J.D. Hansel

I got to chat with @jd11pc.bsky.social about Gertie the Dinosaur on this episode! Gertie is without a doubt one of the most influential short films of all time, animated or otherwise. It was such a pleasure to record this episode, please be sure to give it a listen!

@komakesthings.bsky.social and I got a whopping hour and 45 minutes out of discussing Winsor McCay and early animation.

The first episode of the new season of my podcast is out now!

Season 2 begins January 26th wherever podcasts are streamed!

Hi, I wrote this:

What a weird time to be a person.

what if you found out it was actually called Wallace and Grompit and you had been saying it wrong this entire time . would you still go to work or would you call out so you could take some time to process this information

And by framing Jud as a Rick Astley type, the film shows us that Jud is never gonna tell a lie or desert his flock.

Don’t go to film school or your brain turns into this.

Stick to Shorts, an incredible* podcast about Golden Age animated shorts, is gearing up to release its second season. Catch up on the first season if you enjoy thoughtful discussion and also silliness!

(*Full disclosure, I'm on it sometimes)

I don’t remember seeing ads with random actors AS the official Grinch before this year. It’s weird enough to see one of them, but McDonald’s *and* Walmart? With different costume designs? A multiverse of hideous live-action Grinches? I hate it.

Thanks!

Listen to Danny Horn and me crash this podcast into the ground and then build it back up again. It was so much fun!

Just Kermit and his nephew and his five best friends.

Source?

If you’re a Muppet fan, you’ll want to hear this one. By GOSH did we have fun.

Today I spent all afternoon struggling to finish reading a frustrating essay for Stick to Shorts and then spent all evening stewing over it. So much for the rest of the script.

Today I learned that Cookie Niece exists. I like Cookie Niece.

I’m happy to say that I’ve launched ToughPigs’ newest podcast!

We needed a more malleable show for fans to have whatever Muppet conversations are on our minds, and now there’s no telling where the team will take this next!

Wikipedia’s featured article of the day: Hensley Henson

oh dang I gotta write an article about Hansley Hansen

That would be reasonable, but I can also imagine them thinking, at an earlier point, that Elmo and Zoe should look alike since she was built to compliment him.

Makes sense! The tufts of the illustrations don’t like even remotely like the tufts of the puppet.

That was my lunchbox as a kid! I hardly ever used it, but I think I still have it. That era had such a distinct design for illustrated Elmo with a pointier head than any of the puppets had.

Product page for The Muppet Christmas Carol 12-Day Countdown Calendar, which includes tiny plush dolls of 12 characters from the movie, priced at $159.99.

That price is evil

Thank you

My health is declining so rapidly that I can’t handle most basic tasks and yet I have no symptoms to give the doctors except “I’m super weak and tired and a little dizzy and foggy.” You know, the least specific symptoms. I can’t express how terrifying this is.

My friend Becca wrote a very good article about a very bad thing:

The existence of this young woman is one of those few things that gives me long-term hope for the species, but I worry for her so much.

Israel accused of detaining Greta Thunberg in infested cell and making her hold flags Activist tells Swedish officials she has been subjected to harsh treatment, including insufficient food and water

““They dragged little Greta [Thunberg] by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others,” the Turkish activist ErsinÇelik, a participant in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu news agency.”+

"one officer smiled for a selfie with her as she cried."

My biggest takeaway from the Jim Henson birthday celebration is that we somehow MUST stop Muppet fans from clapping on the one.