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. 

Ruined Wesley Crusher Trading Card

I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation (the only Star Trek I have really watched aside from occasional episodes of Deep Space Nine and the Voyager), and I found Wesley Crusher annoying.  However, his portrayer, Wil Wheaton, has had a renaissance of sorts after his hilarious guest spots on the Big Bang Theory.

Now come the very funny eBay action of the Wesley Crusher trading card that Wil Wheaton ruined.  See the listing for yourself.

My favorite part:

"And that's when it hits you: dude, you've got this. You know how to save this, because your'e a professional and you know exactly what the hell you're doing. You turn the sunglasses into THE SUNGLASSES OF JUSTICE and write, "YEEEAAAHHHH!" right across the top. You slam the card down on the table and say, "Nailed it," because you did."

Election Night

The big entertainment last night was the Election Night coverage.  I mostly toggled between CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and CNN for coverage, with a bit of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. 

Some observations:

- What was up with Diane Sawyer on ABC?  She seems to be under some sort of influence, although it's most likely that she was just exhausted.  She got up very early every morning for Good Morning America, and had to stay late last night for the coverage. 

- Among all the technological doo-dads, I have to give the edge to CNN's John King and his masterful use of the two large touch-screen TVs.  He knew what he was doing, where to find the information, and didn't seem awkward using the technology.  I especially like it when he zoomed into specific states to show specific counties and how they were voting, complete with historical data.  NBC's Ice Rink Map was cool, but would have been even better if they could turn on the color remotely instead of the awkward spectacle of sending people out there to cover the states with red or blue colors manually every time a projection is made.

- I was annoyed at the rowdiness of CNN's commentators.  They often talked over each other and there was constant sniping, but I do like the diversity of opinions, genders, and races.

- ABC had too many people with the panel and the researchers and commentators sitting in the raised bank of seats. 

- I didn't stay long with CBS's coverage.  They were so somnolent I almost fell asleep. 

- Stephen Colbert was in top form acting out as a petulant right-winger.  He was so absurd that it was hilarious, although it's scary to think that there are real people like that out there.  Jon Stewart was a bit more muted - no one was behaving badly enough for him to mock.  But great opening with Patrick Stewart narrating.

- I didn't see it live, but Karl Rove's battle with Fox News was amusing.  Nice glimpse of the Decision Desk. 

- Brian Williams is the master of dry wit.  The title of best anchor of the night is a fight between him and Anderson Cooper.  Anderson had to keep the peace between so many myriad commentators and keep things on track, but Brian did throw out awesome one-liners like calling the team putting colors on the ice "Ice Team Zero."

- The most re-tweeted picture of the night was this one from Barack Obama's Twitter feed.  The White House also released this picture of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, and Jill Biden moments after the networks called the election in their favor.

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. 

Mathemusician Vi Hart

New York Magazine's Grub Street blog has a cool video on "mathemusician" Vi Hart manipulate tortillas into mathematical shapes. 

Victoria "Vi" Hart calls herself the "Full-Time Recreational Mathemusician" and has become famous for her mathematical Youtube videos.  She currently works for the Khan Academy, which provides free online video lectures on various subjects. 

Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller is one of the best haute-cuisine chefs in America, and I've had the pleasure of dining at three of his restaurants: Per Se in New York, Ad Hoc in Napa Valley, and Bouchon Bakery in New York.  I also love his recipe for simple roast chicken.  His most famous restaurant is the French Laundry in Napa Valley, which some consider to be the best restaurant in America, and one of the best in the world. 

Vanity Fair recently published a bunch of iPhone photos taken by Chef Keller.  I'm especially fascinated by the tidbit that all of the Bouchon kitchens are connected by live video feed, and NY Mag mentioned that French Laundry and Per Se are also similarly connected. 

Actors Reading Yelp Reviews

Mashable had two videos of actors reading Yelp reviews, and it's hilarious.  The first is by Therese Plummer, who had guest starred on Law and Order: SVU and The Good Wife, and the second is by Chris Kipiniak, who also guest starred on Law and Order: SVU and The Good Wife.  According to his IMDB page, he also won $1,400 in Cash Cab with his sister, Anya.  Now that is cool.

Yahoo! Hires Google's Marissa Mayer as CEO

Yahoo! just announced that it hired Marissa Mayer, one of Google's top executives, as its new CEO. 

This is an interesting move by Yahoo!, perhaps indicating that it's serious about going back to its technology roots instead of continuing its recent (and unsuccesful) attempt to become a media company.  Mayer was one of Google's most photogenic and public faces, and has an engineering background.  She made both Fortune's list of 50 of the Most Powerful Women in the World and Glamour Magazine's list of Women of the Year, and was profiled in an article in Vogue. 

I'm personally happy another woman has been tapped to such a high profile role.  There are very few women running major companies, especially tech ones, and Mayer is more than qualified for the job.  Good luck to her!

War and Peace and the Nook

The Nook version of Tolstoy's War and Peace included an embarrasing error.  Apparently a lazy editor did a search and replace of the word "kindle" with "nook," to get rid of any references to Nook's competitor the Kindle, but didn't realize the translation used the word "kindled" several times.  So there was a bunch of references to "Nookd" in the text.

iPhone Apps

So I broke down and got an iPhone.  I've been downloading and playing with various apps since I got the phone, and it's amazing how many of them there are.  The best part is that there are tons of free ones, too.  

I downloaded a bunch of Sesame Street apps for my son, and he is hooked on it.  It's amazing how well he can navigate the iPhone and find his apps, and he's only a toddler!  

So far I've been playing a lot of Words with Friends with kdipity and Mr. Y, and also using the Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline fantasy football apps to check my fantasy teams and my scores.  ESPN's Scorecenter is also helpful in keeping track of my favorite teams.  

If anyone is reading this blog and has any suggestions for apps, please let me know!