Muppet Fans Hangout with The Muppet Mindset and ToughPigs!

Greetings, Muppet fans! Have you ever thought to yourself, "Gee, self, I sure do wish I could have a video chat with Ryan Dosier from The Muppet Mindset plus Joe Hennes and Ryan Roe from ToughPigs!" Well, if you've ever thought that very specific, rather odd thought, then you're in luck! Because this Wednesday, September 18th at 9:00pm Eastern Time, your pals Ryan, Ryan, and Joe are hosting a Google Hangout, the first ever Muppet Fans Hangout!

For those who don't know, Google Hangouts are a live, unlimited video chatroom where anyone can join in the fun and ask us whatever you want. Ever wondered what Ryan Roe's favorite flavor of yogurt is? Come to the Google Hangout and find out! We're really hoping a bunch of Muppet fans will join us in the fun, so mark your calendars and come hangout!

Plus, there may be secret special guests that show up--you never know! (Also we never know. Seriously.) For questions, comments, concerns, affidavits, or audits please contact joe@toughpigs.com. (Or muppetmindset@gmail.com, but preferably not for the latter two options.)

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: November 10, 2011

NEWS UPDATE: November 10, 2011
This past weekend on ABC Family, an exclusive "All Access First Look" at The Muppets aired during the Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast. Miss Piggy hosted the event, constantly asserting that this was "her" movie--with all the other weirdos as well. To finish off the event, they showed an exclusive clip from the film. You can check out the whole thing below!



As if that weren't enough, the very next day the Muppets appeared on Disney Channel during airings of tween comedies Good Luck Charlie and Shake it Up! to show off their "Muppet Movie Star Secrets." The segments aired during commercial breaks and showed Kermit and Miss Piggy offering their celebrity advice to the cast of Disney Channel's A.N.T. Farm. It was a pretty cute appearance... and once again you can see it all below! (Thanks to our friend Chris Stulz for both of these videos!!)



A spectacular interview with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem surfaced recently on WhatsThatDudePlay.com. The interview is incredibly well-written, in character, and hysterical. I honestly can't remember the last time Dr. Teeth was written so perfectly. Be sure to read it all the way through! Every answer is truly a gem. By the way... how incredible is it that we're seeing an interview with the Electric Mayhem?! Has that ever happened? I don't know... but I know I want to see it happen again.

The other day we linked to 14 brand new interviews with the cast of The Muppets from Coming-Soon.net. Well, as it turns out, there are even more interviews to be seen! This time the fine folks at tapedimension on YouTube have posted some fantastic Muppet content over the past few days, including three full parts of B-Roll footage from behind the scenes of the film (beware of major spoilers) and those previously mentioned interviews with producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, and Martin Baker, writer Nicholas Stoller, choreographer Michael Rooney, and... wait for it... Uncle Deadly!! The interview with the unbelievable Uncle Deadly is below. Make sure you watch.



The YouTube channel for Walt Disney Pictures Australia recently uploaded another semi-parody, mostly accidental, trailer for The Muppets. This time, the Muppets take on beloved tropes of Bollywood cinema, and end up carrying it through to the end, even after realizing that it was a typo and should have said "Hollywood." Check out the trailer for singing penguins, lots of dancing, and Muppets! (Plus, Gonzo's dream of going to Bombay, India and becoming a movie star is sort of, kind of coming true!)



Some attendees at the Savannah Film Festival in Georgia were treated to a surprise screening of The Muppets as the Director's Choice film for the entire festival. Most of the audience at the festival was critics or film snobs (in a good way), so this was a great outlet for Disney to test the waters and see what sort of market The Muppets truly has. Well, lucky for Disney, the reviews that have come out of the Film Festival screening have been 100% positive. Chud.com posted a quick, highly positive video review immediately after seeing the movie, and have promised a full review soon. Meanwhile, the official review for the Film Festival was written by Susan Kemp, who, in the article, calls herself a "Grinch." Even so, she was immediately and completely charmed by the film and gave it a glowing review. Both of these are spoiler free, so be sure to read them to get a perspective on the critic's views! Also on that note, look out for The Muppet Mindset's exclusive review of The Muppets tomorrow!! Ryan Dosier will be seeing it tonight and will share his thoughts with the internet at large for tomorrow's post. (Perhaps even at 11:11am on 11/11/11?)

On Tuesday night, the Muppets teamed up with Google + to host a "Hangout" event on YouTube with Kermit, Miss Piggy, Jason Segel, Walter, James Bobin, and Nicholas Stoller all showing up for attendance to talk about their new movie for 17 minutes straight. The live-linking of the feed was a little choppy due to such a high-volume of hangers out (which can only be a good thing), but the Frog, the Pig, the Walter, and the Segel were all fantastic and fun. You can check out the full video from the Google + Hangout below!



Those cool cats (note: I have no idea if the company is actually run by cats) over at Threadless.com have printed 25 Muppet t-shirt designs from their recent contest (the contest which brought us James Carroll's Muppetational Mosaic t-shirt). Some of the shirts they decided to print are absolutely awesome (and I absolutely must have them) and some are just sort of "meh," but either way, it's fantastic to see Muppet fan artists rewarded in an official fashion! Congratulations to all those printed!

The Muppets have teamed up with Viddy.com for some exclusive, interactive video content! What is Viddy, you ask? Well, check out the official description from the Viddy email: 

"The Muppets" Are In Theaters on Thanksgiving, But They're on Viddy Today!

In anticipation of the soon-to launch film Disney's "The Muppets," Disney and Viddy, today launch The Muppets Pack(TM). Featuring some of the beloved Muppets brought to life in 15-second video clips, the Muppet Pack offers a unique opportunity to create personalized interactive Viddys with your favorite characters like; Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo & Fozzie Bear! More Muppets Character Packs coming soon. Download version 1.3.4 on iTunes

Launching today is Muppets.Viddy.com, a centralized place on the web to view the Muppets Viddys our community is creating from around the globe. Watch a sample video featuring football great Warren Sapp with Fozzie Bear online here: http://viddy.com/muppets--get a sneak peek at what the Muppets Character Packs look like!

Finally, we've added a new "What's Hot" area where you can see Popular, Trending, and Newest videos from the community.

Have fun, stay tuned for more updates, and enjoy "The Muppets"!

Jason Segel appeared on The Tonight Show on Tuesday and talked for quite a bit about his exuberant Muppet fandom. Segel delivered a fantastic, honest, charming interview and, for me at least, solidified once and for all why he is the exact right person to be helming the Great Muppet Renaissance (patent pending) that The Muppets is bringing us in just a few weeks. You can watch the Muppet-focused portion of the interview below, and be sure to check out the full interview on The Tonight Show's website!



And to close up our massive News Update... check out the wonderful, charming, adorable interview with Kermit the Frog from yesterday's The Ellen Degeneres Show. That frog charms with the best of 'em, and Ellen is always a ton of fun. Enjoy!



Be sure to check back with The Muppet Mindset tomorrow for our exclusive early review of The Muppets after Ryan Dosier sees the film at the cast and crew screening in Los Angeles!








The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Jim Henson's 75th Birthday

Ryan Dosier - September 24th is always a special day in the lives of Muppet fans, and this year is no different. 2011 marks 75 years after the birth of Jim Henson. Jim is responsible for everything you see here on this webpage and we truly wouldn't be anything without his being born on this day 75 years ago. Emotions are an odd thing on this day as well. We feel sad that Jim isn't here, but we feel happy that 75 years later, we're still talking about this kid from Mississippi who took his mother's coat, sewed up his dream, and created a legacy that continues to grow and inspire every day.

I always prefer to spotlight the happy over the sad when I have the choice, and on someone's birthday I think that's the best thing we can do. Just look at all the amazingly happy things happening for Jim on his birthday!

Google has changed its homepage design in honor of Jim Henson's birthday. Their current Google Doodle features six controllable puppet characters who are subject to your every mouse click. Click around, play with the keyboard, and have fun seeing what these Henson creations can do! This hilarious, heart-warming, wonderfully designed, and technically innovative piece is everything that Jim was about. Puppets, humor, technology, and weird. Be sure to check out Google and Henson's "Making of" video to find out even more about the Google Doodle!

The Jim Henson Company has been going wild on social media outlets over the past few days in celebration of Jim's birthday. Their Twitter feed has been overflowing with fantastic quotes about and by Jim, all with the hashtag #Henson75. If you want to join in the fun on Twitter, just tag your posts with #Henson75! Let's get it trending! On YouTube they've been posting a horde of classic Henson content including some content featuring Kermit and the rest of the Muppets owned by Disney. In honor of Jim's 75th, the fine folks at Disney have allowed The Jim Henson Company to post some great videos including "Rainbow Connection," "Mahna Mahna," Harry Belafonte's "Turn the World Around" from The Muppet Show, the Pigs in Space sketch from the Carol Channing episode of The Muppet Show, and the magnificent finale from The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. Plus, YouTube's spotlight for today is on Jim Henson's 75th Birthday with tons of puppet videos for your enjoyment!

Sesame Street has uploaded and shared a plethora of incredible new content from its upcoming 42nd season, which starts on Monday, September 26th. Here we see Jim's legacy living on and on through the likes of Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, and the multitude of Anything Muppets on the show. Some of the incredible clips shared by Sesame Street on YouTube include "The Heaviest Catch" (with a character performed by Frank Oz), "Measure, Yeah, Measure" with Elmo and a Justin Bieber look-alike, Craig Ferguson and Elmo experimenting with chickens, Grouchology with Jason Jones, and the hysterical (and accurate) Glee parody called "G," which you can see right here below!

In case you'd forgotten, The Muppets is coming out in November and the promotion from Disney is currently all over the place. We've got a brand new, unfinished website about the movie on Disney.com (which also happens to be the number one featured link on all of Disney) and, both on Facebook and Twitter, The Muppets Studio has been getting our excitement level rising, saying "Rumor has it we’re announcing something huge on Monday. And yes, that’s right…we just started that rumor here." and later having Statler and Waldorf, who are still running the Twitter feed, chime in with, "All we keep hearing around the #Muppets theater is about Monday's "exciting news for our fans". You two are in for a real treat! Oh ho ho!" So... who knows what this big news could be, but I bet it really is just as exciting as they're making it sound (at least I hope it is)!

For even more Henson 75th celebrations, check out the ToughPigs.com thoughts on how to celebrate the big day!

And, finally, we'll finish out our Happy Birthday post with another Happy Birthday post... a brief piece written by Brian Henson for Google about his dad. It's really fun and touching, and you can read it all below! Following the piece is a tribute to Jim video shown at MuppetFest in 2001 which, I think, really says it all.

Remembering my dad, Jim Henson
When we were kids, my brother and sisters and I were always allowed to stay up late to watch our father’s appearances on The Tonight Show or The Ed Sullivan Show. No matter how late it was or how young we were, my mother would wake us up and trundle us down to the living room television. We’d be giddy—like Christmas. When he came home, he’d head down to the garage where he had a workshop, and repair everything that we broke while he was away—or build a dollhouse for one of my sisters. Jim never stopped making things.

He also loved games—card games, board games, all kinds of games. He was one of those rare parents who was always ready to play again. He loved dogs, particularly goofy ones. And he lived for those moments when everyone laughed so hard they couldn’t talk. I often walked onto the Muppet set to find everyone just laughing hysterically.

Although he loved family, his work was almost never about “traditional” families. The Muppets were a family—a very diverse one. One of his life philosophies was that we should love people not for their similarities, but for their differences.

Jim often had a little lesson about the important things in life: How to be a good person. How to believe in yourself and follow your dreams. And above all, how to forgive. If anything was stolen from one of us—like when the car was broken into—he would always say, “Oh well, they probably needed that stuff more than we did.”

He loved gadgets and technology. Following his lead, The Jim Henson Company continues to develop cutting-edge technology for animatronics and digital animation, like this cool Google doodle celebrating Jim’s 75th birthday. But I think even he would have found it hilarious the way today some people feel that when they’ve got their smartphone, they no longer need their brain.

Jim was clearly a great visionary. But he also wanted everyone around him fully committed creatively. If you asked him how a movie would turn out, he’d say, “It’ll be what this group can make, and if you changed any one of them, it would be a different movie.” Every day for him was joyously filled with the surprises of other people’s ideas. I often think that if we all lived like that, not only would life be more interesting, we’d all be a lot happier.

Posted by Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company



Happy 75th Birthday Jim Henson! We love you, miss you, and will never forget you! Thank you for leaving us with a legacy of wonder that will never, ever die as long as we believe in it.

Plus, Happy Birthday to Steve Whitmire as well! Thank you for everything, Steve. Because of you, Jim Henson's legacy, and frog, live on in the hearts, minds, and eyes of people everywhere.






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com