December 20 - Happy Hanukkah

It's time to spin the dreidel, it's time to light the menorah, it's time to meet Hanukkah cause Hanukkah starts tonight!



December 9 - Bless Us One and All

Life’s a Happy Song with the Muppets by Your Side to Sing Along

I wrote a blog several months ago expressing my giddy delight at the approaching of the new Muppets movie.

My growing excitement finally exploded into a burst of song, dance, and Meep’s when I saw the film this past weekend.

I was a little let-down at first when I found out that the showing we originally were going to see was sold-out (but nothing a little apple-cinnamon frozen-yogurt couldn’t fix!). Then, I saw it had been sold-out by individuals with rosy cheeks and who were less than 4 ft. tall.

No, it wasn’t a screening for Santa’s elves.

It was a whole new generation experiencing and falling in love with the Muppets for the very first time.

I was reminded of how that felt as I experienced two hours of singing, dancing, laughs and jokes (Wocka Wocka!), cameo appearances (um, Selena Gomez, do you even know who the Muppets are?), and lots of smiles and old friends. Both the audience and movie characters were reminded of how much we love the Muppets and how much we have missed them.

I am also very proud to report that I was told that I laughed harder when Beaker was on the screen than any other time.

Meeeep Meep Meep Meeeeeep!!!!

Fans of the original Muppets will not be disappointed, but will also enjoy the debut of the new “manly-Muppet” Walter, the “Muppet-of-a-man” Jason Segel, and Amy Adams who all fit-in seamlessly. New Muppet-ers will get to learn of both the Muppets past glory and their bright future.

At its core, the movie is about growing-up, overcoming your fears, and persevering, all with friends and loved-ones by your side to help and encourage you; a lesson that spans the ages.

I solemnly swear that whether you a part of the old or new Muppets-generation, or even whether you like the Muppets or not, you will come away from this movie with a smile on your face. 

And probably singing Mahna Mahna.

Soundtrack: "Muppets: The Green Album"

It isn’t easy being green.
But it just became a lot cooler.

Growing up, The Muppets were considered a staple in my house (at least to me and my brothers). I’ve followed these guys from the nursery…

 

…to the stage,

From the wonderful…

…to the not so wonderful.

I could go on for hours about how much I love all of the wonderfully unique characters that have emerged from The Muppets, but that is not the topic of this post so I will refrain from doing so. But you can imagine that when I heard that Disney was coming out with a new Muppets’ film for the first time in over a decade, I was happier than a frog in a swamp.

Then, when I learned that as part of the promotion for the film, an album would be released featuring popular Muppet songs covered by some of my favorite artists, well, I could hardly contain my excitement.

“Muppets: The Green Album” ranges from heartfelt and sentimental, to fun and unique. My favorite on the sentimental side of things, is “The Rainbow Connection”, a tremendous song in the first place, is featured as a duet with Weezer and Hayley Williams. Listening to this song made me feel like a kid again, that I still have all the time in the world to grow up. My favorite of the more upbeat songs is The Fray’s version of “Mahna Mahna”. I never thought I would get to say “The Fray’s version of “Mahna Mahna” in a sentence so that in itself is awesome. This unexpected little number will have you smiling and tapping your toes while reminiscing about The Snowths. Other highlights for me include My Morning Jacket’s cover of “Our World”, Alkaline Trio’s “Movin’ Right Along”, and Rachael Yamagata’s “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday”.

The thing that I love the most about this album is that it brings The Muppets, something so beloved from my childhood (and to this day), into the “adult world” in such a perfectly balanced way. There seems to be a recent trend of introducing characters from my generation’s childhood to kids today (Example: Smurfs). I think this is wonderful, but what I love about the idea of the new Muppets movie and this album is that it is introducing these beloved characters to new generations while simultaneously targeting the generations that knew them the best and loved them the most. To me, “The Green Album” is another way that I can incorporate my childhood into my adult life. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

So, whether you are a new or old friend of The Muppets, I recommend picking up a copy of “Muppets: The Green Album” on August 23. Or, if you are like me, and you really can not wait, head over here to stream the entire album for free.