Month: June 2019

Back From OCon–BEST DAY EVER!!!

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , 4 Comments

Right now I don’t have a lot of time to describe my experience at OCon, but I wanted to say that I went there, and I met Steve, and IT WAS AWESOME!!!

I could tell you that Steve was nice to me, but “nice” doesn’t really do it justice. Take everything you’ve ever heard about how nice Steve Whitmire is and multiply it seven times seven times. That’s how nice he was to me.

He literally treated me like a VIP. He gave me a hug when he met me, he let me hang out at his table, he gave me an autograph for free, and he recommended my blog to a whole room full of people. 

Speaking of which, if anyone who also attended OCon is reading this and has/finds pictures or video of the event related to Steve’s appearance, I’d love to share that stuff here. You can use the “Contact” link to send me an email, or you can tag me on Twitter (@frogoflamancha) or Instagram (@mary_arlene_flm)

Thanks, everybody. I’ll post about the rest of it as soon as I can. Watch this space. 

Interview with Steve Whitmire Ahead of Omaha Comic Con

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Steve is appearing at OCon this weekend and gave an interview to the Omaha World-Herald. 

The interviewer makes Steve’s Muppet departure sound more volitional than it actually was, but he gets brownie points for not referring to Steve as a “voice actor.” 

There’s also an interesting sidebar about the 20 “most powerful puppet characters in the world.” It’s kind of funny that the author makes a point of mentioning that Socrates contemplated the question in ancient Greece, but the puppet characters included all seem to be American in origin and date back only as far as the 20th century. 

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Sixty for 60: Ernie

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Welcome back to 60 for 60, a celebration of the work of Steve Whitmire in anticipation of his 60th birthday coming up later this year. This month is a celebration of Steve’s work as the irrepressible Ernie.

Just as Ernie and Bert are undervalued as one of the great comedy teams of all time, I feel that Steve Whitmire’s work as Ernie is tragically under-appreciated, especially by Muppet fans of a certain age. Whether playing alongside Frank Oz or Eric Jacobson, he’s done some stellar work in skits, songs, and bits that stack up against any of the great Bert and Ernie sketches of the pre-1990 Sesame Street era.

This was the hardest 60 for 60 entry that I’ve put together since I talked about Wembley last November. I could easily devote at least three months of this project to Steve’s work as Ernie. I would run out of months of the year before I ran out of material.

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Fraggle Friday: Why Do I Cry?

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , , 1 Comment

Today I was listening to “Just a Dream Away,” and tears came to my eyes. Admittedly a perfectly normal and understandable reaction, but I realized I didn’t know exactly why I was crying.

Why exactly does this song provoke this reaction from me? Is it purely the beauty of the song and the performance? Or is it the dramatic irony of knowing Richard Hunt’s eventual fate? Is it the inherent lovability of Mudwell the Mudbunny? Or is it the contrast between his speaking voice and his singing voice? Is it entirely due to one of these factors, or is a combination of two or more of them?

I still haven’t figured it out yet. Perhaps I never will. 

Maybe it’s better not to know. Maybe if I figured it out, it would break the spell, and the song wouldn’t have the same effect on me anymore. 

Thoughts on the Dark Crystal Prequel Series Trailer

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

I’ve been really looking forward to the trailer for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance despite the fact that, for various reasons that I don’t want to get into right now, I don’t subscribe to Netflix. The Dark Crystal is my favorite non-Muppet creation of Jim Henson’s and I was looking forward to getting at least a peek back into the world of Thra. In a way, it felt like coming home. 

It all looks spectacular, and if anything could convince me to subscribe to Netflix, this would be it. Even if I don’t get to see it, I’m still glad that it exists, and that it seems to be branching off in new directions while remaining rooted within the mythos and ethos of the original movie. 

I do have some specific thoughts about it, however. Most good, some bad…

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