A Welcome Manifesto

One pf many puppets featured in A Welcome Manifesto, an open letter to President Obama from American Puppeteers.

A Welcome Manifesto is "an open letter to President Obama and all Americans". It was created by dozens of puppeteers in an effort spearheaded by Hobey Ford (see previous post) on Puptcrit, a mailing list for professional puppeteers. Puppetry is suffering from the economic downturn just like all the arts. The goal of the video isn't so much to the makers hope the video will help people recognize the value puppeteers add to the everyday lives of millions of people. As they say, if puppetry goes down in the recession things out there won't be nearly as much fun!

2/5/09 Update: The video was taken down for some minor re-editing so I've updated the link above to point to the video's new URL.

Hobey Ford's Puppetry Bailout Letter

We seem to be mired in the worst economic recession of almost everybody's lifetime and puppeteers (like most artists) are among the hardest hit. With the U.S. government seemingly handing out billions every other day, several people on the Puptcrit email discussion list have been debating the idea of a "Puppetry bailout" for hard hit struggling puppeteers.

As part of this discussion, Hobey Ford penned this poignant open letter to President Obama. While I don't seriously expect the idea of a "Puppetry bailout" to fly (imagine what Fox News would say!) it's a wonderful letter and an excellent reminder of how puppetry touches people's lives much more than they realize:

Dear Mr. President,

I write on behalf of America's Puppeteers. Our business sector probably hasn't come to your attention in the recent economic downturn, but we are a vital part of every child?s life in America, not to mention the child in every American. We are bringers of wonder and magic. We teach America's children to love literature, to read, to know when to cross the street, to respect one another and otherwise make their lives brighter. Sasha and Malia know us well. Perhaps you remember our puppets from your own youth. You may have met our brothers and sisters in Indonesia when you lived there as a child.

While American's pinch their pennies and AIG executives take their millions of our tax dollars, we are the affordable entertainment in the American community.

We are the free programs at your public library. We are the assembly programs at every school in America.

We are the ones teaching to the multiple intelligences through the arts where other means fail.

We are in classrooms teaching the 21st century skill of creative thinking and play. We are the preservers of America's veteran puppets, who taught, entertained, and uplifted your parents and grand parents and your grand parent's parents.

We have our own United Nations of puppeteers but when we get together there is only laughter and tears of Joy.

We teach tolerance, we tell the story of Harriet Tubman, and the folktales of the Native American, we help children express themselves when their own words won't come.

We made ET come to life, we live on Sesame Street, we brought Lion King to life and saved Broadway.

We are the animating soul of Howdy Doody, Kookla Fran and Ollie and Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.

We are the balloon characters at the Macy's (Thanksgiving) Day Parade. We are the stars of the opening of Olympic ceremonies.

We foster children into the words of Shakespeare, and we speak truth to power in the streets on Mayday and helped America wake up to the horror of the Vietnam War.

We let the Moms and Dads laugh when they feel like crying.

We are at bedsides in children's cancer wards providing sometimes the last laugh of a dying child.

We are among the oldest traditions on earth. Our ancestors rode the Silk Road with Marco Polo, entertained the royalty of the old world, allowed the oppressed to laugh at their oppressors.

We lived in concentration camps and made our puppets from rags to feign some joy for the children.

We are beloved around the world when our government is hated.

We bring joy! We are American made!

Many of us our watching our bookings slip away. Some are scrambling to make ends meet. Puppet collections older than your grandparents are in need of a good home. So we are writing you for our own bailout. We are vital to America's future. We voted for you accept for one or two but they are our family and we love them all the same. While it looks likes the dogs who helped bring this country to its knees have been bonused more than many of us will earn in a lifetime, I think we need a little consideration. A measly billion would probably do the trick.

We realize that you might laugh when you read this but we'll just consider that a freebie. In the mean time, we'll take what we can get. Its not a give away, we earned it and deserve it, in fact I truly doubt that the nation will be any fun at all if we go down. So come on buck up. You know you want to. You can come visit our little family this summer at our National Puppetry Festival in Atlanta. We will treat you right and you may need a good laugh by then as well.

Yours Truly,

The Family of American Puppeteers and our fuzzy friends

Note: I've slightly reformatted Hobey's original letter for easier reading here on the blog.

P-Dash and the new President

P-Dash News provides coverage of Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. election.

Obama won! It was quite a night last and P-Dash News is all over it. I'm not too sure about Gregory "The other plumber" though (you'll have to watch the video...and might wish you didn't).

Sarah Palin Puppet Show

As the polls close on our federal election here in Canada here's another political puppet video, this time featuring Sarah Palin.

Special thanks to Steve Widerman, who discovered this on YouTube!

John McCain Puppet Video Spoof

John McCain sings soulfully in 100 Years To Win.

There is about a month to go until the U.S. election and Peter Orr (better known online by his online nickname "Scary" Larry Wolf) built himself a John McCain puppet and put together a pitch-perfect music video/political spoof about McCain called 100 Years To Win.

14/10/08 Update: In my original post I mistakenly linked to the wrong MySpace page (who knew there were two Scary Larrys?). I've updated the link to point to Peter's profile on imdb.

Muppet Presidential Candidates

Barack and Kermit...separated at birth?

This is a little dated now since many of the candidates have dropped out of the race, but still pretty funny...a video that compares the men (and woman) who would be President of the United States with their Muppet soulmate.

Via Ironic Catholic.

Stop the Canadian DMCA

A puppet rants against Canada's Bill C-60, the Canadian version of the hated Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The Canadian Federal government is planning to pass Bill C-60, a Canadian version of the hated Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you're unfamiliar with the DMCA, it's stupid, useless legislation that's been roundly criticized for destroying the copyright balance in the U.S. and has had a chilling effect on basic free speech. C-60 actually goes even further and we don't need or want this kind of law in Canada. It's unlikely to get artists more money, but will definitely help line the pockets of big record labels, media companies and (especially) their lawyers who are the only ones lobbying to get this bill passed.

Brian Hogg has put together a nice little puppet rant that explains why C-60 is a terrible idea and why it needs to be stopped.

There's a very good chance this law can be stopped; the current Canadian federal government is a minority and won't be able to pass the law without the support of at least one opposition party so we need to convince Liberal, NDP and BQ members of Parliament to vote against C-60. If you're a Canadian and want to help fight Bill C-60, Canada's leading copyfighter Michael Geist has posted a list of 30 things you can do to help fight the Canadian version of the DMCA.

12/12/07 Update: It looks like the grassroots effort to stop this bill have succeeded for now. It was to have been introduced in the House of Commons yesterday, but has been postponed due to the unexpected public outcry over it. Good work Canada!

Alf Enters The No-Spin Zone

The puppet star of the 1980s sitcom Alf talks politics with right-wing political commentator Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Factor Friday night.

Okay, so I've got a puppet-related pairing for that's even more out-there than the recent Darth Vader/Wooly and Worth commercial that I linked to earlier this week (see previous post)...Alf is going to be debuting as a political commentator on The O'Reilly Factor with infamous right-wing American political commentator Bill O'Reilly.

Yes, that Alf and that Bill O'Reilly. If nothing else, it should be entertaining. There's a video on YouTube right now that previews what we can expect to see. Alf is scheduled to appear on The O'Reilly Factor tomorrow night (Friday) on Fox News. Check your local listings for air times.

Special thanks to Luke for the tip!

02/12/07 Update: You can see this segment from the O'Reilly Factor on YouTube here.

John Howard's Final Scapegoat Search

Australian puppeteer Shan Jayaweera has posted the final installment of his John Howard puppet video blog.

I'm not exactly timely posting this, but I wanted to mention that in a victory for left-leaning voters Down Under and friends of the environment everywhere, John Howard's Liberal government was defeated in Australia over the weekend. Fittingly enough just a few days before Shan Jayaweera posted his final installment of John Howard: Search For A Scapegoat (see previous post).

Oh and just an aside, but if anyone wants to start an anti-Stephen Harper video blog before the next Canadian election I will so help out. Climate change deniers (or apologists) like Howard, Harper and Bush are a serious threat to our species' survival and the fewer of them we have leading the Western nations of the world, the better.

Puppeteers Arrested in Burma

Two Burmese puppeteers named "The Moustache Brothers" have been arrested as part of the military crackdown in that country.

Puppetry is of course a great medium for political satire, but it's easy to forget that there are still many places where millions billions don't enjoy the same freedom of expression that we often take for granted in Western democracies. A reminder of this comes from UNIMA, who report that two Burmese puppeteers named U Pa Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw who are known as "The Moustache Brothers" have been arrested in Burma as part of the brutal crackdown initiated by Burma's military leadership following pro-democracy demonstrations in that country last month. This isn't the first time that the Moustache Brothers have been arrested by Burmese authorities. They were arrested and sentenced to a seven year prison term back in 1996 following a puppetry performance that portrayed government cooperatives as thieves and included comedic songs about Myanmar's generals.

You can watch a related video with the Moustache Brothers on YouTube. UNIMA is asking the puppetry community to help by denouncing this situation to the media in their respective countries and writing to their Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or equivalent) to help raise political awareness of the plight of courageous artists like U Pa Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw who literally risk their lives to practice puppetry and speak out against injustice.

Via Puppetry News and UNIMA.

Duck For President

The race for U.S. President just got a little more crowded.

Duck of Duck Walks In To A Bar (see previous post) is running for President.

Dislatex

A latex puppet prepares for a scene in Dislatex.

Dislatex is a political comedy show in Spain that appears to have been inspired by The Spitting Image. The show's puppets were created by the talented Spanish studio Román y Cía (see previous post). You can watch a behind-the-scenes video about the making of the series too.

John Howard: Searching For A Scapegoat

Puppetry and politics collide once again on YouTube with John Howard: Search For A Scapegoat.

John Howard: Search For A Scapegoat is the latest in a series of political puppetry satires from Shan Jayaweera that take aim at the Australian Prime Minister. It's an election year down under and in Shan's newest videos John Howard's puppet alter ego searches for "someone new to blame and (use to) scare the voters into voting for him". Two episodes are available so far; you can check them out on YouTube here and here.

Via Spirits Dancing.

Fight Errorism

Bob from Accounting decides to make a statement.

A puppet decides to make a political statement. Brought to you by the good folks at PuppetGreetings.com.