Somewhere Out There Over the Rainbow Connection

It's been pretty well documented that I am obsessed with the Muppets and Jim Henson in general. It's not just because he created some of the most beloved creations on the planet, but he seemed like someone who sincerely cared about his audience. And I don't mean that in the sense that he cared if they liked his products, I mean he seemed like he absolutely wanted to make sure they were all happy and would do anything to make sure that they STAYED happy.

Muppets will always be a HUGE effect on my childhood. Disney will never really have that title. While I've seen almost every Disney Cartoon none of them were "life changing". I love A Goofy Movie and Emperor's New Groove. I used to watch Oliver & Company and Fox & the Hound constantly as a kid; Shit when I was a child I loved The Jungle Book so much I called my dad Papa Bear. But Disney never invoked an emotional reaction from me, at least not during my childhood. My point is this... Jim Henson didn't either. *GASP*

The films of Jim Henson didn't touch me until I was much older. I think this says a lot about the writing style of those movies. The Muppet Movie and Muppets Takes Manhattan mean more to me at 25 than they did at 6 or 7. As a struggling filmmaker in his mid-20s I can relate to Kermit's struggles in those films. Juggling friendship and following your dreams. There's a moment in the Muppet Movie that is in my opinion one of the greatest and most inspirational moments in cinema. At this point in the film it's looking like our heroes will NEVER make it to Hollywood and follow their dreams. Gonzo sings the song "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday" (an extremely underrated song from the world of cinema containing one of the most truthful lyrics ever ("There's Not a Word Yet/For Old Friends who've just Met" if you've never experienced meeting someone for the first time and feeling like you've known them your entire life than this lyric means NOTHING to you)). Kermit walks off to be with himself for a minute. It's symbolically shown as Kermit having a conversation with himself (aka a second Kermit Puppet). I wasn't able to find a video clip on youtube so I'll just post a dialogue.

Kermit: I didn't promise anybody anything. What do I know about Hollywood, anyway? Just a dream I got from sitting through too many double features.
Kermit's Conscience: So why did you leave the swamp in the first place?
Kermit: 'Cause some agent fella said I had talent. He probably says that to everybody.
Kermit's Conscience: On the other hand, if you hadn't left the swamp, you'd be feeling pretty miserable anyhow.
Kermit: Yeah. But then it would just be me feeling miserable. Now I got a lady pig, and a bear and a chicken, a dog, a thing, whatever Gonzo is. He's a little like a turkey.
Kermit's Conscience: Mmm - Yeah. A little like a turkey, but not much.
Kermit: No I guess not. Anyhow, I brought them all out here to the middle of nowhere, and it's all my fault.
Kermit's Conscience: Still, whether you promised them something or not, you gotta remember - they wanted to come.
Kermit: But... that's because they believed in me.
Kermit's Conscience: No, they believed in the dream.
Kermit: Well, so do I but...
Kermit's Conscience: You do?
Kermit: Yeah! Of course I do.
Kermit's Conscience: Well then?
Kermit: Well then... I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone. I promised me.

Now all this Henson Love aside, who was the artist that struck my emotional chord as a child? Former Disney Animator Don Bluth. Today I found myself listening to the song Dreams to Dreams from An American Tail: Fivel Goes West and remembering how much Don Bluth depressed me, in the best possible ways. The first movie I ever saw in theaters was All Dogs Go to Heaven, as a child I watched Rock-A-Doodle on a mostly daily basis, and the first two American Tail films are heart-wretching. I knew this even as a child. Bluth was much like Henson, he NEVER spoke down to his audience. The only difference is that Henson was writing stories that would go over the young audience members heads. We watched and we learned our lessons about believing in ourselves and loving our friends and everyone around us, but most of us didn't see the BIGGER PICTURE until we were older. Don Bluth however presented us dangers and fears that we deal with at extremely young ages. Death, Never Seeing Our Family Again, Never Seeing our Friends Again. Those thing scared me just as much at 5 as it does now. That being said, Jim Henson and Don Bluth's movies also provided better soundtracks. Muppets Take Manhattan provided us with "Saying Goodbye" one of the most depressing songs ever written, only made sadder when sung by a bunch of Muppets.

When I think of Jim Henson, Don Bluth and (even though he's not my all time favorite) Walt Disney, i feel like the following quote from The Muppet Movie sums all three up quite well.
Kermit: I've got a dream too. But it's about singing and dancing and making people happy. That's the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with. And, well, I've found a whole bunch of friends who have the same dream. And, well, it kind of makes us like a family.

If you have a dream and you're reading this; you should apply this philosophy into your day to day life. The best dreams are the one's that get better when you share them with more people. I'm a writer for the website Geekscape, it's also the site that hosts my podcasts. While I'm a writer, I'd never call it a job, because I consider everyone there a close enough friend that they're practically family. We all have different dreams and goals... but we share those dreams with each other and try to achieve them. It makes everything better, even a failure doesn't feel so bad when you're surrounded by friends. So somewhere out there, over the rainbow connection you'll find an old friend you just met and maybe, just maybe it'll completely change your life.

Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture

The following article was written for Geekscape.net. For unfortunate reasons, the website feels like since it's been 2011 for over 11 days no one is interested in top 10 lists. The boat has sailed for this final instance of remembering 2010. I think it's a pretty great article (although how do you not like something you wrote? It feels like if you do, you shouldn't be writing at all). Also check out my review for hair-metal band The Scorpions newest (and final) album Sting in the Tail.


So 2010 has officially come to a close. So far 2011 is barely peaking the horizon but let’s be honest… it looks promising. 2010 (much like every year) had it’s ups and it’s downs. We saw some serious tragedy this year with January 12th 7.0 Earthquake that devastated Haiti, and we saw even more tragedy when a group of musicians decided to remake the mediocre 80’s song “We Are The World” to help raise money for said-Haiti disaster. This year we’ve even dealt with the Wikileaks scare when an online publisher did with internal reports on the “War on Afghanistan” what Facebook does to all of our lives. And while all these things are important, that’s not what Geekscape is about. Why talk about government information being released this year when we’d much rather discuss what was more offensive at the 2010 MTV VMAs… Will.i.am’s blackface or Lady Gaga winning every award (um… I mean… her Meat Dress).

So for you lovely Geekscapists I have compiled a list of the Top 10 Greatest Moments in Pop Culture

10. Double Rainbow, Possibly Triple Rainbow – When nature enthusiasts Paul Vasquez went camping one day he saw in the sky something amazing. Something so amazing he grabbed the nearest camera and quickly videotaped it to show the world the amazing Double Rainbow. Soon Paul found himself one of the top videos on youtube and being interviewed by Jimmy Kimmel. I can understand being excited about stuff, but rainbows? I mean I stopped being excited by rainbows when I learned I could make them myself using a hose.

9. Sandra Bullock wins Oscar and Razzie – Sandra Bullock did something this year no one has ever done before, she managed to win the Oscar for The Blind Side as well as the Razzie for All About Steve the same year. This event did two things; it showed the Sandra Bullock will apparently act in anything but also it showed that Bullock has a sense of humor when she showed up at the Razzies handing out free copies of All About Steve.

8. Myspace is Dead Long Live Facebook – This month Myspace and Facebook made a joint announcement. Myspace is now just a “Music Site” and no longer a “Social Network”. It really shows how quickly you can go from the top to the bottom in the world of the internet.

7. Fucking Magnets – When Insane Clown Posse released their single Miracles, I don’t think Violent J or Shaggy 2 Dope expected the entire world to cling to six simple lyrics “Fucking Magnets, How Do They Work?”. Next thing we know there are SNL parodies and internet memes all over explaining Magnets; the best comes (not surprisingly) from cracked.com with their Science book for Juggalos

6. Fuck you by Cee-Lo Greene – Rapper and Gnarl’s Barkley singer came out of nowhere with his single Fuck You (or Forget You if you’re a fucking pussy). The vulgar but catchy Motown throw-back track was an instant internet hit receiving not one but two music videos and bringing Cee-Lo Greene into a much needed lime-light. The Song has even been covered multiple times ranging from great (William Shatner) to the terrible (Glee)

5. Every Comedian in the World Gets a Podcast – The World of Podcasting always was a decent place for Comedy with Scott Aukerman’s Comedy Death Ray, Doug Benson’s Doug Loves Movies and Jim Pardo’s Never Not Funny, but this year it felt like every Comedian on the planet got their own podcasts with WTF with Marc Maron, The Nerdist With Chris Hardwick and Pod F Thomkast with Paul F Thompkins to name a few. Even Geekscapes own Brian Walton has his own podcast now with Live Nude Geeks

4. Conan leaves and returns to television – In Early 2010 Conan did his last Tonight Show after just 7 months of being the host. Unjust? Possibly. But it gave us a heart-felt goodbye (“if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen”) followed by a new show on TBS that is ten-times funnier and edger than his NBC days. Conan is an extremely talented interviewer and seems like a great guy, some people (Corey Roberts) think people are giving him too much credit, but sometimes it’s just nice to see the nice guy end up on top.

3. Muppets Make a Comeback – The Muppets for a while were the Kings of TV. But back in 1990 when Muppet creator Jim Henson sadly and suddenly passed away. By 2000 the Muppets were nothing but low-budget TV-movie characters. However thanks to youtube the Muppets have been making a comeback in a BIG way. Also this year it was announced there would be a new Muppet movie, which is coming out next Thanksgiving, a Muppet-aholic like myself is completely overjoyed.

2. Geekscape gets a booth at San Diego Comic Con and new site – Okay, yeah call me lame. Sure this wasn’t something that changed the world this year; but for this community it’s something huge. Not only did we get a new and impressive website; we got a booth at San Diego comic con where we were able to reach multiple new listeners and users. Not to mention we caused some controversy with Evan Stone’s Riddler signing autographs; but luckily someone stabbed someone else in the eye and took the attention off of us.

1.Bed-Intruder Song – “He’s climbing in your window and snatching your people up, so hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband because they’re raping everyone around here”. One simple heart-felt comment by a brother sincerely concerned about his sister’s well being ended up leading to a hit single that caught the entire nations ear. This song is one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard in years and it’s simply a news-report in auto-tune.

Come in and know me Better man! (25 Songs of Christmas Part 6)

Before I post Christmas Song #6 in the the 25 songs of the Christmas I just wanted to post my review for Tis the Season to be Gotee which is up right now at absolutepunk.net.

Okay now song #6 isn't nearly as ridiculous as the songs in the last 5 days, but if you know me it's not really that surprising that it's on my list. Song 6 comes from the Muppets film "Muppet Christams Carol" it's the delightfully catchy (and the song that was stuck in my head ALL day at work) "It Feels Like Christmas"