Snaps: I See Elmo Every Day After Work!

Life is pretty crammed with home obligations, work, New School studies and dream manifesting, but I didn’t want to let another day pass without sharing some startling news:

I see Elmo. Monday through Friday. Oh yes.

No matter how bad my day has been, I can always count on seeing my furry friend cheerily bopping around the Viacom building, posing for photographs. These sightings started about a month ago and it’s worth noting that

a) I work in Times Square, where you can also run into a naked cowboy, hellza trannies, a giant inflated colon balloon, etc.

and

b) Seeing Elmo everyday would have probably been one of my all time favorite “life is awesome” moments when I was five.

I’ve tried to take a photo every day that I’ve had an Elmo sighting, but sometimes I can’t transmit my photos from my Blackerry Storm to Flickr (boo), so I only have this other one to share:

Tourists are usually swarming around him and it’s hilarious to watch disgruntled locals plowing through the crowd, acting as if it’s so normal to shove a giant elmo.

My most recent exciting Elmo factoid is that his real name is Abdul. I know this because I finally approached him and introduced myself (who’s shy around Elmo? weird).

…The problem with introducing yourself to Elmo (who’s real name is Abdul and playfully/lecherously grabs you) in the middle of Times Square is that you run the risk of obliterating that remaining thread of belief in a world where puppets (and muppets) exist independently from their puppeteers.

Like, you could be walking through the park and casually run into Big Bird. Or maybe you could go to a rock show and instead of there being a regular human drummer, Animal would be the drummer and he would go crazy and scream WOMAN! WOMAN! WOMAN!

Thankfully, I still believe that could happen.

>>If I take more Elmo photos, I will update this post with ’em<<

Bass Tales: Ife of Sweetie Show Recap (How’d It Go?)

This past Wednesday evening, I spent the hours of 11pm until 11:30pm playing bass with Ife of Sweetie at Black Betty. Was it fun? Yes. Was I perfect? No, I made a few mistakes. Will I be playing another show soon and reaching out to lots of artists for potential collabs? Hell yes.

The stage at Black Betty is rather small so I spent most of the time obsessed with not messing up or crashing into Ife. I probably could have looked out at the audience a little more, as the only reason I have ever wanted to play shows in NYC is to interact with different audiences. Interaction usually involves eye contact. Next time.

This is a cool quote:
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones that you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

I called my dad before the show and he told me, “Mija don’t worry about anything. The worst thing that could happen is they throw you off the stage.” Aw, thanks dad for your messed up yet helpful advice. It worked. <3

BONUS: A friend shared this hilarious video with me because I am known for loving performance clips, Muppets and Rita Moreno. Enjoy!

On My Radar: Muppet Movie Countdown

In the last couple of weeks a bunch of new Muppet videos have been popping up online. This has increased the quality of my life tenfold.

As most Muppet fans know, Forgetting Sarah Marshall writer and star Jason Segel was tapped by Disney in March to write the next Muppet movie. And by tapped, I mean Segel was bad ass enough to pitch himself as the writer of the next Muppet movie, and Disney actually agreed. Nicholas Stoller will direct.

As of June, Segel was still writing the script but that doesn’t mean I can’t start my own personal countdown today.

Segel told Variety:
“I’ve just grown a little disappointed with Muppets in the Old West, Muppets Under Water and all these weird concept movies,” the 28-year-old writer/actor said in an interview. “I just want to take it back to the early ’80s, when it was about the Muppets trying to put on a show. That’s what I’m trying to bring back.”

Stoller on the script:
It’s gonna be an old school Muppet movie like “The Great Muppet Caper” or “Muppets Take Manhattan”. Basically the Muppets have to put on a show to save their studio. And in the intervening years, there’s been a Muppet Diaspora, so the main Muppets need to go off with Jason [Segel] and collect other Muppets from all around the world. We’re in the middle of writing it now. We’re on page 50.”

I really enjoyed the big puppet musical number at the end of Forgetting Sarah Marshall (those cloth creatures were custom-made by the Henson puppeteers) so I am curious to see what comes out of Segel’s brain.

The MTV Movies Blog revealed in May that Segel had plans for Charles Grodin to appear in a cameo as well. Grodin was previously the human lead in “The Great Muppet Caper.”

In a recent interview on Collider.com, Segel also confirmed that Sam the Eagle is in the movie, as are Statler and Waldorf.

If you need to see Muppets ASAP while waiting for the movie, go to Muppets.com for a ton of cute clips. You can find a list of all the Muppet videos on YouTube here.