Who WRITES these kid shows?

****CAUTION: If you are easily offended skip this post!*****

I haven't watched South Park in a while, Nor have I been watching Family Guy or American Dad. These are definitely the shows where some of the things I have noticed lately would fit in. So my question is: do the writers on Sesame Street, (this time around, there have been other preschool shows as well), realize what they are putting in front of kids. Or is this one of those, let's throw a joke in the for the parents as it will go over the youngsters heads ploys? If so they are playing a very tricky game.

The instance that got to me was on Sesame Street this week and was so over the top, went into such scary places, I was surprised it was allowed to air. I also can't seem to get it out of my head. Honestly I am not a prude. I would scare most of my friends if they knew half of what went on in my perverted mind. But then again maybe that is the problem. Either way I thought I'd share since this worm won't stop crawling around my warped mind.

My friend and I were talking as his preschooler was watching said show. I was distracted by the sight of a nekkid Bert. Okay, really he was without his typical shirt and they didn't show below his waist. Bert was singing and dancing behind his bathtub. There were bubbles flying everywhere and then a chorus of other male muppets came in to sing with him. This is where the bathtub grew. I could not help myself just as my mind thought it I blurted out "Bert's in a BathHouse!" My friend turned and looked. He hurriedly covered his eyes crying out "Don't do that to me!" He was trying desparately to remove the image from his brain and not laugh. It didn't work. It also got worse from there. He admitted there was always a question since it isn't clear whether or not Bert and Ernie are brothers or just "good roommates". Then we looked at the tv again. Total mistake as now there were animals singing and dancing with all the male muppets behind the ENORMOUS bathtub. Bubbles, colored lights, singing, dancing, laser show and lots of nekkid muppets! What were we supposed to think? (Maybe if we were listening to the song it may have helped.)

This is where the 8 and 6 year old come up from the back of the house as my friend and I are chuckling and trying to keep quiet. Plus these kids are totally oblivious to us. We are not cool or important you know. In any case, they came out looked at the tv and shouted "They're naked!" They promptly ran back to the room they were first playing in and didn't come out until they were called. The point of this part of the story? I wasn't the only one that noticed these felt creatures were only wearing air. I admit the homosexual aspect as well as the beastiality angle was probably just me. Until now.

The section then ends with Bert alone in his bathroom. It was all in his imagination. Well of course it was.  And now we know just what goes on in HIS mind.

If you don't believe me go and look for yourself.
 http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player/-/pgpv/videoplayer/0/c31c4dc4-157d-11dd-9bc7-777dea8a73e7/i_gotta_be_clean

Creativity runs Amuck...

But then again this is a regular and natural occurence in my current circle of friends.

I told an event organizer to be careful and give my group general guidelines for a show she is planning for the spring. Hard and Fast Parameters are needed to rein in the inevitable cascade of creative juices. She laughed and unfortunately told me that this show was no holds barred. Even more unfortunately, I let this slip to the gals Wednesday night. Whoops!

Now let me explain why the lack of parameters is worrisome.

In February of last year I saw a post calling for entertainers. Dancers, tarot readers, etc. The posting stated that the organizer was looking for entertainment for a Ball to be held as part of a big event. I contacted the organizer thinking this could be fun. I didn't realize what a roller coaster this would turn out to be.

My idea was that we would either have our musician friends play for us or pick out some recorded music and we would dance. A quick set, nothing spectacular. Well, it ended up being an extremely memorable and spectacular set.

It started with the costumes. What kind of costume would be appropriate for a pop culture event? Then came the storyline. Which I might add became more and more elaborate as time went on. Plus since there were two vastly different types of costuming suggested we had to incorporate both which is how the storyline came into play. Then of course there was the fun of getting the music that we wanted/needed to put it all together. So for two months a new idea came up almost daily, (a different way to showcase some prop or our costumes) and of course there was putting together the music. We almost bought a portable blacklight and a fog machine to really utilize some of these ideas. Seriously, it got crazy with the creativity. (I was going to post snippets of Facebook posts but thought better of it. I don't want to scare anyone away!) The show ended up as a fun and memorable 20 minute set.

Currently we are in the midst of putting a 30 minute show together for WWWCon in March. This has gotten even more creatively HUGE. There are new costumes, costume changes, sets and all manner of props. Patterns are being created for the costumes, right down to our footwear. Thank goodness we have the "soundtrack" done. Did I mention this is a production?

Our troupe does not just dance, there is also THEATRE Darling.

Don't misunderstand me. The troupe CAN and does just dance to live or recorded music. We have even recently done just that at a local Fall Festival. We have a simple set coming up this weekend as well. There are some venues and performances like these where doing anything beyond dancing is inappropriate and we get that. However, when we get a little leeway or a touch of encouragement to add a little more, it becomes very apparent that "little/small/slight" is not in our performance vocabulary.

What is the point?

I began this post because we've been asked if we want to put a comedic bit together. And I let slip that the promoter said this show was no holds barred, so long as it was family friendly. My mistake. Even in the middle of major planning and working on the big show in March, there was already the inevitable..

"I have an idea!"

Within the first 12 hours. After an evening practice. Meaning that at least 6 of those hours were spent sleeping.

It is a great idea that sounds like a hysterically good time and I can't wait to work on it. But trust me on this one folks. It will only get bigger from here.

Lack of Motivation?

There are so many days like today when it seems difficult to really put pen to paper. (Yes I still write longhand.) We usually assume that when work doesn't get done that it is total lack of motivation. Then we beat ourselves up over it and deal with that damn self-esteem monster. The thought effectively instilled in us is that there is something wrong with us when we cannot motivate ourselves to do what we say and believe we really want to do.

But what if it is not lack of motivation? What if it's a necessary time out for the over-stimulated brain? Because as I sat here to type out some thoughts I had last night I realized that I couldn't really put any of those down. Each separate idea was vying and fighting for attention and mixing with all the others. When this happens not one sentence can be written legibly. I would end up with a narrative on the Hippotamus that wore a mat during the raising of children in the middle of a philosophical debate on the nature of rope that played music. Most of you would never think that Monty Python's skits were random again. What a scary thought in and of itself. 

I realize that some of this is clutter and I should try to organize my thoughts a little better. But really, have you seen my room? It is just like any desk I've ever worked at. I know approximately where everything is, so long as no one moves it or adds to it. And damnit if people aren't always giving me more stuff or moving MY stuff. (BTW per George Carlin if it's mine it's STUFF.)

If I truly invited the people around me into my brain I believe they would be overwhelmed and become catatonic. Then I'd have that clutter to deal with as well. 

The good news is, that at this moment I can give myself a pat on the back because I at least got something out. Made more room for those other thoughts and ideas to flutter around and breathe a bit. 

Then of course comes the bad news. Because you know what will happen, right? I will click on Publish, check my email and have ten more thoughts enter my brain and all of those thoughts will start chasing each other causing a totally distracting blur of action. This will wear me out as I try to corral them and I will have no choice but to sit down with someone else's thoughts and dreams for a while as a time out for my own.

I truly AM motivated or I wouldn't have logged onto this account. I truly AM motivated or I wouldn't have bought more refills for my "really cool no one else is allowed to touch it" pen with the last bit of my previous paycheck. I truly AM motivated or I wouldn't have taken notes on the way children have been playing around me for the last couple of weeks. Motivation or the lack thereof is NOT the problem. 

The problem is that I don't have any other way to calm my thoughts down other than giving them a time out. So as most of us as parents struggle with creatively wrangling and effectively redirecting our children's behaviour, I am now struggling to figure out the creative and effective way to wrangle, trap and direct my out of control thoughts.

As a parting note, YES I do hear the tiny violin playing the music for the trials and tribulations of the creative mind. Add a drum and I will dance to that.     :)