SST: Teeny Little Superguy

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

Ladies and gentlemen, the Teeny Little Superguy:



As I watched this again after a dozen years or more, I found myself thinking the whole time, "How did they do this?" How did they combine the animated drawings on the cups with the stop-motion animation of the household objects? Fortunately, the internet is really smart and it found me a really fascinating (in my opinion, at least) commentary from the Teeny Little Superguy's creator, Paul Fierlinger:

What started TLSG was my need to secure a series; I craved steady income. I was told by Dave Connell (CTW’s vice president and Program Director) that there is no chance for a freelancer to get a series simply because it is out of the reach of one guy to produce a steady supply of spots every week. This was way before computer graphics technology became sophisticated enough to handle color and huge memory storage requirements, around 1985.

I focused on figuring out a way to prove Dave wrong and came up with a way to draw entire sets of walking, talking, running, jumping cycles of a little man on animation cels... But instead of cycling them as flat sheets on an animation stand, I could roll them up to look like cups and move them around real, household objects – just the way kids do when they play with ordinary objects. The advantage was that other props didn’t have to be drawn, neither did backgrounds, nor did the character have to be drawn in many sizes from different angles – all that was needed was to rotate the same cups and shoot the sets from different angles.

We ended up cutting the character out of the cels and pasting to the inside of Dixie cups with Scotch spray (it’s transparent) and ran a test, using our house as backgrounds... We all followed Sesame Street’s curriculum of topics and I was given a contract to develop the series. I had a couple of months to create the hundreds of cups that were needed to play out any possible scenario and create the soundtracks.

What's your favorite Teeny Little Superguy episode? The kid learning to ride an eggbeater? The kid who wants to get a pet spoon? Feel free to comment below.

SST: I Love This Boat!

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

I've been spreading the love around on my blog recently, for people letting me stay with them, for people who give me computers, for Pixar, for Conan, etc. And do you know what else I love? I LOVE THIS BOAT!



This was a big catchphrase with my sisters when I was a kid. You can use it all the time - try to use it in a conversation today. Here's a sample usage:

MAN #1: These waffles are great! I love waffles!
WOMAN #1: Me too! I totally love waffles!
YOU: Do you know what I love? I LOVE THIS BOAT!

It's guaranteed to get a reaction of some kind!

My BFF

For about 6 months, from the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2006, I had whooping cough. I was living all alone in my parents' house while they were on their mission and most days I was too weak to get up out of bed, let alone go outside. There were days when I got so lonely that I would sit looking out the window for hours, hoping that someone would walk by the house so that I could be sure that human beings still existed.

But fortunately I had two reliable caregivers who worked in shifts everyday to keep up my morale. The daytime shift was taken by Buffy Summers, who courtesy appeared courtesy of my friend Maren, who loaned me the Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD sets. It was the first time I had ever met Buffy, and on the days when I felt too crappy to get up and around, Buffy and the Scoobies would come and hang out with me for hours on end.

The arrival of night was usually accompanied by coughing fits that could go on for hours, making it impossible to sleep. Fortunately my nighttime caregiver always arrived promptly at 11:35 to stay up with me, in the person of Conan O'Brien. His visits were always great - every time he came over he wore a nice suit, told me a lot of dumb jokes with a whole lot hilarious shtick in between, and generally kept me happy and entertained while I coughed my brains out. I had been a big Conan fan for years before I got whooping cough, but his devoted care and attention during that time really strengthened our relationship.

It may sound odd to refer to Buffy and Conan as though they were close, personal friends, but they really cheered me up and made me feel less lonely during a really crappy period of my life. Conan was a perfect friend - just like me he is a huge spaz who can't sit still, and has a bizarro, Pythonesque sense of humor (plus, back then we had the exact same hair). A Harvard graduate and a former Simpsons writer, his humor can be extremely smart and sophisticated, or it can be downright silly and stupid - either way he completely cracks me up. The era of the "Walker Texas Ranger Lever" perfectly illustrates everything I love about his random, off-kilter sensibility:

Conan O'Brien and Walker Texas Ranger


So Conan, as you graduate to the big leagues tonight, I wish you the best of luck. If I were writing in your yearbook, I would whip out all the classics: Have a great summer! Stay cool! Don't change! And of course, Let's hang out!

P.S. I'm really stoked to see Andy again, too. Tell him "hi" for me, Conan.

Up With Pixar

As soon as I saw the animated lamp making its familiar hop across the screen, my eyes started welling up with tears. The movie hadn't even started yet, but I was already overwhelmed with joy because I was about to experience the latest gift from Pixar.

"Gift" is the most appropriate word I can imagine for the magnificent string of miracles that have come in the world courtesy of Pixar. Each new film feels like a perfect little present that was made with love and soul and passion just for me. No one else in the whole world, aside from fellow animator Hayao Miyazaki (whose films are distributed in the U.S. under the supervision of Pixar chief John Lasseter), is making films that excite me more and satisfy me on as many levels. Pixar's films have everything I look for in a great work of art: fantastic writing, impeccable production values, wondrous images, inventive ideas, emotional resonance, innovative storytelling, complex themes, and a child-like feeling of exhilaration.

I circle the release dates of the new Pixar films on my calendars years in advance (save the following dates now: June 18, 2010; June 24, 2011; December 25, 2011) and you couldn't keep me away from the theater on opening day. Last year I was in Salvador, Brazil on the worldwide launch date of Wall·E and I took a break from my dream vacation in the name of Pixar (it ended up being the perfect ending to a perfect day). Two years ago, I spent the summer performing with the Ohio Light Opera and most of my time for three months was filled with rehearsals or performances, but fortunately I had the night off on the night that Ratatouille opened, even though most of the company was busy that night with a performance of Pirates of Penzance. I went to Ratatouille with one other friend from the company, and after the movie was over, the only thing I could think to do was to go over to the theater, gather all the pirates into the green room, and give a sermon about how everyone's quality of life would suffer unless they saw Ratatouille as soon as possible. The next night, I was back at the theater watching the movie again with a big group from the company, all of whom profoundly thanked me for convincing them to see the movie with my missionary-like zeal. (I went back to see Ratatouille two more times that summer.)

I came into Up today having read from various sources about the beautiful and emotional opening minutes of the film. Nevertheless, I was affected by the opening far more than I could have imagined and a quick glance around the theater confirmed that I was not the only one with tears streaming down my face. That opening sequence is the best thing that Pixar has ever done - even better than Anton Ego's meal/review in Ratatouille, the space ballet in Wall·E, or this heartbreaking scene from Toy Story 2:



I wrote this post because I determined that even though I have read dozens of articles, reviews, and interviews about Pixar and Up since seeing the film this afternoon, the internet needs even more Up content. Reading over what I've written, I feel like I don't know how to articulate just how much I love Pixar, so all I can say is that if you haven't seen Up yet, do yourself a favor and see it as soon as possible. I know I'll be returning soon.

Laddie the Lappy

Yesterday I got a call from Mike McMurtrey that went something like this:

Mike: Hey Bri, so you like getting free stuff, right?

Me: You know it!

Mike: And you're always having to go to the library to use their computers?

Me: True dat.

Mike: Soooo.... do you want my laptop?

Me: (Stunned silence) .... Dude!

It seems that his old laptop was getting a little bit too old and sluggish for his manly computing needs, so he got a new one and donated his old one to the needy: me. You see, I have never had my own computer because when I started college and saw the bounteous computer access offered all over campus, I developed the philosophy that as long as I had a flash drive and an email account every computer would be my computer. But now I am entering my ninth year of higher education and I'm starting to get burned out on all-nighters in the computer lab and running over to the library for a quick email check. Micah used to let me use his laptop for emergencies, but I always felt like I was imposing, so I tried to avoid that (plus his laptop was so shot that you occasionally had to pound on it to get it to work). But now, thanks to Mike, those days are over.


I thought that a post about Mike McMurtrey deserved a McMurtrey-style graphic accompanied by a McMurtrey-style caption. This is basically how the laptop transaction took place: Mike grew to three times my size, started glowing and sprouted a crown (on top of his rockstar shades - impressive), and busted out some killer dance moves. I was so grateful that it made the writing on my shirt get reversed.

So Seth asked me what I was going to name the laptop, and since it is a Dell Latitude, I thought I would name it "Laddie" ("Lattie" doesn't quite work). So now thanks to Laddie I am blogging from the comfort of my couch as I watch LeBron go into overdrive against the Magic. But the best part about Laddie is that he came pre-equipped with all kinds of interesting but perplexing lecture notes and graphics, like this one:

So thanks, Mike, for bringing Laddie into my life and for the countless hours of fun I will have trying to figure out what an "ion range" is then what I should do with that information. (I think it has something to do with nuclear engineering, but I might be wrong.)

P.S. It seems like my blog has been full of dedications and thanksgiving recently - that must mean that people are doing all kinds of nice stuff for me recently. Thanks for being so nice, everybody. I dedicate this postscript to all y'all.

SST: Cover Your Nose When You Sneeze

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

This year's Memorial Day played out a lot like last year's - I upgraded my holiday by geocaching with Brady (+ Seth and Melanie) and then went to a BBQ at night (MEGA-NIGHT, a FHE/Sports Night co-production that was a great deal of fun). Having spent a lot of time outside yesterday, I had to battle with two of my arch-nemeses: mosquitoes (can someone tell me how I got a bite on the bottom of my foot while wearing shoes?) and allergies. At one point when I was riding in the backseat of Brady's car I went off on a string of about 27 consecutive sneezes, prompting Melanie to compliment my habit of sneezing into my elbow to prevent sprayage. I told her that I had been well-trained by Sesame Street:



On the return trip from geocaching I sneezed in my elbow so hard that my sleeve got all slimed with snot. It was way gross and it brought back a memory from fourth grade when I was in Ms. Eden's class reading the elementary school classic Hatchet. We were separated off into groups to read and I was over in the corner with three other friends (Craig Checketts, Darin Paul, and Paul Coles, if I remember correctly). We took turns reading aloud and when during my turn I was caught off guard by the most sudden and violent sneeze of my life, which expelled the entire contents of my sinuses right into the book I was holding, rendering it soaking wet, slimy, and useless. Everyone in my group was totally grossed out, but somehow nobody else noticed what had happened. I was too embarrassed to show the teacher my snot-filled book, so I casually closed my book, went to the bookshelf, and exchanged my book for a fresh copy from the shelf. I pity the fool who unwittingly grab the snot copy after me. Ah, memories.

Today's Sesame Street Tuesday is dedicated to Stephanie Rhodes, who left us today. She was sitting next to me in the computer lab at the music school when I conceived the idea of Sesame Street Tuesday and she listened while I pitched the idea. Good luck off in the real world, Steph - I'll think of you whenever I play "Stephanie Says" and you can be my Emeritus Default Stephanie.

Capitols and Arches

I'm a sucker for capitol buildings. I don't know why, but I will go completely out of my way to visit them. Over spring break I drove for an hour up to Lansing (nicknamed Operation: Dream Vacation) just to see the capitol and realize that other than that building, Lansing has very little going on. Similarly, in the past year while driving through New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Minnesota I have gone out of my way just to get up close and personal with the capitol buildings along the way. So on my trip across I-70 from Utah back to Michigan, I stopped off at every capitol building within reasonable distance (I had to pass on Jefferson City, Missouri and Springfield, Illinois, which were 40 and 90 minutes out of my way, respectively).

The first capitol was Denver, and I got there about ten minutes before it closed so about all I had time to do was snap that picture looking up at the dome. It seemed impressive enough though, and I stood on the step in the front of the building where there is a marker indicating that the spot is exactly one mile above sea level. Next up was Topeka, which was undergoing some major renovation so I couldn't go in, but I thought it was pretty interesting to see a capitol building with a bunch of rubble around it - I now feel more prepared for that cyborg uprising in 2019, should it happen. In Illinois I unwittingly stumbled upon the town of Vandalia, which was the state capital from 1819-1839, so I stopped for a tour of the old capitol building. This is the building where Abraham Lincoln served as member of the Illinois House of Representatives, where he was instrumental in having the state capital changed to Springfield. But Vandalia doesn't seem to mind having been stabbed in the back by Lincoln - the town was playing the "Lincoln stood on this very spot" card at every opportunity. And finally, I rolled up to the capitol in Indianapolis, which was closed for the weekend, but it was right downtown so I got to see a lot of the city.


If my road trip had another motif besides capitol buildings, it would have to be arches. I spent my first night in Moab, Utah and spent most of the day hiking around in Arches National Park. Then I visited my friends Nick and Kara in St. Louis and saw the big ol' arch there - although I didn't feel compelled to go inside it, since I did that once when I was around 13 years old so I had already checked that experience off (the picture above was taken at high velocity from the freeway, hence the slanty-ness). And finally, I stopped to stock up on road trip snacks at an Aldi in Illinois and when I stepped out of the store I spied that last spectacular arch across the parking lot.

But the best motif of my trip: seeing old friends (awwww!). My buddy John and his girlfriend Aubry let me crash at their place in Denver and took me out for some dinner and for some scrapbook memories. And I finally got to see the much blogged-about botanical gardens and a Catholic basilica full of amazing byzantine mosaics in St. Louis with Kara and her new little baby H. So many thanks to John 'n' Aubry and Nick 'n' Kara for letting me stay with you.

P.S. Special thanks to this web site for helping me with the whole capitol/capital thing. That's a rule I always forget.