Sunday, October 28, 2012

A Muppet Celebration

Yesterday (October 27, 2012), the Muppet family gathered to celebrate the life of long-time Muppet Performer Jerry Nelson who passed away in August.

The crowd, a couple hundred strong, definitely showed its love for Jerry with thunderous applause and laughter at the guest speakers and the many video clips. Muppet fan blog ToughPigs.com has a write-up of the different speakers and gifts. All I can do is add in a few pictures to tell the story.

Jerry Nelson on the big screen


Craig Shemin, President of the Jim Henson Legacy and host of the event. Shemin co-wrote the Jim Henson's Musical World show at Carnegie Hall back in April and has written and emceed a number of live Muppet projects in recent years.


Sesame Street and Broadway performer Stephanie D'Abruzzo


Jerry Nelson, performing as himself, with Kermit and Fozzie


Long-time Sesame Street/Henson performer Fran Brill (Zoe and Prarie Dawn)


Mr. Snuffleupagus, originally performed by Jerry Nelson, sending a video message to the crowd (performed by Marty Robinson)


Sesame Street/Muppet performer Matt Vogel, who has taken over some of the more well-known Jerry Nelson characters and is also the understudy for Carroll Spinney.


Floyd Pepper clips


Long-time Muppet/Henson Performer Dave Goelz (Gonzo, Boober and Matt Fraggle among many others) introducing Fraggle Rock clips


Muppet Performer Bill Barretta


Robin the Frog


A very emotional Louise Gold who flew in from London for the private and public Jerry Nelson events


Original Muppet Show puppet designer Bonnie Erickson


Long-time Muppet/Sesame Street/Henson performer Steve Whitmire (Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Wembley Fraggle, Rizzo the Rat) signing autographs for fans after the event.


The Jerry Nelson puppet


There were a few other special guests in attendance.

I also got to talk briefly with, and grab an autograph from Matt Vogel at the very end. Also a nice guy.

Steve Whitmire, pictured, was not a speaker at the event, but was present, and did stay and sign autographs and talk and take pictures with fans in the theater until they had to kick him out to get ready for the next movie. He struck me as a very nice guy, often remembering people whom he had met at other events (not necessarily knowing names, but remembering faces and events). I didn't get his autograph; I was next in one of the parts of the line when they made him leave.

One funny moment during the event was when Dave Goelz, introducing Fraggle Rock clips, had a bit of a Freudian slip and said that fans loved "Gonzo" (Goelz's most famous character) instead of Nelson's Fraggle character "Gobo". He got a bit of good natured ribbing from Bill Barretta over it. After the show, I was standing with Dave Goelz, he was signing my program, and Bill Barretta came over and said something to the effect of "don't sign it as 'Gobo'". It's good to know that these Muppet people are funny.

Update:, some videos posted on Muppet Central

Monday, September 3, 2012

#RandomCookieMonsterQuotes - Week 4

Week 4 -- August 31 - September 7


#RandomCookieMonsterQuotes - Week 3

Week 3 -- August 24-30


#RandomCookieMonsterQuotes - Week 2

Week 2 -- August 17-23


#RandomCookieMonsterQuotes - Week 1

Week 1 -- August 10-16


Saturday, August 25, 2012

#RandomCookieMonsterQuotes

It's now been broken into multiple posts because the large post was just too much for web browser to handle.

Week 1 (August 10-16)

Week 2 (August 17-23)

Week 3 (August 24-30)

Week 4 (August 31-September 6)

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Fake Olympic Events

I started using the twitter hashtag #FakeOlympicEvents for anything new I come up with. Here is the complete list.

From the first list:
  1. 18 hole Golf (turns out this is new in 2016)
  2. Pitch-n-Putt
  3. Mini Golf
  4. 10 pin bowling
  5. Candle pin bowling
  6. Baseball
  7. Softball
  8. Horse Racing
  9. Cross Country Running (actually across the country)
  10. Cross Country Swimming
  11. Cross Country Cycling
  12. Shuffleboard
  13. White Water Polo
  14. Kayak Jumping
  15. White Water Swimming
  16. Cliff Diving
  17. Survivor
  18. Competitive Eating
  19. Competitive Drinking
  20. Yachting
  21. Iceberg Sailing
  22. Billiards
  23. Polo
  24. Light Saber Fencing
  25. M.C. Escher painting racing
  26. Boomerang Toss

From the Second list:
  1. Coin Toss
  2. Darts
  3. Men's Synchronized Swimming
  4. Cross-season triathlon
  5. Short-track running
  6. Skateboarding
  7. Synchronized Cycling
  8. Water Wrestling
  9. H-O-R-S-E
  10. Dog Show
  11. 15 Meter dash (Swimming)
  12. 15 Meter dash (Athletics)
  13. Cricket
  14. Rugby
  15. Horseshoes

And more from twitter:
  1. Beach Tennis
  2. Jousting
  3. Tag Team Tennis
  4. Tag Team Table Tennis
  5. Cheerleading
  6. Swimming Hurdles
  7. Sword Fighting
  8. Trip-wire Hurdles
  9. BMX Bicycle Hurdles
  10. Skee Ball
  11. Water Lacrosse
  12. White Water Obstacle Course
  13. a Gymnastics event scaling the Olympic rings
  14. Dueling
  15. Dueling with Pitchforks
  16. Moat Jumping (a derivative of track and field hurdles)
  17. Swimming in circles (athletic track style)
  18. Paint gun Shooting
  19. See-saw
  20. Swings (as in backyard swing set)
  21. Volley-Tennis (tennis with Beach Volleyball rules)
  22. Cross Country Sailing
  23. Human Obstacle Course
  24. Figure 8 Cycling
  25. Fishing
  26. Sandcastle building
  27. Co-ed Naked Beach Volleyball
  28. Dynamically/Randomly Moving Hurdles
  29. Floor Hockey
  30. Javelin Catching
  31. Slow Motion Running
  32. Low Jump
  33. Limbo
  34. Race Skipping (a form of race walking)
  35. Paddle boating
  36. Rock Climbing
  37. Racquetball
  38. Squash

And there you have it. Over 6 dozen fake, rejected, would-be, could-be, or should-be Olympic Events. And I still have more for the Winter Olympics.

Olympic Broadcasting

One thing I didn't go through the other day with my criticisms is how I would broadcast the Olympics if I were NBC.

NBC Sports Network is good. They start the day at 4am and finish it at 8pm (7pm Sundays because of the early Prime Time show). That's 9am-Midnight London time. They're on the right track.

MSNBC skims a few hours off of each end to protect their morning programming and dinner time programming. There's less going on those hours. It's okay.

CNBC shows Boxing. Weekends, they have 2 live sessions, but weekdays, they have 1 taped session. There should be another NBC network picking up the slack.

Bravo shows Tennis. I would have started with a Breakfast at Wimbledon-type show at 6:30am instead of going on at 7am. There is also play on the outer courts at 6:30am (11:30am London time) that should be shown. I did like how they stayed on the air after the scheduled 3pm end time. Maybe next time, schedule 'till 4pm and have a wrap up if time permits.

NBC Olympic Soccer and NBC Olympic Basketball channels. I like these channels.

NBC. Where do I begin?
Weekends - Start at 5am. Start at 6am. Start at 9am. It doesn't matter, as long as they don't neglect live action. But show it live across the country. They didn't do that the first weekend, but did it on the middle weekend. That's a disservice to the western half of the country.
Weekdays - I get that NBC has to protect the Today Show, and probably more importantly, the morning local news broadcasts with local traffic and weather inserts. So the live action starts at 9am. But show it live on the west coast too. Sounds like a conflict in programming. Let me show you how to fix it.
  • 9am ET/6am PT - The east coast feed of NBC and the west coast feed of USA Network show live Olympics coverage.

  • 12pm ET/9am PT - West coast viewers are told to switch from USA Network to NBC. East coast viewers don't have any change.

  • 5pm ET/2pm PT - East coast coverage on NBC ends. West coast coverage on NBC continues. Maybe it's a replay of the first 3 hours that were on USA Network. Maybe it's 3 more hours of original coverage that's also on the east coast feed of USA Network. Maybe it's a mix of the two.

  • Prime Time - It's a flawed formula (keeping marquee events for packaged-in-primetime viewing instead of showing them live). But it seems to work.
    Late Night - Haven't seen it once this Olympics. Maybe replay it on cable in the morning.

    NBCOlympics.com. They need to stream the NBC network feed. They did that over the middle weekend when it was live to all time zones. It needs to be live and streamed all the time. There also needs to be replays of the network-produced broadcasts (for instance, NBC showed the Women's Water Polo Gold Medal match. The NBC production wasn't online. And I haven't found a replay of the NBC production). I can watch it with a simple digital antenna, but not on a computer.

    Sunday, August 5, 2012

    Things to fix on Olympic broadcasts

    The 2012 London Olympics are past the half way point. Let me point out (as a fan and watcher) more than a few things that need to be fixed. Some are on the Olympic Broadcasting Company (the "host feed" if you will) and some are on NBC (the American broadcaster).

    • In individual and double head-to-head sports (such as tennis), ALWAYS include the player's name(s) and country. use the space available on the screen. In sports where the athletes are known, we want to know who they are. In any Olympic event with one or two players per side, the players' names should be made known.
    • In swimming, I like the usage of showing the countries and what place they're in (i.e. 1st at the touch, 1st, 2nd, 3rd at the finish), but in the medal races, it should indicate the medal colors with the places (i.e. 1st in gold, maybe with OR or WR, 2nd in silver, 3rd in bronze). Track (Athletics) should do the same.
    • In track, there should be a digital line showing the finish line since the camera angle doesn't seem to be perfectly aligned on it. Actually, do this for any event with a finish line so that it stands out.
    • I saw in swimming online a graphic that showed the order of touch on the wall with the time behind the leader the first 3 positions were. I didn't see this graphic on NBC. It would be very helpful.
    • In doubles, leave spaces around the "/" between the names to make it more readable. Create space to show the names properly.
    • NBC - it's ok to package things for primetime, but let us watch live on cable too. It should help overall more than it hurts.
    • The horses should be moved to Oxygen exclusively (NBC still owns that channel, right?). They did that once, i think. Tennis has its own channel, and it works.
    • If there's a soccer match on the Soccer channel, unless it's Team USA, don't show it on MSNBC/NBCSN. Take that time to show either another soccer match, or another sport. Give the other sports some more love.
    • Online (NBCOlympics.com), tell us which feeds have NBC announcers, which ones have other announcers, and which ones have no announcers (I saw it's a choice in some feeds to hear the host feed in English, Spanish, or the natural audio once you're listening to it). And don't hide the announcers on rewinds/replays.
    • And put the NBC network feed online too. How does it hurt? I saw it on the middle weekend, but not during the week. The difference, the middle weekend, NBC was live coast-to-coast, but during the week, it's tape delayed out west. I can get NBC for free with an antenna, so the online advertising won't hurt that.
    • In tennis, and other set-based events, show the scores of each set instead of the number of sets won. I've seen that problem in tennis broadcasts outside of the U.S. outside of the Olympics. Sometimes they do it "right", and sometimes they hide the player's name and scores from other sets. No rhyme or reason to it.
    • On swimming, and probably track, either NBC or the Olympic Broadcasting host feed needs to mark somewhere on the screen which event this is (especially the race's length). Say it's the 100M freestyle (or at least say it's a 100M race).
    • For the love of God, why do we have Ryan Seacrest? And Michelle Beadle should get the midday shift on NBCSN so more people can see her.
    • Michelle Beadle should not have been used in a time slot when few people were watching. I like waking up to her, but she's off the air not long after that, and the west coasters don't even get that much of her. She should have the NBCSN mid-day slot after Willie Geist (seriously, Jim Lampley wasn't available?).

    Wednesday, July 25, 2012

    More Olympic Events

    After last night's listing of about 2 dozen would-be, could-be, should-be Olympic Events, I've come up with a few more.

    Coin Toss. Heads or Tails. Call it in the air. Best 25 out of 51 wins the match. Is there an international federation governing it? Who's currency does the coin come from? Maybe it's a special one. But imagine the drama.

    Darts. It's a distant cousin of both Archery and Curling. Why the hell not.

    Men's Synchronized Swimming.

    This was a bit from Harry Shearer with Martin Short and Christopher Guest.

    Cross-season Triathlon. Not quite the actual Triathlon competition, but combine shooting, skiing, and swimming together. Maybe make it a Winter Olympics event (because of the Skiing).

    Short-track Running. Combine the race course of Short Track Speed Skating from the Winter Olympics with the track-based Athletics events from the Summer Olympics.

    Skateboarding. Tony Hawk style. Steal it from the X-Games.

    Badminton. It's a real event, but have you ever played on an indoor court? I've always seen it played on grass in people's backyards.

    Synchronized Cycling. It's like Synchronized Swimming, a real event, but with the bikes from the BMX Cycling competition.

    Water Wrestling. Just picture it. Greco Roman Wrestling, but in a pool. Just picture it.

    H-O-R-S-E. As in people trying to follow each other making trick shots on a basketball court. Could you imagine an athlete having to bounce a half-court shot precisely off the backboard and front rim in order to win a gold medal?

    Dog Show. It's the Equestrian Dressage, but for fancy-looking dogs. It's the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, but at the Olympics.

    15 meter dash (Swimming). The shortest length race in swimming is the 50 meter (1 length of the pool), and it's called the "splash and dash" because of how short it is. The 15 meter dash in swimming would be called the "splash". You know, jump off the staring blocks, and reach for the finish line.

    15 meter dash (Athletics). Same idea, but for track and field. Maybe add a hurdle or two.

    Cricket. It's a big sport in parts of the world, but virtually unknown in the United States. No reason why it shouldn't be an Olympic event.

    Rugby. It's another one that's competed internationally (NBC seems to have the TV broadcast rights to it). And it's another one that should be an Olympic event.

    Horseshoes. Yes, tossing horse shoes. It's another distant cousin of Curling and Shuffleboard. It belongs in the Olympics. You can do it after the Equestrian competition. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

    Tuesday, July 24, 2012

    Olympic Events

    The 2012 Summer Olympics are fast approaching, so I've compiled a list of 2 dozen would-be, could-be, and should-be Olympic sports.

    Golf. I'm sure you're imagining the traditional 18-hole course. That would work too. I don't know how diverse the field would be, country-wise, but it could be entertaining to see 18 hole golf played in the style of a preliminary round, a semifinal round (maybe 8 players), and a final round (maybe 4 players), with a sudden death playoff if necessary. Finish it on the Saturday of the final weekend (it would take too long to play on Sunday).

    But this is the Olympics, damn it. The Olympics are about different disciplines of sports as much as they're about the different sports themselves. So in addition to the traditional 18-hole Golf, add Pitch 'N Put and Mini Golf. Get the best in the world at each of those disciplines and have them compete for a medal. Can you imagine having to hit the ball through the Olympic rings sitting on the rotating blades of the windmill on the 18th trying to earn Gold?

    Bowling. Yes, Bowling. It's another sport that belongs in the Olympics, mostly because you see it on television, there are 2 disciplines, and it's a distant cousin of Curling from the Winter Olympics. You have the traditional ten-pin game, and very popular in some areas, candle pin bowling. Maybe make this one line the biathlon and have the competitors compete in both (a 4 game set of each on different days).

    Baseball. Okay, that's a cheap shot. While I'm here, I'll say Softball too. Both are being missed for the first time in the Olympics this year.

    Horse Racing. On paper, I want to say that there are different disciplines (think of how the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Steaks, and Belmont are different, along with grass course running and the marathon), but I don't know how easily a horse could do these 5 races over a 2 week period. And it would feel really really weird without a betting line (I'm going out on a ledge here and saying there's no gambling on the Olympics). But give the medals to the horses. They earned it a lot more.

    Cross Country. Maybe it already is part of Athletics. If not, it should be. But with my rules, "Cross Country" is a little bit different. Well, maybe we can run both disciplines. And this is a cousin of Cross-Country Skiing from the Winter Olympics. Let me take the most recent Winter games from Canada as an example because the geography is a bit more familiar to me. Start the race in Toronto, and head west to Vancouver (across the country). First three to the host city get medals. And of course, there should be the traditional (think high school track) cross country competition (of which, I don't really know the rules, other than it's not on an actual track, and it's not quite a marathon).

    Cross Country Swimming. Maybe it's like what I described above for skiing and running. Maybe it better resembles the high school cross country event, but in the water. Maybe you compete in the flat water course.

    Cross Country Cycling. Ya, Tour de France style. Bicyclists can handle going from Toronto to Vancouver over 2 weeks time much better than runners, swimmers, or skiiers. But there's no "stages" like there is in the real Tour de France. If you stop overnight, you're at a disadvantage.

    Shuffleboard. This is one that's a first-cousin of Curling from the Winter Olympics. In fact, Curling is Shuffleboard on ice (which leads to a bit more strategy). When I think of Shuffleboard, I think of Senior Citizens on a cruise or in a retirement community in Florida playing the game outdoors.

    White Water Polo. This one combines 2 sports - Water Polo (an actual Olympic event) and White Water Rafting, a distant cousin of Canoe/Kayak Slalom (another real Olympic event). Just picture it. And while I'm here, how about Kayak Jumping? It's kayakers (is that what they're called?) jumping over each other for judges.

    White Water Swimming. It's like the regular Swimming, but on the white water course where White Water Polo is played.

    Cliff Diving. I think Jim McKay covered this one on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I'm thinking this one has judges in it (like Diving, but much much higher up, without any type of springboard, and outdoors).

    Survivor. It can be a sport. It might be a sport for the animals on the deserted island , but the last 3 surviving competitors get medals (and unlike in the real TV show, they get banished from being on television ever again).

    Eating. Major League Eating is a real thing. ESPN covers the Hot Dog competition on the 4th of July. It's a sport, and it should be in the Olympics. There are all kinds of food disciplines on their website. Let them eat for medals. Let them eat the medals too. Hell, make Competitive (alcoholic) Drinking an Olympic event too. Maybe that's going to send the wrong message.

    Yachting. I didn't even realize Sailing was an actual Olympic event. You know what? Have a Winter Olympics version of it. Call it "Iceberg Sailing".

    Billiards. Yes, billiards. It's another one that used to get airtime on ESPN. Think about how many different versions of pool can be played. Make it a round robin competition and awards medals after a knockout round.

    Walking. I say it. It sounds funny. But it is actually an Olympic event. I include it because George Carlin once ripped on it.

    Polo. Not Water Polo. That's real (and it's cruel on the horses). I mean this game with people on horses. Heck, give the horses the medals. Mix it up a little, and do what George Carlin suggested in that joke. Have the horses compete in a large pool. Ya, maybe that's cruel.

    Light Saber Fencing. A cousin of Fencing, it's competed in almost complete darkness. I say "almost" because the sabers are illuminated.

    M.C. Escher racing. I have to explain. First, there's the paintings of M. C. Escher. Like this one.

    Just imagine racing on a course that was built like this.

    Boomerang toss. I'm not sure how to measure a winner, but it's in a family somewhere between Javelin Throw and Archery.

    And there you have it. Go team go!

    Saturday, May 5, 2012

    Kentucky Derby Day

    Best racehorse names in honor of Kentucky Derby Day

    • Named Well
    • Moving Fast
    • 2 Lengths Behind
    • Around The Corner
    • Down The Stretch
    • Glue Stick
    • He's A Longshot
    • 2 to 1
    • Winner's Circle
    • On The Outside
    • Hobbler
    • Lateral

    Remember, you can't lateral a horse

    Sunday, April 15, 2012

    Muppets Take Manhattan

    Today I made the trip into Manhattan to see the Muppets, Fraggles, Sesame Street performers, and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band perform a musical tribute to Jim Henson at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops.



    (and they did do this joke during the show)

    Let me give you a little review. I should mention a few things. First, I was up high, in the balcony. To the naked eye, the puppet-like characters were small and far away. I wish there was a video feed with a video screen to show a better angle. For that matter, I wish there was an official video production of the shows that could air on PBS during a pledge drive and become available on DVD/BluRay because the show was FREAKING AWESOME! Ok, back on topic, being up high allowed me to see over the screens that were set up to hide the Muppet performers from the audience. I actually liked that part, where I could see over them, because I got a sense of behind the scenes of what these very talented performers really do. I could kind of guess what characters might be coming on next based on what performer was where. Sometimes, just from the tops of their heads. I also didn't know every Muppet performer, but I know most of them by sight.

    Second, there were a few points during the show where the microphones didn't pick up everything that was being said. Oh well, it was a live show, not a movie or TV program. And third, this was a kids show, and there were a LOT of little kids there. There was a constant sound from the balcony throughout the show of children noises (crying, talking, and other things that come out of children). The kids in my immediate area were very well behaved, but there was a sound in the room that didn't go away. Fourth, there were no pictures allowed, and ushers were running around during the performance telling people to put their cameras away. That said, in testing my camera before the performance, I had trouble with the lighting where I was and the distance to the stage to get a lot of good pictures, but damn, there were a few times when I really wish I could have a good, clear, non-distant picture of the moment, and I don't have that. Another reason why I wish there was an official video feed of the show. I have seen a bootlegged video clip up on YouTube already.

    Before the show, we were entertained by a few Jim Henson/Muppet TV appearances on the video screen behind the performers. During the show, that screen showed either Jim Henson's picture, video montages related to whatever character(s) were being featured in the script/song, or words to a few songs.

    Composition-wise, there were large black screens on the left-front and right-front of the stage where most of the puppetry took place, and there was a smaller screen just right of center in the front, next to the piano, where a few puppets lived. Then the orchestra was on stage and the choir was in the back on risers. There were also very tall white screens on the left and right near the stage exits where I saw some performers standing, just as a place to be out of the way of the door, hidden, and getting ready for their next bit. From my angle, I could also see stagehands and performers scurrying from the stage exits to/from the puppet screens in the front as the performers and puppets were getting into place.

    Now, on to the show.
    There was a bit of a story, in that the host, John Tartaglia, had the wrong date, and none of the "special guests" were going to show up for the audience, so when Fozzie Bear pops up after messing up the date he was given (2 wrongs made a right), Fozzie has to go find the others to get there for the show. Of course, Fozzie is there for the comedy. That's only natural. Lucky for us (at least as the script goes), all of these different "guests" appear on stage. And you probably don't want to hear about the story, you want to hear about the music.

    (this was the second time I was scolded for using a camera during the show, and you can also see that the picture is a bit blurry - believe me when I say this is one of the better ones taken with the zoom).
    Most of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem were there at the very start (no Animal at all during the show), along with Rowlf. Dr. Teeth and Rowlf split time on the piano.

    Some of these, I probably have out of sequence. Their order really doesn't matter.

    Statler and Waldorf appeared in the 2nd tier of seats, over on the right, just where you'd expect to find them. They were so well staged, I couldn't even see the Muppet performers.

    We also had a skit covering part of the gang from Fraggle Rock. Namely, Wembley, Red, and Traveling Matt, along with a music medley. Traveling Matt's backstory really allows for the Fraggles to go anywhere and bring the jokes. No appearances by Gobo (one place where nobody has replaced Jerry Nelson) or Mokey or Boober (Dave Goelz performs both Traveling Matt and Boober, and in this setting, he really couldn't do both, and Traveling Matt was more essential to the plot). Gorgs and Doozers would have been a little much. Come to think of it, there were no full-bodied Muppets at all (unless they sang a lot, it probably wouldn't have made sense for them to be there).

    Then there was a song medley from Emmet Otter's Jug-Band and composer Paul Williams (a human person). I don't really know much about them.

    We had a nice long appearance from the human cast of Sesame Street (Roscoe Orman, Dr. Loretta Long, Bob McGrath, Sonia Manzano, and 3 or 4 others who I don't know -- sorry about that, but I haven't watched Sesame Street in close to 30 years) along with the most of the famous Sesame Street Muppets - Elmo, Ernie, Bert, and Cookie Monster. With all of the kids in the audience, and parents of those kids, I think the Sesame Street bit (it was probably just as long as the Fraggles and Emmet Otter combined, if not even longer) was the most well received. But nothing from Oscar the Grouch or Big Bird. Despite not having seen an episode of Sesame Street in almost 30 years, I think I knew most of the songs. For me, it seemed weird NOT seeing Kermit the Frog with that group, but I can understand how that would be difficult for Steve Whitmire who was also playing Ernie (more important to Sesame Street for Ernie to be there than Kermit, and Kermit hasn't been a part of the show in many years).

    And then we got the biggest stars of the Jim Henson world (and no, I don't mean the creatures from The Dark Crystal), the Muppets. First was Miss Piggy appearing "early" for "next week's" show getting snippy about the show being today. I already mentioned Rowlf, Dr. Teeth, Janice, Floyd Pepper, Zoot, and Fozzie Bear. This was all set up by Fozzie Bear making another mistake finding the "special guests" confusing the word "Muppet" with "muffin", bringing back a plate of muffins instead of his friends. Host John Tartaglia assured Fozzie that it was alright, and broke into "Just One Person" which allowed the Muppet characters to appear one-by-one (taking roll call, in addition to the others, there was Kermit, Gonzo, Scooter, Beauregard, Bunson and Beaker). They followed with other Muppet songs, including Kermit's "It's Not Easy Being Green". And of course, there was The Muppet Show theme and "Mah Nà Mah Nà". They did one from The Muppet Movie, "Moving Right Along" in the medley. I know I'm missing other songs.

    No appearances from The Swedish Chef, Sam The Eagle, or Camilla the Chicken. But hey, this was about music and not characters. I wish they had included Gonzo's song from The Muppet Movie, "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday".

    It all ended with "Rainbow Connection" and all of the guests coming back together on stage one last time. And the Muppet performers came out from behind the curtain to take a bow. As well they should.

    One other note, that I found in watching some of the bootlegged videos, was that Jerry Nelson, retired from performing, did the "announcer" voices. I knew that voice sounded familiar (think of the announcer for Pigs In Space on The Muppet Show).

    Overall, it was a great sight. Jim Henson created all of these different worlds (Emmet Otter, The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, and the Sesame Street Muppets), and right now, they're split up between 3 different entities (Sesame Street owns their Muppets, Disney owns the group known as The Muppets, and Henson still owns Emmet Otter and Fraggle Rock), even though most of the Muppet performers really are used across the different groups; so you aren't going to see a mixed performance like this very often (especially with the Sesame Street human characters included). I'm sure a versatile performer like Steve Whitmire doesn't get to perform as Kermit, Ernie, and Wembley Fraggle on the same day very often (he also performed in the Emmet Otter bit). Seeing all of Henson's worlds come together on stage in sketch and song was just amazing.

    Update: the Muppet Central forum has comments from other fans about the two shows. I left a few words on page 3 of that thread.
    Update: ToughPigs.com has pulled together a number of bootleg videos from the two shows. And of course, there is a detailed entry on Muppet Wikia that includes a couple of my pictures.

    Saturday, January 7, 2012

    NHL realignment possibilities

    The NHLPA shot down the league's proposal for a 4 "conference" alignment stemming from the Atlanta franchise's move to Winnipeg for the 2011-2012 season. I didn't like that alignment either, and the NHLPA gave some very good reasons.

    I had originally came up with a 5 division alignment. Now I'm going to throw out all possibilities.

    Simple Realignment
    Atlanta moved to Winnipeg, but Winnipeg has remained in the Southeast Division. Move Winnipeg to the Northwest Division to be with Minnesota (435 miles away), Edmonton (817 miles), and Calgary (825 miles). Colorado can then move to the Pacific Division, and Dallas to the Central Division, and Nashville to the Southeast Division. That's easier than it sounds.


    5 Division Alignment
    6 teams in each division. It's a little different from my original plan.
    Smythe
    (West)
    Norris
    (Central)
    Campbell
    (Southeast)
    Patrick
    (Atlantic)
    Adams
    (North)
    Los Angeles Chicago Dallas Washington Columbus
    Anaheim Detroit Nashville Philadelphia Toronto
    Phoenix Minnesota St. Louis New Jersey Ottawa
    San Jose Winnipeg Florida NY Rangers Montreal
    Colorado Edmonton Tampa Bay NY Islanders Buffalo
    Vancouver Calgary Carolina Boston Pittsburgh

    Schedule
    Play 3 home-and-home series with each team in your division (30 games). Play 1 home-and-home series with each other team (48 games). Play 1 additional game against 1 team from each other conference. Do it based on prior season's standings, so the five 4th place teams each play one another one additional time. Let a formula and rotation dictate which teams host which other teams. Similar to the NFL's schedule formula. For example, let's say that the table above is the standings. Colorado would play an extra game against Edmonton, Tampa Bay, NY Islanders, and Buffalo; In addition to Colorado, Edmonton would also play Tampa Bay, NY Islanders, and Buffalo. And so on. That's a total of 82 games.

    Playoffs
    Since there's 5 divisions, there is no longer the concept of 2 Conferences (you can't split 5 divisions in half). So have a super-playoff of 16 teams, with 5 division winners being ranked among themselves 1-5 and 11 wild cards being ranked 6-16 (similar to each Conference's playoffs with 3 division winners and 5 wild cards).


    Super-Conferences
    Hear me out. Forget divisions. Just have 2 conferences of 15 teams each or 3 conferences of 10 teams each. Now, there are some possibilities here. You can go East/West. You can go North/Mid-America/South. You can go random/mixed and call it Wales/Campbell.

    East/West
    East West
    Montreal Toronto Anaheim Los Angeles
    Ottawa Boston San Jose Vancouver
    NY Islanders NY Rangers Phoenix Colorado
    New Jersey Philadelphia Calgary Edmonton
    Washington Carolina Winnipeg Minnesota
    Florida Tampa Bay Chicago Detroit
    Buffalo Pittsburgh St. Louis Nashville
    Columbus Dallas

    Schedule
    2 home-and-home series with each team in your conference (56 games). 1 home-and-home series with each team in the other conference (30 games). And either expand the season by 4 games (and probably 1 week in the calendar), or cut 4 non-conference games off the schedule.

    Playoffs
    Top 8 teams in each conference in the playoffs. From there, it's the same as it is today.


    North/Mid-America/South
    North Mid-America South
    Montreal Boston Florida
    Ottawa NY Islanders Tampa Bay
    Toronto NY Rangers Nashville
    Buffalo New Jersey Dallas
    Detroit Philadelphia Phoenix
    Minnesota Washington Los Angeles
    Winnipeg Chicago Anaheim
    Calgary Columbus Colorado
    Edmonton Pittsburgh St. Louis
    Vancouver San Jose Carolina

    Schedule
    3 home-and-home series within your conference (54 games). 1 home-and-home series outside your conference (20 games). 8 additional non-conference games to be split 2 home and 2 road in each of the other 2 divisions. 82 games total.

    Playoffs
    3 Conference winners and 13 wild card teams.