Hey, did you hear Kermit the Frog won the Nobel Peace Prize this week? If not, that’s probably because it’s not true. But here’s some stuff that did happen recently.
Katy Perry goes Muppet chic
The world took notice (and by “the world,” I mean celebrity bloggers) when Lady Gaga wore Muppet-themed clothing recently. So at the 2010 Jean Charles de Castelbajac fashion show, Katy Perry was all like, “I wanna do that too!” and she wore this Muppet print dress. To be honest, I think it actually looks pretty good… At any rate, I’d rather my prom date wear this dress than the Animal-head skirt Lady Gaga wore. So do we want to take bets on who will be the next singer to show up in public wearing Muppets? I’m gonna guess either Fergie, Britney Spears, or Susan Boyle.
Muppets on Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Details are still pretty vague on this one, but apparently the Muppets will be appearing on an episode on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this season. Over on the Tough Pigs forum, this news has led to a lively discussion about whether the Makeover show is a force for good or evil in the television world. What do you think?
Fraggle Rock Easter DVD coming
Fraggle Rock was a television show about non-human characters that lived in caves underground and had no knowledge or understanding of human culture or traditions. So it makes no sense at all that there’s a Fraggle Easter DVD coming out on February 9, 2010, but it will be interesting to see which episodes are on it.
Letters to Santa on DVD
In case you missed it, A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa was released on DVD on September 29th. The list price is $26.99, which seems pretty steep for an hour-long TV special, but the above-linked Amazon.com has it for $16.99. I’ll confess that I don’t own it yet… but I have an important question for anyone who does: Exactly how awesome is the collectible o-sleeve???
Sid the vaccinated kid
Do you have kids who are skittish about getting a shot? Then set your DVR for the October 26 episode of the Henson Company’s series Sid the Science Kid. It’s a special episode all about vaccination, and the press release promises “a fun learning experience filled with music, games, and lots of laughs. In other words, it’ll give your kid completely unrealistic expectations about what it’s like to get vaccinated. Enjoy!
Marty Robinson blogs
Marty Robinson is the veteran Sesame Street Muppet performer who plays Telly and Snuffy. Annie Evans is a Sesame writer. They happen to be married, and together they have two kids… and a blog. There are lots of interesting posts there about the recent Daytime Emmys appearance, and working on international co-productions, and all kinds of other stuff. Check it out.
Sesame Street joins forces with American Apparel
I don’t know much about American Apparel, except that they always advertise on the back page of the print edition of The Onion, which always makes me self-conscious about reading it on the subway, what with the suggestively posed, half-naked, dead-eyed models. So it seems like an odd choice for a new line of Sesame Street clothes, including t-shirt designs like the one seen here. And aren’t their clothes really expensive, anyway? As you can tell, I’m not salivating over this development, but if that’s what you’re into, keep an eye for it, I guess.
Labyrinth & Dark Crystal on Blu-ray, Starlog posts Jim Henson interview
Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal were just released on Blu-ray. I don’t have a Blu-ray player, but that’s a pretty persuasive argument for owning one. I mean, I’ve gone on record as saying The Dark Crystal isn’t that great a movie, but I’d still probably buy it on Blu-ray just because it would look so cool.
Anway, to mark this occasion, the science-fiction magazine Starlog has posted an interview Jim Henson did in 1986 when Labyrinth was released. There’s some stuff I’d never heard before about the film’s development, and it includes this quote from Henson: “Computer-generated stuff will be the biggest single change in film in the next 10 years,” thus proving once again that Jim Henson was some kind of super-powered fortune-telling genius.
Where the Wild Things Are opens this week
The film adaptation of the classic kids’ book Where the Wild Things Are opens Friday, October 16. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop built the titular wild things, which look pretty great. People are really excited for this movie, so let’s cross our fingers and hope that excitement is justified.
Thanks to various folks at the Tough Pigs forum for bringing various stories to our attention. Speaking of which, click here to discuss all these stories on the Tough Pigs forum!
