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Was Katy Perry simply following Miss Piggy's example?
I hesitate to even type the words "Katy Perry" today. The last thing I want is a morality argument to break out and ruin the parenting blog utopia that we've worked so hard to create. And even if I did, The Mommy Files beat me to this subject by about 10 hours.
dirtchic.typepad.com
Not safe for work?
But I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing the irony in the "Sesame Street"-pulls-Katy Perry/Elmo duet controversy. Because in my opinion, Miss Piggy could get way trashier than Katy Perry.
Since I was a kid and watched the first season of "The Muppet Show," I found Miss Piggy's tendency to show cleavage and a lot of leg to be a little unsettling -- which I always figured was Frank Oz and Jim Henson's intention with the character. I think Henson liked to challenge people in that way, whether he was gentling lampooning the motion picture industry or making a joke about someone wanting to dip Kermit's legs in batter and deep fry them. It would be just like the original Muppeteers to dress their pig character in revealing clothes to make a point about sexual politics.
Granted, "Sesame Street" is a show for younger children, never had Miss Piggy as a regular character and runs on a network that has oversight by the federal government. And Katy Perry is looking a little bit jiggly in that video. (I don't take issue with Perry's dress, but wonder if they really had to make her run around so much.) But a few complaints be damned, "Sesame Street" really should have taken an example from one of their all-time greatest contributors. Jim Henson always gave kids a lot of credit to be able to handle the sometimes less-than-politically correct content of his programs. Maybe "Sesame Street" should do the same.
A very racy Miss Piggy fantasy scene from "The Great Muppet Caper" is below. It's definitely not safe for work ... if you happen to work for one of the parents who complained about the Katy Perry thing.
Read More 'Was Katy Perry simply following Miss Piggy's example?' »| September 23 2010 at 04:32 PM
Our president knows nothing about the Hall of Presidents
My Chronicle colleague and fellow sci-fi geek Matt Stannard sent me this link earlier today, featuring President Obama recording audio for his entry in the Disneyland Disney World Hall of Presidents exhibit. There were several interesting moments, but the following question from Obama about the animatronic presidents really surprised me. (He was talking to the Disney people in the room.)
"Are these like wax figures or holograms? ... They're robots. Oh, that's kind of cool."
What the hell? Has Obama even been to Disneyland Disney World?
It's hard to imagine that on the election trail Barack Obama didn't once think "Holy crap! If I win this thing I'm going to be in the Hall of Presidents! I just hope they build me better than Lincoln." And I don't know of any kid who went to a Disney park with a parent cool enough to bypass the boring educational tedium of the Hall of Presidents or the similarly animatronic Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln exhibit at Disneyland. So my initial assumption was that Obama never made it farther than Sea World during his childhood vacations. Read More 'Our president knows nothing about the Hall of Presidents' »
| July 02 2009 at 04:02 PM
Layoffs on Sesame Street ... who should go?
I've debated for hours whether to write about the recent layoffs on "Sesame Street," mostly because of the karma-related implications. People who are facing layoffs probably shouldn't write satiric posts about people facing layoffs.
geocities.com
Telly gets the bad news.
Fictional characters, however, are fair game in any economic climate. So with the caveat that we think it really sucks that the historically excellent Sesame Workshop is going to lose staff, below are the inhabitants of "Sesame Street" who should get the axe before any human employees are considered.
One more serious note before we start: Stating the obvious, I can only hope that Grover has some sort of seniority protection. We all know that Elmo's been plotting to get rid of him for years. Hopefully he's already contacted his union steward (I'm guessing that would be Cookie Monster. He would be tough at the table during negotiations.)
Telly Monster: I'm actually a little concerned about what would happen to the depressed Telly if he got laid off. Assuming he can even get out of bed, can you imagine him in a job interview? Still, he's essentially duplicating the work of Oscar the Grouch. And Oscar isn't going anywhere ... Read More 'Layoffs on Sesame Street ... who should go?' »
| March 11 2009 at 04:42 PM
Which Muppet are you?
Please carve out some time in the next 24 hours to take this very unscientific quiz, which will let you know your spiritual counterpart in the Muppet world. I'm one of those people who zone out when someone tries to read me my horoscope, and I think most quizzes are bulls---. But this one was still fun, mostly because one of the answers to every question is "please don't hurt me."
quizilla.com
It could have been much worse ...
I'm satisfied with my result, which was Rizzo the Rat. I would have been happier with Rowlf or Dr. Teeth or even Kermit, but Rizzo is still the best of the post-"The Muppet Movie" characters. My test also revealed the following: "You have few friends, but are loyal to those you do have. Maybe if you didn't smell like sewage you would have more."
I'd have to say the first part is pretty accurate, and the second part may be as well (although I haven't received any complaints lately). Mostly I'm just happy that this thing didn't tell me I'm Fozzie Bear or Miss Piggy.
Please let us know your Muppet alter ego in the comments. If nothing else, this will pass the time, so we can retain our bragging rights as the only parenting blog in the universe not talking about the crazy octuplets lady today. (No, that wasn't an invitation ...) And thanks to sf2nycgal for tipping us off to this quiz in the comments of our latest Sunshine and Rainbows post.
| February 09 2009 at 04:16 PM
Emmet Otter and the Kermit controversy
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I just checked my DVR, and "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" doesn't play once between now and Christmas. I have something like 6,000 channels, which will probably feature "Home Alone 4" and "Santa Clause 3 -- The Escape Clause" 100 times over the next week and a half. But no Emmet Otter, Frogtown Hollow or Riverbottom Nightmare Band. This is the kind of oversight that I'm hoping will get corrected in the Obama administration.
I'll have to buy the DVD online, and hope it arrives in time. Unfortunately, the newest version is heavily edited, and doesn't include the Kermit the Frog parts. (Disney holds the rights to Kermit and most of the other Muppets.) Like all things we're not supposed to see, these missing bits have shown up on YouTube. You can also buy the old version on EBay, assuming you still have a VCR. Read More 'Emmet Otter and the Kermit controversy' »
| December 16 2008 at 08:08 AM
Are Bert and Ernie registered at Crate and Barrel?
At first I couldn't make out what my son was saying to his grandmother yesterday morning, pointing to his new "Ernie's Touchdown" Sesame Street picture book. My wife tried to keep from laughing, and told him to repeat himself.
baldiness.com
Get used to it.
"He is Ernie's part-i-ner," he said, pointing at Bert in the book.
That was my doing, and I'm not particularly sorry, although outing Ernie and Bert definitely wasn't premeditated. We used to share a babysitter with a lesbian couple who adopted, and he's had preschool classmates with gay parents, so the concept that some of his friends have two mommies or two daddies wasn't that unusual. But I still don't think he understood the concept of a gay partnership, in the sense that some men love men and women love women. So when he told me a few nights ago "Ernie lives with a friend who is yellow," I quickly blurted out "Yes, that's his partner Bert," and then explained all of the above.
Children's Television Workshop's official position has been that Bert and Ernie are "friends," and, you know, whatever. Clay Aiken kept telling people he was straight, and no one with any sense believed him either. But I'm definitely not trying to single out Ernie and Bert, who have weathered more than their share of closeted Muppet jokes. My conversation with my son could have just as easily been about C-3PO and R2-D2, or Statler and Waldorf, or Hannity and Colmes. In fact I wish it was one of those. Learning about domestic partnerships from Bert and Ernie seems kind of cliche. Read More 'Are Bert and Ernie registered at Crate and Barrel?' »
| September 24 2008 at 08:12 AM
The Muppets are Superbad
Last year while we were stalking Gonzo puppeteer Dave Goelz (including this video by my colleague Christopher Fong), he made reference to an exciting Muppets-related project.
"Startlingly enough, there is a really cool project that we can't tell you about," said Gonzo (or Goelz, depending on how seriously you want to take this). "It could be a year, two years, probably more like a year. Or it could just all fall flat, and then never happen. And then I might as well have told you."
crunchbang.org
Coming to a theater near you?
That project was announced a couple of months ago. Jason Segel (also known as That Dude From "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" ... also known as The "Knocked Up" Roommate Who Hit on Paul Rudd's Wife) will be co-writing a new Muppets script with another member of Judd Apatow's posse, "Sarah Marshall" director Nick Stoller. It's not as strange a pairing as it looks -- there was a puppet-related tie-in to "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," which is where Segel and Stoller apparently met the Henson people.
I already thought this was a good idea, but got even more excited when I read this recent interview of Segel posted on IGN.com. He wants to hire Paul Williams! And bring back all the cameos! And there will be no CGI!
I'm a big "The Muppet Movie" fan and liked a couple of the early sequels, but thought the last few movies had lost their way. If after all these years someone can pull off a new classic-looking Muppet movie, it would be the one of the most awesome things ever. Even better than this.
| June 19 2008 at 10:04 AM
Why is Cookie Monster eating carrots?
I'm beginning to think our national obsession with health is hurting our children. At least when it comes to explaining the Cookie Monster.
en.wikipedia.org
The cause of morbid obesity.
We don't watch "Sesame Street" around here, but Emmeline is obsessed with a Sesame Street picture book chock full of furry elephants and friendly monsters she likes to scream at. "ELM!" she shrieks. In my ear. It is not my favorite book.
But she seems to like it, along with an assortment of others from the Street. Whenever she gets to any page starring Cookie Monster, she points him out and screams her toddler version of "CARROT!" -- because, well, almost every time we see Cookie Monster, he is holding some type of healthy snack. In one of our Sesame Street books, he is munching carrot sticks in a "dream sequence" -- which I find particularly irksome because really, if Cookie Monster is dreaming do you think he'd be eating something healthy? Please. In another book, his lunch box is filled with fruit. What the hell?
He. is. a. COOKIE. monster! Read More 'Why is Cookie Monster eating carrots?' »
| November 20 2007 at 03:33 PM
A tribute to Lefty the Salesman
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The shafting of Grover has been a frequent topic on this blog. But playing Andrew Ridgeley to Elmo's George Michael isn't the worst fate for a Muppet. What about the beloved "Sesame Street" characters who have disappeared altogether?
Del Vigil and I talk about this a lot, and he's the guy to write definitively on the subject. One of my greatest hopes for this blog is to some day have a five-part series on Roosevelt Franklin.
I found a few recent videos of Lefty the Salesman, a classic "Sesame Street" character who I remember vividly, even though he was never a major star. He disappeared two or three decades ago -- I suspect because his criminal inclinations weren't popular with parents in the PSA-heavy 1970s. (Shady guy + trench coat = child molester.)
Too bad. He was pretty awesome. Read More 'A tribute to Lefty the Salesman' »
| October 25 2007 at 05:26 PM
Sesame Street classics: "Put Down the Duckie"
Someone mentioned the "Put Down the Duckie" segment on a previous post about classic "Sesame Street" videos. I was almost knocked through the living room wall by the relentless pop culture blast from 1988 (was that Mookie Wilson from the New York Mets?) and thought it deserved its own post.
Any video with John Candy, Jeremy Irons and Ladysmith Black Mambazo is worthy of our time. But mostly I'm frustrated because even though everyone looks familiar, I have no recollection who half these people are. It's like when you're walking through your old hometown, and keep seeing faces you half-recognize, but can't put a name to any of them.
I bestow The Poop commenter Hall of Fame status to anyone who can list every guest star in this video.
| September 12 2007 at 05:23 PM
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