muppets
Editor's Note: Theologian extraordinnaire Tripp Hudgins put together this edition of First Thoughts prior to the first presidential debate. Still applicable before this evening's Vice Presidential debate.
A loop of 19 television shows referencing one another. Interfaith musical collaboration on the old hymn, "The Lord Will Provide." Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie talks to Terry Gross about his work on The Muppets film. The first look at the new trailer for Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. An amazing trick performed with an excavator, and more!
Jim Henson spent his life, like Mr. Rogers (a Presbyterian minister), trying to say to us and our children, "Hey, you're special and you're good." How is this a bad thing?
What could Bolling and Gainor have against The Muppets?
What could the movie have done to cause so much offense?
I mean, Sam Eagle got loads of screen time.
Did Fozzie make the GOP presidential candidates the punch line to one of his high-caliber jokes?
Did Bolling Statler and Waldorf heckle Bolling and Gainor?
Were the Fox talking heads offended that the greatest love affair of modern times is between a frog and a pig?
Or perhaps they detected a tacit nod of approval to the gay community in the Muppets' cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" even if it didn't make it into the film?
Nope. It turns out that The Muppets committed a far more serious transgression — the gravest of sins — it poked fun at corporate America.
That’s right, poor defenseless corporate America — in this case, the particularly vulnerable oil industry — faced the mighty wrath and unmitigated cruelty of felted bullies.
Awesome tweet of the day: The father of liberal theology, Fred Schleiermacher, was born today in 1768. “Born” and “today” are just metaphors, of course. (via @shipofools) Plus interfaith bridge building, an extensive interview from U2, Jana Riess is Flunking Sainthood, Pakistanian cell phone censorship, Oscar-worthy documentaries, urban farming, Malawi introduces an anti-farting law (seriously, see above) and more.
For those about to rock-upy, Ben & Jerry salute you! Jesus-ween? Mobama sets her sights on jumping-jack record. And then they came for Grover... Scottish golfer wins his own weight in ham. (What? No haggis?) FoxNews unaired #OccupyWallStreet interview: Fair and (un)Balanced? Jobs memorialized in MacBook parts. Video game lets you try to balance your budget on a poverty income. Feist wows with new album "Metals." And some smarty-pants greetings for this Columbus Day.
#OccupyWallStreet (the New York-based protest against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government) has moved to a new location, a street where the air is far sweeter than on Wall Street.
Won't you tell me how to get, how to get ... there?
That's right, folks, the occupation has taken over Sesame Street.
This Sunday (Oct. 9) , Sesame Street will introduce a brand-new Muppet character — a magenta-faced, impoverished 7-year-old named Lily who represents one of the 17-million Americans who struggle daily with hunger and poverty — during a rare prime-time special called, "Growing Hope Against Hunger."