Bagged

After knitting dice bags for Hubby and a couple friends, I finally have a reason to make a dice bag for myself. This weekend I went to my first DnD game. Of course, I couldn't go unaccessorized! I couldn't  decide what I wanted so Hubby started one for me with the self-striping yarn that was left over from Syndey's leg warmers. Because of my impatience, I had to take over and I finished it.



I love my sparkly dice! 


Inspired by Hubby's stripes and Being Elmo, I knew exactly what I wanted for my polyhedrals.



Look familiar? You get 100 cool points from me if you immediately thought of this guy:

From Sesame Street

I did much better with my jogless stripe on this bag than my birds. I think that the stripes on the birds were just a bit too thin for the jogless technique that I was trying to use. It worked much better on the wider blue and red stripes here. These little bags are a great way to practice new techniques. I love them. I'll have to come up with an excuse to make some more. Now I just need to resist the urge to buy some primary colored dice that match my bag. Maybe I need one that looks like Bert. Vertical stripes would be a good thing to learn.

Lucky

Despite the lack of knitting, it has been a pretty great summer. It has been full of friends, games and lazy days in the park. I've discovered this summer that I am the luckiest girl. I have two bits of fun evidence to share.

First, Hubby took me to see An American Tale at Brooklyn Bridge Park. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I even had an amazing Fievel doll. The movie was as wonderful as I remember (which is lucky on its own) but the really fantastic part was the credits. There was a surprise fireworks show!

 Second, a couple weekends ago we went to see Being Elmo at IFC. We were in a intimate screening room and I loved the film. Again during the credits I got a big surprise. Several of the people who worked on creating the film were available for Q&A. Not only did I get to meet the director but Kevin Clash was a special guest. Here I am with Kevin and Tau



NYC loves me!

"You've got that 'Dum De Dum Dum'"

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate. I hope your bunny was better at sharing that this one.



Though he couldn't have been better at hiding.

Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures

Did you know that Bert and Ernie are living it up in claymation? I had heard, but I haven't gotten to see any of their new adventures. Here is a short peek at their new shenanigans and how it all happens.


Via Muppet Musings

A Meaningful Expression of Care

My love for Sesame Workshop is a secret and I've been watching the news about potential CPB funding cuts closely. You can see Gary Knell's comments about the cuts on the Sesame Workshop site. I support NPR and PBS. Public broadcasting is a worthwhile cause, but you don't have take my word for it...



On a lighter note, it is March which means March Muppet Madness!! Voting has already begun. I don't want to unfairly influence your votes, but I know who I'm rooting for!

From James Hance - Relentlessly Cheerful Art

Oscar's Oscar Picks

I've never been in the habit of watching award ceremonies.  For the past couple years though, I have been trying to get into them.  I find that when I watch them, I enjoy them, but I have a hard time paying enough attention to make sure I see them. I completely missed the Golden Globes, but tonight I am going to do better and watch the Academy Awards.  In preparation, I've checked in with the one critic that matters:

You’re watching You’ve Got Oscar The Grouch. See the Web's top videos on AOL Video

Headed to the Street

Two years ago my life was changed by Sesame Street. I saw the documentary: The World According to Sesame Street, and I made the decision that I had to be a part of Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children's Television Workshop).

I've told this story before, but in honor of Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary today, I want to tell it again.

Through out high school and most of my undergraduate degree, I knew I was going to work for Disney. It started in the 90s. Disney was extending benefits to same sex couples. Amid the controversy, there were rumors that Disney was releasing books that featured having same sex parents. Scandal aside, this is when I had my personal epiphany about Disney's ability to educate. From that point on, my biggest concern about my future was deciding if I wanted to live in Orlando or Burbank.

In college I went to work for Disney. It was a six month internship, and to date it is still one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I had an insider's view to changes being made. I saw programs get cut for lack of funding. I saw other initiatives start up. What I learned while I was there is that Disney has a lot of power to educate, but it is not their priority. Disney is a company, and are by default corporate. They have a lot of wonderful programs that do great work, but if things ever got tight, they would be quick to go. Disney is under new leadership now. They continue to make decisions that I do and don't agree with.

That experience changed everything for me. I was lost for a couple years because I thought that being in children's entertainment meant viewing kids as consumers. I knew I couldn't do that, so I was looking for another path. Fortunately, a nearby college was having a viewing of The World According to Sesame Street. I had no idea what it was about, but the Big Bird lover in me wanted to go. I learned that everything I was looking for was out there. I was just looking in the wrong place. I learned about how Sesame Street started with a vision to provide preschool education opportunities to inner-city kids that weren't getting a head start elsewhere. I learned about how Sesame expanded globally to empower children around the world no matter what their needs are. I learned that there are children's entertainers out there who are advocates for imagination and love.

After a couple weeks, I had studied up on Sesame Workshop and my heart was set. A few months later Hubby and I announced to our friends and family that we were moving to New York once we finished our Master's degrees so that I could eventually work for Sesame Workshop. I am not part of the Workshop yet, but we have made it to NYC, and we love it here. I am continually inspired by what the Workshop is doing, and I will continue to search for a place where I fit in there. Hopefully, I will be able to celebrate Sesame Street's 50th anniversary as a colleague and not just a fan.

If you'd like a bit of inspiration, I recommend taking a look at some of their Initiatives, and what they do Around the World. If you just want to be nostalgic, I recommend their video library or their YouTube channel for some more recent segments. And if you would like to support Sesame Street with a birthday gift, you can contribute here: Sesame Workshop Support Us.

Happy Birthday Big Bird!

Yesterday was Big Bird's big day.

What a Week

This week was a whirlwind of non-stop action. Ok, maybe not quite, but I was busy enough that I didn't get to see the new James Bond movie. I also didn't spend any time in virtual adventures or knitting. Tuesday night was one of the more exciting events rather than just the errands that most of the rest of my time.

Tuesday we went to the Apollo for a seminar put on by the Made in NY program. Made in NY is a program from the mayor's office that is working to provide incentives that keep film and television producing in the city as well as increasing the community awareness and pride for the things that are made here. According to our MC for the evening, there have been some recent productions pretending to be be in New York city but they were actually filmed in places like Canada. The mayor is trying to take those productions back. They also announced a Production Assistant Program that the city is doing. It is a free 4-week training program and at the end there is job placement. Your first job may be asking pedestrians to wait so they don't walk though a shoot, but it would be a great experience for anyone interested. I live in New Jersey so I am not eligible. If you live in the city and are interested in film and television, check it out and let me know what you think.

So what's the longest running television show shot in NYC? No, it is not Law and Order, though at nineteen seasons they certainly have been around for awhile. The winner for longest running, coming in at just under four decades, is Sesame Street. Tuesday's seminar, How to Get to Sesame Street, was a panel discussion with Carol-Lynn Parente (Executive Producer), Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (Vice President, Education and Research), Joey Mazzario (Writer, puppeteer, director, "Murray"), Kevin Clash (Producer, puppeteer, "Elmo"), and Sonia Manzano (Performer, writer, "Maria"). It was moderated by Katherine Oliver (Commissioner, Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting). It was a great event. They talked about the process of making an episode and what a day in the life of each would be like. Elmo even made an appearance before the evening was done. Their unanimous suggestion for how to get to Sesame Street would be via internship. The executive producer herself started with the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) as an intern hauling film canisters.

I Love This City

While I was putting around the internet last Thursday, I came across an announcement that the JCC in Manhattan was going to have a discussion with the director and scenes from the documentary in progress When Muppets Dream of Peace on Saturday. I immediately signed up and pulled out my subway map to figure out how to get there.

The last time I saw a documentary about Sesame Workshop, it meant a lot to me. I had heard whispers and rumors of a new documentary, but it was never anything that I could confirm or find any good information on. I was extremely excited to hear that I was going to get a sneak peak. Saturday was a soggy day, but we headed out anyway.

The World According to Sesame Street is the other documentary. It talks about the origins of Sesame Street and about some of the productions that Sesame Workshop is working in other parts of the world. One of the co-productions that they showed was in Kosovo. There they were starting two new shows that worked together to teach Albanian and Serbian children about each other to hopefully bring peace and tolerance to a younger generation. It was a difficult task especially because of the violence that was physically keeping everyone one apart. There is one scene that shows the whole group together brainstorming ideas for their first episodes. The first lesson they came up with to teach their kids was how to recognize a grenade and what to do if you find one. That scene changed my world view. I was teaching kids how to move stage right and stage left (I use to teach children's theater) at the same time that kids were being taught how to avoid explosives.

The new documentary When Muppets Dream of Peace is about a workshop project that is very similar to Kosovo. This project involved three productions. One for Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Here is a video from a news segment about how one of the productions resulted in an actual Sesame Street:

At the JCC we got to see a few scenes and there was a panel discussion with Executive Produce Jane Coleman, filmmaker David Van Taylor, and Danny Labin from the Sesame Workshop (who you just saw in the news clip). It was a fascinating session about the challenges that the project faced and how they over came some of those issues. I am excited about seeing this documentary when it is finished. According to Mr. Van Taylor it was a growing experience for everyone and it sounds like they worked out some great solutions. I haven't found any official information about the documentary online, but here is what the postcard they passed out says:

When Muppets Dream of Peace
Coming to PBS 2009
from Highlander Pictures & Lumiere Productions
a documentary by David Van Taylor
Executive Producer Jane Coleman
Director of Photography Ramez Kazmouz
Co-Producer Noam Shalev
Editor Cindy Kaplan-Rooney

When Muppets Dream of Peace is made possible by support from The Ford Foundation, the Rokefeller Brothers Fund, and the Public Broadcasting Service.

We are currently seeking finishing funds.

For further information or to help, contact Jane Coleman: JDC@HighlanderPictures.com

While we were waiting for the discussion to start we found out that the JCC was having an evening discussion titled Planet of the Arabs about the view of Arabs portrayed by American media. Our plan was to find some food in between the two sessions and make it to them both. Unfortunately, we got caught up in some huge slices of pizza and we were too late getting back. My only excuse is that we must have lost a chunk of time in a carb induced daze. It all worked out though. We headed home early, and as soon as we got to our apartment, some Veteran's Day fireworks began on the river. It was a great day. I am loving living near all of this exciting stuff.

Hey You Guuyyyys!

In case you hadn't heard, The Electric Company is making a come back. Filming has already started and we can expect to see them in January. That doesn't mean we can't love them now though.