Entertainment For Lively Minds
There's a right and a wrong way to do "Sesame Street", Katy
Posted by David Hepworth on 24 September 2010 - 7:50am.
The producers of Sesame Street decided that Katy Perry was overdoing her cleavage on this week's appearance and so they won't be putting it out (ahem) on the show. Course they'll make sure we can all see it on You Tube.
Good excuse to show my all-time favourite Sesame Street guest shot, Feist doing "1,2,3,4". Watch her reaction right at the end and you get some idea of how many times they must have done it.
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Mmm...Feisty
My favourite, too, David. Thanks for reminding me.
I've just forwarded it to those friends I was negligent enough not to show it to when first I found it here.
My favourite bit
is when the penguins stick their heads around the door-frame.
I went to see Feist live in Stockholm a few years ago. She was very good and - needless to say - so beautiful that I wanted to cry ... or write poetry or something.
I *love* Feist
I think that last album is brilliant. Can't believe that elsewhere on this site people are trying to persuade themselves they like the new Neil Young album when records like "The Reminder" manage to be both enjoyable and fresh.
I see, you've got a Canadian thing going on
Do you like the Ron Sexsmith track on that album, Brandy Alexander ?
I went to see her
in 2004 when she was a complete mystery support act for the Divine Comedy to me. She was the first person I saw to do that foot-pedal-recording-live thing and it was utterly mesmerising.
She's so charming. Let It Die and The Reminder are excellent. Make sure you check her out on the Kings of Convenience record Riot on an Empty Street too.
Penguin Parts
I enjoyed the Penguins poking their heads round the door while watching with my two year old until Mrs Fotherington-Thomas pointed out that one of them appeared to be flashing the old meat 'n' two veg. Not the same now.
Today's show
Was brought to you by the number 34 and the letter DD.
My favourite - Stevie Wonder and Grover
Here's my favourite...
Stop singing little girl, for I am Paul Simon!
That kid was amazing!
She was really giving it some!
My Favourite
is Aaron Neville & Ernie not wanting to live on the moon.
It's
interesting when you compare the two artists in this setting as it encapsulates the gulf in how artists, for want of a better phrase, put themselves across these days. Both songs are pop songs that have been modified, ostensibly to take account of their audience.
Ms Perry's image is so overtly branded that she has to dress and act the same as she does anyway, has to have a video made that allows her to be edited to a level of flawlessness that within seconds makes you forget that this has anything to do with Sesame Street, let alone with an educational programme for kids. What I think depresses me the most about this is that in all liklihood the intention at some point stopped being about entertaining kids that watch Sesame Street and became a conscious promotional tool to leverage Katy Perry into the media spotlight for a few more hours by providing a bit of voyeuristic titillation coupled with a suggestion of inappropriate behaviour around minors just to give her an edge sorely lacking in her music.
Ms. Feist on the other hand gives herself and her song over to the tenets of the show and produces a masterclass in "doing it for the kids". The result? A classic cross-over hit that will be remembered by kids and parents for years to come as a wonderful moment where everything was right in the world for 3 minutes.
Oh and Ms. Feist has more sex appeal in holding a number 4 than Ms Perry will ever have.
"a wonderful moment where everything was right..."
Have an up arrow, AB. That's exactly what it is.
Feist always makes a good video. The original 1234 vid is one complete take I think, and the Sesame Street version only has one cut in it. She is a real professional. I get the impression that she likes to try new ideas out and really commits to getting it right. Why do a children's show without fully entering into the spirit?
^^^^^^^^^^
I agree wholeheartedly with that man up there ^^^^^^^^
My faves are
Norah n Elmo
Johnny n Oscar
I detest Sesame Street.
I loathed it as a child, I loathe it now. It seems to assume all children have the intellect of damp cardboard box and need something of the utmost simplicity to be repeated endlessly before it sinks in.
Out of interest I tried it out on Law Junior (3½). He watched for a bit and then wandered off. "That's rubbish, daddy" was his reaction.
The only reason I can think of that made it popular in the US was as an alternative to the deeply sinister Mr Rogers.
Despite
years of therapy and thousands of pounds in psychiatrist bills with that one explanation Lenny you've hit on the underlying reason why I've never been able to became a dentist.
;)
My kids
love it. Elmo's Song grabbed them instantly and the DVD was ordered soon after.
I sort of know what you mean
but...
it is designed for a fairly broad spectrum of kids, in age and even language in the US, so perhaps the repetition is quite annoying sometimes but understandable.
However, much as Big Bird would be great for dinner at Thanksgiving instead of the way he is usually seen wandering around being annoying being wet and a weed ect., any show that has that Johnny Cash clip, Oscar The Grouch and the genius of the Cookie Monster (esp. introducing Monsterpiece Theatre with Alistari Cookie) isn't all bad.
NSFW!!!!!!
Perhaps Lenny would prefer this edgier version of Sesame Street which was the US equivalent of what Tiswas did with their late night OTT:
Och Lenny...
... do you also hate puppies, kittens, otters and the laughter of young children? And possibly Christmas?
Collective intake of breath
Detest?
Blimey, surely thats a word for things that are truly bad in the world. By no stretch could Sesame Street drop in to that category.Yes some times its dull for children and adults, but its hearts in the right place. Jim Henson its creator was a great man with a life sadly cut short. He loved kids and this runs through the production of the program.
Please save the detestation for the many suitable causes. Elmo doesn't need it.
Please save the detestation for the many suitable causes....
Hands Up
Anyone who'd never heard of Feist?
(raised hand here, Christ I must be getting old)
check her album Let It Die
part time member of Broken Social Scene..a Toronto "collective" making artistic, fun filled art music..two craking solo albums..including Bee Gees disco era cover..good stuff!
here she is
1234 performance
Stay with it until the brass comes in... lovely version...
I love this
video (and song)
but I knew she was something REALLY special when I heard this:
What's the problem?
There's already one tit in the clip in the original post, so what difference would two more make..?
My all-time favourite Sesame Street moment
is easy to choose.
It's Big Bird's meeting with CJ Cregg in The West Wing.
right on
Katy Perry-boring..pointless getting your tits out for the lads...branded..sad..junk in the age of junk!
Feist-class..class..class...joy oh joy!
Katy
I like Katy Perry. I really do. Boring? Not really. I thought 'One of the Boys' was a cracking album full of funny, catchy pop songs. What more could you want from a pop star? She's sassy, irreverent and knows exactly how to play the media at its own game. She also isn't nearly as provocative in her appearance than a lot of her contemporaries.
I don't really care about Sesame Street one way or the other but I fail to see what was so shocking about the IKAG(AILI) hitmaker's appearance or attire that's much different from just about everything you see when you watch pop videos or a lot of kids' television in 2010. In comparison it seemed rather tame.
Bu the way, I'm very fond of Leslie Feist too. Saw her in town about five years ago and she was lovely. She's clearly very talented and produces great records and videos. I also don't imagine she's any less aware of her attractiveness than Katy Perry is of hers.
IKAG(AILI)
... and there'll be three more from them later on.
Forget the initials; even as it stands IKAG(AILI)
seems like an Autechre track title.
This might have been more suitable for Katy
Very good
There's a similar clip on YouTube with a Derek and Clive sketch spoken by Zippy and George from Rainbow.
Weird
I can't see why this would cause anyone concern. There's very little cleavage on show, and it's not a flirtatious performance - unlike Miss Piggy's contributions to The Muppets, which are all about cleavage and flirting. And given that Sesame Street presumably either chose or approved the costume, I wonder if they're making noise where none exists, simply to get PR for the show.
At risk of being sexist
there's very little cleavage.
Elmo's...
...topless, though.
And
he's got an erection. Off-camera, though.
KP is a proper pain in the arse
I wish she would just go away.
Then there were Los Lobos
That, however..
Is class.
You don't get that, I'll grant you, on Ivor The Engine.
Can you imagine...
"... and now on BBC1, Ivor The Engine. In today's story Ivor has to get Napalm Death to their gig in Blaenau Ffestiniog on time."
Los Lobos
are just fantastic. Everyone should own this. Their new album's great too.
Bloody nora!
That's four classic albums and one very good EP for £15. You can't buy Kiko for less, and that's a masterpiece. CDs really are devalued aren't they?
Another shout for the new record Tin Can Trust. Here's a band who have found a second wind. It's marvellous stuff.
Soul Disguise...
... Cesar Rosas' solo LP, is t'riffic, too.
No love for this ?
Well...
...I enjoyed the Katy Perry clip. What's not to like?
As it's nearly bedtime
Sleep well everyone
Beats the shit out of
Carrie and David's frigging Popshop, doesn't it?
A scientific experiment
was conducted by me, helped by my junior assistant (Emilia, nearly 2)
We watched the Katy Perry video. Result: after 1 minute, Emilia said "No more, Mummy!" and we moved on.
Then we watched the Feist video. Result: we watched it. Emilia said "AGAIN MUMMY!". We watched it again. "AGAIN!" "AGAIN!". We watched it four times in a row. Magical.
Didn't really know the Feist song - I was aware of its existence, but I'd never properly heard it. Loved it. I feel an Amazon purchase coming on.
(FWIW - I played the Feist later to my 4 year old, whose considered opinion was "It's a bit boring, Mummy". *siiiigh*)
I'm with Emilia
Katy Perry is ghastly. Horrible voice, horrible songs, overprocessed bilge. Put 'em away Katy and go and do something quiet and invisible.
Katy Katy Katy!
Hoi, Hoi
nice top bollocks mrs.
actually thats right
We're having a go at the soon to be Mrs Brand giving (as 70's n 80's Doctor Who had it) "something for the dads" and then praising Fiest for prancing around like a mini Blossom* being sickly twee and oh so cute.
*there's a reference for the teenagers
its not as if Sesame Street is against being a little inappropriate