know.

A video about what you do gives your fans an artifact to carry with them, something they can easily pass along to a virgin when you are not there.

Like a wingman, your video will always have your back. It will tell the story for you while you do other things, like tend to your veterans and convert them to fans.

Your video can go anywhere and play at any time. You could be brushing your teeth at 1am while someone is watching your video. You could be lunching with a potential investor while someone is watching your video. You could be freaking out about what to do with all this new business while someone is watching your video.

So the next time you wonder about the ROI on one of our animations, think about the all the virgins your video can reach while you take a nap after a sixty hour week.

p.s. Check out our latest animations here.

But still to this day, the highlight of Mike's career came as a sophomore in college.  Mike, a communications major, was on summer break and waiting tables at the Olive Garden in Mansfield, Ohio.   Through a chance meeting, in between breadsticks and lasagna, Mike was personally invited to the set of  Shawshank Redemption (being filmed just outside of town) to interview Morgan Freeman.  "The 30 minutes I spent with Morgan Freeman in his trailer on the set of that incredible movie was one of the greatest moments of my life."