The only way to make this more on-brand would be to add muppets

The Brand

I ain't the best GTB poster of late, but when a Muppet Mashup appears on the internet, you god damn know I'm posting it here. Enjoy.

Two great tastes that go great together

I think we all know what is coming. A muppet mashup with Bert and Ernie in the roles of Nate Dogg and Warren G?

Sign me up, yo.

NBA Finals Preview

To answer a question Mark posed in the comments thread from yesterday's post, it's been a long, long time since I was as excited by an NBA Finals as I am about this one. You might have to go back as far as the 1987 matchup between the Celtics and the Lakers to find one that compares, and my excitement for that one had much more to do with my rooting interests - back then, I was a hardcore Celtics fan.

This time, three of my favorite NBA players match up for the title, and in Golden State, we're given the chance to watch the most exciting team in decades. One the one hand, Draymond Green and Steph Curry. On the other, FOGTB LeBron James.

We're not going to spend a lot of pixels on a detailed breakdown of the series - that's the province of other, far smarter and more motivated keyboarders. We do think the Warriors will win, and we think it'll be reasonably easy - let's say five games. No, we won't give you analysis. But we'll give you something nobody else will:

Cookie Monster and Busta Rhymes asking for seven games.

Lather, Rinse, Repeep

It never disappoints, does it? Sure, individual games let us down. We're looking at you, Colorado. Sometimes the results don't go our way. So close, St. Joe's. And once in a blue (hen) moon, we're left wondering what might have been. Nice defense, Delaware. (Classy move, too, by Monte Ross, complaining about facing Michigan State as a four seed.)

But the first two days, they never let us down. I just watched Saint Louis come back from 16 down to tie North Carolina State. Or, more accurately, I just watched North Carolina State author one of the more amazing choke jobs I can remember. My heart rate is elevated, and I don't give a flying fuck who wins this game.

Sports are cool.

Muppet Peeps, as well. Enjoy Day Two.

Two Great Fillers That Fill Great Together

The NCAA Tournament kicks off in earnest today (sorry, teams that played the last two nights in Dayton, including the Great Danes of Sm-Albany) ... so we figured we needed an open thread post, for both pithy comments and bracket predictions. And since two of GTB's most popular filler items over the years have been Muppets and Peeps, I figured, why not google those two terms and see what transpires...

The internet, well, it rarely disappoints. I present to you the first GTB Mupeepet filler post:

See you all in the comments.

The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day 3

On the third day of Gheorghemas, big Gheorghe gave to me:

Three woodland animals and a cool little otter
Two names
A fat guy in a jer-sey

Christmas, and by extension Gheorghemas, is my favorite time of the year.  Santa stumbles, office parties, house parties, time with friends, time with family, I love it all.  I am also a sucker for TV Christmas specials.  My original plan for the third day of Gheorghemas was to document three of my favorite holiday shows but in the end I decided to detail one of the lesser known Christmas specials that just happens to be my favorite.  

In 1977, Muppet creator Jim Henson was sitting on top of the puppet world.  After cutting his teeth on Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, Henson was enjoying the triumph of season one of The Muppet Show.  Building upon the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational show ever, Henson decided to produce a Christmas special based on Russell Hoban's 1971 O'Henry-esque story of an otter family struggling to make ends meet at Christmas.  Add the newly famous Kermit the Frog as narrator and the classic Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (EOJBC) was born.   

Font fans, note the awesome 70's style text

Typically, Christmas specials feature standard animation (A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), stop motion animation (The Year without Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), or even claymation (The California Raisins Christmas).  EOJBC, is different and special.  Henson utilized many different styles of puppeteering and set design to bring to life the residents of Frogtown Hollow.   The result is an amazing christmas special that is a must watch every year in the Marls household.    

Essentially, EOJBC is the story of Ma Otter and her son Emmet's efforts to get the other a special christmas present (a guitar for Emmet & a piano for Ma).  Times have been tough for the Otters since Pa Otter passed away and the cash each make from various odd jobs is not enough to cover the desired gifts.  Apparently, credit remains tight in Frogtown Hollow.  However, the town's Christmas talent show boasts a $50 first prize.  Unbeknownst to the other, Ma & Emmet each enter the competition set on winning the prize so they can buy gifts to put under the Christmas branch.  

Whadda' ya expect, times are tough...

Ma plans on singing, while Emmet and THREE of his buddies form a jug band.  Emmet's buddies are Harvey Beaver, Stanley Weasel, and Wendell Porcupine...three species that I was unaware got along, let alone be able to harmonize together.  That said, while Emmet and the boys can't hold a candle to FoG:TB Rootsy's New Roanoke Jug Band, they do have some talent as seen here (note Harvey's solid kazoo work):

    

Also entered in the talent show is a group of miscreants from the town of Riverbottom, which, like Phildelphia, is clearly a town of ne'er-do-wells.  However, just as Philadelphia spawned Hall & Oates, Riverbottom can proudly claim the Riverbottom Nightmare Band as their own.

I won't spoil the ending for those who have not seen it before, but unlike many of today's children's stories that stress that everything is possible if you try hard enough, EOJBC has a bit more realism.  Life is not always easy, you can't always win, and you don't always get everything you want, but that's ok.  In the end, Emmet, his jug band buddies and Ma Otter learn a very Gheorghie lesson about finding the good things in life and working together, which is as relevant today as it was in 1977, making EOJBC a Gheorghemas must.    

An added bonus is that EOJBC features several songs written by Paul Williams. 

At just five foot two inches, the bespectacled author of "An Old Fashioned Love Song", "We've Only Just Begun", and most importantly "Rainbow Connection", is no doubt a favorite of our own Tiny Dictator.   

It is tough to deny the Gheorgh-ness of Mr. Williams who has never been afraid work with muppety co-stars.  However, if you need any further evidence of a man that does not take himself too seriously, at 1:55 of the attached clip you can see Mr. William's seminal work as Little Enos Burdett in Smokey and The Bandit.  




Merry Gheorghemas!!

Muppetry

Just got this in from one of our roving reporters. Are we positive this isn't Clarence?

[h/t The Clearly Dope]

Hungover Filler

rob wants a post up. I can barely type. BUT, it has been quite some time since I went to the well with this one, so enjoy:


Also, let's discuss in the comments whether Carolina beats the Gints tonight. I say yes.

Muppet Filler

[via Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly tumblr]

G:TB Academy Award Preview

In a bit of an unusual development, Team G:TB is fairly excited for Sunday's Academy Awards. Well, sort of. We couldn't care less about 98% of the categories for which Oscar will be awarded, and we care even less than that for the self-indulgent acceptance speeches about the "craft" of acting. But we do have a significant rooting interest in the Best Original Song category, where Bret McKenzie (of 'Flight of the Conchords fame) puts his 'Man or Muppet' up against 'Real in Rio' by Sergio Mendez and Carlinhos Brown (lyrics by Siedah Garrett). Three on one really isn't a fair fight, but when you've got Muppets on your side, anything's possible.

Pre-BCS National Championship Game Filler

rob claims to have a BCS National Championship post ready to go after lunch, so until this time, enjoy the wonder of the internet, and these two pics I found yesterday:

Balance, G:TB-Style

Political scientist Louis Rene Beres offers a learned take on a problem we've lamented often, comparing our current political climate with the Platonic philosopher-king ideal and finding us woefully lacking:

In American politics, no one any longer expects what Ralph Waldo Emerson had once called “high thinking.” Rather, the celebrity politician draws huge audiences (and donors) although very few would ever expect to hear anything of substance. In our national politics of veneered truths, whenever a candidate’s spoken words seethe with vacant allusions and blatant equivocations, the crowd nods approvingly, and leaps with satisfaction.

It is comforting enough for these audiences to bask in the warmth of someone “famous.” In the absurd theatre of American politics, the key protagonists continue to play their stock parts with contrived zeal and ambition, but also without any true capacity. As for the chorus, we have rehearsed our lines just as well, but we now utter them viscerally, as if by rote. Understandably, our exuberant shouts of approbation lack credibility. After all, they have been reduced to ritual incantations...

Many of our national heroes were once created by commendable achievement. Today, the successful politician is fashioned by a system that is refractory to all wisdom, a system that is sustained by banality, empty chatter, and half knowledge. Now, at a time when leadership incapability could pave the way to bioterrorism, “dirty bombs,” or even outright nuclear attack, our relentless transformations of politics into amusement has become far more than a mere matter of foolishness or bad taste...

Plato’s “philosopher king” may not be a practicable standard for American electoral politics, but it surely can’t hurt to keep such a potentially enviable measure somewhere in mind. At a minimum, such a recollection could remind us of how far we have already strayed.

Also, in keeping with our editorial tradition, this:

Post-Quake Muppets Shenanigoats

We here at G:TB would like everything to return to normal post DC earthquake, so here is some hipster group called OK Go, which I'm sure some of you donks love, doing a remix of the Muppets Theme Song, because, unbeknownst to me, there is some new Muppet movie coming out starring Jason Segel. Can't Hollywood leave anything alone?

I've been gone too long

Summer Dave and Mr. Zmom have dominated this space of late, but thought I should jump in here with this doozy. It's as Gheorghe as it gets:

Sesame Street breaks it down from Wonderful Creative on Vimeo.

Kudos to Shlara, who I believe sent me this yesterday. It can also be found here.

It's like Sam the Eagle bringing Alice the meat...

Sorry, but rob and I decided that Greasetruck song needed to be bumped down. How to replace it? Muppet mash-up of course...enjoy:

Well, if you loved Post #1,600...

...you'll really enjoy me/GTB sticking to what we know best for post #1,601: Muppet Mash-ups. And boy does the Teej have a winner for you today. Enjoy...you've just been Beaker'd*.