Muppets

Jesus Christ Muppetstar

/ Shane / Leave a comment

What do you get when you combine two of the greatest things ever, Jesus Christ Superstar and the Muppets? Well, I’ll just let you go ahead and answer that question for yourself.

It should be noted that this is an unauthorized adaptation, but they do a pretty good job. Kermit is the obvious choice as Jesus, ditto Miss Piggy as Mary Magdalene, and Gonzo makes an excellent Judas (who else to play the outsider?), but it’s the other little roles that make it.

Pepe the King Prawn as Pilot? Genius. Gonzo’s chickens singing (clucking?) backup? Electric Mayhem as the disciples? And when Beaker came in I about lost my $#it.

Seriously, this is so well done. I love it. There are so many little nods to the source material, like Piggy singing “It’s cool and the oink-ment’s sweet!” that even once you understand the central conceit it’s still enjoyable.

“And now I understand you’re a frog…at least that’s what you said.”

Give it a listen. Highly recommended.

Double giveaway!

/ Shane / 8 Comments

What’s better than a free giveaway? How about TWO free giveaways?

My good friend Alexis runs an amazing sewing business out of her home. She can make all kinds of things, but I’m telling you right now, this is your go to shop for homemade muppet merchandise. You heard that right, homemade muppet merchandise. If, for some reason, you’re not in the market for muppet merchandise, she can work with you to make pretty much anything you want (she’s that good!)

To celebrate our individual awesomenesses, Alexis and I are doing some cross-promotional giveaways.

Over on the ThreadAbell facebook page, I am giving away a free paperback of OOMPH: A Little Super Goes a Long Way, which contains my story “Random Play All and the League of Awesome”.

OOMPH is an anthology of the tremendous potential of trivial superpowers. From the promo copy:

Oomph: A Little Super Goes a Long Way explores what it takes to be a superhero with just a little bit of power, where heroes and heroines use their small gifts to great advantage.

Sometimes you don’t need a big lever to move the world.

Sounds amazing, right? Dare I say…super?

All you need to do to enter is to “like” the ThreadAbell facebook page and then leave a comment on the ThreadAbell facebook page about a favorite post from my blog (and there are SO many awesome posts to chose from!).

So easy, right?

But wait, there’s more!

Alexis is giving away a headband here on my blog. I can personally certify the awesomeness of her headbands, since she’s made some for Sara:

Sara ThreadAbell Headband

ThreadAbell Headband

(Note: this is just an example headband, impromptu selfie-style, not the headband that is up for grabs!)

All you need to do to enter is to “like” the ThreadAbell facebook page and then leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST telling me what your favorite item is from the ThreadAbell Etsy shop (and there are SO many awesome items to choose from!).

Just to re-iterate, comment HERE to win the headband, comment THERE to win the book. And in any case, like her page!

A winner for both drawings will be chosen randomly from the respective comments on Sunday, January 26th (6 p.m. Central time). For those entering the drawing for the headband, make sure to leave your email address in the comment form so I can contact you if you win.

(And, for those of you who don’t win, OOMPH is available in paperback, as well as for the Kindle or Nook. If you’ve already read the book, please leave a review on Amazon!)

Where do Muppets come from?

/ Shane / 2 Comments

I just wanted to share this link about the creation of various muppets. Of couse, it foils our theory about Elmo being cooked up in a lab for maximum cuteness and commercial appeal, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. I like how a lot of them sort of evolved over time from one shot puppets or commercials, or else they were just thrown together by whatever they had backstage. I assumed they were intentionally made with personalities as they are today fully intact. Also, I liked some of the things like how the Count used to be evil and Telly Monster was hypnotized by TV.

I don’t know, I thought it was interesting even if Sara thought it was dumb.