Video Sunday: Off-Topic Madness
Which is to say, I had a hard time wrangling anything specifically kidlitish this week. Oh! There is one exception. I’m oddly pleased with this little commercial for a Harry Potter video game, if only because it’s not immediately apparant what the ad is for at the start.
So sometimes I find myself getting all my videos from one source and sometimes I get ’em all from another. This week it was all about Children’s Illustration. Julie found some wacky stuff that I just couldn’t help but lift for my own nefarious purposes. To begin, here is the most disturbing video I’ve seen in a very long time. Disturbing because it’s completely legitimate. Not a parody. Not a joke.
Thoughts: Did Elijah not get the Sesame Street call and figured this was just as good? Does his yellow shirt indicate that he’ll be taking over the hosting duties of Blue’s Clues? And does anyone else find his personal grooming just a wee bit… uh… creepy? At first I thought he might be wearing leather pants. They look a bit more like jeans on a *shudder* second viewing. But The Puppet Master? A show of hands here: How many of you thought he might try nailing strings into the hands and the feet of the creatures around him? And why are only white girls dancing to his beat?
The name of the show is Yo Gabba Gabba, by the way. And since Elijah was in The Lord of the Rings, I say we’re still on-topic . . .
. . . but not for long. Unless you consider that They Might Be Giants has recently put out some albums for kids. And using that logic this video in which they are reenacted by puppets has some tangential kiddie connections. It’s a stretch but I just liked the images here. I apologize for not remembering where I got the video, though.
And finally, Children’s Illustration also provided me with this view of what British television programming used to be like. For those of you who complain about the fast pace of modern TV, you’re either gonna love this or recant everything you’ve ever said for fear of this era returning.
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And that, as they say, is that.
Filed under: Videos
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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I’m compelled to comment, because I think Yo Gabba Gabba is the bomb. Do people still say things are the bomb?
All the clips I’ve seen, this one included, make me wish I had kids to park in front of it.
The big loaf of whitebread served up in this clip is just a coincidence, by the way–the host of the show is black. And I’ve seen another clip featuring Biz Markie, so there you are.
Obviously I am out of the loop on this one. Not having any kids myself yet I was unaware of the show’s charms. Glad to see it ain’t all white kids breaking it down. This explains Elijah’s appearance certainly. Glad to have cleared this up. It is still, however, the weirdest damn thing I ever did see.
I totally love the “Interlude” and probably for all the wrong reasons. It reminds me of a short film Wim Wenders made when he was a student, of a railroad crossing where nothing happens for almost 11 minutes and then, just before the film runs out, the crossing guards come down and a man dashes across the tracks just before a train comes. The end.
I kept watching that windmill hoping lighting would strike it to a cinder at the very end. Now I think I need to make that movie. I also think I need to find more clips like that. Thanks for the clips!
Yes, it’s either conceptual art (calling Andy Warhol and the Empire State Buiding), or it’s an Interlude. Reminded me at first of the old Disney short, The Old Mill (worth the $1.99 on iTunes, if you’re into that sort of thing), and then, ah, and then nothing happened! I liked it. I’m going to find a way to project it onto a wall and apply for a grant.
Wait, whoa, those interludes allowed you to go to the bathroom between TV shows — I’d rather have THAT than another car commercial.
I’d rather sit through the “Interludes” and go to the bathroom during the regular programs, the way things are today.
I am almost 100% sure they recreated that windmill on the Island of Sodor. Speaking of loathsome British television.
I’m too A.D.D for that windmill. I’d commit suicide if I watched it… say… more than 10 times. So, if I have any enemies out there, no you know how to dispose of me!
meghan