Muppet Mania

Before RantWoman digresses about a thread from Twitter, RantWoman heartily recommends Jim Henson's Fantastic World ,an exhibit current at the current exhibit at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. RantWoman confesses: this exhibit is on her must-see list, but she has not seen it yet. RantWoman is recommending in preemptively for a few different reasons: an ad on the radio prompted her to think of the exhibit. An annoying and tasteless item out of a Twitter thread about swine flu reminded her. Most of all, RantWoman is kind of an embarrassing Muppets fan.

RantWoman is the kind of Muppets fan who, faced with the requirement to write a research paper her senior year in high school chose the Muppets for her topic. RantWoman did a tolerable amount of research. RantWoman spent a tolerable amount of time organizing her thoughts. RantWoman did not spend very much time actually writing her research paper--until the night before it was due. RantWoman then pulled the first ever all-nighter of her school career. Although RantWoman herself has not looked, RantWoman believes the resulting tour-de-force survived either in one of RantMom's boxes of priceless memorabilia from her children's multifaceted achievements or, a more alarming possibility, in one of RantWomans own boxes of such artifacts that came west on the truck that moved RantMom to Seattle.

The final twist on this masterpiece though: RantWoman's beloved teacher was still reading RantWoman's essay aloud to inspire other student essayists four years later when Little Sister passed through that same phase of the high school experience. Anyway, by the time RantWoman gets around to seeing the exhibit it might be on its way out of town and RantWoman thinks, sight unseen, that the exhibit deserves more attention than that.

Advance billing includes the chance to imagine oneself as a puppeteer, to perform karaoke for some of the Greatest Hits of Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, as well as works favored by that soppy hapless duo Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear. There is a downloadable podcast. If the thought of paying admission at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame might give you heart failure, there appear to be some volunteer opportunities. Also, there are ways to look around for discounts and coupons, a quest definitely on RantWoman's to-do list. In fact, if you would rather go look for good coupons and stand in line to see the exhibit than to read further RantWoman fulmination, please feel free to head out now.

See further fulmination departs from one of the Tweets this afternoon when "swine flu" was "trending" on Twitter. RantWoman made NO effort to read the whole thread, but her screen reader happened across one that RantWoman found really tasteless about how Kermit the Frog died of swine flu in connection with Miss Piggy. The first reason RantWoman found this tasteless is that Jim Henson did in fact die of a badly treated respiratory infection of some sort and RantWoman definitely thinks the world is poorer due to his premature death.

The second reason RantWoman finds this tasteless has to do with Miss Piggy's well-known fanatical attachment to her beloved "Kermie" and Kermit the Frog's affectionate indulgence of this mania. The actual Tweet contained lexicographical elements of a form that definitely could be taken two ways neither of which is in good taste when talking about such all-consuming romantic devotion, one theme of which was Miss Piggy's over-the-top objections to any insinuation that either half of this romantic duo might in more conventional practice be considered food. In fact, rather than spread any more verbal condiments over this topic, RantWoman is simply going to repeat her exhortation to go see the exhibit if you can.