Resurrection
Jul 08I have revived Great Hera! from the dead. The first couple of posts I’ve tossed up there are sort of fangirl fashion-oriented, so it’s a bit more on the “girly geekdom” side of things. I plan on doing more vintage graphic novel re-reading as well. We’ll see where it goes. Suggestions, comments, etc. always welcome!
Also, I got frustrated with the Simpsons Character Generator because I couldn’t get one to look like me. Husband Jeff, who has more patience, tinkered around with it and made this one, which actually does look like me (though my specs are decidedly less flamboyant).
Cookie's World
Jul 08Today, Frank Oz is the critically-acclaimed director of such blockbuster film smash hits as The Stepford Wives (the remake) and Housesitter.
There was once a time when his sole claim to fame was as a brilliant puppeteer and improv comedian. Thru such Muppets as Bert, Fozzie Bear, and Mrs. Piggy, he made young and old laugh until their pants were wet.
These days, Oz only performs on occasion with the Muppets–as a close friend of Jim Henson, one can imagine how the motley cast of felt creatures must have lost some of its magic in the wake of Henson’s death. So many classic Muppet relationships were based in their close friendship–Kermit and Fozzie, Bert and Ernie, even the interspecies love of Kermit and Piggy.
Anyway, I’d bet my left arm that Frank Oz was performing Cookie Monster for the Sesame Street episode I watched today with Cate the Wonder Baby. It featured an opening sketch in which Cookie Monster served up a gentle yet wicked parody of Elmo’s World, entitled “Cookie’s World.”
That’s where the “improv comedian” part comes in–you can always tell Oz is under the Muppet because everything it does suddenly gains an extra dimension or three of silliness, gentleness, and sarcasm. As an adult, I’ve always loved watching Sesame Street just to catch the stray moments of creative genius that occur whenever Oz is performing. “Cookie’s World” was a great example of that.
My favorite moment in “Cookie’s World” was when Cookie told his pet cookie Cookie (a cookie in a fish bowl, parodying Dorothy the goldfish) to “Say goodbye, Cookie! You not gonna make it much longer.”
Now THAT’S good Muppet.
(Unfortunately, I cannot find “Cookie’s World” online so you will have to settle for this disco Cookie Monster clip instead.)
It's Uncanny!
Jul 07
Actually, it’s not, but it IS funny. The chin is complete cartoon fiction whereas in real life I’ve got a jaw and a half. Still, there is much fun to be had at with the character generator at the Simpson’s Movie website.
Even Your Transformer Friends…
Jul 03…get drunk and embarrass you sometimes. Check out the video clip under #6.
The movie, by the way, is exactly the exploderiffic, Baytastic extravaganza you would expect it to be. Any confusion you experience trying to decipher the convoluted allspark mythology will quickly be forgotten as soon as the giant robots start crashing into buildings again.
I do, however, have one quibble, and it may seem like a relatively minor one, but I’m gonna say it anyway. I mostly enjoyed the presence of designated babes Megan Fox (as a car-savvy popular girl) and Rachael Taylor (as a tech savant). I did not, however, enjoy the movie’s need to cover each of them in approximately 16 pounds of make-up. These are lovely ladies, but piling on the bronzer, lip gloss and spidery fake lashes makes for much distraction during all those nostriliffic Bayian close-ups. As Miss J might say, it reads “a little drag.”
DC=Teh Dumb
Jul 02So the latest preview image of Countdown is up at Newsarama, and may I say I am…underwhelmed?
There’s lots of cool stuff going on at DC right now–well, maybe “lots” is too strong a word. The Sinestro Corps business over in the Green Lantern books is seriously cool. I like Morrison’s Batman and the Busiek/Johns/Donner triumverate on the Superman books. Checkmate’s neat.
But this Countdown business, and whatever they’re teasing to lead up to whatever is going to happen…MEH. Sometimes, BLEAH.
