Music: Muppets - The Green Album

I grew up on the Muppets. I had all those VHS tapes of all their movies, and now I get to recall those memories of the past with the new Muppets movie coming out!!!!

I found this album on Spotify, and I wish I could link to some youtube videos, but I couldn't really find any.

Highlights from the album

• The Rainbow Connection (Weezer + Hayley Williams of Paramore)
• Mahna Mahna (The Fray)
• Movin' Right Along (The Alkaline Trio)

You can listen to some mp3 samples from Amazon here. 

Google Birthday: Richard Scarry

Today's Google Logo

Ah! Even cuter! I didn't notice this until later in the day. 

Out of all my many childhood videos (including Donald in Mathmagic Land), my VHS cassettes of The Busy World of Richard Scarry were my favorite. Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm could do no wrong in my eyes. Scarry's world is so well thought out (and drawn out) as can be seen above. It wasn't difficult to become completely immersed in Busy Town.

And now for some blast to the past videos.

The intro to the show!



One episode that I remember well: The Best ABC Video Ever. I loved how the little aviator mouse flew a plane with a flag bearing the episode's title. The best animation bit? Around 10:00 at the end of the second video where Lowly spells out the words with his little worm body. Notice how he's panting at the end when Huckle continues speaking.

Pinball

Most of my pinball memories involve a much-loved Pizza Hut of my childhood, or my desktop. Every time I went to Pizza Hut, the dilemma was the same. Should my quarter go into the novelty toy machine (Who can resist those little neon sticky hands?!), or into the Pinball machine? It didn't really matter too much. Both were fleeting joys--those Sticky Hands should really be called Fuzzy Hands. However, I'd have to say that more than 80% of my pinball-related memories involve Space Pinball, the free game that used to come the older Windows system. Remember that?

Oh God, those loud clunky sounds, I forgot what they sounded like. I can feel the early 2000s washing over me.

I think though that Doctor Who pinball might be a revelatory experience.

Watch the video here. Sorry, I couldn't embed it.

http://videos.nymag.com/video/Doctor-Who-Cast-are-Pinball-Wiz

Matt Smith lost his voice in this video. I bet it was at the same time he did the panel for the Nerdist podcast.

http://www.nerdist.com/2011/04/nerdist-podcast-81-whotopia/

And yes, you can check out the virtual altar of Matt Smith's hair right here.

http://mattsmithshair.tumblr.com/

And with this picture, I would like to predict the end of McDreamy's cool coiffe and the ushering in of Matt Smith's hair. 

Okay, okay, that picture really doesn't make his hair look cool. I just thought it was adorable. Here is some real cool hair. 

Speaking of weird forms of admiration...before tumblrs existed for hair worship, there were gum shrines for football heads. 

Okay, I'll stop before I get too Nineties Nickelodeon nostalgic (Did you like that alliteration right there?).

All that is DW related is brought to you this time by: the Night Owl

Video: Donald in Mathmagic Land

I love this video so much. I know, major nerd alert. I'm not sure why my parents bought me this VHS (well, I have my suspicions), but I'm glad they did. I'm not sure how many times I watched it as a child, but it must have been enough for me to remember the clicks of the pool balls and the musical chimes accompanying the golden ratio animations. The old school animation techniques and narration are a lot of fun.