Gawker: Sesame Street

Sesame Street Absorbed By Department Of Homeland Security

Moe — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:09:51 EDT

The Department of Homeland Security is employing the cast of Sesame Street to indoctrinate America's littlest citizens in the nuances of societal distrust and paranoia. This makes sense because Sesame Street is a Leninist television program produced by the socialist government and dating back to the height of fiscal crisis brought about by the reckless expansion of the welfare state to whose beneficiaries Sesame Street was engineered to placate.

And the Department of Homeland Security represents the biggest expansion of government since the New Deal!

“We all want our children to feel safe in this world,” said Meryl Chertoff, wife of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, at a ceremony held at the John Tyler Elementary School to announce the partnership. "And who better to do that than our Sesame Street friends, Grover and Rosita!”

I don't know this "Rosita" but I am pretty sure she is made in China.

New Sesame Street Season All About Grown-Up Celebrities

Richard — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Maybe this was the case when I was a kid and I just don't remember, but the new season of PBS institution Sesame Street seems to be laying it on a little bit thick with celebrity guest stars. Nothing wrong with them once in a while, Feist and Neil Patrick Harris sing cute songs and it is pleasant. But um pussy-obsessed stoner Jonah Hill? Sex maniac Kim Cattrall? What are kids getting out of this? And are parents really enjoying seeing celebrities that remind them of fucking and being stoned when they're watching an afternoon show with their little ones? Brought to you by the letter X and the number 3! Nothing wrong with sex and weed, but there's a time and a place, no? Watch a preview for the new season after the jump and judge for yourself. I'm sure you'll agree that "Preschool Musical" is pretty great.

[via Videogum]

Actor Indoctrinates Kids to Be Gay Shoe Lovers

Richard — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:06:00 EDT

We mentioned it a while back but now there's video of GAY actor Neil Patrick Harris infiltrating the minds of our most precious non-oil resource, children, with his wicked gay shoe agenda. He plays the Shoe Fairy on the season premiere of Sesame Street and sings like a dream and magically puts shoes on people's feet. He does this all in front of poor, innocent little ones. Just terrible. Where's Jerry Falwell when you need him? Oh right. Dead. HAH. [via Towleroad]

The 12 Internet Memes That Took Obama To The Nomination

Nick Douglas — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:00:00 EDT

Barack Obama is like Kermit the Frog: Someone else may be your personal favorite, but he's the one that gets the most attention, so he's the one who ends up in all the parodies. Obama can be mashed up with any meme, because anyone can assign him any qualities: like Kermit, his everyman status makes him ripe for satire. To demonstrate, in no particular order but numbered anyway, here are the top twelve memes that have carried Obama to the nomination.

1. The Progress Poster: By the artist who brought you "OBEY" comes "PROGRESS."
Part of: The eternal meme that is Obey Giant, a graffiti joke turned art that started with stickers of Andre the Giant appearing in Charleston in 1986.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: The Pope version. And the Mavis Beacon version.

2. Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle: A series of one-liners about how much Obama likes you, the reader.
Part of: The "single serving site" meme.
Stance: Whimsically Pro.
See Also: Hillary Is Mom Jeans

3. Barack, Bert and Ernie: Ernie convinces Bert to vote for Obama.
Part of: Sesame Street fanfic.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: The Count explains race relations (a promising title poorly executed).

4. Barack OBollywood: A floating Barack head dances to Punjabi music.
Part of: Internet's obsession with modern Indian culture, stretching back to the classic music video "Tunak Tunak."
Stance: WTF
See Also: Some ad implying that Obama smokes dope a lot.

5. The Empire Strikes Barack: Obama as the hero of Star Wars.
Part of: The most lucrative franchise to ever spawn a million memes, jokes and mashups.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: Baracky: Obama as Rocky.

6. Obamacrombie: T-shirts mocking the guys dressed in Abercrombie and Fitch sitting behind Obama in a televised speech.
Part of: Every joke is worth putting on your chest.
Stance: Meh.
See Also: "Who killed Obama?" sweatshirt.

7. White People Like Obama: A chapter, maybe, of an upcoming blog book.
Part of: The book version of "Stuff White People Like."
Stance: Heh.
See Also: "Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle" also got a book deal.

8. Vote Different: Hillary as Big Brother.
Part of: Everything indie is like Apple.
Stance: Pro.
See Also: Hillary's a PC, Obama's a Mac — really.

9. Obama Girl: Oh, you know. Some girl went nuts for Obama and made the new "Dick in a Box."
Stance: Pro and sexy enough for YouTube.
Part of: Barely Political, a web show about being pro-Obama and sexy enough for YouTube.
See Also: McCain Girls: Raining McCain.

10. Under Barack Obama: A MADtv parody of "Umbrella."
Part of: A year of "Umbrella" parodies.
Stance: Pro-interracial-banging.
Actually Don't See Also: Obama and Hillary caught kissing.

11. Yes We Can: will.i.am's spoken-word song based on an Obama speech.
Part of: Songs for Obama; will.i.am's followup was "We Are The Ones."
Stance: Pro and embarrassingly earnest.
Part of: Celebrities love Obama.
See Also: John McCain: john.he.is

12. Muppets for President: What do you expect?
Part of: The Muppets, second only to Star Wars in mashup eminence.
Stance: Silly
See Also: Nothing else. Ever. Except maybe Dramatic Chipmunk and Pretty much everywhere, it's gonna be hot.

Why Kids Are So Dumb Today

Joshua Stein — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:13:51 EST

In the Tipping Point, middle-brow about town Malcolm Gladwell cites rather convincing evidence that Blues Clues, that maddeningly simple television show featuring an azure canine, taught kids more about life than Sesame Street. Sesame Street he claims, en bref, was too complicated for the psyche's of tiny tots. He's wrong and here's why. First there's the little matter of reading test scores in American students which have been plummeting since the seventies and markedly since the aughts. But that is due to an entire range of factors. The real answer is both deeper and less scientifically supported. It is accurate that children may follow the oversimplified primary-colored repetitive plots of Blues Clues. But is that what life is all about? Based on not only the above clip of Sesame Street animation set to music Philip Glass composed specifically for the show but this clip, featuring Judy Collins singing "Bring in the Clowns" while clowns execute turned-in pirouettes in the background from The Muppet Show and my life experience, the answer is no. Both of the earlier shows taught an invaluable life lesson: Much of what is beautiful is rare and hard to comprehend. What makes it beautiful does not make sense. "What the fuck?" (albeit expressed in milder toddlerspeak) is often the prelude to the discovery of the sublime. Also, life never makes much more sense than it does when you're three and watching a bunch of clowns dance to a sad song. You just learn to see the beauty in it.