I'd Like to Visit the Moon

I was talking to KB about sesame street and we started listing our favorite muppets. I seem to love the ones who don't speak english (well): Beaker, Swedish Chef, Animal & the aliens who go "yepyepyepyep uh huh uh huh." All time favorite though, ever since I was a lil kiddie, is Ernie. I just love his optimism, his laugh and in my opinion, he had the best songs: "Put Down the Duckie," "Rubber Duckie," "Dance Myself to Sleep" and my all time favorite "I'd Like to Visit the Moon." This song definitely goes on my travel mix.

There are so many strange places I'd like to be

But none of them permanently

So if I should visit the moon

Well, I'll dance on a moonbeam and then

I will make a wish on a star

And I'll wish I was home once again

Whenever the song came on Sesame Street, I stopped whatever I was doing to give it my full attention, and after rewatching the video, I see where I get my sitting on the moon sketches :)

The Henson Stitch

I've been listening to the "how muppets work" podcast from how stuff works... FASCINATING! So many interesting facts about how they make the muppets, Frank Oz & Jim Henson's start, how many people it takes to operate a muppet, tricks about where they place the pupils, etc. It makes me want to make puppets! Apparently there's a stitch called the Henson Stitch so for all you seamsters out there... here's a video tutorial. Don't mind the guy's dorky enthusiasm and camera shot fails. I found it very enlightening, even the bit about putting your thread in wax to avoid knots! GENIUS! I'm also very curious about this antron fleece. Sounds so faaaancy! Ok, geekout fest 2010 over haha :)

Progress Report #3: Tri's not-so-lil eles

FINISHED! Well, still needs eyes...!

On to the next one...

Memories & Forgetting

I've been listening to lots of podcasts recently as I sew and wow, came across one from Radiolab about memories & forgetting. Turns out what they propose in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind--erasing specific memories--is possible! You take a drug that prevents new proteins from forming between neurons as you are remembering something and poof! You're able to forget it a lil more easily. Painful memories aren't as painful anymore.

It got me thinking about what we would be like without our memories... if we were like goldfish or something. We wouldn't be able to learn & retain new tasks. Remembering names would be even moooore difficult... actually impossible! Would we wander around aimlessly? Would we have no personalities? Eerie! In the show, they corrected: there is no filing cabinet of perfect memories stored away in our brains. Memories are more of re-collections... Every time we recall a memory, we reform the memory. According to sexy genius nerd that is Jonah Lehrer, "the more you remember something, in a sense the less accurate it becomes." It's an act of creation, imagination, time, the present! And that's amazing!

Oh man... so many brain explosions. Listen/dload the clip here.

btw, this is jonah lehrer. told you so.

Progress Report #2: Tri's not-so-lil eles

I finished one kinda! She has no floppy ears but she's suuuuper squishy & soft :)

Tree a Day #15: up UP & away

happy to see how far I've come
to the same place it began
my dreams and imagination perfectly at peace
so I move along a bit higher
(kid cudi)

Divisoria Market FTW!

(1) yard of fuzzy fur

(1) yard of velvet

(1) yard of lace

(1) yard sparkly gold spandex

(12) headbands

(24) embroidery floss thingies

(3) packs of googly eyes

(8) fancy buttons

(12) hot glue gun stix

(5) yards of elastic

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grand total: >$25 :)

if anyone wants a very fuzzy monster with a gold, shiny belly, I'm your girl! Oh how I love the Philippines! :D