Happy Birthday, Boss

It's Jim Henson's birthday, people!

Remarkably, it's also Steve Whitmire's birthday.

In honor of the births of Ernie's caretakers, I plan on watching this video




and preparing for the premiere of the 41st season of Sesame Street on September 27. Here's a little preview:

Hehe, Anderson Cucumber.


Thanks to Jim for giving me my best pal and Steve for keeping him strong.

Bert Mondays: Let's Do This One For Bert

Hi friends. The Muppet Madness Tournament has reached the final round, and Ernie and Bert are vying for the championship against the frog, a dog, a bear, and a whatever. Normally, I want Ernie to win in everything, and, in his relationship with Bert, he usually does. Now, Ernie wins because of sheer nerve and incorrigibleness. It's not that he's always logically or justifiably right; he simply perseveres in his good cheer. Sometimes it almost makes you feel bad for Bert, who is equally admirable in his ability to stick to his principles, boring as they may be.

So I say this time, let's make this silly tournament victory happen for Bert. Ernie, of course, will reap the benefits, but when I cast my vote today and for the next few days, I do so in honor of the downtrodden, the long-suffering, the adorably pointy-headed Bert.

Happy Easter

In honor of the holiday being celebrated by many today, I give you an example of our current rival and his excessive adorableness. I only risk posting this video because Ernie is clearly more adorable in his tolerance of and appreciation for the Cookie Bunny.

Once again we see how the presence of a more Ernie-like character pushes Ernie into Bert territory. I might be inordinately focused on these changes in Ernie's character because I experience them so often in myself.

Don't forget to vote in the Muppet Madness Tournament and root for Butler tomorrow.

Sorry Sorry, but Do This One for the Team

Hi all. I know it has been a long long time, but work, blah, real life, blah blah.

I have returned to make a plea for everyone to vote for Ernie and Bert in The Muppet Madness Tournament, presented by The MuppetCast and ToughPigs. The boys are in an elite eight showdown with their pal the Cookie Monster, and we need votes to get them into the Final Four.

As one clever person put it,

So let's do the right thing and go over to the Muppet Madness Tournament and vote for Ernie and Bert. (I also recommend voting for Fozzie to undercut an eventual Frog-Bernie matchup in the finals.

Bert Mondays: Solitary

Yep Yep Yep Yep

Uh huh.

Additionally, big ups for Ernie's PJs and Bert's robe.

Teeny Tiny's Travel Tuesdays: Siena

On one of Teeny Tiny's many days in Florence, he planned a day trip to Siena, just an hour away by train. Siena is famous for its horse race, Il Palio, and its stripey cathedral. Because the historic part of Siena is up a mountain, when Teeny Tiny arrived, he made sure to grab a bus ticket.

After a minor getting-on-the-wrong-bus mishap, Teeny Tiny made his way to a city gate and greeted the symbol of Siena, the she-wolf.

The Sienese like to insist that their town was founded by the son of Remus, so the suckling wolves is an important and persistent image. Another important image is the Palazzo Publico, the ruling building for the republic.

The walls of the interior of the People's Palace chronicle the history of the republic. One of Teeny Tiny's most important historical finds was that the Sienese believed in unicorns:

After a thorough exploration of the palace, Teeny Tiny spent a bit of time in the big piazza. He could hardly believe that they raced horses around the distorted oval. He then made his way through the steep and winding streets first to a market to buy goodies and then to the Duomo.

The square was as good a place as any to eat his lunch. He found a ledge in front of the old hospital and enjoyed the people milling about:

Siena's cathedral is the most Gothic and adorned of all of the Italian churches Teeny Tiny has seen. It is covered with statuary and striking from every angle.

Inside the cathedral is just as remarkable as outside. Much of the floor has been roped off to protect the marvelous bas-relief tombs and decorations.

The pulpit shows a Last Judgment carved by Nicola Pisano.

Teeny Tiny loved that the church was striped inside and out, but he wished the Sienese had gone with more colors, perhaps some red and blue.

Teeny Tiny next took an amazing tour of the newly excavated narthex under the Duomo, where he saw some old frescoes and the original structure of the church. He explored the Baptistry, housed underneath the church's choir. The baptismal font was sculpted by Donatello and Jacopa dell Quercia.

Teeny Tiny next went to the museum of the Opera del Duomo to check out some of the great works commissioned for the church. At the top of the museum, he discovered a little stairway.

On his way up, he noticed this warning:

After getting his hand for to hold as instructed, he completed the climb. It was a bit exhausting, but the view was worth it.

After chatting with a lovely British couple on holiday, he tried to get a better idea of what it must be like for the horses to race in Il Palio.

All in all, Teeny Tiny's day in Siena turned out to be a perfectly beautiful day. He finished with some tasty gelato, of course, and managed to grab the correct bus back to the train station.

Bert Mondays: Lost Cookies

It has been a busy couple of weeks what with snowmageddon and work and all, so I've been away from the blog for a bit. Sorry about that. Real life is sometimes painfully difficult, but it must be attended. Actually the last couple of weeks has been a bit like this clip in which Bert loses some cookies. I know someone took the cookies, and I'm pretty sure I know who, but I might be totally wrong.

On the other hand, the past couple of weeks have made me feel a bit like Ernie too: wrongly accused, confused, and desperate to prove that I'm really a good buddy who wouldn't take my best friend's cookies. All in all, it's a bit emotional. The moral of the story, I guess, is that when there are some missing cookies, you had best look around for a cookie monster.

Homemade: Things We Like

Here's another original song from Tinnawilson. I miss the finger puppets, but I really enjoy the idea of Ernie as a singer-songwriter. Can't you see him haunting the coffee shops around with neighborhood with his guitar, singing soulful songs about friendship and duckies?

Homemade: Hey Bert

This homemade scene takes the idea of homemade very seriously. Not only did the artist recreate a bedroom scene with construction paper and finger puppets, but he also writes a new song for the two to sing. The song is no Joe Raposo classic, but it captures the Ernie-Bert feel pretty well. The Ernie voice is pretty close to spot-on, but Bert needs a little work. Even so, it's a lovely homage to our favorite best friends, and if I had any talent and/or time, I would be doing this kind of stuff all the time with hopes that someone important would see me and ask me to come live on Sesame Street.

Teeny Tiny's Travel Tuesdays: Roller Derby

After posting the last of the Florence pictures, Teeny Tiny has decided to take a break from his Italy trip and post about a trip a little closer to home. Recently Teeny Tiny took a little trip on the metro to the D.C. Armory.

He was there for the Roller Derby! He got himself prepared for the spectator sport action with the traditional materials.

Then, he was all set for the action provided by the D.C. Roller Girls.

Unfortunately it's hard to take still pictures of people rushing around a small oval on roller skates, but he tried.

In the first bout, the Cherry Blossom Bombshells whipped the overmatch team from Harrisonburg.

Then there was the halftime show: a bunch of eager kids who must have warped into the armory from 1973.

Go homeschool orphan circus!

After that, Teeny Tiny needed a little stiff refreshment.

The second bout of the match promised a bit more excitement between the D.C. Demoncats and Scare Force One.

Scare Force One and their unbelievable jammer Marion Barrycuda, however, dominated the Demoncats, so Teeny Tiny called off the jam and went to dinner.

Bert Mondays: Bert Needs a Friend

This clip is almost too heartbreaking to watch. Despite having a lifelong best friend and life partner, Bert is kind of a lonely soul. He has odd interests and isn't quite as charming as his old buddy, Ernie. Like most of us, sometimes Bert just wants to be around someone who gets him.

Luckily for Bert, Ernie shows up in true Ernie fashion to save the day there at the end, but a little of the heartbreak remains. I guess our best friends aren't supposed to be our twins and love every single thing that we love, but we can understand Bert's desire here. Although we weirdos delight in being singular, we don't always relish being alone.

Homemade: Ernie and Cookie

It's fun to see what other folks do with their love of Sesame Street and our favorite best friends, so I have decided to devote the next few Fridays to homemade Sesame Street. A quick perusal of YouTube shows that many people like to take scenes, songs, and characters to make their own little videos. Many of these videos (while funny) are not really appropriate for the tone of this blog, but there are several that are simply fun little homages to childhood.

Many of us have favorite songs from the Sesame Street records, but we have not been able to match them up with clips from the actual show. Here Joe gives us one of his illustrations as a backdrop for a favorite song. It's a simple but sweet visual way to capture a recording.

Happy Birthday, Ernie!!!

Today is Ernie's birthday. I spent a bit of time thinking about what I might get Ernie for his birthday if I had the chance. I don't think a guy like Ernie needs much for several reasons: (1) he lives in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City and has very little room for stuff, (2) he's an active type who seems as if he would appreciate experiences more than material things, (3) he kind of looks like he has everything he needs--Rosie the bathtub, a good drum set, and his rubber duckie.

I suppose if I were to get Ernie a gift, I might go along the lines of duckie-themed items. Perhaps a nice birthday cake.

He might feel weird, however, devouring his naked self, so maybe just one with a duckie.

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Maybe he's looking for a duckie moo moo.

He might be interested in a river full of duckies.

Or the world's largest duckie.

On the other hand, and in keeping with the idea that he might prefer a birthday "experience," I say maybe we go for Ernie-Bert 2016, as the people at this website suggested.

Probably, however, the best birthday gift I could get for Ernie is the one he already has.

Therapy

After a particularly frustrating couple of days in the real world, I am tempted to find a clip in which Bert gets so angry at Ernie that his head explodes. I feel like a Bert whose head could explode at any moment. I have realized, however, that I should not take out my frustration on Ernie, who is my favorite. Besides, Bert gets frustrated at Ernie because Ernie is exuberant and messy, not because he is incompetent and lazy.

With this enlightenment circling my nearly exploded head, I have instead chosen to embrace something that makes me feel good. This song is one of my favorites. It captures Ernie's most endearing qualities: his desire for adventure and his love of his own life and the people in it. It makes me happy, and happy is what I need.

Teeny Tiny's Travel Tuesdays: Florence from Above

Sadly, we're going to have to move on from the Florence pictures after this week, but I think it has become apparent that Teeny Tiny would live in Florence if he could. Before he left town, Teeny Tiny made sure to climb both Giotto's Campanile and the Duomo so that he could get one last look from above at his favorite Italian city. Halfway up the big tower, he found a big bell.

The Campanile provided great views.



Santa Croce.



It also offered a nice view of the big dome.



Next on the climbing agenda was the big dome itself.






During his climb to the lantern of the Duomo, Teeny Tiny checked the walls to see if he knew any of the names illicitly Sharpied on them in defiance of the multitude of signs.



He also made sure to get a good look at the interior of the cathedral before finishing the climb.



He was pleased by his proximity to the Last Judgment.



Cerberus gave him a bit of a fright.



Almost at the top, he sneaked a look out the window at the Campanile.



The long climb was worth it for the views of the Badia and Bargello.



The Palazzo Vecchio.



The Medici Palace.



San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapel.



Before he left Florence, Teeny Tiny saw almost all the great pieces of art in the city, but he wasn't allowed to take pictures with all of them. Don't doubt that he went to San Marco, the Medici Chapel, 756 churches, and the Uffizi.



He also made sure to hit the Academy and see Michelangelo's Prigioni and David.



Of course, he had to recreate that experience with a stand-in.