(Short) Saturday Sesame Street

Because I love Madeline Khan:

Saturday Sesame Street

I like how there were originally 1776 cherry trees in the orchard:

Saturday Sesame Street: Birthday Edition

For John, because unlike Bert, it is his birthday:



Happy birthday, John!

Also, a virtual cake for you:
(Stolen from Cake Wrecks)

I also highly recommend checking out John's project, Operation Backlog Slog, Days 1-5, 6, 7-9, 10-16, 17-27, 28-30, 31-33, & (so far) 24-43. Check out his explanation for liking Lady Gaga on that last one. It makes me fully embrace my own love for her music, and feel more secure in my decision to not be embarrassed about it.

Saturday Sesame Street

One part of one of my favorite Christmas specials:

Saturday Sesame Street

Yesterday, on my way home from work, It's Not That Easy Being Green came on my iPod. And so I knew exactly what video I was going to pick:


I always always always tear up when I hear this song. Because I'm more than a little pathetic. But also because it makes me think of this version:



This one, I don't have on my iPod. For what should be obvious reasons.

Saturday Sesame Street

"We superheroes bruise easily, you know":

Saturday Sesame Street

Featuring one of my favorite people, Madeline Kahn:

Saturday Sesame Street

Savion Glover is incredible:

A Very Happy 40th Birthday to Sesame Street

Forty years ago today, Sesame Street went live.

Around 16 years later, I was around to be their demographic.

By virtue of not knowing any other channels existed (I spent my weekend early mornings enthralled by the bass fishing I watched on tv), I was a PBS kid from the start.

And my absolute favorite program was Sesame Street. Well, that and the bass fishing.

I don't know how much Sesame Street affected me, because there was no click moment; there was no moment in my life when there wasn't Sesame Street. I'm not sure how much I really learned. I could never recite the alphabet backwards. The two-headed monster sketches did absolutely nothing for my pronunciation abilities. I never mastered double dutch. Letters and numbers I picked up along the way, but I'm pretty sure I would have learned to count at some point or another.

What Sesame Street did give me, though, was a path to another world; in the early years, Sesame Street was actually gritty. It still seemed gritty through the '80s. It seemed real, like there were real people and real monsters and real giant birds living side by side on this street with a roving frog reporter. And because it seemed real, the things the show discussed and the way the show discussed them were real. It gave me characters I adored, from Big Bird to Grover, to Oscar to Telly Monster. It gave me Luis and Maria. It gave me Linda and Barkley. It gave me Bob.

I've read numerous books about Sesame Street. I've learned about the effort that went into making the show, the reasons for the different characters, the growing pains, and everything else. But what stands out is how Sesame Street was a show that understood kids, didn't talk down to kids, and then gave a little something for the grown-ups as well.

And so, as my own little gimmick suggests, I'm inordinately fond of Sesame Street. I'm glad it has made it to year 40, and I hope it has another couple of decades left.

Also, check out the Sunday Sweets: Sesame Street. Those cakes are the awesome.

Saturday Sesame Street

In anticipation of Sesame Street's 40th birthday come November 10:

Saturday Sesame Street

This morning's Saturday Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter "S", as in Sociological Images, because that's where I found it:


I'll admit, it made me tear up a little bit.

Saturday Sesame Street

Live from the Nestropolitan Opera:

Saturday Sesame Street

Saturday Sesame Street

I like how Ernie carelessly throws Rubber Duckie over his shoulder once he finds out he doesn't have to give up the duck for good. It is just so odd for a guy who ten seconds ago refused to put down the duckie.

Also, all of the great guest stars. Those are fun too.

Saturday Sesame Street

Saturday Sesame Street

Hi ho! It has been a long time away from ze blog, and I have to say that after the initial couple of weeks featuring withdrawal symptoms, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

A quick rundown. I'm inclined to believe that it has something to do with the seasons, because I seem to remember around this time last year blogging dropped off in quality and quantity for a bit. It also has something to do with my low-grade health issues - back pain, eye strain, and then headaches resulting from the back pain and eye strain - making it difficult to do the thinking-and-typing-cogently thing. Also, a profound disinterest in arguing, mostly due to the difficulty in doing the thinking-and-typing-cogently thing. And - I'm not going to lie - there was a lot of Bones episodes being replayed on TNT. I do love my Bones, and I'm sure there's much to discuss in it from a feminist/philosophical/tv addict perspective - but I like having at least one show where the fandom of it is all there is to it. When something intellectually troubling happens, I like it to die a little death right there.

Anyway, this is all a long and drawn out way of saying, "I'm back, baby!"

Hopefully, that is.

And, to the 3 people who are probably still occasionally checking in to see if I've done anything spectacular with my time away, I can answer honestly with a "nope". But for your trouble, here's the song I've been obsessed with for the past couple of days:

Saturday Sesame Street

These martians are adorable! I love how they hide by bringing their mouths above their eyes.



As an aside, for the first couple years of my sisters' lives, they did think eating books was a swell idea. My children's lit collection was almost halved by their insistence that they should consume the hardcovers and gum the pages within. It's still a point of contention in our relationship.

Saturday Sesame Street

This is one of my favorite Sesame Street sketches. I know, I say that a lot. Because what's the point of having a schtick if you don't like most of that schtick? But this one is really, really good:



I should mention that Big Bird is my favorite Sesame Street character, and that I'm always contemplating stalking Carroll Spinney.

Saturday Sesame Street

Saturday Sesame Street