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Tag: Muppets

  • Jim Henson’s Son Dies Of Heart Attack At Age 48

    John Henson died at his home in Saugerties, New York on Friday. According to his sister Cheryl Henson, he died of a sudden heart attack after building an igloo with his daughter. Henson was 48.

    John Henson was the fourth child of the late Muppets creator, Jim Henson and Jane Nabel Henson. He appeared in Sesame Street and Numerosity during his childhood years and went on to follow in his father’s footsteps with a career in puppetry. In the late 1980’s Henson replaced Richard Hunt as the body suit for Sweetums, a hairy ogre with bushy eyebrows. He continued to play the character for more than ten years. The last performance he did as the character was in 2005 for The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz TV movie.

    Henson also appeared as the Coca-Cola Polar Bear that skied and sled at Coca-Cola PR events.

    Aside from taking on roles in movies and television, Henson also appeared as Sweetums on several live Muppets events, such as the unveiling of Kermit the Frog’s star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, the musical tribute to his father, and the MuppetFest weekend. Henson was also a board member and a stakeholder at the Jim Henson Company, together with his brother and 3 sisters.

    Unknown to many, Henson was also a sculptor. In the 1980’s Henson, together with John Kahn, created “The Great Hot Air Balloon Circus”, a metal and wood hot air balloon sculpture that consisted of Muppets figures made of PVC. The sculpture was placed in the old headquarters of the Jim Henson Company. More of his brass sculptures can be found at the company’s New York offices.

    The Muppets will be back in cinemas in March with the upcoming movie entitled Muppets Most Wanted.

    John Henson left his wife Gyongyi and 2 daughters Katrina, 15, and Sydney, 10. The family is planning a private service for the late puppeteer.

    Watch Muppets Most Wanted Trailer

    Image via YouTube

  • 2014 Toyota Highlander Super Bowl Debut with Muppets

    Toyota and its Highlander SUV are not going out without a fight. Recently changing its exterior from bland to now decidedly ugly as well as upgrading its innards, Toyota wishes to further push its Highlander to greater heights by getting it into the high-priced Super Bowl ad game.

    The 2014 Super Bowl ratings will likely not be as high as last year; Ray Lewis won’t be playing his final game, and Beyonce won’t be performing at half-time– but it is a guarantee that close to one hundred million people will be watching, which makes this a major debut for the new Highlander.

    To even further seal the deal, Toyota announced that Highlander is going the way of Thanksgiving Lady Gaga by enlisting The Muppets’ to help promote their product during one of America’s biggest holidays.

    The Muppets, never having to worry about losing their place in America’s hearts, have generously agreed to grace the Highlander’s presence as long as Damon Terry Crews and his jumping pec muscles promise to join in on the fun.

    The theme of the new Toyota Highlander is to accentuate fun over its obviously strange look, and the Super Bowl ad will focus on this. The commercial involves Terry Crews driving the SUV with a guest appearance from the piano player virtuoso of the Muppet clan, Rowlf the Dog. To quote Walt Disney vice president Don Gross, “The Muppets’ classic mix of high energy and heart matches perfectly with Toyota’s spirit of adventure, and Kermit, Gonzo and the whole gang look forward to many zany road trips.” This will be the first Toyota collaboration, and there will possibly be more from the sound of it.

    Besides musical collaborations with the likes of Cee Lo, Gwyneth Paltrow and even Alice Cooper back in 1978, the Muppets have upped the awesomeness of the National Hockey League, the New York City traveling organization, IBM and more.

    Check out the trailers here:

    and be sure to check out the Super Bowl for the sole purpose of catching this commercial.

    Image via Youtube

  • Lady Gaga and The Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular: Flop

    The much-talked about Lady Gaga & the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular finally aired and well, it flopped. According to TV by the Numbers, the Thanksgiving special garnered a paltry 0.9 viewer rating with adults 18-49. This means that a large number of U.S. viewers did not tune in and comments such as these from those who did:

    didn’t help at all.

    As earlier reported by us, the show featured Lady Gaga performing with acts intriguing in their own way– RuPaul, Elton John, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and of course, the Muppets. Even with their help, it didn’t do well with television viewers. Maybe a little behind-the-scenes tension between Gaga and Miss Piggy would have helped, or maybe this one will take a while for America to appreciate.

    We’ll see if it becomes a cult hit in the future.

    [Image: Twitter]

  • Muppets Most Wanted Trailer Includes Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey

    Muppets Most Wanted Trailer Includes Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey

    The Muppets was a success back in the fall of 2011, winning critical praise and an Oscar for its music. It was a return to form for the Muppets, who had not been in a theatrical movie since 1999’s Muppets From Space. Disney is now looking to press on with that success, and a sequel to The Muppets is coming on March 21, 2014.

    Muppets Most Wanted will follow the Muppets as they tour the world. They are then drawn into a a European jewel-heist by a thief who happens to be Kermit the Frog’s Doppelgänger. London, Madrid, Berlin, and Dublin have all been mentioned as locations in the movie.

    An early teaser trailer for the movie was released this week. It shows that Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey will have major roles in the flick. It also spoils some of the trademark Muppet-movie cameos, such as Sean “Diddy” Combs and Salma Hayek:

  • Jane Henson Dies; Muppeteer Was 78

    Jane Henson, wife of Muppets creator Jim Henson, has died. She was 78.

    According to The Jim Henson Company, Henson died at her Connecticut home yesterday after a prolonged battle with cancer. The company has set up a tribute page featuring photos from her life and audio from an address she made to The Jim Henson company made last year.

    Jane Henson was born Jane Nebel, and met Jim Henson at a puppetry class at the University of Maryland. The couple went on to create the show Sam and Friends and the Muppets. The couple were married in 1959, and had five children together. Though they were separated in 1986, Jane would go on to continue her association with The Jim Henson Company.

    Jane collaborated on several Muppet projects, including The Art of The Muppets museum exhibit, The Muppet Show on Tour, and Sesame Street Live She also served on the board of The Jim Henson Foundation, co-founded The National Puppetry Conference, and founded both The Jim Henson Legacy and The Jane Henson Foundation.

    (Image courtesy The Jim Henson Company)

  • Cookie Monster Uses Google Play To Get In Shape

    Google, per its mission statement, wants to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible. The company also would like you to reinvent yourself by using its numerous products.

    For New Year’s, Google posted to its official blog, a list of ways to use Google products to eat better, get fiscally fit, travel more, and learn something new. I won’t rehash all of that here, but within the post (in the “Eat Better” section), Google included a new video about how to use Google Play to eat better, and took advantage of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster to do so.

    This is not the first time Google has turned to Muppets to sell its products. You may recall this commercial featuring the actual Muppets using Google+ Hangouts.

  • Muppets Dump Chick-Fil-A in Support of Gay Marriage

    Muppets dump Chick-Fil-A in support of gay marriage? Apparently that’s the case. The Henson Company once supplied the controversial chicken slinging restaurant with toys for their children’s meals, items which featured numerous characters created by the late, great Jim Henson. However, following Dan Cathy’s admission that he only believes in marriage from a biblical perspective, the Muppets are apparently taking their beloved brand elsewhere. Given that the company openly supports the union between frog and pig, this makes perfect sense to me.

    “The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors,” the company announced on their official Facebook page.

    Although Chick-Fil-A has yet to comment on the Muppets’ departure, the restaurant did release a statement following the vast amount of backlash it received from Cathy’s Baptist Press interview. And while they didn’t backtrack on their stance regarding gay marriage, they did say they intend to treat people the same regardless of who they are or what they believe.

    “The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender,” the statement read. “We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”

    If, like many people, you’ve decided to take your breaded chicken money elsewhere, why not try a knock-off recipe you can cook up at home. That way, you can still enjoy the same culinary delight without all of that pesky guilt. Check out the embedded video to learn how.

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  • New Sesame Street Movie: 20th Century Fox Acquires Rights

    A new Sesame Street movie is currently in the works, according to the folks over at the Hollywood Reporter. 20th Century Fox recently secured motion picture rights to the property, and have tapped Shawn “Real Steel” Levy’s 21 Laps to produce alongside Michael Aguilar, Mark Gordon and Film 360’s Guymon Casady. Even though I’m well into my 30’s and have zero children to speak of, I’m not above proclaiming my love for the long-running series. In fact, I wouldn’t be totally against seeing this thing on the big screen. Assuming that it actually happens, of course.

    Despite having been on the air since 1969, Sesame Street and its inhabitants have only enjoyed two full-length Hollywood features, namely director Ken Kwapis’ 1985 adventure “Follow that Bird” and Gary Halvorson’s 1999 Elmo vehicle “The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland”. Given the popularity of last year’s surprise hit “The Muppets”, it’s not too surprising that Hollywood is going back to Jim Henson’s well for inspiration. Unless there’s a cold, empty void where you soul should be, “Follow that Bird” is still a delight to behold after all these years.

    Although Fox has no official comment on the matter, it’s expected that the Sesame Street Workshop will have a hand in the production, as well. Currently, veteran writer Joey Mazzarino, a man who is well-versed in the “Street”, has been hired to pen the script. The sooner this thing gets off the ground, the happier a lot of people will be. Of course, it remains to be seen if the theaters will be full of children or people who are just children-at-heart. Honestly, I know more adults who enjoyed “The Muppets” than I do kids.

    In the white space positioned below this article, you can find a sampling of Twitter reactions to the news, all of which seem to view the upcoming “Sesame Street” movie in a very positive light. Considering it’s been over a decade since anything “Street”-related has made its way onto the big screen, I’d say it’s high time that Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and Elmo make their long-awaited return to Hollywood.

  • Artist’s Rendition of Muppet Fairy Tales

    Artist David Patterson created this brilliant concept artwork for muppet versions of the classic fairy tales: King Arthur, Peter Pan, Robin Hood and Snow White. Any of these would make an amazing animated feature.

    King Arthur

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    Peter Pan

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    Robin Hood

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    Snow White

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    David Peterson is the creator of Mouse Gaurd, a series on illustrated “children’s” books and comics surrounding a cast of medieval mice based on myth and legend.

    In the world of Mouse Guard, mice struggle to live safely and prosper amongst harsh conditions and a host of predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed: more than just soldiers, they are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one village to another. They see to their duty with fearless dedication so that they may not simply exist, but truly live.

    He is a talented illustrator. You can follow his work and from start to finish on his blog. He even break down the creation of his artwork so you too can learn how to be an amazing illustrator.

    From David Peterson’s Blog:
    David Petersen is the creator of Mouse Guard.
    He enjoys fantasy, folklore, myth, and legend.
    Even more than that he loves to draw and write about it.

    If he put some celtic lettering on these and turned them into posters, he could make a killing on Etsy.

    [H/T: Buzzfeed]

  • Jim Henson’s Awesome Google Doodle

    Google’s string of hitting home runs with their logo manipulations continues with their latest Doodle, an impressive honoring of the great Jim Henson. In typical new Google Doodle fashion, the Jim Henson logo responds to user input, allowing Google visitors to play the role of giving a voice to the Muppets that comprise the letters in Google’s name.

    As indicated, the latest doodle is indeed interactive, done with the mouse inputs. Google visitors can select which Muppet they wish to manipulate by clicking the hand signal underneath the characters. Once selected, the selected Muppet follows the movement of the mouse and when a button is pressed, the selected Muppet opens its mouth, allowing the user to take add a voice to the animated character. The Henson Doodle represents another successful interactive Google Doodle, a string that has seen the awesome Les Paul logo, as well as Freddie Mercury and Alexander Calder, to name a few.

    Like other doodles, when clicked, the user is taken to a “Jim Henson” search results page, and it’s a fantastic way to remind people just how awesome Henson’s creative talent was, and it should also go a long way in explaining why his talent is still missed.

    According to the Google blog, the logo will be visible for 36 hours. The logo was also created with cooperation from The Jim Henson Company. The Google blog includes a guest post from Brian Henson, the son of the late Jim Henson, and it closes by adding some insight into the man responsible for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy:

    Jim was clearly a great visionary. But he also wanted everyone around him fully committed creatively. If you asked him how a movie would turn out, he’d say, “It’ll be what this group can make, and if you changed any one of them, it would be a different movie.” Every day for him was joyously filled with the surprises of other people’s ideas. I often think that if we all lived like that, not only would life be more interesting, we’d all be a lot happier.

    There’s also a video celebrating the doodle, again, courtesy of Henson’s company:


    Another cool tidbit, courtesy of the latest Google Doodle: when you right-click the characters and select the “Open image in a new tab” option, you are greeted with the various expressions the logo-comprising Muppets make. An example of these images:

    Google Doodle

    With Google continuing its impressive streak of logo manipulations, it makes one anticipate the next offering a great deal. Let’s just hope Google doesn’t get caught up in trying outdo themselves. As long as they continue with the kind of quality we see with the Henson logo, everything will be just fine.

  • YouTube Readies “Thank You” For Traffic Contributors

    Sites that send enough traffic to YouTube will soon start getting something in return.  A new "as seen on" feature will effectively thank significant sources of YouTube viewers, giving them credit – and a link – at the bottom of videos’ pages.

    For now, the feature’s experimental.  Also, YouTube’s only using it connection with popular videos, and a sample screenshot (see right) implies that only one site will receive acknowledgment per video, which could make it hard or impossible for regular bloggers to get recognized.

    YouTube’s promised that the feature will become permanent "soon," however, and we have an email out to the company concerning those other matters.

    UPDATE: YouTube spokesperson Chris Dale responded to our questions by stating, "We’re currently rewarding one site that ‘made’ the video popular early on by contributing a significant volume of traffic."  Also, "A blog/site needs to contribute heavily to the views of a video to be rewarded.  We’ll continue to work on that threshold, but there isn’t a class of popular videos to which we will restrict this feature."

    This is a fairly neat element regardless of those issues, too.  A post on the official YouTube Blog explained, "What this means is that you can get recognition for sourcing videos that your readers love and helping those clips become popular on YouTube.  It’s another way all that hard work you put into building your readership can pay off and generate even more traffic for your blog or site.  You might even get your site in front of a whole new audience via people who encounter it for the first time on YouTube."

    Now, for your viewing enjoyment, we offer not only the video from the screenshot, but a second and possibly better clip featuring Beaker(s).