Hobey Ford's New Web Site

Innovative puppeteer Hobey Ford performs one of his incredible rod puppets.

Hobey Ford (see previous post) is building a new site at www.hobeyford.com. Hobey is the inventor of the ever-popular "Peepers" puppets and his live shows feature some of the most graceful and beautiful puppetry I have ever seen. Check out his work from Animalia, Turtle Island Tales and an early test for a new video he's working on called Whale Walker.

Froghat Movement

Mathieu René experiments with a simple, but different kind of puppet.

Take a look at this very simple, but inventive "froghat movement test" from Mathieu René.

The Experimental Jim Henson

The Organized Mind is a classic example of experimental Jim Henson puppetry.

There are a couple of rarely seen examples of Jim Henson's work on YouTube right now that show off his more experimental side from the 1960s and `70s. The Organized Mind is a classic Muppet sketch (although one of the more abstract ones) featuring a disembodied head known as "Nobody" or "Floating Face" that is performed live and superimposed against filmed backgrounds. This particular clip is from a 1974 appearance the Muppets made on The Tonight Show.

Even more rare and abstract is Ripples, an experimental short that Jim Henson made for Expo `67 (Muppet trivia buffs should note that the architect in film is played by Jon Stone, who would go on to be a prominent writer and director on Sesame Street).

And speaking of Jim Henson, if you're a fan - and I suspect you wouldn't be reading a blog like this if you weren't - you should really give a listen to the latest installment of The Muppetcast, which is a really wonderful tribute to his life and career.

Dr. Cooper: A Trippy Puppet Remix

Two filmmakers from Boston re-mixed a classic Canadian anti-drug TV special in to a very trippy experimental film.

Dr. Cooper is a trippy remix of an old Canadian anti-drug TV special produced by Noreen Young Productions for TVOntario. Filmmakers Jean-Paul Bouchard and Joe Kowalski stumbled across the original show at the Boston Public Library and re-mixed it in to a stream-of-consciousness experimental film. If the puppets look familiar it's because Noreen's distinctive brand of puppetry was featured in a string of popular TVOntario puppet shows in the 1970s and 1980s including Read-A-Long and Today's Special.

One word of caution; there are a couple of quick shots of animals in this film that are fairly graphic and mildly NSFW. If you or your employer (if you're at work) are easily disturbed or offended don't watch it.

Via Boing Boing.