Cookie Monster Spoofs Icona Pop's "I Love It"

Icona Pop's "I Love It" has been ubiquitous for the past few months.  Here comes Sesame Street's spoof of the song featuring Cookie Monster, entitled "Me Want It (But Me Wait)."

Little Boy Meets the Avengers

The photograph below was going around the internet for awhile of a little boy carrying a Captain America shield sitting on the shoulders of Tom Hiddleston in full Loki outfit from The Avengers. 

The boy's name is Edison, and his dad wrote an amazing story about how the photograph happened.  It's definitely worth a read.  A short summary: Edison and his mom, Jill, saw The Avengers filming in Central Park, and were able to meet and get pictures with many of the cast members, including his favorite, Captain America (played by Chris Evans).  Edison had been carrying around his Captain America shield ever since he saw the movie, and he was lucky enough to have had it with him that day. 

There is also a cute update.  Lisa Evans, Chris's mom, who was helpful in getting Edison a picture with Chris at Central Park, was also able to get Chris to sign Edison's shield as well as the picture and a new shield.  Now all three items are hanging proudly in Edison's bedroom.

I know my son, who's around the same age, would have freaked if he gets to meet his superheroes.  Lucky Edison!

Team Umizoomi and Gordon Ramsay

My son has recently started watching Team Umizoomi on Nick Jr., and loves the show.  It's all about math, and the main characters are Milli, Geo, and Bot. 

In this cute clip, Team Umizoomi visits the famously angry chef Gordon Ramsay and helps him in his kitchen.  Who knew Ramsay has a soft side? 

Hogwarts Out of Legos

Harry Potter superfan Alice Finch built a 170-square-foot replica of Hogwarts Castle out of 400,000 pieces of Legos.  As she stated in the interview with The Brothers Brick, the central staircase alone needed 10,000 bricks.  Alice spent twelve months over an 18-month period building, and the end result is mind-boggling.  It is designed to be architecturally correct and completely playable, and it breaks into sections that pack into 40 large flat boxes or shelves.

At the 2012 BrickCon, Alice's Hogwarts took home both the People's Choice and the Best in Show awards, which is apparently a rare combination.

Check out the entire Flickr album with 79 pictures.  The level of details is just amazing.  My favorites are Dumbledore's office, complete with a cabinet of memories and a pensieve, and the Great Hall feast welcoming Beauxbaton students just like in Goblet of Fire.

Jim Henson Memorial

One of the genuises of Jim Henson was how he made the Muppets and other puppets seem so real.  Many people have spoken about how they forget that these characters were not real, and talked to them like normal people. 

Jim Henson went to University of Maryland at College Park, and there is a Jim Henson Memorial Statue in front of the student union on campus that was a gift from the class of 1998.  The statue depics Henson and Kermit sitting on a bench together talking animatedly, and Kermit touching Henson's hand fondly.  The statue is surrounded by the Henson Memorial Garden, designed by landscape architect Philip Cho as a gift from the classes of 1994 and 1999. 

The cool story about the statue is how the sculptor, Jay Hall Carpenter, won the commission.  When the commission was announced, Jim's widow Jane Henson stated, "His grasp of Jim’s work and spirit makes him the ideal artist to create this statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog." 

Carpenter explained that he differed from the traditional pose of Kermit sitting on Henson's shoulders.  He stated, "My idea was a little different. Jim always presented Kermit as a separate entity so I wanted to do that as well.  The way I see it, they're talking about their next big project, and, so they're in this animated discussion, and in the middle of it, Kermit reaches over and touches Jim, as a little gesture of solidarity." 
Carpeted hoped the statue "will capture the personality of both Jim Henson and his created partner Kermit.  Their whimsy and humor will be conveyed through the depiction of their light-hearted interaction." 

I think he succeeded, and it's a great tribute to a great man. 

Kevin Clash Resigned from Sesame Street

Kevin Clash has resigned from Sesame Street, ending his 28-year career at the organization, amid more allegations of sex with underage boys. 

Elmo will always endure, though. 

Kevin Clash's Accuser Recants His Claims

The man who accused Kevin Clash, Elmo's puppeteer, of underage sex has now recanted his claims and stated that the relationship was consensual. 

Kevin Clash On Leave of Absence

I have always had admiration for Kevin Clash, so it was sad to hear that he is taking a leave of absence after allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.  Clash denied the allegations and issued a statement stating that it was a relationship between two consenting adults. 

Either way, it will be tough to think of Elmo the same way again...

Dragon Baby

Patrick Boivin, a Montreal-based filmmaker, created this adorable video of his son fighting a stuffed dragon in an homage to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. 

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

I have mentioned before how much I was looking forward to watching the documentary on Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo.  The documentary, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, was released last year, and Mr. Y and I were lucky enough to catch it on PBS recently. 

The documentary was very interesting and enlightening.  Kevin grew up in Turner's Station, a predominantly black suburb of Baltimore, Maryland.  He had wanted to be a puppeteer since he was very young.  How many kids start making puppets at the age of 10?  It was great to see how supportive his parents were, and they were so cute when they were interviewed about him.  They told the funny story of how Kevin took his dad's furry overcoat to make a monkey muppet when he was really young, and they were more amused than angry. 

Kevin started his career by putting on puppet shows to the kids at his mom's daycare, and started working professionally for a CBS affiliate in Baltimore.  He went on to work with Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo himself) and on The Great Space Coaster.  He met Kermit Love, one of the Muppet designers, on a school trip in high school, and Love became his mentor.  It was Love who got Kevin started on various gigs with Jim Henson, which eventually led him to Sesame Street. 

While on Sesame Street, Kevin started with Hoots the Owl and Dr. Nobel Price.  Elmo was already on the show, but as a minor character with a deep voice as played by Brian Muehl and Richard Hunt.  One day Richard Hunt was complaining about how he didn't know what to do with Elmo, and threw the red puppet to Kevin, telling him to see what he could do with it.  Thus Elmo as we know it was born.

It's clear that Kevin loves his job.  He travels all over the world training other puppeteers, doing appearances and charity works, and he's also now a co-executive producer on Sesame Street.  It's also clear that this job took some personal tolls on him.  His marriage broke up because he was always gone, and he missed most of his daughter's childhood.  It was sweet to see him with his daughter, Shannon. 

Overall the documentary presented an very fascinating and uplifting picture of Kevin Clash, and worth watching if you catch it on TV.

Elmo Part II

One more Elmo-related video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLS_ZnsA0fc

This one is old, but it never fails to make me cry.

Elmo

Sesame Street did a parody of LMFAO's "I'm Sexy and I Know It," calling it "I'm Elmo and I Know It."  It's so cute and hilarious. 

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/01/30/elmo-sexy-and-he-knows-it/

I also can't wait for the documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey to come out on DVD.  It's the story of Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo.  You can see the trailer here: 

http://beingelmo.com/trailer.html

My son does not watch Sesame Street regularly anymore, but he still lights up whenever he sees Elmo.  What's not to love?  Cute, small, polite, sweet, and forever 3 1/2 years old.  

Sesame Street Glee Parody

Sesame Street did this great Glee parody to talk about the letter G.  

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/09/22/sesame-street-glee-parody/#more-158134

There were a lot of great lines and inside jokes, like puppet Mr. Schuester (called Mr. Gooster) with a chin dimple, the puppet Cheerios, and puppet Sue.  There was also a musical number called "Don't Stop G'ing," and a lot of glitter.  Awesome.  

A few good lines:

Puppet diva Rachel: "I like you Finn.  I'm looking at you longingly."

Puppet Sue: "You know enough about gel, Gooster, you use enough of it."

Puppet Gooster: "Good thing we have a big budget!"