News Update: April 8, 2011

NEWS UPDATE: April 8, 2011

Two of The Muppet Mindset's favorite celebrities, Craig Ferguson (of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) and Joel McHale (of Community and The Soup), are joining the ranks of Sesame Street Season 42 guest stars. On Wednesday, Ferguson tweeted saying, "Filming a segment for @sesamestreet with the artist that is Elmo today. Very honored. #finallymadeitinshowbusiness" and later posted a picture of himself with three Sesame chickens (seen at right). And earlier this morning, McHale tweeted, "Shot a bit for @sesamestreet yesterday. It's a dream come true to be on that show although I'm always a little hesitant about nude scenes." I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled that these two hilarious guys are getting to work on Sesame Street! Can't wait for Season 42 now... (As if I couldn't before.)

On Tuesday, The Insider online posted a video with everyone's favorite amphibian, Michigan J. Frog Kermit the Frog from 1989. In the video, Kermit talks Sesame Street's 20th anniversary (which, at the time, was timely). It's a fun little video and a great showcase of both Jim and Kermit's interviewing abilities. Gosh, I love that frog!

Our good friends at ToughPigs (all good friends except Hennes) have posted two brand new (albeit very old) videos from their adventures at the 2010 New York City Comic Con. The videos may be old, but they feature two good friends of The Muppet Mindset, Jesse Blaze Snider (writer, Muppet Snow White) and James Silvani (artist, Muppet King Arthur, Darkwing Duck). Snider proves himself as a huge Muppet geek (he talks about Beard from The Jim Henson Hour!)--and even mentions The Muppet Mindset!--and Silvani is always a treat (hey, he brought us Angus McGonagle, after all) so be sure to check out the videos!

Finally, in our continuing coverage of the upcoming Muppets Vinylmation Series 2, the official Disney Vinylmation website has posted 360 degree turns of eleven of the 3" figures (all but the chaser figure, Waldo). Still curious about what the Waldo figure looks like? Well, curio no longer! (Curio? Sure.) Look to the right where you'll see the Waldo figure, with removable hat! I love the Waldo figure... most of his body is clear, which is really, really cool. But, if you know anything about Vinylmation, you know that the chaser is near-impossible to find... so if you manage to pull a Waldo out of one of those boxes, hang on to it because I might want to steal it.

The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 will be released at Disney Parks and online at DisneyStore.com on April 15th!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Lance Cardinal and the Incredible Muppet Theater Custom Playset

I can't tell you how excited I am for today's post as we welcome the hugely talented Lance Cardinal to the Mindset to talk about his gorgeous, amazing, perfect custom Muppet Theater Playset. His playset is custom-built to perfectly fit the Palisades Toys Muppet figures which were produced from 2002 to 2005. The Palisades figures are some of the greatest pieces of Muppet merchandise ever produced and Lance's terrific playset is such a great supplement to them. But enough blabbering from me... I'll hand over the keyboard (metaphorically, of course) to Lance Cardinal so he can tell you all about his beautiful project.

Lance Cardinal - First of all thank you again for your kind words and support. Its really nice to see other creative people out there providing amazing web sites like The Muppet Mindset for us hard core Fans to share our passion for Jim Henson and the Muppets. The Muppet Mindset is the coolest thing since sliced foam!!

When I was a young boy I lived in a very small northern community, Calling Lake, Alberta, Canada. We only had one channel and it was the CBC. The Muppet Show was on every weeknight after school and before supper and I was always so excited to see it. I couldn’t believe this magical world where all these fun and amazing characters lived! I was mesmerized by the sets, costumes and puppets, and I couldn’t believe there was so much fun, magic and inspiration in one show! I was inspired! Of course I made some of my own versions of the characters out of laundry soap boxes and old socks (who didn’t) and put on many puppet shows and performances. I always loved pretending I was Kermit, introducing the guests and with a swish of my hand the curtain the big red curtain would magically open. This was super important to me when designing the Muppet Theatre model. I had to make sure that anyone could have the magical power to open the curtain like Kermit did, night after night.

I guess the whole reason I began this Muppet Theatre project was to fulfill my secret childhood desire to actually BE a Muppet. I wanted to live in that magical theatre in one of the mysterious doors that led to nowhere, and dance and sing with Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo. There was so much heart and soul in that program, directly from Jim Henson’s mind to our living rooms. When Palisades started releasing the Muppet figures in 2002 I knew I had to have them. I began to collect them and I could not believe the quality of the figures and the accuracy to the actual Muppets! I am a very detail oriented person and I instantly gained a new respect for the action figure world. As each figure was released I found myself remembering so many moments of my life that was associated to that character. It just kept getting better and better. I knew the Muppet Theatre was on the list for playets to be released by Palisades and I felt this would be the magical moment when it would all come together!! I would finally get to open that red velvet curtain myself and enter the world of magic, fun and inspiration.

When Palisades went bankrupt in 2006, I was pretty upset to find out they were not going to be releasing the Muppet Theatre. I was disappointed but I continued collecting, gathering whatever characters I needed off the internet and trade shows. One day I was rearranging my new Muppet Palisades display case (my third one) and I noticed a large space where the Muppet Theatre should go. I dwelled on it for days and finally realized I had the power to make one myself. So I began planning it out, designing, calculating, just as intensely as any design job I have done. Eventually I began to build, and I didn’t really stop for a month. Lots of sleepless nights and trips to the modelling store. Then... it was finished. I finally had it in front of me, the curtain was there and the rope was there too. I put Kermit in his place on stage and then pulled the golden rope. Finally it all came together and the collection was complete.

After the stage was done, I decided to put it on my blog--actually, it was the reason I started my blog. Much to my surprise, I started getting messages from other people all over the world who also like the Muppets and also collected the Palisades toy line. Eventually the blog started getting major traffic and I ended up getting 42,00 hits in one week!! This was so amazing to me, especially because representatives from The Jim Henson Company and Palisades both sent me very positive comments and support. These were the very people who I was trying to pay tribute to and the acknowledgement made it all worth it!!

From here I plan to continue with my Muppet Theatre “Add –ons”. Statler and Waldorf’s Box seats will be next and I have already started planning it. Hope to have it up soon!

My respect for Jim Henson and the Muppets is obviously very huge! This man and his group of happy outcast puppets are an integral part of American History and international pop culture. The world is so full of financial problems, political problems, etc., and it really seems like people are needing the happiness, positivity, and comfort that comes from The Jim Henson Legacy. I hope my Muppet Theatre Model has spread around some of that magic and has reminded us all of why we love the Muppets and Jim Henson so much.

Thank you so much Muppet Mindset for keeping the legacy alive and thank you to all the people who sent me such positive comments and support!

 The pictures we've shown are just the very tip of the iceberg of this gorgeous set. Please check out Lance's blog for all of the other amazing, amazing pictures of this piece of art.




The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Weekly Website Wednesday: Jim's Red Book

Today's article is not the start of another Wednesday series... I just wanted to add in the cute, alliterative title. That is all.

Jim Henson's Red Book Review

Michael Wermuth, Jr. - On September 24, 2010 (Jim Henson’s birthday), The Jim Henson Company added a new website, Jim Henson’s Red Book, containing excerpts from, well, Jim Henson’s red book, Henson’s personal journal. As noted at the top of the page, every day from 1965 until 1988 Jim Henson wrote one-sentence journal entries on what he did that day, and excerpts from the book get reprinted on the website. Now, this may not be too interesting to many, unless you just like knowing dates of events (and even then, Muppet Wiki has many dates posted already). Interest may be even lower if it’s not about a specific production. But many (not all) entries have additional historical information, written by archivist (note from Ryan: and good friend of The Muppet Mindset) Karen Falk. And the historic information is a real treasure.

In case you don’t know, I’m a pretty hardcore Muppet fan. I know the names of all the important characters, and the names of many minor characters you may not be aware of. But pretty much all of the historic information entries include info that even I had never previously known, and not just the kind of info I might not have cared about.

Before the Red Book website started, I didn’t know that Twill and Harrison from the “Muppets String Quartet” sketch (from The Ed Sullivan Show) had names, or that said segment was a remake of one done years earlier, or that Mahna Mahna was called “Harry” in that script. I didn’t know that Jim Henson’s Sesame Street film where kids play in the sand was titled “Body Parts vs. Heavy Equipment.” I also didn’t know what the musicians from the “Come Together” number looked like (they’re basically Beatles caricatures with the same attire as Mahna Mahna)--and these are just some of the many, many things one can learn from Jim's Red Book.

The historical information indeed provides great information, pictures, and often links to video clips uploaded to YouTube by The Jim Henson Company (just recently Jim Henson’s “Wizard of Id” pilot was uploaded). Almost every time an entry is on a variety show appearance there is plenty of detailed behind-the-scenes info and pictures. There are some great behind-the-scenes articles on scenes from The Great Muppet Caper (I am particularly fond of the article on the parachute sequence).

Although it says the red book started in 1965, there have been a few entries that pre-date 1965, such as when Jane Henson got hired in 1955 and the last broadcast of Sam and Friends in 1961. Although the book ended in 1988, I’m hoping for some kind of entry on The Jim Henson Hour. I’m hoping to eventually see entries on the making of all of Jim Henson’s Sesame Street films (especially the “baker films”), the various direct-to-video productions of the 1980s, and something related to Follow That Bird. Only time will tell.

If you don’t follow the website you really, really should. It is a treasure for Muppet fans and a great history lesson every single day.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Everything I Know About Life, I Learned from Miss Piggy

Greetings, Muppet fans! It's over, it's finally, really over... The Muppet Madness Tournament 2011 has come to an end and a winner has been declared! Who is it? Well... he needs a proper introduction. Ladies and gentleman, the furriest, bluest, superest monster of them all...

...and he is cute, too! Yes, Super Grover is our winner, ladies and gents! Congratulations to everyone's favorite super monster--and my own pick to win. My ballot really did well this year... thank you Super Grover! And thank you Steve Swanson, Joe Hennes, Ryan Roe, and Dave Hulteen for letting The Muppet Mindset be a part of the tournament this year.

And without further ado... here's today's article.

Everything I Know About Life, I Learned From Miss Piggy

Hilarie Mukavitz - The divine Miss P. has been a role model of mine for quite some time. I thought it was about time I wrote about why that is.

1. Never miss an opportunity to make an entrance.
Forget less is more.  If you are a bona fide diva, MORE is more. She was also a prime example of when you blow said entrance... how to brush it off and move on, as you can see here:



2. Foreign languages are important, and can add a touch of class.
When I was 7 years old, I had two weeks of French in summer school. After that, naturally, I was an expert.  For months afterwards I insisted that everybody in my neighborhood speak to me in French. One of my childhood friends still bares the trauma of me trying to force him to pronounce "croissant" in the proper French pronunciation. Of course, when my very tolerant next door neighbor said "Parlez vous francais?" I had no idea what he was talking about. I suspect Miss Piggy went to the same language school for her French.



3. When you are having a bad day, the best way to deal with it is to have a good laugh with your best friend.
We've all had those days. The Broadway career isn't taking off and you are stuck in retail... and you've just caught the frog of your dreams being all kissy kissy with a cute young thing. Best thing to do is to get together with one of your gal pals, maybe give each other a makeup and laugh it off.



4. Being strong and tough and being a girlie girl are not mutually exclusive traits.
Miss Piggy and I were both products of the 1970's. The feminists of that era were rebelling against the whole June Cleaver image of women in the 50's. While I'm a big fan of Gloria Steinem and the like, and appreciate the strides forward they made that my generation benefits from... I didn't particularly care for the more masculine fashion sense that went with 1970's feminism. One thing I've appreciated about Miss Piggy is she showed you can wear pink poofy sparkly, clothing. However if a certain amphibian tries to mess with you, there is the option of SHFFITF... stomping his froggy face into the floor. You can pursue your mugger one minute, and show ladylike gentility to people coming to your aid the next.



5. Women can be the hero too!
I have always gravitated towards strong women characters. One of my first forensics pieces was the Japanese folk tale "Three Strong Women" about a mother, grandmother and daughter that help out a sumo wrestler... after they kick his butt first. Red was my favorite Fraggle because she took charge, and was a rival for Gobo.

I'd have to wait a couple of decades for Buffy the Vampire Slayer... but until then I had Miss Piggy. In the original Muppet trilogy, Kermit may have been the leading man, but Miss Piggy was the true hero. When Kermit was about to get an electronic cerebrectomy, it was Piggy who karate chopped their way to freedom.  It was Piggy who resisted the charms of Nicky Holiday's dubbed operatic charms, and broke out of prison just in time to save her precious time. Finally, when Kermit becomes an amnesiac right before their big Broadway debut, it's Piggy who makes sure that the show still goes on... and karate chops Kermit into remembering his true identity.



The divine Miss P. will continue to be an inspiration to me. Now, if you will excuse me, moi has to go exercise and do some phone lifts. Okay... maybe I should have chosen a different Muppet for my exercise regimen...

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Almost Daily Fraggle Rock Quotations: Week 19

Hi folks! Lisa the Intern here with a small batch of Almost Daily Fraggle Rock Quotations for you. Sadly, I have entered that crazy time of the semester when everything has to happen at the same time, so Quotations have not been able to be my main priority... but here's what I've got!


Wonder Mountain: "Is he okay?" "...He has NEVER been okay." --Wembley and Boober Fraggle


Red's Blue Dragon: "Now I'm just upside-down, inside-out, falling down, turn-about. What I mean, where I've been, people don't know!" --Red Fraggle


Space Frog Follies: "I'm not a stick in the mud. I'm a lump in the laundry!" --Gobo Fraggle


See? Cute little batch. I'll try to have more next time. But until then, dance your cares away, folks!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 Lineup Revealed!

Last week, as you'll recall, we posted our predictions for the upcoming Vinylmation The Muppets Series 2 set to be released at Disney Parks and Resorts (as well as online) on April 15th. Well, as has become custom around here (at least if you're asking Joe Hennes), we were mostly wrong! The fine folks over at Vinylnation.net have exclusively revealed the lineup for The Muppets Series 2. Let's take a look at the surprises that we never would have guessed!

3" Figures

• Dr. Teeth 
• Janice
• Floyd Pepper
• Zoot
• Pigs in Space Miss Piggy
• Link Hogthrob
• Dr. Julius Strangepork
• Penguin
• Pepe the King Prawn
• Scooter
• Lew Zealand
• Waldo (Chaser Figure)

9" Figures

• Gonzo the Great (with 3" Camilla the Chicken)
• Muppet*Vision Kermit (previously known as "Tourist Kermit")
• Sam Eagle
• Animal

Okay, so I guess we weren't all that wrong. But seriously, who would have guessed we'd see Link and Strangepork and Lew Zealand included? That's super, super cool. I also love the fact that the Disney folks trust this line enough to do well that they're including 9" figures also. The 9" figures usually have a much smaller release size (e.g., only 1,000) and usually cost about $40. So... my wallet may hate it, but I absolutely love it and I must get the 9" Gonzo at least (but I'll probably get all of them... darn it)!

There's been a breaking piece of news in the Vinylmation case this morning as the world's bestest Muppet fan, FrogFan76, has posted a brand new YouTube video with exclusive pictures of all of The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 3" figures (except Waldo, the Chaser)! Check out the fantastic video and marvel at the awesome designs below!



This just solidifies the fact that I must have these! Especially Lew Zealand. And Pepe. And Floyd. And... yeah, all of them. Thanks to our friend FrogFan76 for this AWESOME YouTube sensation!

Once again, The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 will be released on April 15th.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Madness Tournament 2011: FINAL ROUND!

Well, this is it, Muppet fans! After weeks of toiling and voting and campaigning and whatever else it is that we've been doing... the Final Round of this year's Muppet Madness Tournament is finally here! It's the matchup of the century between Super Grover and Statler and Waldorf--a matchup I've been predicting since Round 2! It's been a long, hard road for all of the contestants... but it all comes down to this. Will Super Grover crash into the winner's spot? Or will Statler and Waldorf heckle their way forward? Only time will tell...

Only until April 4th, actually, because that's when voting ends. But don't you worry, four days may not seem like a long time, but in actuality there are over 48 chances to vote! How is this possible you ask? Well, in the Final Round only, you can vote every two hours!! How crazy is that?! And believe me, it might be necessary. As of now there are only 35 votes separating the competitors. (Super Grover is winning, of course.) (Not that I'm picking favorites.)

So go! Vote! Now! Often! Again! Later! Oh, also... check out this GORGEOUS artwork from the one and only uber-talented demigod of Muppet fan art Dave Hulteen:

Cast your vote now at...
http://muppetfans.com/tournament






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier