Rebooting The Muppets

I try to read the NYT to my daughter each weekend. It's extremely important for a child, not matter how old, to be read to and damn if "Goodnight Moon" doesn't get boring the 50th time around.

One article I read today was about how Disney is finally trying to reboot the Muppet franchise and that I say "Its damn about time!" All sorts of things are being done, from having Miss Piggy tape "Desperate Housepig" sketches which will be included on Desperate Housewives DVDs to having Kermit the Frog interview athletes on ESPN. Of course, filming and releasing new skits to YouTube is in the mix - we are living in the 21st Century after all and that is the "low hanging fruit" of any new marketing initiative, right?

While I didn't know if they would be Classic Muppet Show good or Muppets in Space bad, I was pleasantly surprised by them. So was the Muppet Central site which had this to say about the new videos:

"These shorts left me tickled. Not just because I was passingly amused, but because they give me a glimmer of optimism for a franchise I'd given up on years ago. In their ephemeral way, these shorts drill down to the same substance that's on display in all those old Muppet Show clips: musical sketch comedy, well sung and absurdly executed."

Don't believe me? Check out the four new ones below and (hopefully) enjoy. As election day is getting close, I'm especially enamored with the first one. Said Sam to a young Scrooge in "A Muppet Christmas Carol:"

Sam the Eagle: Oh, you will love business. It is the American way.
Gonzo: Uh, Sam?
Sam the Eagle: Oh. It is the British way!

Stars and Stripes Forever:

Ode to Joy:

Habanera:

Classical Chicken:

Meh:

Pretty Mary Sunlight

I heard the other day that Jerry Reed, singer and actor, has passed away which made me a little sad. I grew up watching and loving Scooby Doo. Jerry Reed was a guest star on a New Scooby Doo Mysteries episode titled The Phantom of the Country Music Hall" and I fell in love with the song he played on the episode, a song called "Pretty Mary Sunlight." He also played "Snowman" in the "Smokey and the Bandit" franchise but I was never that into it so to me, he was that guy on Scooby.

The episode's plot was that Jerry was kidnapped and hidden somewhere within a music hall. The clue crew tried desperately to track him down all episode and did so by listening to him sing his song "Pretty Mary Sunlight" over and over and over again. All you saw of Jerry for about 50 minutes was him trapped in a room playing that damn song to try and get the kids to find him. Well, after an epic chase scene featuring a magical xylophone, Jerry is freed and all is well with the world.

So, why did this episode stick out compared to say, the Harlem Globetrotters, Phyllis Diller or other random celebs that were in these movies? Simply put its the song. The song is simple, catchy and insanly difficult to get out of our head once its in there. It is part of the fabric of my childhood and its not half bad either - check out the clip below.

Thanks Jerry.

The Swedish Chef Visits Robot Chicken

I love Robot Chicken and saw the clip below last night for the first time. I was laughing out loud then and was still laughing today when I told some co-workers about it. After they watched, they could not understand why I found this funny. In fact, the words used were "one of the unfunniest Robot Chicken clips of all time." Strong words.

How about you decide if its funny and let me know via posting a comment - I'm curious.

Battle at Kruger!

When I see the word "Kruger" at first I think of Mr. Kruger who was one of George's bosses on "Seinfeld." You know, he's the guy who gave away George's prefereed "T-Bone" nickname and instead dubbed him "Koko the Monkey." This instance of Kruger however stands for Kruger National Park in South Africa, a park where David Budzinski happened to be on a safari and where he caught on film a water buffalo calf / group of lions / two crocodiles / water buffalo herd battle royale the likes of which I, and many others, have never seen.

I first learned of this YouTube phenomenon in the NYT of all places - I know, right? Go figure. So far, the clip has racked up over 30 million page views. It has its own web site now and Nat Geo has filmed an entire special about it due to how a herd returns en masse to try and save a little calf's life.

It's a pretty intense 8 min - I actually found myself gasping at the video at the exact same time as when those who were there in person gasped - pretty wild (no pun intended) stuff indeed.

At the end of the video you hear someone say “You could sell that video!” and as the Times reports Budzinski tried but National Geographic and Animal Planet were not interested. It was only after the battle became one of the most popular videos in YouTube’s history did the buyers come calling. This Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern time, it will devote an hour to a documentary deconstructing the drama. Pretty neat stuff. It just goes to show that the media walls keep falling.

Sunday Jewy Sunday

PBS's NYC affiliate Channel 13 is going heebolicious this coming Sunday playing not one but four shows in a row that have the word "Jew" not only in the title but in caps no less.

First off is an encore of the recent landmark series The Jewish Americans. All three episodes will be shown in order, starting at 10 am and ending sometime around 5 pm. In seven short hours, one can see the entirety of the Chosen People's US experience. It reeks of a pledge drive but should be interesting - luckily my TiFaux has one of those new fangled fast forward buttons.

Next comes The Jews of New York. I'm sure it only sounds like The Gangs of New York but who knows, maybe it will have a Meyer Lansky shout-out. I think pound for pound there are more great Jews in or from New York than in or from all the other US cities combined. Considering more Jews live in the Tri-State area than in Israel, that's a pretty safe bet.

I'm kvelling already.

Commercial Music

Once Led Zep sold the rights to "Rock n' Roll" to Cadillac I knew it was all over. TV commercials are great in terms of picking and playing great music - sometimes even better than the radio.

Some of the songs are so good they end up in my jukebox. The last song that I bought after hearing it from a TV commercial was Paul Van Dyk's "Time of Our Lives" a month or so ago - it is featured in the current Jeep commercials. Before that, I fell in love with Royksopp's "Remind Me" after hearing it in a Geico Caveman spot.

I'm happy that someone else cares about TV commercial music even more than I do as I'm hoping it will prove to be a valuable resource in the future. It took me way too long to track down the Jeep song...

Don't Stop

The Sopranos are dead. Long live the Sopranos. I am sad, yet exhilarated that the show ended the way it did. After watching the Sopranos finale titled "Made in America," you will find yourself in 1 of 2 camps, you loved it or hated it, and it's all because of those last 5 minutes in the diner.

I for one loved it. I think it's because I'm a writer and one who believes the show is more art than entertainment. Who are we to makes demands of an artist? To me, David Chase created art that was displayed on a television screen. Who am I to argue with his vision? Who am I to tell him how his story should end? As an aside, during the episode we see a "Twilight Zone" episode and Little Miss Sunshine playing on background TVs. I think its Chase saying, "Look - writing is important. Its the story that makes the show.

In keeping with that thought, here is a great quote from the Chase. He said,

"I don’t think art should give answers. I think art should only pose questions. And art should not fill in blanks for people, or I think that’s what’s called propaganda. I think art should only raise questions, a lot of which may be even dissonant and you don’t even know you’re being asked a question, but that it creates some kind of tension inside you."

For all those that want (and demand) closure, go find Da Vinci and ask him why the Mona Lisa is smiling. Oh wait, he's dead. I guess you're going to make up a reason....

Getting back to the show itself, there are 2 major theories and 1 dark horse theory about what happened. They are: Tony was killed, Tony was not killed, the audience was killed.

If you want to read more on first 2, The NY Times has 2 great posts in its Lede blog about them. I would read this post and then read this post to get a good sense of what is what.

I am in the "Tony wasn't killed" camp because for 5 minutes, we get inside of Tony's head. We get to know, and feel if your heart was thumping like mine was, what it is like to be Tony, where every second everything needs to be analyzed like it's a threat. He is never safe, never truly happy, even at "happy times." Sure, its possible that he died, that the Members Only guy is supposed to be Nicky Leotardo and that he kills Tony when he comes out of the bathroom but that is the beauty of this final episode: we just don't know. That being said, the Nicky Leotardo theory has been slammed due to it having some huge semi-sized holes in it.

Here is another theory, more of a dark horse theory, but one I am now in love with it because its a combo of the one that I agree with (a.ka. Tony wasn't killed): WE were whacked. WE didn't see it coming. WE don't see anything or hear any music because WE just died. You can read more about the "WE got whacked" theory here. Basically, the idea is that the show goes on, like life after we are dead, except we aren't around to see what happens.

Lets talk about the music now. For a show that was so musical, the lack of music was telling. Steven Van Zandt said on Yes Network's Centerstage the show featured the best music in any TV show ever. If you can, watch this interview on repeats. He is very smart, very artistic and very, very cool. In fact, I made as background noise for the dinner party we threw in honor of the show ending a music mix that only featured music used in a Sopranos episode. I couldn't wait to hear what song they used as the last song so the silence to me was shocking and in the end awesome.

If you are on the fence about Tony not dying or about us being the ones "whacked," think of the words in the Journey song: Oh, the movie never ends - It goes on and on and on and on - Don't stop believin' Even the band name is telling as many people say that life is a journey and we should enjoy the trip, not the destination you hope to reach. If that is the case, this is more weight behind the "Tony wasn't killed" theories...

Adieu to a fantastic show. TV will never be the same again.

Ali & Andy

The clip below is of an interview Ali G conducted, or tried to conduct, with Andy Rooney. Like all of Ali G's interviews, the subject gets pissed but this time it is because of Ali G's poor language skills. For instance, Ali says "does you think" and then Andy corrects him saying, "it's do you think." Overall they get into quite a tiff about it which leads Andy to say at one point, "The english language is very clear. I have 50 books on the english language is you want to borrow one."

For anyone who has ever corrected someone else's grammer, please watch and enjoy.

Via Pere

The Snuke

Everytime I see a funny South Park episode, I ask myself "why aren't I taping this show?" Well, this past Wednesday night I watched a new episode titled "The Snuke" which confirmed that this show is still one of if not the funniest shows on tv, period. I laughed so hard it was hurting, my wife was crying and I now am recording every episode.
I won't ruin the episode by providing any details. Just go rent it - buy it - tape it - do whatever you need to do, just see it. I think "The Snuke" should be in their all-time Top 10, along with the recent WoW take-off & the first Towlie episode.

This American Life is now on TV

The extremely popular NPR radio show This American Life debuted its first-ever television show on Showtime on March 22nd but I don't get Showtime so I didn't see it (no, I didn't grab it from bit torrent and watch it on my computer - believe it or not, I don't do that, mostly because I just don't have time).

Chris Ware, one of the most famous contemporary American comic artists and cartoonists, has provided some animation to this first feature, What I Learned from TV which, as Chris put it, "is absolutely hilarious and sad at the same time, much like all of Chris Ware’s work (Acme Novelty Library, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, his work in the NY Times humor section, etc). He is slated to do other animated shorts as well. I hope to view all of them, if not the show itself.

Via Chris

Manamana

Like many people, I am in love with many classic Muppet songs. Tunes like "Letter B" (sung to the tune of "Let it Be") and the entire Sesame Street "Signs" album pull at my heart strings. Some of these songs are such catchy little ditties you just can never forget them.

One such song that cannot be forgotten is "Manamana." I used to only think of this song when I heard about my family that lives in or my friend who grew up in Manallapan (do doooo doo doo doo), New Jersey. Now though I'm humming it every day as my company is working on a project for a medication named Rimonabant which, when mentioned in any meeting, makes everyone hum that damn Muppet song. Its pretty funny to listen to someone say that they have a client call about Rimonabant and before she can say what time, she is drowned out by massive amounts of humming. In honor of this daily dose of childish fun that I'm having at my employer, I thought I would post the song so it can get stuck in your head too. Enjoy!

Via Lee

Tables Turned

You can't make this stuff up: Dog the Bounty hunter was just captured in his own home by bounty hunters and is being sent to Mexico to answer an unlawful imprisionment charge he picked up when in 2003 he captured an American, who happened to have raped 3 women in America, in Mexico. They caught the whole capture on film as A&E is busy taping the 4th Dog season and they are airing it tomorrow night in a special. This one I have to watch!

After the jump, read a long article about it and Duane Chapman, aka Dog.

A Cornered Pit Bull: Bounty Hunter Becomes Prey by David Carr

The eight or so men crept quietly up to the house in the Portlock neighborhood of Hawaii at the crack of dawn. The woman inside was making school lunches for her children and noticed them too late. They bum-rushed the bedroom, capturing their target in cuffs before he knew what hit him.

Duane Chapman, known as Dog, the premier American bounty hunter, would have appreciated their artistry had he not been the guy in handcuffs. Mr. Chapman, the star of A&E’s highly rated “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” was transported to the federal detention center in Honolulu to await extradition to Mexico on a three-year-old charge stemming from his capture in Mexico of Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir who was eventually convicted of raping three women.

Back in 2003 Mr. Chapman and his colleagues were charged by Mexican authorities with “deprivation of liberty” and held in jail in Puerto Vallarta before they made bail and slipped out of the country. Now, with less than a month before the warrant would have expired and in the midst of filming the fourth season of his enormously successful reality series, Mr. Chapman was the one being brought to justice. (Yesterday the Chapman family suggested that some horse trading was under way, pointing out that Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix, part of a Mexican drug cartel, was handed over to United States authorities.)

As American symbols go, Mr. Chapman is a pretty epic one. He has had 4 wives, 12 children, 18 robbery convictions, a conviction for being an accessory to murder, and, according to his math, more than 7,000 fugitives brought to justice. He belonged to a biker gang, but cries easily and enjoys vacuuming. His show, filmed mostly in Hawaii, is a mix of tweaking meth-heads and postarrest moralism, a business built on repossessing human flesh. But with Mr. Chapman, the drama always seems to continue after the cameras shut off. On the day he was to be married this spring in a filmed ceremony, his estranged daughter died. And now this.

“He leads a complicated, edgy life,” said Lucas Platt, the supervising producer of the show. “Going after Andrew Luster was a risky decision, but he thought it was the right thing to do. Now it has taken an unfortunate turn.” The turn won’t hurt ratings. A&E plans a special for tomorrow night, and the stories about his travails will only add to the legend. The man who brought vengeance to thousands of bail jumpers found himself on the wrong end of justice.

“I was totally freaked out,” Mr. Chapman said on the phone Saturday after he had posted a $300,000 bail to await a hearing on extradition. “There were guys that I had put in there that were yelling all sorts of things at me.”

His wife Beth, a co-star in the series, worked frantically for his release.

The 2003 Luster arrest, which catapulted Mr. Chapman to a new level of celebrity and eventually resulted in A&E signing him for the series, led to a lasting grudge on the part of Mexican authorities, who demanded that the United States extradite the bounty hunter.

On Thursday night the Mexican attorney general released a statement suggesting that what Mr. Chapman had done was an affront to national sovereignty.

Larry Butrick, chief of the criminal division for the United States Attorney’s Office in Honolulu, said that his staff was merely executing a valid warrant that came from headquarters in Washington.

“The court here really will just be looking at the legality of the extradition and if there is a fit under the treaty we have with Mexico,” he said.

One of Mr. Chapman’s lawyers is hoping that the matter can be settled somewhere short of a Mexican prison.

“I have a high level of confidence that we will be able work with the good will and good faith of the Mexican authorities in resolving this satisfactorily,” said William C. Bollard, who represents Mr. Chapman, his son Leland and Tim Chapman (no relation), a bounty-hunting colleague, all of whom helped apprehend Mr. Luster. For now the Dog is at large, albeit with an ankle bracelet.

“If I have a fugitive on the run and have to go out at night, I have to notify them,” he said, referring to federal officials. “I have no problem with that.”

In the month before his arrest, Mr. Chapman was busy hunting jumpers for the benefit for those who posted bond, and for a nimble A&E camera crew that jogged after them. The show’s template is simple and effective: The quarry is selected, a plan is made among the family members who make up most of his crew, the hunt commences and then capture, usually followed by a hug at the end, although a handcuffed one.

A bad guy made good by an 18-month stint in prison on the accessory-to-murder charge, Mr. Chapman sees an arrest as a kind of intervention, a way to let the runner face the music and begin a new life.

“We put families back together,” he explained, even though they often do that by putting one of the heads of the household behind bars. It has been wildly popular — “Dog the Bounty Hunter” is A&E’s most-watched show — partly because his mix of mayhem and moralizing has a kind of outlaw sweetness. It is a bit of Ward Cleaver, though accompanied by multiple cans of Mace, just in case.

On television, or in person during a recent visit by a reporter to Mr. Chapman’s headquarters in Hawaii, the hunt is a spectacle to behold. On a hot day near the end of August, Mr. Chapman laid out the agenda for the day. Item first and last: putting bond jumper Monalisa Hartsock in cuffs.

“She has the letter R tattooed on her left breast,” Dog told his colleagues at Da Kine Bail Bonds, which he and his wife own on Queen Emma Street in Honolulu. Speaking from behind major sunglasses that play MP3’s including “I Fought the Law” and thumping an ornate American Indian walking stick for emphasis, Dog warned that Ms. Hartsock was one of the many island inhabitants who got lost in smokable meth: “She knows she is going to jail.” The lowdown on Ms. Hartsock is followed by a shout-out to Jesus, who always rides point on any hunt.

Hawaii is a near-perfect ecosystem for bounty hunting. It is a rock, after all, thousands of miles out in the ocean, so a person can hide in only so many places. Meth has overtaken the island, so there is no shortage of bail-jumping, tweaky perps. Dog crossed over after his prison time, but just barely, still working the corners of the law to substantial effect. The rest of his crew could not be cast any better: Beth, a large sexpot with brutal intelligence and an oft-hidden heart of gold; Tim, the wizened sensei who works himself into a quiet rage; Duane Lee, the normal guy with abnormal biceps who loves taking down bad guys; Leland, the wayward son swaddled in tattoos and mail from adoring fans, and “Baby” Lisa, the up-and-coming toughie.

Mr. Chapman sees himself as a fisher of men, an enforcer who brings people to justice in what he calls “the cuffs of love.” He first turned it around as the No. 1 Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman in the country during the early 1970’s and now has taken his dust-busting ways to cleaning up the culture at large.

In a single episode he works the gutters for data, deploys phony accents and white lies on the phone, and physically tracks a runner in a way that seems a bit supernatural. It helps that most crooks are dumb as a box of rocks, but still.

The name Monalisa has Beth Chapman humming the song recorded by Nat King Cole. She has a lovely voice, albeit paired with a top-heavy endowment that borders on the architectural and a tendency to go junkyard dog when cornered. All honey for the time being, she convinces one of Monalisa’s pals who posted bail to help them find her.

Beth gently explained to Desiree that while it is hard to give up a pal, “the alternative is you have to pay the bond.” A call finally went through to Monalisa: Desiree convinced her to meet at a 76 gas station. The trap is set.

Right on schedule, Monalisa pulled in. “That’s her,” Desiree said. But Beth’s car was momentarily blocked in by Tim’s so she could not come around the other side; Monalisa saw Dog — tough to miss in his stunt mullet— hop out of Tim’s car, and she began backing up. Leland flew out of Beth’s car and filled the fleeing car with Mace, as did Duane Lee, but Monalisa tore out in reverse and careened through an intersection toward the highway, cars squealing to avoid her. Beth, in hot pursuit, filled the car with expletives : “Of all the rookie moves in the world!” she said. She fruitlessly crisscrosses the nearby neighborhood at high speed, while the car driven by Tim does the same. Mistakes were made. (Monalisa was finally captured by Dog and company early this month.)

Dog freely admits later to messing up Monalisa’s capture. He pleads guilty as well and to rolling around in his 15 minutes. “I always wanted to be the good guy in the black hat,” he said.

Despite the success of his show, his team had to scrape together money to bail him. Each member of the crew has a hard-knock history, no one assuming they deserve or can depend on success. They may have gone Hollywood, but their trashy roots are never painted over with peroxide.

By definition, anybody Mr. Chapman catches is having a bad day, but when the chase is over, Dog always gives them a cigarette and The Talk, an echo of a life-changing discussion he had with a deputy who was taking him to jail so many years ago.

Earlier that same week in August the hunting was more fruitful. After looking all over Oahu, they found Jacob Falenofoa, another meth casualty, with the help of his wife, who co-signed the bond. They found him at the house of a girlfriend’s parents in Pearl City. Riding back on H1, a highway that heads back to Honolulu, Dog went all biblical on Jacob, talking about how the drugs he was doing “ate his brain” and how deep down he was a good family man. This being Hawaii, a rainbow bloomed to the north as the speech peaked.

Dog said he was happy with the day’s outcome.

“I believe in what I do, I am good at what I do, and I want to be able to say that Jesus played a role in it,” he said. “Never, ever, has anyone ever escaped.”

Not even Dog. A few short weeks later, the cuffs of love found Mr. Chapman.

Dork Jeopardy

I was watching Jeopardy's "Tournament of Champions" tonight and when Alex introduced the first 6 categories at the start of the show I just laughed at the sheer magnitude of the dork factor:

• Star Trek, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings
• Action Figures
• Dinner for one
• In need of a date
• Still living with "Mom" and "Dad"
• You have no life

In honor of this great night for geeks, here are the 5 questions in the first category:

• $200: A council that takes place at Rivendell is central to its plot
• $400: In its lore, a Bagoran wormhole leads to the Gamma Quadrant
• $600: This one lent its name to a defensive weapons system that many felt was a pie-in-the-sky fantasy
• $800: A race called the Andorans causes trouble for the humans in this one
• $1000: Its creator was born in South Africa

If you don't know the answers, check it out after the jump

• $200: LOTR
• $400: ST
• $600: SW
• $800: ST
• $1000: LOTR

30 Millions Americans Can Be Considered "Working Poor"

The term "working poor" should be an oxymoron. If you work full time, you should not be poor, right? Unfortunately, more than 30 million Americans — one in four workers — are stuck in jobs that do not pay the basics for a decent life. Read that again. One in four - g-d damn! Then again, when the minimum wage hasn't moved above $5.15 an hour since 1997, what do you expect..

A new POV special on PBS titled "Waging a Living" chronicles the day-to-day battles of four low-wage earners fighting to lift their families out of poverty. Its on PBS tonight at 10 PM. If you missed it, or can't TiFaux it in time, I'm sure like other great PBS programming you'll be able to watch it online. When I hear a hard working mother say, "I was brought up to believe in the "American Dream" that if you work hard you'll be successful. I've worked hard my whole life and I'm still stuck. There's no "American Dream" anymore." I just want to cry.

Harvard's Family Guy

Seth MacFarlane, the creator of "Family Guy," gave a speech at Harvard Day this year and it was fantastic. He does the voices of Peter, Stewie and Quagmire while giving some sage advice. It's seriously awesome. Enjoy!

Via Kantro

Good TV

I recently donated money to PBS and provided the operator who took my call with my email addresses. Now I receive weekly “This Week on Thirteen” email updates. Too often one only hears about what the broadcast and cable networks are doing, specifically about the relative dreck that they are airing on a daily basis. Although most people haven’t watched public television since they watched “Seasame Street," the following three programs will probably make you realize that watching TV does not need to merely be an escape but that it can be educational and rewarding as well. Any program that features Salman Rushdie asking the question “What kind of a god is it that's upset by a cartoon in Danish?” is something that I've got to watch!

Tuesday, June 20 at 9pm
Frontline: The Dark Side
Frontline examines the conflicts within the U.S. government regarding the war on terror, much of which is fought by the CIA and other intelligence agencies on what Vice President Cheney has called "The Dark Side."

Thursday, June 22 at 8pm
Monarchy with David Starkey: The Early Kings
David Starkey hosts this series chronicling the power, politics, religion, and extraordinary lives of the English Crown. (Part 1 of 6)

Friday, June 23 at 9pm
Bill Moyers On Faith and Reason: Salman Rushdie
"What kind of a god is it that's upset by a cartoon in Danish?" asks Salman Rushdie in the premiere episode of Bill Moyers' new series. Moyers' conversation with Rushdie illuminates the importance of the freedom of belief in what some are calling an era of intolerance. Repeats Sun, June 25 at 7pm. (Part 1 of 7)