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So, Duke fell to North Carolina last night. I now have no one to cheer for in this tournament. Kansas always seemed too overhyped to me, and they beat Villanova yesterday. Or maybe I'll root for UNC tomorrow night just because they're still from my neck of the woods.
Mike Krzyzewski made a mistake in announcing his retirement well before the season. He should have waited until after the tournament. Instead he made this entire season about himself and his ego. When it should have been about the players and the program in general. He fell victim to hubris, and I
really thought more of him.
Even so, let's never forget that he
contributed a lot to the game. Mock him all one wants, but the man
deserves respect.
Okay, that's everything substantive I have to say today. Currently I'm enduring hay fever and all kinds of exotic antihistamines are floating around inside my biochemistry, working hard to keep the mast cells from unloading their allergy-induced contents. So I'm feeling pretty hopped-up at the moment.
So since it's Sunday, and I haven't posted a Sesame Street sketch in a WAY long time, here is a timeless classic: Bert and Ernie in "Water Dripping"...
Nearly thirty years after the Challenger disaster, it is now coming out that the first "regular citizen" to fly on a space shuttle mission was originally going to be an eight-foot tall yellow Muppet loved and adored by what has become generations of devoted fans.
Strange, but true: Big Bird almost had a seat on Challenger for its final flight.
In the new documentary I Am Big Bird, the most massive fowl on Sesame Street was in early talks to fly as he'd never flown before. Muppeteer Caroll Spinney would have gone aboard Challenger for mission STS-51L. It was meant to be something that would enthuse and excite children about the space program.
Can you imagine that? Big Bird himself in orbit around the Earth, talking to children via live television. To say nothing of what would have been some amazing footage for Sesame Street itself.
There was one, errr... "little" problem with the scheme. NASA determined that the Big Bird costume would have been too big to really be practical aboard the orbiter. And so it would be schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe who was scheduled for the mission instead.
"It made my scalp crawl to think I was supposed to be on that," Caroll Spinney has said.
It's been some time since I posted any classic Sesame Street material. Need to get better about that.
Well anyway, here from 1971 or so it's the very timeless "Ladybugs' Picnic"!
Few items of interest about this clip. Firstly, that's legendary muppeteer Jerry Nelson singing, with fellow muppet operator Richard Hunt playing the kazoo.
And it's also worth noting that this was animated by Bud Luckey, who is currently an animator at Pixar. Just think: this cartoon is from a guy who went on to work on stuff like Toy Story, WALL-E and a bunch of other Disney/Pixar movies.
This song was always memorable to me for some reason. At one point it was seriously stuck in my head. So now I'm showing it to you guys so that you can share my, errr... enjoyment :-)
Good googeley moogely... it's been ages since I posted any Sesame Street clips!! I think maybe at least two years, maybe longer than that. How in the world did I overlook such timeless material? Shame on me!
Time to make up for it. And boy howdy, do I get to make up for it...
I was waaaay young when this aired but I vividly remember it. It was part of a Sesame Street Christmas special from... I think it was 1980? The other part of it that's still in my head is Big Bird sitting on top of the apartment building waiting for Santa, and wondering how in the world would the big guy get into those tiny little chimneys.
But this is the real highlight of the show: Bert and Ernie in an adaptation of O. Henry's classic holiday tale "The Gift of the Magi", as only Bert and Ernie can. And poignantly, it also features Mr. Hooper. Played by Will Lee, who sadly passed away later on in 1982 and subsequently became the subject of a very moving episode where Big Bird tries to come to grips with Hooper's death.
So here it is: Bert and Ernie and Mr. Hooper, reminding us that the beauty of Christmas is not in the getting, but in the giving. I present to you, dear readers, with a most wonderful take on "The Gift of the Magi":
Gadzooks it had been an awful long time since I've posted anything from Sesame Street! I need to get on the ball about that.
Well, it's a new year and since this blog just turned a couple of milestones with being ten years old and hitting 5,000 posts, maybe it's time to start some stuff fresh. So here's a great clip to get us back on track. I think this is from the early Eighties, 'cuz that's the first I ever saw this. Witness poor Kermit the Frog try to keep a newscast on track despite a very wacky weatherman (or two):
Most of you have seen this already, I'd bet. The only thing I know about Downton Abbey is that it has the inimitable Maggie Smith among the cast and for that alone I'm gonna make time to eventually watch this show.
This series must be a big deal. For one thing my Facebook front page was loaded with all kinds of numbstruck horror over the weekend because of the Downton Abbey season finale. And then there's the fact that Sesame Street has now spoofed it! Even without knowing the particulars of the source material, I thought this was pretty funny.
Late last night it hit me that I haven't posted any classic Sesame Street clips in quite some time. And I almost went for another Bert and Ernie skit. Even had one picked out. It just sorta popped into mind for no apparent reason. Dunno why I didn't use it at the time but it was like something was telling me, "wait". Maybe it was providential...
The very sad news today is that Jerry Nelson, legendary puppeteer who brought Count von Count, Herry Monster, Sherlock Hemlock, Amazing Mumford and many other lovable Sesame Street characters to life, has died at the age of 78. It had been eight years since Nelson had done physical puppeteering but he continued to provide his voice to the characters. He even appeared as the telethon announcer in last year's movie The Muppets. Nelson also worked on The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock.
Here is Count von Count, in a clip that seems especially appropriate today...
And that clip that I thought of using last night? Here it is: Jerry Nelson performing Count along with Jim Henson as Ernie and Frank Oz as Bert, in one of the most disturbing (just look at Ernie's eyes) Sesame Street skits ever...
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family this afternoon.
Thanks for all the great laughs and good memories, Jerry. And if the Count could, he would be counting "ONE! One new angel in Heaven, AH-AH-AH-AH!!"
Been a few months since I posted a classic clip from Sesame Street. I figure it's time for another great Bert and Ernie sketch :-)
This one is definitely from way back. For one thing you can hear Mr. Hooper (the actor who played him passed away in 1982) and for another, there's no way that a sketch like this would be broadcast on Sesame Street today. Ahhh those were the days...
The bloggin' might be sparse the next few days as I am going out of town on a mission of considerable import. So in the meantime...
It occurred to me this afternoon that I haven't posted a vintage Sesame Street clip in a good long while. The ones with Bert and Ernie seem to be especially popular. So here's one from the 1970s (way before the advent of 1080P) which finds Bert plagued with "H" all over his television screen...
I remember this sketch cracking me up bad when I first saw it as a pre-schooler! Thirty years later, it's lost none of its hilarity :-)
Well, nothing except this vintage Sesame Street clip, with Kermit the Frog doing his reporter gig from the studio of master songwriter Don Music, as Music bangs his head on the piano in frustration over his latest work...
Goodness gracious... it's been ages since I've posted a clip from Sesame Street on this blog, or anything else having to do with the Muppets! I'll try to do better from now on gang.
This is one that I remember seeing a few times in my childhood: Kermit the Frog doing a report for Sesame Street News on what makes people angry. I laughed when I watched it then but now that I'm older...
...Well, is there anyone else who sees Kermit honked-off and thinking that he's a lot like Howard Beale from the movie Network?
The more I think about it I could totally see Muppets Network happening, with Kermit screaming "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" In his reporter gig he even looks a lot like Howard Beale, right down to the raincoat. Yup, "Kermit the Frog, the Mad Prophet of Sesame Street". And Arthur Jensen could be played by Oscar the Grouch.
Thank the Lord for YouTube. 'Cuz without it, I would have probably gone the rest of my life without ever seeing this legendary moment for myself!
Kids watching Sesame Street these days are used to seeing Mr. Snuffleupagus mixing it up with his best friend Big Bird and all the other characters. But once upon a time the situation was very different. "Snuffy" was introduced to the show during Sesame Street's third season in 1971. He and Big Bird instantly became best friends. And Big Bird was eager to introduce Snuffy to all his other friends on Sesame Street, including the adults. Especially the adults!
But every time Big Bird hatched a plan that would introduce Snuffy to the grown-ups, something would always happen that would keep it from happening. Usually Snuffy would wind up splitting the scene right before the adults arrived. Other times, the adults would have their heads turned looking at something in the dire opposite direction of Snuffy, dashing Big Bird's plot once more.
This went on for... get this... FOURTEEN YEARS! It came to the point where hardly anybody believed Big Bird at all: to them, Snuffy was Big Bird's "imaginary friend".
But at long last, for Sesame Street's seventeenth season premiere on November 18th, 1985, Big Bird's scheme to reveal Snuffy to the world finally succeeded.
Reasons have varied for why Snuffy was outed. Many of the show's staff have said that by the mid-1980s there had been a lot of cases of child abuse and exploitation and the fear was that children wouldn't be believed if they had to tell their parents about "important things".
But it could also be argued that after fourteen years of "just barely missing" Snuffy, that Sesame Street's writers had completely run out of ways for the adults to keep from seeing him. Rather than stringing it out any longer, Sesame Street producers finally gave up and let Big Bird win his long battle for credibility.
I'd heard about this scene but until a few days ago had never actually witnessed it. This is... a HUGE thing for a guy like me, who did grow up watching Sesame Street and wondering if the adults would ever see Snuffy. My life is a little more complete now for getting to see this :-)
So without further ado, here is Big Bird - with a plan involving an early appearance by Elmo - revealing Mr. Snuffleupagus to the shocked and stunned adult cast of Sesame Street!
One of my fellow cast members of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - namely Eric Smith, who portrayed Reverend Hopkins - told me during the show's run this past week that he loves it when I post vintage Sesame Street sketches and whatnot on this blog.
So Eric, this one's going out to you especially :-)
This is one of the few appearances of Bert's adorable baby nephew Brad, who is staying with his uncle and about to get a bath. Of course, Ernie has to show up and... well, be Ernie.
"You've never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You're gonna love it."
-- Gordon (played by Matt Robinson) the first words spoken on the first episode of Sesame Street November 10th, 1969
Forty years ago today a new kind of television burst onto the scene. It was an educational program, but one that eschewed dour and boring lessons. Instead, fast-paced skits and high-brow humor were to be the norm.
And the cast of characters of this new show? An eclectic mix of adults, children, puppets, monsters, grouches... and one very big bird.
Forty years later and Sesame Street is still going strong! And after all this time Gordon is still right: we've never seen a street anything like Sesame Street. Everything does and has happened there.
And we're still loving it.
So you know, what better time than this to put up another classic Sesame Street video? Except I've posted so many of them already! Which one should I use?
I know: how about this classic sketch featuring Grover and Fat Blue, in which Grover recommends the "little" hamburger!
Considering that once upon a time Sesame Street did a parody of Twin Peaks starring Cookie Monster, can't really say that I'm surprised Children's TelevisionSesame Workshop would also adapt what is currently one of television's hottest shows for pee-wee appreciation :-)
Next month begins Sesame Street's fortieth season. Wonder if they could do a send-up of House or Lost sometime...
