It's the Muppet Show (Anniversary)!

Oh hi there!

Like most things I do with this blog, I'd meant to have this particular post up months ago. Naturally, because it was such a big, fun thing that Ramona and I ran off to do, I was daunted by the prospect of writing it down and took the easy way out.

...by not writing it.

However, considering that we're touching on the anniversary of the first ever episode of The Muppet Show back in 1976, I feel that this is probably a great time to spam everyone with 10,000 pictures from when Ramona and I went a little crazy and took a madcap two-day trip down to Atlanta for the singular purpose of visiting the Center for Puppetry Arts!

Ramona and I are lifelong Jim Henson fans, and over the years our love (of Henson things) has grown and expanded to a degree that most normal people would probably call obsession. I've talked before about the influence that Henson and his works have had on my life, and I enjoy my obsession with unabashed delight and joy. Old Sesame Street clips still make me laugh, The Muppet Show helped expand my horizons, and Labyrinth was something that felt almost overwhelmingly genuine and important when I first saw it just before entering my teenage years. It remains one of my favorite movies of all time. Ramona feels the same way; we even went to the 30th anniversary theater showing together while wearing matching shirts because we are creepy demon brain twins. 

Naturally, when we found out that the Center for Puppetry Arts was having a temporary Labyrinth exhibit, we knew we had to figure out a way to get down to Atlanta. We tried planning this trip for months, both making and breaking plans based on our frustratingly conflicting schedules. We ultimately wound up desperately cobbling it together at the last minute with a flight that left Chicago on a Thursday at 5:20 a.m. and returned Friday night, but we didn't care! And because we were going to be there for two days, we figured that - heck - we might as well go to the museum twice!  

Honestly, I wasn't sure how this would go. Yes, we are both obsessed with Muppets and Jim Henson and Labyrinth, but I'm  unreasonably obsessed to the point where I could probably stand in front of a single exhibit forever and not even notice the time going by. Part of me was worried that this would wind up being a super boring trip for Ramona if I were to spend as much time staring at exhibits as I knew I would want to. I was concerned I'd overstretch her good will.

But guess what - we're perfectly matched! And on Friday, we were literally perfectly matched! Again! Recognize the shirts?

We had decided that we would spend the first day just looking at the exhibits, taking it all in, and the second day we would wear our matching Labyrinth Loot Crate shirts and take all the pictures our cameras could hold. We were both way too excited about being at the museum, and were babbling at literally everyone who worked there about how excited we were. Everyone at the Center for Puppetry Arts was extremely kind, though (and by the second day, they all were greeting us like we weren't actually insane). So we walked in, looked around, and decided to head to the Labyrinth exhibit first because we were practically exploding with excitement.

A heads up - I legitimately have just under 300 pictures from this trip. I took all kinds of photos, and often some pretty detailed looks at puppets and costumes and construction of things (along with a bunch of very silly ones of me and Ramona). If you'd like to see the more detailed pictures, let me know! I can certainly post them; I just need to figure out *where* to post them. Also, I did take a video of the entire Labyrinth exhibit, so that's another thing that exists! Basically, the moral of the story is if you see anything and are wondering if I have more pics, just ask. I probably do (and Ramona might, too). I'm also going to present most of them without captions, because HUNDREDS OF PICTURES.

Anyway, let's begin!

Obviously the entire layout was super cool, and we managed to time our visit perfectly, too. Because we came early on Thursday and Friday (and then stayed FOR HOURS), we avoided the standard weekend crowds. Friday morning when we were in there, we had the whole exhibit to ourselves for about two hours. We took SO MANY PICTURES. As I said, these are just a sample.

Ramona is a big fan of the Worm. Ask her about her theories as to the Worm's secret villainy! She has a pretty detailed breakdown of the situation. 

I like Hoggle. Here I am doing my best Hoggle impression next to a plaster bust of his head. I could definitely be Hoggle in my everyday life, right? Crap, I think I already am...

Of course, I really, REALLY wanted to get a look at the costumes. They really only had these three, but one of them was David Bowie's, and that was enough. Man, though, was he a skinny dude!

The pants are relatively unstretched, so he's not quite *that* small, but still - look at the waist of the shirt!

Candid camera, dah dah dee doo. She's taking a picture of the crystal balls.

This was Jim Henson's commemorative crystal ball. Ramona pointed out that you can see it behind him when he's talking in his office for the Labyrinth making-of documentary.

Okay. So once we had spent a hundred hours in the Labyrinth exhibit, thus both impressing and alarming people with our dedication (we kept joking that if there were security cameras hidden around, the people watching the feed must have been so bewildered by us - at one point we were legitimately sitting on the floor, trying to figure out what else we should photograph), we moved to the rest of the museum. Specifically, the Jim Henson wing!

This was my idiotic default pose the entire trip.

We ran into twins from Louisiana (I think?) who were kind enough to take our picture a few times. So, when you see Ramona and I in the same photo, we didn't actually go to the lengths of setting up a tripod (though dammit, Ramona, why didn't we think of that??).

We really loved the "workshop" element of the exhibit. We opened every single drawer we could and looked into every open cabinet door. It was seriously nifty! Plus, since Ramona loves The Storyteller, she obviously was thrilled that the dog was front and center.

What was really cool (and this is kind of an example of the types of pictures I was taking that proved too numerous to upload here) was getting to look closely at so many different puppets. As someone who routinely feels like she's kind of half-assing it or not being as nice with creation as most people are, it was sort of a hilarious relief to discover certain corners had been cut here, too, For example - look at this guy's "wig." It's just rolled, glued, and spray-painted raw foam! It delighted me, and also made me feel a lot less amateur. I mean, I still am, but you know - perception blah blah blah.

After this was the Sesame Street room! We took pictures with every single display, I think, though I've only included Ramona and her matching Ernie shoes and my own picture with Hoots the Owl, who I love dearly. I took about ten photos of him, because WHY NOT.

 I love his eyes. They're so cool. I'm working very slowly on an owl right now, so it was fun to see Hoots so up close.

We had to wait briefly for children to go away in the next part of the exhibit, but Ramona and I got to take a few photos of ourselves clowning around with the television setup. It was pretty neat, and I discovered that trying to perform backwards on a monitor is hard and I have exactly zero talent for it.

And then - THE MUPPETS. This was so neat. You could tell the museum took a great deal of care to put this room together and had a lot of fun with perspectives, as you can see in some of the photos below of Kermit.

Cool photo, but what happens when you switch the focus?

Oh, hi Jim!

And then again - oh, hi Jim!

 I just noticed we have matching parts, but on the opposite side. Why is this something I'm noticing? Whatever - keep scrolling!!

Sprocket! I don't care if the turkey said the dog is the turkey. The dog is not the turkey. The turkey's the turkey, you turkey!

Dark Crystal area. I have a lot of photos from here, but again - SPACE. Also, I'm not the world's biggest Dark Crystal fan, so most of my pictures are of costume detailing and stuff like that.

 I made Ramona do this. I still find it funny.

Found my style icon!

Another of Ramona's favorite characters are the door guards (someone's going to come yell at me for using the wrong name - probably Ramona) from Labyrinth. However, the longer we spent looking at them, the more we realized that there was something sliiiightly off about the hand count! Here is Ramona, puzzling out the situation. 

              

             

I can't get these centered right, but you get the idea! Anyway, next up: FRAGGLES!

I like Mokey. She is also #stylegoals. I took more pictures, but they're all a bit peripheral. 

Dog City!

And thus, we reached the end of the exhibit. Over the door that leads you back out, there's this beautiful stained glass piece and some words that we really need to carry with us while the world is looking a little dark.

Ramona and I had the absolute best time at the Center for Puppetry Arts. It was a crazy two days of traveling, and we were definitely more than a little slap-happy for a good portion of it, but I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner and a better adventure. We stayed in a cool little hotel where we ran into other Labyrinth fans in the lobby, we ate at the same place two days in a row because we both were like "screw it," and while we were desperately trying to stay awake to check into our Southwest flight, we wound up writing a script together (which we have since filmed! It just needs to be edited). The museum itself is beautiful, too. There's a big main section with all kinds of puppets from around the world and from other entertainment media, but that's another bunch of photos that would probably crash Blogger for good. We also saw a great performance called Billy Goat's Gruff and Other Stuff by All Hands Productions, and afterward Ramona and I got to see the stage setup and his puppets, and we chatted for awhile. We also talked quite a bit to some of the people working in the museum, and they were so nice and knowledgeable. It was such an overwhelmingly wonderful experience, and we're definitely going to go back there someday!!

...yes, that was a terrible attempt to integrate Gonzo's song. Shut up.