This is a must-have book if you need a little extra joy in your life, and this is the absolute best way to get it…

Winston in winter…

This beautiful book is available now. Happy Book Birthday, @kristinbaver.bsky.social!

But still present in the episode, and representative of the magic of THE MUPPET SHOW’s flexibility of format & approach to its guests, is the infectious joy of hearing Bernadette Peters cover a Dolly Parton tune... And again, those sublime Muppet backing vocals elevate joy...

...Also had this piece centering around Jim Croce’s poignant “Time In A Bottle”. While much is often said of the emotional depth Dave Goelz could bring to a song, Jim Henson could also bring an affecting aching quality to his vocals that penetrates deeply.

It’s wild to see the emotional swings that THE MUPPET SHOW had the confidence to allow itself to take with its supremely flexible format. The same episode that had chickens performing “Babyface”...

In JUST A FEW THINGS, I welcome a special guest who shares favorite items from their personal collections & we chat... The guest in this BRAND NEW episode? Toy aficionado (and Hasbro Senior Design Director) STEVE EVANS! WATCH: Patreon.com/KenPlume

Here ya go! www.kickstarter.com/projects/rif...

If you want a genuinely uplifting listen packed with sincerity, humor, and heart, listen to the cast album for GROUNDHOG DAY, with songs by @timminchin.bsky.social. Right now. Seriously. Go. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

In JUST A FEW THINGS, I welcome a special guest who shares favorite items from their personal collections & we chat... The guest in this BRAND NEW episode? Toy aficionado (and Hasbro Senior Design Director) STEVE EVANS! WATCH: Patreon.com/KenPlume

TOMORROW. Pretty sure it will make a lot of you happy. Stay tuned to @rifftrax.com and right here, of course. www.rifftrax.com

Working on snowy day organizing projects…

It’s Saturday! Post a cartoon TV series you love.

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Big Tech: We’ve emptied the cup but are excited to offer a subscription-based cup-filling experience that could eventually deliver up to 1/3 of the original cup content.

Mitch & Mickey.

Mitch & Mickey.

Legend.

Legend.

While we're all talking @kumail.bsky.social & @emilyvgordon.bsky.social's upcoming adaptation of the brill SEX CRIMINALS, here are a pair of retrospective conversations (an overview & a spoiler-filled "Afterglow") I had w/ @mattfraction.bsky.social & Chip Zdarsky when the comic run came to an end...

It bears repeating…

I’m so delighted that it’s @emilyvgordon.bsky.social @kumail.bsky.social & Tze Chun bringing @mattfraction.bsky.social & Chip Zdarsky’s brill comic to screen…Can’t wait for every delightfully awkward moment…

“C what I did there, Bert?”

I asked a squirrel to pose for me. The squirrel ignored my request. I took the photo anyway.

Yourself, but as a cartoon

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (I always loved that Bob Hall cover)

Just deleted my TikTok account. Please note that if you open TikTok on a web browser, it will ask you to accept a new TOS. DO NOT ACCEPT THE TOS! You can click through to settings and delete your account WITHOUT accepting the new TOS.

Proto-EXCALIBUR art by Alan Davis and Paul Neary...

Here’s a just-Muppets version of “We Got Us”, performed at the 1977 Royal Variety Show... The unique blend of Muppet performer voices, absolutely saturated with character, never fails to send a visceral shot of joy to my brain.

“It’s your friends!” This closing number - “We Got Us”, from The Muppet Show’s second season Dom DeLuise episode - is another that really captures the spirit of what made the Muppets special. That sense of “We’re all in this together & we’ve got each other.” I miss that focus.

The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.” That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.

May this be the beginning of heinous actions having actual consequences.

So, so many books I loved as a kid were penciled by Sal Buscema, who had an instantly recognizable iconic style uniquely his own. Just this weekend, I was revisiting his work on THOR alongside Walt Simonson…

While aware of it, I’ve never watched THE TRAITORS (I’ve avoided the last 20yrs of the reality TV ecosystem), but @ronfunches.bsky.social’s description of the dumpster fire he endured had me curious enough to check it out, because I love Ron. Dear lord, what a toxic character shit pit that show is.

Another comic I used to own long, long ago (by the legendary Walt Simonson), plus the new Skurge of my collection, snagged thanks to the fine folks at Memory Lane Comics (seriously, go check them out).

Swung by my wonderful LCS, Memory Lane Comics, and re-acquired a comic I used to have a long, long time ago (with a brill Walt Simonson/Bob Wiacek cover), plus the big goober fighting Dazzler from it.

J.J.J.

More Muppet chickens for you...

I am fucking angry about every fucking fucked-up fucking thing that fucking fuckers are fucking doing and, while I am so fucking exhausted, every fucking fucked-up thing they continue to fucking do only energizes every fiber of my being to press forward against those fuckers and shout, "FUCK THEM."

A perfect encapsulation of online discourse.

Meanwhile, at the Board of Peace...

A perfect encapsulation of online discourse.

The first DUNE film ended with a big promise I’m not quite sure the second film fulfilled…

Found my Stephen Colbert figure.

And THE FANTASTIC MISS PIGGY SHOW ends with guest John Ritter being forced to impersonate Piggy - much to his regret - in a true Muppet omnishambles finale...

Perhaps surprisingly, THE FANTASTIC MISS PIGGY SHOW also featured Tony Clifton... And it was one of the times it was actually Andy Kaufman under the makeup, rather than Bob Zmuda...

Produced as a one-off special a year after THE MUPPET SHOW wrapped, THE FANTASTIC MISS PIGGY SHOW acts as a bit of a coda to that whole period, in particular the massive success of Piggy...