No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 24, 2015

This past Tuesday there was the premiere of The Muppets on ABC. The demographic numbers were better than expected. The opinions of fans are all over the charts and that’s not what I want to talk about here. Personally I think there is something there and I hope ABC gives it the time to find its footing. And I did laugh out loud at some of the jokes.

Jim Henson is an icon. There is no two ways about it. He has influenced so many people and continues to do so.

Recently there was a show on PBS called In Their Own Words about Jim Henson where they did a really nice job of giving us a glimpse of the man behind the frog. This was not sugar coated. This was an honest look at a man who could be frustrated by the situation he found himself in but not letting it define him. Plus it is the first time I think in a documentary that they talked about what Jim died of and why he didn’t seek treatment at the time.

Jim Henson entered our household with Sesame Street and never really left. We watched the Muppet Show. We saw all the films. I made a special trip to a film festive to see Timepiece for the first time. We saw the Art of the Muppets at the Center for Puppetry Arts. The Muppets became part of our lives and they still are.

We will always wonder the “what ifs” but I think he would be happy with how the Muppets are more recognizable than the Warner Brother cartoon characters. Disney owns the Muppets but that would have happened if Jim had lived and they are doing things with them rather than keeping them up on the shelf.

Labyrinth and Dark Crystal have been come considered classics. There are Labyrinth sing alongs and showing of Dark Crystal at museums where people marvel at the complete creation of another world.

If you haven’t seen Timepiece, I highly recommend it. It was nominated for an Academy Award. Find his early commercial work and see the seeds of that which became the Muppets Show.

Today I plan to watch various Jim Henson projects including the episode of Fraggle rock with the first appearance of Cantus the Minstrel, the Muppet show with Harry Belafonte and some of Henson’s shorts including their appearances on the Ed Sullivan show.

Happy Birthday Jim and thank you for everything.

(for the VI: This is a very grainy black and white photo of Jim Henson with a lot of people crowed around him)

I am grateful that I met Jim Henson.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on September 23, 2015

As I type this Peter is spending time with two of his four daughters and has had calls from the other two.

My husband is an amazing man.

He is an awesome dad and a loving husband.

He is a writer of stuff that has touched many people’s lives all over the planet.

If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, do so because it is always entertaining.

He has battled back from the effects of a stroke to the point that his neurologist kicked him to the curb because he is considered recovered and the doctor didn’t feel he needed to see him anymore.

And there are all the things he does for friends, family, and even fans more behind the scenes. Some of which they know and some of which only we know. He doesn’t blow his trumpet about all the good deeds he has done but just know there have been a lot of them.

He is a caring and loving individual who I have the privilege to be married to.

He is my helpmate and my friend. We are very compatible and help each other with our strengths. We have yet to run out of things to talk about and I think we never will.

And we have lots of adventures together with more on the horizon.

Happy Birthday Peter!
My love for you grows every day.
your wife
Kathleen

I am so very grateful that I can celebrate my husband’s birthday with him.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on September 22, 2015

I do get asked a couple of questions that I can now answer with this project.

This one is photo heavy so I am putting the photos behind the cut.

This project starts with some bad behavior by fans towards Michelle Gomez who plays Missy on Doctor Who. Apparently some people can’t separate the role from the person and she got all kinds of weird hateful messages.

Fast forward to about a month ago when Peter got an email from one of our BBC Cymru Wales buddies to keep date clear if he could with more information to follow.

About two weeks later through a BBC America tweet, Peter figured out what might be in the pipeline.

The week of we got conformation that Peter was to be on the guest list for the BBC America preview of Doctor Who and Michelle Gomez would be introducing the episode.

“So do you think you can do a puppet by then?” came the question.

“Sure,” said I.

I looked at Missy’s costume and figured out what I needed to do. A trip to my local fabric store and I found all the fabrics I needed. While looking at the photos, I realized that the shirt was not white but lightly striped. I debated and decided to go with the detail. I found something to use for the cameo and something to use for the trim.

And in about a 48 hours period, I assembled Missy the puppet. The final touch was the hat that I went back and forth on about half a dozen times and then decided that she really needed the hat.

Peter went to the event and managed to get the puppet to Ms. Gomez who, by all reports, adored it.

Onto the Photos

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on September 21, 2015

OK since we have a new year of Doctor Who, here are the rules to NWR.

Behind the cut there will be spoilers for this episode and all previous episodes of Dr. Who going back to 1963 if warranted. You can speculate about what you think is going to happen but No Spoilers for future episodes. I have managed to keep myself out of the spoiler pit this year and want to keep it that way. So comments can have no future spoilers.

Now if you haven’t seen Dr. Who Series Nine Prologue and The Doctor’s Mediation I suggest that you find them if the links aren’t working and watch them since they do add to the episode and even answers a couple of questions I had during the episode.

Over all I liked it. It had a good energy and enough Holy *bleep* moments to keep me entertained. The writing and directing are solid.

The first five minutes is probably one of the best season openers to Doctor Who ever.

Capaldi has settled into the role and we have some idea what we might be dealing with but even with that, he surprises you. This is a Capaldi Doctor episode but with a slight twist which I will discuss in spoilers.

Over all solid Doctor Who episode that is worth watching more than once.

Next week the episode is entitled The Witch’s Familiar and basically picks up where this one left off.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on September 20, 2015

And Peter gets to tell his bowling buddies that he is a football widow.

I like American Football. I learned the rules of the game from my dad. I started watching football with him for the snacks and then got into the game. We had this green glass chip bowl with a clever wire attachment that balanced a smaller bowl for onion dip. We would watch the game and eat chips and dip. Later we added the occasional nacho plate to the mix.

Today the Falcons play the Giants and I have mixed feelings. I grew up with first the Baltimore Colts and then the Atlanta Falcons. I watched the Falcons when they were beyond terrible. I took a British friend to his first football game where the Colts, going for the worst record ever, played the Falcons. If the Falcons won, then the Colts would have the longest losing streak in NFL history. The game was a joke with each team running down the field and scoring unless there was a fumble and then it went the other way. But the Colts won so they tied the record for most games lost in a row.

I enjoyed the first episode of the new Season of Doctor Who. I will post more on that on Monday when I do my New Who Review. My spoiler free short review is wow, what a ride and I am not upset in seeing certain characters reappearing without explanation. It’s Doctor Who and explanations aren’t always given. You just assume things and move on. Just try to make sense of the Dalek timeline I dare ya.

Caroline has joined the tennis team so she has practice every day and there will be games soon too. I like the coach’s attitude that at this point she doesn’t care about the winning but making sure that the girls have the fundamentals and can get the ball over the net consistently when they serve. Caroline says that it is hard but she isn’t going to give up. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that I have become a tennis mom.

Peter is working on the next Sir Apropos of Nothing novel. I look forward to reading it.

The Mets/Yankees series is split at a game apiece this round. It will be interesting to see how today’s game goes. It’s a night game because ESPN figures that will have interest outside the triboro area. Also both teams are fighting to get into the playoffs, which is unusual at this point in the season.

I have plotted out my next two puppets. I think my goal this year is to make a puppet a week so I am ready to go for whatever. I made one in 48 hours this past week so let’s see what I can do. I also need to pattern some stuff out which is going to be more experimental than before.

I was reminded this past week that I am a good puppet builder. I have a good eye for detail and can sort out how to make things for puppets. I build very good puppets that are pleasing to the eye but can stand up to being performed with.

Today is a clean up day from the last project and put away the last of the puppets from DragonCon.

I am grateful for friends in interesting places that lead us to interesting adventures.

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags: