The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 22

Just to be clear, Muppets from The Muppets Show are different from those Muppets from Sesame Street. Thus, it's perfectly fine day I've got a day devoted to those more mature Muppets after having spent some time with the gang from Sesame Street on Day 20. 

Of the Muppets from both shows, only Kermit the Frog has regularly appeared on both shows. When on Sesame Street, for the most part, Kermit is an intrepid reporter who often gets into sticky situations. On The Muppet Show, Kermit is the stage manager of the vaudevillian type review. Naturally, I've got to start my look at Muppet ornaments with Kermit. I chose this glass ornament from Target. It's got Kermit wearing a festive Santa hat. But what I love the most about this ornament is how amazing those points on his frock looks. 

My favorite incarnation of the Muppets were when they were toddlers. The animated Muppet Babies cartoon series aired on CBS from 1984-1991 for an impressive 107 episodes. I'm also a big fan of the Star Comics adaptation of the show. Trying to get all 26 issues of the Marvel imprint series is on my massive comic book wish list. To honor the Muppet Babies, I selected this 7 piece rubber foam set available on Amazon. There's a purple penguin included in the set. I don't remember her. She must be from the 2018 reboot that aired on Disney Junior.

I love the oddball characters of The Muppet Show. I feel terrible that nobody thinks Fozzie is all that funny and I just love how weird Gonzo is. For Fozzie, I chose another rubberized foam style ornament. This one has the comedian hopefully holding his hat, just begging that people find him hilarious- which I do. For Gonzo, I selected a 2008 Gold Crown exclusive magic ornament. It has Gonzo about be shot out of his signature cannon and if you press a hidden button, you hear Gonzo's spiel that he does getting ready for his stunt. 

Next up is the Swedish Chef. As a Chef myself, I'm awfully fond of the character. I love how nothing ever seems to go right for him, like when he tried to cook some lobsters and they held him hostage! Hilarious and captured forever in this 2014 ornament from Hallmark. 

Speaking on Hallmark, time to go back in time. I remembered that my Grandmama had a couple of Muppets ornaments on her tree. So I went hunting. I found several vintage editions. But this 1982 satin ball ornament was the only one I remembered. The plastic sleeve around the globe shows the Muppets having their annual holiday party. With just about every character imaginable including Miss Piggy and Kermit's nephew Robin, I spent hours studying this scene. Wish I had one to call my own.

I'm sharing this ornament of Sam the Eagle from Tagotee in honor of my wife. When she gets indignant, she furrows her brow and it reminds me so much of the patriotic Muppet. I love it when she gets madder that I'll egg her on to exclaim Sam's catch phrase, 'What Is Wrong With America?', as she looks even more like him when I do!

On the Etsy front, I really like this painted wooden ornament. The seller has several ornaments using the same medium boasting scenes from 1992's A Muppet Christmas Carol. My favorite of the bunch is this one in which someone accidentally set Rizzo the Rat's tail on fire. I think the goof was made by Gonzo. Can't remember. But it was a great memory made into an ornament. Honorable Mention- this adorable ornament during the opening song Scrooge depicting this family of poor hungry Meeses... Don't worry- Scrooge gave them some cheese after his Christmas night transformation!

And no look at Muppet ornaments would be complete without a one starring those ornery elderly hecklers Statler and Waldorf. In this 2014 Hallmark ornament, the pair are seated in their balcony chairs. With the push of a hidden button, some of the duos best insults are issued. 

We've got a DIY ornament today for you. To make your owner Beaker (Dr. Honeydew's clumsy lab assistant), you will need 1 toilet paper tube, 3 Styrofoam balls, pink paint, black sharpie marker, orange yarn, scissors, hot glue and some white and silver duct tape.

To make this ornament, paint the tube and 1 ball pink. Use the marker to make eyeballs on the remaining 2 balls. When dry, hot glue the eyes and nose on to the tube. Also, draw a sad frown underneath the nose with the marker. Using the white duct tape, wrap about 1 inch of it to the bottom of the tube. Try to fold some ends to look like a lab coat. Then using silver duct tape, fashion the top of a neck tie in the middle. Lastly, hot glue the yarn coming from the top of Beaker's head wildly. With a couple of pieces, don't forget to make a loop in order to hang this creative trinket from the limb of your holiday tree.

Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

   In my life there have been 2 books that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't finish them. For summer reading in high school, I had to read Wuthering Heights. I tried twice, getting stuck and crapping out at exactly page 51! The other book was Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

   In 1998, Johnny Depp starred in a version of the film. I was a big Depp buff at the time and I really wanted to see it. But a friend recommended that I read the book first. So, I checked it out at the library- I never could get past the first chapter. Never really did see the picture either.

    Then a few days ago, I came across the graphic novel adaptation of the book. Having completely said 'The heck with Bronte', I decided not to let 2 books hold me back and I checked it out. 

    A large majority of Thompson's own words are used in this book. Each page of Thompson's attempt to find the American dream in Las Vegas of all places, contains large excerpts of the original text which before being published as Fear and Loathing was a 2-part article that ran in Rolling Stone in 1971. 

    The premise of the book has Thompson, under the name of Raoul Duke and his attorney, a Dr. Gonzo, renting a red convertible behemoth and driving to Sin City. In their trunk is a literal pharmacy of legal, illegal, and unimaginable things to get them high. Duke is supposed to be heading to Las Vegas to cover an off-road race for a sports publication. He then is asked to stay longer to cover a naroctics officer's conference. All-the-while, Duke and Gonzo claim to be searching for the American Dream.

    Honestly, I think the whole thing was an excuse to go gambling and get high as a freaking kite in the Seediest City in the World under someone else's dime. The first half of this book is literally unreadable. All Duke and Gonzo do are get high, become extremely paranoid and try to kill one another! However, this could all or partially be made up as Hunter S. Thompson's Gonzo Journalism style combined both fact and fiction; sometimes considering hallucination and anecdote as gospel truth.

    The second half of this graphic novel adaptation was actually pretty good. Duke has to cover a convention of drug enforcement officers and he and his lawyer often prank the unwitting lawmen, acting as DEA agents from L.A., with horror tales of animal sacrifice and perversion overtaking the City of Angels' drug scene. I preferred this section's madcap to the latter part's madness.
     This version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adapted and illustrated by Angora Napkin's Troy Little is probably the closet I will ever come to reading (and completing) Thompson's actual tome. But that's okay- this was some intense reading regardless and I feel like I conquered the book. I did happen to enjoy the cartoonish art and unique editing styles of Troy Little's. It fit in nicely with the source material and it's possibility of not being 100% the truth. 

   Not as bad as I thought but I really can't see why it's such a landmark book of the American experience either.  
   
   Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.