Öko

Öko is a short marionette film set in "post-apocalyptic world hanging by a string".

Öko is a short Québécois film directed by Alain Fournier about an unusual encounter between a squatter girl and her mysterious neighbor. Set in a "post-apocalyptic world hanging by a string", the film was produced using marionettes created by Mathieu René. The film will be touring the festival circuit beginning this year and a wonderfully moody and absolutely beautiful Öko trailer is available to watch online.

Big and Small

Big and Small work to coexist and understand each other in the preschool series Big and Small.

Big and Small is a new Canadian/U.K. co-production for preschoolers featuring puppets by the Grogs (of Mr. Meaty and Nanalan' fame) that debuted this week here in Canada. It's a brilliantly simple concept built around two best friends who are, well, big and small. Small has to learn to cope with big stuff, and Big has to learn to be tolerant of a small creature who can't sit still in one place very long. It's a wonderfully simple metaphor and really charming series.

Big and Small airs on Treehouse TV in Canada and Cbeebies in the UK. Clips from the show are available to watch online here and here.

Hoggworks' True Tales of Puppetry

Having a conversation with a puppet while building a new version of the same puppet is either very meta, or very weird.

This morning I was at Podcamp and sat in on Brian Hogg's Puppetry of the Podcast presentation (it was streamed live on the web and a recording should be online soon). It was a really good general introduction to the world the world of puppet podcasts/web series. It also reminded me that I wanted to share this, which I'll just let you watch so you can experience the creativity and insanity inside Brian's brain.

28/2/09 Update: Brian's Puppetry of the Podcast presentation is now available to download as a streaming Quicktime file.

Funky Fingers

Funky Fingers is an example of Mr. Bunk's original style of shadow puppetry.

Here's a funky shadow video from Canadian puppeteer Mr. Bunk. Enjoy!

Puppet Video Flame War

Video blogger Loren Feldman took exception to having his work critiqued by fellow puppeteer/videoblogger Brian Hogg earlier this week.

A funny little story developed earlier this week...it seems that Brian Hogg wrote a post about taking puppetry seriously that singled out videoblogging puppeteer Loren Feldman for criticism. Loren fired back with an angry response (read the discussion in the comments under the video) and now Brian's replied in kind and it looks like we've got ourselves the beginnings of an old fashioned, silly little puppet flame war here on the interwebs.

It's hard to say how offended Loren really is considering his "angry man" persona. Taking the debate seriously for a moment, I'm a little torn because on the one hand, I think Loren's a talented guy and he's using puppetry (however crude it is) to reach a wide audience that normally doesn't get exposed to it. On the other hand my inner puppetry snob can't deny Brian's point that Loren's work is, from a technical standpoint at least, horrible.

Interesting...

14/11/08 Update: Brian claims in his most recent blog post that he's heard through the grapevine that Loren is indeed really upset over this and and does seriously believe he's done "more than anyone for puppetry since Jim Henson", which (if true) sort of speaks for itself. You read some examples of what other people are saying about this here and here.

Classic Canadian Puppetry: Size Small

Size Small was a popular Canadian children's television series in the 1980s.

Well, perhaps classic isn't quite the word for it, but I watched Size Small all the time when I was growing up. I hadn't thought about this show for years, but I recently saw a mention of it on Kristen McGregor's blog and it brought back a lot of memories. I remember nagging my parents to order one of the Size Small record albums that were advertised at the end of each episode.

Size Small was all kinds of horrible and featured some truly bad puppetry, but even so it was a huge hit in Canada back in the `80s. It aired in several other countries as well, including some PBS stations in the U.S. I think.

Honey Honey From Feist and The Old Trouts

The new Feist video Honey Honey was created in collaboration with the Old Trout Puppet Workshop.

Feist's much anticipated video for Honey Honey was released last week. The video features puppetry by The Old Trout Puppet Workshop, one of Canada's most acclaimed puppetry companies.

For more on the Old Trouts visit their web site www.theoldtrouts.org.

The Emperor Strikes Back (at all who steal his dessert)

In the latest Ask Palpatine, the Emperor wants the rebels to stop stealing his pie.

Depending on your feelings towards/knowledge of Star Wars, you may or may not enjoy Ask Palpatine. If you fall in to the first category, check out its latest wonderfully surreal episode.

Toronto Puppeteer Improvs on the Street

Alexander Winfield spent the past summer performing full-time on Toronto's trendy Queen Street.

One day this past summer I was walking along Queen West in Toronto and did a double take when I saw a puppet being performed from a burlap sack on sidewalk. I was in a rush so I couldn't stop long enough to talk to the puppeteer, but I've seen him singing songs and improving with passersby on Queen West several times since then. His name is Alexander Winfield and Toronto's CityNews recently ran a story about his experience performing puppetry on the street.


Via Puppeteers Unite.

The National Post on Puppetry

I was reading the National Post - one of the national newspapers here in Canada - during my morning commute today and low and behold what do I find on the front page but a lengthy article on the current state of puppetry. It's a good read; they quote a number of puppeteers in it including Rick Lyon, Ronnie Burkett and Jason Segal, who's making the next Muppet movie.

Ed The Sock Gets The Boot

Ed the Sock - puppet star of Canada's longest running comedy series - is about to go off the air.

Ed The Sock - arguably the most popular puppet in Canada and the star of our longest-running comedy series here in the Great White North - airs his last episode at the end of August. His cancellation is just one of many changes initiated since Rogers Communications (sort of the Canadian equivalent of AOL/Time Warner) bought out City-TV, which airs Ed's late night comedy show Ed & Red's Night Party.

Ed started out sixteen years ago hosting Ed's Night Party (Red would be added to the act years later) on public access TV in Toronto. He quickly developed a cult following and his show was picked up by City-TV locally and syndicated internationally two years later. The show is legendary in Toronto and regularly beats American talk shows like Letterman and Leno in the ratings here. Ed has also been a VJ and personality on MuchMusic (sort of the the Canadian equivalent of MTV) and frequently hosts a worst-of-the-year music video show on Much called Fromage (see previous post).

While Ed might be gone from City-TV, his creator/puppeteer Stephen Kerzner still has a lot of plans for the country's most famous piece of hosiery. He's retained all the rights to the character and there is already talk of developing new shows for Ed and Liana K (Kerzner's wife and Ed's co-host "Red"). An Ed the Sock movie is also rumoured to be in the works.

I think someone said it best in a comment on the Globe and Mail web site, "only in Canada could a sock carry a show for 16 years."

Take The Stephen Colbert Puppet Challenge

DotBoom's Brian Hogg has a plan to get himself and his puppet on The Colbert Report.

Brian Hogg has finally launched his Stephen Colbert Puppet Challenge (see previous post). Basically, it's an elaborate scheme to get Colbert to guest star in the second season of dotBoom and to get Brian on his show to give the real Stephen his puppet counterpart. You can help out by spreading the word.

The Wippets' 100th Episode

The Wippets are the first puppet podcast to reach the 100 episode mark.

The Wippets recently returned from hiatus and posted their 100th episode complete with some snazzy new opening credits. To the best of my knowledge the Wippets is the first puppet podcast to reach the 100 episode mark so congrats to Ron and his crew on a really incredible achievement!

Weekend Puppet News Omnibus

I've had an insanely busy week, hence the lack of updates. To make up for it here's a quick run down of recent news and developments from around the puppet interwebs:

• Potter Puppet Pals have been nominated for a YouTube Award in the comedy category for their video The Mysterious Ticking Noise. You can show your support and vote for it at www.youtube.com/ytawards07.
  
  
• Disney has green lighted a new Muppet movie.
  
  
• Puppet meets puppet when Stephen Colbert interviews Emperor Palpatine in the latest phase of Brian Hogg's grand Colbert puppet scheme (if you like it, Digg it).
  
  
• Canadian indie rock darling and occasional puppeteer Feist is teaming up with the acclaimed Old Trout Puppet Workshop for her next music video.

Well, I think that about catches me up. I'll be back with more soon!

Up Your Kilt

Guts McTavish is a popular local puppet personality in Vancouver, B.C.

Up Your Kilt is a podcast featuring a puppet character named Guts McTavish reporting on everything from the NHL's Vancouver Canucks to pole dancing. Guts is performed by Devon Swift, a columnist who created the podcast for Vancouver 24 Hours (a daily free newspaper in Vancouver, B.C.) about two years ago. There have only been a few episodes produced since last summer, but the archives are available to watch on the Vancouver 24 Hours web site.

Special thanks to Carlos in Seattle for sending this in!

Stephen Colbert Puppet

A Stephen Colbert puppet-in-progress.

Work on Brian Hogg's Stephen Colbert Puppet Challenge seems to be progressing nicely (it's an idea so crazy it just might work). Check out Brian's Colbert puppet pics on Flickr.

Nice Nanalan' Moment

Two puppets from the Canadian series Nanalan' share a special moment with the "Nana" who inspired the series.

This is a really sweet song from the Canadian series Nanalan' (see previous post), featuring puppeteers Jamie Shannon and Todd Doldersum (nice guys and talented puppeteers both) and their puppets singing to Jamie's real-life Nana, who inspired the series.

If you haven't seen Nanalan', it's probably one of the sweetest, most creative preschool puppet shows out there and I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it. The series airs on CBC in Canada, PBS in the United States and on Fox Kids in the UK.

Video link via Puppet Buzz.

Ask The Emperor

Ask Palpatine is a new Star Wars-themed puppet podcast from Hoggworks.

From the such-a-good-idea-you-wish-you'd-thought-of-it-first file comes Ask Palpatine from Hoggworks (let's hope no one tells the Ninja...he seems like a testy sort of fellow).

Comedy Sketch Sparks Canadian Puppet (mini) Controversy

Former Canadian talk show host Camilla Scot hosted a parody called "F.L.O.P." that poked fun at some famous Canadian television puppets during the recent Canadian awards show.

The family of the late Bob Homme (beloved by generations of Canadian children as The Friendly Giant) is apparently furious that his father's two famous puppet creations Rusty and Gerome were mocked as forgotten, retirement home-dwelling has-beens in a short comedy sketch that aired as part of the 2007 Gemini Awards (Canada's version of the Emmys). Bob Homme's son Richard feels that trust and an agreement with the CBC were violated - CBC aired the Geminis and the Rusty and Jerome puppets reside at the CBC Museum - because the CBC never asked for permission to have the puppets appear in the sketch. He also insists that even if they had asked for it, permission would not have been granted.

The Polkaroo (another famous Canadian children's character) and Canadian Sesame Street's Basil the Bear were also used in the sketch. Casey and Finnegan, two other famous Canadian puppet characters, don't appear and are supposedly locked inside "The Tickle Trunk" (a famous prop from their long-running Canadian children's show Mr. Dressup). The actual Casey and Finnegan puppets couldn't be used because their creator Judith Lawrence refused to allow CBC to keep them when she retired, which in retrospect seems like a very good idea.

I don't really don't think the sketch is a big deal myself; most of the puppets seen in it are from Canadian puppeteer Mike Harding and not from Canadian television anyway. I also get the feeling that the sketch was done with a lot of affection and wasn't intended to be mean spirited or offensive.

That being said, it is pretty crummy of CBC to take puppets that were donated to them for public display in a museum and turn around and use them in a potentially derogatory comedy sketch. And if they had to use them, couldn't they at least write some more original material? I think the whole "puppets behaving badly" concept is lame and overdone.

Thanks to Jerrold for the heads-up about this!

dotBoom Asks The Optimist

Season one of dotBoom may be over (see previous post), but creator Brian Hogg has been branching out. His latest endeavor is an adaption of Ask the Optimist by George Saunders featuring the dotBoom puppets and web superstars like Jonathan Coulton, John Hodgman, Jesse Thorn and Xeni Jardin.

(Sorry for the lack of a graphic, but I'm on a dial-up connection right now and it's very slooow)

15/10/07 Update: Hey, this got picked up by the New York Times' Paper Cuts Blog. Pretty spiffy (via dotBoom Blog).